Chapter 3 Notes: Liberalism and Nationalism in Germany, 1815–71

Central Europe in 1815

Map 3.1 shows central Europe at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
Key states within the area that would become Germany:
- Prussia
- Bavaria
- Hanover
- Saxony
- Wurttemberg
- Baden

3.1 Causes of the Revolutions in 1848–49

Germany was not a single unified country in 1815 but a series of states.
Much of the territory was within the German Confederation.

Impact of Metternich’s System

Before the Napoleonic Wars, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire, which collapsed in 1806 due to Napoleon.
Napoleon reorganized west German states into the Confederation of the Rhine.
French armies brought ideas of the Enlightenment, emphasizing reason and sweeping away old structures.
Diverse German laws were replaced with the French legal system.
German thinkers emphasized their culture's distinctiveness.
Romantic writers valued emotion and imagination, encouraging interest in German historical past.
J.G. Herder popularized Volksgeist ('spirit of the people'), the idea of a unique national identity based on shared heritage and language.
- These ideas marked the start of a sense of German nationhood, promoting unity against French occupation.
After defeat by Napoleon, Prussia reorganized its government and army, joining Austria and Russia to expel French forces.
The Battle of Leipzig (1813) was a major defeat for Napoleon and a symbol of emerging German identity, although German troops fought on both sides.
- A 91-metre high monument was constructed on the site to mark its centenary

Post-War Settlement (Congress of Vienna, 1814)

European nations met in Vienna to address issues from the wars and establish boundaries.
Austria, Prussia, Britain, and Russia were the most important states represented.
France attended but had no decision-making power.
European leaders were anxious about liberalism and nationalism.
They aimed to restore stability and the rule of old royal families.
Prince Klemens von Metternich (Austrian foreign minister) was a key figure.
The Austrian Empire had $25$ million people and covered $647,000$ square kilometers.
It comprised Austria, Hungary, and territories in central and eastern Europe.
The empire included Austrians, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Croats, Poles, and northern Italians.
The majority were Roman Catholics, loyal to the Pope.
The ‘Metternich System’ maintained absolute monarchy in Austria and similar systems in other European states.
Metternich was suspicious of change, viewing ‘liberty’ and ‘equality’ as sources of evil.
He feared nationalism would collapse the Habsburg monarchy.
He avoided stationing troops in their native regions to prevent nationalist opposition.
His policies relied on press censorship and a network of secret agents.
The Metternich System kept peace but stoked resentment.

Prince Klemens Von Metternich

Austrian Foreign Minister from 1809-1848 and Chancellor from 1821-1848.
Played a key role in the alliance of Austria, Prussia, and Russia which defeated Napoleonic France in 1813–14.
He was a conservative determined to suppress liberalism and nationalism.
Metternich fell from power when the 1848 revolutions broke out, and went into exile.
Returned to Austria in 1851, after the power of the monarchy had been re-established.
Famously said of himself that ‘error has never approached my spirit’.

The German Confederation

The Metternich System reorganized Germany into a confederation (Bund) of 39 states under Austrian control.
These states varied in size; the intention was to avoid a united Germany.
The Confederation was based on the boundaries of the old Holy Roman Empire.
It included non-Germans (e.g., Czechs in Bohemia) and excluded some German-speaking areas.
Presided over by the Diet (conference of ambassadors) in Frankfurt.
The Diet controlled foreign policies, but rulers managed internal affairs.
The Confederation lacked a strong identity, civil service, and economic integration.
An 1821 attempt to create a federal defense force failed due to command and funding disputes.
The structure maintained Austria’s power, with the Austrian representative chairing the Diet.
Austria had a veto over constitutional changes and support from Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt.
Southern states had constitutions but rulers retained power.
Most German princes governed in an authoritarian fashion.
Prussia was the largest German state, mainly rural with Berlin as its capital, and ruled by King Friedrich Wilhelm III.
The Junkers (conservative landowning class) supported the monarch and formed the core of the Prussian army's officer class.
Prussia gained territory in the Rhineland in 1815, doubling its population to over $10$ million.
Prussia was a potential rival to Austria but, at this stage, did not challenge it.
Both Prussia and Austria had an interest in preventing political change in Germany.

