The German Revolution of 1848/1849 or "March Revolution" was a major turning point in the 19th century. As in many other European countries, there was a mood of new beginnings and change in Germany. After the actual revolution, Prussia and Austria tried in 1850 to use the development in their favor. In 1851 the old German Confederation was restored.
But the memory of the revolution remained alive. With the formation of the German Empire in 1871, this period of establishment of the empire was completed. The revolution received special attention when the Weimar Republic was founded in 1919 and at the centenary in 1948.
Some regions were more affected by the revolution than others, especially in the south and west. Back then there were parts Of Austria (at least the German-speaking areas and Bohemia) federal territory and are therefore also treated here. The same applies to some areas that are outside Germany and Austria today, but which are important for German history.
This page introduces buildings and monuments related to the revolution and revolutionaries. Places should only be accepted in more important cases.
Baden-Wuerttemberg
Boards
- In Boards there is a memorial near Karlsruhe. It shows a naked man breaking a crown.
Karlsruhe
- Memorial stones for killed revolutionaries were laid on Kaiserplatz in 2002.
Loerrach
- On September 21, 1848 Gustav Struve proclaimed the German Republic in this southern Baden town. An inscription on the old town hall reminds of this.
Rastatt
- The lock Rastatt was the place where the Baden revolutionaries holed up in the early summer of 1849. Since 1974 there has been a permanent exhibition on the revolution.
Sinsheim
- In the City and Freedom Museum in the old town hall of Sinsheim there are numerous exhibits on the March Revolution in 1848 and around the one in the neighboring one Eichtersheim born Friedrich Hecker. A column stands in front of the museum as a monument to freedom. It depicts the five revolutionaries Friedrich Hecker, Gustav Mayer, Franz Sigel, Karl Bauer and Eduard Speiser.
Schopfheim
- A large group of figures by the artist Peter Lenk has been standing on the market square since 2004, mixing figures from the Heckerzug with contemporary figures (Prime Minister Erwin Teufel and Fritz Teufel)
Waghausel
- At the Hermitage there is a monument to the revolutionaries, which shows Gustav Struve and Friedrich Hecker.
Bavaria
Nuremberg
- In the Germanic National Museum there are items from the revolutionary era. This includes the painting Germania (attributed to Philipp Veit) that hung in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt.
Berlin
Berlin center
- The "Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate" was renamed in 2000 to "Platz des 18. März".
Berlin-Friedrichshain
- The "Friedhof of the March Fallen" is located in Volkspark Friedrichshain. These are the people who perished in March 1848 when the Prussian military put down an uprising.
Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt
Potsdam
- In the park of Babelsberg Palace, the Michaelsdenkmal stands in praise of the suppression of the revolution. The Prussian king had it built at the end of 1849.
Hesse
Frankfurt am Main
- The Paulskirche was the meeting place of the German National Assembly, which drafted an imperial constitution and set up a provisional government. Today the church is a venue and can usually be toured.
- In the immediate vicinity of the Paulskirche are the unity monument and a bust of Archduke Johann, the imperial administrator.
- There are two memorials to the victims of the riot of September 1848 in the main cemetery.
Idstein
- In Idstein a Democratic Congress took place in June 1849. A bust commemorates the Idstein democrat Gustav Justi.
Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Bremen
North Rhine-Westphalia
Wuppertal
- In 1999, several memorial plaques for those who died in the barricade uprising of May 1849 were inaugurated in Elberfeld.
Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland
Mainz
- In the main cemetery there is a "Prussian monument" for soldiers who perished in the revolution.
Saxony and Thuringia
Dresden
- In May 1849 there was an uprising in favor of the imperial constitution. Three bronze plaques in Dresden remind of this: at Tzschirnerplatz, at Altmarkt 25 and at the location of the barricades in Schloßstraße 7.
Erfurt
- The parliament of the German Union (Erfurt Union Parliament) met in the church of the Augustinian monastery in 1850.
Leipzig
- In the Deutsche Bücherei in Leipzig there are volumes of the former parliamentary library of the German National Assembly.
Schleswig-Holstein
Eckernförde
- The Gefion was a Danish warship that entered the Reichsflotte. In Eckernförde there is a monument with the replicated figurehead.
Flensburg
- The "Idstedt lion" is a bronze sculpture that commemorates the Danish victory at Idstedt in 1850. The lion stood in Copenhagen for a long time and returned in 2011.
Austria
Vienna
- In the central cemetery there is a memorial to the victims of the uprising of March 1848 in Vienna (Group 26, No. 1).
- A center of the uprising was on the Schmelz, today part of the Penzing and Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus districts; partially developed with the Wiener Stadthalle, the Nibelungenviertel, a sports center and numerous allotment gardens.
- There is a memorial stone in the March Park (1150 Vienna). Furthermore, the March street in the districts 14th and 15th is named after March 1848.
- in the 14th district In Baumgarten there is the Achtundvierzigerplatz and around it other streets that were named after fallen revolutionaries (public transport: 48A Flötzersteigbrücke or 51A Lebingergasse)
The modern appearance of Vienna was also indirectly shaped by the revolution. After the city walls were already militarily obsolete, they were particularly difficult for the imperial troops to put down the revolution of the bourgeoisie in the city (today's 1st district). The revolutionaries brought numerous city gates under their control. Suddenly it became apparent that the threat to the cities was no longer just from outside, but also from within. As a result, the city fortifications in Vienna were razed from the 1860s and the Ringstrasse was built instead. The Vienna Ringstrasse is planned from a military point of view. On the broad street, the military could quickly put down insurgent or subversive movements. And the long, straight sections offered a clear field of fire for the military and little cover for demonstrators.
Today's Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia
Other countries
Switzerland
- In Liestal (Canton Basel-Landschaft) there is a memorial for the poet Georg Herwegh.
United States
- In New York there is a Carl Schurz Park, named after the Baden revolutionary and later US Secretary of the Interior. A statue of Schurz belongs to the park.
- In new York an equestrian statue commemorates Franz Sigel, the leader of the Baden revolutionary troops, who later fought in the American Civil War.