Georg Büchner, Der Hessische Landbote [The Hessian Messenger]

Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah)
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Der Hessische Landbote

[

The Hessian Messenger

] is among the most acclaimed political texts in German and by far the most powerful call to revolution in pamphlet form written during the era of Restoration (1815-1848) in the German Confederation. After the dismemberment of the Napoleonic empire, central Europe saw a resurgence of absolutism and the concomitant severe fiscal exploitation of the populace as well as brutal suppression of civil rights through police states. Georg Büchner had studied in Strasbourg (1831-1833), a hotbed of populist activity against the repressive Paris government, and absorbed a variety of revolutionary theories: Jacobinism, early communism as formulated by Babeuf and spread by his followers, Blanqui's theory of class struggle and Buonarroti's radical…

1070 words

Citation: Knapp, Gerhard P.. "Der Hessische Landbote". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 March 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10374, accessed 19 March 2024.]

10374 Der Hessische Landbote 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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