German Confederation
The German Confederation (German: Deutscher Bund, German pronunciation: [ˌdɔɪ̯t͡ʃɐ ˈbʊnt] ⓘ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe.[2] It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved in 1806.[3]
The Confederation had only one organ, the Federal Convention (also Federal Assembly or Confederate Diet). The Convention consisted of the representatives of the member states. The most important issues had to be decided on unanimously. The Convention was presided over by the representative of Austria. This was a formality, however, as the Confederation did not have a head of state, since it was not a state.
The Confederation, on the one hand, was a strong alliance between its member states because federal law was superior to state law (the decisions of the
The German revolutions of 1848–1849, motivated by liberal, democratic, socialist, and nationalist sentiments, attempted to transform the Confederation into a unified German federal state with a liberal constitution (usually called the Frankfurt Constitution in English). The Federal Convention was dissolved on 12 July 1848, but was re-established in 1850 after the revolution was crushed by Austria, Prussia, and other states.[6]
The Confederation was finally dissolved after the victory of the Kingdom of Prussia in the Seven Weeks' War over the Austrian Empire in 1866. The dispute over which had the inherent right to rule German lands ended in favour of Prussia, leading to the creation of the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership in 1867, to which the eastern portions of the Kingdom of Prussia were added. A number of South German states remained independent until they joined the North German Confederation, which was renamed and proclaimed as the "German Empire" in 1871, as the unified Germany (aside from Austria) with the Prussian king as emperor (Kaiser) after the victory over French Emperor Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
Most historians have judged the Confederation to have been weak and ineffective, as well as an obstacle to the creation of a German nation-state.
History
Background
The War of the Third Coalition lasted from about 1803 to 1806. Following defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz by the French under Napoleon in December 1805, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicated, and the Empire was dissolved on 6 August 1806. The resulting Treaty of Pressburg established the Confederation of the Rhine in July 1806, joining sixteen of France's allies among the German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg). After the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt of October 1806 in the War of the Fourth Coalition, various other German states, including Saxony and Westphalia, also joined the Confederation. Only Austria, Prussia, Danish Holstein, Swedish Pomerania, and the French-occupied Principality of Erfurt stayed outside the Confederation of the Rhine. The War of the Sixth Coalition from 1812 to winter 1814 saw the defeat of Napoleon and the liberation of Germany. In June 1814, the famous German patriot Heinrich vom Stein created the Central Managing Authority for Germany (Zentralverwaltungsbehörde) in Frankfurt to replace the defunct Confederation of the Rhine. However, plenipotentiaries gathered at the Congress of Vienna were determined to create a weaker union of German states than envisaged by Stein.
Establishment
The German Confederation was created by the 9th Act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 after being alluded to in Article 6 of the 1814 Treaty of Paris, ending the War of the Sixth Coalition.[9]
The Confederation was formally created by a second treaty, the Final Act of the Ministerial Conference to Complete and Consolidate the Organization of the German Confederation. This treaty was not concluded and signed by the parties until 15 May 1820. States joined the German Confederation by becoming parties to the second treaty. The states designated for inclusion in the Confederation were:
Flag | Member State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Anhalt-Bernburg | Inherited by the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau in 1863 | |
Anhalt-Dessau | ||
Anhalt-Köthen | Inherited by the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau in 1847; merged with Anhalt-Dessau in 1853 | |
Austrian Empire | Only a part that included the Crown of Bohemia – Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia – and Austrian lands – Austria, Carinthia, Carniola, the Littoral except Istria;[citation needed] the Duchies of Auschwitz and Zator, part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, were also members in 1818–1850 | |
Baden | ||
Bavaria | ||
Brunswick | ||
Hanover | Annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 | |
Electorate of Hesse | Also known as Hesse-Kassel; annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 | |
Grand Duchy of Hesse | Also known as Hesse-Darmstadt | |
Hesse-Homburg | Joined in 1817; inherited by the grand-duke of Hesse-Darmstadt in March 1866; annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 | |
Hohenzollern-Hechingen | Became part of Prussia in 1850 | |
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | Became part of Prussia in 1850 | |
Holstein | Held by Danish kings in personal union since 15th century as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire; on 28 November 1863, the Federal Assembly removed the Danish delegate pending resolution of the succession issue and the naming of a new delegate from a government recognized by the Assembly; Denmark subsequently ceded it and Sleswig jointly to Austria and Prussia on 30 October 1864 as a result of the Second Schleswig War; the duchy technically remained in the Confederation pending final resolution of its status; Sleswig did not become a member in the short time between this war and the dissolution of the Confederation; both duchies were annexed by Prussia on 24 December 1866 | |
