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114-567: The league's representatives came from the educated middle and upper classes. The establishment has to be seen against the background of the Prussian "New Era" politics under prince regent William with slight liberalisations and concessions to the bourgeoisie that started in 1858. Liberals and democrats, who met separately until 1859, united on 14 August 1859 in Eisenach and drafted the 2nd Eisenach Declaration calling for nationwide elections, creation of

228-524: A "revolution from above". For Friedrich Wilhelm, the "bureaucratic absolutism of a Hardenberg" meant moving away from the "principle of the estates " that he advocated. The high point of Frederick William's youth was his participation in the campaigns against Napoleon in the Wars of Liberation of 1813/1814 that pushed the French out of Germany. In his experience with war, which showed him to be an indifferent soldier,

342-585: A central authority and end of the confederation . If necessary, the diplomatic and military powers of the German Confederation should be transferred to the Prussian government. Prominent members included Rudolf von Bennigsen , Schulze-Delitzsch , and Ludwig von Rochau . Feodor Streit  [ de ] , an outspoken democrat, was the society's executive secretary until 1865. The official foundation took place in Frankfurt on 15/16 October 1859. While

456-613: A conservative imperial constitution based on the Prussian three-class electoral system. Ernst August I of Hanover and Friedrich August II of Saxony, however, only heeded the King's request while absolutist Austria was tied up with uprisings in Hungary . Since eight individual German states, including the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Württemberg , did not participate in the Erfurt Union from

570-490: A genuine Prussian officer, whose good common sense was occasionally undermined by "female influences". This was a reference to William's wife, who had been educated by, among others Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and was intellectually superior to her husband. She was also at times very outspoken in her opposition to official policies as she was a liberal . William, however, had long been strongly opposed to liberal ideas. Despite possessing considerable power as Kaiser, William left

684-474: A heated discussion, Bismarck threatened to resign if William continued to Vienna; Bismarck got his way. William had to content himself with becoming the de facto ruler of the northern two-thirds of Germany. Prussia annexed several of Austria's allies north of the Main, as well as Schleswig-Holstein. Saxe-Lauenburg was already in a personal union with Prussia since 1865 (which became a full union in 1876). In 1867,

798-454: A letter dated 13 December 1848, Frederick William stated to the Prussian ambassador to England, Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen : Such an imaginary hoop [the crown] baked from dirt and weeds – should a legitimate king of Prussia be pleased with it? [...] I tell you bluntly: If the thousand-year-old crown of the German nation, which has been dormant for 42 years, is to be awarded once again, it

912-516: A medieval-feudal relationship of loyalty between the Prussian people and the monarch, making the liberal reform of the state along the lines of the French constitutional-parliamentary model superfluous. He believed that he derived his close ties to his people from the divine right of grace, which gave him a "sacred insight into the needs of his subjects". Any restriction of his de facto absolutist power seemed to him to be an irresponsible obstruction of his divinely ordained mission. Frederick William IV

1026-446: A mental illness". It is likely that psychopathological abnormalities occurred before the strokes he suffered, making him barely able to perform his government offices. The strokes, which began on 14 July 1857, affected his speech centre. After Prince William 's term acting as deputy for the King had been extended three times, the ailing Frederick William signed a regency charter for him on 7 October 1858, based on an expert opinion from

1140-423: A number of other notable political events during his time on the throne: In his final years, the King was affected by a serious illness, the symptoms of which, from the perspective of the medical knowledge of the era, appeared to be a "mental illness". According to current medical knowledge, Friedrich Wilhelm suffered from a "cerebral vascular disease", a "cerebral arteriosclerosis", which "could not be described as

1254-591: A parliamentary way to promote German unification. The union got into a crisis during the Schleswig crisis . The "Committee of 36", close to the National union, strived for a reconquest of Schleswig and Holstein by nationalist volunteer forces . But Bismarck decided to ally with Austria , and their regular armies conquered the territories. So, the liberals' agitation was duped. During the Austro-Prussian War and

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1368-452: A permanent basis. Against the advice of his brother, William swore an oath of office on the Prussian constitution and promised to preserve it "solid and inviolable". William appointed a liberal, Karl Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , as Minister President and thus initiated what became known as the "New Era" in Prussia, although there were conflicts between William and the liberal majority in

1482-421: A representative of the principle of monarchical legitimacy, he detested the idea of a unilateral taking of power that would have violated the historical rights of other German monarchs. The crown offered by representatives of the people was furthermore unacceptable to Frederick William, whose monarchical self-image was based on the traditional idea of divine right and who rejected the idea of popular sovereignty. In

1596-573: A revolutionary movement throughout Europe. Frederick William IV called for a congress of German states that was to meet in Dresden on 25 March. By discussing reform of the German Confederation , the King hoped to appease the people's revolutionary sentiments, but before he could implement his plans, they were overtaken by the events of the revolution in Berlin. The sound of the fighting could be heard in

1710-517: A title such as Präsident as it sounded too republican. William became also the constitutional Bundesfeldherr , the commander of all federal armed forces. Via secret treaties with the South German states, he also became commander of their armies in times of war. In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War , William was in command of all the German forces at the crucial Battle of Sedan . During

