A youth-led movement in Germany has called for demonstrations in major cities of the country on October 31. The group has categorically distanced itself from the violence that took hold in France.
Typically German. Admire the French Revolution, but denigrate the Guillotine. That’s how you get things like the German Revolution of 1848, where the revolutionaries thought it was a good idea to hold talks with nobility instead of beheading them. Nobility stayed in power, to nobody’s (except the revolutionaries’) surprise.
You must understand that the nobles did not put a beheading into their personal schedules. Nothing could be done you cannot expect someone to attend an unscheduled event
I agree with the sentiment you’re trying to express, but this is wrong. The French equivalent of the German Revolution of 1848 wasn’t the French Revolution; it was… the French Revolution of 1848, where despite the French being meaningfully more radical than the Germans (mostly because German liberals wanted what French liberals were revolting against) essentially the same dynamic happened. What happened in 1848 basically everywhere was that the liberals and socialists won the fight against the conservatives but then the liberals (the people who held talks with the nobility in Germany) wanted to take the ball and run with it while leaving the socialists holding the bag. The socialists were mighty miffed about this and tried to launch a second revolution, and the liberals won that fight but without their radical flank (which they had irreparably alienated by, you know, shooting them dead) were vulnerable to counterrevolution by the conservatives. This same story happened in France BTW, which is how the Second French Republic became the Second French Empire, so it’s unfair to specifically blame the Germans here. Less seriously, blaming mid-19th century Germany for not producing good revolutionaries is definitely a strat gestures at Karl Marx.
Edit: The role of the guillotine (and general revolutionary terror) in the French Revolution is also highly exaggerated. The revolutionaries had already defeated the conservative aristocracy by 1793 (they’d be restored to power only after the defeat of Napoleon), and if anything the rampant executions weakened the Revolution and lead to its backtracking in the Thermidorian Reaction. If you want to learn more about either of these revolutions I highly Mike Duncan’s Revolutions Podcast, which has a multiple dozen episode series for each.
Typically German. Admire the French Revolution, but denigrate the Guillotine. That’s how you get things like the German Revolution of 1848, where the revolutionaries thought it was a good idea to hold talks with nobility instead of beheading them. Nobility stayed in power, to nobody’s (except the revolutionaries’) surprise.
You must understand that the nobles did not put a beheading into their personal schedules. Nothing could be done you cannot expect someone to attend an unscheduled event
I agree with the sentiment you’re trying to express, but this is wrong. The French equivalent of the German Revolution of 1848 wasn’t the French Revolution; it was… the French Revolution of 1848, where despite the French being meaningfully more radical than the Germans (mostly because German liberals wanted what French liberals were revolting against) essentially the same dynamic happened. What happened in 1848 basically everywhere was that the liberals and socialists won the fight against the conservatives but then the liberals (the people who held talks with the nobility in Germany) wanted to take the ball and run with it while leaving the socialists holding the bag. The socialists were mighty miffed about this and tried to launch a second revolution, and the liberals won that fight but without their radical flank (which they had irreparably alienated by, you know, shooting them dead) were vulnerable to counterrevolution by the conservatives. This same story happened in France BTW, which is how the Second French Republic became the Second French Empire, so it’s unfair to specifically blame the Germans here. Less seriously, blaming mid-19th century Germany for not producing good revolutionaries is definitely a strat gestures at Karl Marx.
Edit: The role of the guillotine (and general revolutionary terror) in the French Revolution is also highly exaggerated. The revolutionaries had already defeated the conservative aristocracy by 1793 (they’d be restored to power only after the defeat of Napoleon), and if anything the rampant executions weakened the Revolution and lead to its backtracking in the Thermidorian Reaction. If you want to learn more about either of these revolutions I highly Mike Duncan’s Revolutions Podcast, which has a multiple dozen episode series for each.
Seems to be a recurring theme in German revolutions.
It is a treasured tradition, unfortunately.