The Pro-French Front in Prussia

Under the surface, there was a powerful and growing backlash to this new policy. Many in the Prussian court were deeply alarmed by the ambitious foreign policy moves Napoleon had undertaken after Austerlitz. They looked on with dread as French influence creeped closer to Prussia's borders. It's still too early to talk about any kind of German nationalism, but many in Prussia did feel a kind of proto-nationalism. And there was a growing feeling that under Napoleon's new empire, their fellow Germans were being oppressed.