Revolutions of 1848 – The German Confederacy

The revolutions of 1848 is one of the most interesting series of events in world history. No other revolution in Europe that took place during 1848 was as eventful and as fruitful as the Revolutions that took place in the states of the German Confederacy. Although at the time the revolutionaries seemed to accomplish nothing; they were laying the foundation for the following one hundred years of German History. The Federal Republic of Germany, today a strong, unified parliamentary democracy owes its existence and the foundations it was erected upon to the series of events known as the “March Revolutions” that took place in 1848.

In March 1848, Germany, as we know it today, did not yet exist. The ethnic group known as the Germans were scattered across thirty eight independent states, only loosely bound together in an organization known as the German Confederacy. The German Confederacy’s two major powers were the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire. Austria was by far the strongest “German” nation at that time; although Austria’s rulers, the House of Habsburg, ruled over a multi-ethnic empire composed of Germans, Poles, Romanians, Hungarians, Czechs, Italians, Ukrainians, Croats, Slovaks, Serbs and Slovenes. Any attempt at a Pan-German nation therefore would necessarily include some of the Habsburg lands, but exclude others. Many of the seeds of the Revolutions of 1848 can be traced back to specific events: the Rhine Crisis of 1840 and Denmark’s designs on the German state of Schleswig-Holstein inspired a wave of Pan-German Nationalism. The famous song “Deutschlandlied” or “Deutschland Uber Alles” was penned during this time, a song that would eventually become the National anthem of Germany. Other important symbols of Germany to emerge during the course of the Revolution were the red, black and gold tricolor Flag of Germany, taking its colors from the Holy Roman Empire’s Coat of Arms, also the Federal Republic of Germany’s coat of arms today, which featured a black eagle on a shield of gold, trimmed in red. The most famous National Personification of Germany, Germania, also emerged for the first time. Germania was depicted draped in the tricolor flag along with many elements of German history including wearing the Holy Roman Imperial Crown, carrying Charlemagne’s mythical sword named Joyeuse.