1824-639: Is I and those like me who will award it. King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony provoked an uprising in Dresden in May 1849 by refusing to accept the Frankfurt Constitution. He wrote a letter to the Prussian king urging him to put down the uprising by force. On 5 May 1849, Frederick William sent Prussian troops to Dresden under Colonel Friedrich von Waldersee , who took control of the city on 9 May. Seven hundred revolutionaries were taken prisoner and 250 killed in

1938-459: Is named after him. Frederick William IV Frederick William IV ( German : Friedrich Wilhelm IV. ; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia , was king of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the " romanticist on the throne", he was deeply religious and believed that he ruled by divine right. He feared revolutions, and his ideal state

2052-448: Is not your job to represent opinions, to want to bring the opinions of the times to the fore. ... That is completely un-German and, beyond that, completely impractical." The majority of the deputies nevertheless did not see themselves as representatives of the estates but of the Prussian people. On 20 April 1847, the parliament sent an address to the King calling for a regular convocation. Laws, they wrote, should only come into force with

2166-693: The Niederwalddenkmal in Rüdesheim . A group of anarchists had prepared an attack using dynamite which failed due to the wet weather. The Berlin Conference of 1884–85 organized by Otto von Bismarck can be seen as the formalization of the Scramble for Africa . Claiming much of the left-over territories in Africa and Oceania that were yet unclaimed, Germany managed to build the large German colonial empire . Despite

2280-422: The Austro-Prussian War in 1866. After the latter was won by Prussia, William wanted to march on to Vienna and annex Austria, but was dissuaded from doing so by Bismarck and his son Crown Prince Frederick . Bismarck wanted to end the war quickly, so as to allow Prussia to ally with Austria if it needed to at a later date; Frederick was also appalled by the casualties and wanted a speedy end to hostilities. During

2394-598: The Battle of Leipzig , 18 October, for this event, which was the first Prussian coronation ceremony since 1701 and the only coronation of a German king after 1806. William refused to comply with his brother's wish, expressed in Frederick William's last will, that he should abrogate the constitution. William inherited a conflict between Frederick William and the liberal Landtag. He was considered to be politically neutral as he intervened less in politics than his brother. In 1862

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2508-519: The Berlin Palace . Although the Berlin barricade battle was one of the most costly incidents of the March Revolution , with 300 casualties among the demonstrators at the hands of Prussian troops, the King rejected any responsibility and instead spread the false report of a foreign conspiracy in his manifesto 'To my dear Berliners': "A gang of villains, mostly consisting of foreigners, ... has become

2622-1018: The County of Glatz ; Grand Duke of the Lower Rhine and of Posen ; Duke of Saxony , of Westphalia , of Angria , of Pomerania , Lüneburg , Holstein and Schleswig , of Magdeburg , of Bremen , of Guelders , Cleves , Jülich and Berg , Duke of the Wends and the Kassubes , of Crossen , Lauenburg and Mecklenburg ; Landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia ; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia ; Prince of Orange ; Prince of Rügen , of East Friesland , of Paderborn and Pyrmont , of Halberstadt , Münster , Minden , Osnabrück , Hildesheim , of Verden , Cammin , Fulda , Nassau and Moers ; Princely Count of Henneberg ; Count of Mark , of Ravensberg , of Hohenstein , Tecklenburg and Lingen, of Mansfeld , Sigmaringen and Veringen; Lord of Frankfurt. Wilhelm Island

2736-733: The Federal Convention of the German Confederation to form a national constitutional assembly which would write a new constitution for the Confederation. Elections were held for it on 1 May 1848. Of the 379 members who attended the Frankfurt Parliament 's first session on 18 May, 132 were from Prussia. The Prussian National Assembly rejected the Camphausen government's draft constitution on 20 June 1848. Left-wing forces then began to assert themselves more and more clearly. The words "by

2850-619: The Franco-Prussian War , the South German states joined the North German Confederation, which was reorganized as the German Empire (Deutsches Reich). The title of Bundespräsidium was replaced with the title of German Emperor (Deutscher Kaiser). This was decided on by the legislative organs, the Reichstag and Bundesrat , and William agreed to this on 8 December in the presence of a Reichstag delegation. The new constitution and

2964-733: The Frankfurt Constitution would have required German-speaking Austria to have a separate constitution, government and administration from the rest of the Empire. On 28 March 1849, the Assembly elected Frederick William IV as Emperor of the Germans, but he refused the crown. In a letter to a confidant, he wrote: "I can call God to witness that I do not want it, for the simple reason that Austria will then be separated from Germany." The exclusion of Austria would have ruined Frederick William IV's vision of

3078-471: The German Progress Party ( Deutsche Fortschritsspartei, or DFP ) as a registered party in Prussia, constituting the society's "executive branch". In many South and Central German small and middle states Progress Parties were founded in the following years. The DFP was immediately successful in the Prussian parliamentary election. The strategy was to exert pressure to the German states' governments on

3192-501: The House of Hohenzollern , he was the first head of state of a united Germany. He was de facto head of state of Prussia from 1858, when he became regent for his brother Frederick William IV . During the reign of his grandson Wilhelm II , he was known as Wilhelm the Great . The second son of Prince Frederick William and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , William was not expected to ascend to

