German Confederation

Instead of the archaic German Empire, the German Confederation was created - an association of states under the hegemony of the Austrian Habsburgs, consisting of 34 states and 4 free cities. This unification took place on June 8, 1815 at the Congress of Vienna.

The German Confederation was neither a unitary nor a federal state. The ruling body of the German Confederation was the so-called Union Sejm, which only cared about the fact that nothing would change in Germany. It consisted of delegates from 34 German states (including Austria) and 4 free cities. Sessions of the Union Seimas in full composition (69 votes) were held very rarely, basically all decisions were made in a narrow composition (17 votes).

Each of the states united in the Union was sovereign and governed in different ways. In some states, autocracy was retained, in others, similarities of parliaments were created, and only a few constitutions fix the approach to a limited monarchy (Baden, Bavaria, Württemberg, and so on).

The nobility was able to regain their former power over the peasantry, corvée, bloody tithe (a tax on slaughtered cattle), and the feudal court. Absolutism remained intact.

The German Union lasted until 1866 and was liquidated after the defeat of Austria in the war with Prussia (by 1866 it included 32 states).

Revolution of 1848-1849 in Germany

In 1815-1848, capitalist relations developed rapidly in the German states.

In the German states in the 30-40s, an industrial revolution unfolded, railways were built, the mining and metallurgical industry grew, the center of which was the Rhineland, the number of steam engines increased. The machine-building industry (Berlin) and the textile industry (in Saxony) developed.

In 1847, a lean year and a year of a commercial and industrial crisis had a heavy impact on all German states.

Hunger riots took place in many cities of the German Confederation: thousands of people took to the streets to express their protest against hunger and deprivation. In April, riots broke out in the streets of Berlin. On April 21 and 22, a "potato war" took place here, during which grocery stores were destroyed.

By the beginning of 1848, the national question became aggravated, which was expressed in the desire for the unification of Germany and the demand for a constitutional order and the elimination of the revived remnants of feudalism.

In Baden and other smaller states of West Germany, from the end of February, spontaneous demonstrations of workers, students, intellectuals began, demanding freedom of the press and assembly, a jury trial, and the convocation of a Constituent Assembly to work out a constitution for a united Germany. The ruling elite feared an unpredictable future.

All this taken together testified to the existence of a revolutionary situation in the states of the German Confederation.

The revolutionary outbreak in Germany was accelerated by the news of the beginning of the revolution in France.

Unrest in Prussia began in Cologne on March 3, after 10 days in Berlin, the first clashes between the people and the police and troops took place. On March 18, the fighting turned into a revolution.

In the spring of 1848, powerful agrarian movements took place in a number of states in the southwest and center of Germany.

The demands of the all-German parliament were realized from mid-April to mid-May, when elections of deputies to the National Assembly took place, the first meeting of which opened on May 18, 1848 in Frankfurt am Main in St. Paul's Church.

The National Assembly did not become an all-German central authority. The interim imperial ruler elected by the parliament, who became the Austrian Archduke Johann, and the interim imperial government also did not have the authority, means and capabilities, to pursue any policy, since it met with objections from Austria and Prussia and other states.

On March 28, 1849, the parliament adopted the imperial constitution, the main part of which was the "Basic Rights of the German People" adopted by parliament in December 1849, written in the image of the American "Declaration of Independence" of 1776 and the French "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" of 1789.

Thus, for the first time in German history, the freedoms of citizens were proclaimed: freedom of the individual, freedom of expression, freedom of faith and conscience, freedom of movement on the territory of the empire, freedom of assembly and coalitions, equality before the law, freedom of choice of professions, inviolability of property.

Eliminated all class advantages, the remaining feudal duties, the death penalty was abolished.

The meeting decided to offer the imperial crown to the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm 4.

Legislative power was to be represented by a bicameral parliament - the People's Assembly (Volkshaus), elected by universal and equal suffrage by all men and the Assembly of States (Statenhaus) from representatives of governments and landtags of individual states. Thus, instead of a centralized democratic republic, a federation of German monarchies was created, headed by the emperor.

Friedrich Wilhelm 4 declared his readiness to become the head of the "all-German fatherland", but made his consent dependent on the decisions of other German sovereigns. During April, the imperial constitution was rejected by the governments of Austria, Bavaria, Hanover, Saxony.

On April 28, the Prussian king published a note in which he announced the rejection of the imperial constitution and the renunciation of the imperial crown (as he wrote "the pig's crown"). The refusal of the Prussian king testified to the onset of counter-revolution in Germany and signified the collapse of the Frankfurt parliament in Berlin and Cologne, street demonstrations continued, clashes with the police took place, peasant uprisings did not stop, but the king and the Junker government from which representatives of the bourgeoisie were expelled, gathered forces for the counter-revolutionary blow. Troops were drawn to the capital. In November, the bourgeois national guard was disarmed without resistance, followed by the dispersal of the Prussian Constituent Assembly.

The revolution in Prussia was suppressed, but Friedrich Wilhelm 4 was still forced to "grant" a constitution that retained the freedoms granted in March, but led the king to repeal any law passed by the Landtag and existed until the adoption of a new constitution in 1850.

The revolution was defeated and did not solve the main task facing the German people, the national unification of Germany in a revolutionary way from below was not realized. Another way of unification was put forward on the historical stage, in which the Prussian monarchy played the leading role.

Square 630,100 km² Population (1839) 29 200 000 people. Form of government Confederation Official language Deutsch The president 1815-1835 Franz II 1835-1848 Ferdinand I 1848-1866 Franz Joseph I Story June 8 Congress of Vienna August 23 Dissolution Predecessors and successors

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Story

As in previous times, this German association included territories under foreign sovereignty - the King of England (Kingdom of Hanover until 1837), King of Denmark (Duchies of Holstein and Saxe-Lauenburg until 1864), King of the Netherlands (Grand Duchy of Luxembourg until 1866).

The indisputable military and economic superiority of Austria and Prussia gave them a clear political priority over other members of the union, although formally it proclaimed the equality of all participants. At the same time, a number of lands of the Austrian Empire (Hungary, Dalmatia, Istria, etc.) and the Kingdom of Prussia (East and West Prussia, Poznan) were completely excluded from union jurisdiction. This circumstance once again confirmed the special position in the alliance between Austria and Prussia. Prussia and Austria were only those territories that were part of the German Confederation, which were already parts of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory of the German Confederation in 1839 was about 630,100 km² with a population of 29.2 million people.

The German Confederation lasted until 1866 and was liquidated after the defeat of Austria in the Austro-Prussian War (by 1866 it included 32 states). Its only member that has retained its independence and has not suffered a single change of regime is the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Strong structure

• Federal army ( Bundesheer)
• Federal fleet ( Bundesflotte)

Consequences of the Congress of Vienna

At the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), England showed her serious concern about preventing France from becoming the dominant power in Europe in the future and therefore assisted Prussia in strengthening her and extending her territory to the Rhine. At the same time, England's plans did not include the excessive strengthening of Prussia and its transformation into the dominant European power.

In turn, Prussia agreed to the annexation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw to Russia as a reciprocal step to the consent to the annexation of Saxony to Prussia. Talleyrand, then Prime Minister of France, used the "Saxon question" to end France's international isolation and supported Austria and England, who had entered into a secret agreement to thwart these plans. As a result, 40% of the territory of Saxony was ceded to Prussia.

Germany, modern at that time, was represented by a Federal entity, consisting of 34 states and 4 cities: Frankfurt am Main, Lubeck, Hamburg and Bremen. States did not have the right to join alliances that threaten the Federation or its individual members, but they had the right to have their own constitutions. The federal body of the Bundestag met under the leadership of Austria in Frankfurt am Main with the participation of representatives of states. Decisions made by the dominant members of the Federation, Austria and Prussia, could be blackballed even if they were supported by delegations from four kingdoms: Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover and Württemberg. Germany of that time was connected only by a common language and culture.

Multinational Austria, in which by that time there were half as many Germans as people of other nationalities, had finances in a catastrophic state, was politically very weak.

Prussia, in which Hardenberg carried out his reforms until his death in 1822, came to the conclusion that a return to the days of absolute monarchy became impossible. However, the formation of a liberal-bourgeois society was hampered by the strong influence of the aristocracy in the power structures and especially in the army.

The development of liberalism in the Federation was extremely uneven: Austria and Prussia ignored Article 13 of the Federal Act, which obliged to introduce a constitutional form of government. But in Saxe-Weimar it was introduced in 1816, in Baden and Bavaria - in 1818, in Württemberg - in 1819, in Hesse-Darmstadt - in 1820.

German Society

Compared to the previous century, 19th century German society was outwardly egalitarian. There was no significant difference in dress, behavior and taste. Substantial differences in wealth were hidden behind a façade of universal equality. Marriages between members of the former aristocracy and successful people from the lower classes became common. At the same time, marriages were made by mutual attraction. Already in 1840, about 60% of those employed in production were workers and small owners. Old forms of social inequality were replaced by new ones. From 20 to 30% of the population resorted to the help of various charitable organizations. In Chemnitz, the difference in the weekly wages of the printing workers was 13 times.

Biedermeier

The era that followed the Napoleonic Wars, when society began to take a break from the disorder and uncertainty of wartime, is called Biedermeier in Germany. At this time, thanks to the growth in the well-being of a significant part of society, caused by economic growth and the growth of labor productivity, a new class began to gradually take shape, which would later be called the middle class, which became the basis for the stability of the state. Representatives of this class, due to their relative wealth, did not have to wage a fierce struggle for life every day. They had free time and money to seriously deal with family and child-rearing issues. Moreover, the family provided protection from troubles from the outside world. The rationalism of the previous century was replaced by an appeal to religion. This era was convincingly reflected in the neutral and conflict-free work of the German artist Spitzweg.

Science and culture

In the first half of the century, Germany was a "country of poets and thinkers" that gave the world many new ideas. Schelling and a group of "natural philosophers" opposed Newtonian materialism with the assertion that Nature can only be known through reflection and intuition. Physicians Feuchtersleben from Vienna and Riegseis from Munich came up with the idea of ​​abolishing the materialistic approach to medicine and the need to put prayer and meditation at the heart of treatment.

In contrast to these manifestations of the denial of rationalism, names appeared in German science that significantly influenced the development of modern scientific knowledge. An outstanding scientist was Justus Liebig, who was introduced to big science by Alexander Humboldt. Liebig actually became the creator of modern agricultural chemistry.

A group of politically engaged writers, Young Germany, has shown itself in the literature, including Heinrich Heine, whose assessments ranged in a wide range from “ardent patriot” to “cynical traitor” and from “principled republican” to “paid lackey”. He had the courage to be himself, and in many cases history has shown that he was right.

Radical nationalism

During the War of Independence, the idea was very widespread that the Bundestag should become an effective federal body - a forum for the entire German nation. This idea continued to live in student societies, especially Giessen and Jena, where the most radical students fell into revolutionary activity.

Jews in German society

The position of a loyal Jew in German society was formulated by the famous liberal writer Berthold Auerbach as follows: “I am German, and I cannot be anyone else, I am a Swabian, and I don’t want to be anyone else, I am a Jew and this confusion corresponds to the essence of who I am". On the other hand, in German society for a thousand years there was an opinion that was not subject not only to revision, but also to discussion in general, that the word "German" is synonymous with the word "Christian". And society demanded from its member an unequivocal answer to the question of his nationality, inseparable from belonging to a particular religious denomination. In this regard, such a complex formulation was incomprehensible to the masses.

Everyday and administrative anti-Semitism has taken deep roots in European history. It has various forms of expression, including in the form of distrust and suspicion of the nation as a whole, based on the categorical rejection by the Jewish communities of the continuously ongoing mixing of the population in the process of assimilation. Orthodox representatives of the Jewish population rightly feared assimilation, which threatened to undermine the authority of the Law of Moses. The same fears were shared by representatives of the clergy - the rabbi. In the XIX century. to all manifestations of antipathy, envy was added to the successes demonstrated by the Jews in the fields that became available to him.

Nevertheless, the influence of Jewish culture on the culture of Germany and the opposite influence were certainly fruitful for each of the parties.

Customs Union

Liberal transformations on the territory of Germany took place most intensively in the field of economics, where a tendency towards the formation of a common German market was manifested. A system of high customs duties also operated in this direction, which to a certain extent protected goods produced within the Federation from competition from England. The initiator in this matter was Prussia, in which in 1818 all previously existing customs between the Prussian provinces were abolished and Prussia became a territory of free trade. Austria opposed the very idea of ​​free trade, which found an ever-increasing number of supporters among the members of the Federation. On January 1, the German Customs Union (German Zollverein) was created, which included Bavaria, Prussia and 16 more German principalities. as a result, a territory with a population of 25 million people, out of 18 members of the Federation, was under the control of the Prussian bureaucracy. The Prussian coin, thaler, became the only coin used in Germany [ ]. Austria was not part of the customs union.

The Industrial Revolution begins

Until the middle of the century, industrial production grew at a very moderate pace. Back in -1847, less than 3% of the working population in the states of the Customs Union could be classified as industrial workers. However, the construction of railways that had begun radically changed the economic situation.

Then a railway boom began throughout Europe. Even the conservative delegates of the all-German parliament from Austria were forced to travel along the Rhine by steamer to Düsseldorf, and then by train to Berlin.

The railway connection in a short time reduced transport costs for the delivery of goods by 80%. The social effect of the railway communication was also manifested in the significant democratization of society. The Prussian king Frederick William III lamented that from now on representatives of the lower classes could travel to Potsdam at the same speed as he did.

Revolution of 1848

In the middle of the century, there was a famine in Europe. Mass unemployment, hunger and poverty gripped many lands in Germany. A series of bad harvests that followed 1845 sparked food riots in Berlin, Vienna, and Ulm. In Upper Silesia, over 80,000 cases of typhus have been reported. 18,000 cases have died. Potatoes, which by that time had become one of the main dishes of the national diet, became unfit for food due to the disease that struck him. This sparked the "Potato Uprising" in Berlin in 1847. The real wages of industrial workers fell 45% between and 1847. The catastrophic situation was confirmed by the widespread report of the liberal medical professor, creator of cell theory in medicine and biology, Rudolf von Virchow.

The most difficult situation was found for a group of small entrepreneurs in Silesia, who owned 116,832 outdated textile industries. Only 2,628 of them were mechanized. Silesian weavers were unable to compete with English goods. All this led to a riot. Workers smashed factories and offices, burned debt books. The approaching army restored order within three days.

Liberal artists such as Heine, Gerhardt Hauptmann and Kossuth issued a decree to abolish censorship and expressed support for a constitution. The crowd filled the Berlin castle, and in order to restore order, General Prittwitz was forced to order the troops to disperse the crowd. In response, barricades arose and 230 people died in the fighting. Then the king ordered the troops to leave the city on March 19, personally took part in the funeral of the victims of the clashes and, wearing a tricolor bandage, drove through the streets. On the same day, he issued a proclamation containing a phrase, the meaning of which remained unclear: "From now on, Prussia enters Germany."

