Masters Theses

Vanessa Gera

Date of Award

12-2001

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

History

Major Professor

Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius

Committee Members

Owen Bradley, John Bohstedt

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether history lessons in elementary school readers used in the German state of Württemberg between 1855 and 1910 changed in response to the unification of Germany in 1871. Textbooks used in the years before unification were compared to those used for several decades after 1871. An examination of readers used in both Catholic and Protestant schools revealed that history lessons were changed in only very minor ways in the first few decades after German unification. The Prussian leaders of the Second Empire did not push the state of Württemberg to change its curriculum, in part because they did not want to promote the notion that the stated derived its legitimacy from the people. Instead, the Prussian rulers viewed unification as a coming together of various dynastic houses. The message of the schoolbooks used in Württemberg before unification stressed that children should develop into hardworking, obedient and religious subjects in a monarchical state. Because the children attending elementary schools were not expected to have more political power in the new state, the old books were able to continue to serve their same function and were largely left unchanged by state authorities.

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