The Carlsbad Decrees, a set of reactionary…
September 1819 CE
Introduced by resolution of the Bundesversammlung on September 20, 1819, after a conference held in the spa town of Carlsbad, Bohemia, the decrees aim to quell a growing sentiment for German unification and are passed during ongoing Hep-Hep riots, which end within a month after the resolution was passed.
The meeting of the state's representatives had been called by the Austrian Minister of State Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich after the liberal Burschenschaft student Karl Ludwig Sand had murdered the conservative writer August von Kotzebue on March 23 and an attempt had been made by apothecary Karl Löning on the life of Nassau president Karl von Ibell on July 1.
In the course of the European Restoration, Metternich fears liberal and national tendencies at German universities that might conduct revolutionary activities threatening the monarchistic order.
At this time, the two outrages cited serve as a welcome pretext to take action.