Reply #3: Sounds like today: "Wages had been falling for nearly 20 years while the cost of living [View All]

[DrunkenBoat]

during the same time rose 17 percent. In 1844 wide-scale food shortages began. A series of scandals exposed how French officials had helped create the economic imbalance by concentrating extreme wealth in the hands of a select few."

PS: My ancestors came to the US from the Silesia region around 1840 so I've always assumed it was for reasons related to the unrest of the times.

Silesia Uprising

As if on cue, such violence occurred. Word arrived of an uprising in the Prussian region of Silesia, where on June 4, 1844, a group of weavers marched on the home of Prussian industrialists. Their demands for higher pay denied, the weavers stormed the house and destroyed it. The next day, as many as 5,000 weavers and their families burst into homes and factories, destroyed machines, and looted and ransacked residences and offices. The industrialists called in the Prussian military, which fired on the crowd, killing 35.