Diana Carey

Carlsbad Decrees DBQ

November 13th, 2016
4th Period History
Congress of Vienna Continued: The Carlsbad Decrees
The Age of Metternich began with the Congress of Vienna. At the Congress,
Metternich established himself as the dominant force controlling Europe. This carried forth
for the next 33 years, especially in the German Confederation where Austria had lots of
control. Metternich wanted to keep Europe the Old Society way, with monarchies and
little power for common people. Most of the people in power at this time agreed with this
sentiment, and they wanted things restored to the way they were before the French
revolution.
In Germany at this time many new liberal and national movements were forming,
inspired by the French revolutions and the Wars of Liberation. People didnt want
monarchs to have all the power, after seeing the French, they believed in democracy. They
also wanted a unified Germany. These new ideas gained the most traction in universities,
student fraternities (Burchenshaften), and gymnastics associations.
August von Kotzebue was a writer who opposed the popular nationalistic
movements of the time. He openly spoke and wrote against them, which led to his death by
a militant member of the Burchenshaften, called Karl Sand.
The Carlsbad Decrees are a direct result of Sand killing Kotzebue. Metternich and
the government were worried about these movements getting larger and spreading, so
they drafted these laws to quell nationalism and liberalism. The main ideas set forth in the
Carlsbad Decrees were censorship of the press, surveillance of universities, bans of liberal
and nationalistic professors and students, and bans on student fraternities or
Burchenshaften.
The Carlsbad Decrees were written in August 1819 by a conference of ministers
while they met in Carlsbad, Bohemia. One month later they were passed by the Federal
Convention or Bundesversammlung. The Decrees are a series of laws that limit freedoms of
the people of the German Confederation. The authors created this document because they
wanted to pass laws to limit the freedoms of people that opposed the government. The
content of this document is one sided because it is a set of laws. In this document we cannot
tell what the people of opposing views to the government wanted. It only states the
conservative point of view. Also in the time period they were more people not opposed to
the government so this document doesnt really show what they wanted at the time period.
This document is a primary source published by the government. The document was
significant at the time because it was a widely unpopular set of laws. As this was a public
statement of official policy, facts of the other side were omitted to suit the audience. The
document was a reaction to events happening at the time. This document only shows one
side of the public policy. It also does not explain the reason behind the policy, except in the
editors note, which isnt an original part of the document. It also does not show whether
the policy was ever implemented or not. Metternich would agree with the laws laid out by
the Decrees because he, like the people who wrote this document, didnt want nationalistic
movements flaring up more in German states. He wanted to keep the Confederation in a
monarchic style of government, and reemphasize the ideals he set forward at the Congress
of Vienna. Opposing Metternichs point of view would be a member of the Burchenshaften.
They would call these laws tyrannical and suppressing their freedoms, which the laws are.
The laws would make the Burchenshaften angry and they would be more likely to revolt
again.
The main point of the Carlsbad Decrees was to quell nationalism and liberalism in
the German Confederation, which makes it an extension of the Congress of Vienna. The
Decrees forced the Burchenshaften underground, where it stayed for many years until the
Revolution of 1848. Overall, the Decrees only furthered the German peoples longing for a
unified Germany and increased tensions at universities among nationalistic students and
professors.