3306-476: The Kroll Opera House in Berlin, and was given the name Agnes Kroll. She married a Carl Friedrich Ludwig Dettman (known as "Louis") and emigrated to Sydney, in 1849. They had a family of three sons and two daughters. Agnes died in 1904. In 1829, William married Princess Augusta , the daughter of Grand Duke Karl Friedrich of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Maria Pavlovna , the sister of Nicholas I. Their marriage

3420-586: The North German Confederation was created as a federation (federally organised state) of the North German and Central German states under the permanent presidency of Prussia. William assumed the Bundespräsidium , the presidium of the Confederation; the post was a hereditary office of the Prussian crown. Not expressis verbis , but in function he was the head of state. Bismarck intentionally avoided

3534-625: The Revolutions of 1848 in Germany , although he was briefly forced into exile in England. Frederick William IV suffered a stroke in 1857 and was left incapacitated, and William was formally named Prince Regent a year later. In 1861, William ascended to the Prussian throne on his elder brother's death. Upon ascension, William immediately came into conflict with the liberal Landtag over his proposed military budget. In response, he appointed Otto von Bismarck to

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3648-513: The Ruhr region , Silesia and Berlin slowly developed into centres of industrialisation. In spite of his politically backward-looking attitude, Frederick William supported the technological progress brought about by the Industrial Revolution , notably by using government bonds to promote the expansion of the railway network. The rapid industrial growth was accompanied by social tensions to which

3762-552: The Social Democratic Party , his actions were used as a pretext by Bismarck to ban the party. To do this, Bismarck partnered with Ludwig Bamberger , a Liberal, who had written on the subject of Socialism, "If I don't want any chickens, then I must smash the eggs." These attempts on William's life thus became the pretext for the institution of the Anti-Socialist Laws , which were introduced by Bismarck's government with

3876-578: The Christian estates. He made this clear to the governor of the province of Prussia not long after his coronation: I feel myself [to be king] entirely by the grace of God and will feel that way with His help until the end. Without envy I leave splendour and artifice to so-called constitutional princes, who have become a fiction, an abstract concept to the people through a piece of paper [a constitution]. As his alternative to parliamentary-style popular legislatures, Frederick William IV focussed his attention on

3990-524: The Emperor drove past in an open carriage, the assassin fired two shots from a shotgun at him from the window of a house off the Unter den Linden . William was severely wounded and was rushed back to the palace. Nobiling shot himself in an attempt to commit suicide. While William survived this attack, the assassin died from his self-inflicted wound three months later. Despite the fact that Hödel had been expelled from

4104-521: The Erfurt Union in the Prussian government, Austria was able to revive the German Confederation, which had been inactive since the 1848 revolutions. In the Punctation of Olmütz , Prussia declared its willingness to return to the German Confederation without Austria having assured it of legal equality in the leadership of the Confederation. In addition to the 1848 revolution and the constitutional question that dominated Frederick William IV's reign, there were

4218-672: The King did not respond with any significant policies beyond donations to private social associations. In 1844, for example, he provided the Association for the Welfare of the Working Class with 15,000 thalers. The next year he issued a General Prussian Industrial Code that included a ban on strikes and prison sentences of up to a year for conspiring to encourage one. The overthrow of the French July Monarchy on 24 February 1848 triggered

4332-429: The King out of his short-term plans to abdicate. Otto von Bismarck , the future chancellor of a united Germany, joined the group towards the end of 1848. The second United Parliament called by Frederick William on 2 April 1848 announced elections to form a Prussian National Assembly , which convened in Berlin on 22 May. Frederick William IV submitted a draft constitution in which the balance of power continued to favour

4446-513: The Landtag on matters of reforming the armed forces. On 2 January 1861, Frederick William IV died and William ascended the throne as William I of Prussia. In July, a student from Leipzig attempted to assassinate William, but he was only lightly injured. Like Frederick I of Prussia , William travelled to Königsberg and there crowned himself at the Schlosskirche. William chose the anniversary of

4560-447: The Landtag refused an increase in the military budget needed to pay for the already implemented reform of the army. This involved expanding the peacetime army from 150,000 to 200,000 men and the annual number of new recruits from 40,000 to 63,000. However, the truly controversial part was keeping the length of military service (raised in 1856 from two years) at three years. When his request (backed by his Minister of War Albrecht von Roon )

4674-602: The Provincial Estates, the representative bodies of the eight Prussian provinces, which had been founded in 1823. In 1847 he summoned all representatives of the Prussian provincial parliaments to Berlin. He was prepared to give the United Parliament the right to discuss the financing of railways, canals and roads – specifically a request for a 25 million thaler bond for building the Berlin to Königsberg railway. He did not want to levy new taxes or take out loans without

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4788-709: The Prussian army. William served in the army from 1814 onward. Like his father, he fought against Napoleon I of France during the part of the Napoleonic Wars known in Germany as the Befreiungskriege ("Wars of Liberation", otherwise known as the War of the Sixth Coalition ), and was reportedly a very brave soldier. He was made a captain ( Hauptmann ) and won the Iron Cross for his actions at Bar-sur-Aube . The war and

