1848: Revolutions of the German State
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Transcript of 1848: Revolutions of the German State
1848: Revolutions of the German State
Farah Mokhtar and Assem Heiba
Liberal pressure
Abdication of King Louis
Philippe of France
Prussian-Hessian Customs
union motor for unification
(except Austria)
Cholera epidemic in Silesia +
famine across German states
bad economic conditions
Widening awareness of
European events (spread through books,
newspapers, magazines,
etc.)
Increased German
nationalismRhine
crisis anti-
French Sentimen
tCauses
of theREVOLUTIONHambache
r Fest
Most liberal German state revolts were
inspired by the French Revolution
of 1848
Leopold, a weak ruler, gave in to the demands of the people, who wanted a bill of
rights
BADENProtests
continued, but arrests of key
people suppressed it
Ludwig’s
mistress made
reforms to
which the
people
objected
Conservatives did not want reforms; they only wanted to get rid of the mistress Liberal students
took advantage
of the protests
and demanded
political changeLudwig made some of the reforms they
demanded, but ended up abdicating the throne to his eldest son
KOAN!!!
BAVARIA
In 1848, protests against King
Frederick Augustus II (in which composer Wagner was heavily
involved) led to popular
governmental reforms
Since 1830, Saxony had been ruled as a
constitutional monarchy
SAXONY
A constituent assembly led by the people was created
The protests were inspired by the deaths
of a few students
Metternich was fired, and King
Ferdinand I fled
Aust
ria
A constitutional government was
created that, once more, put the majority of the power in the hands of the
monarch
The Frankfurt National
Assembly and then the Prussian
National Assembly failed
to make any significant decisions
Despite this, he said that
reforms would
proceed
PRUSSIAHis army
clashed with the people and
many were killed and
injured
King Frederick William IV said that he would perform all the
protesters’ wishes in the protests of
1848
Frankfurt National Assembly
They couldn’t answer important questions like how big Germany was to be
They failed to
gain support of the lower class
majority
They never addressed the most
important
issues.
Rather, they
focused
on minor
squabble
s which
got them
nowhere
The Frankfurt National Assembly
was a bland group of liberals who rejected
violent revolution. Their shortcomings
included:
Essentially, the revolutions failed in their goal to unify the German states.
New constitution drafted: Germany was to be a constitutional
monarchy; the office of the head of state,
“Emperor of Germany”, was given to the King
of Prussia.
The constitution barely passed, and
was not accepted by Prussia, Austria,
Bavaria, Hanover, and Saxony.
By late 1848, the Prussian
aristocrats who had been defeated
during the revolutions were back in power.
King Frederick William IV was
offered the crown of Emperor, but
rejected it.
Prussia and Austria left the
National Assembly, and
all revolutionary achievements were undone.
THE END