Edmund Maurice
Popular demonstrations in various parts of Germany in the great
revolutionary year 1848 were no doubt partly due to the outbreaks in
France and elsewhere, but it is also apparent that discontent at home
had been long turning the people toward revolt. The agitation that began
in March--the month following the "February Revolution" and the
declaration of a republic in France--was the work of a patriotic party
that cherished not only aspirations for extending popular rights in the
several States, but also a prophetic desire for German unity.
The Congress of Vienna (1815) attempted to adjust the balance of power
in Europe. Some sort of union for the States was imperatively required
by the general situation, but there was fear of making Germany too
strong. The Congress created the German Confederation, constituted by a
union of independent States, under the hegemony or political headship of
Austria. This confederation (_bund_) lacked strength in the Central
Government, and although it reduced the number of States from more than
three hundred to thirty-nine, it still perpetuated elements of
unwieldiness and discord.
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