Home > The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
1 Preliminaries
" Germany" at the time of the Revolutions of 1848 was not then in any sense a nation, but a collection of over 30 states though the German states were loosely bound together after the Congress of Vienna of 1815 in the German Confederation.
Liberal pressure spread throughout the German states, each of which had a characteristic history of the Revolutions. We look at but a few. Fearing the fate of Louis-Philippe of France, many kings gave in to the Revolutionaries -- for a while. The revolution began in France at the end of February and soon spread all over Germany. In the south and the west of Germany large popular assemblies and mass demonstrations took place. They primarily demanded freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, arming of the people, and a national German parliament.
2 The Revolutions in Prussia
In Berlin, the Prussian capital, people gathered particularly in the beer gardens and outside the gates, their demands culminated in an "address to the king". King Frederick William was completely overwhelmed by this situation, and yielded to all the demonstrators' demands, including parliamentary elections, a constitution, and freedom of the press. He even promised that "Prussia was to be merged forthwith into Germany." However, the situation escalated on March 18 when during a huge demonstration two people were accidentally shot. Barricades were erected, fighting started, and blood flowed until troops were ordered to retreat. Beyond that Frederick William assured the reorganization of his government and approved the armament of the citizens. On March 21, he paraded through the streets of Berlin accompanied by some ministers and generals, all wearing the tricolor of black, red, and gold (the flag of the new Germany).
3 Counter-revolution in Prussia
By late 1848, the Prussian aristocrats (among them Otto von Bismarck) and generals had regained power in Berlin. They had not been defeated during the March days, they had only retreated temporarily. General von Wrangel led the troops who recaptured Berlin for the old powers. King Friedrich Wilhelm immediately rejoined the old forces. In November he dissolved the new Prussian parliament and promulgated a constitution of his own (based upon the work of the assembly, but maintaining the ultimate authority of the king).
Elaborated in the following years, the constitution came to provide for an upper house (Herrenhaus), and a lower house (Landtag), chosen by universal suffrage but under a three-class system of voting ("Dreiklassenwahlrecht"): representation was proportional to taxes paid, so that more than 80 % of the electorate controlled only one-third of the seats.
In Bavaria, a new liberal government (the "March ministry") was installed; King Ludwig I was forced to abdicate and get rid of his free-spending mistress, Lola Montez; he attempted to pacify the masses, contain the spreading of revolutionary ideas and save the monarchy by offering concessions.
5 SaxonyState Service Flag Civil Flag Statistics Capital: Dresden Area:18,338 km˛ Inhabitants:4,600,000 2000 pop. density:251 inh. km˛ Homepage: ISO 3166-2:DE-SN Politics Minister-President: Georg Milbradt ( CDU) Ruling party: CDU/ SPD Map With an area of 18,400
In DresdenDresden [ˈdreːsdn̩] ( Sorbian/Lusatian Drjezdzany , the capital city of the German federal state of Saxony, is situated in a valley on the river Elbe. The city’s population stood at 478,000 in 2004. At the same time, the total populat, the people took to the streets pressing the king with their demand for electoral reform and social justice. Richard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner ( May 22, 1813 February 13, 1883) was an influential German composer, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas. His music is still widely performed, the best known pieces being the "Ride of the Valkyries" from Di passionately engaged himself in the revolution, supporting the democratic-republican movement. Later in the May Uprising in DresdenThe May Uprising took place in Dresden, Germany in 1849; it was the last of the series of events known as the Revolutions of 1848. Events leading to the May Uprising In Germany, revolution had begun in March 1848, starting in Berlin and spreading across t from May 3-9, 1849 he supported the provisional government. Together with the leaders of the uprising, he left Dresden on May 9 avoiding the warrant for his arrest by flight to exile in Switzerland.