A moderately liberal government was formed under the leadership of banker Ludolph Camphausen and industrialist David Hansemann, who pursued a course of support for economic growth and monarchy. Radical groups at that time were quite weak. The attempt of the radical Friedrich Hecker to establish a republic by force of arms was easily stopped by the army. On the other hand, the right-wing opposition in the person of Bismarck, Prince Wilhelm and Gerlach was isolated.

The parliament in Frankfurt insisted on including Austria in the empire, but without the territories belonging to it, inhabited by non-Germans, which was unacceptable for the young Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, since it meant the division of his empire. Then the parliament decided to offer the crown to Frederick William IV, who refused to accept the crown from the "homeless children". His refusal ended hopes of German unification, Prussia denied legitimacy to Parliament and withdrew its delegates on 14 May.

This decision caused a wave of protest, and even in Prussia, Landwehr's units opposed the regular army. The parliamentary majority, which turned left, decided to move to Stuttgart, thereby getting out of the control of the Austrian and Prussian troops stationed in Frankfurt.

Prince Wilhelm (the future first emperor) resolutely pursued the poorly armed rebel detachments, for which he earned the nickname "Grapeschot Prince" (de. Grapeschot Prince). As a result, during these years 1.1 million Germans left Germany, who emigrated mainly to America. The revolution was defeated because the radicals did not have a clearly expressed position and were not united. In addition, it became clear that Austria, which supported the anti-Prussian actions, finally lost the chance to become the dominant country in the German Confederation. The conservative strata in Prussia retained their positions in government and especially in the army. The bourgeoisie gave up its political ambitions and focused on production and financial activity. As a result, the years between 1846 and 1873 were the years of the formation of the middle class and a significant increase in its wealth.

In 1858, Prince Wilhelm was appointed regent to the insane king and, to everyone's surprise, replaced an unpopular government with a cabinet of conservative liberals.

The era of "Iron and Blood"

Otto von Bismarck, who created the Second Reich (small - without Austria) "with iron and blood" in the wars with Denmark, Austria and France, largely satisfied the long-standing need for the unification of the Germans under one roof. After that, his task was to eliminate the danger of a war on two fronts, which he considered obviously losing for the state. He was haunted by the nightmare of coalitions, which he tried to eliminate by categorically refusing to acquire colonies, which would inevitably significantly increase the danger of an armed conflict in clashes with the interests of the colonial powers, primarily with England. He considered good relations with her to be a guarantee of Germany's security, and therefore directed all his efforts to solving internal problems. ... As a result, Luxembourg was annexed one by one.

North German Confederation
Austrian empire
Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Württemberg
Grand Duchy of Baden
Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Principality of Liechtenstein

K: Introduced in 1815 K: Disappeared in 1866

Story

As in former times, this German association included territories under foreign sovereignty - the King of England (Kingdom of Hanover until 1837), the King of Denmark (Duchy of Holstein and Saxe-Lauenburg until 1864), the King of the Netherlands (Grand Duchy of Luxembourg until 1866).

The indisputable military and economic superiority of Austria and Prussia gave them a clear political priority over other members of the union, although formally it proclaimed the equality of all participants. At the same time, a number of lands of the Austrian Empire (Hungary, Dalmatia, Istria, etc.) and the Prussian Kingdom (East and West Prussia, Poznan) were completely excluded from the allied jurisdiction. This circumstance once again confirmed the special position in the alliance between Austria and Prussia. Prussia and Austria were only those territories that were part of the German Confederation, which were already parts of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory of the German Confederation in 1839 was about 630,100 km² with a population of 29.2 million people.

The German Union lasted until 1866 and was liquidated after the defeat of Austria in the Austro-Prussian War (by 1866 it included 32 states). Its only member that has retained its independence and has not suffered a single change of regime is the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Strong structure

• Federal army ( Bundesheer)
• Federal fleet ( Bundesflotte)

Consequences of the Congress of Vienna

At the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), England showed her serious concern about preventing France from becoming the dominant power in Europe in the future and therefore assisted Prussia in strengthening her and extending her territory to the Rhine. At the same time, England's plans did not include the excessive strengthening of Prussia and its transformation into the dominant European power.

In turn, Prussia agreed to the annexation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw to Russia as a reciprocal step to the consent to the annexation of Saxony to Prussia. Talleyrand, then Prime Minister of France, used the "Saxon question" to end France's international isolation and supported Austria and England, who had entered into a secret agreement to thwart these plans. As a result, 40% of the territory of Saxony was ceded to Prussia.

Germany, modern at that time, was represented by a Federal entity, consisting of 34 states and 4 cities: Frankfurt am Main, Lubeck, Hamburg and Bremen. States did not have the right to join alliances that threaten the Federation or its individual members, but they had the right to have their own constitutions. The federal body of the Bundestag met under the leadership of Austria in Frankfurt am Main with the participation of representatives of states. Decisions made by the dominant members of the Federation, Austria and Prussia, could be blackballed even if they were supported by delegations from four kingdoms: Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover and Württemberg. Germany of that time was connected only by a common language and culture.

Multinational Austria, in which by that time there were half as many Germans as people of other nationalities, had finances in a catastrophic state, was politically very weak.

Prussia, in which Hardenberg carried out his reforms until his death in 1822, came to the conclusion that a return to the days of absolute monarchy became impossible. However, the formation of a liberal-bourgeois society was hampered by the strong influence of the aristocracy in the power structures and especially in the army.

The development of liberalism in the Federation was extremely uneven: Austria and Prussia ignored Article 13 of the Federal Act, which obliged to introduce a constitutional form of government. But in Saxe-Weimar it was introduced in 1816, in Baden and Bavaria - in 1818, in Württemberg - in 1819, in Hesse-Darmstadt - in 1820.

German Society

Compared to the previous century, 19th century German society was outwardly egalitarian. There was no significant difference in dress, behavior and taste. Substantial differences in wealth were hidden behind a façade of universal equality. Marriages between members of the former aristocracy and successful people from the lower classes became common. At the same time, marriages were made by mutual attraction. Already in 1840, about 60% of those employed in production were workers and small owners. Old forms of social inequality were replaced by new ones. From 20 to 30% of the population resorted to the help of various charitable organizations. In Chemnitz, the difference in the weekly wages of the printing workers was 13 times.

Biedermeier

The era that followed the Napoleonic Wars, when society began to take a break from the disorder and uncertainty of wartime, is called Biedermeier in Germany. At this time, thanks to the growth in the well-being of a significant part of society, caused by economic growth and the growth of labor productivity, a new class began to gradually take shape, which would later be called the middle class, which became the basis for the stability of the state. Representatives of this class, due to their relative wealth, did not have to wage a fierce struggle for life every day. They had free time and money to seriously deal with family and child-rearing issues. Moreover, the family provided protection from troubles from the outside world. The rationalism of the previous century was replaced by an appeal to religion. This era was convincingly reflected in the neutral and conflict-free work of the German artist Spitzweg.

Science and culture

In the first half of the century, Germany was a "country of poets and thinkers" that gave the world many new ideas. Schelling and a group of "natural philosophers" opposed Newtonian materialism with the assertion that Nature can only be known through reflection and intuition. Physicians Feuchtersleben from Vienna and Riegseis from Munich came up with the idea of ​​abolishing the materialistic approach to medicine and the need to put prayer and meditation at the heart of treatment.

In contrast to these manifestations of the denial of rationalism, names appeared in German science that significantly influenced the development of modern scientific knowledge. An outstanding scientist was Justus Liebig, who was introduced into great science by Alexander Humboldt. Liebig actually became the creator of modern agricultural chemistry.

A group of politically engaged writers, Young Germany, which included Heinrich Heine, has shown itself in the literature, whose assessments ranged in a wide range from “ardent patriot” to “cynical traitor” and from “principled republican” to “paid lackey”. He had the courage to be himself, and in many cases history has shown that he was right.

