Quote Originally Posted by Louis VI the Fat View Post
Yes, but what if the liberal revolution had succeeded in Germany in 1848? One can not begin to imagine how history for Europe would've developed in this case. But would it have been worse than what actually happened?

What if West German liberalism would've unified Germany, instead of Eastern Prussian autocracy and militarism?


Also, however shortlived, 1848 created a second Republic. Alas, it was not to be and in a repeat of history, a Bonaparte took the prize. In another repeat, the Empire was far more enlightened and liberal than it got credit for.
I said that out of the three possible outcomes (which, grossly simplified, would have been a) Liberal victory b) Conservative victory, but nevertheless incorporating liberal elements into the new status quo and c) Working class revolution à la Marx) the conservative victory was not the worst one. A liberal victory, i.e. the establishment of a liberal and unified Germany, the partial dismantlement of the Habsburg empire, would probably have been the best outcome and spared Europe much of the pain of the 20th century.
Nevertheless, the eventual outcome, the Bismarckian unification of Germany, did create a state which by the 1900s, though more autocratic than other Western European powers (yet it was still a constitutional monarchy, unlike the far more repressive Russian empire), had the one of the most advanced welfare systems in the world.