The recognition of this independence made any common government impossible.

Neither Austria nor Prussia would submit to any external authority, or to one another; the Kings of Bavaria and Wuertemberg were equally jealous of their independence.

All that could be done was to establish a permanent offensive and defensive alliance between these States.

For the management of common concerns, a Diet was appointed to meet at Frankfort; the Diet, however, was only a union of diplomatists; they had to act in accordance with instructions from their governments and they had no direct authority over the Germans; each German was officially regarded as a subject, as the case might be, of the King of Prussia, the Prince of Reuss, the Grand Duke of Weimar.
There was no German army, no German law, no German church.

No development of common institutions was possible, for no change could be introduced without the universal consent of every member of the Confederation.
This lamentable result of the Congress of Vienna caused much dissatisfaction among the thinking classes in Germany.