German Nationalism

The appeal of German nationalism

- Nationalism appealed to same sort of people as liberalism - It challenged traditional ideas about ultimate source of political authority o The people in terms of culture, history, language and/or race = basic unit of political legitimacy o The nation = their collective will & expressed their ID - Metternich loathed nationalism even more than liberalism o Threat to structure of Austrian Empire o Czechs, Hungarians, Italians & other races making up Austrian Empire asserted to rule themselves o No future for Austria as a Great Power with nationalism o Metternich = very worried - HOWEVER it seemed Metternich exaggerated scale of threat o Unknown how many Germans in first half of 19th Century were nationalists probably only constituted a small minority of pop. o The nation had many rivals  However radically the political map of Germany had been redrawn by Napoleon & Metternich still many regions with very old traditions of allegiance  Religious affiliations = also important y Single largest instance of mass mobilization in 19th Century Germany = in 1844 when million Catholic pilgrims went to Trier to see the Holy Coat of Jesus y Religion = political force & divided Germans y Catholics in Rhineland resented rule by Protestants in Berlin just as vice-versa in Munich  Politics for peasantry often dominated by hatred of feudal oppression & (usually) Jewish moneylenders  Most powerful attachments for many urban craftsmen = communities of their craft guilds & their home town

- Most significant father of German nationalism = Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) o Herder = not a politician but a philosopher & cultural historian o Focused on role of language & custom in former human ID  Each people, Volk, he argued has own distinct & valuable way of living wrapped up in collective history & folk memory which shaped language  Only as part of historic language community could any individual find true ID & fulfill human potential o Herder s ideas inspired generations of linguists, folklorists & historians to explore roots of German past Germans helped to escape cultural inferiority complex they used to feel when, in 18th Century, they compared themselves with e.g. French civilization o Herder s ideas influenced writers everywhere  Throughout Europe intellectuals compiled dictionaries, collected folk stories & wrote people s histories so national language & memory was preserved & flourished  Some nationalists therefore furious that higher education system or civil service were monopolised by speakers in a foreign tongue y In Austrian Empire cultural discrimination was serious & resulted in political nationalism y Could be plausibly argued that only in an independent Italian state, for e.g., would the Italian language be accorded its proper status cultural nationalism inspired political action in these cases  But no such institutional discrimination happened with German speakers in Berlin, Vienna, Munich or Cologne therefore no obvious political conclusions followed from Herder s ideas o German culture = something of which all education Germans could be proud of & share whist retaining political IDs as Bavarians or Prussians etc.

- German nationalism became active against existing political order in Germany by 3 routes: o Frustrated liberals tended to become political nationalists  In part reflected intellectual affinity of liberalism & nationalism  More practically when German liberals found their plans for constitutional reform blocked by local rulers (or indeed German Confederation) concluded that only by creating new liberal national political authority could rights of individual citizens be truly established only in German nation state would citizens be free o Restoration Germany had lost of groups or individuals who felt they d been ill-served by political & social changes of postNapoleonic era  Ancien Regime Germany may have been old-fashioned but intricate social & political networks offered most individuals sense of security & ID a place for everyone and everyone in their place = popular saying  BUT Napoleon had torn this apart & Metternich had not been able to fix  Despite best efforts of new rulers Germans never felt any allegiance to new states some, especially religious minorities felt victimized by foreign governments  A German state would confer on politically homeless & rootless a sense of ID & its consumption would guarantee them their political, religious & social rights  Nationalism become blank cheque for disaffected in Germany they would be free & happy o Most important impetus behind politicisation of nationalism however came from increasingly widespread anxieties about Germany s strategic vulnerability  From start: German nationalism had defined itself against France

y Separate states making up Holy Roman Empire had proved quite incapable of defending Germany against French aggression in the Napoleonic era y Few Germans confident that German Confederation would do any better after 1815  Many Frenchmen still seemed convinced that Rhone was their natural frontier & during war scares of 1830-1 & especially 1840 Germans In Rhineland believed they were in imminent danger of invasion  Nationalists insisted only united Germany could defend self increasingly looked to strength of Prussia rather than Austria (with Italian & Balkan preoccupations) to provide core of new, strong German state

Cycles of Protest & Repression

- Despite Metternich s efforts liberal & nationalist ideas reached progressively larger audience between 1815 & 1848 though difficult to trace growth because persecutions and censorship drove many activists underground or into organisations like singing clubs, whose propagandist purposes = partially disguised - Nevertheless by 1848 liberals & nationalists = numerous & confident enough to take control of Governments of most states of Germany (if only for a few months) & organised popular national parliament Nationalism & Repression 1811-19 - Nationalists began to organise amongst young men of Germany in 1811 o Gymnastic clubs set up  Aiming to create brotherhood of patriots ready to fight free the Fatherland from Napoleon  Membership ultimately reached 12000 o In universities student societies called Burschenschaften established

