The Austrians in the German National Assembly in 1848

Abstract

SUMMARY In this article Lothar Höbelt has analysed the political orientation of the Austrian deputies to the Frankfurt parliament of 1848–9, who constituted nearly 25 per cent of the total membership. The article shows that the pattern of political opinions was complex, since although the deputies can be placed on a Left-Right political spectrum, their actual voting behaviour was often influenced by other considerations. These included confessional allegiance, since the Austrians were a Catholic grouping in a predominantly Protestant assembly, but more important was the question of the future of the Habsburg monarchy, and whether its German inhabitants wanted to enter a German federal state that would exclude a large part of the Habsburg territories, or whether they preferred in the end to preserve the monarchy as they knew it. The author shows how traditionalism, carecrism and nationalism influenced deputies, and could create unexpected alliances between otherwise politically opposed deputies. It was only in the final phase, when the parliament broke up, and a rump assembly met in Stuttgart from April to June 1849, that a clear Left-Right division emerged, with most of the Austrian deputies deciding to leave the parliament.