The fashion known as Altdeutsche Tracht, "old German" dress or costume (also known as Deutsche Nationaltracht, "German national costume"), became popular in Germany between 1813 and 1815, during the time of what is in German historiography known as the Befreiungskriege, the "liberation wars", the last years of the Napoleonic Wars. It was an expression of anti-French German national sentiment and met with great approval among women and men of various social strata. The new fashion was intended as a demonstration of resistance against the "French fashion foolishness", as it was described.
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European powers formed into various coalitions, financed and usually led by the United Kingdom. The wars stemmed from the unresolved disputes associated with the French Revolution and its resultant conflict. The wars are often categorised into five conflicts, each termed after the coalition that fought Napoleon: the Third Coalition (1805), the Fourth (1806–07), the Fifth (1809), the Sixth (1813), and the Seventh (1815).
France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.
It is said that the Austrian officer Count von Sztáray complained already in 1800 to the University of Heidelberg that he saw students dressing according to the fashion of the French enemy:
- It cannot escape the notice of any right-thinking man, how conspicuously many young gentlemen of this University model themselves according to the pattern of the latest thing coughed up by the worst class of French people in costume, moral behaviour, gestures and public decency, to the disgrace of the upright of the German nation.
Leading advocates of a German national fashion included Ernst Moritz Arndt and Karoline Pichler. This new fashion was considered a sign of resistance against the rule of foreigners, but also against the old type of monarchical rule, and of a liberal, democratic disposition. After the foundation of the Urburschenschaft in Jena in 1815, it became a sign of belonging to the student Burschenschaften , who wanted to stand out from the traditionally minded, regionally oriented corps students.
Ernst Moritz Arndt was a German nationalist historian, writer and poet. Early in his life, he fought for the abolition of serfdom, later against Napoleonic dominance over Germany. Arndt had to flee to Sweden for some time due to his anti-French positions. He is one of the main founders of German nationalism and the 19th century movement for German unification. After the Carlsbad Decrees, the forces of the restoration counted him as a demagogue.
Karoline Pichler, also spelled Caroline Pichler, was an Austrian historical novelist.
The Urburschenschaft was the first Burschenschaft, one traditional form of German student fraternities.
The most prominent bearer of this fashion was the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig, the later King Ludwig I.
Ludwig I was king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.
The new fashion built on the elements of the fashion of the time, supplemented through reminiscences of the 16th century, the period of the Reformation and Martin Luther, which were seen as characteristically German. In the female form, the historical elements added to the fashion included slashed and puffed sleeves, and ruffled collars. The most important piece of clothing for men was a long tight-fitting coat that was often worn with a widely opened collar. To this came widely cut trousers and often a large velvet beret. The dominant colour was black, the colour of the uniforms of many Freikorps during the liberation war. In particular among the young men, a rebellious behaviour and unkempt hair and beards were also common.
Martin Luther, was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk, and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation.
A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre.
Freikorps were German military volunteer units that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries, which effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regardless of their own nationality. In German-speaking countries, the first so-called Freikorps were formed in the 18th century from native volunteers, enemy renegades and deserters. These sometimes exotically equipped units served as infantry and cavalry, sometimes in just company strength, sometimes in formations up to several thousand strong; there were also various mixed formations or legions. The Prussian von Kleist Freikorps included infantry, jäger, dragoons and hussars. The French Volontaires de Saxe combined uhlans and dragoons.
The fashion was seen as provocative and rebellious enough to be partly prohibited by the authorities during the persecution of "demagogues" (see also Carlsbad Decrees).
The Carlsbad Decrees were a set of reactionary restrictions introduced in the states of the German Confederation by resolution of the Bundesversammlung on 20 September 1819 after a conference held in the spa town of Carlsbad, Bohemia. They banned nationalist fraternities ("Burschenschaften"), removed liberal university professors, and expanded the censorship of the press. They were aimed at quelling a growing sentiment for German unification and were passed during ongoing Hep-Hep riots which ended within a month after the resolution was passed.
