2-489-612 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Procession to Hambach Castle, Germany, 27 May 1832. In 1832 the people of the Palatinate met at Hambach in protest at the repressive rule of their Bavarian rulers, who had taken away rights granted by the French, who had ruled the area from 1797 until 1815. The gathering, which was disguised by its organisers as a non-political country fair, the Hambacher Fest, attracted people from elsewhere in Germany as well as from other nations, including France and Russian-occupied Poland. The event, which called for liberty, civil rights and national unity, produced no practical results, but has come to be seen as an important milestone on the road to German republicanism and democracy. From a private collection.