Timeline / 1810 to 1850 / GERMANY
Date Country Theme
1812 - 1817 Germany Travelling
John Lewis Burckhardt from Switzerland journeyed to the “Orient”, especially to Aleppo in Syria, to study the Near East and Islam. While there, under the pseudonym Sheikh Ibrahim ibn ‘Abd-Allah and living as a Muslim businessman, he not only translated from English to Arabic Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, but also rediscovered the city of Petra (Jordan) in 1812.
1813 - 1815 Germany Political Context
The Liberation Wars (and the decisive Battle of Leipzig in 1913) were between Napoleon Bonaparte’s French troops and Central Europe; Napoleon is overthrown.
1814 - 1815 Germany Political Context
The Wiener Kongress (Congress of Vienna) saw the restoration of the political state (the 1792 Ancien Régime), realignment of the borders, and creation of a loosely arranged German Bund (Federation).
1814 - 1815 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
The Wiener Kongress (Congress of Vienna) decides on territorial realignment and the constitutional restoration of Europe.
1815 - 1848 Germany Fine And Applied Arts
The painting by Carl Spitzweg, Der Sonntagsspaziergang (The Sunday Walk, 1841), exemplifies the Biedermeier era (an expression of the popular present reality) in art at this time. Incidentally, Spitzweg’s painting Der arme Poet (The Poor Poet) was the most popular painting in Germany in the 19th century.
1815 - 1848 Germany Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The Biedermeier era in literature (i.e. works by Mörike and von Droste-Hülshoff) is characterised by melancholia, a desire to escape to an idyll and to recapture religion and the homeland.
1815 - 1848 Germany Migrations
An estimated 60,000 German citizens leave the territory that later becomes the German Bund (Federation).
1816 - 1830 Germany Fine And Applied Arts
Architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel engraved a certain style on Berlin, starting with the Neue Wache (New Guardhouse, 1816–18) and followed by the Konzerthaus at Berlin’s Gandarmenmarkt (1818–21). Opposite the Lustgarten (Pleasure gardens) on what is now known as Museum Island in Berlin, Schinkel built the first royal museum, the Altes Museum (opened 1830), marking the beginning of the Island’s history. Date Country Theme
1817 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Rise of the Wartburgfest, an assembly of radical students who want to implement the idea of a German National State.
1818 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Arthur Schopenhauer publishes Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (The World as Will and Representation is the title of the latest, 2008, English translation; the first was published in 1883).The second, expanded German edition appeared in 1944.
1819 Germany Political Context
The Karlsbader Beschlüsse (Carlsbad Decrees) was intended to suppress liberal and national movements through censorship of the press and political persecution.
1820 - 1825 Germany Rediscovering The Past
The German naturalists and explorers Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg embark on a research tour in cooperation with Martin Lichtenstein (who published Reisen im südlichen Afrika (Tourism in Southern Africa) in 1810 and was appointed director of the Berlin Zoological Museum in 1813) from Cairo to Derna in Libya, along the Nile, and through the Sinai Desert and Lebanon, collecting natural and historical specimens.
1822 - 1829 Germany Political Context
The War between Greece and the Ottoman Empire concludes with Greece attaining its independence with the help of Russia and the Western nations.
1824 - 1829 Germany Cities And Urban Spaces
Rosenstein Palace is built by Giovanni Salucci under Wilhelm I; it has been a public museum since 1954.
1825 - 1848 Germany Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
This era, one marked by the politician and statesman Klemens von Metternich, a supporter of restoration politics and conditions prior to the French Revolution, is satirised by the Junges Deutschland, a movement in literature (i.e. the works of Büchner, Heine and Grabbe) that is characterised by a rejection of these beliefs in support of a free press and freedom of expression.
1830 - 1847 Germany Political Context
Stimulated by the French July Revolution, the Vormärz (pre-March) Revolution refers to the formation of political programmes and factional movements.
1830 - 1840 Germany Economy And Trade
Industrialisation and the Industrial Revolution.
1830 Germany Reforms And Social Changes Date Country Theme
The French July Revolution strengthens the power of the Besitzbürgertum (the landed gentry). Revolutions in central and north Germany enforce constitutional state reforms.
1832 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
The “Hambacher Fest” demonstrates the liberal, democratic and national opposition in Germany.
1832 Germany Political Context
From 27 to 30 May an apparently non-political country fair, the “Hambacher Fest”, was held by a German national democratic assembly, demanding freedom, national entity and popular sovereignty.
1833 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
First communication by telegram.
1834 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Standardisation of the Abitur (equivalent to the A-Level system used elsewhere) which allows students to enter German universities.
1834 Germany Travelling
The Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam is connected to Berlin by rail, one of the first electrified railway sections in Old Germany. Since 1911, the Palace has been used as a film location (i.e. The Blue Angel, 1930).
1835 - 1838 Germany Cities And Urban Spaces
The first section of railway is established between Nürnberg and Fürth (6 km); the building of the long-haul between Leipzig and Dresden is finished in 1838.
1841 - 1844 Germany Travelling
The Berlin Zoological Gardens was established in 1841 and opened to the public in 1844. The oldest zoo in Germany, today, it hosts more visitors than any zoo in Europe (around 3 million visitors per year).
1842 - 1846 Germany Rediscovering The Past
The Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius is appointed director of an expedition to Egypt by Friedrich Wilhelm IV.
1843 Germany Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Friedrich Gottlob commodifies paper production (the mass production of cheap paper).
1844 Germany Reforms And Social Changes Date Country Theme
The first Proletariat uprising, the Weber Rebellion, witnesses 3,000 weavers in Silesia protesting against inhumane working conditions and exploitation. The uprising is quashed by the Prussian military – which murders them all.
1844 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
First proletarian uprising: 3000 weavers in Silesia are protesting against the inhumane working conditions and their exploitation. They are all being killed by the Prussian military.
1848 Germany Political Context
Establishment of the first parliament in German history (at the Paulskirche, Frankfurt am Main), and elaboration of the German Imperial Constitution.
1848 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.
1848 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Liberal regimes, now with seats in government, herald a series of liberal reforms in all German states. After riots in Berlin, Prussian King Frederick William IV promises liberal and national reforms.
1848 Germany Political Context
The German National Assembly meets in Frankfurt.
1848 - 1849 Germany Political Context
The Pre-March Revolution involves a series of protests, gatherings and disturbances, but by July 1849 the Bundes troops are victorious and the revolution fails.
1849 Germany Reforms And Social Changes
Popular movements in Saxony, Baden and the Pfalz attempt to put into effect the Constitution of the Empire, but they are defeated by Prussian troops.
1849 Germany Political Context
The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV refuses the German Imperial Crown.
1849 Germany Political Context
The German National Assembly approves the Constitution of the German Empire.