The German Revolution of 1848-49

Finally available in English to coincide with the 150th anniversary, this highly original study of the German Revolution of 1848-49 examines the "failure" of the revolution, its repression and the attempts to come to terms with this repression. Wolfram Siemann's analysis centers on the contradictory forms of collective protest, the tensions in the social, agrarian and commercial spheres, the nature of the crisis cycles of the Vormarz period, the different stages of development in individual German territories, and the regional centers of industrialization and politicization. It is against this backdrop that the "failure" of the revolution is put into perspective.

Wolfram Siemann is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Munich.

Introduction * Part I: Structures and Crises * German Society Before 1848 * Middle-Class Organization and Social Protest * The European Point of Departure, 1847-48 * The Revolution: Action and Reaction * The March and April Revolutions of 1848 * The Legitimization of the Revolution * Political Associations and Middle-Class Pressure Groups * Communication and the Public * The Paulskirche and the Parliaments * Nation-Building and the Crisis of Nationalities * The Turning Point in the European Revolutions, Summer/Autumn 1848 * The Dynamics of the Revolution * The Imperial Constitution and the Election of the Kaiser * The Campaign for the Imperial Constitution, April-July 1849 * From Erfurt Union to Reaction * Conclusion: 1848-49 and the Crisis of Modernization * Index
Introduction * Part I: Structures and Crises * German Society Before 1848 * Middle-Class Organization and Social Protest * The European Point of Departure, 1847-48 * The Revolution: Action and Reaction * The March and April Revolutions of 1848 * The Legitimization of the Revolution * Political Associations and Middle-Class Pressure Groups * Communication and the Public * The Paulskirche and the Parliaments * Nation-Building and the Crisis of Nationalities * The Turning Point in the European Revolutions, Summer/Autumn 1848 * The Dynamics of the Revolution * The Imperial Constitution and the Election of the Kaiser * The Campaign for the Imperial Constitution, April-July 1849 * From Erfurt Union to Reaction * Conclusion: 1848-49 and the Crisis of Modernization * Index