German Nasionalism

Growth/Failure of German Nationalism 1815 – 1850

Timeline of Events

1815 – End of the Napoleonic Wars and creation of the Deutscher Bund (German Confederation)

1817 – Wartburg Festival

1818 – Formation of the Zollverein

1819 – Carlsbad Decrees

1848 – Revolutions in Europe (including Austria and Prussia)

1848/9 – Frankfurt Parliament

1849 – Erfurt Union (League of the Three Kings)

1850 – Treaty of Olmutz

Essay Plans

There are three basic types of essay question on this topic:-

A. Why did nationalism grow/What were the reasons for the growth of nationalism?

DO THE ISOLATED FACTOR FIRST.
WEIGH UP THE FACTORS AS YOU GO ALONG – DON’T WAIT TILL THE CONLUSION TO COMPARE THE FACTORS TO EACH OTHER IN TERMS OF THEIR IMPORTANCE.

1.   Intro – SEAF
      (start date – 1815, end of Napoleonic war/creation of Deutscher Bund, end date – 1850, still no united German state, was a growth of nationalism due to several factors ……..)

2. Impact of French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars
      400 – 39 states, more on end of Napoleonic wars and creation of Bund
      How Napoleon triggered nationalism in German states,   how Bund pleased but frustrated nationalists.

3.   Culture
      Language, race   -‘volk’, music, art, literature, history (Romans).
      Burschenschaften, Wartburg Festival 1817,   Carlsbad Decrees ‘nipped this nationalism in the bud’, Hambach Festival 1830
      ‘Talkers and dreamers with no real plan of action’ –McKichan? Or do all revolutions need thinkers to ‘sow the seeds’?

4.   Economy
      Prussian economy
      Zollverein – how it united the German states economically, how it led to other things that contributed to German states moving together e.g. railways, urbanisation.
      Was the Zollverein more than an economic union?   Stiles Vs AJP Taylor

5.   1848 Revolutions
      1848 revolutions and Frankfurt Assembly 1848/9 – causes of these revolutions – harvest failure, economic slump, unemployment,...