German History test 2

Who was Simon of Trent?

A young boy said to have been murdered by Jews

In which state did Josef II enact an "Edict of Toleration" in 1781, granting rights to the private exercise of religion to non-Catholics.

Austria

In which field did Wilhelm von Humboldt advance the cause of the Enlightenment?

education

Immanuel Kant formulated the motto of the Enlightenment, in Latin, as "Sapere aude!"  What did this mean for Kant?

"Dare to use your reason."

What did Pietist August Hermann Francke found in Halle?

orphanages and schools

To which German state did 20,000 French Huguenots flee after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685?

Prussia

Did the German Enlightenment begin earlier or later than the French and English Enlightenment?

later

In Lessing's play, what city does Nathan live in?

Jerusalem

In Lessing's play, Nathan and Saladin are _______ and _______ respectively.

Jewish and Muslim

In the story Nathan tells Saladin, what does the father give to each of his three sons?

A ring

In Klopstock's poem "Celebration of Spring," what  happens to the narrator?

He is caught in a storm

In Goethe's poem "Erlkönig" ("The Elf King"), who are the two protagonists apart from the Elf King himself?

a man and his young son

In Goethe's poem, "Prometheus," to whom is Prometheus talking?

the god Zeus

Why can't Recha and the Knight Templar marry at the end of the play "Nathan the Wise"?

They turn out to be brother and sister

What is most commonly held to be the year of the breakout of the French Revolution?

1789

What was the last great battle of the war for the "soul of the Holy Roman Empire" in 1805?

Austerlitz

What took the place of the "Holy Roman Empire" in 1806?

Napoleon's "Rheinbund" or Confederation of the Rhine.

Where was the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) declared in 1815?

The Congress of Vienna

To how many political entities were the German lands reduced in 1815?

Just over 35

Who was the foreign minister of Austria who presided over the Congress of Vienna?

Metternich

How many of the states of the German Confederation were "free cities"?

4

Why is this period sometimes called "Restoration"? (1815-1848)

Because conservative rule was restored to most areas

Why is the period sometimes called the “Pre-March” or “Vormärz”? (1815-1848)

Because it led up to the March Revolution of 1848

At which castle did students hold a book-burning on 1817?

Wartburg

What did the student Karl Sand do to put himself in the history books?

He shot a reactionary playwright

What were the Karlsbad Decrees?

The laws that governed censorship in the German lands

What was created in 1834?

A Customs Union making trade between certain German states easier

What were the colors of the new nationalist flag from 1817 onwards?

Red, black and gold

How long did the revolutionary parliament last after it was convened in 1848?

About a year

What happened when King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia was offered the crown of the proposed small Germany?

He refused it

What metaphor does Freiligrath use in his poem to express the coming violence of the revolution?

He compares the black, red, and gold of the flag to gunpowder, blood, and fire.

In Heine's poem about the Silesian weavers, what are the weavers weaving?

A cursed shroud for Old Germany

In "Germany, a Winter's Tale," Heine laughs at the custom's official going through his luggage looking for forbidden books.  Why?

Because all of his dangerous revolutionary thoughts are safe in his head

In Hoffman von Fallersleben's poem "Song of the Germans" (Lied der Deutschen), what will make Germany great again?

If Germans stand together in brotherly unity

Who was the 18th century Enlightenment philosopher who wrote about "pure reason" and "practical reason" and coined the term "Categorical Imperative"?

Kant

What does Ozment see as the issue that haunted 19th century German philosophers?

That God might not exist.

Who was the late 19th-century philosopher who wrote about the "Overman" or "Superman" ("Übermensch") and proclaimed that humans had killed God?

Nietzsche

What was the name of the influential book by David Friedrich Strauss that claimed that Jesus's miracles never happened (it cost him his professorship in Zurich)?

"The Life of Jesus"

What was the new term that Marx introduced to history, to designate the masses of the working class?

the proletariat

What was the new term that came into use to describe a (possibly fictional) people from India who were suspected of being the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons?

Aryan

What is the name of the Schiller poem that Beethoven used as the climax to his Ninth Symphony (the tune later became the anthem of the European Union)?

Ode to Joy

What was an important factor in the eventual primacy of Prussia over Austria in the unification of Germany?

Prussia was economically more advanced than Austria

What was the 1864 issue about which Lord Palmerston said only three people had ever understood it: Prince Albert, who was dead; a German professor who had gone mad; and Palmerston himself, who had forgotten all about it?

Denmark invading Schleswig-Holstein

Who was the leader of the North German Confederation?

The King of Prussia

Which war was the catalyst for the uniting of the German lands into one Empire in 1871?

The Franco-Prussian War

Where was the Second Reich (2nd Empire) of the Germans declared?

Palace of Versailles outside Paris.

By 1870, approximately what percentage of the German people were Jews?

1%

Bismarck was a member of which religious denomination?

lutheran

Describe Kleinstaaterei

The fragmentation of Germany into many small states during the Holy Roman Empire; made unification difficult.

Age of Absolutism

Period of strong monarchies with centralized power; rulers like the Hohenzollerns built bureaucracy and armies.

Rise of Brandenburg-Prussia

Development of Prussia into a powerful, militarized state under the Hohenzollern dynasty.

