1848 Opening of the Frankfurt Parliament

170 years ago, on May 18, 1848, the first all-German parliament, the Frankfurt National Assembly, opened in Frankfurt. On March 27, 1849, 568 deputies, elected by popular vote, adopted a constitution proclaiming basic democratic rights and freedoms and establishing an all-German constitutional monarchy headed by a hereditary Kaiser (emperor).

However, the defeat of the German Revolution and the refusal of the Prussian king to become a German monarch led to the fact that the constitution never came into force.