1848

Bismarck dined with the king and Ludwig von Gerlach. Over the next few days, news came in of riots in Sicily and Italy.

Riots in Palermo. Someone had put up notices in early January saying that on 12th there would be a revolution. Clark: probably there was no actual serious conspiracy but the notices did prompt people to march that day and it all kicked off! Similarly an observer in Paris a few weeks later wrote, 'The event seems to have been engendered by the curiosity that attended it.'

Metternich was not perturbed by the news of insurgent success in Sicily. He had anticipated it and prepared counter moves with France and the other Powers (except Britain).

James Marshall struck gold in Coloma, California. When news spread thousands came to California. The effects rippled through the world economy in the 1850s.

The famous author de Tocqueville had been elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1846 as a moderate liberal. He had not taken part in the banquet campaign because of distrust of the radicals. On 27 January, he gave a speech to the Chamber of Deputies calling for the expansion of the franchise to avert potential revolution.'Do you [ministers] not feel, by some intuitive instinct which is not capable of analysis, but which is undeniable, that the earth is shaking once again in Europe? Do you not feel ... as if a gale of revolution were in the air? This gale, no one knows where it springs from, whence it blows, nor, believe me, whom it will carry with it... Can you say today that you are certain of tomorrow? Do you know what may happen in France a year from now or even a month or a day from now? You do not know but what you must know is that the tempest is looming on the horizon, that it is coming towards us. Will you allow it to take you by surprise?' He was ignored.

Metternich-Apponyi: 'Revolutions march fast! This saying invariably reminds me of that young, very popular poet Bürger in Germany: The dead ride fast [Die Toten reiten schnell].'

The Communist Manifesto / Das Kommunistische Manifest published by Marx and Engels. Published, initially anonymously, by the Workers' Educational Association (Kommunistischer Arbeiterbildungsverein), based at 46 Liverpool Street, London. Around 20 March 1,000 copies reached Paris. In spring it was edited and that version was subsequently treated as the authoritative version. It was not influential in 1848 and only became famous in the 1870s. 'By the middle 1860s virtually nothing that Marx had written in the past was any longer in print' (Hobsbawm).

The Guizot government tried to outlaw the banquets in Paris. (The banquet organisers had taken pains to avoid breaching public order laws and were hard to suppress. They did not incite violence or illegal acts.) The organisers called for a huge demonstration. Banquets turned to demonstrations, clashes with soldiers, barricades went up. The army split and much refused to fight, the National Guard joined insurgents. As chaos engulfed the streets the Chamber continued debating the regulation of the Bank of Bordeaux: the Guizot government was paralysed. The King dismissed Guizot on 23/2, latter advised him to suppress the revolution with the army with all necessary force. Louis Philippe slumped in a chair, 'The sea is rising, the sea is rising!' Then, 'I abdicate'. He fled, a Republic was proclaimed. When he heard the news from Paris, FWIV said, 'Satan is on the loose again.' He tried to organise concerted resistance in London,Vienna and St Petersburg. He sent Radowitz to Vienna to work with Metternich including a special congress of the Bund.

(Guizot's father was killed by the guillotine. He opposed extremism and the death penalty. He feared chaos and violence. His attempts at press laws to stop mockery of the king did not work. The press became more raucous and aggressive.)

Metternich: 'If I may compare the revolution with a book I would say that we are still at the preface, whereas France has already reached the final pages.'

A diplomat who visited Metternich described him as 'isolated and paralysed” in a word powerless'. The Habsburg inner circle of court and ministers was confused, divided, paralysed. Some wanted concessions, others to hold fast. Metternich was in the latter group. After the news came from Paris of the fall of the king, Metternich said, 'Everyone says we must do something. Well, of course, but what? ... We must make everything anew but such reconstructions cannot be improvised.' His enemy Kolowrat was scheming at court to remove him.

Palmerston: 'I grieve at the prospect of a republic in France for I fear that it must lead to war in Europe and fresh agitation in England. Large republics seem to be essentially and inherently aggressive, and the aggressions of the French will be resisted by the rest of Europe, and that is war; while on the other hand, the example of universal suffrage in France will set our non-voting population agog, and will create a demand for an inconvenient extension of the suffrage ballot, and other mischievous things.'

News from Paris arrived in Berlin newspapers.

Mass meetings / riots and fighting across Europe including Prague, Cracow, Budapest, Netherlands, Copenhagen. Liberal ministers appointed in most smaller German states. Nationalist uprising in Schleswig-Holstein against Danish rule. Pre-Parliament meets in Frankfurt, calls for elections to a German National Assembly.

Mass demonstration in Cologne dispersed by army.

Mass demonstration in Munich.

In Vienna, Kolowrat attended a meeting of the bourgeois opposition and criticised Metternich. Siemann: There was criticism of Metternich among the royal family and courtiers and open talk of removing him.

King Augustus of Saxony was forced into constitutional reforms and to dismiss his conservative minister.

Large public meetings near the Brandenburg Gate ended with an address to the King demanding big changes.

Barclay: Bodelschwingh seems to have converted FWIV to the idea that a constitution could not be avoided. The Gerlachs opposed and wanted tough resistance.

Liberals in Vienna demanded reforms including a parliament with budgetary powers etc. On 12/3 thousands of students gathered in front of the university. As chaos grew in Vienna news arrived of Kossuth's address to the Hungarian Diet on 3 March.

In the evening a courtier said to Metternich's wife, 'Is it true you are leaving tomorrow?' and said to her that she and her husband would be 'sent away'. She realised a plot was afoot. (Some date this to evening of 13th but Siemann says 12th and he seems to have looked at the original sources.)

Vienna kicked off. The Diet convened to present the Emperor with demands for a constitution, crowds gathered, troops arrived and fired, violence spread, machines were smashed, gas pipes were ripped up and administrative buildings trashed. Metternich was too deaf to make out what the crowds shouted, a secretary took notes for him. Metternich was pressured by the Archdukes, manipulated by Kolowrat, into resigning ~9pm. When he returned to his residence on the Ballhausplatz his wife asked, 'Are we completely dead?' 'Yes, my dear, we are dead.'

They fled in disguise for England, arriving after many adventures and dangers on 20/4. (His properties were confiscated, inquiries were launched into his expenses, he relied on a 100,000 ruble loan from the Tsar to subsist. In England he rhapsodised about the English constitution — England is 'the freest country in the world because the most orderly'.) On 14/3 the Emperor announced the end of censorship, food taxes lowered, and convening of a constituent assembly. On 17th the Emperor agreed to an autonomous Hungarian government and in April it became an autonomous constitutional monarchy (still a Habsburg king) with a widened franchise.

(Clarke) The President of Police ordered new troops into Berlin, that night there were clashes round the palace, people killed. Barclay: this escalated fast with demonstrations spreading over next days.

FWIV agreed the United Diet should meet on 27 April. Admitted he was 'completely demoralised'.

Wilhelm had a row with the liberal-minded commander of troops in Berlin. FWIV went to Potsdam and considered not returning to Berlin but did.

Mass demonstration in Budapest.

News of Metternich reached Berlin (Clark says 15/3).

News of Metternich arrived in Milan, revolt kicked off next day.

Mass demonstration in Cracow.

Ludwig Gerlach wrote to a friend in interesting terms given the collapse into chaos over the next week: 'Self-reliant men, who nevertheless stand with the King, are what he needs... The delicacy which Leopold recommends reminds me of a man who sees his neighbour falling into a fire and thinking that it is too indelicate to grasp him firmly.'

