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 Baden~Württemberg
In 1952 Baden merged with Württemberg and Hohenzollern to form the state of Baden-Württemberg. It lies in the southwestern part of Germany to the east of the Upper Rhine and borders on Switzerland to the south, France to the west, Rhineland-Palatinate to northwest, Hesse to the north and Bavaria to the east. The Rhine forms the western border as well as large portions of the southern border. The Black Forest called "Schwarzwald" in German, which are the main mountain range of the state, rises east of the Rhine valley. Baden-Württemberg shares both Lake Constance, called "Bodensee" in German, and the foothills of the Alps with Switzerland. The Danube river, "Donau Fluß" in German, has its source in Baden-Württemberg near the town of Donaueschingen, in a place called Furtwangen in the Black Forest. It is the third largest in both area and population among the country's sixteen states. Its principal cities include the capital city of Stuttgart, and Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Ludwigsburg, Ulm, Tübingen, Pforzheim and Reutlingen. In 1952 Baden-Wurttemberg were combined from the historical states of Baden, Hohenzollern and Württemberg.
Baden is located in the southwest of Germany, on the right bank of the Rhine. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden. The Lords of Baden benefited from the break-up of Swabia, and, raised to the dignity of Margrave in 1112, were able to take their place as one of the four most important dynasts in southern Germany along with Habsburg, Wittelsbach, and Württemberg.
12th - 14th Century
Baden as a state began in the 12th century during the MIddle Ages, as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. A fairly inconsequential margraviate that was divided between various branches of its ruling family for much of its history and various counts ruled the country. However, the counts and duchy of Zähringen figured prominently among these.
In 1112 Hermann who was the son of Hermann, Margrave of Verona and the grandson of Berthold, duke of Carinthia and count of Zähringen, inherited some of the German estates of his family, called himself Margrave of Baden, and from this time the history of Baden dates. Hermann appears to have called himself margrave rather than count, because of the family connection to the Margrave of Verona. His son and grandson, both called Hermann, added to their territories, which were then divided, and the lines of Baden-Baden and Baden-Hochberg were founded, the latter of which divided about a century later into Baden-Hochberg and Baden-Sausenberg. The family of Baden-Baden was very successful in increasing the area of its holdings, which after several divisions were united by the margrave Bernard I in 1391. Bernard, a soldier of some renown, continued the work of his predecessors, and obtained other districts, including Baden-Hochberg, the ruling family of which died out in 1418.
15th - 17th Centuries
During the 15th century, a war with the count Palatine of the Rhine deprived the Margrave Charles I of a part of his territories, but these losses were more than repaired by his son and successor, Christophe I of Baden. In 1503 the family Baden-Sausenberg became extinct, and the whole of Baden was united by Christophe. Before his death in 1527 he divided it among his three sons. One of these died childless in 1533, and in 1535 his remaining sons, Bernard and Ernest, having shared their brother's territories, made a fresh division and founded the lines of Baden-Baden and Baden-Pforzheim, later called Baden-Durlach after 1565. Further divisions followed, and the weakness caused by these partitions was accentuated by a rivalry between the two main branches of the family. This culminated in open warfare, and from 1584 to 1622 Baden-Baden was in the possession of one of the princes of Baden-Durlach.
Religious differences increased the family's rivalry. During the period of the Reformation some of the rulers of Baden remained Catholic and some became Protestants, and the house was similarly divided during the Thirty Years' War. Baden suffered severely during this struggle, and both branches of the family were exiled in turn. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 restored the status quo, and the family rivalry gradually died out.
18th century
During the wars of the reign of Louis XIV of France the margravate was ravaged by French troops, and the towns of Pforzheim, Durlach, and Baden were destroyed. The margrave of Baden-Baden, Louis William (died 1707), figured prominently among the soldiers who resisted the aggressions of France.
It was the life's work of Charles Frederick of Baden-Durlach to give territorial unity to his country. Beginning to reign in 1738 and coming of age in 1746, this prince is the most notable of the rulers of Baden. He was interested in the development of agriculture and commerce, sought to improve education and the administration of justice, and proved in general a wise and liberal ruler of the Enlightenment.
