This is one of those historical essays that I occasionally write, and deals with a topic that is rarely discussed in German society or in German schools. The subject....the revolutions of 1840s (note, I used the word plural here).
So to lay out the landscape that existed....Prussia was on the initial steps of unifying the country and still way off from a unified Prussia/Germany.
Most people will say that the revolutions basically started at a weekend fest held at Hambacher Castle (about forty km's SW of Mannheim). All in one weekend? This was a spring fest held in the local community around the castle....starting on 27 May, and ending 30 May 1832. It's safe to say that a fair amount of alcohol was consumed and a lot of talk occurred by the locals and the guests in this period.
This area around the Hambacher Castle was fairly well known in the previous thirty years as a region where students and intellectuals gathered and 'chatted'. It had been under some influence of the French before. This group of 'radicals' ended up discussing in the weeks and months prior to the fest....freedoms.
One of these discussions revolved around freedom of the press....to openly talk about corruption and ill-habits of the leadership.
Historians generally figure that around 30,000 people gathered for the fest, and it was more about expressing discontent....than partying up with booze.
When the fest ended....one could say that it left people with enthusiasm to voice discontent and frustration over where their governments (regionally) were going.
So all of this brewed....until the spring of 1848 (16 years later)....then all hell broke loose.
The regions affected? Prussia, Austria, Saxony, Baden, the Pfalz, the Rhineland, and Bavaria.
Historians generally figure that 400k revolutionaries were in the mix of things....opposed by the police and military authorities (figure a minimum of 40k altogether).
The general demand? Social change, rights structure, improved work conditions, and voting rights (meaning the kingdom business would eventually dissolve).
By the summer of 1849....roughly 15 months later....the various revolutions had been put down. The authorities would say they 'won'. The leaders of the rebellion? Well...curiously...most left Germany and resettled in the US (in the central region). Yes, a lot of this German immigrant mix in 1849 and the next couple of years were the result of this rebellion effort and revolution.
This revolution stuff leading to a republic? One could say that the path was laid out and Prussia was forever changed by this period of chaos.
Karl Marx's book Das Kapital coming twenty years after the revolutionary period? This is another piece of the story, and Das Kapital probably laid out all of the wishes and desires to correct things....still left from the revolutionary period.
You can imagine this 1847 to 1848 period being very similar to the American 1770s era, and the disenchantment with the British leadership, taxes, and lack of reform.
Being openly laid out and simple to understand? No. Because you have so many regions and separate parts to the story....historians generally make this a miserable experience to read through and understand. I think it'd make a great historical mini-series, but telling the story would require at least a dozen evenings.
So to the final part of this story....after the 1849 ending of the revolutions...a number of German/Prussian states sat down and in 1851....created various versions of the Secret Police. Their whole purpose in life....stifle or limit political discontent. This meant infiltrating various groups, knowing their path and plans, and countering them.
Yeah....this 1851 action did create the simple path were the Munich Secret Police would hire a young guy by the name of Hitler....to be a insider and spy to a new and progressing party (the Nazis). It took seven decades, but it opened up a whole new dilemma to be handled.