(JS) FW rejected advice of von Prittwitz (commander of the Guards Infantry in Berlin who wanted to use force) and agreed to lift censorship (after which there was a flood of critical material), introduce a constitution and call the United Diet for 2 April (instead of 27th). There were attacks on factories and machines thought to be undermining employment. Bodelschwingh and others prepared their resignations.

Demonstration in front of the palace in Berlin, peaceful, pleased at signs of FWIV making concessions. About 1:30pm he appeared on a balcony to wave. People in the crowd demanded the troops be withdrawn and FWIV suddenly ordered Prittwitz to use the cavalry to clear the demonstration. Troops moved in. (Clark: There were two accidental discharges of weapons and stories spread that the soldiers were firing on civilians.) Chaos spread, people enraged with the king, barricades went up. FWIV and his entourage sat down for dinner in the palace but the ground was moving under their feet. Before midnight von Prittwitz advised that if the city did not calm down over the next few days it should be evacuated and bombarded. FWIV thanked him, sat down at his desk, put his feet into a furry foot muff, and started drafting a document. He finished after midnight and gave it to Bodelschwingh who took it to the court printer at 3am. It's unclear exactly what he was thinking but it seems (Barclay p143) the combination of Prittwitz's military advice and Vincke arguing for concessions pushed him into it. Prittwitz got a big shock early on the morning of the 19th when he read FW's message.

FW's note 'To My Dear Berliners' was posted all over Berlin in the morning. He asked Berliners to clear the barricades in return for which he promised to remove the troops from the streets and only protect key buildings. As people read the proclamation confused meetings were happening with FW, officials and the military. News came in of barricades being cleared, plans were Drawn up for immediate withdrawal of the troops. In the chaos Bodelschwingh brought an order to withdraw the troops at about 11am to a deputation of city officials. It was a big defeat for Prittwitz and Wilhelm. There was also crucial confusion. FW thought he'd made clear in his proclamation that the palace and arsenal would be protected but Prittwitz thought that if the troops began to withdraw they'd have to retreat to barracks or outside Berlin. At 12:30 he ordered the troops to withdraw to their quarters, soon the palace was guarded by only 7 companies of troops (who were also withdrawn over coming days). By the time FW and those around him realised that the troop withdrawal now left them at the mercy of the crowds, it was too late to change course or even leave the city. In the early afternoon, people in the crowd started shouting, 'the King must come'. White with panic and fear, the king, the queen and some generals appeared on the balcony before a huge and angry crowd. 'Hat off!' roared the crowd. FW obeyed the demand to remove his cap and pay homage to the corpses of those killed in previous days. Breaking the tension, some began singing Jesus meine Zuversicht (Jesus I Trust in Thee). Later FW agreed the formation of a Citizens Guard to protect the palace and the formation of a first constitutional government to be headed by Count Arnim Boitzenberg. Inside the palace, it felt as if the guillotine might be close. The palace was in chaos. Thile spent the day organizing the evacuation of the state treasury, crown treasury, state papers etc out of Berlin.

When Wilhelm, often referred to as 'the shrapnel prince' in Berlin at this time, heard of his brother's decision, he had a furious argument with Bodelschwingh in the late morning. He then had an even worse confrontation with his brother, saying furiously, 'I have always known that you were a babbler, but not that you're a coward! One can no longer serve you with honour.' Wilhelm flung his sword at his brother's feet. The King replied tearfully, 'This is just too bad! You can't stay here. You will have to go!' Wilhelm was smuggled out of Berlin in disguise and went via Spandau to London. Barclay: there, chastened, he soon decided there was no alternative to a constitution. Augusta sent word that his brother Carl was exploring options for taking over himself or his son. (The recent biography of Wilhelm by Fischer says that the 'cartridge prince' nickname was fake news, invented and repeated by the media, but in fact Wilhelm did not issue orders to the troops on or before 18/3 because he'd handed his Berlin command to Prittwitz. He was looking out himself on the scene and later said that two shots were fired by accident then someone else in the company fired thinking they were attacked. Fischer says that in the chaos of 18-19/3 a bullet narrowly missed Augusta. Augusta and the children stayed at Potsdam. In England Wilhelm talked with Metternich.)

By his own account Bismarck first heard the news of the 18-19 from noblewomen fleeing Berlin. He was 'filled with bitterness at the massacre of our soldiers in the streets. Politically I thought the King would soon be master of the situation if only he were free. I saw the first thing to be done was to liberate him as he was said to be in the power of the insurgents.' On 20 March he was told by peasants of a demand from some townspeople they hoist a black, red and gold flag. He told them to hoist instead a white banner with a black cross and began gathering weapons. He then went round the villages 'and found the peasants eager to march to the help of the King in Berlin.' His next-door neighbour was the only local supporter of the revolution and said that he would try to persuade the peasants not to march.

'You know that I am a quiet man but if you do that I shall shoot you.'

'I am sure you won't.'

'I give you my word of honour that I will and you know that I keep my word, so drop that.'

The neighbour dropped it.

(JS) Bismarck went to Potsdam and saw General von Prittwitz who had been ordered by the king not to fight. He told Bismarck to send food, not troops, but that he could not fight: 'What can we do after the king has commanded us to play the part of the vanquished? I cannot attack without orders.'

Placards appeared throughout Berlin in the morning proclaiming that to 'save Germany' FW had 'placed himself at the head of the entire Fatherland' and he appeared on the balcony to tell the crowd he would ride through their midst. He rode through the streets, gave speeches, and made clear he would support German nationalism. After the ride there was a proclamation: 'Today I have assumed the old German colours and have placed Myself in My People under the honourable banner of the German Empire. Henceforth Prussia will merge into Germany.' (A senior Prussian soldier-courtier, Rauch, who was asked to ride with the king wrote of his despair and horror at the whole affair — 'I cannot describe the impression that this ride made on me. It seemed to me as if everything had gone mad... It was as if I had come from the madhouse.') There was talk of assemblies and a new army, with the army taking a new oath to the future constitution, 'genuine constitutional governments' etc. On 22/3 he promised electoral reform and ministerial responsibility. He even seemed to make concessions to a delegation of Poles asking for concessions.

FW responded to demands from protesters that he take up the cause of a German parliament, he rode into Berlin on his horse with little protection and gave impromptu speeches about his support for an all-German parliament.

(Clark) Denmark annexed Schleswig, the Germans in the south of the duchy formed a provisional government.

(Memoirs say 21st, other books & JS have this on 23rd. Augusta dated it 23rd according to Gall.) Bismarck went to speak to Wilhelm but he was referred instead to Augusta. Bismarck claims in his Memoirs he was trying to get Wilhelm to support military action to free the king and take back Berlin but that Augusta was plotting to be Regent in the event that neither the King nor Wilhelm were viable. She later claimed (July 1862, Gall) that Bismarck tried to persuade her to grab the throne in the name of her husband and son, to disown measures implemented by the King, and to 'question the latter's authority and soundness of mind' (Augusta). The incident poisoned their relationship.

(Barclay (p64): Augusta had impressed Goethe aged 12 as 'an utterly charming and creative creature who already has quite original ideas and whimsies'. She admired French literature and British institutions. Their marriage was not based on affection — in their early days Wilhelm complained of her irreligiosity and after becoming king he enjoyed their separations.)

Bismarck then got from the King's younger brother a letter saying the bearer has permission from me to speak to the King and inquire into his health and he hastened to Berlin. He went to the palace and there gave a letter for the King to read arguing the revolution was confined to the towns and he could regain control if he wanted. He returned to Potsdam and discussed action with Prittiwitz and others. When someone said 'what can we do?', Bismarck sitting at a piano started to play an infantry charge march. Bismarck told them 'the country will thank you and ultimately the King too.' Some of the generals asked him to speak to others to see if there would be general support for action despite the King's instructions. He talked to some of them then returned to Schönhausen. He takes a delegation of peasants to see the situation for themselves. He went to Potsdam on 25th. (The chronology about his movements seems very confused across the books but proof-reading this I think this section could be much improved.)

