Monday, August 31, 2009
Blog #1 - Revolution?
While reading, “Middle-Class Anxiety in the German Revolution of 1848” by Edward Shorter I was very intrigued to discover that the title of the article was not completely accurate. When I picture a revolution I picture violence, complete chaos, absolute uproar, and people sacrificing their lives to get their point across. However, when I read that the German “Revolution” was almost the complete opposite of what I had expected I was very confused. Contrary to popular belief Shorter explains, “Scholars have long realized that the revolution in Germany was really not a revolution at all.” This revolution was “rarely drastic” and for the most part it was very organized, subtle, and peaceful. There were some smaller outbreaks of violence from the lower class, which horrified the conservatives and politicians but the outbreaks were quickly subdued. For the most part the protests consisted of an extensive petition campaign. Shorter explains there was only one instance of luddism in Bavaria of which he encountered. This occurred when solid local class citizens tried to destroy and smash up their competitor’s steamships, which were putting them out of business. A strong example of how the revolution truly took place happened when clerics, petty officials, shopkeepers, and artisans constantly sent petitions to their congress members and chancelleries. They joined local clubs to make sure that they were noticed and could collaborate in order to find a winning strategy. Finally, I believe a more suitable name for the article and time period would be the “Annoyance and Unfaithfulness felt by the Germans Toward their Government.”
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Haha, yeah, I see where you're coming from. Historians did pick an odd word for the change in Germany during that time period. It surprised me too to see that to the Germans, revolution was signing petitions and getting together in the local pub to talk about what they didn't like about the government. But I think that's our mindset as Americans. When we had our revolution, yeah, we talked about it, but we actually did something other than join clubs! But this style of revolution worked for the Germans, it's what they chose, and though it took a little longer, they eventually got what they wanted.
ReplyDeleteGreat point. Shorter notes that what occurred in Germany may not qualify as a Revolution. He argues however that the reactionary nature of the lower middle classes was so great that they were willing to destroy the state in order to try to preserve their way of life, not because they wanted to achieve a democratic revolution but because they wanted to turn back the clock, so to speak.
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