Vocabulary Terms
What term refers to a belief in loyalty to a shared national culture, language, or heritage?
Nationalism
In what year was the German Confederation formed?
1815
What was the name of the assembly where ambassadors from each German Confederation state met, always chaired by Austria?
Diet
What battle in 1813 marked a turning point in German national pride against Napoleon?
Battle of Leipzig
What 1850 event is known as the "Humiliation of Olmütz"?
Prussia backed down to Austria and abandoned the Erfurt Union plan
What is the term for a belief system that seeks to preserve traditional institutions and resist rapid change?
conservatism
What international conference reorganized Europe after Napoleon’s defeat and created the German Confederation?
Congress of Vienna
Which political group favored constitutional monarchy, civil liberties, and limited government often led by the middle class?
liberals
What short conflict in 1848 involved Prussia’s attempt to intervene in Schleswig-Holstein but ended in a humiliating truce?
First Schleswig War
Why was Austria’s position weakened after the 1850s?
Economic stagnation, costs of empire, and lost Russian support after the Crimean War
What phrase was used to describe the idea of a united Germany excluding Austria?
Kleindeutschland (Little Germany)?
What year was the North German Confederation established, marking a key step toward unification?
1867
What voting system used in the Prussian constitution of 1850 gave disproportionate power to the wealthy by dividing voters into tax-paying classes?
three-tier suffrage system
What 1864 conflict marked the first step in Bismarck’s strategy to isolate Austria?
Second Schleswig War
How did Prussia's railway development contribute to its leadership in Germany?
Improved economic integration and troop mobility
What term refers to the political strategy of using practical methods to achieve goals, rather than following ideology?
Realpolitik
What 1819 incident prompted Metternich to introduce the Carlsbad Decrees
murder of dramatist Kotzebue by a student nationalist?
What was Friedrich Wilhelm IV’s political response to the 1848 revolutionaries after initially showing support?
rejecting the Frankfurt crown and reasserting royal control through a conservative constitution
What war in 1866 resulted in the dissolution of the German Confederation and Austria’s exclusion from German affairs?
Austro Prussian War
Who was Otto von Manteuffel, and how did he strengthen Prussia internally?
Conservative reformer who improved working conditions and economic growth to reduce liberal support
What term refers to a government with a monarch whose powers are limited by law or constitution?
constitutional monarchy
What was the Erfurt Union and why did it fail?
It was Prussia’s 1850 plan to create a union of German states without Austria, but it collapsed after the Humiliation of Olmütz when Prussia backed down.
Why did the Frankfurt Parliament fail politically, despite creating a constitution and offering a crown to Friedrich Wilhelm IV?
lack of legal authority, division between liberals and radicals, and no military to enforce decisions
How did the outcome of the First Schleswig War highlight the weakness of the Frankfurt Parliament and damage its credibility?
Prussia agreed to a truce with Denmark without consulting the Frankfurt Parliament, revealing the Parliament's lack of authority over military and diplomatic decisions.
In what ways did the failure of 1848 teach liberals to support stronger state leadership under Prussia?
They realized idealism alone was insufficient without a powerful state backing reform