Vormärz
Vormarz is a subsequently arisen name given to a period in German history that describes the years before the revolution of March 1848. Geographically, the term limited are the states of the German Confederation, founded in 1815.
Term
Meantime, two definitions are commonly used: For some historians, the period of the pre-March period ( pre-March period in the broader sense ) begins in 1815, with the final went the era of the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte to end. The pre-March period in the strict sense, however, only covers the years from 1830 until 1848. Decisive for this classification is the French July Revolution of 1830, which represented an important political turning point. Therefore particular in the political history especially the years 1830-1848 referred to as pre-March period. The period 1815-1830 is considered the age of the restoration. In addition there exists - much rarer - the definition of pre-March period as really only immediate history of the Revolution of 1848: As a result, the period begins approximately in 1840 with the accession of Frederick William IV of Prussia.
The era of the pre-March period was characterized politically by the advent of liberalism and nationalism in a climate of persecution and oppression. The strongest bulwark of the conservative restoration were the powers of the so-called Holy Alliance. In the formula " unity and freedom " manifested the basic political demand of the young liberal and national movement that confronted the conservative rulers. The resulting confrontation with the restorative authoritarian state, who represented a contrary ideology and sought to defend this with hard repression was characteristic of the political events of the entire era.
Economically, began a phase tentatively onset of industrialization. In the transition from an agricultural country to an industrial state not infrequently disclosed social ills - pauperism, structurally related poverty of other segments of the population, has been a characteristic appearance this time.
For the same time period is used as the epoch designation in the arts, literature and cultural history more Biedermeier or romance (see also literature of the Restoration period ).
Political history
Since the French Revolution of 1789, the Germans were looking at what is happening in France. Some were fascinated by the promise of that freedom, equality and brotherhood could be realized. The others had mainly fear of violence in the wake of the revolution. Revolutionary French troops and later Napoleon's troops have occupied in consequence large parts of Germany or brought into dependence.
1815 have the combined armies of Russia, England, Prussia, and other countries Napoleon finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. The princes were eager to prevent another revolution and another tyrant like Napoleon. The German Confederation was founded in the same year as a loose confederation of states in Germany. His responsibilities ultimately included the repression of political unrest.
The French period has directly or indirectly made sure that the number of individual German states has decreased drastically, from about 300 to a few dozen. Prussia then in 1815 received the Rhineland and Westphalia large areas in the west, Bavaria, the Palatinate, there was also with Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria medium-sized southern German states. This should all stop together with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, France on new conquests. In the pre-March period Germany was influenced by the competition between the two great powers of Austria and Prussia, which was until 1866 ruled in favor of Prussia. Just these two great German powers were considered to be particularly politically conservative.
The ideas of the French Revolution remained alive. The Liberals were doing the moderate direction; they wanted a parliament with electoral law for the rich, which participated in the legislative process in the country. The Democrats or radicals demanded, however, much sharper equality for all citizens, in political terms, and universal suffrage. This contrast between liberals and Democrats, however, became more pronounced in the coming years, partly took this up in the 1840s.
At the same time, the conservatives wanted as the Austrian statesman Prince Metternich preserve the old or 1815 restored ( restored ) ratios. With the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819 began a system of persecution and oppression, censorship and banning of political parties. Some citizens despondent and retired into private life, others organized themselves in seemingly apolitical cultural associations. The latter were the basis for the 1848 as soon political parties or groups could be formed.
Certain events in this epoch have politicized and mobilized the population. A new French revolution of July 1830 led to riots and reforms in many countries of Germany and Europe; Belgium broke away from the Netherlands, Luxembourg was divided. The Hambach Festival of 1832 was a mass demonstration in the course of this time. Tensions between the Catholic Church in the Rhineland and the Prussian state made the Catholic population politically aware. The Rhine crisis in 1840, when France demanded the Rhine as a natural border between France and Germany, led to a wave of patriotism and hostility - in both countries. From this time the Song of the Germans, which is the German national anthem since 1922 comes from.
End of the era and aftermath
Again, it was a revolution in France, the February Revolution in 1848, which gave a decisive impetus for Germany. The German March revolution in 1848/1849 led initially to the achievement of many demands of the pre-March period in the states. These changes were, however, 1849-1851 undone, in the so-called era of the reaction ( policy). This phase lasted until 1858, when again began to move into the German question and took office in Prussia a new king. Many ideas of the pre-March period, including the time incurred German five-party system and universal suffrage of the March Revolution had great influence in the time before the Empire inception in 1867 /, 1871.
