33.3 Europe: a.d. 1801 to 1900  (Page 4/27)

Prussia was re-made into a modern state by a group of enlightened legislators, chiefly Freiherr vom Stein, from a family of Rhineland Knights. The great General Staff was created between 1803 and 1809, utilizing intellectual, vigorous officers. (Ref. 279 )

The serfs were freed, commerce and industry released from many restrictions and the army made more efficient and humane. On the total scene, however, Frederick William III of Prussia played a subsidiary role to both Metternich of Austria and Alexander of Russia. A German Confederation was formed of 35 sovereign principalities and 4 free-cities.

Map taken from Reference 97.

Frederick William hated that Confederation but Metternich utilized it to his advantage.

In the 1820s while many parts of Europe reverberated with liberal revolutions, Germany and Austria remained tranquil, although after 1830 some of the more liberal states of south and west Germany experienced mild disturbances. In Prussia, the widespread introduction of steam power in 1812 and an extensive net of railways produced an economic boom and eventually helped in the unification of Germany. Prussia further gained by a high tariff on goods transported across her territory and since she sat astride the most important trade routes between northern and southern Europe, this was a considerable boon. The Zollverein (Customs Union) derived out of that tariff was joined by 7 small neighboring states in 1828 and Prussian imperialism was already underway to some degree. By 1842 almost all German states except Austria, Hanover and a few free-cities had joined the Zollverein. This, along with railroads and the electric telegraph, bound the states together, acting as a unifier. By 1848 there were 3,000 miles of track in Germany. In spite of that, in some areas there were economic failures, unemployment and occasional uprisings.

The plague epidemic of 1846 was another problem and that was followed by world wide trade and financial crises, crop failures and inflation. In 1848 revolutions spread across Europe again, most of them essentially interrelated. In Germany there were three main aims: The unification of the country; the demand for basic civil rights and a measure of popular sovereignty; and freedom for serfs with better hours, wages and benefits for city workers. In the lesser states such as Wuerttembury and Hesse, there did result more liberal cabinets. In Baden there was much blood shed in many massacres.

In Bavaria things were different as King Maximilian I allowed a liberal constitution and promoted arts, science and architecture. When his successor Ludwig I gave his low-born Irish mistress, Lola Montez, a title, he was forced to abdicate and Maximilian II became king with a moderately liberal ministry. Both Ludwig II and son Otto I were brilliant but insane. The former was a friend of the composer, Wagner. In the meantime, Munich University had been transformed into an artistic and scholarly center.

By this time in Prussia there was revolution. The first disorders arose in the Rhineland, Silesia and East Prussia. Eventually crowds took over Berlin and the king placed himself at the mercy of his people and a meeting of the United Diet was called. Soon, however, royal power was re-assumed, the new liberal cabinet was dismissed and a new government formed under the conservative Count of Brandenburg.