To what extent did German nationalism lack popular appeal in the period from 1789 to 1919?

Looking at this period German nationalism did lack popular appeal to a large extent in the early period until 1862 onwards where leaders popularised it. To fully consider what extent German nationalism lacked popular appeal we must consider it from the view of political nationalism (the want to unite a common people in a political system/ political strength), cultural nationalism (the want to unite people of a common history, culture, or language), and economic nationalism (the want to unite politically to increase economic strength).
Political nationalism did significantly lack popular appeal in the early period, yet it would be incorrect to claim political nationalism was not popular from 1862 onwards when it was galvanised by leaders such as Bismark. For example, by detaching nationalism from liberalism in the 1864 Danish war Bismark made nationalism popular to conservatives. Moreover, Bismark popularised nationalism by making it more militaristic, such as in 1862 by forcing through Roon's army bill (this doubled the size of the army and increased service to 3 years). This crucially allowed there to be successful wars which furthered the popularity of political nationalism. In particular a peak in political nationalism was due to the success of the 1870 Franco Prussian war which increased national sentiment so much that unification was possible in 1871. Similarly, Wilhelm also used ideas of war to further the popularity of political nationalism. For example, by introducing the policy of Weltpolitik in 1897 Wilhelm created a climate for political pressure groups to support the cause for world power. An example of this is the Navy League, created in 1898 it had 300,000 members at its peak. Arguably the largest peak of political nationalism was in 1914 where the Reichstag unanimously voted for war credits thus disagreeing with the view that German nationalism lacked popular appeal. However, it is correct that nationalism did lack popular appeal until 1862. For example, the 1815 Treaty of Vienna thoroughly solidified that the German states wanted to be politically separated thus showing how political nationalism (i.e. unity) was not popular. Moreover, political nationalism lacked popular appeal in the early period as mainly the middle class supported it, it was not until successful wars in the later period that political nationalism transcended class barriers (such as full German unification in 1871). Whilst political structures like the Burschenshaften (first started in 1815) did exist in the early period only students partook in them. Moreover, the failure of the 1848 revolutions is a clear example of how political nationalism did lack popular appeal; peasants were not interested in the liberal revolution partly due to being loyal military conscripts, whilst the upper classes did not want to lose power. Therefore, it is clear how wars in the later period would have appealed to a wider base of people as they provided a common enemy. As such it is true to say that political nationalism did lack popular appeal in the period from 1789 to 1862, but it would be incorrect to claim it lacked popular appeal for the whole period.