Liechtenstein | ||
Limburg | With the Dutch King being the Duke | |
Lippe-Detmold
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Luxembourg | With the Dutch King being the Grand Duke | |
Mecklenburg-Schwerin | ||
Mecklenburg-Strelitz | ||
Nassau | Annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 | |
Oldenburg | ||
Prussia | The Province of Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Posen were only federal territory in 1848–1850 | |
Reuss, elder line
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Reuss, junior line
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Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | Became Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1826 | |
Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg | Partitioned and became Saxe-Altenburg in 1826 | |
Saxe-Hildburghausen | Duchy partitioned and ruler became Duke of Saxe-Altenburg in 1826 | |
Saxe-Lauenburg | Held by Denmark since 1815; by the Treaty of Vienna (1864), King Christian IX of Denmark abdicated as duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and ceded the duchy to Prussia and Austria;[10] In September 1865 William I of Prussia acceded as duke in personal union, following the Gastein Convention and a vote of the Estates of Lauenburg[10] | |
Saxe-Meiningen | ||
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | ||
Saxony | ||
Schaumburg-Lippe
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Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt | ||
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen | ||
Waldeck and Pyrmont
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Württemberg | ||
Bremen
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Frankfurt | Annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 | |
Hamburg
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Lübeck |
In 1839, as compensation for the loss of part of the
The Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia were the largest and by far the most powerful members of the Confederation. Large parts of both countries were not included in the Confederation, because they had not been part of the former Holy Roman Empire, nor were the greater parts of their armed forces incorporated in the federal army. Austria and Prussia each had one vote in the Federal Assembly.
Six other major states had one vote each in the Federal Assembly: the Kingdom of Bavaria, the Kingdom of Saxony, the Kingdom of Württemberg, the Electorate of Hesse, the Grand Duchy of Baden, and the Grand Duchy of Hesse.
Three foreign monarchs ruled member states: the
The four
shared one vote in the Federal Assembly.The 23 remaining states (at its formation in 1815) shared five votes in the Federal Assembly:
- Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Saxe-Hildburghausen (5 states)
- Brunswick and Nassau (2 states)
- Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz (2 states)
- Oldenburg, Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Köthen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (6 states)
- Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Liechtenstein, Reuss (Elder Branch), Reuss (Younger Branch), Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe and Waldeck (8 states)
There were therefore 17 votes in the Federal Assembly.
Military
History of Germany |
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Activities
The rules of the Confederation provided for three different types of military interventions:[11]
- the federal war (Bundeskrieg) against an external enemy who attacks federal territory,
- the federal execution (Bundesexekution) against the government of a member state that violates federal law,
- the federal intervention (Bundesintervention) supporting a government that is under pressure of a popular uprising.
Other military conflicts were foreign to the confederation (bundesfremd). An example is Austria's oppression of the uprising in Northern Italy in 1848 and 1849, as these Austrian territories lay outside of the confederation's borders.
During the existence of the Confederation, there was only one federal war: the war against Denmark beginning with the Schleswig-Holstein uprising in 1848 (the First Schleswig War). The conflict became a federal war when the Bundestag demanded from Denmark to withdraw its troops from Schleswig (April 12) and recognized the revolutionary of Schleswig-Holstein (April 22). The confederation was transformed into the German Empire of 1848. Prussia was de facto the most important member state conducting the war for Germany.[12]
There are several examples for federal executions and especially federal interventions. In 1863, the Confederation ordered a federal execution against the duke of Holstein (the Danish king). Federal troops occupied Holstein which was a member state. After this, Austria and Prussia declared war on Denmark, the Second Schleswig War (or Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg in German). As Schleswig and Denmark were not member states, this war was foreign to the Confederation. The Confederation took no part in this war.
A federal intervention confronted for example the raid of the revolutionaries in Baden in April 1848.
In June 1866, the Federal Convention decided to takes measures against Prussia. This decision was technically not a federal execution for a lack of time to observe the actual procedure. Prussia had violated, according to the majority of the convention, federal law by sending its troops to Holstein. The decision led to the war in summer 1866 that ended with the dissolution of the confederation (known as Seven Weeks War or by other names).