FW 'arrived unexpectedly' (OP) in Potsdam on 25th. FW told the troops at Potsdam that 'I have come to Potsdam in order to bring peace to my dear Potsdamers and to show them that I am in every respect a free King, and to show the Berliners that they need fear no reaction and that all the disquieting rumours to that effect are completely unfounded. I have never been freer and more secure than when under the protection of my citizens.'

Bismarck was an eye-witness and recorded that these words prompted 'a murmuring and clattering of sabres in their sheaths such as no King of Prussia in the midst of his officers had ever heard before, and, I hope, will ever hear again. Deeply grieved, I returned to Schönhausen.' In his Memoirs, he wrote that he had written the passages above with the newspapers of the time open before him and they 'contradict each other and my own recollection.' He then writes that in May he thought that rumours and false news had spread across the country about the events around the 18-19 March which were very damaging to the monarchy and should be rebutted quickly before they had permanent effect on the peasants who had initially strongly supported the King. He complained the military never gave a satisfactory account of what had happened until 1891! He argued to Prittwitz later that month that when Bodelschwingh ordered Prittwitz to withdraw troops from the palace square, he should have had the minister arrested. He said he was told by officers in the King's immediate entourage that the King withdrew 'owing to a call of nature', the troops started marching away, when he returned he was asked by the officers if he had ordered this and denied it. (p34)

Barclay: there are at least five different versions of the King's Potsdam address.

Count Arnim resigned and the king made Camphausen (a distinguished businessman and liberal) the 'minister-president' (sort of PM but without control of Cabinet appointments) and called the Diet to meet on 2 April. Bismarck went back to Berlin.

Leopold Gerlach visited FW in Potsdam and was shocked: 'His discourses about the March events — a mixture of resignation, weakness, apathy, and desperation — made a frightful impression on me. Everything was confused, listless, and fantastic... I went home heavy with despair.'

Leopold Gerlach diary: 'First attempt to set up a ministère occulte.' Leopold tried to persuade FW that foreign policy and the army were the foundations of restoring royal power. The Gerlachs tried to organise a key group, which became known as the Camarilla, around FW. The key members up to November were the two Gerlachs, adjutant-general Rauch, Massow. Edwin Manteuffel was close to them and played an important role. Ludwig's judgements of the King were and remained harsh, to the dismay of Leopold. Ludwig thought FW may abdicate and told his brother they had to be ready to make the monarchy itself their priority, not FW. In coming months they had to be careful about their meetings with FW to minimise rumours. (Barclay, Chapter 7.)

Chartist demonstrations in Britain.

War broke out between Prussia and Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein. The German population of Holstein, Lauenburg and southern Schleswig created a provisional government. Holstein and Lauenburg were in the Bund which supported them 12/4. Prussian troops deployed. Gall: Prussia was acting on behalf of the Bund in aiding the attempt by the inhabitants to leave the Danish Federation. Prussia had to abandon 26/8.

Barclay: At the start FW was supportive of using the army against what he saw as unwarranted aggression from Denmark. But he quarrelled a lot with Arnim and, with the Camarilla, was worried about upsetting Russia. He preferred to use the troops in Poland where operations began in April.

Sperber: The movement in Schleswig Holstein became a popular nationalist cause throughout Germany: mess meetings, women raised cash and supplies, volunteers enlisted.

Clark: The Prussians marched into Schleswig on 23/4. The war stirred the emotions of the liberals who met at the Frankfurt Assembly in May but they didn't appreciate the European dimensions. Cf. 26/8 (Malmo) and 17/9 (fighting in Frankfurt).

The United Diet reassembled. Bismarck said: 'The past is buried and it is a matter of more poignant grief to me than to many of you that no human power can raise it up again, since the Crown itself has cast earth on its own coffin.' He broke into tears and had to stop speaking. 'His moderation aroused bitter criticism from ultraconservative friends' (OP) and he apologised to the Gerlachs. Gall: we don't really know what he was thinking then but if he was casting around for alternatives, he soon decided to row behind the Gerlachs again.

On 5th it passed an electoral law paving the way for elections to a Prussian National Assembly: elections were indirect (voters chose electors who chose deputies) but all votes were weighted equally, all adult males who had lived in the same place for 6 months and had not received poor relief (Barclay, p147).

Speech to the Diet on the last day it sat. The new Finance Minister, Hansemann, who soon after founded the largest private bank in Prussia in the 1850s and 1860s, asked for a levy of 40m taler, some for military and some for 'the maintenance of industry'. Bismarck opposed. The statesman should survey 'all interests in the country with equal impartiality. I fear, therefore, that the burden of this new imposition will be laid mainly upon the provinces and upon small towns and that the money raised will be used predominantly for the benefit of industry and money transactions in the larger towns.' The government is taking this cash 'from the assets of taxpayers in order to pour it into the bottomless well of the needs of a faltering industry'. It would also shift Political pressure to the countryside. Over coming months and in election campaigns he repeatedly sided with the small businessmen in towns and craft tradesmen against big business and finance. He attacked the hypocrisy whereby big business repeatedly called for protection from competition (and got it) while simultaneously pushing laissez-faire theories that brought destitution to many more people. Gall (p47-8): he was successful in persuading many aristocrats similar to himself to turn away from support for liberalism on the grounds it was a) bad for Prussia and b) bad for themselves. Cf. the pressure groups founded later in the year.

Chartists organised a big demonstration in London (Evans: estimated 150,000). They were met with a massive show of force: police (4k), army (12k), and an 85k militia of 'special constables' primarily of property owners (Evans: 100k) including Louis Napoleon. (Clark: nowhere else in Europe did a regime mobilise such a force.) Palmerston wrote the next day that it had been 'a glorious day, the Waterloo of peace and order', which would produce 'a good and calming effect', no need for the special constables to 'mash them [protesters] to jelly'. Some of his Cabinet colleagues feared that he interfered too much in other countries' domestic politics and lamented that Russell could not control him. Grey was alarmed that Palmerston sent diplomatic letters without clearing them with the PM and wrote in his diary (May) that had he 'played such a prank' in his father's government he would 'have been dismissed without ceremony'. In May his dabbling in Spanish politics threatened his position and Victoria was much annoyed. (Brown, p308ff) Evans: the government was anxious not to increase taxes at such a time so cut back on spending, stopped subsidising colonial planters and sugar growers and extended free trade to colonies, which in turn led to unrest there. Clark: after the June Days, the British government cracked down on Chartists and by September the movement was dead. Prussian police sent observers to talk to the British police and took back lessons.

In a conversation with Leopold von Gerlach, 'the King excused himself for ... being weak and giving in; constitutionalism had to be recognised because of Germany, and in according it such recognition he acted upon the express counsel of his ministers among whom he particularly named Bodelschwingh and Canitz'. Gerlach was wary: 'Does the gentleman want to lie to himself or would he have it believed that he didn't sink as deeply as he really did?' Barclay thinks (p148ff) he was overwhelmed by chaos and the breakdown of process, meetings, advice etc over 18-20 March. He did believe in Germany unity if it could be done while maintaining monarchical authority. But he was also swept along in chaos for a few weeks. For months after March he was self-pitying, sullen, lethargic. On 14 June Leopold Gerlach wrote in his diary that according to a mutual acquaintance, 'The King stares into space for hours at a time — then outbursts of rage follow.' Cf. 28/8.

