Restoration from 1815 Until 1848: Social and Political Change
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Restoration from 1815 until 1848: Social and Political Change The Vienna Congress and the German Federation The hopes of many Germans for national unity and constitutional freedom weren’t fulfilled. After the Napoleonic challenge was defeated, the anti-reform powers everywhere strengthened. In the 25 years between 1789 and 1813/1814 many things had begun to change: the borders of the countries, the political powers, the old institutions, the nation. Now the old powers made an effort - the rulers, nobles, and conservative beaurocrats - , to slow this change, and to stop if it necessary. A New Order for Europe. At the Congress of Vienna (1814 - 1815), Europe was re-organized. Here, the European rulers and their representatives were at home among themselves. They weren’t thinking about fulfilling the wishes of their subjects. On the contrary: they wanted to ensure that they could conduct their politics in the old style again - like in the era of Absolutism. Nobody should have anything to say about it, when they raised taxes, traded territories, or started wars. They called it the “Restoration”, the re-creation of the old style. The rulers called their claims “legitimate” - i.e., corresponding to legal justice. The French Revolution and the conquests of Napoleon were clearly illegitimate. Against the slogans of 1789 - liberty, equality, fraternity - the monarchs wanted to show “solidarity”: this was another central word of the politicians gathered in Vienna. And with “solidarity” they wanted to stand together against the nationalistic wishes of their subjects. Should these be able to dictate where the borders of the countries should be? To strengthen such solidarity of the thrones, a “holy” alliance was formed on the initiative of the Russian Czars. After a while, almost all European rulers had joined it. For the European re-organization, the decisions in Vienna were made by the five powers which were already the most significant before the Central Europe from 1815 until 1848, page 1 French Revolution: England, Russia, Austria, Prussia, and France, which are known as the super-powers. France still belonged to them, despite its defeat. The most influential politician at the congress, and the most decisive representative of the Restoration, was the Austrian foreign secretary Metternich. Metternich’s main thought is especially recognizable in the territorial changes: the old concept of European “balance of power”. No super- power should become as powerful as Napoleon’s France had done. He had, by the way, come back to France in March of 1815, and had taken power again. His “hundred day rule” ended with his being defeated again - in July of 1815 at Waterloo, south of Brussels. He died in exile in 1821 on the British island Saint Helena. Napoleon’s return had only stopped the negotiations at the Vienna Congress briefly. They finally had the following result: Great Britain retained the islands Malta, Ceylon, Helgoland, and the Cape Colony in South Africa, which it had won in the wars of the recent decades. Russia obtained, through personal union, the so-called “congressional Poland” - the central part of the kingdom of Poland as it had existed prior to the partitions. Austria refrained from claiming Habsburg’s Holland and border areas around Austria, but received in return areas in Galica, North Italy, and Dalmatia; it drifted toward the southeast. Prussia obtained a portion of Saxony and the economically-advanced Rheinland and Westphalia; it grew toward the west. France remained in its status of 1792. The German Confederation. And what happened to Germany as a whole? A return to the situation of the 18th century was not possible: too much had changed, and too many had profited from these changes; nobody really wanted to re-create the extreme fragmentation of states which had characterized the old empire. But the reforms were partially removed. Their advance was hindered, the nationalist movement was blocked, and a barrier was placed in front of the liberal constitutional wishes. A German Confederation of 35 sovereign territorial rulers and four free cities was formed. Some foreigners were among the territorial Central Europe from 1815 until 1848, page 2 rulers: the king of England for Hannover, the Danish king for Holstein, and for Luxemburg (“Luxembourg”) the king of Holland. On the other hand, only the parts of Prussia and Austria which had belonged to the old empire were now in the German Confederation. All members of this confederation of states had ambassadors at the parliament in Frankfurt. They also provided, each according to its size, part of an army. The governments united themselves under the political influence of Austria in energetically opposing the demands for a liberal constitution and greater participation of the people. Liberals and Democrats against the Restoration The situation continued, that in Germany, not many people aggressively asserted their political opinions. Indeed, many people in the coming years would completely withdraw into their private lives. Their form of