2. Unification and consolidation of Germany 1815-90
5. Imperial Russia, revolutions, emergence of Soviet State 1853-1924
6. European diplomacy and the First World War 1870-1923
8. Interwar years: conflict and cooperation 1919-39
9. The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe 1924-2000 (as much as possible)
10. The Second World War and post-war Western Europe 1939-2000 (as much as possible)

1. Identify the German Confederation (Geopgraphy, population, ethnic groups, religion, politics, economy, etc...) - Laura and David
2. What were the strength and weaknesses of the German Confederation? - Alex
3. Describe the basic political system of the states within the German Confederation. - Axel
4. What forces or movements threatened the political system of the German states in the period 1815-1840's? - Alexander Mäkelä
5. Prince Clemens von Metternich was the dominant individual in German politics during the first half of the 19th century - Who was he? What ideas did he have? etc... - Seth
6. Explain the struggle between the "old" conservative system of the German states and the German Confederation against the "new" Nationalistic and Liberal ideas. (Daniel + all)
7. Identify and explain the economic development of Prussia and the German Confederation 1815-1848. - Beatrice

1. Describe the basic political system of the states within the German Confederation. - Axel
2. What forces or movements threatened the political system of the German states in the period 1815-1840's? - Alexander Mäkelä
3. Prince Clemens von Metternich was the dominant individual in German politics during the first half of the 19th century - Who was he? What ideas did he have? etc... - Seth
4. Explain the struggle between the "old" conservative system of the German states and the German Confederation against the "new" Nationalistic and Liberal ideas. (Daniel + all)
5. Identify and explain the economic development of Prussia and the German Confederation 1815-1848. - Beatrice

• The rigid system of Absolute Monarchies
• Liberalism - influence from France (1789, 1830, 1848)
• Nationalism
• Universities – radical students and teachers
• Middle Class
• Newspapers, journals and books

• Baden – the liberals in Baden managed to obtain certain liberal rights in 1846 (relaxation of press censorship, reforms of the police, and reforms of the judicial system…)
• Hesse-Darmstadt – strong liberal campaigns for changes in electoral rules and a free press
• Bavaria– King Ludvig I replaced his more conservative advisors with liberal ones (so he could marry an exotic dancer and give her land+ title)
• Prussia – Frederick Wilhelm IV was politically ambivalent. Sometimes he acted as a liberal ruler for a constitutional monarchy and sometimes he was an absolute ruler. When his father died in 1840 he released many political prisoners, abolished censorship, created an advisory body (but just on temporary basis), extended power to the provincial Diets and let them publish their debates. The more radical liberals then wanted more (the liberals in the Rhineland called for a constitution and a permanent Prussian Diet in Berlin) and the conservatives, especially the Junkers were considering a coup to replace the king. The kings reaction was to reinstate press censorship… (1843)
• Hippenhelm meeting – 1847 (October); liberal representatives of the south-west German States met and demanded:

• An elected national Diet
• The liberation of the press
• Open judicial proceedings with juries
• The end of feudal restrictions
• Reduction of the cost of the standing army and the creation of a national guard (a “people’s army")
• Reform of the system of taxation

• Austria – 1848; riots, demonstrations and revolution in Vienna – Metternich fled
• Heidelberg – the “Declaration of Heidelberg” (March 5th 1848); 51 representatives from six German states met in Heidelberg (Prussia, Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Nassau and Frankfurt). They stated that a meeting of a national representation in all the German lands according to the number of the people should be arranged as soon as possible – this led to the “Vorparlament”

• Population increase – There had been a rapid and steady population increase since 1815. This population was to most extent rural (72% in 1848).
• Agricultural economy – the rural overpopulation led to more landless peasants and laborers. When different problems hit the agricultural sector together with the beginning of a certain degree of mechanization several landless laborers lost their job and income. Some of them stayed and protested – others moved into urban areas.
• Industrial economy – Industries and the Industrial Revolution was still not beyond its first stages in Central Europe. Prussia had 1200 steam engines 1848 – England had the same amount already in the year 1800 ( Austria only had 250 steam engines). In 1846 London consumed more coal than was mined in the whole of Prussia… The German factories were relatively small. In all of Germany there were only 600 000 industrial workers 1848.
• Cheap mass-produced goods from Great Britain – This import caused a lot of problems for the German industry, especially the more skilled workers.
• Revolts in Silesia 1844-1845 – Due to the problems with the cheap British goods the Silesian weavers saw a decline in their own linen industry. They therefore openly protested. These protests and demonstrations were brutally crushed!
• Peasant revolts – Peasants in several parts of central Europe refused to perform their services to the landlords (in the Eastern parts they were basically still serfs forced to pay several feudal dues). Some of them even attacked manor houses and castles – others drifted into the urban areas where they added to the growing numbers of unemployed.

