Was Germany a meaningful concept by 1815?

by livv (student)

Before the 19th century, Germany as a state had no real meaning or political concept. It existed as only 314 different states with 23 million German speaking people residing within. These were loosely ruled by the Holy Roman Empire under the Holy Roman Empire. However, by 1815, a series of a few significant events had taken place which may have altered this forever. It included the impact Frederick the Great had, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, the Enlightenment and its ideas and the war of liberation.

The enlightenment was an 18th century intellectual movement which marked the end of the Middle Ages in Europe and a loss of power for the church. It opened up a path for independent thought, and scientific aspects and philosophy were drastically updated and expanded. With this new wave of ideas, came Liberalism and Nationalism. Liberalism is the belief that everyone should be free to choose how to live their life, according to laws agreed on by all. As the German states were dominated by the rich noble class, many rural dwellers and farmers took to these ideas. Philosophes spread their ideas of German culture and it brought the ideas of a united Germany. Johann Fitche believed that German people needed to remain pure and that mixing with other races would remove the German superiority. That the nation should be united by language and not geographical divisions. However, other Philosophes such as Johann Goethe believed that there was no need for a formation of a nation and rather should be based on a cultural community. These ideas brought in the question of what being German meant. It implanted a thought in the people’s mind which they would expand on. These ideas brought on by the Enlightenment were the enigma of the German unification. However, ideas and thought were not enough to unite such a diverse mixture of states. Also, due to the overall layout of Germany, much of the Enlightenment ideas did not reach each state, also aided by the fact that the rulers of each state stifled intellectual developments. There were many language barriers as well as no strong religious base. Many Germans refused to believe that the ideas of the Enlightenment could exist at all. Maybe the idea of a unified Germany was still a cloudy picture during the beginning of the Enlightenment; however, it encouraged people to question the traditional ways of doing things, such as being ruled by a monarchical government.

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Frederick the Great was an enlightened absolute monarch who ruled Prussia from 1740-1786. He was a brilliant military leader and it was under his control that Prussia became a semi great power. From an early age he enjoyed the music and arts, so when the ideas of Enlightenment swept across Europe, he was naturally interested. He was mentored by the great philosopher Voltaire, and influenced the ideas of an enlightened government. He had several military victories and had greatly increased Prussia’s territories using the great military Army he inherited from his father, and signed the Treaty of Dresden in December 1745 which acquired them Silesia, a very valuable land. Also during his reign, more than 300,000 settlers were attracted to Prussia. These all brought in money and status to Prussia making it significantly more powerful. As Prussia was the main driving force behind the unification of Germany, Frederick the Great had a significant role in the unifying of Germany. He also created the Austria/Prussia rivalry which allowed Prussia to take control over the steps towards unification as Austria did not want to take part in it. Also, as these were the two main states in the Holy Roman Empire, it greatly weakened its structure and therefore allowed room for the idea of a unified Germany. Because he was a great leader and the citizens of Prussia looked up to him, he could influence and spread the ideas of liberalism more strongly and effectively. In doing this he influenced the Prussian culture which led them to question what bring German meant and therefore pushed further the ideas of a united Germany. The people of Prussia had already seen the effects of liberalism due to Fredericks tolerance of religion and his abolition of judicial torture. Because Prussia was now one of the main states, these ideas were spread throughout the different states and the ideas were furthered. Even though by the end of Fredericks reign, these ideas were still ideas, it had sped up the ideas of German Unification and liberalism and encouraged the idea to be more widely thought about.

Another aspect was the French Revolution. This took place after the old, feudalistic and absolute monarchy had gone due to several different factors building up. The declaration of the Rights of Man was built into the French life and the basic ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity was used. However, this caused divisions between radicals and moderates on the ideas based on the declaration. Napoleon was a product of this and he spread the ideas of nationalism and liberalism across Europe. Germany saw the tyranny erupting in France and all the ideas Frederick and the Enlightenment seem to disappear. The French revolution may have caused a delay in when Germany would be unified and why it wasn’t unified sooner considering its initial positivity. They saw that the enlightenment was not all perfect. This is as they wanted to preserve there state as they didn’t want to be in danger and had strong German leaders that prevented this from happening. It made the individual states stronger rather than weaker preventing unification. Also there was less publication of the works from the Enlightenment in Germany as there was language diversity and many couldn’t read and there was mass censorship. Some states were also happier with the situation they were in and had a conservative view in not wanting to change something that was working fine. As well as this, many states would rather steal more land then revolt. A main point in why Germany could not unite sooner was because each state had its own ruler, so therefore lead to many different types of leaders who had their own ideas and opinions. It would have been difficult to co-ordinate such a vast difference. These leaders also enforced repression and even though the question of what being German meant was brought in, no-one had a straight forward answer to it as there was a vast amount of different culture and religion. However, the French Revolution did have some positive effects towards the unifying of Germany. The Declaration of the Rights of Man proclaimed the rights of all nations to rule themselves, not just France. This encouraged the German people to demand a ‘German Nation’ where they would have civil rights based on the principle of liberalism. Also some stories from the Romantic Movement spread after the Revolution which glorified Germany’s heroic past encouraging unity. Furthermore, the French revolution was based on the concept of the liberal idea that the law should treat everyone fairly and equally, and as unity could cause so much damage, the German people saw that it could also help protect them against tyranny.

