The liberal petty bourgeoisie led the uprisings of 1848

By 1848, a large industrial working class, the proletariat, had developed, and owing to Napoleonic France, the level of education was relatively high and it was politically active. While in other German states the liberal petty bourgeoisie led the uprisings of 1848, in the Rhineland the proletariat was asserting its interests openly against the bourgeoisie as early as 1840.