Under the influence of the French February Revolution, in early 1848, the German Baden first broke out of the revolution, followed by the states of Hessen, Wurtemberg, Saxony and Bavaria.

On March 1, 1848, Baden's reactionary cabinet fell. In order to maintain their rule, the monarchs of various states were forced to agree to the formation of a cabinet by bourgeois liberals (known as the "March Cabinet" in history), and promised to convene a hierarchical parliament, formulate a constitution, guarantee freedom of press, assembly and association, amnesty for political prisoners, and election of the All-German National Assembly.

Once politically satisfied, the bourgeois liberals actively collaborated with the monarchs and the nobles in the revolutionary movement to stifle the states.