Making Nationalism Work: German Attempts at Liberalism and Nationalism, 1848-1871
Date
2023-01
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Abstract
Between 1815 and 1848, a burgeoning liberal democratic movement challenged the conservative monarchies of Germany. During the Revolutions of 1848, that movement was able to seize power and establish a new Germany which promised a nation-state based on rights and freedoms. However, by 1871 and the establishment of the German Empire Germany had gone from a burgeoning liberal state to a military autocracy clad in the garb of a federation. By examining the constitutions of the two states, as well as the reasons behind the structures of those constitutions and the decisions which went into writing them, this thesis examines how exactly the liberal movement in Germany lost so decisively that within nearly 20 years of a temporarily successful revolution the liberal movement in Germany had been marginalized and reduced to relying on the support of Otto von Bismarck. It concludes that the German liberal movement had started off internally divided, and therefore when they took power in 1848 they were faced with the realization that while they had thought they shared a common perception of what rights and freedoms meant they in fact disagreed about all of the details. Their attempt to resolve these differences took a long enough time that they were unable to overcome the difficulties their broader political situation posed, and therefore a counterrevolution succeeded. Otto von Bismarck was able to present himself as a better version of the liberals, who could provide everything they had offered while also successfully compromising with the existing power structure in Germany. By doing so, he was able to establish a united German state. This is reflected in the differences between the two constitutions. The 1848 constitution very carefully allocates powers, while Bismarck’s 1866 and later 1871 constitution defers to existing treaties between the German states. This explains the differences between the two constitutions, and also the degree to which the liberal movement in Germany was weakened.
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Germany, Liberalism, Nationalism, Nineteenth Century, Bismarck, Metternich, France, Italy, 1848
Citation
Mitchell, B. (2023). Making nationalism work: German attempts at liberalism and nationalism, 1848-1871 (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.