Identify and Analyse the Most Important Political

8/8/2019 Identify and Analyse the Most Important Political

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Identify and analyse the most important political, social and economic changes

in Germany between 1815 and 1871.

Germany had an interesting development on its economical, political and sociallevel between 1815 and 1871. It seen many changes that have brought it from

1815 - with the Congress of Vienna - in 1871 - with the foundation of the

German Reich. This essay will discuss the changes that Germany faced

between 1815 and 1871: starting from The Congress of Vienna, following the

different developments that occurred on the political, economic and social

level, passing through the changes that took place in the 1830 s until 1848.

And then stressing the importance of the French Revolution until 1862, the

year in which Bismarck was chosen prime minister by William I. And finally, the

1871, year of the Unification of Germany.

As we said earlier, an important event for Germany was the Wiener Kongress

(The Congress of Vienna) held between October 1814 until June 1815 that

brought changes on the political, economic and social level. The meeting, held

between the most important states of Europe (Russia, Britain, Prussia, France

and Austria), happened after Napoleons defeat and its purpose was to bring

stability in Europe. One of the most relevant point which was discussed was the

territorial reorganization after the collapse of Napoleons Rheinbundin 1814

(Allinson, 2002: p. 12). Prussia and Austria had the largest territorial changes:

Prussia lost some regions of Poland but gain some along the Rhine (Allinson,2002: p. 12) and parts of the Kingdom of Saxony. On the other hand, Austria

earned territories from Italy (the Adriatic coast and the North of the country)

but lost territories on the Rhine southern part and in the Low Countries

(Allinson, 2002: p. 12).

For Germany it was different: fearing that it might become a potential

competitor the others representatives members of the Europeans countries did

not want to see Germany unified. It was also the problem of Austria and Prussia

that concerned them (Allinson, 2002: p. 12); the political issues that were

between the two countries could cause, they fought, problems for the hole

Europe, and how we said before, the main idea was to bring peace in Europe so

they felt responsible to take the right choices. In 1815 was created the German

Confederation, under Austrian control, which included some parts of Poland

and Czech territories, other small states form different countries, part of

Prussia and Habsburg Empire (Allinson, 2002: p. 13). So, Germany, because of

its configuration, was fragmented and as a result it could not work either

economically or politically as an entity, as several German states were linked

with foreign countries (www.docs.google.com). The problem that this situation

raised was the fact that all this states together did not created a true Bund(Allinson, 2002: p. 13). To find a balance between all of them seemed almost

impossible. We may say that every ruler of each state wanted to have their


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own control over it, so to arrive at an agreement resulted difficult. When this

decisions were taken was not taken into account the opinion of the population

and because of the present situation in Germany, between 1815 and 1818

another question was raised: the national identity. Even if Germany was

divided still we can see the desire for a united nation from the part of thesociety. Even if we have a clear idea about the conflict between the middle

class and the aristocracy1 bought, even if with different interests, were aiming

for the same thing: unity. But now, more then in the past, at the concept of

national identity (Allinson, 2002: p. 15) come linked the political view

(Allinson, 2002: p. 13). Many students felt the need to get involved in a

patriotic movement: the Burschenschaften2(Allinson, 2002: p. 16).

Economically speaking, the differences between the commercial codes, the

industry and the monetary systems did not helped Germany to develop like

other countries did. With the customs low of 1818 Prussia was trying to simplifyand make more efficient the administrative and fiscal parts. Even if some of the

German states did not agree with this law, the purpose was to introduce an

uniform tariff and to help with the integration of different parts of the territories

(www.docs.google.com). Even so, all the attempts for a unified Germany,

seemed to be a very delicate question for many German states.

