Particularism
Loyalty to the ruler of the state, not the Holy Roman Emperor
Religion before 1815
Divided between Catholics and Protestants (Lutherans)
Upper class’ nickname
Junkers (Young Lords) ruled land and peasants but gave service to the state
Date that Napoleon defeats Frederick II’s Prussia
1806
War of the Third Coalition (France vs. Austria and Prussia)
1805-1807
Results of the war of the Third Coalition
HRE abolished replaced with Confederation of the Rhine.
In return for taxes to Napoleon, larger states could take over smaller territories.
Napoleon’s brother Jerome given Westphalia.
Patriotic resistance against the French began to augment.
The defeat of Napoleon
Napoleon went in to Russia in 1812, lost. Weaknesses taken advantage of by Austria and Prussia, allied with Russia and England beat Napoleon in 1814
Heinrich von Stein and Karl August von Hardenburg’s reforms
1807- serfdom abolished.
von Scharnhorst (Army) promotion by merit introduced.
1814- Landwehr citizen army
Assembly formed (dominated by nobles).
Educational reforms under von Humbold
Prussian legal codes (based on code of Napoleon 1804) introduced equality and simplified law systems.
The Bund confederation
1814-15 39 independent states in a loose confederation dominated by Austria
Congress of Vienna terms
1814-15
- Bund.
- 17 member Diet (assembly of the bund).
- Austria gained land
- Prussia gained land
- France allowed to keep Alsace and Lorraine (even though Prussia wanted them)
Austria’s land gains from congress of Vienna
Emerged as dominant power, valuable lands in:
Italy, Galicia, Salzburg and The Tyrol, the Voralberg, Lombardy, Venetia, the Adriatic Coast
Prussia’s gains from Vienna
Valuable economic land rich in coal and iron ore, Rhineland.
Left feeling inferior after Austria dominated.
Unity by 1815?
The bund meant that fewer states caused greater unity, but no German nationalism yet.
Liberalism
Liberal change, constitutional rule, new German nation and more unity.
Economic growth as a force for change
After 1815: Population increases. New factories and production techniques. Modern farming methods. Canals and railways (1829). Increased European trade. Prussia grew rapidly, shifting power.
Forces opposing change in 1815
- PANSDRUGL
- predominantly agricultural still
- Austria powerful enough to suppress
- nationalism seen as a dangerous revolution to the princes and kings
- strong respect for authority and conservative militaristic heroes
- distrust of Prussia (in Hanover)
- religious division
- unanimous vote of Bund required
- Gross/Kleindeutschland
- language divisions
Nationalism in Napoleonic era
- Friedrich Jahn Gymnastics club 1811
- Johann Fichte ‘Addresses to the German Nation’ 1807-8
- Ernst Moritz Arndt popular nationalist writer ‘The Spirit of the Age’ 1806
- Free Corps 1813 30,000 volunteers
Student Nationalism
Burschenshaften founded in 1815.
October 1817 Wartburg castle nationalistic movement began.
1819 Karl Sand murdered August von Kotzebue a conservative playwright.
Carlsbad decrees
- Metternich tightened censorship and controlled universities. Nationalism seemed to abate.
Subterranean nationalism
After 1832.
By 1847 three were 85,000 gymnast members. 100,000 singing club members.
Handbach Castle nationalist March
22 May 1832. 25,000 nationalists. Troops attacked. Repressive six articles, then Ten Acts were then brought in
Cultural Nationalism
- greater awareness of German culture among broad middle classes.
- German folklore, brothers Grimm.
- distinct German music, Beethoven and Schubert, Wagner.
- Schinkel’s architecture, distinct classical style
- von Ranke’s History of Germany 1824
Significance of the Zollverein
- Friedrich Engels, Helmut Bohme ‘first step towards a politically united Germany, Prussia natural leader (Austria excluded) allowed expansion of Prussia.’
- James Sheehan ‘economically beneficial but not politically, nations still sided with Austria in 1866, too many obstacles still there’
How many small states in the HRE
250
