German Confederation

Germany, 1815–1866. Draft, not yet reviewed

The German Confederation was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe from 1815 to 1866. It was created by the Congress of Vienna to replace the Holy Roman Empire, which dissolved in 1806 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars. Its only organ was the Federal Convention of representatives of the member states, and the most important issues had to be decided unanimously. It ended after the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.

Seat of power: Frankfurt

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• Student fraternities called Burschenschaften strongly advocated national and liberal ideas, and the first one was founded in Jena in 1815.
• The Carlsbad Decrees of 1819 dissolved the Burschenschaften, cracked down on the liberal press, and seriously restricted academic freedom.
• In 1834 a customs union called the Zollverein was set up, which ended tariffs between states and standardized weights, measures and currencies.

Picture

The Hambach Festival of 27 to 30 May 1832 at Hambach Castle was one of the main public demonstrations in support of German unity, freedom and democracy.

Image: Erhard Joseph Brenzinger, Public domain, file

Sources

• German Confederation (Wikipedia)
• German Confederation (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.