Michael Rowe
Post-war Political Culture in German Central Europe
The consequences of unparalleled territorial upheaval shaped the political culture of German Central Europe after 1815. Most Germans found themselves living in states with which they had no historical affinity. This was especially so in the west and south, where Napoleonic secularization and ‘mediatization’ was largely confirmed at the Congress of Vienna. Post-1815 German governments needed to shape the identities of newly-acquired subjects. This would have been challenging at the best of times, but the conditions of the immediate post-war period were unpropitious: Germany, like Europe as a whole, confronted the manifold practical problems of transitioning from war to peace. German political culture was shaped by the tensions thrown up by this challenge. As is well known, this culture subsisted in an environment of political repression. However, as this paper will demonstrate, German governments also adopted more imaginative strategies as they attempted to forge new identities within their expanded states.
Michael Rowe is Senior Lecturer of Modern European History at King’s College London, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Rowe’s research interests include the history of Germany in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and in particular, the impact of the French Revolution and Napoleon. His work has addressed a wide range of issues within this context, including especially the development of the state and government, and the emergence of national identities. His most important publications include From Reich to State: The Rhineland in the Revolutionary Age (2003/2007) and Collaboration and Resistance in Napoleonic Europe: State-Formation in an Age of Upheaval (2003). His current research focuses on the governance of the Napoleonic Empire more broadly, including in comparison with other empires and polities of the period.