A march in Paris of unarmed workers, chanting pro-republic slogans. They'd been given permission to march. When they arrived at the Hotel Ville, they faced the National Guard with tied bayonets. They were ordered to disperse. Leading radical clubs had premises raided by the Guard. The provisional government defended themselves saying they had intelligence of plots. Radicals were furious. Louis Blanc said that the rumours were engineered: unknown persons were 'sowing lies whose effects had been perfidiously thought through'.

A manuscript sent to a newspaper from Schönhausen but not printed until 38 years later, in response to the release of Prussian citizens of Polish nationality who had been convicted of treason. The fact that they had soon formed 'bands that persecuted the German inhabitants of a Prussian province with plunder and murder, massacring and barbarically mutilating women and children' was the least damaging aspect of the affair. If this approach were continued it would mean 'German states deprived of the last of what German arms had procured for them in Poland and Italy over the centuries...This is what people are gaily prepared to throw away for the sake of the implementation of a visionary theory, a theory that must equally lead us to form a new Slav kingdom out of our south-eastern frontier districts ..., give the Italian Tyrol back to the Venetians, and with Moravia and Bohemia create an independent Czech kingdom right into the heart of Germany... [Re a Polish state] But how can a German, for the sake of whining compassion and impracticable theories, dream of creating on the doorstep of the fatherland a relentless enemy who will always be trying to deflect his feverish domestic unrest by means of wars and who every time we are engaged in the west will attack us in the rear: who will and must be far more avid for conquest at our expense than the Russian Emperor, who is happy if he can hold his present giant together and would have to be very foolish to want to increase, by conquering German lands, the already large proportion of his subjects prepared to take up arms against him. We do not, however, need Poland to protect us against Russia, we can protect ourselves.' Cf. 3/61 and January-February/63.

Letter to a newspaper (in Collected Works but may not have been published): 'Like every sensible person, the landowner will acknowledge that it is pointless and impossible to halt the flow of time or dam it up.'

In France the largely rural electorate was worried by chaos in Paris and new land taxes. They voted for a Constituent Assembly dominated by moderates and liberals.

In Vienna the government issued the 'Pillersdorf Constitution', named for interior minister who drafted it.

Elections to the Frankfurt National Assembly, met 18 May. Evans: most states organised elections with an indirect suffrage based on property but it was quite low and most could vote. Three-quarters of deputies had a university education. Sperber (p279): the results, unlike those in France May 1849, suggest a sharp discontinuity with the next 100 years. The political map of 1900 and 1950 Germany was quite different. The main strongholds of the left in 1848 were in central and southwest Germany; by 1900 these strongholds were mainly in the north.

Also elections to the new Prussian National Assembly. Overwhelming defeat for conservatives, landowners less than 7% of deputies. First met on 22 May. In his opening speech FW reminded deputies their job was 'to agree upon the constitution with me', but he also assured them that the 'unity of Germany is my fixed goal'. Barclay: while Arnim wanted to exploit the situation to Prussia's advantage, FW was absorbed in medieval fantasies and dreams of ceremonies in which the Habsburgs were again crowned as Holy Roman Emperors. Arnim rejected FW's schemes. FW was much shocked at the idea of him being crowned somehow the head of Germany, and declared that 'I will not accept the crown'.

(OP) Bismarck decided not to become a candidate for the Prussian National Assembly which replaced the United Diet as he thought he had no chance of election. The new parliament attacked the Junkers' privileges, titles, hunting rights, judicial powers, and it imposed new taxes. 'A real estate tax is not a tax but a confiscation of capital.' The revolution's leaders had succeeded by 'misrepresentation' and 'exciting the greed ... and envy' of the poorer against the richer.

(EF) He tried to become a candidate for the Landtag but could not get selected as a candidate even in his home area.

The Austrian government ordered a botched clampdown in Vienna. It provoked marches, riots, storming of factories.

A crowd marched on the Habsburg palace demanding revision of the constitution and democratic elections. Radical democrats were mobilising in Vienna. Ferdinand panicked and gave in, his cabinet resigned, two days later (17) the royal household fled Vienna for Innsbruck. 24/5 the university in Vienna was closed. National Guard went over to the students. (Clark gives slightly different dates, p489.)

A crowd broke into the lightly guarded chamber of the National Assembly in Paris and read out a petition then marched to the Hotel de Ville to proclaim an 'insurrectionary government' to be headed by radicals. The government rallied the National Guard and dislodged the insurgents from the Hotel de Ville. Some were arrested.

FW told the Cabinet he refused to dilute his personal authority over the army and he would abdicate rather than concede. The Cabinet backed down.

Leopold Gerlach gave FW a report he'd written in May and discussed with others in the camarilla. LG thought that FW had 1) never shown interest in real governing, preferring occasional dramatic announcements and 2) never selected and worked properly with ministers and advisers. He wrote that confidence in the King and his government had been shattered by March events and he had to liberate himself from the constitutional system.

(Evans) The Danish king was forced to declare the union of Schleswig and Holstein. (Evans implies the war kicked off after this, other books that it kicked off in spring.)

Wilhelm returned from England and thanked Bismarck for being 'active on my behalf' (Memoirs). While he was away, he was heavily criticised. At one point a crowd marched on his palace and it was only saved by the guards waiting 'Property of the People' on the facade. It was announced on 10 May he would return. A delegation of liberals met Camphausen, one of them, Boerner, recorded that Camphausen seemed like 'a beleaguered schoolteacher', exhausted, 'seemed predestined to be betrayed and abandoned by all sides'. Clark: by June, revolutionary energy had peaked and was receding. Fischer: Camphausen asked Wilhelm to appear publicly in civilian dress, not uniform, but he refused.

The mob attacked Count Arnim. Gerlach later chided FW for not being tougher in response.

Crowds stormed the arsenal in Berlin after weeks of growing pressure. Arnim resigned the next day and the Assembly said it would not accept the Cabinet's draft constitution. Camphausen and the rest of the ministry resigned on 20 June.

(JS) Prague revolt suppressed by Austrian forces.

(JS) He told his brother he was going to Potsdam for a few days of 'political intrigues'. 3 July he wrote that he had found there the highest personalities 'more decisive and much clearer about their position than one would have thought given all that has happened. I was also able to assure myself through sight of a confidential letter from the Tsar that the danger of war with Russia is completely imaginary as long as civil war does not break out here and our ruler does not call for Russian help.'

'June days' in Paris. Sparked by plans to close the National Workshops set up by Louis Blanc (to provide work and minimum income for unemployed). Tens of thousands on each side fought in virtual civil war between government and insurgents. Artillery blasted the barricades. Paris was under martial law until October. Victor Hugo fought against the insurgents. Tocqueville (still a deputy) walked the streets on 25th to see what was happening, suddenly insurgents appeared on a nearby rooftop and fired on the troops, in the chaos he was knocked over and trampled by cavalry: 'I lost my hat and came close to losing my life.' While both Hugo and Tocqueville opposed the radicals, they both pondered for the rest of their lives on why violence had suddenly exploded. Marx described the revolt as a moral victory for the vanquished: 'The collisions that are generated by the very conditions of bourgeois society have to work themselves out through struggle, they cannot be reasoned out of existence. The best form of state is one that does not blur social contradictions or seek arbitrarily ... to contain them. The best form of state is one in which these contradictions play themselves out freely and thereby come to a resolution.'

Rudolf von Auerswald became Minister President in Prussia replacing Camphausen. He was a childhood friend of the King and mildly liberal in views (his brother would be killed by the mob in Frankfurt 18/9). He had reminded FW of his predecessor's promise of a constitution. A new draft constitution was hammered out but remained in limbo.

