Germany from Napoleon to Bismarck

Thomas NipperdeyTranslated from the German by Daniel Nolan

Thomas Nipperdey offers readers insights into the history and the culture of German nationalism, bringing to light much-needed information on the immediate prenational period of transition. A subject of passionate debates, the beginnings of German nationalism here receive a thorough-going exploration, from the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire to Bismarck's division of the German-speaking world into three parts: an enlarged Prussian state north of the Main, an isolated Austria-Hungary in the south, and a group of Catholic states in between. This altering of power structures, Nipperdey maintains, was the crucial action on which the future of the German state hinged. He traces the failure of German liberalism amidst the rise of nationalism, turning it from a story of inevitable catastrophe toward a series of episodes filled with contingency and choice.The book opens with the seismic effect of Napoleon on the German ancien-régime. Napoleon's modernizing hegemony is shown to have led to the gradual emergence of a civil society based on the liberal bourgeoisie. Nipperdey examines the fate of this society from the revolutions of 1848-49 through the rise of Bismarck. Into this story he weaves insights concerning family life, working conditions, agriculture, industrialization, and demography as well as religion, learning, and the arts.Originally published in 1996.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

List of Tables 1The End of Empire: Germany under Napoleon 2The Great Reforms 3The Great War and a Difficult Peace IILife, Work, Business 1Population 2Family, Gender, Generations 3Everyday Life 4Agriculture and Rural Society 5Industrialisation 6Crafts 7The Lower Classes, Factories, Industrial Workers, Social Problems 8The Problem of Minorities: the Jews 9Bourgeois Society IIIRestoration and Vormarz, 1815-48 1The End of the Reforms: Constitutions and Restoration 2The Great Movements 3The State and the States 4German and European Politics 5The Effects of the July Revolution 6The Formation and Restructuring of the German Political Parties 7Vormarz IVFaith and Knowledge; Education and Art 1Religion, Church, De-Christianisation 2Education: School and University 3The Sciences 4Aesthetic Culture: Music, Art and Literature 5The Reading Revolution and the Rise of the Press VThe Revolution of 1848-49 1The March Revolution 2The Road to the Paulskirche 3Extraparliamentary Movements: Denominational and Social Problems 4Germany and Europe 5Between Radicalisation and Counter-Revolution 6The Imperial Constitution and the Empire 7The End 8The Failed Revolution 9Epilogue: Germany as a Union of the States? VIBetween Reaction and Liberalism: Bismarck and the Problem of German Unity, 1849-66 1Reaction in Germany, 1849-59 2German Policy in the 1850s 3Germany in Europe: From the Crimean War to the Italian War 4The New Era 5The German Question, 1859-63 6Politics and Society: Changes in the Parties 7The Constitutional Conflict in Prussia and Bismarck's Minister-Presidency 8The Decision concerning Germany: German and European Politics, 1863-66 9Consequences Epilogue Index