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Read Mr Schofield's Lightning Tour of 19Th Century German History And Read Mr Schofield’s lightning tour of 19th Century German History and answer this essay question. Evaluate the view that German nationalism only changed between 1800 and 1919 when monarchs and political leaders chose to change it. 20 marks 1800 – There was no ‘Germany’ to speak of. There was a hotchpotch of 314 ‘states’, loosely gathered into the ‘Holy Roman Empire’, under the nominal (in name only) rule of the Emperor – who was also emperor of Austria. The two largest parts of the Holy Roman Empire were Austria and Prussia. 1806 – Napoleon, Emperor of France, defeated Austria and Prussia, and the Holy Roman Empire was wiped off the map. • The Far west of Germany (everything west of the Rhine) was absorbed into the French Empire. • 17 states in West-central Germany were formed into the Confederation of the Rhine, under direct French rule. • Across the region, many smaller states combined, to make 39 larger states. • Austria and Prussia, defeated and with diminished influence, were still the two largest independent states in the region. • Under Napoleonic rule, west and central Germany began to modernise away from feudal society to modern, early-industrial capitalist society. 1813 – With Russian help, Prussia and then Austria attacked the French Empire, and forced Napoleon to abdicate. The ‘War of Liberation’ is often seen as the first act of ‘German’ unity, but in truth Austria and Prussia were rivals, not allies, and there’s little evidence of popular attachment to any concept of ‘Germany’. 1815 – The two great ‘German’ powers carved up their newly-won territory – Prussia more than doubled in population as it claimed large gains in the north and, weirdly, the north-west, where people who didn’t feel in the least bit Prussian were given new Prussian rulers. Austria picked up large chunks of Italy. In June 1815 the ‘German Confederation’ was born. Basically, all of the old Holy Roman Empire was joined in a diplomatic union, 39 self-governing individual states, with shared ambassadors and shared diplomatic treaties with other countries. This definitely wasn’t a unified nation, nor was it particularly German: there were Poles, Czech’s, Danes and French-speaking people inside it, and some German-speaking Austrians and Prussians outside it! Representatives from each state met at a Diet in Frankfurt, which ensured states didn’t do their own diplomatic deals, but did almost nothing to economically or legally unify the 39 states. Austria and Prussia remained the dominant rivals, in uneasy peace. 1815-1840 The German states at this time made little progress towards liberal democracy (as was occurring in the UK, for example). Some southern and central states opened elected assemblies, but the majority of states retained strict autocracies. Austria remained under the absolute control of its Emperor, Prussia was dominated by large noble land-owners (Junkers) in alliance with its king. Many states developed sophisticated bureaucracies. Culturally, two forces began to well up during this period – liberalism and nationalism. Particularly in universities, young educated people called for a series of liberal democratic reforms and the creation of a unified German nation. There was a widespread cultural upswell of ‘German’ art, literature and music, and some political groups such as the ‘Young Germans’ formed to demand unification and liberal reforms. Under the dominance of Prussia and particularly Austria, under the leadership of the ultra- conservative Chancellor Metternich, these demands were met with repression. Some smaller states did open representative assemblies, but most followed Metternich’s fierce opposition to democracy. In 1832 he persuaded the Diet to increase central control over universities and censorship. Economically, one significant change was that Prussia persuaded most of the states to join a free trade ‘customs union’ (Austria did not join) which increased its status and control within the Confederation. By 1848 Austria had political control of the Confederation, but had been isolated and weakened in economic terms, where Prussia was the clear leader. The 1840s Fears of a possible French invasion stoked a new wave of German nationalism in this period, with the newspapers whipping up patriotism and new songs such as Deutschland uber Alles becoming popular. Liberalism was also on the increase, with some states relaxing censorship. A new King of Prussia, Frederick William IV, opened a temporary national Diet in Berlin in 1847 (over half of whom were Junkers) then closed it when it demanded to be made permanent! With the highest literacy in Europe, liberal-national newspapers such as ‘The German Newspaper’ grew in popularity. The 1848 Revolution There was an economic crisis across Europe in 1846-7 (cholera, potato blight, land hunger, food prices, unemployment). In addition, aristocratic and royal domination of politics was a frustration to the growing middle class in Germany, as was the lack of progress on liberal reform and national