4902-425: The Prussian constitutional conflict concerning the army reform by ignoring the rights of the parliament, and the liberal organisation could not longer sympathise with the Prussian government. In 1862 the National union raised the democratic constitution of 1849 ( Paulskirchenverfassung ) to its political programme, illustrating the organisation's swing to the left. Parallel, in 1861 the National association established

5016-694: The Prussian military to help put down revolutionary forces throughout the German Confederation . Frederick William IV had an artistic nature and an interest in architecture. He extended the building ensembles of the Berlin-Potsdam Residence Landscape , Museum Island , and the cultural landscape of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, and he supported the completion of the Cologne Cathedral . All are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites . From 1857 to 1861, he suffered several strokes and

5130-668: The Prussian state treasury. For negotiations with the Roman Curia , the King announced in June 1840 that within the Ministry of Culture he would set up a department for Catholic affairs which was to consist exclusively of Catholic councillors. With the founding of the Protestant Church in Prussia in 1817, in which Calvinists and Lutherans were united, Friedrich Wilhelm's father had created an institution for all Protestants in his kingdom that

5244-406: The United Parliament's consent, envisioning that their approval would not restrict his power but strengthen it by eliminating future constitutional demands. In his opening speech, Frederick William reiterated that he did not want a "piece of paper" to come between himself and the people and replace the "old, sacred loyalty with it". He told the deputies of the limits he saw on their duties: "... it

5358-537: The advancing troops to Memel . After Prussia's defeat and the family's return to Berlin, Frederick William's education was adapted more to prepare him for governing. He was generally dismissive of the Prussian reforms that were then underway with the aim of modernising the state from within. His tutor Friedrich Delbrück had instilled in him a disgust of revolutionaries, so that he had no sympathy for Karl August von Hardenberg 's insistence that Prussia be reorganised through

5472-515: The advice of Alexander von Humboldt , he founded the separate civil class of the Pour le Merite , the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts ( Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste ). The civil order is still being awarded today. Frederick William IV's accession to the throne came with great expectations among liberals and nationalists. By beginning his reign with a policy of reconciliation,

5586-599: The age of 90 after a short illness and was succeeded by his son Frederick . Frederick, already suffering from cancer, died 99 days later and the throne passed to Wilhelm II. The future king and emperor was born William Frederick Louis of Prussia ( Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig von Preußen ) in the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin on 22 March 1797. As the second son of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Prince Frederick William , himself son of King Frederick William II , William

5700-628: The architects – included the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) and the Neues Museum in Berlin, the Orangery Palace at Potsdam as well as the reconstruction of Stolzenfels Castle on the Rhine and Hohenzollern Castle , in the ancestral homelands of the dynasty which became part of Prussia in 1850. He also enlarged and redecorated his father's Erdmannsdorf manor house. In 1842, on

5814-459: The assassination attempts and William's unpopular role in the 1848 uprising, he and his wife were very popular, especially in their later years. Many people considered them the personification of "the old Prussia" and liked their austere and simple lifestyle. William died on 9 March 1888 in Berlin after a short illness, at age 90. He was buried on 16 March at the Mausoleum at Park Charlottenburg . He

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5928-694: The boundaries between patriotism and religious fervour became blurred. He saw the conflict as a crusade against the ideas of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. In many pieces of correspondence from the period, the Crown Prince wrote about religious experiences using elements of the Pietist revivalist movement, including the subjective experience of God, the power of personal prayer and individual striving for salvation and redemption. Frederick William

6042-416: The bullet missed, Hödel ran across the street and fired another round which also missed. In the commotion one of the individuals who tried to apprehend Hödel suffered severe internal injuries and died two days later. Hödel was seized immediately. He was tried, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed on 16 August 1878. A second attempt to assassinate William I was made on 2 June 1878 by Karl Nobiling . As

6156-426: The city wearing a black, red and gold armband – the colours of the revolution – and had an officer dressed in civilian clothes carry a similarly coloured flag in front of him. The King repeatedly stopped to make improvised speeches to affirm his alleged support for German unity. The next day he secretly wrote to his brother William: "I had to voluntarily raise the Reich colours yesterday in order to save everything. If

6270-419: The commander of the Stettiner Gardelandwehrbataillon and in 1818 was promoted to Generalmajor . The next year, William was appointed inspector of the VII. and VIII. Army Corps . This made him a spokesman of the Prussian Army within the House of Hohenzollern . He argued in favour of a strong, well-trained, and well-equipped army. In 1820, William became commander of the 1. Gardedivision and in 1825

6384-422: The consent of the United Parliament. Discrimination based on the estates should be abolished and the citizenry guaranteed legal protection against arbitrary measures by the state. If their demands were not fulfilled, they concluded, the parliament would be forced to reject the King's spending plans. Frederick William stopped attending parliamentary sessions and on 26 June 1847 dissolved the United Parliament. With

6498-437: The constitution with the King's cooperation, and on 31 January 1850, the Constitution of 1850 was promulgated. The Parliament had two chambers – an aristocratic upper house and a lower house elected by all male Prussians over 25 years of age using a three-class franchise that weighted votes based on the amount of taxes paid, with the result that the wealthy had far more influence than the poor. The constitution reserved to

