Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Peassant
Although i wasnt in class this week i really enjoyed reading blackbourns "Populists and Patricians." Throughout the course of the class I have thought that the peassant were the underdogs in german society and werent really apart of the political side of society but after reading this article I have come to see that this wasnt actually the case. The fact that the pesant groups had some involvement in the political parties showed me that they to knew about the problems facing Germany and the uprise that was occuring. The fact that the liberals were actutally taking into consideration the peasants political ideas was amazing to me. Little to my belief, the peasants had actually helped the historical ideology in Germany. Very interesting article
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You are right that the peasants were the underdogs of the German society. Most of the articles dealt with either the bourgeoise or aristocracy. The peasants turned out to be a rather large source of political power. Bismarck, rather ingeniusly I think, took advantage of this source more than the liberals. By putting forth a universal male suffrage he allowed the peasants equal say which they used to vote with Bismarck and his policies.
ReplyDeleteI also viewed the peasants as underdogs due to the articles we had read to that point. I feel after reading this article that maybe they did have a greater role in the social and political structure. Even is Bismarck and the Liberals used them to extend their own power. It still brought issues they faced everyday to the forefront.
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