• Potato blight 1845-1846 – This potato sickness was spread all over the German States. This led to shortages which led to protests, demonstrations and revolts especially in urban areas…
• Drought 1847 – A widespread drought this year ruined most of the grain harvest. The bread prizes went up. Several bread riots (Stuttgart, Ulm,…)
• Cholera – This terrible sickness had been calmer some years but now when people experienced certain famine and were weakened the Cholera came back and hit the German States
• Skilled workers protests – In the beginning of 1848 artisans burned mills in Düsseldorf, the weavers of Chemnitz protested and the wagoners of Nassau assaulted the newly constructed railroads… (“LUDDISM”)
• 1848 February-March – Strikes and demonstrations all over the German States (mostly in urban areas) against:

• Food shortages
• High Food Prices (the Cereal prices had gone up 50% in 1847)
• Low Wages
• Long Working Hours
• Poor Working Conditions
• Poor Living Conditions
• Unemployment

• They agreed on the election of a National Parliament that would draw up a constitution for a united Germany
• The new Constituent Parliament would meet in Frankfurt
• The Parliament should consist of one representative for every 50 000 inhabitants
• The representatives should be elected by citizens who were of age and "economically independent"

• Freedom of the Press
• Fair taxation
• Equality of political rights without regard to religion
• German citizenship for all

• equality before the law
• freedom of worship
• freedom of the press
• freedom of arrest without warrant
• an end to discrimination because of class

• The Assembly did not have any big funds which made it impossible to create an armed force to defend them (no rights of taxation - no army)
• The rulers of the larger states like Austria, Prussia and Hanover refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the Imperial Vicar
• The Assembly supported a war against Denmark about the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein 1848-1850. The Prussian army was forced back by the international response. This weakened the authority of the Frankfurt Assembly since they had failed as the ”Champion of German Nationalism”
• No foreign country recognized the new Assembly (except Hungary and USA )
• The Refusal to consider a social program. The demands of social reforms came particularly from the Socialists (on of the most influential criticizer was the editor of the New Rhenish Gazette - Karl Marx).
• In September the Assembly was barely saved from rioters protesting against the failure in Schleswig-Holstein and the lack of interest for social reforms. Two conservative members were murdered. The Assembly had failed to win popular support and the liberals were alarmed by the revolutionary disorder...
• Another problem that occurred was the extent of the territory to which the new constitution should apply:

• Grossdeutschland (Greater Germany) included all of Germany and the Habsburg Empire (Hungary, Lombardy; Venetia as well as the Czechs...)
• Kleindeutchland (Little Germany) excluded the Austrian Empire altogether

• The disorder in Berlin grew steadily
• Unemployment rose which caused many demonstrations and protests
• The liberal middle-class withdrew their support of the Assembly
• The Assembly estranged itself from the King
• The new more conservative Government (appointed by the King in November) adjourned the Assembly and ordered it to meet outside of Berlin
• When they refused the King sent in troops, proclaimed martial laws and dissolved the Assembly. This was done without any major demonstrations or protests...

When the New Prussian Constitution came it was introduced by royal edict! King Frederick William IV provided for a Diet with an Upper and Lower Chamber:

• Herrenhaus (Upper Chamber). Princes, heads of nobility, some life peers and a few repr. of provinces, large towns and universities
• Landtag (Lower Chamber). 443 members chosen by open voting by electors. A division of the electors into three classes according to the taxation they paid reassured the influence of the wealthy class. The workers and peasants, although they together comprised the vast majority of the electorate, only received a third of the seats, and the property-owners had many more.
• Autocratic Constitution. The King appointed his own ministers who were responsible to him alone. He also had the right to make laws without any influence from the Diet or his ministers. The Diet could only consider bills submitted to them by the King!
• Enlarged Autocracy. Through his power King Frederick William IV curbed the freedom of the Press, forbade public meetings and imprisoned political opponents without a trial...

