Treitschke's History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century, Vol. 7 (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Treitschke's History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century, Vol. 7 The concluding volume of this, the first English translation of Treitschke's "German History in the Nineteenth Century, " has been called "Portents of Revolution." The title may not be the historian's, but it is altogether apposite, for it accurately focuses the interest of these closing chapters. The volume, of course, contains much more than reflections upon the imminent political upheaval of Germany. There is an interesting, if unduly detailed, account of the Protestant Frederick William IV's grotesque flirtations with Roman Catholicism and of his meddling in the internal affairs of the Prussian Evangelical Church, the literature, art, science, and philosophy of the period are surveyed, the development of the Customs Union and the railways is followed further, there is an account of the opening struggle between the Protectionists and the Free Traders, and we are reminded that German political circles had already begun to talk of colonies and a navy - aspirations which left the mass of the people cold and unmoved. All these subjects, however, are subsidiary to one engrossing topic, the climax of a long-drawn-out struggle for political liberty. Portents of revolution had been visible on every hand in Germany from the beginning of the forties. Not only so, but the obstinate defenders of the autocracies and semi-autocracies both saw the signs and understood them. This was true in an especial manner of Frederick William IV of Prussia, whose unbending opposition to democratic reform played directly into the hands of the extremists. He had only been three years on the throne when he declared that he did not regard as legally binding the law of May 22, 1815, wherein his father promised a national assembly with its seat in Berlin, for its author having repudiated this pledge, why should not he? With this declaration he supposed that the constitutional question was settled and done with. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.