The Influence of Liberal Ideas and the Emergence of a Middle Class

Liberalism was an ideology of educated middle-class people.
- Business people.
- Professionals, such as lawyers, officials, doctors and university teachers.
The business class was concentrated in the Rhineland cities and ports like Hamburg
- Most were merchants who controlled small workshops or employed domestic workers.
In Prussia, guilds' privileges had been removed, allowing anyone to be an employer.
Successful merchants had civic responsibility and became leaders.
Many middle-class men had university education, leading to professions.
- Germany’s university population doubled between 1817 and 1831.
The middle class facilitated the growth of newspapers and cultural societies.
The middle classes were excluded from upper social classes, especially public service careers dominated by the Junker aristocracy in Prussia.
Middle-class liberals wanted people to have a say in government through representative assemblies or parliaments.
Constitutional monarchy was their preferred form of government.
They wanted guarantees of freedom, such as free speech and fair trials.
They sought a middle ground between authoritarian monarchy and democracy.
Many liberals believed in laissez-faire economics, with trade and business functioning without government interference.
They wanted to remove tariffs, promote competition, reduce prices, and improve quality for consumers.
They believed in human self-improvement and societal progress.
It's difficult to gauge the influence of liberal ideas among the wider population, as intellectual activity was limited to educated circles.
Some liberals engaged working-class areas, but workers favored radical democratic republics and popular uprisings.

Growth of Nationalist Ideas

In the first half of the 19th century, liberalism was often associated with nationalism.
- Nationalists believed that people of the same race, language, culture or history should be united in an independent nation of their own.
Support for national unity in Germany at this time was limited mainly to small sections of society.
- Literate, professional people and members of student associations known as the Burschenschaften.
Most ordinary Germans felt greater loyalty to the region where they lived.
- Communications were poor and people were usually born, lived, married, worked and died in the same villages or neighbouring towns.
There was little desire to see the creation of a strong central government, which might impose additional taxes on the population.
There was no religious unity.
- The southern states, such as Bavaria and Baden, were mainly Catholic.
- Prussia proper, like most of northern Germany, was largely Protestant.
The industrialised Rhineland was economically very different from the agricultural regions to the south and east.
A sense of German cultural nationalism first emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in reaction to the invasions by France.

The Conservative Reaction to Nationalism

Metternich contained liberal and nationalist movements after the Congress of Vienna.
The Carlsbad Decrees were implemented in 1819 after the murder of August von Kotzebue by a liberal student
- Universities: Each university was to have an ‘extraordinary commissioner’ assigned to it, to supervise the teaching programme.
- Liberal professors who undermined the established order were to be removed from their posts.
- Unauthorised student organisations were to be dissolved.
- The press: The member states of the Confederation, and the Diet, were to censor the newspaper press.
- A central investigating commission was to be set up in Mainz to root out organisations promoting liberal and nationalist ideas.
Liberalism took a stronger hold because of the July 1830 revolution in Paris, where Charles X was replaced by King Louis Philippe.
- Charles X had never been reconciled to the ending of old-style absolute monarchy, and had tried to govern like his predecessors had before 1789.
- Louis Philippe established a parliamentary monarchy.
In four small German states – Saxony, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Brunswick – rulers were obliged to grant constitutions.
- Increased press freedom allowed more criticism of governments.
The Hambach Festival in 1832 saw open discussion of liberal and nationalist ideas and the Young Germany movement.
Metternich reacted to these developments with predictable harshness.
The Six Articles of June 1832 limited the rights of elected assemblies and declared the supremacy of federal law.
The Ten Articles, passed the following month, banned political meetings and festivals.
The liberals and nationalists were too few, and Austria could always count on its control of the Confederation
In 1837, the new king of Hanover, Ernest Augustus, abolished the constitution.
- Seven professors who objected lost their posts at the University of Göttingen.
- The ‘Göttingen Seven’ included Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, two famous brothers whose collection of traditional folk tales helped to promote a sense of German culture.
Most of the princes ensured that they kept the levers of power in their hands when they granted constitutions.
In Prussia a new king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, succeeded to the throne in 1840 relaxed censorship but rejected demands for a single parliament.

Friedrich Wilhelm IV

Became king of Prussia in 1840.
He was a romantic and often unpredictable figure, who unintentionally caused liberals to believe that he sympathised with their ideas.
He was really a conservative, whose handling of the revolution of 1848–49 left reformers disappointed.
He was unable to rule for the last three years of his reign as a result of a stroke, and the country was governed by his younger brother, Wilhelm I, as regent.

The Impact of the Zollverein

Germany's location in the heart of Europe was an advantage for trade.
In this period, about 70% of the population still made their living from agriculture.
Manufacturing was the main economic activity only in certain areas.
The main growth areas were in the production of consumer goods such as textiles.
Heavy manufacturing began to take off from the 1840s, with the rapid development of railways, especially in Prussia.

