Table of Contents
Preface
Approaches to the German revolutions of 1848/9
Structure of the book
Author's acknowledgements and editorial policy
1 German society in transition (1789-1815)
Vlll
Vlll
XIl
Xlll
1
The impact of the French Revolution of 1789 1
Intellectual responses to the French Revolution of 1789 2
The struggle for supremacy between Austria and Prussia 5
Events in Switzerland and other non-imperial Germanspeaking territories 8
The emergence of a 'Third Germany' 9
Constitutional and socio-economic reforms 10
Reforms in Prussia and Austria 12
The wars of liberation and the restoration of the old order 14
2 The 'Holy Alliance' and Vormärz: the demise of
the German ancien regime and the preface to
the revolutions
The German Confederation, a battle-ground for forces of
18
reaction and modernization 19
The period of re action (1815-30) 21
From re action to protest: the role of the intelligentsia 26
Religious strife 30
The nationality issue and the formation of political groups 32
Political literature during the Vormärz 34
Social and economic conditions within the Confederation 36
The Swiss civil war 40
3 The March and April revolutions in the
'Third Germany'
The impact of the French February Revolution
Observations on the social strata in the 'Third Germany'
The rural population
46
46
53
53
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Artisans and industrial workers 55
The 1848 uprising in Baden and its impact on other
German regions 58
The role of established protest groups 65
Government responses and the establishment of the
Pre-Parliament 70
4 The revolutions in Vienna and Berlin 77
The revolution in Vienna: Social and economic conditions 77
Vienna's March revolution 80
From the May revolution to the September crisis 82
The 'October revolution' and reactionary victory 87
The revolution in Berlin 89
Social and economic conditions in Berlin 90
The 'March revolution' 92
Aperiod of consolidation? 96
A second revolutionary phase? 99
Political clubs and associations 101
The final phase 102
A comparison of the revolutions in Vienna and Berlin 105
5 The move towards parliamentary democracy 112
Introduction 112
Extra-parliamentary political activities and their interaction
with the National Assembly 114
The establishment of the Frankfurt National Assembly 122
The constitutional committees 125
Frankfurt - Vienna - Berlin: three contenders for the
nation's capital 129
6 The Frankfurt National Assembly and
i nternationa I reverberations 135
The establishment of parliamentary business 135
The emergence of political factions within the Assembly 137
The establishment of a central government 138
The drawing up of Basic Rights 142
Schieswig-Hoistein and the issue of a German nation state 144
Conflicting nationality issues 147
An assessment of the National Assembly 151
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Contents
7 The revolution in crisis 157
The rejection of the imperial crown by Frederick William IV 157
The campaign for the Imperial Constitution 161
Revolutionary patterns in the summer of 1849 164
The politicalleadership and their agenda 165
The foreign involvement 168
The role of the military 169
The revolutionaries' last stand in Baden 172
8 Forces of reaction, the counter-revolution
and the decline of political life 180
Introduction 180
Reactionary policies in Austria and Prussia, a comparison 181
Austrian-Prussian rivalry 184
The position of the 'Third Germany' 186
The bureaucratization of public life 188
The emergence of Realpolitik 191
The 'failure' of liberalism 194
9 The receptions of the 1848/9 revolutions in
the German-speaking countries 202
The first hundred years 202
The revolutions of 1848/9 within the ideological concepts
of the GDR 206
Research in the Federal Republic 208
Abrief survey of Anglo-American research 214
The reception of the 150th anniversary of the German
revolutions 215
Select bibliography 221
General index 229
Index of names
