In the meantime, the Frankfurt Parliament was set up in 1848 and attempted to proclaim a united Germany, but this was refused by William IV. The question of a united Germany under the Kleindeutsch solution (to exclude Austria) or the so-called Großdeutsch (to include Austria) began to surface. 1850: The Erfurt Union was a short-lived attempt at a union of German states under a federation, proposed by the Kingdom of Prussia.