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| 1854 |
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| The press was stifled; political arrests rose; political clubs were dissolved. | 1 |
| Economy. The German economy experienced rapid growth spurred by heavy industry and chemicals. Germany gained on Britain as a leader in the world economy. Germany also suffered from the short worldwide depression of 1857–59, when agricultural overproduction combined with a wave of financial panic. With the exception of banks in Hamburg that were closely tied to British banking, German banks remained solvent. Agricultural developments included more modern farming techniques, growing use of chemical fertilizers, and an increase in the use of wage labor. | 2 |
| Elite society. The mid-19th century is often considered the age of the Bürgertum—the urban economic elites. These elites increasingly defined culture during this period by establishing proper values, styles, and educational goals. However, they continued to be overshadowed politically in Prussia by the Junkers; a three-class voting system established in 1848 and confirmed in 1866 and 1871 (See Dec. 5) gave the Junkers access to a third of the seats in the Landtag. Bismarck, himself from a Junker family, relied on Junker support after his break with the liberals and created a marriage of “iron and rye.” This phrase represented the two major elites in Germany—the industrial and financial capitalists and the large agricultural landowners. | 3 |
| The working classes. The German working class shifted from the craftworkers who had participated in the revolutions of 1848 to the growing number of industrial workers who gradually organized through the efforts of the trade organizations of the socialists, Catholics, and even the industrialists themselves. | 4 |
| Women. German values continued to stress the importance of the family and the superiority of men within that family. The family was considered the basis of the state, and therefore German laws reinforced male legal superiority through divorce laws, legal control of property, and education. Women continued to balance wage work in and outside the home with the chores of maintaining the household. Women workers suffered because they seldom gained seniority at a workplace—changing jobs frequently as a result of pregnancies and the demands of families. Furthermore, the socialist trade unions adopted a stance against women in the workplace, which meant that women workers remained unorganized. The Catholic trade unions did create women's auxiliaries, but they met with little response and, because of the strong family values of Catholicism, struggled to provide both economic and religious guidance. | 5 |
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| 1854 |
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| The Darmstädter Bank für Handel und Industrie was founded. It was modeled after the Crédit mobilier of Paris. It not only made short term loans, but also assisted in the organization of business and industry. This bank marked the beginning of a German tradition of active participation of banks in industry. | 6 |
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| April |
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| Prussia and Austria established a defensive alliance, although Prussian policy still remained unclear with regard to Austria. | 7 |
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