In 1771 Augustus George of Baden-Baden died without sons, and his territories passed to Charles Frederick, who thus finally became ruler of the whole of Baden. Although Baden was united under a single ruler, the territory was not united in its customs and tolls, tax structure, laws or government. Baden did not even form a compact territory, consisting of a number of isolated districts lying on either bank of the upper Rhine. His opportunity for territorial aggrandisement came during the Napoleonic wars.
The French Revolution
When the French Revolution threatened to be exported throughout Europe in 1792, Baden joined forces against France, and its countryside was devastated once more. In 1796 the margrave was compelled to pay an indemnity, and to cede his territories on the left bank of the Rhine to France. Fortune, however, soon returned to his side.
In 1803, largely owing to the good offices of Alexander I, emperor of Russia, he received the bishopric of Constance, part of the Rhenish Palatinate, and other smaller districts, together with the dignity of a prince-elector. Changing sides in 1805, he fought for Napoleon, with the result that by the peace of Pressburg in that year he obtained the Breisgau and other territories at the expense of the Habsburgs. In 1806 he joined the Confederation of the Rhine, declared himself a sovereign prince, became a grand-duke, and received other additions of territory.
In 1871 it became one of the founder states of the German Empire. The monarchy came to an end with the end of the First World War, but Baden itself continued in existence as a state of Germany until the end of the Second World War.
Baden in the German Confederation
In 1815 Baden became a member of the German Confederation established by the Act of the 8th of June, annexed to the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna of June 9. In the hasteof the winding-up of the Congress, however, the vexed question of the succession to the grand-duchy had not been settled. This was soon to become acute.
By the treaty of the 16th of April 1816, by which the territorial disputes between Austria and Bavaria were settled, the succession to the Baden Palatinate was guaranteed to Maximilian I, king of Bavaria, in the expected event of the extinction of the line of Zähringen. As a counterblast to this the grand-duke Charles issued in 1817 a pragmatic sanction (Hausgesetz) declaring the counts of Höchberg, the issue of a morganatic marriage between the grand-duke Charles Frederick and Luise Geyer von Geyersberg (created countess Höchberg), capable of succeeding to the crown. A controversy between Bavaria and Baden resulted, which was only decided in favour of the Höchberg claims by the treaty signed by the four great powers and Baden at Frankfurt on July 10, 1819.
Monument to the Constitution of Baden (and the Grand Duke for granting it), in Rondellplatz, Karlsruhe, GermanyMeanwhile the dispute had produced important effects in Baden. In order to secure popular support for the Hochberg heir, Grand-Duke Charles in 1818 granted to the grand-duchy, under article xiii of the Act of Confederation, a liberal constitution, under which two chambers were constituted and their assent declared necessary for legislation and taxation. The outcome was of importance far beyond the narrow limits of the duchy; for all Germany watched the constitutional experiments of the southern states.
In Baden the conditions were not favourable to success. The people had during the revolutionary period fallen completely under the influence of French ideas, and this was sufficiently illustrated by the temper of the new chambers, which tended to model their activity on the proceedings of the National Convention (1792 - 1795) in the earlier days of the French Revolution. On the other hand, the new Grand Duke Louis I (ruled 1818 - 1830), who had succeeded in 1818, was unpopular, and the administration was in the hands of hide-bound and inefficient bureaucrats.
The result was a deadlock; and even before the promulgation of the Carlsbad Decrees in October 1819 the Grand Duke had prorogued the chambers, after three months of sterile debate. The reaction that followed was as severe in Baden as elsewhere in Germany, and culminated in 1823, when, on the refusal of the chambers to vote the military budget, the Grand Duke dissolved them and levied the taxes on his own authority. In January 1825, owing to official pressure, only three Liberals were returned to the chamber; a law was passed making the budget presentable only every three years, and the constitution ceased to have any active existence.
In 1830 Grand Duke Louis was succeeded by his half-brother Grand Duke Leopold (ruled 1830 - 1852), the first of the Höchberg line. The July Revolution (1830) in France led to no disturbances in Baden; but the new Grand Duke from the first showed liberal tendencies. The elections of 1830 proceeded without interference; and resulted in the return of a Liberal majority. The next few years saw the introduction, under successive ministries, of Liberal reforms in the constitution, in criminal and civil law, and in education.
