THE NEW TEARS OF ARAXES

Featuring a never-seen-before satellite image of a vandalized medieval cemetery at the Iranian-Azerbaijani border, "The New Tears of Araxes," a five-minute film, tells the tragic story of thousands of ancient Armenian headstones flattened to the ground by the Azerbaijani authorities in Djulfa or Julfa (Jugha in Armenian), Nakhichevan.

On December 15, 2005, eyewitnesses across the River Araxes videotaped Azeri soldiers destroying Armenian burial monuments - khachkars (cross stones) - some as old as 1,500 years. Azerbaijani officials denied the vandalism, but banned European Parliament members from visiting the site in March of 2006. Only a few outside news sources tried to publicize the tragedy.

"The New Tears of Araxes" is written by Sarah Pickman, a University of Chicago student, who was the only American reporter to cover the tragedy when she interned for Archaeology Magazine. Producer and narrator Simon Maghakyan, who is among America's top 20 college students according to USA TODAY (April 24, 2006), hopes the film will break a year of ignorance and silence. When asked why others should care, Maghakyan quotes Martin Luther King Jr. as saying, "Injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere."




Music by Djivan Gasparian (Gladiator, The Passion of the Christ, Munich, Syriana); Digital sound track production by Transtar Entertainment Group; Photographs by Research on Armenian Architecture, and Argam Ayvazian; Footage of 2005 destruction by Tabriz's Armenian Church, Iran; Satellite image by Digital Globe; Map by The Times, London. © Simon Maghakyan 2006.

To learn more about the deliberate destruction of the world's largest Armenian archaeological site, visit the Djulfa Virtual Memorial and Museum - http://www.djulfa.com.

Sept 2007 update: Azerbaijani authorities are razing another Armenian cemetery in Baku, the capital city of the South Caucasus republic - http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=3388...

Additional Tags: Culfa, Jougha, Djougha, Giulfa, Dzhulfa, Chugha, Chougha, Julfa, Armenia, Armenians, Amenian History, Nagorno Karabakh, Gharabagh, Cultural Genocide, Nakhchivan, Naxcivan, Naxcuvan, khachkars, khatchkars, tombstone, tombstones, khachkar, khatchkar, Iranian border, River Arax, River Aras, Atrpatakan, Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, cultural destruction, military rifle range, shooting range, desecration of Armenian skeletons, grave, graveyard, archaeological, UNESCO, ICOMOS, European Parliament, Jivan Gasparyan, Duduk music, Doudouk.

Prince Gold

There's a mountain and it's mighty high
U cannot see the top unless U fly
And there's a molehill of proven ground
There ain't no where 2 go if U hang around

Everybody wants 2 sell what's already been sold
Everybody wants 2 tell what's already been told
What's the use of money if U ain't gonna break the mold?
Even at the center of fire there is cold
All that glitters ain't gold
All that glitters ain't gold, mmm

There's an ocean of despair
There are people livin' there
They're unhappy each and every day
But hell is not fashion so what U tryin' 2 say?

Everybody wants 2 sell what's already been sold
Everybody wants 2 tell what's already been told
What's the use of money if U ain't gonna break the mold?
Even at the center of fire there is cold
All that glitters ain't gold, no no
All that glitters ain't gold, no no

There's a lady, 99 years old
If she led a good life, heaven takes her soul
Now that's a theory and if U don't wanna know
Step aside and make a way 4 those who want 2 go

Everybody wants 2 sell what's already been sold (Sold)
Everybody wants 2 tell what's already been told (Told)
What's the use of bein' young if U ain't gonna get old? (Old)
Even at the center of fire there is cold (Cold)
All that glitters (glitters) ain't gold, no no no no no
All that glitters ain't gold
Alright

All that glitters, all that glitters, all that glitters.. ain't gold

Na na na na na na na (Gold {x4})
Na na na na na na na (Gold {x4})
Gold, gold, gold
All that glitters ain't gold, gold, gold
All that glitters ain't gold, gold, gold (Na na na na na na na)
All that glitters ain't gold, gold, gold (Na na na na na na na)
All that glitters ain't gold, oh
Oh yeah
1 2.. 1 2 3, let's go!

