The restorations that the Congress of Vienna established after 1814 ushered in a conservative era in the sense of an attempt to preserve existing institutions at all costs. To do this, rulers often resorted to the use of spies, censorship, border controls, and even the execution of dissenters. These factors came into play in 1819 when circumstances in the German Confederation flared, causing concern for Austria and Prussia, both of whom feared the rise of German nationalism. While the Congress of Vienna had created the German Confederation, dominated by Austria, in order to keep it from gaining real political union, it hadn’t counted on the burst of nationalism that developed in Germany, especially under groups of student activists known as Burschenschaften. These brotherhoods engaged in numerous demonstrations, and at one, a fanatical student murdered a writer named Kotzebue. In reaction, the Austrian foreign minister, Metternich, called the leading German states to a diet that forced through the reactionary Carlsbad Resolutions.
Carlsbad Resolutions
