Carlsbad Decrees

The Carlsbad Decrees were measures adopted by the German Confederation in 1819 to censor the press, supervise universities, and suppress nationalist and liberal movements.

Press censorship: State control over the publication and circulation of written material. The decrees subjected newspapers and other publications to prior review and suppression.
Congress of Vienna: The 1814–1815 diplomatic conference that reorganized Europe after the Napoleonic Wars. Its conservative settlement created the German Confederation within which the decrees operated.
Klemens von Metternich: An Austrian statesman who served as foreign minister and chancellor during the era of the Congress of Vienna. He organized the conservative response and pressed the German states to adopt the decrees.
Demagogue persecutions: The post-1819 investigations and prosecutions of people suspected of revolutionary or nationalist activity in the German states. The decrees supplied the legal and administrative basis for these investigations.
University supervision: State oversight of universities, including their teaching, personnel, and student activity. Government-appointed officials monitored universities and could remove politically suspect teachers.
Carlsbad Festival: An 1819 meeting of German ministers in Carlsbad that produced proposals for confederal repression. The conference gave the measures their name and prepared their adoption.
Karl August von Hardenberg: A Prussian statesman and leading architect of Prussian administrative and social reforms. As Prussia’s chief minister, he participated in the politics surrounding confederal repression.
Hambach Festival: A large 1832 political gathering in the Palatinate that advocated German unity and civil liberties. Its organizers and speeches exposed the persistence of opposition despite years of censorship.
Mainz Central Investigative Commission: A commission established in 1819 to investigate revolutionary and nationalist activity in the German Confederation. It coordinated investigations intended to uncover organizations and networks opposing the settlement.
August von Kotzebue: A German playwright and publicist assassinated by student Karl Ludwig Sand in 1819. His murder intensified calls for measures against radical students and nationalist agitation.

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