Editing German Confederation (section)

==Revolutions of 1848==
{{Main|German revolutions of 1848–1849}}
[[File:Flag of the German Confederation (war).svg|thumb|right|180px|War ensign of the {{Lang|de|[[Reichsflotte]]}}]]
[[File:Naval Jack of the German Confederation.svg|thumb|right|180px|Naval jack of the {{Lang|de|Reichsflotte}}]]
News of the [[The Revolutions of 1848 in France|1848 Revolution]] in Paris quickly reached discontented bourgeois liberals, republicans and more radical working-men. The first revolutionary uprisings in Germany began in the state of {{Lang|de|[[Baden]]|italics=unset}} in March 1848. Within a few days, there were revolutionary uprisings in other states including Austria, and finally in Prussia. On 15 March 1848, the subjects of {{Lang|de|[[Frederick William IV of Prussia|Friedrich Wilhelm IV]]|italics=unset}} of Prussia vented their long-repressed political aspirations in violent rioting in Berlin, while barricades were erected in the streets of Paris. King [[Louis-Philippe of France|{{Lang|fr|Louis-Philippe|nocat=y|italics=unset}} of France]] fled to Great Britain. {{Lang|de|Friedrich Wilhelm|italics=unset}} gave in to the popular fury, and promised a [[constitution]], a parliament, and support for German unification, safeguarding his own rule and regime.<ref>James J. Sheehan, ''German History, 1770–1866'' (1993), pp. 656–710</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mattheisen |first=Donald J. |date=1983 |title=History as Current Events: Recent Works on the German Revolution of 1848 |journal=[[American Historical Review]] |volume=88 |issue=5 |pages=1219–1237 |doi=10.2307/1904890 |jstor=1904890}}</ref>

On 18 May, the [[Frankfurt Parliament]] (Frankfurt Assembly) opened its first session, with delegates from various German states. It was immediately divided between those favoring a {{Lang|de|[[Kleindeutschland|kleindeutsche]]}} (small German) or {{Lang|de|[[Kleindeutschland and Großdeutschland|grossdeutsche]]}} (greater German) solution. The former favored offering the imperial crown to Prussia. The latter favored the Habsburg crown in Vienna, which would integrate Austria proper and [[Bohemia]] (but not Hungary) into the new Germany.

In May to August, the Assembly installed a provisional German Central Government, while conservatives swiftly moved against the reformers. As in Austria and Russia, this middle-class assertion increased authoritarian and reactionary sentiments among the landed upper class, whose economic position was declining. They turned to political levers to preserve their rule. As the Prussian army proved loyal, and the peasants were uninterested, {{Lang|de|Friedrich Wilhelm|italics=unset}} regained his confidence. The Assembly belatedly issued its [[Declaration of the Rights of the German People]]; a constitution was drawn up (excluding Austria, which openly rejected the Assembly), and the leadership of the {{Lang|de|Reich}} was offered to {{Lang|de|Friedrich Wilhelm|italics=unset}}, who refused to "pick up a crown from the gutter". As the monarchist forces marched their armies to crush rebellions in cities and towns throughout Austria and Germany the Frankfurt Assembly was forced to flee, first to Stuttgart and then to Württemberg, where, reduced to so few deputies that it could no longer form a quorum, its final meeting was forcibly dispersed on 18 June 1849 by the Württemberg army. With the complete triumph of monarchist reaction rampaging across all of Europe, thousands of German middle class liberals and "red" [[Forty-eighters]] were forced to flee into exile (primarily to the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia).

In 1849, {{Lang|de|Friedrich Wilhelm|italics=unset}} proposed his own constitution. His document concentrated real power in the hands of the King and the upper classes, and called for a confederation of North German states{{Snd}}the [[Erfurt Union]]. Austria and Russia, fearing a strong, Prussian-dominated Germany, responded by pressuring Saxony and Hanover to withdraw, and forced Prussia to abandon the scheme in a treaty dubbed the "[[Punctation of Olmütz|humiliation of {{Lang|de|Olmütz|nocat=y|italics=unset}}]]".