6612-408: The courtiers who had belonged to Frederick William IV's camarilla. On 24 November 1859, the king suffered a stroke that paralysed his left side. Since he was no longer able to be transported, the court remained at Sanssouci . On 4 November 1860, he lost consciousness after another stroke, and on 2 January 1861 he died. In accordance with his testamentary instructions from 1854, the King was buried in

6726-460: The crown prince travelled to Russia (against the advice of Bismarck) to mend fences in face-to-face talks. However, by once again threatening to resign, Bismarck overcame the opposition of William to a closer alliance with Austria-Hungary . In October, William agreed to the Dual Alliance ( Zweibund ) between Germany and Austria-Hungary, which was directed against Russia. Another assassination attempt failed on 28 September 1883 when William unveiled

6840-477: The death of his father in 1840. Through a personal union , he was also the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel (1840–1857), which at the same time was a canton in the Swiss Confederation and the only one that was a principality. In 1842, he gave his father's menagerie at Pfaueninsel to the new Berlin Zoo , which opened its gates in 1844 as the first of its kind in Germany. Other projects during his reign – often involving his close collaboration with

6954-519: The dynastic tradition into question, the execution of Louis XVI in 1793 helped create the conditions for Frederick William's later political orientation towards historical continuity and tradition. Since there was a danger that he and his younger brother William might be captured by the French after the Prussians lost the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt on 14 October 1806, they were taken to Königsberg in East Prussia on 17 October 1806. After their parents arrived on 9 December 1806, they fled together from

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7068-430: The failure of the First United Parliament, the government not only lost its ability to act on fiscal policy – the Prussian National Debt Act of January 1820 stipulating that the government could only take on new debt if it was co-guaranteed by the "imperial estates" remained in force – but also faced increased doubts within Prussia about the legitimacy of the existing state order. During the reign of Frederick William IV,

7182-487: The fight against France left a lifelong impression on him, and he had a long-standing antipathy towards the French. In 1815, William was promoted to major and commanded a battalion of the 1. Garderegiment . He fought under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher at the Battles of Ligny and Waterloo . In 1817, he accompanied his sister Charlotte to Saint Petersburg , when she married Emperor Nicholas I of Russia , becoming Empress Alexandra Feodorovna . In 1816, William became

7296-429: The fighting. The suppression of the uprising in Saxony strengthened Prussia's negotiating position in its attempt to establish a united German federal state of princes under Prussian leadership. The basis for the union was the Three Kings' Alliance of 26 May 1849 between Prussia, the Kingdom of Saxony and the Kingdom of Hanover . The three monarchs committed themselves for a period of one year to work together to realise

7410-419: The foundation of the North German Confederation , the conflict between the left liberals and National liberals inside the union grew more and more heavy on the question whether or not to seek a compromise with Bismarck. Ultimately the right wing decided to accept the Indemnity bill ( Indemnitätsvorlage ) in 1866, leading to the final split of the left liberal, staunchly oppositional German Progress Party and

7524-509: The gamble is successful ... I will take them down again!" On 29 March 1848, Frederick William appointed a liberal government led by Minister President Ludolf Camphausen and Finance Minister David Hansemann . The following day, the King founded a secret secondary cabinet, the ministre occulte , as a counter to Camphausen's government. The courtly interest group, which included General Leopold von Gerlach , his brother Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach and Count Anton of Stolberg-Wernigerode , talked

7638-453: The ghastly author of bloodshed." On 21 March 1848, the King, or rather his camarilla , initiated an apparent change of course by placing Frederick William IV at the head of the revolution, whereas the truth was that he lacked the means to pursue a policy independent of the citizens' movement. The King announced that he would support the formation of an all-German parliament, one of the revolution's key demands. On 21 March 1848, he rode through

7752-490: The grace of God" were removed from the draft on 12 October, openly calling into question the divine right of kings . The break with the crown culminated on 31 October when the Assembly abolished nobility, titles and privileges. Frederick William IV then launched a political counterattack. On 1 November he appointed his uncle Frederick William of Brandenburg , who came from the conservative military camp, as minister president of Prussia. Unlike previous minister presidents during

7866-522: The historian Maximilian Wolfgang Duncker , August von Bethmann-Hollweg and Clemens Theodor Perthes  [ de ] . William's opposition to liberal ideas gradually softened. In 1854, the prince was raised to the rank of a field-marshal and made governor of the federal Fortress of Mainz . In 1857 Frederick William IV suffered a stroke and became mentally disabled for the rest of his life. In January 1858, William became Prince Regent for his brother, initially only temporarily but after October on

7980-458: The king the power of appointing all ministers, re-established the conservative district assemblies and provincial diets and guaranteed that the civil service and the military remained firmly under control of the king. It also contained a number of liberal elements such as jury courts and a catalogue of fundamental rights that included freedom of religion, speech and the press. It was a more liberal system than had existed in Prussia before 1848, but it

8094-405: The king's dominant position in the state. It stipulated that the army and bureaucracy were answerable to the king and not the National Assembly. It also enshrined his view that he was "King by the grace of God" and that the constitution was merely an "agreement between the crown and the people". At the beginning of April, a national pre-parliament sitting at Frankfurt-am-Main decided to work with