Hohenzollern Dynasty

Ruling family of Brandenburg-Prussia; produced rulers like the Great Elector, Frederick the Great, and Wilhelm I.

Huguenots

French Protestants who fled to Prussia; contributed to economic and cultural growth.

“Great Elector” (Frederick William)

Ruler who strengthened Brandenburg-Prussia through militarization and religious tolerance.

King Friedrich I

First King in Prussia (1701), elevated Prussia’s status to a kingdom.

“Soldier King” (Friedrich Wilhelm I)

Built Prussia’s strong military and famous “giant soldiers.”

“Friedrich der Große” (Frederick the Great)

Ruled 1740–1786; enlightened absolutist; promoted arts, education, and tolerance.

Junkers

Prussian landowning nobility; loyal to the king and military tradition.

Bureaucracy

Efficient state administration developed under Prussian absolutism.

Pietism

Religious movement promoting inner faith and moral living; Spencer emphasized acceptance of different religions.

Aufklärung (German Enlightenment)

Movement promoting reason and human independence from external authority.

Immanuel Kant

Philosopher; wrote “What is Enlightenment?”—“Humanity’s exit from self-imposed tutelage.”

Distinguished public freedom (freedom of thought) vs. private freedom (restrictions in a job or role).

Wrote Critique of Pure Reason and Critique of Practical Reason; created Categorical Imperative (“Act only as you would want everyone to act”).

Baroque architecture

Lavish, gold-covered church interiors; dark, dramatic, overwhelming.

Rococo architecture

Lighter style; white, pastel colors, elegant chandeliers, more light and space.

Reifrock (mid-18th century)

Wide-hooped skirt; symbol of flirtatious, freer society.

Klopstock

Wrote sentimental literature (Der Messias); “poetry of experience.”

Gottsched

Enlightenment writer who emphasized reason and rules in literature.

Empfindsamkeit

“Sentimentalism” — emotional, tender literature emphasizing feeling.

Sturm und Drang (“Storm and Stress”)

Movement emphasizing emotion, passion, and individual genius alongside reason; God seen in nature.

Goethe

Wrote The Sorrows of Young Werther (Sturm und Drang); later Faust I (1806, Classical period).

Schiller

Playwright and poet; collaborated with Goethe during Weimar Classicism.

Klassik / Classicism (1786–1805)

Period of harmony, reason, and form; Goethe and Schiller central figures.

Key French Revolution Dates: May 5, 1789

Estates General meets

Key French Revolution Dates: June 17, 1789

Third Estate declares National Assembly.

Key French Revolution Dates: July 14, 1789

Storming of Bastille.

Key French Revolution Dates: Fall 1789

Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen.

Key French Revolution Dates: April 20, 1792

France declares war on Austria.

Key French Revolution Dates: Jan 21, 1793

Louis XVI executed; Reign of Terror begins.

Key French Revolution Dates: 1794

Robespierre executed; Directory established.

Key French Revolution Dates: 1799

Napoleon seizes power as First Consul.

Key French Revolution Dates: 1804

Napoleon crowned Emperor.

Congress of Vienna (1815)

Redrew Europe after Napoleon; restored monarchies; created German Confederation

German Confederation (Deutscher Bund)

Loose union of 35 states and 4 cities; included Austria and Prussia.

Restoration / Vormärz (Pre-March)

Conservative period before 1848; suppression of liberal ideas.

Burschenschaften (Fraternities)

Student groups promoting liberalism and nationalism; held duels (Mensur), wore “Vollwichs” uniforms.

Karl Sand / Kotzebue

Student Karl Sand murdered writer Kotzebue; led to Karlsbad Decrees.

Karlsbad Decrees (1819)

Censorship laws controlling universities and the press after Sand’s assassination.

Metternich

Austrian statesman who led the conservative reaction at Vienna.

Biedermeier

Artistic/literary style (1815–1848); apolitical, simple, domestic, nature-focused, middle-class life. Furniture heavy, interiors richly decorated.

Biedermeier Poetry

Nature themes, inward-looking, apolitical, philosophical or religious tone.

Romantik

Emphasized emotion, the Middle Ages, and unity; many Romantics were Catholic.

Key Figures in the romanticism period (1790-1830s):

Schlegel brothers, Tieck, Novalis, Hölderlin, Brentano, Arnim, Grimm brothers, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Heine.

Characteristics of the romanticism period (1790-1830s):

Love of Medieval ideal

Longing for German unity

Interest in folklore and fairy tales

Fascination with night, death, ruins

Artist seen as “divine spark” close to God

Romantic Composers:

Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Chopin

Rahel Levin Varnhagen von Ense

Hosted literary salons where women participated in cultural life.

Wartburgfest (1817)

Fraternity protest; students burned books.

Hambacher Fest (1832)

Large nationalist demonstration; people demanded constitutions.

Struwwelpeter (1847)

Moralizing children’s book warning against bad behavior.

1848 Revolution

Attempt at liberal, unified Germany; universal male suffrage and Frankfurt Parliament.

Failed due to divisions; conservatives regained control.

“48ers”

Revolutionaries who fled to America after failure; settled in Texas Hill Country, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati.