The German Question, Part Forty-Three

"Revolution....Sort Of" Conclusion

The revolutions in the Austrian Empire of the Habsburgs forced the government to flee Vienna a couple of times. Emperor (Kaiser, in German) Ferdinand I made concessions in an effort to bring calm to the situation.* By late 1848, Ferdinand I abdicated in favor of his nephew, Franz Josef, but not before he declared that Austria's non-German lands could not be separated from Austria, and that all of those Austrian lands should be included in a new German nation. This announcement essentially ended the debate over "Large Germany" versus "Small Germany" in the Frankfurt National Assembly, with "Small Germany" winning out, but with accommodations made for a future entry of Austria's "German settled lands" into a German nation.

In the end, all of the "separate" uprisings/revolutions failed in the German states and in the German possessions with non-German populations. I write "separate," because that's what they were. These uprisings all occurred at the same or similar times, but they were not coordinated, and that allowed each to be suppressed, although at times with great difficulty. Unlike the revolutionary elements, the monarchs of the German states were united in the idea of preserving the status quo; that is, keeping themselves in power; thus Prussia sent troops to help quell the uprising in Baden.** By and large, the soldiers in the various state armies remained loyal to their rulers. Without major defections from these forces, the German democrats (small "d" here Americans) faced an uphill struggle. Further, the German democrats were trying to do too many things; overthrow the absolute monarchies of the various states, create a national state, and create a constitution for that national state. Any one of these items in itself would have been difficult, but to attempt all three pretty much simultaneously was a daunting task.*** The democratic elements of German society were defeated, but they scared the monarchists enough to gain some concessions, at least at first, even though those concessions were often later withdrawn by the monarchies when they again held the upper hand. Some of the supporters of German democracy left for America, or elsewhere, rather than remain under absolutist monarchical rule, or for fear of being arrested and executed by the triumphant regimes.**** This put a dent in the core of German democratic forces, weakening the chances for democracy in any new united German nation.

* Ferdinand I suffered from epilepsy and mental "slowness." His father recognized his son's potential for only limited rule, as his Will allowed for a counsel of advisers to provide assistance to Ferdinand. Speculation is that while Ferdinand married, the marriage was not "fulfilled," or "consummated," as the term goes, so there were no children. By the way, "technically," Ferdinand was the head of the German Confederation, but a "deputy" actually sat in his place in Frankfurt. This was not necessarily due to his limitations, as other monarchs sent "deputies" in their places, too, but it just was not practical, especially with uprisings still occurring in many places. Ferdinand's medical problems and his initial support for concessions to the revolutionaries were what led to his abdication, as the conservative monarchists wanted a stronger emperor, and one with no ties to compromises with democratic elements.

** This then gave Prussia a southern German state as an ally; something that was quite different, as the southern German states had traditionally supported Austria as the leading German state.

*** Remember, Americans, or more correctly, the American colonists, defeated the British, allowing a new nation to be formed, and THEN came a constitution. In the interim, any substantial British military forces were far away, and the changed situation, American independence, posed a major supply problem for any attempt by the British to return large forces to America, unless they came from Canada. In France, the revolution wasn't about "founding" a French nation, France already existed as a unified nation.

**** There are often comments by American politicians regarding the lack of "capital punishment" in Europe, and indeed, the repugnant view of capital punishment by many Europeans, including Germans. We need to remember that Germans and other Europeans lived under repressive regimes for centuries, where death penalties were arbitrarily meted out and often with little, or any, appeal for commutation. Germans (and Europeans) are much more aware of how "capital punishment" can be abused. America has had a system based upon a constitution and basic rights for over two hundred years now, even though some people have been treated less than equally under our laws, like Irish (Catholic) immigrants in the 1800s, Chinese laborers in the 1800s, and black Americans pre and post slavery, for example. Still, in more recent decades, except for a few "haters," most Americans are appalled when the legal process is not properly applied. I hope that continues to strengthen. (NOTE: 8-6-22: The January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol Building has brought the arrests of hundreds, but it remains to be seen if any of the leaders and instigators of this attack will be held to account.)

WORD HISTORY:
Gesundheit-This word, exclaimed when someone sneezes, is a borrowing from German. One source (other sources are vague about its entry into English) indicates that it came into English in the early 1900s, but my "guess" is, it was well before that, and more than likely came to English from German immigrants to America. Whether this exclamation is even used much, or at all, in England is unknown to me. Its Indo European ancestry is uncertain (although some linguists believe it has ties to Slavic and Indo-Iranian, which are Indo European languages related to English further down the family tree), but it goes back to Old Germanic "swintaz/sundas," which had the notions of "strong, sturdy, safe." This gave the West Germanic offshoot "gasundaz" (English, German, Dutch, Frisian, Yiddish are all "West Germanic"). This then gave Old High German "gisunt," followed by Middle High German "gesunt," which then gave German the noun form "Gesundheit," which means "health, healthiness." By the way, the West Germanic form gave Old English "gesund," with the "ge" prefix later being dropped and the spelling changing to "sound," as in "strong, safe" ("The bridge is sound") and also "healthy, good health, well" ("sound in body and mind"). Other Germanic languages have: German and Low German have "gesund" and Dutch has "gezond," Danish has "sundt," Norwegian has "sunt," Swedish has "sund." and West Frisian has "sûn." Apparently Icelandic does not use a form of the word. Further, and just for fun here, a variation of the Old Germanic word also gave German "Geschwind," which means "fast, quick," and is part of the German word "Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung," or "speed limit." Say that real fast three times! German is known for its combinations of words into one "word," or maybe "paragraph" might be a better term! Until next time...."Ahhhhhhh choooooooo!!!"