Armed forces
The German Federal Army (Deutsches Bundesheer) was supposed to collectively defend the German Confederation from external enemies, primarily France. Successive laws passed by the Confederate Diet set the form and function of the army, as well as contribution limits of the member states. The Diet had the power to declare war and was responsible for appointing a supreme commander of the army and commanders of the individual army corps. This made mobilization extremely slow and added a political dimension to the army. In addition, the Diet oversaw the construction and maintenance of several German Federal Fortresses and collected funds annually from the member states for this purpose.
Projections of army strength were published in 1835, but the work of forming the Army Corps did not commence until 1840 as a consequence of the
The German Federal Army was divided into ten Army Corps (later expanded to include a Reserve Corps). However, the Army Corps were not exclusive to the German Confederation but composed from the national armies of the member states, and did not include all of the armed forces of a state. For example, Prussia's army consisted of nine Army Corps but contributed only three to the German Federal Army.
The strength of the mobilized German Federal Army was projected to total 303,484 men in 1835 and 391,634 men in 1860, with the individual states providing the following figures:[14]
State | Area [km2] | Population[A 1] | Matriculation class[A 2] (proportion of total) |
Annual expenditures (in Austrian Gulden) |
Army Corps | Troop Totals[A 3] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Austrian Empire[A 4] | [A 5] 197,573 | [A 5] 10,086,900 | 31.4% | 9,432,000 | I, II, III | 158,037 |
Kingdom of Prussia[A 6] | [A 5] 185,496 | [A 5] 9,957,000 | 26.5% | 7,956,000 | IV, V, VI | 133,769 |
Kingdom of Bavaria | 76,258 | 4,120,000 | 11.8% | 3,540,000 | VII | 59,334 |
Kingdom of Hannover | 38,452 | 1,549,000 | 4.3% | 1,299,000 | X (1st Div., part) | 21,757 |
Kingdom of Württemberg | 19,504 | 1,547,400 | 4.6% | 1,389,000 | VIII (1st Div.) | 23,259 |
Kingdom of Saxony | 14,993 | 1,480,000 | 4.0% | 1,194,000 | IX (1st Div.) | 20,000 |
Grand Duchy of Baden | 15,269 | 1,175,000 | 3.3% | 993,000 | VIII (2nd Div.) | 16,667 |
Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt | 7,680 | 720,000 | 2.2% | 615,000 | VIII (3rd Div., part) | 10,325 |
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin | 13,304 | 455,000 | 1.2% | 357,000 | X (2nd Div., part) | 5,967 |
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | 2,929 | 85,000 | 0.2% | 72,000 | X (2nd Div., part) | 1,197 |
Grand Duchy of Oldenburg | 6,420 | 250,000 | 0.7% | 219,000 | X (2nd Div., part) | 3,740 |
Grand Duchy of Luxemburg (with the Duchy of Limburg) | 2,586 | 259,500 | 0.4% | 120,000 | IX (2nd Div., part) | 2,706 |
Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar | 3,593 | 233,814 | 0.7% | 201,000 | Reserve (part) | 3,350 |
Electoral Hesse | 9,581 | 629,000 | 1.9% | 564,000 | IX (2nd Div., part) | 9,466 |
Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau | 840 | 57,629 | 0.2% | 57,000 | Reserve (part) | 1,422 |
Duchy of Anhalt-Cöthen[A 7] | 727 | 36,000 | 0.1% | 30,000 | Reserve (part) | 325[A 8] |
Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg[A 9] | 780 | 43,325 | 0.1% | 36,000 | Reserve (part) | 616 |
Duchy of Brunswick | 3,690 | 245,783 | 0.7% | 20,000 | X (1st Div., part) | 3,493 |
Duchies of Holstein and Saxe-Lauenburg[A 10] | 9,580 | 450,000 | 0.1% | 35,000 | X (2nd Div., part) | 6,000 |
Duchy of Nassau | 4,700 | 360,000 | 1.0% | 300,000 | IX (2nd Div., part) | 6,109 |
Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg | 1,287 | 114,048 | 0.3% | 99,000 | Reserve (part) | 1,638 |
Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha[A 11] | 2,688 | 156,639 | 0.4% | 111,000 | Reserve (part) | 1,860 |
Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen[A 12] | 0 | 0 | nil% | 0 | Reserve (part) | 0[A 13] |
Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen | 2,293 | 136,000 | 0.4% | 114,000 | Reserve (part) | 1,918 |
Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | 906 | 42,341 | 1.4% | 420,000 | VIII (3rd Div., part) | 356[A 14] |
Principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen | 236 | 17,000 | 0.1% | 15,000 | VIII (3rd Div., part) | 155 |
Principality of Lippe-Detmold | 1,133 | 77,500 | 0.2% | 69,000 | Reserve (part) | 1,202 |
Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe | 536 | 23,128 | 0.1% | 21,000 | Reserve (part) | 350 |
Principality of Liechtenstein | 159 | 5,800 | nil% | 6,000 | Reserve (part) | 91 |
Principality of Reuß elder line | 316 | 24,500 | 0.1% | 21,000 | Reserve (part) | 1,241 |
Principality of Reuß younger line | 826 | 59,000 | 0.2% | 51,000 | Reserve (part) | see Reuß elder line |
Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt | 940 | 60,000 | 0.2% | 54,000 | Reserve (part) | 899 |
Principality of Waldeck | 1,121 | 56,000 | 0.2% | 51,000 | Reserve (part) | 866 |
Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen | 862 | 51,767 | 0.2% | 45,000 | Reserve (part) | 751 |
Landgraviate of Hessen-Homburg[A 15] | 275 | 23,000 | 0.-% | 21,000 | Reserve (part) | 333 |
Free City of Lübeck | 298 | 45,600 | 0.1% | 39,000 | X (2nd Div., part) | 669 |
Free City of Hamburg | 410 | 154,000 | 0.4% | 129,000 | X (2nd Div., part) | 2,163 |
Free City of Bremen | 256 | 52,000 | 0.2% | 48,000 | X (2nd Div., part) | 748 |
Free City of Frankfurt | 101 | 54,000 | 0.2% | 48,000 | Reserve (part) | 1,119 |
- Notes
- ^ For the year 1835.
- ^ The matriculation class determined the percentage of expenditures for 1835.
- ^ For the year 1860.
- ^ Not included Hungary, Transylvania, Galicia (but with Auschwitz and Zator), Dalmatia, Slavonia, Croatia and upper Italian lands apart from Trieste.
- ^ a b c d federal share.
- ^ Without East Prussia, West Prussia, and Posen.
- ^ Inherited by the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau in 1847 and formally merged in 1853.
- ^ Figures for 1835; merged with Anhalt-Dessau army in 1847.
- ^ Merged with Anhalt-Dessau in 1863.
- ^ Troops were attached to the Danish army until 1864, as the King of Denmark was also Duke of both lands.
- ^ Gotha passed to Saxe-Coburg in 1826.
- ^ Partitioned between Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Meiningen in 1826.
- ^ No figures reported before partition.
- ^ Figures for 1835; merged with Prussian army in 1850.
- ^ Merged with Grand Ducal Hesse in 1866.
Situation in history
Between 1806 and 1815,
.The only organ of the Confederation was the
The Confederation was enabled to accept and deploy ambassadors. It allowed ambassadors of the European powers to the Assembly, but rarely deployed ambassadors itself.
During the revolution of 1848/49 the Federal Assembly was inactive. It transferred its powers to the
Rivalry between Prussia and Austria grew more and more, especially after 1859. The Confederation was dissolved in 1866 after the
Prussia's influence was widened by the
Impact of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic invasions
The late 18th century was a period of political, economic, intellectual, and cultural reforms,
However, the defeat of Napoleon enabled conservative and reactionary regimes such as those of the
After Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, the surviving member states of the defunct Holy Roman Empire joined to form the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) – a rather loose organization, especially because the two great rivals, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, each feared domination by the other.
In Prussia the
Outside Prussia, industrialization progressed slowly, and was held back because of political disunity, conflicts of interest between the nobility and merchants, and the continued existence of the guild system, which discouraged competition and innovation. While this kept the middle class at bay, affording the old order a measure of stability not seen in France, Prussia's vulnerability to Napoleon's military proved to many among the old order that a fragile, divided, and traditionalist Germany would be easy prey for its cohesive and industrializing neighbor.