After the events of 1848-49 the prestige of the Prussian State became higher. Austria had at the same time been engaged with the Empire and seemed to lose ground towards Prussia. Baron Josef von Radowitz, adviser to King Frederick William IV of Prussia, presented a set of proposals in Erfurt March 1850. The proposal, the ”Erfurt Union”, included:

• A union of the North German states under the presidency of the King of Prussia
• A union of the North German states under the protection of the Prussian army
• Austria would be directly excluded from the Erfurt Union since it just concerned the North German states, but von Radowitz proposed a compromise by which Austria could be linked to the Union by a second, wider union, based upon free trade and perhaps upon a common foreign policy...
• The proposal was based on monarchical principles against any radical, liberal nationalistic ideas

This suggestion was met with protests.

• Several German states feared Prussian hegemony as much as a liberal revolt
• 11 states, including Hanover, Bavaria , Saxony and Württemberg, refused to send representatives to Erfurt
• Austria had recovered from the revolts 1848-49 and declared that ”we shall not letourselves be thrown out of Germany ”...
• Austria insisted on the reconstruction of the German Confederation

Agatha Ramm has described the coming years as a period of ”sterile parliamentarianism within the states and sterile diplomacy without” (although foreign affairs as the Crimean War and the unification of Italy plus Prussian economic development would eventually change the balance in Germany). An Austrian attempt to expand the Confederation to include Austria’s non-German territories was rejected and another Austrian attempt to control the German economy by the linking of the Zollverein to the Austrian and produce a vast central European economic union was also rejected. The states of the German Confederation wanted to keep their independence…

• German Constitution
• Bismarck and the Liberals
• Bismarck and the Centre (Kulturkampf)
• German Economy 1871-1890
• Bismarck and the Conservatives

• Political Parties in Germany 1871-1890
• Bismarck and the Socialists
• Bismarck and German Foreign Policy 1871-1890

1. Assess the relative importance of the Zollverein and Bismarck’s policies in bringing about the unification of Germany.
2. ”No man has had so great an effect on Germany and none a more profound effect on Europe.” Evaluate this quotation on the career and importance of Bismarck.
3. What were the main problems faced by Bismarck after 1871 and how successfully did he solve them?
4. Explain how the inherent strength of Prussia combined with Bismarck’s political skills achieved German unification.
5. To what extent is it true to say that Bismarck gave Germany many years of prosperity and legal government, and Europe a period of peace?
6. What advantages and disadvantages did Bismarck inherit when he became Minister President of Prussia in 1862 and how did he use the advantages to bring about German unification?
7. Compare and contrast Bismarck’s policies before and after 1871.
8. In 1867, Bismarck said: ”Anyone who has looked into the eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.” Analyze Bismarck’s foreign policy in the light of these words.
9. To what extent should Bismarck receive credit for the unification of Germany?
10. Analyze the aims, successes and failures of Bismarck’s domestic policies 1871 to 1890.
11. It has been claimed that Germany was united ”more by coal and iron than by blood and iron”. How far do you agree that economic power contributed more to the unification of Germany than did the military victories of the 1860s?
12. Compare and contrast Bismarck’s policies towards Austria and France between 1862 and 1871.
13. Why was it that Prussia, rather than Austria, had achieved the dominant position in Germany by 1866?
14. ”Bismarck’s policies both at home and abroad, between the years 1871 and 1890, merely stored up problems for the future, both for Germany and Europe.” To what extent do you agree with this verdict?
15. How successful was Bismarck as Chancellor in his foreign policies between 1862 and 1890?

• The Tsar made all final decisions to Russia’s government, army, economy and foreign relations. The other bodies of government were just administrative or advisory
• The three bodies of administration and advice’s were;
• The Imperial Council (or His Imperial Majesty’s Private Chancery. The Third Section of this Chancery was in charge of state security, standing at the centre of a complex web of censorship and surveillance)
• The Committee of Ministers (8 )
• The Senate

1. What role did the Russian nobility and the Orthodox Church play during the earlier part of the 19th century?
2. Try in words to describe the political situation under Tsar Nicholas I as well as his political beliefs…
3. “The Russian economy was based on backward Agriculture in the middle of the 19th century”. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
4. Russia’s foreign policy was quite successful between the years 1812-1854 – do you agree?
5. What were the main causes of the Crimean War 1854-1856?
6. What were the main results of the Crimean War – for Russia and for Europe?