unification. In 1847 a gathering of liberals from all the south-west German states demanded a German People’s Parliament, while a similar radical gathering demanded a united German Republic. On 24th February 1848, the King of France was overthrown. By 13th March this had inspired mass demonstrations on the streets of Vienna – Metternich fled the city, and fell from power. Demonstrations sprang up across the German states and most German rulers folded, granting elections, constitutions and the end of the last remnants of feudalism. In many of these states, however, a familiar story emerged – prosperous liberals, granted the political reforms they desired, teamed up with the monarchies to crush peasant and worker demands for sweeping social reforms. In Austria, in May 1848, the Emperor agreed to an elected constituent assembly. In March, Prussia (along with several other larger states) agreed to “a national representation elected in all the German lands” to meet rapidly, “for the development of the strength and flowering of German national life!” Within a month, The Frankfurt Parliament was elected, and set itself the challenge of creating a united Germany, under a UK-style constitutional monarchy and elected Parliament. It failed – there were too many conflicts over the borders of the new Germany, whether only German- speakers should be included, it couldn’t raise taxes or and army, and ultimately the forces of conservatism regained their confidence in time to resist it. In March 1849 the Frankfurt Parliament passed constitution and invited the King of Prussia to become head of the new Germany. He refused, as he would have become a constitutional monarch, bound by a parliament, and because it might lead to war with Austria (which, by now, had a new Emperor, totally opposed to the whole project). The Frankfurt Parliament dispersed in failure. The modernisation of Prussia: One other change came out of this revolution. In order to appease the protesting crowds in Berlin (and in order to build a new pathway to dominating Germany, that bypassed the Frankfurt Parliament) King Frederick William IV did agree to a new Prussian Constitution – it involved the rule of law, an elected Parliament of two houses (dominated by the wealthy) and the maintenance of autocracy in ‘emergency powers’. There was now a clear pattern to German geo-politics – Prussia wanted to dominate the region by uniting it, Austria by keeping it disunited. Culturally, the tide was with Prussia – the events of 1848-9 had strengthened a German national consciousness, even if they had demonstrated the huge divisions between peasants, workers, nobles and the urban middle classes in Germany. 1850-51 – How unified to be? In 1850 Prussia managed to persuade 28 states to join a close political union – the Erfurt Union. Austria responded by re-opening the old Diet of the loose ‘German Confederation’. Austria won the stand-off, and in 1851 the German Confederation on 1815 was restored, with Prussia and Austria allied within it – for now. But Austria was falling behind Prussia economically and, in 1856, would be crippled financially by the Crimean War. Prussia, meanwhile, was booming, under leadership that believed in economic reform but political reaction. 1862 – Bismark arrives In December 1861 a radical liberal party, the Progressives, won the elections to the Prussian parliament, and refused to support the King without serious reforms (particularly making the army a national rather than a royal army). He refused and dissolved parliament, they won again in 1862, he nearly abdicated. Instead, he appointed a new, conservative Chief Minister – Otto von Bismark. In his first speech to Parliament he declared “Germany does not look to Prussia’s liberalism, but to its power. It is not through speeches and majority decisions that the great questions of the day are decided. It is by iron and blood.” He called the Progressives’ bluff – they didn’t want a violent revolution, and backed off from their demands. Prussia had a new, strong, leader, the ‘Iron Chancellor’. 1866 – The Seven Weeks War Confident that he had the superior army, Bismark spent the next four years trying to goad Austria into a war, as the means of establishing Prussian dominance over Germany. He used the debate over who should control two tiny states in modern Denmark, Schleswig and Holstein, to finally get his war in 1866. It took one decisive battle, at Sadowa in July 1866, to prove Prussia’s military superiority, and Austria called for peace. The Treaty of Prague in August 1866 significantly strengthened Prussia and isolated Austria: • Prussia absorbed several states, such as Hanover, Schleswig and Holstein. • All other states north of the River Main joined a North German Confederation under Prussian Control • Four Catholic states in the south (Bavaria, etc) remained independent, but signed a secret mutual defence pact with Prussia. Bismark could, perhaps have demanded a unified Germany in 1866, but was content to bide his time – he wanted to ensure Prussia was not damaged by over-expansion.
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