Opportunities and Obstacles to German Economic Growth

Economic progress in the first half of the 19th century was an important factor in German unification.
Customs barriers among German Confederation members slowed down trade.
Larger states like Prussia had internal boundaries and imposed tolls.
German industries faced competition from foreign products.
Prussia abolished its 67 internal customs barriers in 1818 and encouraged other states to do the same.
Prussia protected its industries with import tariffs.

The Zollverein and the Rise of Prussia

By 1834, Prussia had formed the Zollverein.
- A customs union of 18 German states, the largest free-trade area in Europe, soon comprising 25 states, with a combined population of 26 million.
- Income from tariffs was divided between the member states in proportion to their population size.
Soon they were linked by a rapidly growing rail network, centred on Berlin, and in time they adopted a common currency and system of weights and measures.
The Zollverein promoted economic expansion for all its members.
Austria did not join, preferring to protect its domestic producers.
Prussia became determined not to allow Austria to join the Zollverein later, in order to maintain its own advantageous position.
The Zollverein helped Prussia assume a predominant economic position within Germany, but it did not follow that it would also take on its political leadership.

Social and Economic Problems in the 1840s

In 1848 a number of European countries were affected by popular uprisings.
The disturbances began in February with the toppling of the monarchy of King Louis Philippe in France.
In March, Metternich was forced into exile by disturbances in Vienna.
Revolutionary hopes proved short-lived, however, and authoritarian regimes soon re-established control.
The events of 1848–49 had a variety of causes – economic, social and political.
Continuing poor living standards for the peasants in the countryside were made worse by high rents and two years of bad harvests in 1846 and 1847.
Increasing population size exacerbated the situation.
Rising food prices worsened the position of urban workers, especially as they coincided with a recession in the textile industry in 1847.
The economic downturn led employers to cut wages.

Social and Economic Causes of Revolution

Economic distress and desire for political change combined in Prussia. The government sought funds for a railway but faced resistance.
In October 1847, liberal politicians demanded further political changes, including the summoning of a German national parliament.
News of the revolution in France provided a further stimulus to liberal demands for change.
The uprisings in the German states were uncoordinated but shared certain characteristics.
The only German ruler who gave up his throne was Ludwig I of Bavaria.
A meeting at Heidelberg in March 1848 led to the summoning of a Vorparlament or ‘pre- parliament’.

Revolution in Prussia

Economic distress and desire for political change were evident in Prussia.
King Friedrich Wilhelm IV called the United Diet in April 1847 to support railway funding, but they demanded a constitution.
Friedrich Wilhelm rejected this, leading to disturbances in Berlin in March 1848 and the start of the revolution.
The fighting which erupted briefly in Prussia in March 1848 was not typical of events across the Confederation.
In the months after March 1848, however, the political demands of the liberals came to the fore.
The lack of common ground between working-class and middle-class revolutionaries was a fundamental weakness of the movement.
The period 1815–48 also saw the emergence of Prussia as a major state within the German Confederation.
It was not clear in 1848, however, that a united Germany would definitely come about.

3.2 Consequences of the 1848-49 Revolutions

The princely rulers, alarmed by the strength of popular feeling in the spring of 1848, made concessions in the short term.
Baden was briefly in the hands of revolutionaries, supported by mutinous troops, but in June 1849, the Grand Duke asked Prussia to restore order in the country.
Prussia also offered military assistance to end the revolts in other states, including Saxony and Württemberg.

Weaknesses of the Revolutions

Divisions within the revolutionary movements.
- Liberals, who wanted moderate constitutional reform, differed from radicals, who sought more far-reaching political changes.
- Working-class revolutionaries wanted improvements to their living and working conditions and had little in common with middle-class liberals interested in political ideas.
The recovery of the Austrian monarchy

Friedrich Wilhelm IV and Prussia

Friedrich Wilhelm behaved inconsistently during the revolutionary year.
There has been debate about his motives for this gesture.
In December 1848, he announced a more restrictive political settlement of his own.
The new constitution, established a two-chamber parliament but enabled the king to retain the essentials of power in his own hands.
The voting system for the Prussian lower house of parliament, the Landtag, was designed to favour conservative interests.

