Prussian Conservatism 1815-1856: Ecclesiastical Origins and Political Strategies

278 Pages·2021·3.043 MB·English

by  Laura Claudia Achtelstetter

Laura Claudia Achtelstetter
Prussian
Conservatism
1815-1856
Ecclesiastical Origins and
Political Strategies
Prussian Conservatism 1815-1856
Laura Claudia Achtelstetter
Prussian Conservatism
1815-1856
Ecclesiastical Origins and Political Strategies
LauraClaudiaAchtelstetter
NewnhamCollege
UniversityofCambridge
Cambridge,UK
ISBN978-3-030-81069-6 ISBN978-3-030-81070-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81070-2
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To my family,
to the dear departed,
and to every smiled-at history nerd,
I dedicate this work.
Names and Places
All names are used in the German original and are not translated, e.g. Friedrich
WilhelmIV,notFrederickWilliamIV.
Places are named and spelt in the way they were used in contemporary terms,
e.g.BreslauandKönigsberg.
Germanquotesarespeltastheywerefound;therefore,‘y’and‘c’areusedwhere
contemporaryGermanrequiresan‘i’or‘k’,asilent‘h’isaddedafter‘t’,andthe‘e’
after a long ‘i’ is missing, e.g. ‘sey’ instead of ‘sei’, ‘thun’ rather than ‘tun’, and
‘confessciren’ratherthan‘konfiszieren’.
IncaseswhereEnglishliteratureisquotedthatwaswritteninAmericanEnglish,
theAmericanspellinghasbeenkeptbutnotfurtherhighlighted.
[sic!]marksgrammaticalorspellingerrors(otherthanthosedescribedabove)ina
sourcethatwerekept.
Incaseswhereaquote’stensehadtobeadapted(e.g.frompresenttensetopast
tense)thealterationwasplacedinbrackets.Forexample,frompresenttense‘writers
fail’topasttense‘writersfail[ed]’.
Cross-references to other chapters are given in round brackets, for example
(Chap.3,Sect.4.2).
vii
Acknowledgements
This book is a revised and altered version of my thesis ‘The origins of Prussian
conservatism 1815–1856’ submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the
UniversityofCambridgeinJune2020.
UndertakingthisPhDhas,withoutanyexaggeration,beenalife-changingexpe-
rience.Itwouldnothavebeenpossibletofinishthisprojectwithouttheguidanceand
help of many people who believed in my work and abilities. I owe each of them a
greatdeal.
I wish to show my gratitude to the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation (KAS) for
granting me a PhD scholarship and for making me part of its community. The
sense of community I experienced among fellow scholarship holders at KAS
seminars was invaluable, and I am grateful that not only professional contacts but
also friends were made there. I want to express the same gratitude to Newnham
CollegeandtheFacultyofHistoryatCambridgeUniversityforprovidingadditional
funding. Without the generous financial and administrative support of these three
institutionsmyresearchwouldnothavebeenpossible.
IwouldalsoliketoexpressmydeepestgratitudetomysupervisorProf.Joachim
Whaley for his patient guidance, constant support, and honest advice. Without his
guidance,persistenthelp,andconstructivecriticism,thisprojectcertainlywouldnot
have been realised. I extend this gratitude to the examiners of my thesis, Prof.
Richard Whatmore (St. Andrews) and Prof. Anna Ross (Warwick). Thank you for
the very pleasant discussion, the valuable advice, the honest feedback, and the
offeredopportunities.
SpecialthanksgotomyadvisorProf.ChristopherClarkandmyCollegementor
Dr. Janine Maegraith for their advice and inspiring conversations. I also want to
thank the scholars I had the privilege to converse with in the last few years,
especially Prof. Boyd Hilton, Prof. Brendan Simms, Dr. Ruth Jackson,
Dr. Hannah Weibye, Dr. Paul E. Kerry, Dr. Hanno Balz, and Dr. Paul Kurtz for
all the enriching and inspiring conversations, for their good advice, and for invita-
tionstovariousgreatworkshops.
ix
x Acknowledgements
IwanttousethischancetothankallthepeoplewhomakeCambridgework:the
secretariesandadministrationofficers,theportersandcaterers,thehousekeepersand
gardeners,allthoseworking‘behindthescenes’.YoukeepCambridgerunningand
theexcellentresearchconditionstheredependonyou.Thankyousomuch!
There are many more people working in archives, libraries, and universities
without whom academiawouldbe impossible. I would like to thank all thepeople
workingintheGeheimeStaatsarchivPreußischerKulturbesitz,theHerzog-August-
Bibliothek Wolfenbuettel, the Frankesche Stiftungen Halle, the
Universitätsbibliothek und -archiv Muenster, the Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-
Nuremberg,andUniversitätsbibliothekEichstaettfortheirhelp,support,andadvice.
Iwouldhaveneverobtainedaccesstosomearticles,sources,orbookswithoutthem.
Special thanks go to Ms Okulla-Obua (GstA), Dr. Harding (HAB), Ms Strauß