The reforms laid the foundation for Prussia's future military might by professionalizing the military and decreeing universal
Romanticism, nationalism, and liberalism in the Vormärz era
Although the forces unleashed by the French Revolution were seemingly under control after the Vienna Congress, the conflict between conservative forces and liberal nationalists was only deferred at best. The era until the failed 1848 revolution, in which these tensions built up, is commonly referred to as Vormärz ("pre-March"), in reference to the outbreak of riots in March 1848.
This conflict pitted the forces of the old order against those inspired by the French Revolution and the Rights of Man. The breakdown of the competition was, roughly, the emerging
Meanwhile, demands for change from below had been fomenting due to the influence of the French Revolution. Throughout the German Confederation, Austrian influence was paramount, drawing the ire of the nationalist movements. Metternich considered nationalism, especially the nationalist youth movement, the most pressing danger: German nationalism might not only repudiate Austrian dominance of the Confederation, but also stimulate nationalist sentiment within the Austrian Empire itself. In a multi-national
Figures like
High culture
German artists and intellectuals, heavily influenced by the French Revolution, turned to Romanticism. At the universities, high-powered professors developed international reputations, especially in the humanities led by history and philology, which brought a new historical perspective to the study of political history, theology, philosophy, language, and literature. With Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) in philosophy, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) in theology and Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) in history, the University of Berlin, founded in 1810, became the world's leading university. Von Ranke, for example, professionalized history and set the world standard for historiography. By the 1830s, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology had emerged with world class science, led by Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) in natural science and Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) in mathematics. Young intellectuals often turned to politics, but their support for the failed Revolution of 1848 forced many into exile.[16]
Population
Demographic transition
The population of the German Confederation (excluding Austria) grew 60% from 1815 to 1865, from 21,000,000 to 34,000,000.[17] The era saw the demographic transition take place in Germany. It was a transition from high birth rates and high death rates to low birth and death rates[citation needed] as the country developed from a pre-industrial to a modernized agriculture and supported a fast-growing industrialized urban economic system. In previous centuries, the shortage of land meant that not everyone could marry, and marriages took place after age 25. The high birthrate was offset by a very high rate of infant mortality, plus periodic epidemics and harvest failures. After 1815, increased agricultural productivity meant a larger food supply, and a decline in famines, epidemics, and malnutrition. This allowed couples to marry earlier, and have more children. Arranged marriages became uncommon as young people were now allowed to choose their own marriage partners, subject to a veto by the parents. The upper and middle classes began to practice birth control, and a little later so too did the peasants.[18] The population in 1800 was heavily rural,[19] with only 8% of the people living in communities of 5,000 to 100,000 and another 2% living in cities of more than 100,000.
Nobility
In a heavily agrarian society, land ownership played a central role. Germany's nobles, especially those in the East called
Peasantry
Peasants continued to center their lives in the village, where they were members of a corporate body and helped manage community resources and monitor community life. In the East, they were serfs who were bound prominently to parcels of land. In most of Germany, farming was handled by tenant farmers who paid rents and obligatory services to the landlord, who was typically a nobleman.[a] Peasant leaders supervised the fields and ditches and grazing rights, maintained public order and morals, and supported a village court which handled minor offenses. Inside the family, the patriarch made all the decisions and tried to arrange advantageous marriages for his children. Much of the villages' communal life centered around church services and holy days. In Prussia, the peasants drew lots to choose conscripts required by the army. The noblemen handled external relationships and politics for the villages under their control, and were not typically involved in daily activities or decisions.[23][24]
Rapidly growing cities
After 1815, the urban population grew rapidly, due primarily to the influx of young people from the rural areas. Berlin grew from 172,000 people in 1800 to 826,000 in 1870; Hamburg grew from 130,000 to 290,000; Munich from 40,000 to 269,000; Breslau (now Wrocław) from 60,000 to 208,000; Dresden from 60,000 to 177,000; Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) from 55,000 to 112,000. Offsetting this growth, there was extensive emigration, especially to the United States. Emigration totaled 480,000 in the 1840s, 1,200,000 in the 1850s, and 780,000 in the 1860s.[25]
Ethnic minorities
Despite its name and intention, the German Confederation was not entirely populated by Germans; many people of other ethnic groups lived within its borders:
- French-speaking Walloons lived in western Luxembourg prior to its division in 1839;
- the Duchy of Limburg (a member between 1839 and 1866) had an entirely Dutchpopulation;
- Slovenianslived in south and southeast Austria;
- Bohemia and Moravia, of the Czechs;
- Silesia had also a Polish and Czech inhabitants, while Sorbs were present in the parts of Saxony and the Prussian province of Brandenburg known as Lusatia
- Prussian part of the partitions of Poland was inhabited by a majority of Poles.
