EUGENE N. ANDERSON. The Social and Political Conflict in Prussia, 1858-1864. (University of Nebraska Studies, New Series, No. 12.) Pp. x, 445. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1954. $5.00

• Published date: 01 July 1955
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625530000171
• Date: 01 July 1955
• Author: Robert Mueller
• Subject Matter: Articles

173

have

been

greater

had

all

individuals

(many

of

whom

are

obscure)

been

identified.

The

chart

showing

the

informative

religious

census

of

1871

would

be

more

satisfactory

had

it

broken

the

heterogeneous

Prussia

of

the

1860’s

into

regions,

for

Prussia,

like

Texas,

is

something

special.

To

have

de-

scribed

church-state

arrangements

in

Ger-

many

would

have

helped

most

readers.

George

Windell’s

account

is

so

single-

mindedly

political

that

it

neglects

such

spiritual-intellectual

forces

as

liberalism,

materialism,

ultra-Montanism,

secularism,

and

amorality.

Only

in

chapter

VII,

&dquo;Bis-

marck

and

the

Church,

1866-1870,&dquo;

do

we

find

much

of

the

zeitgeist

as

we

trace

the

interactions

among

the

Vatican

Council;

German

political

and

religious

dogmas;

and

German,

French,

and

Italian

foreign

policy.

Resistance

to

unification

expressed

not

only

particularism

but

also

resistance

to

secular-

ism,

Lutheranism,

and

militarism.

It

was

more

than

Rome

versus

Wittenberg.

The

great

gain

from

reading

this

book

is

a

sharp

realization,

supported

by

details,

that

Catholic

politics

per

se

were

vigorous,

powerful,

and

organized.

Windell

shows

conclusively

that

the

Zentrumpartei

reaches

back

to

the

days

following

Sadowa,

and

that

Bismarck’s

policies

and

tactics

were

affected

by

the

necessity

of

countering

Catholic

forces

to

an

extent

seldom

sug-

gested

in

standard

accounts.

Bismarck

was

not

the

sole

actor

on

the

stage.

Finally,

as

Windell

points

out

at

great

length,

Catholic

parties

broke

unity

party

strength

in

Bavaria,

ousted

Prince

Hohenlobe

from

the

Bavarian

chancellorship,

and

came

within

two

votes

of

preventing

Bavaria’s

entry

in

the

empire.

In

these

years

the

Kultur-

kampf

was

seeded.

Unfortunately

for

him,

Bismarck’s

realism

was

such

that

he

was

slow

to

grant

that

religious

beliefs,

which

to

him

were

lacking

in

realism,

could

be im-

portant

to

others.

We

should

hope

for

a

comparable

study

of

Lutheranism

and

Ger-

man

unity

to

complement

this

useful

work.

GARLAND

DOWNUM

Arizona

State

College

EUGENE

N.

ANDERSON.

The

Social

and

Political

Conflict in

Prussia,

1858-1864.

(University

of

Nebraska

Studies,

New

Series,

No.

12.)

Pp.

x,

445.

Lincoln:

University

of

Nebraska,

1954.

$5.00.

Students

of

nineteenth-century

Prussian

history

will

be

indebted

to

Professor

Ander-

son’s

painstaking

and

carefully

documented

sturdy

of

the

six

years

bridging

the

abdica-

tion

of

the

demented

Frederick

William

IV

and

the

entrenchment

of

the

Bismarck

gov-

ernment.

The

value

of

the

book

is

en-

hanced

by

the

author’s

success

in

inter-

preting

political

developments

in

their

social

setting.

Prussia’s

political

awaken-

ing

is

pictured

against

the

backdrop

of

an

expanding

economy

and

rapid

industrializa-

tion.

Professor

Anderson

writes

sympatheti-

cally

about

Prussian

liberalism

and

the

Prussian

Liberal

party.

In

its

composition

and

conduct,

the

Liberal

party

reflected

the

desire

of

the

majority

of

the

Prussian

people

to

eliminate

the

last

vestiges

of

eighteenth-century

mercantilism

and

to

break

the

shackles

of

Hohenzollern

Junker-

dom-as

represented

by

the

small

but

powerful

Conservative

party.

The

first

part

of

the

book

deals

with

Prussian

society

with

reference

to castes

and

privileges,

police

state

features,

mili-

tarism,

and

the

political

and

economic

forces

striving

for

the

unification

of

Ger-

many.

Judiciously

using

a

wealth

of

con-

temporary

sources,

the

author

demonstrates

how

political

and

economic

reform

issues

affected

the

roots

of

Prussian

society.

The

question

remains

unanswered

as

to

the

ex-

tent

of

agreement

between

the

elements

in

the

Liberal

party

who

strove

for

unification

for

purely

patriotic

and

nationalist

reasons,

and

those

who

regarded

unification

as

an

advantage

to

industry

and

commerce.

The

struggle

over

army

reform

is

well

de-

scribed.

We

see

here

how

a

resurgent

mili-

tary

caste-relatively

dormant

since

1815-

clashes

with

a

vocal

middle

class.

A

vivid

characterization

is

given

of

Roon,

the

stalwart

War

Minister,

the

tenacious

re-

actionary

who,

in

1861,

persuaded

William

I

to

appoint

Bismarck

Prime

Minister.

The

second

part

of

the

book

examines

the

structure

and

strength

of

contemporary

Prussian

political

organizations,

emphasiz-

ing

Prussian

&dquo;grass

roots&dquo;

party

machinery

and

the

electoral

and

voting

systems.

The