What was German society like in 1800- 1900?
It is difficult to determine precisely what you are looking for when you by the question, as “social groups” could include a broad range of groups which are not necessarily interconnected: political, religious, trade, business, scientific, etc. Moreover, the 100 time period involved includes the impact of multiple revolutionary periods (French/Napoleonic, 1848, and Continental Industrialization), wars, and, for “Germany” the era of unification. It is like asking to describe American history for the same period in a single paragraph. Probably your best resource for understanding this era in Germany is a novel. Thomas Mann’s “Buddenbrooks,” Published in 1901, it tracks the slow decline of a merchant family from northern Germany during the 1880’s. The book gives a good feel for the political and social factors which were running through the area during the period.