Zollverein: economic integration
Further efforts to improve the confederation began in 1834 with the establishment of a customs union, the Zollverein. In 1834, the Prussian regime sought to stimulate wider trade advantages and industrialism by decree – a logical continuation of the program of Stein and Hardenberg less than two decades earlier. Historians have seen three Prussian goals: as a political tool to eliminate Austrian influence in Germany; as a way to improve the economies; and to strengthen Germany against potential French aggression while reducing the economic independence of smaller states.[26]
Inadvertently, these reforms sparked the unification movement and augmented a middle class demanding further political rights, but at the time backwardness and Prussia's fears of its stronger neighbors were greater concerns. The customs union opened up a common market, ended tariffs between states, and standardized weights, measures, and currencies within member states (excluding Austria), forming the basis of a proto-national economy.[27]
By 1842 the Zollverein included most German states. Within the next twenty years, the output of German furnaces increased fourfold. Coal production grew rapidly as well. In turn, German industry (especially the works established by the
The crucial factor enabling Prussia's conservative regime to survive the Vormärz era was a rough coalition between leading sectors of the
While relative stability was maintained until 1848, with enough bourgeois elements still content to exchange the "right to rule for the right to make money", the landed upper class found its economic base sinking. While the Zollverein brought economic progress and helped to keep the bourgeoisie at bay for a while, it increased the ranks of the middle class swiftly – the very social base for the nationalism and liberalism that the Prussian state sought to stem.
The Zollverein was a move toward economic integration, modern industrial capitalism, and the victory of centralism over localism, quickly bringing to an end the era of guilds in the small German princely states. This led to the 1844 revolt of the Silesian Weavers, who saw their livelihood destroyed by the flood of new manufactures.
The Zollverein also weakened Austrian domination of the Confederation as economic unity increased the desire for political unity and nationalism.
Revolutions of 1848
News of the
On 18 May, the
In May to August, the Assembly installed a provisional German Central Government, while conservatives swiftly moved against the reformers. As in Austria and Russia, this middle-class assertion increased authoritarian and reactionary sentiments among the landed upper class, whose economic position was declining. They turned to political levers to preserve their rule. As the Prussian army proved loyal, and the peasants were uninterested, Friedrich Wilhelm regained his confidence. The Assembly belatedly issued its
In 1849, Friedrich Wilhelm proposed his own constitution. His document concentrated real power in the hands of the King and the upper classes, and called for a confederation of North German states – the Erfurt Union. Austria and Russia, fearing a strong, Prussian-dominated Germany, responded by pressuring Saxony and Hanover to withdraw, and forced Prussia to abandon the scheme in a treaty dubbed the "humiliation of Olmütz".
Dissolution of the Confederation
Rise of Bismarck
A new generation of statesmen responded to popular demands for national unity for their own ends, continuing Prussia's tradition of autocracy and reform from above. Germany found an able leader to accomplish the seemingly paradoxical task of conservative modernization. In 1851,
Gradually, Bismarck subdued the more restive elements of the middle class with a combination of threats and reforms, reacting to the revolutionary sentiments expressed in 1848 by providing them with the economic opportunities for which the urban middle sectors had been fighting.[32]
Seven Weeks' War
The German Confederation ended as a result of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 between the Austrian Empire and its allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia and its allies on the other. The Confederation had 33 members immediately before its dissolution. In the Prague peace treaty, on 23 August 1866, Austria had to accept that the Confederation was dissolved.[33] The following day, the remaining member states confirmed the dissolution. The treaty allowed Prussia to create a new Bundesverhältnis (a new kind of federation) in the North of Germany. The South German states were allowed to create a South German Confederation but this did not come into existence.
