Johann Caspar Bluntschli és Báró Eötvös József a német egységről
Johann Caspar Bluntschli and Baron Joseph Eötvös about the German Unity

Thoughts on the (con)federal versions of German Unity in the 1860s

Summary/Abstract: The only known personal meeting between Johann Caspar Bluntschli and Baron Joseph Eötvös took place at the end of August in 1862. In the center of their discussions were the German unity and the independent status of the Hungarian Kingdom. Although the two jurist- politicians expressed their views on one of the most actual European issues several times during the years of the 1860s, the present study intends to focus mainly on two of their pamphlets. Eötvös' essay The Hungarian Independence from the viewpoint of German Unification was published in Hungarian around the late spring–early summer days of 1861. The essay of Johann Caspar Bluntschli The Reorganization of Germany and and the status of Switzerland appeared in 1866. Their concepts in respect of the reorganisation of Germany into a (con)federal state as well as concerning the popular representation are not far from each other. However, they had differences in their related concepts as well. Eötvös’s idea is very similar to a state structure of a loose confederation to be organised within the already existing frames of the German Confederation. Unlike Bluntschli, Eötvös accepted the hegemony of Austria in the Confederation. The core of Bluntschli’s concept lies in a federal Germany with a legislative, executive and judicial power being sovereign form the member states. This work also pays special attention to other contemporary pamphlets and intends to enlarge upon Bluntschli’s and Eötvös’s thoughts in the light of the competing ideas among the different political directions, respectively of the political events of that time.

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