8208-469: The king, liked to see his working relationship with William as that of a vassal to his feudal superior. Nonetheless, it was Bismarck who effectively directed affairs, domestic as well as foreign; on several occasions he gained William's assent by threatening to resign. During his reign, William was the commander-in-chief of the Prussian forces in the Second Schleswig War against Denmark in 1864 and

8322-458: The majority refused to comply, the King ordered General Friedrich von Wrangel to march through the Brandenburg Gate at the head of 13,000 soldiers and sixty guns. That Wrangel met with no resistance was due in part to the disillusionment of the craftsmen and industrial workers with the revolution. It had done nothing to change their economic hardship, which had led to isolated riots. Although

8436-603: The middle and upper classes sympathised with the workers, they did not want a violent social upheaval and sided with the King. On 5 December the King dissolved the Prussian National Assembly and imposed the Constitution of 1848 . Although Frederick William IV personally opposed the idea of introducing a constitution, the majority of his ministry urged him to take the step in order to prevent protests from flaring up again. The first Parliament of Prussia then modified

8550-658: The monument at Porta Westfalica (1896) and the mounted statue of William at the Deutsches Eck in Koblenz (1897). The National Kaiser Wilhelm Monument in Berlin was destroyed by the government of East Berlin in 1950. William and Augusta of Saxe-Weimar had two children: He had two illegitimate twin children, born from an affair with Elisa Radzwill . Agnes Dettman (born 30 January 1824 in Posen; died 3 January 1904 in Sydney, Australia )

8664-475: The new king fulfilled their hopes during his first six months on the throne. Through an amnesty enacted on 10 August 1840, all "political criminals" were released, politically motivated investigations and court proceedings were discontinued, and press censorship was eased. As a result of the concessions, liberals initially overlooked the fact that Frederick William IV was not of one mind with them. The King intended his policy of reconciliation to restore trust in

8778-571: The organisational structure was established, the association fund-raised to buy up the German fleet ( Reichsflotte ) of 1848 to forward the unification. After successful raising, the funds were given to Prussian minister of War Albrecht von Roon . When the moderate liberal "New Era" in Prussia ended in 1862, and the Prussian government refrained from any steps to German unification, the German National Assembly had to change its strategy. The new minister-president Otto von Bismarck aggravated

8892-530: The outset, Frederick William IV began to lose interest in the project. By the winter of 1849, the Kingdoms of Hanover and Saxony had withdrawn their consent as well. In contrast to Prussia, Austria wanted to restore the German Confederation and opposed Prussia's Erfurt Union plans. Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria and Württemberg sided with Austria in the Four Kings' Alliance . With the backing of the conservative opponents of

9006-444: The post of Minister President in order to force through his proposals, beginning a partnership that would last for the rest of his life. On the foreign front, William oversaw Prussian victories in the Second Schleswig War and the Austro-Prussian War , establishing Prussia as the leading German power. In 1871, through Bismarck's maneuvers, the unification of Germany was achieved following the Franco-Prussian War . The German Empire

9120-474: The pro-government National Liberal Party , that was established in 1867. Thus, the German National Association ceased to exist. William I, German Emperor This is an accepted version of this page William I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888), or Wilhelm I , was King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of

9234-471: The renewal of a Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation , of which Austria had been part for centuries. Accepting the imperial dignity would also have meant an open foreign policy snub of Austria and probably have provoked a war. Even more important was the fact that, in the King's opinion, the imperial dignity could only be conferred by the princes or a college of electors, as had been the case until 1806. As

9348-548: The reprisals the Social Democratic Party increased its influence among the masses. Under pressure of the mass working-class movement the laws were repealed on 1 October 1890. In August 1878, Alexander II of Russia , William's nephew, wrote a letter (known as Ohrfeigenbrief ) to him complaining about the treatment Russian interests had received at the Congress of Berlin . In response William, his wife Augusta, and his son

9462-558: The restoration of the Holy Roman Empire. Felix Dahn wrote a poem, " Macte senex Imperator " ('Hail thee, old emperor') in which he nicknamed William Barbablanca (whitebeard), a play on the name of the medieval emperor Frederick Barbarossa (redbeard). According to the King asleep in mountain legend, Barbarossa slept under the Kyffhäuser mountain until Germany had need of him. William I

9576-565: The revolutionary period, Brandenburg was closer to the King than to the National Assembly. The National Assembly sent 25 deputies to the King on 2 November to protest against Brandenburg's appointment. He cancelled the audience after the deputies had read out their request. Under the pretext of removing the National Assembly from the pressure of the Berlin streets, the King told the deputies that they would be moved to Brandenburg an der Havel on 9 November and adjourned until 27 November. After

9690-551: The royal personal physicians. The charter included the formal possibility of a resumption of official duties. The signing of the Regency Charter heralded the New Era in Prussia, marking the end of Frederick William IV's idea of government. Prince Regent William dismissed the reactionary minister president Otto von Manteuffel and recruited Karl Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen from the liberal-nationalist camp. He also dismissed

