(b) The Political Struggles of the Resuscitated Nation
At first the Czechs and the Germans living in Bohemia took common part in the revolutionary campaign against Metternich's absolutism. But before long the Germans perceived that Czech independence would leave them in a minority. The famous Frankfort Parliament had just assembled, and was propagating amongst the Germans ideas which it is wise to remember, especially to-day, in order to understand the dangers which have threatened the Czechs in every decisive period of European history.
It was to Frankfort that in 1848 were turned the eyes of all Germans who cherished the desire for liberty, who were imbued with the idea of the rights of nations, and who sugared in seeing the incoherence and discord which reigned in Germany and which encouraged the absolutism of the governments in the different German States. Their dream was to unite in a great and free Germany all the lands inhabited by Germans from the Baltic to the Adriatic. The German Liberals were disposed to give this new Germany the form of a monarchy, while the Radicals desired a republic. This movement soon assumed considerable proportions, and spread throughout Austria, being specially strong at Vienna, where absolutism was
