UNIFICATION OF GERMANY
POPULAR PRESSURE AND CAUSES OF REVOLUTION, 1840–48
● The political situation in the 1840s:
○ political geography of the German Confederation; the dominance of
Austria; the growth of nationalism, including the 1840 crisis; growth of
liberalism; Prussia under Frederick William III.
How far is it accurate to say that Metternich had held back the forces of German nationalism and
liberalism prior to 1848?
● The restrictions of freedoms that limited movements of popular radicalism in the form of
nationalism and liberalism of which Metternich was the bastion of held back ideologies
● How the movements manifested themselves politically, especially in the smaller states was a
bigger failure than limiitng the cultural and intellectual movement
● Localism and parochialism in the predominantly agrarian economies of German states may have
been the reason for a lack of appeal and purchase among the populations
Before the March revolutions, in which, incidentally, Metternich was forced from power, it has often been said the
ideologies of liberalism and nationalism were weak, held little support and almost no political relevance.
Supporting many conservative-reactionary policies, Metternich led the way in the subjugation of new ideas that
would threaten the traditional centres of power that were central to Metternich's beliefs. However, they were
gaining ground and there is evidence of the support and success of the political movements.
Metternich role in the prevailing philosophy and policy within the Confederation in the Vormarz period
has led to it being commonly referred to as the age of Metternich. As they were based on the transfer of ideas
and stemmed from intellectualism, key areas that Metternich held back the forces of nationalism and liberalism
was through restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of the press, with particular regard to universities,
from where much of the ideas emanated from because they housed romantic historians and philosophers that
advocated the types of change associated with the movements and the students, who formed the
Burschenschaft, influenced by the professors. His use of the Confederation as a reasonably successful vector
was important, but the alliance formed through peaceful dualism with Prussia, both seeking to maintain their
power and support conservative principles. Through this cooperation his plans to achieve this would naturally
predominate in the Confederation and it no one in high places that would challenge the repression of ideas. One
of the most significant results of Austro-Prussian co-operation were the Carlsbad Decrees from 1819. Initially a
reaction to the murder of August von Kotzebue by a liberal student, eventually the decrees were a series of
restrictions on university life and the freedom of the press. Drawn up by Metternich with the agreement of
Frederick WIlliam at Carlsbad in Bohemia, the decrees were vetoed for and passed by the Federal Diet under
pressure from the Austrians and became a means by which reactionary power was exerted for the next 29 years.
The Carlsbad Decrees illustrated that Austria, under Metternich, was the dominant power within German
Confederation in the years following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Such action, which was extended in 1832,
also contributed to the action of other princes across the Confederation and this ad hoc action was important. It
saw react violently to events such as the death of Kotzebue in 1819, the Hambach Festival in 1832 and the
abortive attack on the Frankfurt Arsenal in 1833. Another significant example was the dismissal of the seven
Gottingen professors. Metternich’s role is therefore seen across the confederation, upholding the notion that he
was responsible for holding back the forces of German nationalism and liberalism.
Perhaps the proliferation of the new ideas culturally and ideologically, as the festivals and clubs were
exemplary of, were inevitable given the momentum such movements had gathered elsewhere in Europe.
Metternich's biggest failure therefore was to allow liberalism and nationalism to manifest itself politically, in
addition to the former spheres. The relative weakness of some smaller states, their leadership and the strength of
public opinion fostered in states more detached from Metternich's ideas and policies. In the 1830s, some of the
smaller German states agreed to make their constitutions more liberal. These included Brunswick, Hesse Cassel