Radical nationalism

During the War of Independence, the idea was very widespread that the Bundestag should become an effective federal body - a forum for the entire German nation. This idea continued to live in student societies, especially Giessen and Jena, where the most radical students fell into revolutionary activity.

Jews in German society

The position of a loyal Jew in German society was formulated by the famous liberal writer Berthold Auerbach in this way: “I am a German and cannot be anyone else, I am a Swabian and I don’t want to be anyone else, I am a Jew and this confusion corresponds to the essence of the one who I am". On the other hand, in German society for a thousand years there was an opinion that was not subject not only to revision, but also to discussion in general, that the word "German" is synonymous with the word "Christian". And society demanded from its member an unequivocal answer to the question of his nationality, inseparable from belonging to a particular religious denomination. In this regard, such a complex formulation was incomprehensible to the masses.

Everyday and administrative anti-Semitism has taken deep roots in European history. It has various forms of expression, including in the form of distrust and suspicion of the nation as a whole, based on the categorical rejection by the Jewish communities of the continuously ongoing mixing of the population in the process of assimilation. The orthodox-minded representatives of the Jewish population rightly feared assimilation, which threatened the fall of the authority of the Law of Moses. The same fears were shared by representatives of the clergy - the rabbi. In the XIX century. to all manifestations of antipathy, envy was added to the successes demonstrated by the Jews in the fields that became available to him.

Nevertheless, the influence of Jewish culture on the culture of Germany and the opposite influence were certainly fruitful for each of the parties.

Customs Union

Liberal transformations on the territory of Germany took place most intensively in the field of economics, where a tendency towards the formation of a common German market was manifested. A system of high customs duties also operated in this direction, which to a certain extent protected goods produced within the Federation from competition from England. The initiator in this matter was Prussia, in which in 1818 all previously existing customs between the Prussian provinces were abolished and Prussia became a territory of free trade. Austria opposed the very idea of ​​free trade, which found an ever-increasing number of supporters among the members of the Federation. On January 1, the German Customs Union (German. Zollverein), which included Bavaria, Prussia and 16 more German principalities. as a result, a territory with a population of 25 million people, out of 18 members of the Federation, was under the control of the Prussian bureaucracy. The Prussian coin, thaler, became the only coin used in Germany. Austria was not part of the customs union.

The Industrial Revolution begins

Until the middle of the century, industrial production grew at a very moderate pace. Back in -1847, less than 3% of the working population in the states of the Customs Union could be classified as industrial workers. However, the construction of railways that had begun radically changed the economic situation.

Then a railway boom began throughout Europe. Even the conservative delegates of the all-German parliament from Austria were forced to travel along the Rhine by steamer to Düsseldorf, and then by train to Berlin.

The railway connection in a short time reduced transport costs for the delivery of goods by 80%. The social effect of the railway communication was also manifested in the significant democratization of society. The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III complained that from now on, representatives of the lower classes could travel to Potsdam at the same speed as he.

Revolution of 1848

In the middle of the century, there was a famine in Europe. Mass unemployment, hunger and poverty gripped many lands in Germany. A series of bad harvests that followed 1845 sparked food riots in Berlin, Vienna, and Ulm. In Upper Silesia, over 80,000 cases of typhus have been reported. 18,000 cases have died. Potatoes, which by that time had become one of the main dishes of the national diet, became unfit for food due to the disease that struck him. This sparked the "Potato Uprising" in Berlin in 1847. The real wages of industrial workers fell 45% between and 1847. The catastrophic situation was confirmed by the widely circulated report of the liberal medical professor, the creator of the cell theory in medicine and biology, Rudolf von Virchow.

The most difficult situation was found for a group of small entrepreneurs in Silesia, who owned 116,832 outdated textile industries. Only 2,628 of them were mechanized. Silesian weavers were unable to compete with English goods. All this led to a riot. Workers smashed factories and offices, burned debt books. The approaching army restored order within three days.

Liberal artists such as Heine, Gerhardt Hauptmann, and Kete Kollwitz expressed sympathy for the rebels, considering them innocent victims of the Industrial Revolution. Real events gave Karl Marx the occasion for his well-known generalization that the pauperisation of the working class was an inevitable feature of industrial capitalism.
Before 1848, the situation in the economy began to improve markedly and its accelerated growth was outlined. However, on February 24, fighting on the barricades began in Paris. King Louis-Philippe I fled and France became a republic again. In March, the radicals, led by the Hungarian nationalist Kossuth, raised the question of abolishing the Habsburg monarchy. This was also reflected in the German lands, and the question of transforming the Federation into a state along the lines of the United States of America was raised in the Baden parliament.

Revolutionary fermentation, often representing the conflicting interests of various social groups, swept the country. On May 9, the Bundestag recognized the tricolor flag as the state flag. In many German states, governments have been replaced by more liberal ones. In Austria, Metternich was forced to flee, and the Prussian king Frederick William IV on 18 March issued an order to abolish censorship and expressed his opinion in support of the adoption of the constitution. The crowd filled the Berlin Castle and to restore order, General Prittwitz was forced to order the troops to disperse the crowd. In response, barricades arose and 230 people died in the fighting. Then the king ordered the troops to leave the city on March 19, personally took part in the funeral of the victims of the clashes and, wearing a tricolor bandage, drove through the streets. On the same day, he issued a proclamation containing a phrase, the meaning of which remained unclear: "From now on, Prussia enters Germany."

A moderately liberal government was formed under the leadership of banker Ludolf Camphausen and industrialist David Hansemann, which pursued a policy of supporting economic growth and the monarchy. Radical groups at that time were quite weak. The attempt of the radical Friedrich Hecker to establish a republic by force of arms was easily stopped by the army. On the other hand, the right-wing opposition in the person of Bismarck, Prince Wilhelm and Gerlach was isolated.

The parliament in Frankfurt insisted on including Austria in the empire, but without the territories belonging to it, inhabited by non-Germans, which was unacceptable for the young Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, since it meant the division of his empire. Then the parliament decided to offer the crown to Frederick William IV, who refused to accept the crown from the "homeless children". His refusal ended hopes of German unification, Prussia denied legitimacy to Parliament and withdrew its delegates on 14 May.

This decision caused a wave of protest, and even in Prussia, Landwehr's units opposed the regular army. The parliamentary majority, which turned left, decided to move to Stuttgart, thereby getting out of the control of the Austrian and Prussian troops stationed in Frankfurt.
Prince Wilhelm (the future first emperor) resolutely pursued the poorly armed rebel detachments, for which he earned the nickname "Grapeschot Prince" (de. Grapeschot Prince). As a result, during these years 1.1 million Germans left Germany, who emigrated mainly to America. The revolution was defeated because the radicals did not have a clearly expressed position and were not united. In addition, it became clear that Austria, which supported the anti-Prussian actions, finally lost the chance to become the dominant country in the German Confederation. The conservative strata in Prussia retained their positions in government and especially in the army. The bourgeoisie gave up its political ambitions and focused on production and financial activity. As a result, the years between 1846 and 1873 were the years of the formation of the middle class and a significant increase in its wealth.

In 1858, Prince Wilhelm was appointed regent to the insane king and, to everyone's surprise, replaced an unpopular government with a cabinet of conservative liberals.

The era of "Iron and Blood"

Otto von Bismarck, who created the Second Reich (small - without Austria) "with iron and blood" in the wars with Denmark, Austria and France, largely satisfied the long-standing need for the unification of the Germans under one roof. After that, his task was to eliminate the danger of a war on two fronts, which he considered obviously losing for the state. He was haunted by the nightmare of coalitions, which he tried to eliminate by categorically refusing to acquire colonies, which would inevitably significantly increase the danger of an armed conflict in clashes with the interests of the colonial powers, primarily with England. He considered good relations with her to be a guarantee of Germany's security, and therefore directed all his efforts to solving internal problems.

