The term “a time when nothing happened in Germany” is defined by in terms of unification between the 39 individual ‘German’ states and monarchies. Between the years 1815 to 1848, ‘Germany’ as one individual country still didn’t exist, and ''German' people continued to lack nationalist sentiment and liberalist views not until the end of 1848, a period when a series of 'German' revolutions took place. In 1815, the 'German' political system was heavily influenced by Metternich and Austria, and there was still no clear 'German' borders as all of the 39 states formed by the Vienna Congress still remained, and many had no intention of simply just joining borders with another state. However, it could be argued that 'Germany' developed economically and politically between 1815-48, through the formation of trade unions and new constitutions within and between 'German' states.
It can be argued that the period 1815-48 was “a time when nothing happened” in 'Germany'. 'Germany' was still divided into 39 separate states and was still not represented in Europe as one nation. Despite the growing interests of nationalism and liberalism through popular events such as the Hambach Festival in 1832, which attracted 25,000 students and lecturers who all wanted to promote nationalism and make a unified 'Germany' a reality, by the end of 1848-49 'Germany' was right back where it started, as a dis-unified collection of states. 'Germany' itself wasn’t considered a major European power. Instead, it was Prussia that was considered one of the ‘Big Five’ in Europe during the 1840’s, alongside Austria, France, Russia and Britain. In terms of unification, nothing happened in 'Germany' as by 1848 even though economic trade links and agreements had been made between some 'German' states, demographically there was still 39 states making up 'Germany', the same number as in