In 1832 the adhesion of Baden to the Prussian Zollverein did much for the material prosperity of the country. With the approach of the revolutionary year of 1848, however, Radicalism once more began to lift up its head. A popular demonstration held at Offenburg on September 12, 1847 passed resolutions demanding the conversion of the regular army into a national militia which should take an oath to the constitution, a progressive income tax and a fair adjustment of the interests of capital and labour.
Revolution of 1848
The news of the revolution of February 1848 in Paris brought the agitation to a head. Numerous public meetings occurred and adopted the Offenburg programme, and on March 4, under the influence of the popular excitement, the lower chamber accepted this programme almost unanimously. As in other German states, the government bowed to the storm, proclaimed an amnesty and promised reforms. The ministry remodelled itself in a more Liberal direction; and sent a new delegate to the federal assembly at Frankfurt, empowered to vote for the establishment of a parliament for a united Germany.
The disorders, fomented by republican agitators, nonetheless continued; and the efforts of the government to suppress them with the aid of federal troops led to an armed insurrection. For the time this was mastered without much difficulty; the insurgents lost at Kandern on April 20, 1848; Freiburg, which they held, fell on April 24; and on April 27 a Franco-German legion, which had invaded Baden from Strasbourg, was routed at Dossenbach.
At the beginning of 1849, however, the issue of a new constitution, in accordance with the resolutions of the Frankfurt parliament, led to more serious trouble. It did little to satisfy the Radicals, angered by the refusal of the second chamber to agree to their proposal for the summoning of a constituent assembly.
The new insurrection that now broke out proved a more formidable affair than the first. A military mutiny at Rastatt on May 11 showed that the army sympathised with the revolution, which was proclaimed two days later at Offenburg amid tumultuous scenes. On the same day (May 13) a mutiny at Karlsruhe forced Grand Duke Leopold to flee, and the next day his ministers followed, while a committee of the assembly under Lorenz Brentano (1813 - 1891), who represented the more moderate Radicals as against the republicans, established itself in the capital to attempt to direct affairs pending the establishment of a provisional government.
This was accomplished on June 1, and on June 10 the constituent assembly, consisting entirely of the most "advanced" politicians, assembled. It had little chance of doing more than make speeches; the country remained in the hands of an armed mob of civilians and mutinous soldiers; and, meanwhile, the Grand Duke of Baden had joined with Bavaria in requesting the armed intervention of Prussia, which Berlin granted on the condition that Baden should join the League of the Three Kings.
From this moment the revolution in Baden was doomed, and with it the revolution in all Germany. The Prussians, under Prince William (afterwards William I, German Emperor), invaded Baden in the middle of June 1849. Afraid of a military escalation, Brentano reacted hesitantly, afraid of military escalation - too hesitantly for the more radical Gustav Struve and his followers, who overthrew him and established a Pole, Ludwig von Mieroslawski (1814 - 1878), in his place.
Mieroslawski reduced the insurgents to some semblance of order. On June 20, 1849 he met the Prussians at Waghausel, and suffered complete defeat; on June 25 Prince William entered Karlsruhe; and at the end of the month the members of the provisional government, who had taken refuge at Freiburg, dispersed. Such of the insurgent leaders as were caught, notably the ex-officers, suffered military execution; the army was dispersed among Prussian garrison towns; and Prussian troops occupied Baden for a time.
Grand Duke Leopold returned on August 10, and at once dissolved the assembly. The following elections resulted in a majority favourable to the new ministry, which passed a series of laws of a reactionary tendency with a view to strengthening the government.
Grand Duke Leopold died on April 24, 1852, and was succeeded by his second son, Frederick, as regent, the eldest, Louis II, Grand Duke of Baden who died on January 22, 1858, being incapable of ruling. The internal affairs of Baden during the period that followed have comparatively little general interest. In the greater politics of Germany, Baden, between 1850 and 1866, was a consistent supporter of Austria and in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 her contingents, under Prince William, had two sharp engagements with the Prussian army of the Main. Two days before the affair of Werbach on July 24, 1866, the second chamber had petitioned the Grand Duke to end the war and enter into an offensive and defensive alliance with Prussia.