(Na na na na na na na) {repeat}

Dog Fighting Must Be Knocked Out

As with any illegal underground activity, it is impossible to determine how many people are involved in the illegal blood sport of dog fighting. Estimates based on fight reports in underground dog fighting publications, dog fight raids and busts, and on animals entering shelters with evidence of fighting, suggest that the number of people involved in dog fighting in the U.S. is an estimated 40,000 people. With fight purses as high as $100,000 the dogs can earn their owners thousands of dollars in gambling profits and by producing puppies with a "desirable" bloodline.

Just as dog fighting cuts across many regions of the country, participants and spectators at dog fights are a diverse group. While some might typify dog fighting as a symptom of urban decay, not every dog fighter is economically disadvantaged. There are people who promote or participate in dog fighting from every community and background. Audiences contain lawyers, judges and teachers drawn in by the excitement and thrill of the blood sport.

Dog fighting and all of the acts that go along with it the brutality toward the dogs; the use of weaker animals as bait; the agony inflicted in the fighting pit; the execution-style killing of dogs cannot be described by any reasonable person as anything less than horrific abuse.

It's a no win situation for the dogs as fighting dogs have few friends. They are forced into a life of violence and suffering. They live lives of brutality and unspeakable cruelty at the hands of those who gamble on their deaths. It is a contest with no winners because if/when a dog wins, he is forced to fight again. Dogs that lose or give up in the ring will not normally live long, either dying from their injuries or from being brutally tortured by their owners. Betrayal and death also await them at "humane" societies if they do get "rescued". In a similar fate to the dogs that were tortured and killed in the pit, or by the hands of their owners, the "rescued" dogs will also die - alone and afraid in the shelters where they get sent after being confiscated. They will have been saved only to fall victim once again, this time to a system that places little value on their lives. Although their method of execution will certainly not be as horrific, the end result is death just the same.

Unfortunately, the nightmare of dog fighting is growing. In addition to the estimated 40,000 professional dog fighters in the United States, those involved in putting on fights and buying and selling fighting dogs, there could be as many as 100,000 additional people involved in "streetfighting" -- informal dog fighting, often involving young people in gangs.

Dr. Randall Lockwood, a psychologist and senior vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, says that historically dog fighters have never viewed dogs as sentient, feeling creatures. However, he says, there seems to have been a shift recently towards more brutal and vengeful treatment of the animals as dog fighting has been increasingly adopted by gang culture. "Part of the psychology of dog fighting is the same as other forms of animal cruelty - a lot of it is about power and control," he said.

Add to this the dog fighter's identification with his animal in the ring - and desire to win "bragging rights" - and the scope for violence is great. "The dog fighter sees his dog's victory as having a direct reflection on his strength and manliness, which is one of the reasons that we see brutal treatment of animals that don't perform well," Dr Lockwood said. "The failure of the animal is seen as a personal failure, an embarrassment, and something where you need to prove your strength and dominance by getting even."

On top of the other illegal activities that go on at these events, dog fighting affects more than the dogs. Dog fighters or spectators often involve their children in dog fighting. Sadly, this desensitizes children to violence and the suffering of others not only from the exposure, but also because dog fighting is condoned and even glorified by adults and role models. They are taught to believe that violence is entertaining, that it is okay to inflict the cruelties they observe and that dog fighting is an acceptable form of recreation.

According to a 1997 study done by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Northeastern University, animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people and four times more likely to commit property crimes than are individuals without a history of animal abuse.

Raw Video: Dog Leads Police to Fire

Landefeld notes

Landefeld notes 

Henry Landefeld, p. 1358

HENRY LANDEFELD, one of the most extensive travelers in Washington county, and proprietor of the largest clothing establishment in Monongahela, is of German birth, a son of Matthias Landefeld.

