Frederick William IV and the Prussian Monarchy 1840-1861

by Barclay, David E.

• ISBN13: 9780198204305
• ISBN10: 0198204302
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-12-21
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

This is the first full-scale study in English of the reign of Frederick William IV, King of Prussia from 1840 to 1861, and arguably the most important German monarch in the century between the death of Frederick the Great and the accession of William II. Dismissed by others as a Romantic reactionary, Frederick William comes through in this study as a modern and 'successful' monarch. Not strictly a biography, the book also focuses on the structures, institutions, and transformations of the Prussian monarchial system during a time of revolutionary change. Through his analysis of the Prussian state, this work enriches our sense of the structures of the nineteenth-century European state, and of the elites who inhabited and adapted to these states.

Table of Contents

Note on Sources and Translations	xii
List of Illustrations	xiv
Abbreviations	xv
The Nineteenth-Century Prussian Monarchy in its European Context	1	(23)
Monarchy as Gesamtkunstwerk: The Education of Frederick William IV 1795--1840	24	(25)
The Structures of `Personal Rule' 1840--1846	49	(26)
Monarchy and Religious Renewal in Prussia 1840--1850	75	(24)
Monarchy and Society 1840--1847	99	(28)
Monarchy at the Crossroads: King and Revolution 1847--1848	127	(26)
Camarilla Counter-revolution and Constitution March-December 1848	153	(32)
Nationality Society Monarchy: Joseph Maria von Radowitz and Frederick William IV 1848--1850	185	(29)
Becoming `Constitutional': Reshaping Monarchy in a Post-Revolutionary Age 1849--1854	214	(38)
`Anarchy' and Monarchy 1850--1861	252	(39)
Conclusion: Frederick William IV and Monarchical Institutions in Prussia	283	(8)
Bibliography	291	(34)
Index	325