Grand Duke Frederick I who ruled from 1856 to 1907, had from the first opposed the war with Prussia, but had yielded to popular resentment at the policy of Prussia in the Schleswig-Holstein question. The ministry resigned and Baden announced her withdrawal from the German Confederation and on August 17, 1866 signed a treaty of peace and alliance with Prussia. Bismarck himself resisted the adhesion of Baden to the North German Confederation: he had no wish to give Napoleon III of France so good an excuse for intervention; but the opposition of Baden to the formation of a South German confederation made the ultimate union inevitable. The troops of Baden took a conspicuous share in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870; and it was Grand Duke Frederick of Baden, who, in the historic assembly of the German princes at Versailles, was the first to hail the king of Prussia as German emperor.
Kulturkampf
The internal politics of Baden, both before and after 1870, centered around the question of religion. The signing on June 28, 1859 of a concordat with the Holy See, which placed education under the oversight of the clergy and facilitated the establishment of religious orders, led to a constitutional struggle which ended in 1863 with the victory of Liberal principles, making the communes responsible for education and the priests to a share in the management. The quarrel between Liberalism and Catholicism, however, did not end. In 1867 several constitutional changes in a Liberal direction occurred. The responsibility of ministers, freedom of the press, cand ompulsory education. In the same year a law compelled all candidates for the priesthood to pass government examinations. The archbishop of Freiburg resisted and on his death in April 1868, his seat remained vacant.
In 1869 the introduction of civil marriage did not help the strife, which reached its climax after the proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility in 1870. The cultural fight known as "Kulturkampf" raged on in Baden, as in the rest of Germany. Not until 1880, after the fall of the ministry of Jolly, did Baden reconcile with Rome and in 1882 the archbishopric of Freiburg was again filled.
The German Empire
The political tendency of Baden, meanwhile, mirrored that of all Germany. In 1892 the National Liberals had but a majority of one in the assembly; from 1893 they could maintain themselves only with the aid of the Conservatives; and in 1897 a coalition of Ultramontanes, Socialists, Social Democrats and Radicals (Freisinnige) won a majority for the opposition in the chamber.
Amid all these contests the wise and statesmanlike moderation of the Grand Duke Frederick won him universal esteem. By the treaty under which Baden had become an integral part of the German Empire in 1871, he had reserved only the exclusive right to tax beer and spirits; the army, the post-office, railways and the conduct of foreign relations passed under the effective control of Prussia.
In his relations with the German empire, too, Frederick proved himself rather a great German noble than a sovereign prince actuated by particularist ambitions; and his position as husband of the emperor William I's only daughter, Louise (whom he had married in 1856), gave him a peculiar influence in the councils of Berlin. When, on September 20, 1906, the Grand Duke celebrated at once the jubilee of his reign and his golden wedding anniversary, all Europe combined to do him honor. King Edward VII sent him, by the hands of the Duke of Connaught, the order of the Garter.
The Grand Duke Frederick I died at Mainau on September 28, 1907. His son, the Grand Duke Frederick II, succeeded him and ruled from 1907 to 1918 and died in 1928. The monarchy finally came to an end in 1918 with the end of the First World War, but Baden itself continued in existence as a state of Germany until the end of the Second World War in 1945.
After World War II the French military government created the State of Baden with Freiburg im Breisgau as the capital out of the southern half of the former Baden. The northern half combined with northern Württemberg was part of the American military zone and formed the State of Württemberg-Baden.
The origin of the name Württemberg remains obscure, one belief was that the name served as the name of a castle near the Stuttgart city district of Rothenberg and as the lords of this district increased their possessions so the name covered an ever-widening area. Early forms of it include Wirtenberg, Wirtembenc and Wirtenberc. In the latter part of the 16th century Würtemberg and Württemberg appeared. In 1806 Württemberg became the official spelling, though Württemberg also appears frequently and occurs sometimes in official documents and even on coins issued after that date.
