1. Economic competition among industrial nations.
2. Political and military competition, including the creation of a strong naval force.
3. A belief in the racial and cultural superiority of people of Anglo-Saxon descent.
Prohibition would have failed regardless of the atmosphere, because people like to drink alcohol. The permisive attitude of the times (mild compared to today) meant there was little social stigma attached to those who ignored prohibition. People finally came to realize that all they did was stregnthen the mob and lose tax revenues with Prohibition.
Let us start saying that it was when Schurz was a student at the University of Bonn, in early 1848, when news reached that the French people had removed their king and had established a representative government.
It was in that precise moment that Schurz got inspired and mmediately joined a group of revolutionaries determined to fight for civil liberties and national unity in Germany.
The answer to your question is the news that the French people had removed their king and had established a representative government.