(HAB), Ms Ahrens (HAB), Mr Göschl (Halle), Ms Gerlach and Ms Steininger
(ULErlangen-Nuremberg),andMrStaufenbiel(ULCambridge).
Ialsooweagreatdealtomanypeoplefrommytime‘before’Cambridge.Iwant
to express my gratitude to all the people who worked at the Academic Chair of
PoliticalScienceIIatFriedrichAlexanderUniversityErlangen-Nurembergoverthe
last decade who helped me to improve and guided my first clumsy steps into
academia. I will not forget the valuable support I received from the people in
Erlangen.SpecialthanksgotoProf.ClemensKauffmann({),Dr.AlexanderKruska,
Uni.-Prof.Dr.EvaOdzuck,andDr.DavidSchkadeforgrantingmeextensiveaccess
to the Gerlach Archive. Continuing a tradition, I would therefore like to thank the
forçatsoftheGlückstraße.Imadeitaswell!
IcannotbegintoexpressmygratitudetoProf.AnselmSchubertwhohasbeena
trustworthy advisor since I was an MA student trying to find her way through the
worksofMartin Luther.Iamdeeplygratefulforhis unwaveringsupportandopen
earsandforregularlyinvitingmetohisOberseminar.Iwouldalsoliketothankall
its participants for the fruitful discussions on theological and church historical
matters.Itistrulybeenapleasure!
Iamincrediblygratefultohavemetmanyinspiringpeopleinthelastfewyears,
whodidnotremaincolleaguesandhousematesbutbecamefriends.Mythanksgoto
my housemates in Holly Cottage ‘17/‘19, my friends at CUFC and its Women’s
Bluesteam‘18/19,andNewnhamCollegeMCR.SpecialthanksalsogotoMaxwell
Jones,MobeenHussain,CatrionaCorke,andChristinePrevasfortheirpatiencewith
meandmystrugglewithEnglishgrammar;toThomasDahms,MargareteTiessen,
ChristosAliprantis,CharlotteJohann,andJanTattenbergfortheircamaraderie;and
to Laura Trajber Waisbich, Laura Flannigan, Pedro V. Faria, Francesca Firth, and
Augur Pearce for all the talks and good laughter. The same thanks go to all the
peoplenotexplicitlymentionedhere.Beassuredthatyouwillbeforeverinmyheart.
IextendthisgratitudetoSaraSouilem,LauraLacatusu,JasminTrapp,Michaela
Seitz,FranziskaFörster,andSvenFleischerfortheyearsoffriendship,nomatterthe
geographicaldistance.
Finally,Iwouldliketothankmypartnerforsupportingmeandforencouraging
metopursueaPhDinBritain.Ithankyouforlisteningtomydoubtsandworries,for
supportingme,andforgoingthispathwithme.
Acknowledgements xi
Lastbutnotleast,Iamtrulygratefultomyfamilyfortheirimmeasurableloveand
care. You have always encouraged me to explore my potential and pursue my
dreams.
Danke!
Erlangen,June2021
Contents
1 TheConservativeMilieu,1815–1856. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Conservatism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 TheConservativeMilieuandItsTrauma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3 PurposeandLimitations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 SourcesandLiteratureReview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.4.1 FamilyHistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.4.2 TheHistoryofaPolitical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4.3 TheHistoryofaReligiousMovement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.4.4 Biographies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.5 TheoryandMethod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.6 Outline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2 AYouthBetweenDefeatandLiberation,1806–1830. . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.1 NapoleonandPrussianIdentity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.2 PrussiaontheBrinkofDespair1803–1815. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.2.1 Narratives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.2.2 TheBefreiungskämpfer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.2.3 WarExperiences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.3 TheBerlinNetwork(s)1810–1820. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.4 FaithBecomingPublic,1820sand1830s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
2.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3 ConservativeInterpretationofRoyalChurchPolicy. . . . . . . . . . . . 89
3.1 Context:Prussia’sChurchPolicy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
3.2 ErnstWilhelmHengstenbergandtheEKZ’SChurchPolicy. . . . . 102
3.3 TheGerlachBrothers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
3.4 FriedrichJuliusStahlandtheChristianState. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
3.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
4 Restoration,Revolution,andCounter-Revolution,1830–1850. . . . . 153
4.1 Context:Prussia’sPoliticalSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
4.2 KeyConservativeConcepts,Pre-1848. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
xiii