German Confederation

Empire and
kingdoms

Great
duchies Duchies Principality Free
cities

Antiquity Middle Ages Creation of a unified state German reich Germany after WWII

An excerpt characterizing the German Confederation

During her recent stay in Voronezh, Princess Marya experienced the best happiness in her life. Her love for Rostov no longer tormented her, did not worry her. This love filled her whole soul, became an indivisible part of herself, and she no longer fought against it. Of late, Princess Marya became convinced—although she never said this clearly to herself in words—she was convinced that she was loved and loved. She was convinced of this during her last meeting with Nikolai, when he came to her to announce that her brother was with the Rostovs. Nicholas did not hint with a single word that now (if Prince Andrey recovered) the former relationship between him and Natasha could resume, but Princess Marya saw in his face that he knew and thought this. And, despite the fact that his relationship to her - careful, tender and loving - not only did not change, but he seemed to be glad that now the relationship between him and Princess Marya allowed him to more freely express his friendship to her, love, as he sometimes thought Princess Marya. Princess Marya knew that she loved for the first and last time in her life, and felt that she was loved, and was happy, calm in this respect.
But this happiness of one side of the soul not only did not prevent her from feeling grief about her brother in all her strength, but, on the contrary, this peace of mind in one respect gave her a great opportunity to completely surrender to her feelings for her brother. This feeling was so strong in the first minute of leaving Voronezh that those who saw her off were sure, looking at her exhausted, desperate face, that she would certainly fall ill on the way; but it was precisely the difficulties and worries of the journey, which Princess Marya undertook with such activity, saved her for a while from her grief and gave her strength.
As always happens during a trip, Princess Marya thought about only one trip, forgetting what was his goal. But, approaching Yaroslavl, when again what might lie ahead of her was revealed, and not many days later, but this evening, Princess Mary's excitement reached extreme limits.
When a haiduk sent ahead to find out in Yaroslavl where the Rostovs were and what position Prince Andrei was in, met a large driving carriage at the outpost, he was horrified to see the princess's terribly pale face, which stuck out of the window.
- I found out everything, your Excellency: the Rostov people are on the square, in the house of the merchant Bronnikov. Not far away, just above the Volga, - said the hayduk.
Princess Marya looked frightened and questioningly at his face, not understanding what he was saying to her, not understanding why he did not answer the main question: what is brother? M lle Bourienne made this question for Princess Mary.
- What is the prince? She asked.
- Their Excellency stands with them in the same house.
"So he is alive," thought the princess and quietly asked: what is he?
- People said, everyone is in the same position.
What did it mean, “everything is in the same position,” the princess did not ask, and only briefly glanced at seven-year-old Nikolushka, who was sitting in front of her and rejoicing at the city, lowered her head and did not raise it until the heavy carriage rattled, shaking and swaying, did not stop somewhere. The reclining footrests thundered.
The doors opened. On the left was water — the river was large, on the right was a porch; there were people on the porch, servants, and some sort of ruddy-faced girl with a big black plait, who smiled unpleasantly feignedly, as it seemed to Princess Marya (it was Sonya). The princess ran up the stairs, the girl pretending to smile said: - Here, here! - and the princess found herself in the hall in front of an old woman with an oriental type of face, who, with a touched expression, quickly walked towards her. It was the Countess. She hugged Princess Marya and began to kiss her.
- Mon enfant! - she said, - je vous aime et vous connais depuis longtemps. [My child! I love you and have known you for a long time.]
Despite all her excitement, Princess Marya realized that it was the countess and that she had to say something to her. She, not knowing how, uttered some polite French words, in the same tone as those that were spoken to her, and asked: what is he?
“The doctor says there is no danger,” said the countess, but while she was saying this, she raised her eyes with a sigh, and in this gesture there was an expression that contradicted her words.
- Where is he? Can I see him, can I? the princess asked.
- Now, princess, now, my friend. Is this his son? - she said, referring to Nikolushka, who entered with Desal. - We can all fit, the house is big. Oh what a lovely boy!
The countess led the princess into the drawing room. Sonya was talking to m lle Bourienne. The Countess caressed the boy. The old count entered the room, greeting the princess. The old count has changed tremendously since the princess last saw him. Then he was a lively, cheerful, self-confident old man, now he seemed a pitiful, lost person. As he spoke to the princess, he constantly looked around, as if asking everyone if he was doing what was needed. After the devastation of Moscow and his estate, knocked out of his usual rut, he apparently lost consciousness of his importance and felt that he had no place in life.
In spite of the excitement in which she was, in spite of one desire to see her brother as soon as possible and her annoyance that at that moment, when she only wanted to see him, she was occupied and pretended to praise her nephew, the princess noticed everything that was done around her, and felt the need for a while to submit to this new order into which she was entering. She knew that all this was necessary, and it was difficult for her, but she did not annoy them.
“This is my niece,” said the count, introducing Sonya. “You don’t know her, princess?”
The princess turned to her and, trying to extinguish the hostile feeling that had risen in her soul towards this girl, kissed her. But it became hard for her because the mood of everyone around her was so far from what was in her soul.
- Where is he? She asked again, addressing everyone.
"He's downstairs, Natasha is with him," Sonya answered, blushing. - Let's go find out. I think you are tired, princess?
The princess had tears of annoyance in her eyes. She turned away and wanted to ask the countess again where to go to him, as light, swift, as if merry steps were heard in the doorway. The princess looked around and saw Natasha almost running in, that Natasha who had so disliked her on that long-standing meeting in Moscow.
But before the princess had time to look at the face of this Natasha, she realized that this was her sincere comrade in grief, and therefore her friend. She rushed to meet her and, embracing her, wept on her shoulder.
As soon as Natasha, who was sitting at the head of Prince Andrei, learned of the arrival of Princess Marya, she quietly left his room with those quick, as it seemed to Princess Marya, as if with merry steps and ran to her.
On her excited face, when she ran into the room, there was only one expression - an expression of love, boundless love for him, for her, for everything that was close to a loved one, an expression of pity, suffering for others and a passionate desire to give herself all for in order to help them. It was evident that at that moment not a single thought about herself, about her relationship to him was in Natasha's soul.
The sensitive Princess Marya, at the first glance at Natasha's face, understood all this and wept on her shoulder with sorrowful pleasure.
“Come on, let’s go to him, Marie,” Natasha said, taking her to another room.
Princess Marya raised her face, wiped her eyes and turned to Natasha. She felt that from her she would understand and learn everything.
“What…” she began the question, but suddenly stopped. She felt that words could neither ask nor answer. Natasha's face and eyes should have said more and more clearly.
Natasha looked at her, but seemed to be in fear and doubt - to say or not to say everything that she knew; she seemed to feel that before those radiant eyes that penetrated into the very depths of her heart, one could not help telling the whole, all the truth as she saw her. Natasha's lip suddenly trembled, ugly wrinkles formed around her mouth, and she, sobbing, covered her face with her hands.
Princess Marya understood everything.
But she still hoped and asked in words in which she did not believe:
But how is his wound? In general, what position is he in?
- You, you ... will see, - only Natasha could say.
They sat for some time downstairs near his room in order to stop crying and enter him with calm faces.
- How was the illness? Has he gotten worse? When did it happen? - asked Princess Marya.
Natasha said that at first there was a danger from fever and suffering, but in Trinity this passed, and the doctor was afraid of one thing - Antonov's fire. But that danger was over. When we arrived in Yaroslavl, the wound began to fester (Natasha knew everything about suppuration, etc.), and the doctor said that suppuration could go right. There was a fever. The doctor said that this fever was not so dangerous.
“But two days ago,” Natasha began, “all of a sudden it happened…” She held back her sobs. “I don’t know why, but you will see what he has become.
- Weakened? lost weight? .. - asked the princess.
- No, not that, but worse. You will see. Ah, Marie, Marie, he is too good, he cannot, he cannot live ... because ...

