Political Hopes and Fears

Abstract

Analyses of recent history set the stage for more explicit discussion of the still unsolved political and social problems which confronted Germany in the 1850’s. We turn first to the continuing debates in the area of politics, which had already agitated large numbers of intellectuals for two decades before 1848 and still claimed a greater share of most men’s attentions during the later period than the emerging social questions. Partly because of external controls, these debates did not include much in the way of a contribution by the radical democrats, but there was considerable argument between liberals and conservatives, who found much ammunition for renewed attacks against one another in the events of 1848–49.