Excerpt from History of the Christian Church, Vol. 5
Advance toward the constitutional type of government and the establishment of the Empire under the headship of Prussia may be designated as the two great developments within the sphere of German politics since the overthrow of the first Napoleon. The continued pressure of popular demand brought about the former development; in effecting the latter the management of statesmen and the shock of armies were the chief instrumentalities.
The leading governments were loath to admit any restrictions upon monarchical authority. Promises of constitutional rule which had been made during the struggle against the Napoleonic despotism, and which had been formally sanctioned at Vienna in 1815 as a part of the scheme of the New German Confederacy, were coolly discarded.
Excerpt from History of the Christian Church, Vol. 5
Advance toward the constitutional type of government and the establishment of the Empire under the headship of Prussia may be designated as the two great developments within the sphere of German politics since the overthrow of the first Napoleon. The continued pressure of popular demand brought about the former development; in effecting the latter the management of statesmen and the shock of armies were the chief instrumentalities.
The leading governments were loath to admit any restrictions upon monarchical authority. Promises of constitutional rule which had been made during the struggle against the Napoleonic despotism, and which had been formally sanctioned at Vienna in 1815 as a part of the scheme of the New German Confederacy, were coolly discarded.