(German: "youth association") German student organization that started as an expression of the nationalism prevalent in post-Napoleonic Europe.
First appearing in 1815, the early groups were liberal and egalitarian and favored the political unification of Germany. The groups were suppressed under the Carlsbad Decrees and went underground until 1848, when they participated in the German revolution (see Revolutions of 1848 ). After German unification, they adopted a new and aggressive nationalism.