News comes in of successful counter-revolutionary moves around Europe. (Tocqueville re Paris: 'the whole thing seemed to me to be a bad tragedy played by actors from the provinces'.) Bismarck helped organise conservatives including founding the Kreuzzeitung, which would be highly influential for decades, and the Association for the Protection of the Interests of Landed Property (the name was shortly extended to include 'the Prosperity of All Classes of the People'). Having apologised to the Gerlachs for his 2 April speech, he was connected to the secret Camarilla of ultraconservatives planning to persuade FW to launch a counter-revolution. One often reads that the Gerlachs were inherently ambivalent about the organisation of conservatives to mobilise the masses since the notion of 'persuading people' was itself contrary to their notions of authority and legitimacy. But Barclay writes that Ludwig Gerlach actually was a crucial driver of the Kreuzzeitung project and wrote a monthly column.

First edition (after some test runs in June) of the Neue Preussische Zeitung (because of its iron cross it became known as the Kreuzzeitung). Bismarck wrote many pieces for it over the next few years but few can be identified with confidence now. He also frequently wrote to the editor, Hermann Wagener whom he had known since university — e.g. demanding more adverts and social notices: 'there are not enough adverts. In our rural economy adverts are a necessity. The women cannot exist without them and in any case the survival of a newspaper rests on the fees from advertising. New papers can help themselves by reprinting the notices in the established papers and so by means of appearance eventually create the reality of an important information paper... Births, deaths, weddings announcements must be taken over from the Spener-Vossische in my view in full... You cannot imagine how many women read papers only for the notices and if they do not find them, forbid their husbands to buy the paper.' Within a year it tripled its circulation from an initial 1,000 and by the early 1860s it was 6-8,000.

Palmerston: 'Our duty, our vocation is not to enslave, but to set free; and I may say without any vainglorious boast, or without great offence to anyone, that we stand at the head of moral, social and political civilisation. Our task is to lead the way and direct the march of other nations. I do not think we ought to goad on the unwilling or force forward the reluctant: but when we see a people battling against difficulties, and struggling against obstacles in the pursuit of their rights, we may be permitted to encourage them with our sympathy and cheer them with our approbation, and even if occasion require, to lend them a helping hand.'

Marshall Radetsky defeated the Piedmont army and restored Austrian rule in north Italy. After the Italian uprising was defeated, Garibaldi wrote, 'I saw how little the national cause inspired the local inhabitants of the countryside.' Tuscan peasants crushed the Republican movement in Florence just as in France the peasants supported Napoleon.

The counter-revolution gathers pace. Bismarck drafted a petition attacking the new financial legislation as 'a confiscation of private property' unequalled in history except by 'conquerors and dictators' and threatening the King that 'the great majority of the Prussian people will hold your majesty responsible'.

A new draft of a constitution came from Weldeck's committee, more democratic and less power for the king.

Leopold Gerlach recorded in his diary that FW had mentioned a plan to bring two regiments to Berlin to dissolve the Assembly. Gerlach warned he needed to have a serious replacement ministry prepared in advance of such steps.

Troops fired on civilians in the Silesian city of Schweidnitz. It provoked votes in the Prussian National Assembly asserting orders over the army and insisting it acted in conformity with the constitution. The government, knowing FW's views, tried to duck the issue. Cf. 7 September.

Disraeli to Parliament: 'The sentimental principle in the management of foreign affairs in the present day is to develop the principle of nationality. The noble Lord [Palmerston] is going, then, to mediate in the affairs of Italy on the sentimental principle of developing nationality. Now, I beg the Committee to remark into what inextricable difficulties and dangers any encouragement of such a course on the part of the noble Lord must lead this country'. How will we distinguish between places where we want to support the principle of nationality and those we don't, such as Denmark? Or Hungary? 'If this House does not take the earliest opportunity to discourage the sentimental principle in settling the affairs of nations, I am convinced that we shall be involved in difficulties which it is impossible to contemplate; for I believe that such a policy, if it be fairly developed, will really resolve Europe into its original elements, and will not leave any social or political system in existence in the form which it now assumes... I protest against the attempt to regulate the world by a contrived concert with the Jacobin party... It is the system that commences with “fraternity” and ends with assassination; it is the system that begins by preaching universal charity, and concludes by practising general spoliation... The noble Lord has it in his power to act in a manner which will add even to his influence, and to the greatness and the reputation of his country. He may in this craven age assert the principles of public justice in a manner which becomes a British Minister; and he will find that no bandits, whatever may be their position, will cross any mountains or invade any capitals, when they know that England is prepared to uphold the principles of public law. For, Sir, in public as much as in private matters, I have seen enough, and I am sure that every Gentleman from his own experience must have seen enough, to convince him, in the long run, nothing can withstand the majesty of law, the force of truth, and the inspiration of honour.'

The 'Junker Parliament' in Berlin where the Junkers organised for their self-defence. Bismarck attended. Ludwig Gerlach voiced his basic argument: property is a Christian institution if and only if it is connected to 'the duties that arise from it... As mere means of enjoyment it is not holy but dirty. Communism correctly rejects property without duties. For that reason we may not surrender the threatened rights — patronage [of church and school], police, the legal jurisdiction — for these are more duties than rights.' Over the summer Bismarck also helped set up various pressure groups including Association for King and Country.

In Charlottenburg, a small town west of Berlin, an angry royalist mob broke up a peaceful democratic march. Sparked violence in Berlin the next day. During an August trip, FW encountered much support and in Cologne workers at Marx's newspaper left work to join the celebration and the next issue had to be cancelled.

Daughter Marie born.

To Hermann Wagener: 'These questions have to do not only quite literally with the livelihood of a large section of the Conservative Party but with whether King and government, faced with a crucial decision, are going to throw themselves into the arms of the revolution, announce that it is here to stay and seek to apply it to the social sphere... It is a criterion of nobility that it serves the country for nothing. To be able to do that it must have its own wealth, from which it can live; otherwise the thing simply will not work. As result we have to be as materialistic as necessary to defend our material rights...'

Prussia agreed the Malmö armistice with Denmark without consulting the Frankfurt Parliament and agreed to withdraw its army.

Gall: Prussia withdrew under pressure from UK and Russia.

OP: Prussian Army withdrew against Denmark before the threat of British intervention, this failure 'left a vivid mark on the liberal soul' (OP).

Sperber: In August Britain and Russia pressured Prussia over S-H, Prussia dropped support for the provisional government set up by German insurgents.

Clark: Frankfurt tried to resist the deal briefly but was forced to accept the Great Powers decision.

FWIV to a friend: 'I do not rule. For God's sake don't ever forget that for a moment.'

Ludwig to Leopold: we need to 'wait until ripe fruits fall into the King's lap and, in the meantime, let us prepare a ministry (Brandenburg, Prittwitz, Bismarck)'.

Leopold Gerlach complained in his diary of the king's 'incomprehensible indifference and aversion to all complicated affairs' and the next day he expressed deep frustration with his 'cowardice and intentional confusion'. Cf. 13 April. Also his relationships with his new ministers were terrible and he was always complaining about them and firing off endless letters. Sometimes he would petulantly withdraw and tell everyone that the ministers disobeyed him. He seemed broken to many, occasionally floated abdicating. Many aristocrats, including in the army, referred to him with rage or disgust for his behaviour. Barclay: notions of abdication were still in the air, FW was bouncing between rage and depression, the Camarilla wanted action but was wary of the king flaking on them. On 21 August violence in Berlin gave the Camarilla an opening to push a crackdown but they had to contend with FW's continuing 'apathy and indifference' (Leopold).

