Editing German Confederation (section)

==Romanticism, nationalism, and liberalism in the {{Lang|de|Vormärz}} era==
Although the forces unleashed by the French Revolution were seemingly under control after the Vienna Congress, the conflict between conservative forces and liberal nationalists was only deferred at best. The era until the failed 1848 revolution, in which these tensions built up, is commonly referred to as {{Lang|de|[[Vormärz]]}} ("pre-March"), in reference to the outbreak of riots in March 1848.

This conflict pitted the forces of the old order against those inspired by the French Revolution and the Rights of Man. The breakdown of the competition was, roughly, the emerging [[capitalist]] [[bourgeoisie]] and [[petit-bourgeoisie]] (engaged mostly in commerce, trade, and industry), and the growing (and increasingly radicalized) industrial [[proletariat|working class]]; and the other side associated with landowning aristocracy or military aristocracy (the ''{{Lang|de|Junker}}s'') in Prussia, the [[Habsburg]] monarchy in Austria, and the conservative notables of the small [[princely state]]s and [[city-state]]s in Germany.

Meanwhile, demands for change from below had been fomenting due to the influence of the French Revolution. Throughout the German Confederation, Austrian influence was paramount, drawing the ire of the nationalist movements. {{Lang|de|Metternich|italics=unset}} considered nationalism, especially the nationalist youth movement, the most pressing danger: German nationalism might not only repudiate Austrian dominance of the Confederation, but also stimulate nationalist sentiment within the Austrian Empire itself. In a multi-national [[polyglot]] state in which Slavs and Magyars outnumbered the Germans, the prospects of Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Serb, or Croatian sentiment along with middle class liberalism was certainly horrifying to the monarchist landed aristocracy.

Figures like {{Lang|de|[[August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben]]|italics=unset}}, {{Lang|de|[[Ludwig Uhland]]|italics=unset}}, {{Lang|de|[[Georg Herwegh]]|italics=unset}}, {{Lang|de|[[Heinrich Heine]]|italics=unset}}, {{Lang|de|[[Georg Büchner]]|italics=unset}}, {{Lang|de|[[Ludwig Börne]]|italics=unset}}, and {{Lang|de|[[Bettina von Arnim]]|italics=unset}} rose in the {{Lang|de|Vormärz}} era. Father {{Lang|de|[[Friedrich Jahn]]|italics=unset}}'s gymnastic associations exposed middle class German youth to nationalist and democratic ideas, which took the form of the nationalistic and liberal democratic college fraternities known as the {{Lang|de|[[Burschenschaft]]en}}. The Wartburg Festival in 1817 celebrated [[Martin Luther]] as a proto-German nationalist, linking Lutheranism to German nationalism, and helping arouse religious sentiments for the cause of German nationhood. The festival culminated in the burning of several books and other items that symbolized [[reactionary]] attitudes. One item was a book by {{Lang|de|[[August von Kotzebue]]|italics=unset}}. In 1819, {{Lang|de|Kotzebue|italics=unset}} was accused of spying for Russia, and then murdered by a theological student, {{Lang|de|[[Karl Ludwig Sand]]|italics=unset}}, who was [[capital punishment|executed]] for the crime. Sand belonged to a militant nationalist faction of the {{Lang|de|Burschenschaften}}. {{Lang|de|Metternich|italics=unset}} used the murder as a pretext to issue the [[Carlsbad Decrees]] of 1819, which dissolved the {{Lang|de|Burschenschaften}}, cracked down on the liberal press, and seriously restricted [[academic freedom]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williamson |first=George S. |date=2000 |title=What Killed August von Kotzebue? The Temptations of Virtue and the Political Theology of German Nationalism, 1789–1819 |journal=[[Journal of Modern History]] |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=890–943 |doi=10.1086/318549 |jstor=318549 |s2cid=144652797}}</ref>

===High culture===
[[File:Berlin Universitaet um 1850.jpg|thumb|280px|The University of Berlin in 1850]]
German artists and intellectuals, heavily influenced by the French Revolution, turned to [[Romanticism]]. At the universities, high-powered professors developed international reputations, especially in the humanities led by history and philology, which brought a new historical perspective to the study of political history, theology, philosophy, language, and literature. With {{Lang|de|[[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]]|italics=unset}} (1770–1831) in philosophy, {{Lang|de|[[Friedrich Schleiermacher]]|italics=unset}} (1768–1834) in theology and {{Lang|de|[[Leopold von Ranke]]|italics=unset}} (1795–1886) in history, the [[Humboldt University of Berlin|University of Berlin]], founded in 1810, became the world's leading university. {{Lang|de|Von Ranke|italics=unset}}, for example, professionalized history and set the world standard for historiography. By the 1830s, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology had emerged with world class science, led by {{Lang|de|[[Alexander von Humboldt]]|italics=unset}} (1769–1859) in natural science and {{Lang|de|[[Carl Friedrich Gauss]]|italics=unset}} (1777–1855) in mathematics. Young intellectuals often turned to politics, but their support for the failed Revolution of 1848 forced many into exile.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sheehan |first=James J. |url=https://archive.org/details/germanhistory17700shee/page/324 |title=German History: 1770–1866 |date=1989 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0-1982-2120-7 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/germanhistory17700shee/page/324 324–371, 802–820] |url-access=registration}}</ref>