Württemberg's first known inhabitants, the Celts, preceded the arrival of the Suebi. In the 1st century A.D. the Romans conquered the land and defended their position there by constructing a rampart. Early in the 3rd century the Alemanni drove the Romans beyond the Rhine and the Danube, but in their turn they succumbed to the Franks under Clovis, the decisive battle taking place in 496. For about four hundred years the district formed part of the Frankish empire, being administered by counts, but in the 9th century the German Duchy of Swabia acquired it. The duchy of Swabia was ruled by the Hohenstaufen family until the death of Conradin in 1268, when a considerable part of it fell to the count of Württemberg, a certain Conrad von Beutelsbach, having called himself after his ancestral castle of Württemberg. The earliest count about whom anything is known is Ulrich, who ruled from 1241 to 1265. He was marshal of Swabia and advocate of the town of Ulm, and had large possessions in the valleys of the Neckar and the Rems. Under his sons, Ulrich II. and Eberhard I, and their successors the power of the family grew steadily. Eberhard I doubled the area of his county and transferred his residence from Württemberg to Stuttgart. His successors also increased the size of Württemberg during their reigns. Over the years the lands of the family were several times divided, but in 1482 they were were reunited under Count Eberhard V. This arrangement was confirmed by the German king, Maximilian I, and the imperial assembly and in 1495 Württemberg was raised to the rank of duchy. A little over 300 years later, in 1810, it became the Kingdom of Württemberg.
Further territorial additions and strict administration turned Baden into a considerable state by the 15th century. The division of 1535 brought about the emergence of two smaller states, Baden-Baden, of the Catholic line, and Baden-Durlach, of the Evangelical line. Karl Friedrich (1738/46-1811) reunited Baden in 1771 and inaugurated countless reforms in accordance with the principles of Englightened Despotism. In league with France, he achieved expansion of Baden from 3600 square kilometers with about 175,000 inhabitants in 1803 to 15,000 square kilometers and almost a million inhabitants in 1810.
The new Grandduchy of Baden (after 1806) received a new government and administrative organization and in 1810, land reform after the French model. The constitution of 1818 and elective legislature were models for early German constitutionalism. The lower chamber was virtually a school for the Liberal-Nationalist movement. In April and September of 1848 it came to rebellion under the leadership of the Left (F. Hecker, G. Struve) and in May of 1849, with the installation of a republican regime, it came to revolution, which Prussian troops had to put down. After the period of reaction, the "New Era", 1860-66, brought an attempt to form a liberal, parliamentary regime (Ministers Lamey, Roggenbach). In 1866 Baden turned back to constitutional ways (Ministers Mathey, Jolly), under Friedrich I (1856-1907) and Friedrich II (1907-18), who reigned with the benefit of Nationalist and Liberal support.
Württemberg ~ Duchy
Eberhard was one of the most energetic rulers that Württemberg ever had, and in 1495 his county was raised to the rank of duchy. Dying in 1496, he was succeeded by his cousin, Duke Eberhard II, who, however, was deposed after a short reign of two years. The long reign of 52 years, 1498 to1550, of Ulrich I, who succeeded to the duchy while still a child, was a most eventful period for the country. The extortions by which he sought to raise money for his extravagant pleasures excited a rising known as that of the arme Konrad (poor Conrad), not unlike the rebellion in England led by Wat Tyler. Order was soon restored, and in 1514 by the treaty of Tubingen the people undertook to pay the duke's debts in return for various political privileges, which in effect laid the foundation of the constitutional liberties of the country.
A few years later Ulrich quarrelled with the Swabian League, and its forces, helped by William IV, duke of Bavaria, who was angered by the treatment Ulrich gave to his wife Sabina, a Bavarian princess, invaded Wurttemberg, expelled the duke and sold his duchy to the emperor Charles V for 220,000 gulden. Charles handed over Wurttemberg to his brother, the German king, Ferdinand I, who was its nominal ruler for a few years.
Soon, however, the discontent caused by the oppressive Austrian rule, the disturbances in Germany leading to the Peasants' War and the commotions aroused by the Reformation gave Ulrich an opportunity to recover it. Aided by Philip, landgrave of Hesse, and other Protestant princes, he fought a victorious battle against Ferdinand's troops at Lauffen in May 1534, and then by the treaty of Cadan he was again recognized as duke, but was forced to accept his duchy as an Austrian fief. He now introduced the reformed doctrines and proceeded to endow Protestant churches and schools throughout his land. Ulrich's connexion with the league of Schmalkalden led to another expulsion, but in 1547 he was reinstated by Charles V, although on somewhat onerous terms.
