UCSB > History Dept. > Prof. Marcuse > Courses > Hist 133a > Lecture 13: The "New Era"

UCSB Hist 133A, Fall 2006 (133a homepage)
19th Century Germany, Oct. 30, 2006

Prof. Marcuse (homepage)
marcuse@history.ucsb.edu

Lecture 13:
The "New Era"
(previous lecture, next lecture)

Guiding Question

  • After the revolutionary movement had been crushed, what political forces were at work?
  • Economic: Customs Union (Schulze's emphasis)
    International: diplomacy & wars (Kitchen's emphasis)
    Leadership: (William I), Bismarck, Napoleon III, Kaiser Franz Josef (b. 1830, 1848-1916)
    Ideology: conservatism, divine right, liberalism, particularism, nationalism, socialism
    People: new social classes (commercial & intellectual bourgeoisie, rural & urban proletariats)

Carl Schurz (b. 1829 near Cologne - 1906 in New York)

  • son of a teacher; 1847 Bonn Univ.; 1848 fought in Siegburg and Baden; escaped from Rastatt
  • Berlin, 1852 to US, Lincoln's campaign, envoy in Madrid, general for North, 1872 mugwump
  • 1869-75 Senator from Missouri, 1877-81 Secretary of the Interior under Hayes (federal admin.)
  • 1871: "Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right."

The Hohenzollerns (German wikipedia Hohenzollern page; English wikipedia)

  • Frederick William IV (1795-1861), ruled 1840-1857, married Bavarian princess in 1823, childless. Incapacitated by multiple strokes in 1857. (preussen.de FW IV page; wikip.)
  • his brother, "Grapeshot" Prince William I (1797-Mar. 9, 1888), ruled 1858-88; 1829 married (Auguste of Saxe-Weimar--a very cultured court); (preussen.de W I page; wikip.)
    • fought in wars of liberation (1815)
    • hard-liner in March 1848; fled to London; elected to Prussian Nat'l Assembly; June-July 1849 put down uprisings in Baden;
    • Oct 1858 regent, Nov. liberal cabinet; 1860 army reform; Oct. 1861 coronation in Königsberg
    • Dec. 1861: elections--liberal majority wouldn't fund army reform; Bismarck's intervention;
    • Sept. 1862 appointed Bismarck prime minister, 1871 emperor; survived two 1878 assassination attempts.
  • William's son Frederick III (1831-June 15, 1888), married eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, Victoria, who was aunt of Alexandra=wife of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and sister of British King Edward VII; (preussen.de FIII page; wikip.)
    1849-52 studied at Bonn University (Arndt, 1851 London world exhibition) & Potsdam military academy;
    had eight children; victorious commander in 1866 and 1870; tracheotomy Feb. 9, 1888.
  • Frederick's eldest son William II (1859-1941); crippled at birth; married 1881, seven children. (preussen.de WII page; wikip.)

Events

  • 1850, Nov. 29: Punctation of Olmütz (Prussia abandons Erfurt Union and Electoral Hesse, submits to Austrian leadership in the German confederation)
  • 1851: German Confederation revived (Bismarck is Prussia's delegate)
  • 1853: Napoleon III emperor of France
  • 1854-56: Crimean War--Russia vs. Britain and France, Austria isolated (wiki Crimean War)
  • 1858: William takes over from Frederick Wilhelm IV--"New Era"
  • 1859: German National Association (Nationalverein) founded (no Austrians)
  • 1861-2: conflict over army bill in Prussia--diet doesn't fund; Bismarck persuades WI not to abdicate & accepts Prime Minister post

prepared for web by H. Marcuse on Oct. 31, 2006, updated: 11/17/06
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