 After his graduation in 1846, at twenty two years of age, he was given a position in the engineering service of the Bavarian Government, his first employment being on works for the improvement of the River Rhine.The years which immediately followed, particularly the years 1848 and 1849, were years of great political commotion throughout Europe.Encouraged by the success of the French Revolution of 1848 which drove out King Louis Philippe I, the longings of the German people for a freer and more united government found such vigorous expression that the princes of the many petty states into which Germany was divided acceded to the convocation of a National Assembly or Parliament, which, in May 1848, met in Frankfurt to frame a constitution for United Germany.