Nationalism in Germany, 1848-1866: revolutionary nation

Abstract

Based on original research, this study asks how and why unification occurred in Germany. It reassesses the legacy of the revolutions of 1848-49 in the consolidation of German nationalism during the 1850s and 1860s, revising traditional accounts of Bismarck's role and concentrating, instead, on the emergence of political parties and a German public sphere. By examining the national ideas and actions of those in dominant liberal milieux, in conjunction with those of other parties, Revolutionary Nation questions the existence of a broad shift from liberal to conservative nationalism; it challenges the notion that cultural and ethnic forms of nationalism were particularly pronounced in Germany as a result of late unification; and it qualifies the idea of a ‘revolution from above’. It is the first full-length study of nationalism and politics in the decades after 1848.