... confederation during this period revolved around the restoration of absolute rule by monarchs. The statesman Metternich represented the Austrian-Hapsburg Empire in the Confederation and it was under his direction that policies were developed and implemented during the restoration. The agenda of the Austrian empire took precedence during this phase of German history and consequently transpired a period during which expressions of Nationalism were targeted for especially heavy measures of reactionary force. The first reason for this being the multicultural disposition of the Hapsburg Empire and the second being that a majority of the German kings and princes wished for the structure of government to remain as it had always been - that of aristocratic privilege. The vast majority of the German people were rural agricultural workers but a small yet growing percentage were becoming increasingly upwardly mobile through education and public sector employment and it is to this minority of educated ...

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