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