“Why Can’t a Saxon be More Like a Prussian?” Regional Identities and the Birth of Modern Political Culture in Germany, 1866-67

Abstract

Before the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, many Saxons regarded their kingdom as a “lucky” little homeland, undisturbed by the militarist spirit and constitutional crisis that afflicted Prussia to the north. Hence military defeat, occupation by the Prussians, and involuntary incorporation into the North German Confederation came as tremendous psychological and political shocks to the Saxon people. As Reichstag elections were organized for the first time under Bismarck’s universal manhood suffrage, the Saxon electorate provided no signal that the national idea had triumphed in Germany. Its political temper turned so sour that the pro-Prussian National Liberal Party became a virtual pariah in the kingdom. The modernization of German political life may have been unavoidable in the long run. But in this watershed era, parochialism and resentment were trump. This paper addresses these psychological orientations in order to illuminate the interpenetration of local, regional, and national identities. On the one hand it offers a micro-level analysis of municipal politics, associational life, parliamentary debates, and key constituency races. It also explores the contentious civil liberties environment in Saxony. In these ways it evokes the ambiguity of regional political alignments in ways that national-level studies typically cannot. On the other hand, this essay speculates that the harsh Prussian occupation may have contributed initially to the slow progress of the liberal democratic ideal by fueling resentment against the “disease” of mass politics. These approaches seem particularly fruitful for the historian interested in more than just election outcomes. By examining the interplay of electoral inputs in a specific historical context, and by suggesting that the concept of “electoral culture” merits further consideration, this essay throws light on the broader evolution of German political cultures (in the plural). It concludes that a Prussocentric perspective is no longer adequate to explore continuities stretching across the historical divide of 1866.