When Natasha, with a habitual movement, opened his door, letting the princess pass in front of her, Princess Marya already felt ready sobs in her throat. No matter how much she prepared herself or tried to calm down, she knew that she would not be able to see him without tears.
Princess Marya understood what Natasha understood in words: it happened two days ago. She understood that this meant that he suddenly softened, and that softening, tenderness, these were signs of death. Approaching the door, she already saw in her imagination that face of Andryusha, which she had known from childhood, gentle, meek, tender, which he had so rarely had and therefore always had such a strong effect on her. She knew that he would say to her quiet, tender words, like those that her father had said to her before his death, and that she could not bear it and burst into tears over him. But, sooner or later, it had to be, and she entered the room. The sobs came closer and closer to her throat, while with her short-sighted eyes she made out more clearly and more clearly his form and sought out his features, and so she saw his face and met his gaze.
He was lying on the sofa, covered with pillows, in a fur squirrel robe. He was thin and pale. One thin, transparently white hand held a handkerchief, with the other, with quiet movements of his fingers, he touched his thin overgrown mustache. His eyes were looking at those who entered.
Seeing his face and meeting his gaze, Princess Marya suddenly moderated the speed of her step and felt that her tears had suddenly dried up and her sobs had stopped. Catching the expression on his face and look, she suddenly felt intimidated and felt guilty.
"But what am I to blame for?" She asked herself. “In the fact that you live and think about the living, and I! ..” answered his cold, stern look.
There was almost hostility in the deep, not out of himself, but looking into himself look, when he slowly looked around at his sister and Natasha.
He kissed his sister hand in hand, as was their custom.
- Hello, Marie, how did you get there? - he said in a voice as even and alien as his gaze was. If he had squealed with a desperate cry, then this cry would have horrified Princess Marya less than the sound of this voice.
- And you brought Nikolushka? He said, also evenly and slowly, and with an obvious effort to remember.
- How is your health now? - said Princess Marya, herself surprised at what she was saying.
`` This, my friend, you have to ask the doctor, '' he said, and, apparently making another effort to be gentle, he said with one mouth (it was obvious that he did not think what he was saying): `` Merci, chere amie , d "etre venue. [Thank you dear friend for coming.]
Princess Mary shook his hand. He winced slightly at the squeeze of her hand. He was silent, and she did not know what to say. She understood what had happened to him in two days. In his words, in his tone, especially in this gaze - a cold, almost hostile gaze - there was a terrible alienation for a living person from everything worldly. He, apparently, had difficulty understanding now all living things; but at the same time it was felt that he did not understand the living, not because he was deprived of the power of understanding, but because he understood something else, something that the living did not understand and could not understand and that absorbed him in everything.
- Yes, that's how strange fate brought us together! he said, breaking the silence and pointing to Natasha. - She keeps following me.
Princess Mary listened and did not understand what he was saying. He, sensitive, gentle Prince Andrei, how could he say this in front of the one he loved and who loved him! If he had thought to live, he would have said it in a less coldly offensive tone. If he did not know that he was going to die, how could he not feel sorry for her, how could he say this in front of her! There could only be one explanation for this, that it was all the same to him, and all the same because something else, something more important, had been revealed to him.
The conversation was cold, incoherent, and interrupted incessantly.
“Marie drove through Ryazan,” Natasha said. Prince Andrew did not notice that she was calling his sister Marie. And Natasha, when he called her that, for the first time noticed it herself.
- Well, what? - he said.
- She was told that Moscow was all burnt down, completely, that as if ...
Natasha stopped: it was impossible to speak. He obviously made an effort to listen, and yet he couldn't.
“Yes, it burned down, they say,” he said. - This is very sorry, - and he began to look ahead, absentmindedly spreading his mustache with his fingers.
“Have you met Count Nikolai, Marie?” - said Prince Andrey suddenly, apparently wishing to please them. “He wrote here that he was very fond of you,” he continued simply, calmly, apparently unable to understand all the complex meaning that his words had for living people. “If you fell in love with him too, it would be very good ... for you to marry,” he added somewhat more quickly, as if delighted with the words that he had been looking for for a long time and found at last. Princess Marya heard his words, but they had no other meaning for her, except that they proved how terribly far away he was now from all living things.
- What can I say about me! She said calmly and looked at Natasha. Natasha, feeling her gaze on her, did not look at her. Again everyone was silent.
“Andre, do you want ...” Princess Mary suddenly said in a trembling voice, “do you want to see Nikolushka?” He always thought of you.
Prince Andrey smiled slightly perceptibly for the first time, but Princess Marya, who knew his face so well, realized with horror that it was not a smile of joy, not tenderness for her son, but a quiet, meek mockery of what Princess Mary used, in her opinion. , the last resort to bring him to his senses.
- Yes, I am very glad to Nikolushka. He is healthy?

When they brought Nikolushka to Prince Andrey, who looked frightened at his father, but did not cry, because no one was crying, Prince Andrey kissed him and, obviously, did not know what to say to him.
When Nikolushka was taken away, Princess Marya went up to her brother again, kissed him, and, unable to restrain herself any longer, began to cry.
He looked at her intently.
- Are you talking about Nikolushka? - he said.
Princess Mary, weeping, bowed her head affirmatively.
- Marie, you know Evan ... - but he suddenly fell silent.
- What are you saying?
- Nothing. Don't cry here, ”he said, looking at her with the same cold look.

When Princess Marya began to cry, he realized that she was crying that Nikolushka would be left without a father. With great effort on himself, he tried to return back to life and transferred himself to their point of view.
“Yes, they must feel sorry for it! He thought. - And how simple it is!
“The birds of the air neither sow nor reap, but your father feeds them,” he said to himself and wanted to say the same to the princess. “But no, they will understand it in their own way, they will not understand! They cannot understand this, that all these feelings that they value are all ours, all these thoughts that seem so important to us that they are not needed. We can't understand each other." - And he fell silent.

The little son of Prince Andrei was seven years old. He could hardly read, he knew nothing. He went through a lot after that day, gaining knowledge, observation, experience; but if he had possessed then all these after acquired abilities, he could not have better, deeper understand the whole meaning of the scene that he saw between his father, Princess Marya and Natasha than he understood it now. He understood everything and, without crying, left the room, silently walked up to Natasha, who had followed him, looked shyly at her with pensive beautiful eyes; his upturned ruddy upper lip quivered, he leaned his head against it and wept.
From that day on, he avoided Dessalles, avoided the countess who caressed him, and either sat alone or timidly approached Princess Mary and Natasha, whom he seemed to love even more than his aunt, and softly and shyly caressed them.
Princess Mary, leaving Prince Andrei, fully understood everything that Natasha's face told her. She did not speak with Natasha anymore about the hope of saving his life. She alternated with her at his sofa and did not cry anymore, but incessantly prayed, turning her soul to that eternal, incomprehensible, whose presence was now so palpable over the dying man.

