1848年，捷克斯洛伐克人民不堪忍受奥地利帝国长期压迫和专制统治，在布拉格发动了一次武装起义。当时有两个政治集团，一个是真正代表人民利益的“列比里”，在斗争中勇敢、坚定。而另一个“市民会”害怕斗争，对反动统治政权存在幻想，终于动摇出卖革命。这次革命虽然没有成功，但却表现了捷克人民的英雄气概，从而被载入史册。

The real masterpiece, among these early works by Risi, is certainly 1848 . Made to order for the centenary of the Milan uprising against Austrian rule, the film opens with a group of soldiers apathetically attending the dress rehearsal for a ballet at La Scala. Who knows if Visconti remembered it for the opening of Senso at the Fenice in Venice - when he certainly had in mind a little film directed by Corrado D'Errico in 1941, La Compagnia della teppa , in which a group insurgents use a Rossini premiere at La Scala to launch leaflets against the Napoleonic occupation.