The Kingdom of Württemberg (1806-1918)
On January 1, 1806 Duke Frederick II assumed the title of king as King Frederick I, abrogated the constitution and united old and new Württemberg. Subsequently he placed the property of the church under the control of the state. In 1806 he joined the Confederation of the Rhine and received further additions of territory containing 160,000 inhabitants; a little later, by the peace of Vienna in October 1809, about 110,000 more persons came under his rule. In return for these favours Frederick joined Napoleon Bonaparte in his campaigns against Prussia, Austria and Russia, and of 16,000 of his subjects who marched to Moscow only a few hundred returned. Then, after the Battle of Leipzig (October 1813), King Frederick deserted the waning fortunes of the French emperor, and by a treaty made with Metternich at Fulda in November 1813 he secured the confirmation of his royal title and of his recent acquisitions of territory, while his troops marched with those of the allies into France. In 1815 the king joined the German Confederation, but the Congress of Vienna made no change in the extent of his lands. In the same year he laid before the representatives of his people the outline of a new constitution, but they rejected this, and in the midst of the commotion Frederick died (October 30, 1816).
The arms were derived from older arms of the counts of Nellenburg, that showed three blue antlers. At first the arms were covered by a helmet, and a peacock feather as a crest.
The arms show the three lions of the Dukes of Schwaben form the house of Staufen. Schwaben is an area that forms large part of the present State. The princes of Schwaben were one of the most important German dynasties in the Middle Ages and most of the Kings and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire between 1138 and 1254 were of the Staufen dynasty, the ruling family in Schwaben.
The three lions were used as a symbol for the royal families territory and first appear again in the arms of the new Kingdom of Württemberg in 1806.
The oldest known seal with a lion dates from 1186 on the seal of Duke Friedrich V of Hohenstaufen. Twenty years later the Dukes used three lions as arms.
The supporters are a deer and a griffin, representing Württemberg and Baden respectively.
The ruins passed to the Thiersteins who rebuilt the castle circa 1479 with a defensive system suited to the new artillery of the time.
In 1517 the Thierstein died without an heir and the castle came into the posession of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Württemberg was at first a small County in the south-western corner of present Germany, between Esslingen and Cannstadt. The counts became more and more influential and were promoted to Dukes of Württemberg in 1495. In 1806 the territory became the Kingdom of Württemberg. After the first world war the Kingdom lost its independence and became a semi-independent Free-state in the new Republic. After the second world war it was combined with Baden and some additional territories to the State of Baden-Württemberg.
The original arms of Württemberg are three deer antlers. They are first mentioned in 1228 as the arms of count Konrad and his father Hartmann. The arms were derived from older arms of the counts of Nellenburg, that showed three blue antlers. Both the counts of Nellenburg and of Württemberg were related to the counts of Veringen. Hartmann of Wirtinsberc (=Württemberg) was married to a Countess of Veringen. At first the arms were covered by a helmet, and a peacockfeather as a crest. It is known since 1279, but may be older in origin. In the beginning of the 14th century the crest was replaced by a horn, as can be seen in the Zürich roll of arms and the roll of arms of von der Esten. The mantling was red and gold, and may be derived from the counts of Veringen. In the 15th century three feathers were placed in the mouth of the horn, their origin is unknown (this is still seen in the arms of Urach).
In the late 15th century after the acquisition of the county Mömpelgard the arms were quartered with the three fish of Mömpelgard (see Freudenstadt). After the promotion in 1495, the new ducal arms were quartered of Württemberg , Teck (for the county of Teck, see Oberndorf ), and the imperial banner (see Ludwigsburg) and Mömpelgard. Consequently four helmets and crests were used; an eagle for the 'Banneramt', the old horn, a female bust with fish as arms for Mömpelgard and a dog's head for Teck.
In 1693 the arms were further divided after the acquisition of the Lordship Heidenheim, incorporating the heathen's head, both on the shield and on an additional helmet. Later 18th century additions were made for Limpurg, Justingen and Bönnigheim ,making the arms rather complicated, but typical for the baroque era.
At once the new king, William I (reigned 1816 - 1864) took up the constitutional question and after much discussion granted a new constitution in September 1819. This constitution, with subsequent modifications, remained in force until 1918 (see Württemberg). A period of quietness now set in, and the condition of the kingdom, its education, its agriculture and its trade and manufactures, began to receive earnest attention, while by frugality, both in public and in private matters, King William I helped to repair the shattered finances of the country. But the desire for greater political freedom did not entirely fade away under the constitution of 1819, and after 1830 a certain amount of unrest occurred. This, however, soon passed away, while the inclusion of Württemberg in the German Zollverein and the construction of railways fostered trade.