• Step 1 – Identify the Russian political system; Autocracy!
• Step 2 – Identify the main groups/classes in the Russian society; Aristocrats (Officers), Orthodox Church, Serfs – State Peasants, Peasants, very small Middle Class (Merchants, Industrialists, Intellectuals, Civil Service…),
• Step 3 – Orthodox Church supported the autocratic system of the “Divine Will”… and the Tsar supported the Orthodox Church as the only trustworthy church. The main support for the Autocratic system through education and religious services…
• Step 4 – The Aristocracy – The autocratic regime relied heavily on the Aristocracy; as Provincial Governors, big landowners, enforcers of law and order (military and police) – “mini-Tsars”! The Tsar acknowledges their position through “rewards”; titles, privileges…
• Step 5 – Nationalism (Slavophiles) – strongly supported by the Orthodox Church)
• Step 6 – Discussion of support and non-support of the thesis… (Weakness and strength of this thesis)…
• Step 7 – Conclusion

My answer to that question was connected to the fact that Russia just had lost a war (the Crimean War) which affected the country in many differen ways. One part that was affected was the economy. It was weak before the war and the lost war did definitely not make it better. This was, according to several historians, the main factor behind the emancipation. Russia and the economy of Russia needed to be modernized badly. The serfsystem was counterproductive - it drained money and resources...

• He introduced a new efficient centralized administration
• In 1863 he replaced the old system of farming out licenses to sell certain goods with a system of excise duties
• He modernized and streamlined the fiscal organization of the state
• He stimulated the building of several railroad networks (In 1855 Russia had less than 700 miles of railroad - in 1881 Russia had more then 14,000 miles). Much of this new railroad system connected the main agrarian areas with the local and regional markets as well as the harbors for export (In 1864 Russia exported 26 million tons - by 1880 Russia exported more then 86 million tons)
• He inspired the set up of a modern banking system. At 1855 the majority of Russians relied on moneylenders whenever they needed a loan - by 1878 there were 278 municipal banks, 727 loan/savings associations, 566 joint-stock companies and 33 joint-stock commercial banks. Now it was finally possible for Russia to start an industrial revolution (but it still took some years)

• 1855 - Jews of the "First Guild" (paid above a certain amount in taxes) and all foreign Jews could now settle and trade anywhere in Russia (extended to Jews that had served in some specific regiments in 1860 and extended to all Jews that had served as soldiers in 1867
• Jewish Artisans (1865) were allowed to move into the cities and towns of Russia

• Several Jewish schools were closed (after 1863)
• Limitation on Jewish representation after 1863

Pan-slavism: The slavophile movement was also going through a new phase. Nikolai Danilyevski wrote ”Russia and Europe” in 1871. He rejected the Western philosophy and forwarded a more aggressive support for Russia’s Slav nature and inheritance. He preached a union of all Slav nations under Russian leadership stretching from the Baltic to the Adriatic. This regeneration of aggressive, autocratic nationalism was called pan-slavism.

The most important names on the Russian left in the 1850s and the 1860s were the "Intelligentia" - Alexander Herzen (exiled in 1848. Published a journal ”The Bell” (Kolokol) from London), NikolaiChernyshevsky (part of then literary radicalism of the 1850s. He claimed that reforms were impossible without a fundamental alteration of Russia’s political and economical bases. His novel ”What is to be Done?” inspired the next generation) and D. I. Pisarev (he advised his followers to not ”accept any single principle on trust, however much respect surrounds that principle”. This principle to accept nothing of the existing society without question was named ”nihilism” (nihil (lat.) - nothing)).

Populism was a movement that dominated Russian radicalism in the mid 1870s. The basic idea was to re-educate the Russian peasantry. In 1874-75 3,000 young radicals invaded the countryside to open the eyes of the population to their plight and show them the sources of salvation This movement ”To the People” was a depressing failure. Over 1,600 of these populists (narodniki) were arrested between 1873-77, often handed over to the police by the peasants! A breakaway group calling itself ”Land and Liberty” (Zemlya i Volya) made some progress in the following years. Members of ”Land and Liberty” also founded the first unions for Russian industrial workers in Odessa (1875) and in St. Petersburg (1878).