Prince Andrei not only knew that he would die, but he felt that he was dying, that he was already half dead. He experienced a consciousness of alienation from everything earthly and a joyful and strange lightness of being. He, without haste and without anxiety, expected what lay ahead of him. That formidable, eternal, unknown and distant, whose presence he did not cease to feel throughout his entire life, was now close to him and - by the strange lightness of being that he experienced - almost understandable and felt.
Before he was afraid of the end. He twice experienced this terrible painful feeling of fear of death, of the end, and now he did not understand it.
The first time he experienced this feeling was when a grenade spun like a top in front of him and he looked at the stubble, at the bushes, at the sky and knew that there was death in front of him. When he woke up after the wound and in his soul, instantly, as if freed from the oppression of life that held him back, this flower of love blossomed, eternal, free, not dependent on this life, he no longer feared death and did not think about it.
The more he, in those hours of suffering solitude and half-delirium that he spent after his wound, pondered the new, open to him the beginning of eternal love, the more he, without feeling it, renounced earthly life. Everything, to love everyone, to always sacrifice oneself for love, meant not to love anyone, meant not to live this earthly life. And the more he became imbued with this beginning of love, the more he renounced life and the more completely he destroyed that terrible barrier that stands between life and death without love. When, this first time, he remembered that he had to die, he said to himself: well, so much the better.
But after that night in Mytishchi, when, in half-delirium, the one he desired appeared before him, and when he pressed her hand to his lips and cried with quiet, joyful tears, love for one woman imperceptibly crept into his heart and again tied him to life. And joyful and disturbing thoughts began to come to him. Recalling that minute at the dressing station, when he saw Kuragin, now he could not return to that feeling: he was tormented by the question of whether he was alive? And he did not dare to ask it.

His illness went on in its physical order, but what Natasha called: it happened to him, happened to him two days before Princess Marya's arrival. This was the last moral struggle between life and death, in which death was victorious. It was the unexpected realization that he still treasured the life that seemed to him in love for Natasha, and the last, subdued attack of horror at the unknown.
It was in the evening. He was, as usual after dinner, in a slight feverish state, and his thoughts were extremely clear. Sonya was sitting at the table. He dozed off. Suddenly a feeling of happiness overcame him.
"Oh, it was she who came in!" he thought.
Indeed, in Sonya's place, Natasha, who had just entered, with just inaudible steps, was sitting.
Since she began to follow him, he has always experienced this physical sensation of her closeness. She was sitting on an armchair, sideways to him, blocking the light of the candle from him, and knitting a stocking. (She had learned to knit stockings ever since Prince Andrei had told her that no one knows how to look after the sick as well as old nannies who knit stockings, and that there is something soothing in knitting a stocking.) Her thin fingers quickly fingered from time to time colliding spokes, and the brooding profile of her drooping face was clearly visible to him. She made a movement - a ball rolled off her knees. She shuddered, looked back at him and, shielding the candle with her hand, with a careful, flexible and precise movement bent, lifted the ball and sat down in its previous position.
He looked at her without moving, and saw that after her movement she needed to breathe deeply, but she did not dare to do this and carefully took her breath.
In the Trinity Lavra they talked about the past, and he told her that if he were alive, he would forever thank God for his wound, which brought him back to her again; but since then they have never talked about the future.
“Could it or could it not have been? He thought now, looking at her and listening to the light steel sound of the spokes. - Was it really only then that fate brought me to her so strangely so that I could die? I love her more than anything in the world. But what should I do if I love her? " - he said, and he suddenly involuntarily groaned, out of a habit that he had acquired during his suffering.
Hearing this sound, Natasha put down her stocking, leaned closer to him, and suddenly, noticing his luminous eyes, went up to him with a light step and bent down.
- You are not asleep?
- No, I have been looking at you for a long time; I felt when you entered. Nobody like you, but gives me that soft silence... that light. I just want to cry with joy.
Natasha moved closer to him. Her face shone with ecstatic joy.
- Natasha, I love you too much. More than anything.
- And I? She turned away for a moment. - Why too much? - she said.
- Why too much? .. Well, how do you think, how do you feel in your soul, with all your heart, will I be alive? What do you think?
- I'm sure, I'm sure! - Natasha almost cried out, with a passionate movement taking him by both hands.
He paused.
- How good! - And, taking her hand, he kissed her.
Natasha was happy and excited; and at once she remembered that this was impossible, that he needed calmness.
"But you didn't sleep," she said, suppressing her joy. “Try to sleep… please.
He released, shaking her, her hand, she went over to the candle and again sat down in the same position. Twice she looked back at him, his eyes shining towards her. She asked herself a lesson on a stocking and told herself that until then she would not look back until she finished it.
Indeed, soon afterwards he closed his eyes and fell asleep. He didn't sleep long and suddenly woke up in a cold sweat.
Falling asleep, he thought about the same thing that he thought about from time to time - about life and death. And more about death. He felt closer to her.
"Love? What is love? He thought. “Love interferes with death. Love is life. Everything, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists only because I love. Everything is connected by her. Love is God, and to die means to me, a particle of love, to return to a common and eternal source. " These thoughts seemed to him comforting. But these were only thoughts. Something was lacking in them, something was one-sidedly personal, mental - there was no evidence. And there was the same anxiety and uncertainty. He fell asleep.
He saw in a dream that he was lying in the same room in which he actually lay, but that he was not injured, but healthy. Many different persons, insignificant, indifferent, appear before Prince Andrey. He talks to them, argues about something unnecessary. They are going to go somewhere. Prince Andrew vaguely remembers that all this is insignificant and that he has other, most important concerns, but continues to speak, surprising them, with some empty, witty words. Little by little, imperceptibly, all these faces begin to disappear, and everything is replaced by one question about the closed door. He gets up and goes to the door to slide the latch and lock it. Everything depends on the fact that he will or will not have time to lock it. He walks, in a hurry, his legs do not move, and he knows that he will not have time to lock the door, but all the same, he painfully strains all his strength. And a tormenting fear seizes him. And this fear is the fear of death: it stands behind the door. But at the same time as he helplessly awkwardly crawls to the door, this is something terrible, on the other hand, already, pressing, breaking into it. Something not human - death - is pounding on the door, and you have to hold it back. He grasps the door, strains his last efforts - it is no longer possible to lock it - at least to hold it; but his strength is weak, awkward, and, pressed by the terrible, the door opens and closes again.
Once again it pushed from there. The last, supernatural efforts are in vain, and both halves opened silently. It has entered, and it is death. And Prince Andrew died.
But the instant he died, Prince Andrew remembered that he was asleep, and the instant he died, he, making an effort over himself, woke up.
“Yes, it was death. I died - I woke up. Yes, death is awakening! " - suddenly brightened in his soul, and the veil that had hidden the unknown until now was lifted before his spiritual gaze. He felt, as it were, the release of the force previously bound in him and that strange lightness that had not left him since then.
When he woke up in a cold sweat, stirred on the sofa, Natasha went up to him and asked what was wrong with him. He did not answer her and, not understanding her, looked at her with a strange look.
This was what happened to him two days before Princess Marya's arrival. From that day on, as the doctor said, the debilitating fever took on a bad character, but Natasha was not interested in what the doctor was saying: she saw these terrible, more certain for her, moral signs.
From that day began for Prince Andrey, together with awakening from sleep - awakening from life. And in relation to the duration of life, it did not seem to him more slowly than awakening from sleep in relation to the duration of a dream.

