The King of Prussia Addressing the Berliners, March revolution of 1848
Illustration by William Barnes Wollen (1857–1936) from The Life and Times of Queen Victoria published circa 1901. Info from wiki: In March 1848, crowds of people gathered in Berlin to present their demands to the king. Taken by surprise, he yielded to all the demonstrators' demands, including parliamentary elections, a constitution, and freedom of the press. He promised that "Prussia was to be merged forthwith into Germany." On March 13, the army charged a group of people returning from a meeting, On March 18, a large demonstration occurred, and a battle ensued until troops were ordered to retreat, leaving hundreds dead. Afterwards, Frederick William attempted to reassure the public that he would proceed with reorganizing his government. A Constituent National Assembly was elected and gathered in Frankfurt on May 18, 1848.[50] Officially called the all-German National Assembly, it was composed of deputies democratically elected from various German states The Assembly worked to find ways to unite the various German states and to write a constitution.[51] The Assembly was unable to pass resolutions and dissolved into endless debate.[52] On May 22, 1848, another elected assembly sat for the first time in Berlin.[15] Elected under universal suffrage and a two-stage voting system.[15] They set about the task of writing a constitution "by agreement with the Crown."[15] King Frederick William IV of Prussia unilaterally imposed a monarchist constitution to undercut the democratic forces. This constitution took effect on December 5, 1848.[53] On December 5, 1848, the Berlin Assembly was dissolved and replaced with the bicameral legislature allowed under the monarchist Constitution. This legislature was composed of a Herrenhaus and a Landtag. Otto von Bismarck was elected to the first Landtag elected under the new monarchical constitution.
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Photo credit: © Historical Images Archive / Alamy / Afripics
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