Abstract
Reviewed by: Ulf Morgenstern, Otto-von-Bismarck-Foundation/University of Hamburg, Germany
South Australia may be a galaxy away from the south of Germany; however, it is obviously a productive area for studies on nineteenth-century German history. In the academic atmosphere of Adelaide, Bodie A. Ashton has written a compact book on the Kingdom of Württemberg between 1815 and 1871. Ashton labels this period between the Congress of Vienna and the foundation of the German Empire the ‘Making of Germany’, which is as accurate as it is conventional. Using the example of Württemberg, the author shows the diversity of paths to unification and thereby elegantly refutes the Sonderweg. Chapter 1 deals with the history of Württemberg in the era of the growing nationalism in Germany under the pressure of the Napoleonic Wars. Chapter 2 then investigates the southern particularism in Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg, whereas Chapter 3 looks at the relations between Württemberg and its two big rivals, Berlin and Vienna. Continuing through the Era of Metternich, Chapter 4 discusses the impact of the revolutions of 1848 and their aftermath on Württemberg. Chapter 5 focuses on a period that in German has the ambiguous name ‘Reaktionszeit’, an era when the nation as an idea came into being although (or because) the monarchical officials tried to suppress these tendencies as much as possible. From the Württemberg point of view ‘Six Years of Autumn’ is a wonderful chapter title regarding the years 1860 to 1866, when a unified German North under the guidance of Prussia was eager to swallow the remaining ‘Mittelstaaten’, individually or all at once. Ashton describes the years until 1871 in Chapter 7. He reasonably argues that, after the unexpected outcome of the Prussian war against Austria, ‘The Unification of Germany’ took place in the relatively short period – not more than four years – of the North German Confederation. Not only did the states within the Confederation undergo a subtle process of assimilation in various regards, Württemberg and its two ‘independent’ neighbours were also closely tied to the Germans north of the Main. The common Customs Parliament is the most striking example of this unification before the unification. However, the late 1860s did not see a merger of equals. ‘By its very nature, the North German Confederation held all the economic cards’ (139) and ‘[t]he Federation of the United States of South Germany was little more than an optimistic fiction’ (143). Even the promotors of this idea stuck to it only for a short time. Ashton illustrates this with the examples of the liberal journalist Otto Elben and of the (just retired) leading minister of Württemberg Karl von Varnbüler. Both were overwhelmed by patriotic feelings when from September to November 1870 the victories against the French were accompanied by the prospects of the unification of the winners (147). ‘Remembering and Forgetting Württemberg, 1871–1914’ is again an apposite chapter heading. Varnbüler was succeeded by Hermann von Mittnacht, who led the small Kingdom of Württemberg into the German Empire. It was the clever Mittnacht and the well-meaning but naïve King Karl who had to deal with the details of the unification. Ashton underlines that, before and after 1871, the ‘mechanics of national unity … were hazy and unclear’, which now and then caused ‘the lingering suspicion that Prussia might have, in fact, engineered a quiet annexation’ (150). However, Ashton sees no Prussian or Bismarckian plan behind the events, but agrees with the majority of historians who, at present, regard it as mere chance that at the end of a series of wars Karl of Württemberg’s neighbour, the grand duke of Baden proclaimed the Prussian King Wilhelm I as the first Emperor of the German Empire. In his conclusion, the author endorses the continuity of independence of the state of Württemberg and ‘the personality-driven elements of this history’ (159).
Ashton’s survey is based on a broad set of sources. And although it delivers no sensations or unknown scandals, a translation into German would be most welcome. This comprehensive book represents nothing less than the current state of research on the history of nineteenth-century Württemberg, and it will surely find readers in the other remaining Mittelstaaten as well.