9804-451: The support of a majority in the Reichstag on 18 October 1878, for the purpose of fighting the socialist and working-class movement. These laws deprived the Social Democratic Party of Germany of its legal status; prohibited all organizations, workers’ mass organizations and the socialist and workers’ press; decreed confiscation of socialist literature; and subjected Social-Democrats to reprisals. The laws were extended every 2–3 years. Despite

9918-529: The task of governing mostly to his chancellor, limiting himself to representing the state and approving Bismarck's every policy. In private he once remarked on his relationship with Bismarck: It is difficult to be emperor under such a chancellor. On 11 May 1878, a plumber named Emil Max Hödel failed in an assassination attempt on William in Berlin . Hödel used a revolver to shoot at the then 81-year-old Emperor, while he and his daughter, Princess Louise , paraded in their carriage on Unter den Linden . When

10032-464: The throne. His grandfather, King Frederick William II died the year he was born, and his father was crowned Frederick William III . William fought with distinction during the War of the Sixth Coalition , and afterwards became a prominent figure within the Prussian Army . In 1840, his childless elder brother became King of Prussia, making him heir presumptive . William played a major role in crushing

10146-654: The time and earned him the nickname Kartätschenprinz (Prince of Grapeshot ). Indeed, he had to flee to England for a while, disguised as a merchant. He returned and helped to put down an uprising in Baden , where he commanded the Prussian army. In October 1849, he became governor-general of the Rhine Province and Province of Westphalia , with a seat at the Electoral Palace, Koblenz . During their time at Koblenz , William and his wife entertained liberal scholars such as

10260-456: The title Prinz von Preußen . Against his convictions but out of loyalty towards his brother, William signed the bill setting up a Prussian parliament in 1847 and took a seat in the upper chamber, the Prussian House of Lords . During the Revolutions of 1848 , William successfully crushed a revolt in Berlin that was aimed at Frederick William IV. The use of cannons made him unpopular at

10374-434: The title of Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871. William, however, hesitated to accept the constitutional title, as he feared that it would overshadow his own title as King of Prussia. He also wanted it to be Kaiser von Deutschland ("Emperor of Germany"), but Bismarck warned him that the South German princes and the Emperor of Austria might protest. William eventually—though grudgingly—relented and on 18 January, he

10488-488: The title of Emperor of the Germans offered by the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849, believing that it did not have the right to make such an offer. In December 1848 he dissolved the Prussian National Assembly when he found its constitutional proposals too radical. At the urging of his ministry, which wanted to prevent a renewal of unrest, he imposed a constitution with a parliament and a strong monarch. He then used

10602-403: The view of the "political romantics", the structure of the estates took the natural inequality of man into account. Individuals should fulfil the tasks and duties that serve the good of society as a whole in the place assigned to them by God. In the Prussian constitutional question, Frederick William IV was not striving for the realisation of a constitutional monarchy but rather a state governed by

10716-514: Was 14, he saw it as a punishment from God and linked it directly to his outlook on life. He believed that only by leading a life more pleasing to God would he be able to absolve himself of the guilt he felt for her death. Frederick William's early childhood fell during a period in which the European monarchies were confronted with the revolutionary challenge of the French Revolution . By calling

10830-520: Was a Lutheran member of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces . It was a United Protestant denomination, bringing together Reformed and Lutheran believers. His full title as king of Prussia was William, by the Grace of God , King of Prussia; Margrave of Brandenburg , Burgrave of Nuremberg , Count of Hohenzollern ; Sovereign and Supreme Duke of Silesia and of

10944-474: Was a Romanticist , and his devotion to the movement, which in the German states featured nostalgia for the Middle Ages , played a part in his developing a conservative worldview at an early age. In 1815, when he was twenty, the Crown Prince exerted his influence to structure the proposed new constitution of 1815, which was never enacted, in such a way that the landed aristocracy would hold the greatest power. He

11058-518: Was a Roman Catholic, the preparations for the marriage included difficult negotiations which ended with her conversion to Lutheranism . There were two wedding ceremonies – one in Munich by proxy according to the Catholic rite, and the other in person in Berlin. The couple had a harmonious marriage, but after Louise had a miscarriage in 1828, it remained childless. Frederick William became king of Prussia on

11172-586: Was against the liberalisation of Germany and aspired to unify its many states within what he viewed as a historically legitimate framework, inspired by the ancient laws and customs of the Holy Roman Empire , which had been dissolved under Napoleon in 1806. He was a draftsman interested in both architecture and landscape gardening and was a patron of several great German artists, including architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and composer Felix Mendelssohn . In 1823 he married Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria . Since she

11286-493: Was deeply religious. Influenced by Romanticism and the Pietist revivalist movement, he envisioned a Christian state and believed that only Christianity could protect his subjects from revolutionary utopias and reverse the secularisation, growing materialism and other processes of modernisation that he considered harmful. For Friedrich Wilhelm, religion and politics were inextricably linked. In contrast to his father, Frederick William

11400-487: Was directly dependent on the sovereign as the summus episcopus (high bishop). In response, the Old Lutherans formed their own church in 1830, claiming to represent the "true" Lutheran Church, and were consequently subjected to state persecution. In 1845 Frederick William lifted the ban on the formation of Old Lutheran churches and released imprisoned pastors. As part of his policy of reconciliation, Frederick William IV

