On 18 October 1817, the first Wartburg festival took place. About 450 students, members of the German Burschenschaften ("fraternities"), celebrated the German victory over Napoleon that happened four years before, condemned conservatism and called for German unity. Scraps of parchment with the titles of conservative books were burned, because the actual books were very expensive. This event and similar gatherings at Wartburg during the Revolutions of 1848 are considered important events in the movement for German unification.