dedicated to clean living & ideals of Honour, Freedom & Fatherland o Historians argued that together these movements captured hearts & minds of generations of students  Young nationalists disappointment at failure of Congress of Vienna to create united Germany was intense y Five hundred of them held a rally at Wartburg Castle in 1817 to rededicate themselves to cause y Metternich = shocked & decided to crush movement - SO assassination of right-wing spy & propagandist by militant nationalist in 1819 gave Metternich excuse he was looking for o At a summit meeting with Frederick William III of Prussia he convinced king that all liberals & nationalists were potential assassins o Frederick William III agreed to cancel some liberal reforms his Government had been considering & sacking nationalist teachers & civil servants - With the Prussian King s backing, Metternich also secured Confederation s approval for Carlsbad Decrees (Sept. 1819) o Ordered banning of Burschenschaften, tighter controls over teaching, stricter censorship of books & newspapers & dismissal of political troublemakers from public office o Short term he d seemed to scored clear victory for forces of reaction in Germany  Nationalism & Repression 1830-2 - The 1830 Revolution in Paris unsettled public opinion in Germany o Reanimated fears that German Confederation would be incapable of countering any French moves into Rhineland o Also demonstrated that reactionary rulers could be overthrown - = Time for nationalists & liberals to take initiative o Demonstrators forced constitutions out of incompetent & sometimes despotic rulers of four of medium-sized states

o In liberal-leaning south-west a popular movement against newspaper censorship started  Culminated in Hamburg festival of May 1832  Up to 30000 nationalists & liberals gathered to hear inspiring speeches calling for freedom of press & national cause  Metternich s attempt to destroy nationalist movement = failed o Metternich s response = predictable  June 1832 won Confederation s approval for new series of repressive laws the Six Articles y Laid down strict guidelines for constitutions of individual states, reinforcing monarchal principal y Now deemed illegal, e.g. for liberals to try and squeeze concessions out of rulers by blocking a budget y Also established Central Bureau of Political Investigation to keep enemies of good order under surveillance  Clampdown particularly severe in Prussia y Anyone discovered belonging to a Burschenschaften (sometimes survived as secret societies) could now be tried for high treason  Elsewhere constitutional concessions made in wake of Paris Revolution of 1830 soon clawed & when some liberal academics complained they were sacked y Brutish king of Hanover who controlled university dismissed resulting protests - professors like whores, can always be had for money  Superficially police-state style tactics adopted by Metternich hit liberals & nationalists hard y Civil servants & teachers knew had to toe the reactionary lines y Newspapers closed down y Agitators imprisoned

y Any chance of Confederation evolving into more progressive institution = killed off y Clear limits imposed on what liberals could achieve in those states which already had constitutions y German political life = in deep freeze o HOWEVER the effectiveness of Metternich s strategy may be doubted  Police-state was far less terrifying than Hitler s or Stalin s  No concentration camps in 19th Century Germany  Press censorship = applied unevenly y Dissident academics or journalists when sacked or exiled could usually pursue careers in other parts of Germany y Liberals & nationalists were forever finding new means to spread message e.g. 1100 men s choral societies sprung up by 1848 (est. membership over 100000) may seem innocent but words often pure nationalistic propaganda  Arguably Metternich s strategy = misconceived y In his paranoia really did see every nationalist of liberal as revolutionary militant y BUT what failed to appreciate = very oppressiveness of his policies = likely to turn liberals & nationalists usually men of property with socially conservative outlook into enemies of established order y Confederation s interference in constitutional affairs of liberals states taught progressives that reform of Confederation = essential precondition of any progress at regional level but Metternich made impossible for Confederation to reform itself y Most liberals & nationalists = unlikely revolutionaries o Sought share in political power, not to overthrow state

o Wanted to build not barricades but Germany that enjoyed secure & dignified place amongst nations of Europe y But by making impossible for institutional life of Restoration Germany to evolve so as to begin to accommodate those aspirations o Metternich ensured Liberals & nationalists became revolutionaries o His policies = paradoxically those most likely to produce catastrophe he dreaded

Germany 1840-9 Expectations & Frustrations

- Although industrialisation took off there in 1850s Germany already had sizeable, prosperous & self-confident middle class before 1848 Revolution o Leaders = lawyers, doctors, teachers & civil servants o This social elite proud of its education & culture = natural carrier of liberal & nationalist ideas  Bought books & liberal-leaning newspapers reflecting revolution in literacy & communications which had transformed public like in Germany in first half of 19th Century o Public opinion = important political factor  Might be ignored but wouldn t go away o Growth in:  Clubs & societies y Discussed political & social issures  Chambers of Commerce y Businessmen increasingly complained about bureaucratic interference & red-tape  Literary discussion groups y Lovers of literature eagerly discussed radical poetry  Choral & gymnastics societies = most popular of all y Choirs sang about freedom & unity for German people

y Gymnasts trained for greater fitness & strength better to serve nation o Political parties might be banned in Restoration Germany but public realm = full of political life & organisations o Political life also taking on increasingly national dimension aided by expanding railway network  All German congresses & festivals = regular feature of patriotic self-expression e.g. choral societies from all over Germany went to Wurzburg (1845), Cologne (1846) & Lubeck (1847)  Railways in particular = symbolised march of modernity & progress y In 1840 Germany = only 462 km of track but by 1850 it had almost 6000 km y Railways far from politically neutral o Together with Zollverein whose goods it increasingly carried railway = instrument of national integration & proof of what German people were capable when they broke free of Restoration Germany s political restrictions