Consequences of the Revolutions

The princely rulers, alarmed by popular feeling, made short-term concessions and retained control of armed forces.
Royal power was recovered due to divisions among revolutionaries and the recovery of the Austrian monarchy.
Friedrich Wilhelm IV behaved inconsistently, dissolving the assembly and implementing a restrictive constitution.
The Frankfurt Parliament, meeting from May 1848 to June 1849, was elected nationally but not fully representative.
- 200 Lawyers
- 90 Nobles
- 49 University Professors
- 40 Principals and Teachers
- 35 Writers and Journalists
- 30 Merchants and Industrialists
- 26 Clergy
- 12 Doctors
- 4 Handicraft Workers
- 1 Peasants
The parliament aimed for a strong central government but was slow to decide on its form.
The Frankfurt Parliament had several key weaknesses.
- Members could not agree on the territorial extent of a new Germany.
- Parliament lacked the means of enforcing any decisions it made.
- Lacked an army of its own.
The German princes did not initially oppose the parliament because their own authority had been weakened by the revolutionary events of spring 1848.

The Collapse of the Frankfurt Parliament

The Frankfurt Parliament had several key weaknesses.
– The princes mostly withdrew their constitutions after Friedrich Wilhelm’s refusal of the crown.
– Most of the members of the parliament went home.
– Those who remained moved to Stuttgart, capital of Württemberg, only to be dispersed by troops in June 1849.
– This marked the failure of middle-class liberalism to establish a united Germany.

Reassertion of Austrian Power: The ‘Humiliation of Olmütz’

Austria-Prussia relations after 1848 revolutions.
The Prussian monarchy survived, but Friedrich Wilhelm IV sought unity under Prussian control.
Austria was to be excluded from this new Reich
Saxony and Hanover agreed to support the plan, concluding the Three Kings’ Alliance with Prussia.
Austria reacted by reviving the Diet of the Confederation.
Conflict came to a head when Elector Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel asked for help in a dispute with his parliament; Prussia could not resist.
‘Humiliation of Olmütz’ in November 1850: Prussia abandoned the Erfurt Union, restoring Austria's status.
The smaller states rejected the Schwarzenberg plan.
Agreement to return to the old framework of the German Confederation.
Experience of 1848–49 demonstrated the weakness of liberal nationalism.

Prussia’s Prospects

Prussia's position in north-central Germany gave it an opportunity to dominate its neighbours.
The Crimean War of 1854–56 had no real effect on Prussia, whose interests were not directly involved.
Economic developments after 1849: the growth of industrialisation and the Zollverein.

Economic Developments After 1849

Prussia was the most economically advanced German state, with growth outpacing Austria.
- Increased rail network stimulated iron and steel sectors and coal output.
Railway expansion involved state-private sector partnership, boosting government income through interest payments and Zollverein dues.
Economic growth boosted the material prosperity and self-confidence of the middle classes.

Prussia’s Economic Growth

By the end of the 1850s, Prussia was positioned to lead German unification, having a strong economy and state structure.
Austria was hit hard by the onset of an economic downturn in the late 1850s, and the costs of maintaining military garrisons throughout its empire added to its problems.
In 1859, many business and professional people came together to found the National Society, or Nationalverein, an organization which placed its hopes in Prussia.
One of the most important features of the 1850s was the continued growth of the Zollverein.

Otto Von Manteuffel’s Reforms

Otto von Manteuffel was Minister-President from 1850 to 1858.
He was a conservative who wanted to strengthen the bonds between the monarchy and the people.
Manteuffel sought to discourage the poorer members of society from supporting liberal ideas by undertaking social reforms.
The ‘German problem’ remained unresolved in the late 1850s.

3.3 Bismarck’s Intentions, 1862-1866

Wilhelm I became regent of Prussia in 1858 and king in 1861, focused on strengthening the army.
Franco-Austrian War of 1859 revealed Prussian army weaknesses.
Wilhelm wanted to reform the army by increasing the military budget and annual conscription, alarming the liberals.

Reasons for Bismarck’s Appointment as Minister-President

Bismarck was made Minister-President in 1862 to resolve the army reform crisis.
Bismarck was a politician and former diplomat, who came from a Junker landowning family.
- Bismarck served as a diplomat, representing Prussia in the Diet of the Confederation in 1851.

Otto Von Bismarck

The son of a Junker landowner and a mother who came from a middle-class family of officials and lawyers.
Bismarck was a politician and former diplomat, who came from a Junker landowning family.
When the German states were united in 1871, Bismarck was the first chancellor of Germany.

Bismarck’s Attitude Towards German Unification

Bismarck's role in unification is debated: visionary planner vs. opportunist.
Some believe he intended unification from the beginning, citing his 1862 remarks to Disraeli.
The alternative view sees Bismarck as prioritizing Prussia’s interests and power, using nationalism as a means.
Bismarck emphasized pragmatism, cautioning against rigid assumptions.

