Definition of burschenschaft in English English dictionary
(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
The organization was suppressed by the government in 1819, but was secretly revived, and is now openly maintained as a social organization, the restrictive laws having been repealed prior to 1849
In Germany, any of various associations of university students formed (the original one at Jena in 1815) to support liberal ideas, or the organization formed by the affiliation of the local bodies