At Franz's command, Bavaria sprang to life.
Prime Minister Felix's speech in Munich had had an effect. Most of Bavaria's younger generation had fallen for the bait, each one pondering how Germany should be unified.
And once they started thinking, problems arose. Given their limited experience of the world, they simply could not consider matters comprehensively, and it was all too easy for them to take things to extremes.
It would have been one thing if no one had been steering the tide, but how could Franz, who had prepared for this long ago, possibly let such an opportunity slip by?
Experts and scholars stepped forward one after another to voice their opinions, condemning Bavaria's rulers for sabotaging Germany's unification for their own interests.
In most people's eyes, rebuilding the Holy Roman Empire might not have been the best option, but it was the most suitable one. Once the path of peaceful unification had been blocked, only unification by force remained.
Some might yearn to win fame and achievement in war, but this was absolutely not a civil war.
Influenced by Prime Minister Felix's speech, these students who considered themselves the elite could no longer endure it. They believed they ought to do something for national unification instead of standing by and watching the government run wild.
Demonstrations—such meaningful activities—became what they saw as the best way to make their voices heard.
They were all intellectuals, and even when staging demonstrations, they could find legal grounds for them. A speech given by former King Ludwig before his abdication became their banner.
(Influenced by the Revolution, Ludwig abdicated. In order to win over public sentiment, he publicly declared: The royal family would devote itself to the unification of Germany.)
Maximilian II had a headache. This political bomb had exploded. Even though