North German Confederation
Prussia created the North German Confederation in 1867, a federal state combining all German states north of the river Main and also the Hohenzollern territories in Swabia. Besides Austria, the South German states Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt remained separate from the rest of Germany. However, due to the successful prosecution of the Franco-Prussian War, the four southern states joined the North German Confederation by treaties in November 1870.[34]
German Empire
As the Franco-Prussian War drew to a close,
Legacy
The modern German nation state known as the Federal Republic is the continuation of the North German Confederation of 1867. This North German Confederation, a federal state, was a totally new creation: the law of the German Confederation ended, and new law came into existence. The German Confederation was, according to historian Kotulla, an association of states (Staatenbund) with some elements of a federal state (Bundesstaat), and the North German Confederation was a federal state with some elements of an association of states.[37]
Still, the discussions and ideas of the period 1815–66 had a huge influence on the constitution of the North German Confederation. Most notably may be the Federal Council, the organ representing the member states. It is a certain copy of the 1815 Federal Convention of the German Confederation. The successor of that Federal Council of 1867 is the modern Bundesrat of the Federal Republic.[38]
The German Confederation does not play a very prominent role in German historiography and national culture. It is mainly seen negatively as an instrument to oppress the liberal, democratic and national movements of the period. On the contrary, the March revolution (1849/49) with its events and institutions attract much more attention and partially devotion. The most important memorial sites are the Paulskirche in Frankfurt, which is now a cultural hall of national importance, and the Rastatt castle with the Erinnerungsstätte für die Freiheitsbewegungen in der deutschen Geschichte (a museum and memorial site for the freedom movements in the German history, not only the March revolution).
The remnants of the federal fortifications are certain tourists attractions at least regionally or for people interested in military history.
Territorial legacy
The current countries whose territory were partly or entirely located inside the boundaries of the German Confederation 1815–1866 are:
- Germany (all states except Southern Schleswig in the north of Schleswig-Holstein)
- Austria (all states except Burgenland)
- Luxembourg (entire territory)
- Liechtenstein (entire territory)
- Netherlands (Duchy of Limburg, was a member of the Confederation from 1839 until 1866)
- Czech Republic (entire territory)
- Slovenia (except for Prekmurje and the municipalities of Koper, Izola and Piran)
- Poland (Silesia – overwhelmingly German speaking at the time; East Prussia, West Prussia, and much of the Grand Duchy of Posen were admitted into the Confederation on 11 April 1848,[39] but the terms of the restored Confederate Diet removed these territories on 30 May 1851)[40]
- Belgium (nine of the eleven cantons of Eupen-Malmedy, Liège Province); the larger province of Luxembourg had left the Confederation at its accession to Belgium in 1839
- Italy (autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, the Province of Trieste, most of the Province of Gorizia except the Monfalcone enclave, and the municipalities of Tarvisio, Malborghetto Valbruna, Pontebba, Aquileia, Fiumicello, and Cervignano in the Province of Udine)
- Croatia (the region)
Denmark proper has never been a member state, but its king was at the same time the duke of the member states Holstein and Lauenburg. The Duchy of Schleswig (which nowadays partially belongs to Denmark) was never a part of the Confederation although it was mentioned in the 1849 Frankfurt Constitution and governed briefly by a government installed by the German Central Government. However, Holstein, Lauenburg and Schleswig were combined under an Austrian-Prussian condominium in 1864–1866.
See also
- States of the German Confederation
- History of Germany
- German Empire
- North German Confederation
- Former countries in Europe after 1815
- Federal Convention
- Frankfurt Parliament
Notes
References
- ^ Winfried Klein (14 September 2012). "Wer sind wir, und was wollen wir dazu singen?". FAZ.NET. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
- Kingdom of Denmark).
- ^ "German Confederation". Encyclopædia Britannica. March 2024.
- ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Vol. I: Reform und Restauration 1789 bis 1830. 2nd ed., Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [et al.] 1967, pp. 601/602.
- ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Vol. I: Reform und Restauration 1789 bis 1830. 2nd ed., Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [et al.] 1967, pp. 594/595.
- Meyers Konversationslexikon1885–1892
- ISSN 0093-2574.
- ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Band III: Bismarck und das Reich. 3rd ed., W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1988, pp. 559/560.
- ^ Heeren, Arnold Hermann Ludwig (1873), Talboys, David Alphonso (ed.), A Manual of the History of the Political System of Europe and its Colonies, London: H. G. Bohn, pp. 480–481
- ^ a b "Lauenburg", in: Encyclopædia Britannica: 29 vols., 111910–1911, vol. 16 'L to Lord Advocate', p. 280.