11514-499: Was formally proclaimed as emperor in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles . The date was chosen as the coronation date of the first Prussian king in 1701. In the national memory , 18 January became the day of the foundation of the Empire ( Reichsgründungstag ), although it did not have a constitutional significance. To many intellectuals, the coronation of William was associated with

11628-413: Was interested in finding a solution to the question of a constitution for Prussia. At the core of his political philosophy was the doctrine of the organic nation of the estates of the realm , which was based on philosophers such as Friedrich Schlegel , who wrote in 1805: "The only lasting constitution is the monarchy of the estates, tempered by priests and nobility, and it is also the oldest and best." In

11742-406: Was left incapacitated until his death. His brother and heir-presumptive William served as regent after 1858 and then succeeded him as king. Born to Frederick William III and his wife Queen Louise , Frederick William was his mother's favourite son. He was educated by private tutors, including the historian and statesman Friedrich Ancillon . When Queen Louise died in 1810 when Frederick William

11856-478: Was not expected to ascend to the throne. His grandfather died the year he was born, at age 53, in 1797, and his father Frederick William III became king. He was educated from 1801 to 1809 by Johann Friedrich Gottlieb Delbrück  [ de ] , who was also in charge of the education of William's brother, the Crown Prince Frederick William . At age twelve, his father appointed him an officer in

11970-499: Was one governed by the Christian estates of the realm rather than a constitutional monarchy. In spite of his conservative political philosophy, he initially pursued a moderate policy of easing press censorship, releasing political prisoners and reconciling with the Catholic population of the kingdom. During the German revolutions of 1848–1849 , he was initially forced to accommodate the people's revolutionary sentiments, although he rejected

12084-458: Was outwardly stable, but not a very happy one. In 1834-37 he had the Old Palace in Berlin built as a new family home, in which he continued to live later as king and emperor, while he only used the Berlin Palace for representative purposes. On 7 June 1840 his older brother became King of Prussia. Since he had no children, William was first in line to succeed him to the throne and thus was given

12198-707: Was placed in the care of Joseph Kroll and Agnes Kroll. She later emigrated to Australia, where she started a family. Adalbert Berengar Viktor von Hohenzollern (born 30 January 1824 in Posen ; died 14 January 1882 in Marco, Ceará, Brazil ) was entrusted to the care of the Ursuline convent in Posen. He became a priest and emigrated to Brazil, where he engaged in missionary work throughout the northeastern region. During this period, he fathered an illegitimate child with Maria dos Anjos Chefe da Silveira, named Manoel Chefe da Silveira. William

12312-514: Was proclaimed and William was granted the title of German Emperor. Even though he had considerable power as Kaiser , William largely left the affairs of the state to Bismarck. Later in life he was the target of multiple failed assassination attempts, which enabled Bismarck to push through a series of anti-socialist laws . In 1888, which came to be known as the Year of the Three Emperors , William died at

12426-450: Was promoted to commanding general of the III. Army Corps . Around this time, William became romantically linked with his cousin, Polish noblewoman Elisa Radziwill . In 1826, William was forced to break off the relationship by his father, who deemed it an inappropriate match. It is alleged that Elisa had an illegitimate daughter by William who was brought up by Joseph and Caroline Kroll, owners of

12540-477: Was refused, William first considered abdicating, but his son, the Crown Prince, advised strongly against it. Then, on the advice of Roon, William appointed Otto von Bismarck as Minister President in order to force through the proposals. Under the Prussian constitution, the Minister President was responsible solely to the king, not to the Landtag. Bismarck, a conservative Prussian Junker and loyal friend of

12654-555: Was still a conservative form of government in which the monarch, the aristocracy, and the military retained most of the power. The constitution of 1850 remained in effect, with numerous amendments, until the dissolution of the Prussian kingdom in 1918. Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria had made it clear in November 1848 that he would not accept the title of "Emperor of the Germans" from the Frankfurt National Assembly because

12768-487: Was succeeded by his son Frederick, who was already fatally unwell himself (suffering from throat cancer). Frederick spent the 99 days of his reign fighting his illness before dying and being succeeded by his eldest son Wilhelm on 15 June. To honour him a large number of memorials/statues were erected all over the country over the following years. The best known among them are the Kyffhäuser monument (1890–96) in Thuringia ,

12882-545: Was sympathetic to Catholicism. Under Frederick William III in 1825, the Archbishop of Cologne was arrested in a conflict over the law on mixed marriages. In order to reconcile with the Catholic population, Frederick William IV authorised the founding of the Cologne Cathedral Building Association in 1840 to promote and finance the completion of the Cologne Cathedral . Half of the funding for it came from

12996-648: Was thus portrayed as a second coming of Barbarossa. The Kyffhäuser Monument portrays both emperors. In 1872, he arbitrated a boundary dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States, deciding in favor of the U.S. and placing the San Juan Islands of modern-day Washington within U.S. national territory, thus ending the 12-year bloodless Pig War . In his memoirs, Bismarck describes William as an old-fashioned, courteous, infallibly polite gentleman and

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