In 1806 Napoleon, who saw the Holy Roman Empire as a ‘miserable monkey house’, defeated Austria and Prussia and the empire collapsed. However even though the states were humiliated, they were able to retain their rule. This is crucial as it enabled Prussia to reform and organise itself again. He then brought in the French legal system and adapted Code Napoleon. Napoleon re-organised the hundreds of different German states and also France annexed the Rhine territory as it was the most valuable and helped protect France. Also, many of the small states were amalgamated and the number of states reduced dramatically to just 39. After, he created the confederation of the Rhine. This was directly under French control and was military tactical as it created a sort of buffer zone to protect France from Prussia and therefore made Prussia easier to control. After the disaster of the French Revolution, Napoleons reign benefited German Unification to an extent. He helped organise the states by re-organising them. This was the start of unification to some extent as the states were forced to join together. It then made it easier for the future unification of Germany to organise and unity. Also the French ideas of liberty and equality created a new context for German politics. The middle class involvement in politics increased and many Germans were also released from feudal restrictions. Also, by letting Prussia retain their rule, they had motivation to recover their position before Napoleon attacked them. The army was re-organised, the government provided more efficient central authority and a new system of education was introduced. This allowed Prussia to maintain their power and still have some control over the states.

The war of Liberation is one of the key factors towards unifying Germany. Anti-French opinion in Prussia encouraged the Prussian King, Frederick William II to make an alliance with Russia against France in January 1813. Their armies drove Napoleon’s forces back towards France and in June; Austria also declared war on France. These allied countries defeated Napoleon at the battle of Leipzig and forced Napoleon to abdicate. This war is the first collective action of the German nation and showed that they could work together. Even though the war fuelled nationalism, it did not turn into the tyranny and chaos of the French revolution. It did not become a mass national uprising, but showed what France wanted their revolution to be like, a group of people working together. This fuelled nationalism made the smaller, lesser states of Germany look for a political leader. The south Germans looked to Austria whilst the North Germans looked to Prussia. It showed that Germany would be decided on particular interests of Prussia and Austria rather than war and other factors. Also, it shows that the German states were ready to work together as they had something in common; they were patriotic and had enthusiasm for a people’s war. The factor that stopped them from unifying at this stage was that the states did not want to. The German confederation was dominated by Austria who wanted to keep a traditional authority over the German states, and so was not concerned with the chance of a German political unity. Metternich’s negations at Vienna ensured that the Germany would be a loose confederation of states under Austria’s control. They had their own nationality, army and leader and had developed an economic agreement. This made them think that a unity was not necessary.

Germany, in 1815, was a meaningful concept. People were well aware of the idea and the thought had developed dramatically since Frederick the Great had spread enlightenment ideas about liberalism. However, if it was a physical possibility by 1815 is a different matter. If the French revolution had not occurred, or if it was a success rather than a tyranny, then maybe the unification of Germany would have occurred sooner than it did. However if it had not, then the German states may have never bothered to try to unify. It was only under Napoleons reign that the beginnings of an actual German unity began, after he re-organised the states. The war of Liberation also had a huge impact. It allowed, for the first time, the Germans states, especially Austria and Prussia, to work together towards a common goal. It showed that the possibility of a German unity may not be as farfetched as it sound. But as long as there remained two leading states who both wanted power, the German States would never have been able to unify. The fact that there aims were both different, Austria didn’t want a unity at all, reinforces this. Nether the less, by 1815, a framework was in place, known as the German confederation, which allowed German states to co-exist with each other, rather then it the unification being just an idea being spread.

Olivia Liu 13E