In the German Empire and the Weimar Republic, it was the left that looked back to the pre-March period and certain traditions kept up. This is rather less for the left-liberals as for social democracy, " Despite all this, " took over as Tags. However, due to issues such as the economic unification thanks Zollverein and the early liberal- statist ideas of Friedrich List, the epoch remained outside the political groups actually remembered.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the pre-March period enjoyed among left-wing intellectuals great attention because they recognized the feeling among the revolutionaries of the pre-March period to live in a backward and oppressive society. Singer-songwriters like Hannes Wader or group Zupfgeigenhansel played the political songs of the pre-March period. The science of history took reinforced at the epoch.
Social, economic and technological history
The French Revolution brought a thrust of modernization itself. In the occupied territories of the West German Code of Civil led a the equality of citizens before the law, the administration has been improved. This radiated to the rest of Germany. In 1800 and in the following years, serfdom was abolished ( emancipation ). The transition from traditional to modern society also saw adjustment difficulties; for poverty in backward areas, the term came to pauperism. Above all, the 1840s are known for famine and related unrest.
Economic progress was also evident in the reduction of customs barriers. 1818 managed Prussia from the duties on merchandise between its own provinces. 1834 founded a number of states together with Prussia the German Zollverein. In some areas there were the first signs of industrialization, even if they fundamentally changed until the second half of the century Germany. In 1835 the first locomotive in Germany, the eagle. Other important technical developments of the era were the steamship, the telegraph and photography. However, it took decades before a railway network or a telegraph network coverage united Germany so that their full benefit occurred only during the second half of the century. Railroad and telegraph attended for the first time in German history that news, people and goods reached their destination within days or faster and no longer a matter of weeks.
History of Literature
The concept of pre-March is a fuzzy collective term for the opposition to revolutionary political literature of the decades before the German March revolution of 1848 The beginning of this era literature is controversial.; some put it on at 1815 ( Congress of Vienna ), others the 1819 ( Carlsbad Decrees ), 1830 ( July Revolution ) or 1840 ( Rhine crisis). The pre-March period was in contrast to the literature of the conservative, restorative and politically resigned Biedermeier. Major genres Vormarz are the letter of the trip report and the political poem.
The Young Germany, whose publications were banned in 1835 by the Frankfurt Bundestag, is perhaps the most important group of authors that time. The representatives of the movement wanted to achieve the political consciousness of the bourgeoisie and called for a committed literature, which was based on the social reality. Your departure from the ideals of the classical literary expression found in Heinrich Heine's word created from the end of the period of art. The boy's Germany main representatives were Karl Gutzkow, Heinrich Laube, Theodor Mundt and Ludolf Wienbarg.
While the young Germans, whose literary and political efficacy in the mid -1830s reached its peak, served mainly various forms of prose and own magazines founded, the acting more in the 1840s Vormärzdichter attempted primarily by dedicated poetry for progress to act. The main authors of this direction include August Heinrich Hoffmann von Faller life, Ferdinand Freiligrath ( Ça ira, new political and social poetry ) and Georg Herwegh ( Poems of a living ). In this context, also to mention Robert Eduard Prutz and Georg Weerth ( Humorous Sketches from German Commercial Life, Life and deeds of the famous knight Schnapphanski ), which was like apostrophized of the Marxist-oriented literature as the first " poet of the German proletariat ."
In addition to these groups different individual authors are mentioned, which in their own way had share of advanced and pre-revolutionary tendencies of Vormärzliteratur at different times. Ludwig Borne with his critical journalism ( Letters from Paris) had for the young German a role model and pioneer function.
For the literature of the pre-March we also include the work of Georg Büchner ( Woyzeck, Lenz, The Hessian Courier, Leonce and Lena, Danton's Death ). Although he was temporarily in contact with Gutzkow, but kept the boy's Germany strategy oriented total for too much at the middle class. Buchner and Christian Dietrich Grabbe have in each case in its own way of genre drama new impetus.
Heinrich Heine distanced himself with his high aesthetic standards of the Young Germans, but shared much of their social criticism. It was therefore no coincidence that the ban passed by the Bundestag against the works of Young Germany included him. The Vormärzdichter, which he called " tendency poets" criticized and caricatured at their first appearance, inspired him in the subsequent period to contemporary political poems like The Silesian Weavers and the narrative poem Germany. The Winter's Tale, which are among his most radical utterances.
Other authors who belong to the context of the literary Vormarz include Ernst Dronke or Adolf Glaßbrenner, not to mention the more urgent at this time to the public authors who, like Louise Aston ( My emancipation ) or Fanny Lewald ( Some Thoughts on girls' education ) women-specific or as Bettina von Arnim (This book belongs to the king ) social issues made on the subject.
Boerne
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Buchner