In the 1830 s many German states joined the German Customs Union

because of the political and economical problems. Everything was under

Prussias economic control (Allinson, 2002: p. 17). All this happened because

economically speaking Germany in the 1830s was presenting a wide range of

ineffective merchandise. The problem was that this markets were divided one

from another because of the lack of an adequate transport system

(www.docs.google.com) and because of the different economic system of each

individual state. While many European states were on their way of reaching an

industrial stability, Germany in the 1830s was only at the beginning. But with

the development of the communication systems, as railways and roads, the

economy began to grow. The states, that first were divided on from another,

now started to get more closer: the exchanges of information, ideas and news

helped also to give a more clear idea of national meaning (Allinson, 2002: p.18). Moreover, the political system, that first was under the form of rival

independent states, now, with the growth of the industry seem to present a

1 The victories of the middle class (between 1813 and 1815) made them gain more power by

demonstrating that courage and presence of mind ( Bramsted, 1967: p. 37) was not only a

privilege of the upper class. But even so the middle class could not reach the aims that they

had: the same rights as the aristocracy. Moreover, the aristocracy was glorified by many

writers. A clear example is the one offer by Bramsted; in his writing we can find an interesting

part in which is presented the book of Adam Mller Die Elemente der Staatskunst. Mller pays

homage to the aristocracy in one passage of his book: The nobility is the first and only

necessary legal institution in the state (Bramsted, 1967: pp. 37 - 39).

2 It was a student organization that first appeared in 1815; the members were in favour of the

idea of an unified Germany.


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different configuration. All this changes were leading to the year of the

Revolution. As for the social effects, we have a slow advance of middle class

industrialization (Bramsted, 1967: p. 43). It is interesting to observe the

conflict between the middle class and the aristocracy. The middle class

started to gain more power over the aristocracy (Bramsted, 1967: p. 52).

Another important date in the history of Germany, between 1815 and 1871, is

the 1848, the date of the French Revolution. Inspired but the French example

the German public involvement in politics was much more visible. If before

1848 we can see little interest from the population to get involved in the

political life, now the sense of patriotism increased (Bramsted, 1967: p. 68).

But there was the problem of the goal of the revolution of 1848. According to

Allinson (2002: p. 19) there was no unity of goal between the different classes:

everyone was aiming for different results. For example, the middle class

wanted to share the political power and was claiming for a change in the way inwhich the government was lead: they wanted a government based on a free

parliamentary constitution (Bramsted, 1967: p. 68). Another important change

for Germany in that year was based on the economic development that it took.

Starting from this year onwards the economy embraced many positive changes

and sow an expansion in the refineries, the factories, in the chemical works, in

the banking system and the development of the communication and

transportation fields (Bramsted, 1967: p. 107). This economic developments

lead also to political changes: many political groups in society which wanted to

change the configuration of Germany were strengthened (Hamerow, in theIntroduction, 1973: p. 6).

Even if many of the decisions taken in that year did not last, there were some

that have lasted effects: the different contrasts caused between revolutionary

and counter revolutionary forces [...] helped to define the different political

viewpoints within society (Allinson, 2002: p. 22) ,the rural population was

heading towards the cities because of the new jobs that the industrialization

was offering and the economic developments helped the industrial revolution

(Allinson, 2002: p. 22). With the return of the social and political stability

Germany gain also an economic balance which set up the rules between therural and urban: the last one gained an important place in the society

(Hamerow, in the Introduction, 1973: p. 5).

Another important change for Germany that lead to the unification in 1871 was

when Otto von Bismarck was chosen prime minister by William I in 1862. His

task was the one of defending the position of the crown (Hamerow, in the

Introduction, 1973: p. 8). The opinions of the critics are very different when it

comes to speak about Bismarck. For example, Allinson defines him an

opportunist who made the most of the chances which presented themselves

(2002: p. 24) while Hamerow believes that it would be a mistake to regard him

as simply an opportunist bent on the acquisition of power (in the Introduction,


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2. Otto von Bismarck, Reflections and Reminiscences, (edited with an

introduction by Theodore S. Hamerow), New York: Harper & Row, 1968.

3. Ernest K. Bramsted, Aristocracy and Middle Classes in Germany: social

types in German literature 1830 1900, Chicago: The University of Chicago

Press, 1967.

4. Theodore S. Hamerow, The age of Bismarck: documents and interpretations,

New York; London: Harper & Row, 1973.

Websites

1. www.docs.google.com.

2. germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org.
http://www.docs.google.com/http://www.docs.google.com/

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Identify and Analyse the Most Important Political