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HEINRICH WILHELM AUGUST

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 387 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HEINRICH WILHELM See also:

AUGUST , Freiherr von See also:Gagern (1799–r88o), the third son, was See also:born at See also:Bayreuth on the loth of August 1799, educated at the military See also:academy at See also:Munich, and, as an officer in the service of the See also:duke of See also:Nassau, fought at See also:Waterloo. Leaving the service after the See also:war, he studied See also:jurisprudence at See also:Heidelberg, See also:Gottingen and See also:Jena, and in 1819 went for a while to See also:Geneva to See also:complete his studies. In 1821 he began his See also:official career as a lawyer in the See also:grand-duchy of See also:Hesse, and in 1832 was elected to the second chamber. Already at the See also:universities he had proclaimed his Liberal sympathies as a member of the Burschenschaft, and he now threw himself into open opposition to the unconstitutional spirit of the See also:Hessian See also:government, an attitude which led to his dismissal from the See also:state service in 1833. Henceforth he lived in See also:comparative retirement, cultivating a See also:farm rented by his See also:father at Monsheim, and occasionally See also:publishing criticisms of public affairs, until the See also:February revolution of 1848 and its echoes in See also:Germany recalled him to active See also:political See also:life. For a See also:short while he was at the See also:head of the new Hessian See also:administration; but his ambition was to See also:share in the creation of a See also:united Germany. At the Heidelberg See also:meeting and the preliminary See also:convention (Vorparlament) of See also:Frankfort he deeply impressed the assemblies with the breadth and moderation of his views; with the result that when the See also:German See also:national See also:parliament met (May 18), he was elected its first See also:president. His See also:influence was at first See also:paramount, both with the Unionist party and with the more moderate elements of the See also:Left, and it was he who was mainly instrumental in imposing the principle of a united See also:empire with a See also:common parliament, and in carrying the See also:election of the See also:Archduke See also:John as See also:regent. With the growing split between the See also:Great Germans (Grossdeutschen), who wished the new empire to include the See also:Austrian provinces, and the Little Germans (Kleindeutschen), who realized that German unity could only be attained by excluding them, his position was shaken. On the 15th of See also:December, when See also:Schmerling and the Austrian members had left the See also:cabinet, Gagern became head of the imperial See also:ministry, and on the 18th he introduced a See also:programme (known as the Gagernsche Programm) according to which See also:Austria was to be excluded from the new federal state, but See also:bound to it by a treaty of See also:union. After a severe struggle this proposal was accepted; but the See also:academic discussion on the constitution continued for weary months, and on the loth of May, realizing the hopelessness of coming to terms with the ultra-democrats, Gagern and his See also:friends resigned. Later on he attempted to influence the Prussian See also:Northern Union in the direction of the national policy, and he took See also:part in the sessions of the See also:Erfurt parliament; but, soon realizing the hopelessness of any See also:good results from the vacillating policy of See also:Prussia, he retired from the contest, and, as a See also:major in the service of the See also:Schleswig-See also:Holstein government, took part in the Danish War of 185o.

After the war he retired into private life at Heidelberg. In 1862, misled by the constitutional tendency of Austrian politics, he publicly declared in favour of the Great German party. In 1864 he went as Hessian See also:

envoy to See also:Vienna, retiring in 1872 when the See also:post was abolished. He died at See also:Darmstadt on the 22nd of May r880.

End of Article: HEINRICH WILHELM AUGUST

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