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Y314: The Challenge of German Nationalism 1789–1919

Depth study: 1848/1849 Revolutions — failure, support and interpretations

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the constitution of 1849, Frederick William IV’s refusal of the crown, the end of the revolutions and recovery of the authorities, supporters and opponents, gains for nationalism and interpretations of 1848.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Who and when

Who supported and who opposed the revolutions?

Key term

How have historians interpreted the failure of 1848?

Key term

State the main provisions of the constitution of March 1849.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    State the main provisions of the constitution of March 1849.

    Model answer

    A hereditary emperor with suspensive veto, a two-chamber national parliament with a lower house elected by universal male suffrage, and an extensive declaration of fundamental rights including equality before the law, freedom of speech, worship and assembly and the abolition of privilege.

  2. 2

    Why did Frederick William IV refuse the crown in April 1849?

    Model answer

    He would not accept a crown offered by an elected assembly rather than by his fellow princes, believing it to be tainted by revolution, and he knew that acceptance meant war with Austria and Russia; he dismissed it as a crown from the gutter carrying the stench of revolution.

  3. 3

    How did the revolutions end?

    Model answer

    The Prussian and Austrian deputies were recalled, the remnant of the assembly moved to Stuttgart and was dispersed by troops, and the risings in Saxony, the Rhineland, the Palatinate and Baden that tried to enforce the constitution were crushed, largely by the Prussian army, by the summer of 1849.

  4. 4

    How did the authorities recover their position?

    Model answer

    The rulers used their intact armies once the revolutionary coalition divided, Frederick William imposed his own constitution with a three-class franchise, and Austria forced Prussia to abandon its own union scheme at Olmütz in 1850, restoring the Confederation of 1815.

  5. 5

    Who supported and who opposed the revolutions?

    Model answer

    Support came from liberal professionals, students, artisans and urban workers, and briefly from peasants seeking the end of feudal dues; opposition came from the courts, the officer corps, the bureaucracy, the churches and, once their dues were abolished, most peasants, who had no further reason to fight.

  6. 6

    What did the revolutions achieve for nationalism?

    Model answer

    They produced the first freely elected German parliament and a constitution and flag that later movements would reclaim, and they made the national question unavoidable, but their failure destroyed the belief that unity could come from below and left the initiative with the Prussian state.

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