Russia deployed troops against Romanian nationalists in Wallachia.

Assembly insisted 219-143 on the government carrying out measures regarding the army after the 31/7 incident. FW and the Camarilla were agreed on resisting any incursions by the Assembly on the king's power over the army. FW was full of schemes to overthrow the Assembly but couldn't stick to a plan and struggled to get ministers to serve. The Gerlachs kept insisting on the need for a tough, loyal and competent Minister President to execute any plan but did not try to push FW into a coup as they feared he would fold without the right support. They spoke to him on 9/9 after which Ludwig wrote in his diary, 'Everything is still as it was. We need heroic deeds, everything is ready, only the hero is missing.'

(11/9 JS) Auerswald replaced by General von Pfuel who had been military governor of Berlin until 18/3. JS — Pfuel was a Junker with liberal sympathies who tried to stick to the March agreement.

Barclay: Pfuel was appointed on 21/9. (Sometimes a) historians conflate the resignation of X and appointment of Y to the same day, but there is often a gap, or b) there is a 'decision' on X but then a 'formal appointment' on Y and the dates are conflated.) Pfuel was a liberal and quickly disappointed FW (the Gerlachs had not pushed for him).

(Sperber, p230) There were mass meetings across Germany protesting the Prussian decision on S-H. Frankfurt initially had rejected Malmo and voted to continue the war then u-turned. Radical deputies organised a mass meeting on 17/9. An enraged crowd tried to storm the assembly. Insurgents were defeated after two deputies were lynched. The Prussian Army fired artillery and attacked the crowd. Clark: this violence pushed many liberals towards the conservatives. Robert Blum was so fed up he headed for Vienna.

To Johanna: 'Either the government shows itself to be weak like its predecessors and gives way, something that I am working against, or it does its duty in which case I do not doubt for a minute that on Monday evening or Tuesday blood will flow. I had not thought the Democrats would be bold enough to accept battle but their whole attitude suggests that they will. Poles, Frankfurter, loafers, freebooters, all sorts of scum, have again appeared. They reckon that the troops will back out, probably through the speeches of a few unsatisfied chatterboxes who thus mislead the troops. I think they are wrong.' He stayed in Berlin.

Ludwig told Leopold the time had come for a ministry including Brandenburg, Bismarck, Kleist-Retzow with Prince Wilhelm as 'generalissimo'. By the end of September the revolutionary movement was defeated in Frankfurt.

Ludwig Gerlach arrived at Potsdam and stayed for 17 days. Barclay: over the next few weeks the Camarilla managed to surround FW and influence him.

FW was speaking of the cabinet's 'treason'.

In Vienna the government ordered the Vienna garrison to march towards Hungary. A crowd gathered. Chaos. Minister of war lynched. Mutinies. Imperial arsenal looted. Emperor fled Vienna again for Olmütz.

Meeting at Sanssouci with Gerlachs and FW. FW agreed he was not opposed to Brandenburg. He asked Leopold to go to Breslau where Brandenburg commanded the Sixth Army Corps and sound him out. Brandenburg was FW's uncle, a product of a FWII liaison. He had a distinguished military career but was unimaginative and in Valentin's phrase was 'bored by himself'. He agreed to serve but only if he had a free hand to direct the cabinet.

Pfuel wrote to FW that he could not remain in office if FW would not accept the constitutional draft of the summer.

FW rebuked the Assembly for passing a decree removing FW's title as King 'by the Grace of God' — a huge blow to him.

The Cabinet offered to resign. FW agreed but asked Pfuel to stay until a new government could be named.

Brandenburg arrived in Berlin. The Camarilla wanted a clean break with the previous ministers but Brandenburg considered keeping them. After days of exhausting discussions, the situation was resolved by the end of October.

To Joanna: 'Not the slightest sign of revolt here. But instead bitter feelings between workers and civil guard, which can bear good fruit. The workers cheer the King and the army and want the King to rule alone etc.'

Austrian army stormed Vienna, revolt crushed. Rebel leaders shot, Austrian troops looted Vienna as if it was an enemy city. Evans: Croatian troops looted and tortured house to house. (A stray cartridge started a fire in the Homburg roof and many books in the Imperial library were damaged by the water used to put it out.)

Hinckeldey put in charge of the Berlin police. He was soon FW's main adviser on security matters and quickly got the right to report in person. FW often circumvented normal channels by giving him direct orders. Hinckeldey had an intelligence operation to monitor suspected revolutionaries, break up plots, and control the press — an operation he extended to other Bund states. Generally FW and Hinckeldey were focused on the left but sometimes Hinckeldey also confiscated the Kreuzzeitung!

Hinckeldey was 'one of the most remarkable and creative conservative officials in 19th Century Prussia', in some ways similar to Baron Haussmann (Barclay p240). Hinckeldey favoured a combination of repression and socio-economic activism. He was an unusual bureaucrat with enormous energy, willing to bend rules and not obsessed with process. He was shunned by the court society and hated among the Kreuzzeitung network.1848-56 he became 'a kind of urban boss' (Barclay). He established a fire brigade, street-cleaning, soup kitchens, public washhouses in the poorest areas, refuges for unemployed female domestic servants. He planted trees and in 1852 he had an English engineering firm build a waterworks to supply fresh drinking water. He collected and applied statistics. He did not enrich himself and lived happily with his wife and 7 children. When he complained about being underpaid, FW tried to get him promoted and enhance his powers. Ministers and officials resisted though FW eventually managed to get him more powers. (Cf. 18 July 1856.)

Along with Hinckeldey was Carl Saegert, another odd character who FW turned to and their relationship was 'one of the oddest in the entire annals of the Hohenzollern monarchy' (Barclay p238). Along with FW's secretary Schöning, and the queen's secretary, Harder, Saegert was the leading figure in what Leopold called 'a second Camarilla'. They were introduced in the chaos of spring 1848 and FW was impressed by Saegert's apparent grassroots knowledge about revolutionary events and characters. Saegert was a bourgeois social climber, a disreputable character who others despised. His influence peaked during the Crimean War.

The Assembly was informed of Pfuel's departure and Brandenburg's appointment. Ludwig Gerlach arrived in Potsdam. The whole Camarilla, which wanted decisive action, was near the king, who was still toying with compromises. On 2/11 Leopold told Brandenburg the main thing was to 'show in every possible way that the King still rules in this country, and not the Assembly'.

Pfuel replaced as Minister President by Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg (the king's uncle and former commander of the VI Army Corps) until 11/50, who was also Foreign Minister. The Gerlachs and the wider Camarilla had been toying with the Brandenburg idea since at least mid-July, and cf. 29/9. Otto von Manteuffel was Interior Minister. When Bismarck's name was mentioned as a possible minister around this time, Gerlach reported the King wrote in the margin 'Only to be employed when the bayonet governs unrestricted.'

A meeting in the evening in Brandenburg's rooms near Sanssouci with the Gerlachs and others. Brandenburg sketched his plan to move the Assembly out of Berlin and said the King would have to be quiet and not make provocative comments, and generally had to be better controlled: 'A stricter etiquette has to be introduced here.' The Gerlachs were happy.

(anniversary of Napoleon's coup 1799) Brandenburg told the National Assembly they were adjourned until 27/11 after which they would meet in Brandenburg (~60km from Berlin). At 2pm 13,000 troops under General Wrangel entered Berlin. Wrangel rode to the Assembly (sitting in a theatre) and told them to disperse, which they did by 5pm. Bismarck was angry the Assembly was not immediately dissolved. He was in Berlin and involved in the logistics around moving the Assembly out of Berlin, protecting ministers. (JS dates the troop movement to the next day.)

