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East Germany GERMAN CONFEDERATION
Age of Metternich
The Congress of Vienna (1814-15), convened after Napoleon's
defeat, established the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) of
thirty-nine monarchical states headed by Austria
(see
fig. 4).
During his period of power (1815-48), Prince Klemens von
Metternich, Austria's chancellor, pursued a reactionary policy,
and the German states reverted to the old order of social
distinctions and privileges. The personification of the European
counterrevolution, Metternich advocated the principle of
aristocratic legitimacy for the possession of titles and
territories and represented conservatism, order, and stability,
which he opposed to social and political revolt. Metternich's
police organization suppressed both nationalism and liberalism.
The publicist Frederick von Gentz popularized Metternich's
reactionary ideas and assisted him in developing a system of
political censorship that held Austria and part of Germany in
intellectual bondage until 1848.
Data as of July 1987
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