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Early German Nationalism. The Burschenschaften. The Burschenschaften were student societies that had sprung up in some of the German universities (16 in all) during the Napoleonic Wars.
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The Burschenschaften • The Burschenschaften were student societies that had sprung up in some of the German universities (16 in all) during the Napoleonic Wars. • These societies were liberal and nationalist and were dedicated to seeing the French driven out of the German states. • After 1815, the societies continued. The students gathered to talk, write and demonstrate about German nationalismand the unification of the German states.
The Wartburg Festival • Wartburg is in the kingdom of Saxony. • In 1817, 500 students from the Burschenschaften gathered at Wartburg Castle. • The students were celebrating the 300th anniversary of the Reformation and the 4th anniversary of the defeat of the French by the Germans at the battle of Leipzig (1813).
The students were demonstrating against undemocratic government in the German states and Austrian interference in German affairs. (As the Burschenschaften were largely northern-German and Protestant.) • Anti-nationalist books and a life-sized effigy of Metternich were burned at Wartburg, as well as symbols of Prussian militarism.
Metternich • Metternich had been looking for an excuse to do something about the Burschenschften. He was becoming increasingly concerned about the potential danger these liberal, nationalist societies posed. • As Richards remarked about the Wartburg Ferstival, ‘it was only a student demonstration, but its spirit was unmistakable and Metternich took good not of it.’
The Murder of Kotzebue • Metternich’s excuse came in 1819, when an anti-liberal writer and Russian secret agent called Kotzebue, was murdered by a mentally unbalanced student named Sand, associated with the Burschenschaften. • Austria and Russia had a closerelationship at this point.
The Carlsbad Decrees 1819 After the murder of Kotzebue, Metternich summoned the leaders of the nine leading German states to Carlsbad, in Saxony. Here the Carlsbad Decrees were passed. They: • Introduced censorship • Suppressed student organisations • Banned political meetings • Dismissed liberal university teachers • Imprisoned some student leaders
The decrees certainly did their job. German nationalism was suppressed for almost a generation. ‘from the Carlsbad Decrees until the revolutionary stirrings of 1847-9, there was no political event of significance for the future of German liberalism or nationalism.’ Richards
The Hambach Festival 1832 • There was, however, another student demonstration in 1832 (inspired by the 1830 revolution in Paris). • At the Hambach Festival in 1832, the colours red, black and gold were first used to symbolise German nationalism. (These were the colours of the ‘Lutzow Volunteers’ – militia groups, including many students, who had fought against the French during the Napoleonic Wars) • 30,000 people marched to Hambach Castle and demanded democracy and a united German Republic – very radical ideas for 1830!
Excerpt from the Song of Hambach:"We want to found a fatherland,And dedicate it to freedom:Then in the face of tyrannythe free German will no longer bow...If in a fight one stands for all,and all for one, then flourishesthe people's power and majestyand each heart glowsFor a single goal, for a single good,Let freedom burn,for the fatherland's good."
The Six Acts 1832 • In response to these renewed student demonstrations, the Six Acts reinforced the Carlsbad Decrees. • Censorship was increased. • The German states were given more power to act against opposition groups.
Did this early student/intellectual nationalism have the potential to actually unite the German states? • This type of nationalism was limited to students, intellectuals and the middle classes. • It had little organisational coherence or military strength. • McKichan has branded the students of the Burschenschaften ‘talkers and dreamers with no real plan of action.’ • Stiles states that ‘Liberalism and nationalism remained largely middle class before 1848.’
However….. • These people may have been ‘talkers and dreamers’ but all big political changes have intellectual foundations. If Napoleon planted the seeds of German nationalism before 1815, the Burschenschaften helped these seeds to grow.