- ^ Following Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. vol. I: Reform und Restauration 1789 bis 1830. 2nd ed., W. Kohlhammer: Stuttgart et al., 1967, pp. 607–609.
- ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. vol. 2: Der Kampf um Einheit und Freiheit 1830 bis 1850. W. Kohlhammer: Stuttgart et al., 1960, pp. 669–671.
- ^ Treitschke, Heinrich. History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century. Jarrold & Sons, London, 1919. Vol. VII, p. 519.
- ^ Beilage zum Militaer-Wochenblatt fuer das deutsche Bundesheer. No. 3, 1860.
- S2CID 144652797.
- ISBN 0-1982-2120-7.
- ^ Nipperdey 1996, p. 86.
- ^ Nipperdey 1996, pp. 87–92, 99.
- ^ Clapham, J. H. (1936). The Economic Development of France and Germany: 1815–1914. Cambridge University Press. pp. 6–28.
- ISBN 0-3930-9981-4.
- ^ Sagarra 1977, pp. 37–55, 183–202
- ^ Nipperdey 1996, p. 59.
- ^ Sagarra 1977, pp. 140–154
- ^ For details on the life of a representative peasant farmer who migrated in 1710 to Pennsylvania, see Kratz, Bernd (2008). "Hans Stauffer: A Farmer in Germany Before his Emigration to Pennsylvania". Genealogist. 22 (2): 131–169.
- ^ Nipperdey, Germany from Napoleon to Bismarck: 1800–1866 pp. 96–97
- .
- ^ W. O. Henderson, The Zollverein (1959) is the standard history in English
- ^ William Manchester, The Arms of Krupp, 1587–1968 (1968)
- ^ James J. Sheehan, German History, 1770–1866 (1993), pp. 656–710
- JSTOR 1904890.
- ^ Kitchen, Martin (2006). A History of Modern Germany, 1800–2000. p. 105.
- ^ Otto Pflanze, Bismarck and the Development of Germany, Vol. 1: The Period of Unification, 1815–1871 (1971)
- ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Vol. III: Bismarck und das Reich. 3rd ed., Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1988, pp. 571, 576.
- ^ Case 1902, p. 139.
- ^ Case 1902, pp. 139–140.
- ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Vol. III: Bismarck und das Reich. 3rd ed., W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [u. a.] 1988, p. 747.
- ^ Michael Kotulla: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934). Springer, Berlin 2008, p. 505.
- ^ Hans Boldt: Erfurter Unionsverfassung. In: Gunther Mai (ed.): Die Erfurter Union und das Erfurter Unionsparlament 1850. Böhlau: Köln [et al.] 2000, pp. 417–431, here pp. 429/430.
- ^ Heinrich Sybel, The Founding of the German Empire by William I. 1890. Vol. 1, p. 182.
- ^ Charles Eugene Little, Cyclopedia of Classified Dates: With an Exhaustive Index, 1900, p. 819.
Works cited
- Case, Nelson (1902). European Constitutional History. Cincinnati: Jennings & Pye. OL 6918961M.
- Sagarra, Eda (1977). A Social History of Germany: 1648–1914. Holmes & Meier. pp. 37–55, 183–202. OL 21299230M.
- Nipperdey, Thomas (1996). Germany from Napoleon to Bismarck. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-6910-2636-X.
Further reading
- Blackbourn, David (1998). The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Germany, 1780–1918. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1950-7671-4.
- Blackbourn, David; Eley, Geoff (1984). The Peculiarities of German History: Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany.
- Brose, Eric Dorn (1997). German History, 1789–1871: From the Holy Roman Empire to the Bismarckian Reich.
- Evans, Richard J.; Lee, W. R., eds. (1986). The German Peasantry: Conflict and Community from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Centuries.
- Moore, Barrington Jr. (1993) [1966]. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-1405-5086-3.
- Pflanze, Otto (1971). Bismarck and the Development of Germany. Vol. 1: The Period of Unification, 1815–1871.
- Ramm, Agatha (1967). Germany, 1789–1919.
- Sagarra, Eda (1980). Introduction to Nineteenth Century Germany.
- Sheehan, James J (1993). German History, 1770–1866.
- Stier, Hans-Erich (1976). Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (Map). Westermann. (in German, detailed maps)
- Werner, George S (1977). Bavaria in the German Confederation 1820–1848.