Terrorism was the more attractive alternative for those with less patience. The first attempt on the life of the Tsar was in 1866 when a student shot at him in the streets of St. Petersburg . In 1879 a split in the ranks of ”Land and Liberty” gave birth to a group called ”The Peoples Will” (Narodnaya Volya) that advocated violence as the trigger to general revolution. Although other government officials were among their early victims, their chief target was always the Tsar himself. Attempts to shoot him, dynamite the royal train and explosives in the Winter Palace came within a year 1879-80. In March 1881 they succeeded!

Alexander had during the latter part of his reign showed that he remained committed to an autocratic system, though there was maybe an attempt to go back to a more liberal system during his last years… When Alexander's first wife died in 1880, he married the much younger Princess Dolgoruky. She was the friend and patron of a number of liberal politicians. It was under this period a liberal politician; Mikhail Loris-Melikov was appointed Minister of the Interior. He managed to abolish the Third Section (as described before, the Third Section was a part of the Imperial Council or His Imperial Majesty’s Private Chancery, and this section was in charge of state security). Loris-Melikov also managed to replace one of the most reactionary ministers - Dmitri Tolstoy (Ministry of Education). Right before Alexander II was killed he had just given his personal approval for calling in a national assembly, partly of nominated members, but also elected representatives of the zemstvos and the town councils. The Soviet historian P. A. Zaionchkovsky concedes that ”in the conditions of an increasingly complex situation it might have been the beginning of the establishment of a parliamentary system in Russia”. This came to a stop when Alexander was killed by the second of two bombs thrown at his sledge in a St Petersburg street.

• True believer in Autocracy
• Against Democracy
• Orthodox (Procurator of the Holy Synod = lay supervisor of the Orthodox Church)
• Against all other religions and sects
• Anti-Semite: “One third of the Jews should be killed, one third should be forced to emigrate and one third should be assimilated”
• Russian! Against all minorities of Russia …

• Land Commandants – a new office introduced by Alexander III in 1889
• Land Commandants had to belong to the nobility
• Land Commandants sat in the local administration (Zemstvo/Dumas) and had senior administrative and judicial power – over-riding the authority of the local administration
• Land Commandants replaced the Office of Justice of the Peace in local courts

• Restricted the popular vote to the Zemstvo/Dumas
• A list of candidates to the local administration replaced the previous ability to freely vote for Zemstvo/Duma deputies
• The suggestions and proposals from the local administrations were often obstructed and undermined

• The influence of the local clergy (Orthodox Church) in elementary schools expanded a lot during the reign of Alexander III – In 1897 over 79% of the population was illiterate
• 1884 – Law that limited the administrative autonomy of Higher Education
• 1887 – Tuition fees were raised

• 1899 – The Finnish Diet was deprived of nearly all their legislative rights – protests…
• 1903 – The Russian Governor-General Nikolai Bobrikov was given dictatorial power so he could crush the opposition
• 1904 – Bobrikov was assassinated – this could have lead to repression but…
• 1904-05 – Russo-Japanese War / Bloody Sunday / 1905 Revolt / Manifestos…
• 1905 – Finland temporarily got the old constitution back

• Ghettos for Jews were created in urban areas
• 1881-1905 – over 215 cases of “pogroms” (pogrom = persecution of Jews)
• Jews were forbidden to make any new settlements in rural areas
• Jews were not allowed to trade on Christian holidays
• Special quotas for Jews in schools and higher education
• Kiev 1886 – all “illegal” Jews were expelled from the city
• Moscow 1891 – all “illegal” Jews were expelled from the city

• The liberal Minister of Interior Loris-Melikov was replaced by Nikolai Ignatiev who later was replaced by Dmitry Tolstoy…
• Lenin’s brother Alexander was executed in 1886 accused of plotting to kill the Tsar
• Supervision of Universities and Courts
• Censorship and supervision of the Press

• Development of railroads – linked major areas of industrial development to important markets + linked the areas of agricultural production with the ports of the Black Sea
• 1883 – the Batum–Baku railroad. Linked the Caspian Sea with the Black Sea. This increased the Russian oil production a lot!
• 1891 – Start of the construction of the Trans-Siberian railroad

• In the 1870’s low tariffs
• Late 1870’s – tariffs began to rise
• 1891 – the “Great Protective Tariffs”. These tariffs especially protected the Russian coal and pig iron production

• More protective tariffs
• Foreign investments and foreign capital in Russian industries
• Russian currency put on the Gold Standard