William Tyler
1848: The Year of National Awakening
Summary
The story begins with the Napoleonic Wars and the humiliating defeat of Prussia by France at the Battle of Jena in 1806. It continues with Napoleon’s reorganisation of the German Lands. He established 39 larger states, as well as The Confederation of The Rhine, a league of 16 German states. Prussia played a major role in the ultimate defeat of Napoleon, firstly at Battle of Leipzig in 1813, and then at Waterloo in 1815. But if Napoleon was defeated, his ideas lived on. He had lit the fire of German nationalism.
That fire burst forth in The European Year of Revolutions in 1848. Although at The Congress held at Vienna, the Anciens Regimes across Europe sought to return the continent to a pre 1789 world, but they were fighting against what is now seen as progress. The situation exploded across much of Europe, not least in Germany, in 1848.
That Revolution failed but not before it placed a marker on the road to a unified Germany- even if that was not to be a fully democratic Germany.
William Tyler
William Tyler has spent his entire professional life in adult education, beginning at Kingsgate College in 1969. He has lectured widely for many public bodies, including the University of Cambridge and the WEA, in addition to speaking to many clubs and societies. In 2009, William was awarded the MBE for services to adult education, and he has previously been a scholar in residence at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.