There was nothing terrible and sharp in this relatively slow awakening.
His last days and hours passed in an ordinary and simple way. And Princess Marya and Natasha, who did not leave him, felt this. They did not cry, did not shudder, and lately, feeling this themselves, they no longer went after him (he was no longer there, he left them), but after the closest memory of him - behind his body. The feelings of both were so strong that they were not affected by the outer, terrible side of death, and they did not find it necessary to exasperate their grief. They did not cry either in his presence or without him, but they also never spoke about him among themselves. They felt they could not express in words what they understood.
They both saw him sinking deeper and deeper, slowly and calmly, away from them somewhere, and both knew that this was how it should be and that it was good.
He was confessed, communed; everyone came to say goodbye to him. When they brought his son to him, he put his lips to him and turned away, not because it was hard or sorry for him (Princess Marya and Natasha understood this), but only because he believed that this was all that was demanded of him; but when they told him to bless him, he did what was required and looked around, as if asking if there was anything else to be done.
When the last shudders of the body, abandoned by the spirit, occurred, Princess Marya and Natasha were here.
- Is it over ?! - said Princess Marya, after his body had already been lying motionless for several minutes, growing cold, in front of them. Natasha came up, looked into the dead eyes and hurried to close them. She closed them and did not kiss them, but venerated what was the closest memory of him.
“Where did he go? Where is he now? .. "

When the dressed, washed body lay in a coffin on the table, everyone came up to him to say goodbye, and everyone wept.
Nikolushka was crying from the suffering bewilderment that tore his heart. The Countess and Sonya cried out of pity for Natasha and that he was no longer there. The old count cried that soon, he felt, and he had to take the same terrible step.
Natasha and Princess Marya were crying now, too, but they were not crying out of their own personal grief; they wept from the reverent tenderness that seized their souls before the consciousness of the simple and solemn mystery of death that took place before them.

The totality of the causes of phenomena is inaccessible to the human mind. But the need to look for reasons is embedded in the soul of man. And the human mind, not grasping the infinity and complexity of the conditions of phenomena, of which each separately can be considered a cause, grabs the first, most understandable rapprochement and says: this is the reason. In historical events (where the subject of observation is the essence of the actions of people), the will of the gods is the most primitive rapprochement, then the will of those people who stand in the most prominent historical place - historical heroes. But one has only to delve into the essence of each historical event, that is, into the activities of the entire mass of people who participated in the event, in order to make sure that the will of the historical hero not only does not direct the actions of the masses, but is itself constantly guided. It would seem that it is all the same to understand the meaning of a historical event in one way or another. But between a person who says that the peoples of the West went to the East because Napoleon wanted it, and a person who says that it happened because it had to happen, there is the same difference that existed between people who claimed that the earth stands firm and the planets move around it, and those who said that they do not know what the earth is supported on, but know that there are laws governing the movement of both it and other planets. There are no and cannot be causes of a historical event, except for the single cause of all causes. But there are laws governing events, partly unknown, partly groping by us. The discovery of these laws is possible only when we completely renounce the search for reasons in the will of one person, just as the discovery of the laws of motion of the planets became possible only when people renounced the idea of ​​the affirmation of the earth.

After the Battle of Borodino, the occupation of Moscow by the enemy and the burning of it, historians recognize the movement of the Russian army from Ryazan to Kaluga road and to the Tarutino camp as the most important episode of the war of 1812 - the so-called flank march beyond Krasnaya Pakhra. Historians attribute the glory of this brilliant feat to various persons and argue about who, in fact, belongs to. Even foreign, even French, historians recognize the genius of the Russian commanders, speaking of this flank march. But why military writers, and after them all, believe that this flank march is a very thoughtful invention of some one person that saved Russia and ruined Napoleon is very difficult to understand. In the first place, it is difficult to understand what is the profoundness and genius of this movement; for in order to guess that the best position of the army (when it is not attacked) is where there is more food, it does not take much mental exertion. And everyone, even a stupid thirteen-year-old boy, could easily guess that in 1812 the most advantageous position of the army, after the retreat from Moscow, was on the Kaluga road. So, it is impossible to understand, firstly, what conclusions historians reach to see something profound in this maneuver. Second, it is even more difficult to understand exactly what historians see as the salvation of this maneuver for the Russians and its perniciousness for the French; for this flank march, under other, previous, concomitant and subsequent circumstances, could be fatal for the Russian and saving for the French army. If from the time this movement took place, the position of the Russian army began to improve, then it does not follow from this that this movement was the reason for that.
This flank march not only could not have brought any benefits, but could have ruined the Russian army, if other conditions did not coincide. What would have happened if Moscow had not burned down? If Murat had not lost sight of the Russians? If Napoleon had not been inactive? If at Krasnaya Pakhra the Russian army, on the advice of Bennigsen and Barclay, would have fought? What would have happened if the French attacked the Russians when they followed Pakhra? What would have happened if later Napoleon, approaching Tarutin, attacked the Russians with at least one tenth of the energy with which he attacked in Smolensk? What would have happened if the French had gone to Petersburg? .. With all these assumptions, the salvation of the flank march could turn into disastrous.
Third, and the most incomprehensible, is that people who study history deliberately do not want to see that the flank march cannot be attributed to any one person, that no one ever foresaw it, that this maneuver, just like the retreat into Filyakh, in the present, he never presented himself to anyone in its integrity, but step by step, event by event, instant by instant, flowed out of an infinite number of the most diverse conditions, and only then did he present himself in all his integrity, when he was accomplished and became the past.
At the council in Fili, the prevailing thought among the Russian authorities was a self-evident retreat in a direct direction back, that is, along the Nizhny Novgorod road. Evidence of this is the fact that the majority of votes at the council were cast in this sense, and, most importantly, the well-known conversation after the council of the commander-in-chief with Lansky, who was in charge of the provisions department. Lanskoy reported to the commander-in-chief that food for the army was collected mainly along the Oka, in the Tula and Kaluga provinces, and that in the event of a retreat to Nizhny, the supplies of provisions would be separated from the army by the large river Oka, through which transportation in the first winter is impossible. This was the first sign of the need to deviate from the previously seemed most natural direct direction to Nizhny. The army held on to the south, along the Ryazan road, and closer to the reserves. Subsequently, the inaction of the French, who even lost sight of the Russian army, concerns about the protection of the Tula plant and, most importantly, the benefits of approaching their reserves, forced the army to deviate even further south, to the Tula road. Having crossed with a desperate movement behind Pakhra onto the Tula road, the commanders of the Russian army thought to stay at Podolsk, and there was no thought of the Tarutino position; but the countless number of circumstances and the appearance of the French troops again, who had previously lost sight of the Russians, and the battle plans, and, most importantly, the abundance of provisions in Kaluga, forced our army to deviate even more to the south and cross into the middle of its food routes, from Tula to Kaluga road, to Tarutin. Just as it is impossible to answer the question when Moscow was abandoned, it is impossible to answer exactly when and by whom it was decided to go to Tarutin. Only when the troops had already come to Tarutin as a result of countless differential forces did people begin to assure themselves that they wanted this and had foreseen this for a long time.

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59. RHEIN UNION 1806 GERMAN UNION 1815

In 1806, under the influence of Napoleonic France, which actively influenced European politics, using its military power, 16 German states entered Union of Rhine. Thus, the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation", which had existed for several centuries, from the early Middle Ages, was finally destroyed. The "Rhine Union" fell into vassal dependence on France, Prussia followed suit, defeated by the French in 1807. Under the influence of France, a number of anti-feudal reforms were carried out in the German states, the legal system was significantly transformed, unified and modernized.

Convened in 1815 after the defeat of Napoleon I by the forces of the united coalition of a number of European states, the Congress of Vienna, among its other decisions, created German Confederation, consisting of 34 states (kingdoms, principalities, duchies) and four free cities - Frankfurt, Hamburg, Bremen and Lubeck. The German Confederation was an international association of the German states that remained independent and independent in their internal and external affairs. Each of the states that entered the union retained its independence. Initially, the supremacy of Austria was established in the union. The only central organ of power in the German Confederation was the Allied Seimas, which consisted of representatives of the governments of the states that joined the alliance. The Austrian emperor was the chairman of the Allied Sejm of the German Confederation, the Austrian Foreign Minister Metternich for a long time actually disposed of all the affairs of the German Confederation. Federal bodies that would ensure the real implementation of the decisions taken by the Federal Seimas, in fact, did not exist.

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