Rethinking the Categories of the German Revolution of 1848: The Emergence of Popular Conservatism in Bavaria

In: Central European history, Volume 25, Issue 2, p. 123-148

Abstract

The revolution that began in March 1848 continues to fascinate historains, becoming a two-way lens used to examine later as well as earlier German history. It has become central to the "emplotment" of the broader historical narrative of German history. Historians commonly describe the ultimate failure of the revolution as reflecting the unhealthy and anachronistic hold of premodern society over the state in nineteenth and twentieth-century Germany and, therefore, see it as a cornerstone of theSonderwegthesis. Because the revolution is used to explain later acts in the German historical drama, it is necessary to be as clear as possible about what actually happended in 1848 and 1849.