OP: the revolutionary enthusiasm of March 'evaporated with astonishing speed'. The middle classes were frightened by the extremism of the lower classes who were disillusioned with the modest aims of the Mittelstand liberals. By the end of November the revolutionary movement was defeated in Berlin. But it was still strengthening in the Rhineland and broke out again in May 1849.

Clark: the deputies called for a tax boycott. There was a heated debate at the Frankfurt Assembly about whether to support this, the moderate-conservative majority voted it down. But this closure energised the organisation of the left across Germany. In Saxony, December elections produced a lower house in which 66 of 75 seats were won by democrats. In Germany and France the liberals were increasingly squeezed between radicals and counter-revolution.

In Vienna The radical Robert Blum, parliamentary deputy of the Frankfurt Assembly, was taken to execution by firing squad. (Confused reports about him had portrayed him to authorities in chaos as more revolutionary than he was. Schwarzenberg decided that his parliamentary privilege did not hold and martial law should apply: Blum is 'the most influential chief of the German anarchists' [false] and if he were condemned and shot 'his comrades [would] see that in Austria we do not fear them'.) His farewell letter to his wife, written as he awaited the firing squad, became a relic: '... Bring up our — now only your — children to be fine people... Everything I feel runs away in tears so I say again, live well dear wife... Farewell! Farewell! Thousand, thousand the last kisses from your Robert... They are coming! Farewell! Well!' An officer saw his tears and said, 'Don't be afraid, it will all be over in an instant.' Blum replied, 'This tear is not the tear of the parliamentary deputy of the German nation Robert Blum, this is the tear of the father and husband.' This entered radical legend, the 'Song of Robert Blum' was sung across southern Germany into the 20th century, it identified him as 'a man of middle-class attachments and values, a private man who had entered public life' (Clark)`.

Martial law declared in Berlin, the Civil Guards were soon dispersed.

Ludwig Gerlach returned to Magdeburg.

To Johanna:Yesterday he had dinner with FW.

Leopold to Ludwig: he noted ministers wanted to impose a constitution which he and Rauch opposed. 'Brandenburg avoided talking to me. I find that odd in view of the curious way in which he entered the government. I can't find fault with him for wanting to show ... that he is not a creature or tool of the Potsdam Camarilla.' By 26/11 Leopold reported that 'the power of the Camarilla has largely been absorbed by the cabinet'. Brandenburg was wary of the king and unenthusiastic about the Camarilla's ideas. He thought FW had to honour the promises made in March and a moderately liberal constitution would do the trick. FW was instinctively with the Camarilla, to Brandenburg's annoyance, who blamed FW's March errors for the whole mess. In his diary 19/11, Leopold wrote that FW still saw Bunsen and Radowitz as his main allies 'and in comparison to those two he regards us cattle' — which was important 1849-50. The Camarilla never again had such influence after autumn 1848 (Barclay).

Prince Felix von Schwarzenberg, a competent character and one of Europe's great landowners, took over in Vienna as Minister President (Carr wrongly dates this to October). He wanted to join Austria with the Zollverein in a new Customs Union; preserve AH dominance in Germany; revive the Bund and have it guarantee AH's borders so that a challenge anywhere required German states to defend her. Gall: Bismarck appraised Schwarzenberg accurately, Radowitz 'formed a totally false picture' of him and 'vastly overestimated in particular the solidarity of opponents of the revolution'.

FW, distraught at Brandenburg's plans, said, 'If I were not a Christian I would take my own life.'

The Prussian Assembly met in Brandenburg amid scenes of commotion but it was too late.

Emperor Ferdinand abdicated in favour of his nephew Franz Joseph.

Schwarzenberg circular: 'Palmerston regards himself too much as the arbiter of Europe. For our part we are not disposed to accord him the role of Providence. We never impose our advice on him in relation to Ireland: let him spare himself the trouble of advising us on the subject of Lombardy.'

Brandenburg dissolved the Prussian National Assembly and imposed a new constitution. It established equality under the law, personal and religious freedom, property was inviolable. FW remained monarch 'by the Grace of God' and had sole command of the army (which did not have to swear an oath to the constitution), huge powers to appoint officials, the power to dissolve either House and the unlimited power to appoint members of the House of Lords. Universal and equal but indirect suffrage for men over 24 (the public chose Electors and Electors chose Deputies)... Clause 2 Article 105 (shaped by Manteuffel) allowed decrees with the force of law 'in urgent cases' when Parliament not sitting. It was used 30/5/49 to change electoral law to the three-class suffrage. A98 and A60 gave Parliament powers over tax but A108 — taxes continued indefinitely until amended, thus government could bypass Parliament if no agreement on budget (cf. 24/9/49).

OP: it was a return to the Stein-Hardenberg tradition of bureaucratic liberalism but this time reform was a strategy of reactionaries, not the genuine conviction of liberal officials (p24). Barclay: In many ways it was remarkably liberal, in line with the Waldeck draft in the summer, and provided for a ministry responsible to a parliament elected on a broad franchise. Ludwig opposed the move (which he learned of on a train on 6/12) and had ideas for new ministers but it was all too late. They consoled themselves that they'd made progress and the new constitution wasn't as bad as it could have been.

On 5th there was a 'frightful scene' with FW, Leopold, Rauch and Massow in which FW insisted the constitution was unbearable. 'The King was in complete despair. They could declare him mad, he said, they could call him a dog, but he could never agree to sign this thing' (Leopold diary). But he gave in. The Gerlachs were in a minority among conservatives, most of whom supported the move.

Bismarck to his brother: 'From September on I have been like a shuttle-cock going back and forth between here and Berlin, Potsdam and Brandenburg... In general I flatter myself that I have poured pepper on the tails of the cowardly dogs and look back at my day's work with satisfaction.'

Palmerston-brother: The abdication of the Austrian Emperor is a 'great event and give a chance that Austria may be reconstructed solidly upon a constitutional principle... I should not be sorry if it [events in France] ended in Louis Napoleon being made Emperor, and thus ridding us of both branches of the Bourbons; but the adherents of that family certainly imagine that they will be able to get rid of Louis Nap[oleon] and set up a Bourbon in his stead.' The Pope's loss of temporal and spiritual authority is also good news. In 1849 Palmerston would continue to be attacked by Grey and others in Cabinet but Tory divisions, including over free trade, kept them weak too.

Schwarzenberg's reply rejected von Gagern's kleindeutsch position of 18/12: 'Austria today is still a German federal power. Nor does she intend to abandon this position which has arisen from the natural development of circumstances going back for a thousand years.'

Disraeli to Stanley: 'The office of leader of the Conservative party in the H. of C., at the present day, is to uphold the aristocratic settlement of this country. That is the only question at stake, however manifold may be the forms which it assumes in public discussion and however various the knowledge and the labor which it requires. It is an office which, in my opinion, requires the devotion, perhaps the sacrifice of a life.' Blake: he did not mean the Whig grandees but the rural backbone of Tory England, the local squires who dominated local matters and who Disraeli thought of as the fundamental strength of the country that needed defending against London, the Whigs, the intellectuals, and the manufacturing/commercial interests.

In a 1846 speech: The 'territorial constitution' was a deal that was 'the only security for self-government, the only barrier against that centralizing system which has taken root in other countries. I have always maintained these opinions. My constituents are not landlords; they are not aristocrats; they are not great capitalists; they are the children of industry and toil, and they believe first that their material interests are involved in a system which favours native industry, by ensuring at the same time real competition, but they also believe that their political and social interests are involved in a system by which their rights and liberties have been guaranteed: and I agree with them - I have the same old-fashioned notions.'

