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Post-Napoleonic
Germany
This is a period of
time of rebuilding the country that had been destroyed. Napoleon
conquered much of Europe, including Cologne. Prussia was humiliated,
and lost almost all of its power. Prussia was faced with two options,
Defeat or Reform.
In
1794 France took
control of Cologne. At this time the city was in ruins. The city soon
became a part of the Confederation of the Rhine, which was created in
1806. A month later the Holy Roman Empire was abolished. Napoleon
successfully created a more centralized government in the Rhineland.
Napoleon tells the nobility that whoever makes alliances with him
first, will receive his neighbors land. This reduced the amount of
lords in the area (Levinger).
Control
of Cologne
soon passed to Prussia in 1815 after Napoleons defeat. Cologne loses
its own sense of self-government, and becomes a part of Prussia. It
does, however, govern itself under Prussian rule (Levinger). During
this time, Prussia is undergoing a massive reform movement. Even
before 1815 the reform movement made efforts to achieve
modernization. In 1810 Kaiser Frederick William III freed all the
serfs in Prussia. Cities are soon flooded with freed serfs and
peasants. These serfs become the working class. The burghers remain
the middle class, but the wealthiest become the upper class. These
middle class businessmen begin buying land and titles. The old
aristocratic elite is being faded out over time by wealthy business
owners (Levinger). The reformers plan to make Prussia a democratic
monarchy. They plan to have a constitution, and a modern economy.
There will also be a Kaiser (otherwise known as a king) (Levinger 3).
By
the 1840’s
Industrialization hit Prussia. Factories and railroads were being
built everywhere. Cologne soon became a center for industrial, and
commercial growth (Kitchen 155). As part of a plan by the Kaiser, the
Cologne cathedral began construction in 1842. It was an elaborate
ceremony to revive the old “medieval” values and ideas. It was
also very much so a movement to win national support, and to boost
patriotic feelings (Kitchen 155).
The
Cologne
cathedral once again became a symbol of the German mind-set. The
mind-set in this new age is very different from that of the medieval
ages. The new reforms focused more on the improving the situation of
the middle and working classes. The government started more education
programs, and had a more liberal approach to its laws. Economic
reforms were also a big part, and its industries grew rapidly.
Religion no longer influenced politics and government, but it was
still in the hearts of the people. A new element that can be seen in
the German mind-set is that of unification. For centuries Germany had
been a group of loosely united kingdoms, but now one man would unify
Prussia.
In
1864 Otto Von
Bismarck, newly elected Kaiser, invaded Denmark and won quick
decisive victories that won Prussia respect and gained nationalism. In
1866, Bismarck provoked a war with Austria. Prussia’s advanced
army and excellent railroad system helped smash the Austrian armies
continuously. Austria lost its German lands to Prussia, and was
forced to withdraw from the German confederation. Northern Germany
fell easily, and Prussia was finally united. The southern German
states however were predominantly catholic, and Prussia was mostly
protestant. The southern states didn’t want to join Prussia because
of religious differences. Bismarck knew this, and he thought an
outside threat would unite them. So in 1870, Bismarck provoked France
and France declared war. The Franco-Prussian war was short lived
because Prussia struck so rapidly and surrounded Paris before French
troops could assemble. Eventually, Paris surrendered and France had
to pay Prussia 5 billion francs, and they lost the two iron and coal
rich provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. The south did unite with
Prussia after the war, and in 1871 Bismarck was officially crowned
Kaiser (emperor) of the new unified Germany (Krieger 559).
In
1880 the Cologne
cathedral was completed. The story of the cathedral follows German
history very closely, but how does it explain why the middle class
determines the prosperity of a nation or city? When the middle class
first emerged their prosperity was confined to a city, and not the
whole country. Cologne was very prosperous, and because of the five
elements that create the environment, the middle class builds a
cathedral to symbolize this prosperity. During the crises years of
the Reformation and Thirty Years War Germany is utterly destroyed,
along with the prosperity of the middle class, so naturally the
cathedral stops construction. During the reform movements of the
post-Napoleonic Prussia, the social system was recreated. When
serfdom was abolished, it got rid of the old Feudal System and
allowed for the modernization of the country. Urbanization was what
makes an area modern. The middle class was now growing larger and
even the working class lived in urban areas. Education was also more
widespread. Factories and railroads allowed the economy to expand
rapidly, and the middle class expanded with it. When the Cologne
cathedral began its re-construction, it was again a symbol of the
middle class progression towards freedom and a free market economy.
This free market economy allows for the people to flourish as a
culture. The Cologne cathedral is a symbol of the prosperity of the
middle class, and the prosperity of the middle class makes a nation
prosperous. That is what can be said about the German “mind-set”
through examining the cathedral in Cologne.
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