Re: to marry or not to marry... the ethics of 19th century marriages

I don't think the divorce rate has so much to do with arranged/not arranged marriages, but with the culture surrounding it, especially how socially acceptable it is to be divorced.and how likely it is to remarry after a divorce. In Germany, the divorce rate was around 25% when I was in school (i.e. in the 1990s). Back then, remarrying after a divorce was not as common and easy as it is today. With the internet, it became easier to meet new people whether you were still in an unhappy marriage or recently divorced, so people would see the alternatives and end unhappy marriages earlier plus the probability to find someone new after a divorce increased. Nowadays we have a divorce rate of between 40% and 50% depending on the calculation.