In Lord George Bentinck he wrote: 'England is the only important European community that is still governed by traditionary influences, and amid the shameless wreck of nations she alone has maintained her honour, her liberty, her order, her authority, and her wealth ... But it is said that it is contrary to the spirit of the age that a great nation like England, a community of enlightened millions long accustomed to public liberty, should be governed by an aristocracy. It is not true that England is governed by an aristocracy in the common acceptation of the term. England is governed by an aristocratic principle. The aristocracy of England absorbs all aristocracies, and receives every man in every order and every class who defers to the principle of our society, which is to aspire and to excel.'

He described the Corn Law battle as one stage in 'the great contention between the patriotic and the cosmopolitan principle, which has hardly begun and upon which the fate of this island as a community depends'. In 1872 he declared that beneath the superficial struggles of politics over the past forty years there had been a fundamental cleavage between a party of change animated by 'cosmopolitan' notions, and the party which sought to 'resume the national principles to which we attribute the greatness and grandeur of the country' (Blake, p. 283).

Bismarck always thought the crisis in 1848 came from the weakness of FW, 'an unsteady character', not the liberal Zeitgeist: 'if one grabbed him, all you were left with was a handful of slime'. He later said, 'He always loaded his gun but never fired.'

Memoirs: FW4's 'national sentiment was heartier and livelier than that of his father but was hindered in its practical realisation by a garnish of medievalism and by a dislike of clear and firm decisions. This led to his neglecting the favourable opportunity of March 1848.' Between the revolution starting in south Germany/Austria and 18 March, while it was clear only Prussia remained on a firm footing, 'the German princes were ready to come to Berlin and seek protection under conditions which went even further in the direction of union than has been realised nowadays... Prussia was strong and intact enough to arrest the progress of the revolutionary wave, and to offer the remaining German states such guarantees for law and order in the future as then appeared acceptable to the other dynasties. 18 March was an instance how mischievous the encroachment of crude force may be even to the objects which are to be attained thereby. Nevertheless, on the morning of the 19th nothing was yet lost. The insurrection was overthrown. Its leaders ... had fled ... and only returned to Berlin after receiving the newspapers. I believe that had the victory ... been more resolutely and more wisely turned to account, German unity was attainable in a stricter form than ultimately came to pass at the time I had a share in the government. Whether it would have been more serviceable and durable I will not attempt to decide.' The King's weakness was exacerbated by 'the pressure of uninvited and perhaps treacherous advisors and the stress of women's tears'. 'A victory won on the pavement would have been of a different sort and of less range than that afterwards won on the battlefield. It has, perhaps, proved better for our future that we had to stray plodding through the wilderness of intestine conflicts from 1848 to 1866... We should hardly have been spared the wars of 1866 and 1870 even if our neighbours, who collapsed in 1848, had regained strength and courage by means of support from Paris, Vienna, and other quarters. It is a question whether the operation of historical events upon the Germans by the shorter and quicker path of a victory in March 1848 would have been the same as that which we see today, and which gives the impression that the dynasties, and more especially those which were formerly prominently “particularistic', are more friendly disposed towards the Empire then are the political groups and parties.' Ie. maybe a solution in 1848 would have avoided the path actually taken regarding Germany's constitution and dynamics of parties. (But his comments are tentative, as we would expect.) (1p44)

In Memoirs, he recounts a conversation with the King in summer 1848, when he was still furious about what had happened.

FW: What do you reproach me with?

B: The evacuation of Berlin.

FW: I did not want it done.

Queen: Of that the King is quite innocent. He had not slept for three days.

B: A King ought to be able to sleep.

FW: It's always easier to prophesy when you know. Something more than reproaches is wanted to set an overturned throne up again. To do that I need assistance and active devotion, not criticism.

'The kindness with which he said all this overpowered me [and] I went away completely disarmed and won over.'

The King believed that he must keep to 'the strict legal path' and only break with the new Diet if he had law on his side. 'I replied that strict legality and its limitations appeared to me obliterated in the actual situation, and would be as little respected by his opponents, when once they had the power, as on 18 March; and that I saw the situation more in the light of war and self-defence than in that of legal argumentation.'

FW was particularly influenced by General von Gerlach and von Rauch and subsequently Niebuhr the private secretary. Rauch was more practical. Leopold Gerlach 'had a weakness for clever aphorisms', had 'a noble nature with high ideals and was free from the fanaticism of his brother. [Ludwig], in private life was 'modest and helpless as a child, courageous and highflying in politics, but somewhat hindered by physical indolence.' He recounted saying to the two Gerlach brothers: 'If we three saw an accident in the street from where we are now standing at this window, the President would improve the occasion by a sententious remark on our want of faith, and the instability of human affairs; the General would immediately tell us the proper thing to do in order to help down below, but would not stir a finger himself; I should be the only one who would go down or call somebody to help.' The General was 'the most influential politician in the camarilla' but was 'hindered, intellectually as much as bodily, by his ponderous person [!] from a prompt execution of his excellent ideas... Gerlach was the wittier, Rauch the more practical.'

In general, the King underestimated 'the vital energies of the German dynasties' and over-estimated 'the forces which can be summed up in the term “barricade”... The danger of subversion lay not in the thing itself, but in the fear of it.' Governments folded in spring 1848 'partly through fear of the enemy, partly through the private sympathy of their officials with him.'

'The daily current which then roared its loudest in the press and in the parliaments imposed upon people as being the voice of public opinion, but it affords no measure of the people's mood, upon which depends the readiness of the masses to render obedience to the demands made upon them by the authorities. The intellectual power of the upper of ten thousand in the press and the tribune is sustained and directed by so great a multiplicity of conflicting efforts and forces that governments cannot adopt it as a clue for their conduct, so long as the gospels preached by orators and writers, by virtue of the credence they find in the masses, do not command the use of material forces close packed in limited space. If this is the case, a vis major [major force] comes upon the scene and politics have to reckon with it. So long as this effect (which as a rule is slow in coming) does not occur, so long as the noise is made only by the shrieking of the rerum novarum cupidi [revolutionaries] in the greater centres, and by the emotional needs of the press and parliamentary life, then so far as the politician of realities is concerned, Coriolanus' opinion of popular manifestations holds good, although no mention of printers ink is made in it. In those days, however, the leading circles in Prussia allowed themselves to be deafened by the noise of parliaments great and small, without measuring its importance by the barometer afforded them by the attitude of the troops... The sympathies of the higher grades of officials ... contributed largely to the illusion ... as to the real relation of forces.' If Prussia had been prepared for a 'warlike solution' in spring 1849, it could have crushed all insurrections inside and outside Prussia and been ready for further action.

Early on in the new Parliament, Bismarck discussed the infamous Lucketheorie (gap theory) that he deployed as PM. In a note to Prince Wilhelm in 1853 he wrote that Parliament 'must be equipped with the means to ward off new laws and new taxes and to exercise a controlling criticism over the governmental system, namely over the financial housekeeping and the inner administration' but that was all. 'It must never have the power to force the crown to act against the King's will or to coerce the King's ministers, otherwise it will unfailingly misuse that power' and it must not be allowed final control of the budget — until a new budget is agreed, the old one must remain in effect and taxes must continue to be raised. 'Prussia's greatness was by no means achieved through liberalism and freethinking, but through a series of strong, resolute and wise rulers who carefully nourished and saved military and financial resources of the state. They held these resources, moreover, in their own unshackled hands until the favourable moment came to cast them with reckless courage into the scales of European politics...'