This article aims to give a historical outline ofliberalism in Germany (German:Liberalismus). Theliberalparties dealt with in the timeline below are, largely, those which received sufficient support at one time or another to have been represented in parliament. Not all parties so included, however, necessarily labeled themselves "liberal". The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme.
In the Frankfurt Parliament National Assembly in the Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt Paulskirche (1848/1849), the bourgeois liberal factionsCasino andWürttemberger Hof (the latter led byHeinrich von Gagern) were the majority. They favored a constitutional monarchy,popular sovereignty, andparliamentary rule.Organized liberalism developed in the 1860s, combining the previous liberal and democratic currents. Between 1867 and 1933 liberalism was divided into progressive liberal and national liberal factions. Since 1945 only one liberal party has been significant in politics at the national level: TheFree Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei, FDP).
1945: Liberals in East Germany re-organised themselves into theLiberal Democratic Party of Germany (Liberal-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands). Since 1949 the party is under control of the communist dictatorship
1990: The LDPD regained its liberal profile and shortened its name in February intoLiberal Democratic Party (Liberal-Demokratische Partei). The same month it joined the newly foundedFree Democratic Party of the GDR (Freie Demokratische Partei der DDR) and theGerman Forum Party (Deutsche Forumpartei) intoAssociation of Free Democrats (Bund Freier Demokraten). In March the Association of Free Democrats absorbed theNational Democratic Party of Germany (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands), and finally in August it merged into present-day ⇒ Free Democratic Party
1945–1946: Liberals in West Germany re-organised themselves in regional parties
1948: The regional liberal parties merged into theFree Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei)
1956: A conservative faction seceded and formed theFree People's Party (Germany) (Freie Volkspartei). FDP is initially a hard right party well to the right of CDU
1982: A left-wing faction seceded as the ⇒ Liberal Democrats
1990: The FDP incorporated the ⇒ Association of Free Democrats
2013: FDP fails to reach 5% threshold, loses all representation in the Bundestag for the first time ever
Eyck, F. Gunther. "English and French Influences on German Liberalism before 1848."Journal of the History of Ideas (1957): 313–341.in JSTOR
Gross, Michael B.The war against Catholicism: Liberalism and the anti-Catholic imagination in nineteenth-century Germany (University of Michigan Press, 2004)[ISBN missing]
Harris, James F.A study in the theory and practice of German liberalism: Eduard Lasker, 1829–1884 (University Press of America, 1984)[ISBN missing]
Jarausch, Konrad, et al. eds.In search of a liberal Germany: studies in the history of German liberalism from 1789 to the present (1990), essays by scholars[ISBN missing]
Jones, Larry Eugene.German liberalism and the dissolution of the Weimar party system, 1918–1933 (University of North Carolina Press, 1988)[ISBN missing]
Krieger, Leonard.The German idea of freedom: History of a political tradition (University of Chicago Press, 1957)[ISBN missing]
Kurlander, Eric.The price of exclusion: ethnicity, national identity, and the decline of German liberalism, 1898–1933 (Berghahn Books, 2006)[ISBN missing]
Langewiesche, Dieter.Liberalism in Germany (Macmillan Press, 2000)[ISBN missing]
Kwan, Jonathan.Liberalism and the Habsburg Monarchy, 1861–1895 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), Concerns the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Langewiesche, Dieter.Liberalism in Germany (2000)[ISBN missing]
Mork, Gordon R. "Bismarck and the 'Capitulation' of German Liberalism,"Journal of Modern History (1971) 43#1 pp. 59–75in JSTOR
Palmowski, Jan. "Mediating the nation: liberalism and the polity in nineteenth-century Germany."German History (2001) 19#4 pp. 573–598.
Palmowski, Jan.Urban liberalism in imperial Germany: Frankfurt am Main, 1866–1914 (Oxford University Press, 1999)[ISBN missing]
Sheehan, James J. "Liberalism and society in Germany, 1815–48."Journal of Modern History (1973): 583–604.in JSTOR
Sheehan, James J.German liberalism in the nineteenth century (1995)[ISBN missing]
Sheehan, James J. "Liberalism and the city in nineteenth-century Germany."Past and Present (1971): 116–137.in JSTOR
Sheehan, James J.The career of Lujo Brentano: a study of liberalism and social reform in imperial Germany (University of Chicago Press, 1966)[ISBN missing]