life was called “Biedermeier” after a Swabian (“Schwäbisch”) teacher whose poems praised seclusion of domestic happiness. But in contrast to the years prior to the French Revolution and the wars of liberation, the number of those who wanted to participate in government really had increased. And their voices had become louder: there were more and more political periodicals, and more and more people read them. The German Student Union and the Karlsbad Resolutions. The students, more than anybody else, arose, especially those who had voluntarily fought against Napoleon. Their opinion of the Congress of Vienna was: “the nation has been betrayed.” The congress seemed to them as “the old trading of countries and nations”. In Jena in 1816 the “German Student Union” was founded, a group of students from all over Germany. On October 17, 1817, approximately 800 members met at the Wartburg Castle near the town of Eisenach to make a political announcement. A few professors also appeared. The students demanded, in speeches, “unity and freedom for Germany” and condemned the “Metternich System” of the Restoration. They celebrated the anniversary of the “Battle of the Nations” at Leipzig, which had happened four years earlier. And they remembered the Reformation from 300 earlier, and Martin Luther as Central Europe from 1815 until 1848, page 3 a fighter for free thought and free speech against the authorities. As Luther had publicly burned the bull from Rome which banned him, so now some students in conjunction with this gathering burned books whose authors favored the Restoration. They also burned a corporal’s baton as a symbol of the old military style, which was oriented toward repressing soldiers. Instead, they asserted their demands for a voluntary “armed citizenry”, as it had been done in the “free corps” during the wars of liberation. Against this “university silliness”, Metternich wanted, as the foreign secretary for Austria and therefore the leader of the German Confederation, to act at the earliest opportunity. This soon happened. A member of the student union, Karl Ludwig Sand, who studied theology, stabbed the very popular author August von Kotzebue, an ardent supporter of the Restoration, on March 23, 1819. As a reaction to the murder, the German governments decided, under the influence of Austria, upon a hard attitude toward liberal and democratic activists. In the so-called “Karlsbad Resolutions”, it was decided: [1] students and professors at universities should be watched, and professors who go beyond the “borders of their job” should be fired. [2] All newspapers, periodicals, and books less than 320 pages - often political writings - should be subject to censorship. [3] To keep an eye on revolutionary activity in the German Confederation, a “Central Investigation Commission” was founded. Indeed, there arose at once the “persecution of demagogues”; everyone who voiced opposition to the Restoration was seen as a “demagogue” - a rabble rouser. Some professors were forbidden from teaching. Some students who feared for their professional futures, preferred now to remain silent about their political convictions. Liberal and democratic movements. Despite this, the powers of Central Europe from 1815 until 1848, page 4 the movement went further. The Restoration powers themselves created one platform for this, inasmuch as they allowed popular representation in the states of the former Rhein Confederation. Thus, the situation was as follows: Prussia, the great power north of the line formed by the Main River, allowed, since the time of its reform, a modern, liberal socio-economic system to arise, but had no constitution; in southern Germany, on the other hand, the economic situation was underdeveloped, but there were constitutions. Certainly, these constitutions didn’t limit the power of the monarch very much. The right to vote was primarily for the nobility and the land-owners; the rights of these popular assemblies were mainly limited to giving approval to laws and changes in the tax code. But there were, in these regional representative bodies, open discussion about political questions. Liberalism made itself noticeable. Liberals operated, in the manner of the Enlightenment, on the assumption of the individual’s right to freely develop himself. The state should, in this process, set as few limits as possible. Basic rights, protecting the freedom of the person and property, as important preconditions for personal development were therefore a liberal demand. The popular representative bodies should direct the government, but also form a majority will. In short: we see some thoughts of Abbé Sieyès from 1789, and the model of the French constitution of 1791 again. But the liberals didn’t have revolution in mind, however: they did, after all, remember only all too well, how the Revolution in France had unfolded into a Reign of Terror. They wanted, therefore, to reach the realization of their goals step by step. Yet, in the year 1830, it did come to revolutionary actions in Germany, in connection with the July Revolution in France, where a republic was demanded, but then, after all, the monarchy was retained.