Bismarck’s Impact on Prussian Politics

Bismarck's loyalty to the monarchy led to his appointment, but relations with Wilhelm I were often stormy.
He bypassed parliamentary agreement to collect taxes for army reforms.
He delivered a speech to parliament which was to become famous.
His insistence that the king’s government must be carried on, even without an agreement with parliament, was a complete rejection of what they stood for.
The only possible basis for a compromise lay in the fact that, for very different reasons, both Bismarck and the Progressives supported the idea of German unification.

Bismarck and the Prussian Army

The Prussian army was a vital asset for Bismarck.
Bismarck was assisted in his battle for unification by two outstanding army leaders – Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, chief of the general staff, and Albrecht von Roon, the minister of war.

Relations With, and Policies Towards Austria

Bismarck aimed to dominate northern Germany by excluding Austria, using force if necessary.
In 1863, a new Danish king, Christian IX, proposed the incorporation of Schleswig into Denmark. This angered the German Confederation.
Preparing for war With Austria:
– Unlike the war against Denmark, Bismarck was largely responsible for the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.
Most of Europe, including the German states, shared Napoleon III’s opinion that the war would be a long one, and public opinion in Prussia was against the conflict.

The Austro-Prussian War, 1866

Surprisingly, when war finally broke out in 1866, the Prussians took only seven weeks to secure a victory. Why did they win the war so quickly and decisively?
The Austrians had some fundamental weaknesses, however, which these figures do not reveal.
The Seven Weeks’ War saw just one major decisive battle, at Königgrätz, a fortress on the River Elbe in Bohemia.

Outcomes of the Austro-Prussian War

The Peace terms were established in the Treaty of Prague.
The treaty allowed Bismarck to replace the Austrian-dominated German Confederation with the North German Confederation.
This was not an association of free states, but a political union in which Prussia simply took over the states north of the River Main.
Saxony retained its king, Johann I, and some limited independence within the Confederation. This was a special concession won by Austria on behalf of its leading German ally.

The North German Confederation

The new Confederation established Prussian power over an additional 4 million people in northern Germany.
The king of Prussia had control over the Confederation’s foreign policy and decisions about war and peace.
However, the independence of the southern German states (Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg) was guaranteed.

3.4 Unification by 1871

Bismarck's attitude towards France. It is not clear that Bismarck actively sought war with France as a long-term objective, but he was prepared to accept it if necessary.
Relations between Prussia and France deteriorated after the Austro-Prussian War.
In 1868, the Spanish queen, Isabella, was forced to abdicate by politicians who wanted an end to the rule of the Bourbon royal family in their country.

The Spanish Succession Crisis

A major international incident occurred in early July 1870, when a document announcing Leopold’s acceptance arrived in Madrid at a time when the Spanish parliament was not in session.
The French government concluded that there was a Prussian plot to encircle France and so put Wilhelm under pressure to persuade Leopold to withdraw.
The Ems Telegram gave Bismarck the chance to portray France as unreasonable.

The Outbreak of War Against France, July 1870

Public outrage in both Prussia and France led to war.
War would almost certainly unite the south German states with the North German Confederation against the common enemy, Napoleon’s France.

Reasons for Prussian Victory in Franco-Prussian War

There was French isolation. France was seen as the aggressor. Britain refused to offer support, and Russia decided to remain neutral.
Moreover, there was Prussian military superiority. Rapid mobilization and effective preparation contrasted with French inefficiency.

Prussian Military Superiority

Prussian rapid mobilisation and effective preparation for war strongly contrasted with the inefficiency exhibited by France.
In terms of weaponry, there was the Chassepot rifle. It was superior to the Prussian needle gun.
However, the French also possessed an early kind of machine gun, the Mitrailleuse, but their troops had not learned how to deploy it effectively in support of infantry.

Creation of the German Empire, 1871

Germany was fully united, but Prussia remained dominant.
It was a Kleindeutsch solution, excluding Austria. There were Junker concerns about Prussia's influence in a larger Germany.
Wilhelm was proclaimed ‘German Emperor’ in January 1871 at Versailles, as a visible sign of France’s humiliation.

The Constitution of the New Reich

-Modeled on the North German Confederation, Prussia had a deciding voice in the Bundesrat, and the King of Prussia was the Kaiser and commander-in-chief.
-Most importantly, the Prussian army dwarfed the military establishments of the other German states.