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| 1833, April 3 |
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| In response to such measures, international dissidents made an unsuccessful attempt to seize Frankfurt and dissolve the Diet. In June, the Diet appointed a central commission to coordinate preventive measures. | 1 |
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| 1834–44 |
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| The German Zollverein, officially established under Prussian tutelage in 1834, created a free trade zone in Western Germany. Prussia initially signed a tariff treaty (1819) with Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and, in 1829, Bavaria and Württemburg joined the union. Smaller states attempted to counter the Zollverein by creating their own tariff unions, but these largely came to nothing. By 1844, the Zollverein included virtually the whole of Germany except German Austria, Hanover, Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, and the three Hanse cities. The continued use of local currencies and the failure to adopt uniform systems of weights and measures undermined the Zollverein's ability to unify Germany. The Zollverein may have had limited economic success by encouraging a wider market and the creation of railways, which stimulated industry. | 2 |
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| 1837, June 20 |
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| The death of William IV of England, who also held the throne in Hanover, resulted in the ascendancy of Ernest Augustus, duke of Cumberland. Ernest Augustus set aside the liberal constitution of Hanover and, backed by Metternich and Prussia, established his own constitution based on the principles of absolute monarchy in 1840. Outraged by this act, liberals declared the Germanic Confederation a national disgrace. | 3 |
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| 1840–61 |
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| FREDERICK WILLIAM IV of Prussia succeeded his father, who died on June 7, 1840. Although he sought to provide political freedom, he wished to do so not through a constitution but through a restoration of nobility and corporations, and the rule of estates. | 4 |
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| 1841 |
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| Das Nationale System der politischen Ökonomie by Friedrich List (1789–1846). List believed that protective tariffs should be used only to protect economic growth until industry could compete in a free market. He also believed the economic future of Europe would be tied directly to the nation and thus advocated the creation of a German nation. List's ideas had only limited influence in Germany during his lifetime. He took his own life in 1846. | 5 |
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| 1841–42 |
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| Frederick William IV gave the provincial Diets established in 1832 the right to elect committees to meet in Berlin and discuss Prussian legislation. At the first meeting of these committees in 1842, the king irritated the delegates by stating that they should not consider themselves a popular assembly. The meeting accomplished little. | 6 |
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| 1843 |
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| The Reform Society of Frankfurt established the basis for Reformed Judaism by rejecting the literal interpretation of the Talmud. | 7 |
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| 1846–47 |
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| Economic hardship, which struck most of Europe, did not spare Germany. In Germany it had little to do with industrial overproduction but was the result of potato and wheat failures in 1845 and 1846. The destitution it created was particularly great in the cities and helped to spark the revolutions. | 8 |
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| 1847, Feb. 13 |
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| The king, in financial difficulties, hoped to ease the situation by summoning the United Landtag (combined provincial diets) in 1847. This action, combined with economic hardship, contributed to the revolutions of 1848. (See Germany) | 9 |
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