The writer examines the connection between women's movements organized in France, Germany and the U.S. in 1848 and the strong international feminist ties developed by their organizers in the 1830s and 1840s. It is noted that a loose-knit international feminist movement was formed in the mid 19th century by the exchange of visits and letters, support of proclamations and conventions, and the provision of refuge for feminist exiles. It is contended that the development of a national women's movement in Britain was delayed until the 1850s as a result of an absence of revolution. The previously unacknowledged influence of the feminist revolutions in Europe on the Seneca Falls Convention is evaluated. It is argued that the conceptions of the dynamics of women's movements and the revolutions themselves are changed by seeing feminism within the context of the 1848 movements.
