Karlsbader Beschlüsse

Karlsbader Beschlüsse, decrees drawn up by Metternich at a meeting in Karlsbad with representatives of eight other German states, and ratified by the Frankfurt Diet (see Deutscher Bund) in September 1819. Provoked by the assassination of A. von Kotzebue in March of that year by K. L. Sand, they were designed to suppress national and liberal movements, notably in the universities (see Burschenschaften). In effect they were enforced by a stringent police system and became an instrument for ruthless persecution; they were largely responsible for the minor revolutions in 1830 (see Julirevolution) and for the radical revolutions in 1848 (see Revolutionen 1848-9).

The decrees included control of all educational institutions, the prohibition of political meetings, and the censorship of the press. Among the nine sovereigns at the meeting only the King of Württemberg protested strongly against them.