The revolutionary movement of 1848 did not leave Württemberg untouched, although no actual violence took place within the kingdom. King William had to dismiss Johannes Schlayer (1792-1860) and his other ministers, and to call to power men with more liberal ideas, the exponents of the idea of a united Germany. King William did proclaim a democratic constitution, but as soon as the movement had spent its force he dismissed the liberal ministers, and in October 1849 Schlayer and his associates returned to power. By interfering with popular electoral rights the king and his ministers succeeded in assembling a servile diet in 1851, and this surrendered all the privileges gained since 1848. In this way the authorities restored the constitution of 1819, and power passed into the hands of a bureaucracy. A concordat with the Papacy proved almost the last act of William's long reign, but the diet repudiated the agreement, preferring to regulate relations between church and state in its own way.
In July 1864 Charles I (1823-1891) reigned from 1864 to 1891. He succeeded his father William I as king and had almost at once to face considerable difficulties. In the duel between Austria and Prussia for supremacy in Germany, William I had consistently taken the Austrian side, and this policy was equally acceptable to the new king and his advisers. In 1866 Württemberg took up arms on behalf of Austria in the Austro-Prussian War, but three weeks after the Battle of Königgratz (3 July 1866) her troops suffered a comprehensive defeat at Tauberbischofsheim, and the country lay at the mercy of Prussia. The Prussians occupied the northern part of Württemberg and negotiated a peace in August 1866; by this Württemberg paid an indemnity of 8,000,000 gulden, but she at once concluded a secret offensive and defensive treaty with her conqueror. Württemberg was a party to the St Petersburg Declaration of 1868.
The end of the struggle against Prussia allowed a renewal of democratic agitation in Württemberg, but this had achieved no tangible results when the great war between France and Prussia broke out in 1870. Although the policy of Württemberg had continued antagonistic to Prussia, the kingdom shared in the national enthusiasm which swept over Germany, and its troops took a creditable part in the Battle of Worth and in other operations of the war.
In 1871 Württemberg became a member of the new German Empire, but retained control of her own post office, telegraphs and railways. She had also certain special privileges with regard to taxation and the army, and for the next ten years Württemberg's policy enthusiastically supported the new order. Many important reforms, especially in the area of finance, ensued, but a proposal for a union of the railway system with that of the rest of Germany failed.
After reductions in taxation in 1889, the reform of the constitution became the question of the hour. King Charles and his ministers wished to strengthen the conservative element in the chambers, but the laws of 1874, 1876 and 1879 only effected slight reforms pending a more thorough settlement. On October 6, 1891 King Charles died suddenly. His cousin William II (1848-1921) who reigned from 1891 to 1918, succeeded and continued the policy of his predecessor.
King William had no sons, nor had his only Protestant kinsman, Duke Nicholas (1833-1903). Consequently the succession would ultimately pass to a Roman Catholic branch of the family, and this prospect raised up certain difficulties about the relations between church and state. Between 1900 and 1910 the political history of Württemberg centred round the settlement of the constitution. In 1904 the railway system integrated with that of the rest of Germany and In 1906 the constitution underwent revision.
The heir to the throne in 1910 was the Roman Catholic Duke Albert, A German general and the son of Duke Philip of Württemberg. As the King and Queen of Wurttemberg had no male heir, he was as nearest agnate the heir presumptive to the Wurttemberg throne. He passed through the different grades of a military career and was appointed general in command of the XI Army Corps at Cassel in 1906 and in 1908 was entrusted with the command of the Wurttemberg Army Corps. In 1913 he was advanced to the rank of Generaloberst, a colonel-general immediately below field-marshal, and was appointed Inspector-General of the 6th Army Inspection. At the outbreak of World War I he took over the leadership of the 4th Army on the western front, was advanced to the rank of field-marshal-general in 1916 and appointed chief-in-command of the group of armies on the front in Alsace-Lorraine, which fought under his leadership till the end of the war.
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Baden
Württemberg