Matthias Landefeld was born in 1794, in Hessen-Cassel, Germany, where he grew to manhood and received a thorough education. At the age of seventeen years he entered the German army as a volunteer under Blucher, and participated in all of the engagements led by that general, taking part in the world-renowned contest at Waterloo. He had three brothers in the service, all of whom died, and after the war he returned home and followed coal mining the rest of his life. In early manhood he was married in Hessen-Cassel to Mary Schoenewolf, who bore him twelve children, of whom are named the following: Louisa, Jacob, Louis, William, Reinhardt, Elizabeth, Eliza, Christina and Henry.

Henry Landefeld was born September 17, 1846 in Hessen-Cassel, Germany, and, as is characteristic of the Germans, enjoyed the advantages of a good education. He then spent four years in learning the tailor's trade, paying $60 tuition fee, and furnishing his own clothes in the meanwhile; a long, tedious, and, according to the ideas of many Americans, useless apprenticeship. But if the American people were more prone to emulate the painstaking, tedious preparation by which the Germans fit themselves for a chosen vocation, it would result in better workmen, higher pay, and better times. "Slow but sure" has ever been the excellent motto of the German Empire, and is the watchword of a nation of skilled workmen who can be excelled by none other in their special departments. After serving his time, Henry Landefeld started on a journeyman's tour, and from 1864 to 1865 remained at Hamburg, thence traveling through Holstein to Mecklenburg. He then spent four weeks in Hamburg, and from there went to Scotland, working in Leith and Edinburgh. He lay ill six months at the latter place, and upon recovering attempted in vain to secure work in Glasgow; so returned to Edinburgh. Some time afterward he again went to Glasgow and worked there several years; then spent three weeks in Liverpool, from which place he proceeded to Manchester, and in 1867 returned to Liverpool. He then enlisted in the Fifty-second British regiment, and remained with it five years, having been in the service during the Fenian trouble at Dublin, Ireland. From Dublin they marched to Limerick, and one year later went to Cork, thence to Malta, where they were stationed four years. He there deserted the army, and after remaining on the island three weeks, escaped as a stowaway on a vessel bound for Constantinople, Turkey. From Constantinople, he went to Egypt and Tripoli; thence to Gibraltar, where he lay sick several weeks. On recovering, he embarked at Gibraltar on an American-bound vessel, and, working his way across, first landed in New York. He then left the vessel, and in 1872, after a short stay in New York, went to Pittsburgh, Penn., where he was married on September 17, 1874, to Emily Steinecke, and there followed his trade until 1875. He then went to Salineville, Ohio, remaining there one year, and finally coming to Monongahela, engaged as a tailor and cutter with Silas Haley, for whom he worked twenty-three months. At the end of that time he began business for himself as a tailor and clothing merchant, and six years later purchased another establishment, which he remodeled in 1884. In 1890 he erected his present place of business, which is 135x33 feet in size, and four stories in height, being one of the finest buildings in the Monongahela Valley. This is the largest merchant tailor establishment near Pittsburgh, and also carries a full line of furnishing goods and ready-made clothing. Mr. Landefeld has won his remarkable success by his own efforts, and is deeply interested in all public improvements. His children have been born as follows: Minnie C., Charles H., Theodore S., Russell A., Reinhardt L., Frederick W., William M. and Charles W.

Henry Landefeld - International Genealogical Index 
Gender: Male Birth: , , Germany 

HEINRICH LANDENFELD - International Genealogical Index 
Gender: Male Birth: 07 MAR 1867 

HEINRICH LANDENFELD - International Genealogical Index 
Gender: Male Christening: 17 MAR 1867 Evangelisch, Nauheim, Starkenburg, Hessen 

HEINRICH LANDENFELD - International Genealogical Index 
Gender: Male Death: 20 AUG 1867

Heinrich Landefeld - International Genealogical Index 
Gender: Male Birth: 08 MAY 1894 Wahlshausen, Ziegenhain, Hessen-Nassau, Preussen 

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Hesse-Kassel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Kurhessen" redirects here. For the Prussian province, see Province of Kurhessen.

Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel Kurfürstentum Hessen Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel Electorate of Hesse State of the Holy Roman Empire State of the German Confederation ←    ←  1567 – 1806 1813 – 1866  →    → Flag Coat of arms (1818) Hesse-Kassel in 1866 Capital Kassel Language(s) German Religion Protestant (Calvinist) Government Principality Landgrave  - 1567–1592 William IV of Hesse  - 1730–1751 Frederick I of Sweden History  - Established 1567  - Raised to Electorate 1803  - Annexed by France 1806  - Reestablished 1813  - Annexed by Prussia 1866 Area  - 1864 9,581 km2 (3,699 sq mi) Population  - 1864 est. 745,063       Density 77.8 /km2  (201.4 /sq mi) Currency Hessen-Kassel thaler(to 1858) Hesse-Kassel vereinsthaler(1858–1873)

The Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel (German: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel) or Hesse-Cassel was a reichsfreie principality of the Holy Roman Empire that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the capital of Kassel. The other sons received theLandgraviate of Hesse-Marburg, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt.

The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel was elevated to the Electorate of Hesse (Kurfürstentum Hessen, or Kurhessen) in 1803. During the Napoleonic wars it was occupied by French troops and became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a French satellite state. The Electorate of Hesse was reestablished in 1815 and became a member state of the German Confederation. It was then annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War and subsequently became the Province of Hesse-Nassau.

17th and 18th centuries

Since the early years of the Reformation the House of Hesse was clearly Protestant, with only a few exceptions. Landgraves Philip I, William V, and Maurice married descendants of King George of Bohemia. From William VI onwards, mothers of the heads of Hesse-Kassel were always descended from William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch to independence on basis of Calvinism.

The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel expanded in 1604 when Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, inherited the Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg from his childless uncle, Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg (1537–1604).

During the Thirty Years' War, Calvinist Hesse-Kassel proved to be Sweden's most loyal German ally. Landgrave William V and, after his death in 1637, his widow Amelia of Hanau, a granddaughter of William the Silent, as regent supported the Protestant cause and the French and Swedes throughout the war and maintained an army, garrisoning many strongholds, while Hesse-Kassel itself was occupied by Imperial troops.

William V was succeeded by Landgraves William VI and William VII. Under King Frederick I of Sweden the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel was in personal union with Sweden from 1730–51. But in fact the King's younger brother, William VIII, reigned in Kassel until 1760.

Although it was a fairly widespread practice at the time to rent out troops to other princes, it was the Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel who became infamous for hiring out contingents of their army as mercenaries during the 17th and 18th centuries. Frederick II, notably, hired out so many troops to his nephew King George III of Great Britain for use in the American War of Independence, that "Hessian" has become an American slang term for all German soldiers deployed by the British in the War. Frederick used the revenue to finance his opulent lifestyle. One of these regiments that saw service in America was the Musketeer Regiment Prinz Carl.

During the 17th century, the landgraviate was internally divided for dynastic purposes, without allodial rights, into:

• Landgraviate of Hesse-Rotenburg (1627–1834)
• Landgraviate of Hesse-Wanfried-(Rheinfels) (1649–1755)
• Landgraviate of Hesse-Philippsthal
• Landgraviate of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld

These were reunited with the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel when each particular branch died out without issue.

Hesse-Kassel maintained 7% of its entire population under arms throughout the eighteenth century. This force served as a source of mercenaries for other European states.^[1]

19th century

Following the reorganization of the German states during the German mediatisation of 1803, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel was raised to the Electorate of Hesse and Landgrave William IX was elevated to Imperial Elector, taking the title William I, Elector of Hesse. The principality thus became known as Kurhessen, although still usually referred to as Hesse-Kassel.

In 1806, William I was dispossessed by Napoleon Bonaparte for his support of the Kingdom of Prussia, and Kassel became the capital of a new Kingdom of Westphalia under Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte as king. The elector was restored following Napoleon's defeat in 1813, and although the Holy Roman Empire was now defunct, William retained his title of Elector, as it gave him pre-eminence over his cousin, the Grand Duke of Hesse. From 1813 onwards, the Electorate of Hesse was an independent country and, after 1815, a member of the German Confederation.

William's grandson, Elector Frederick William, sided with the Austrian Empire in the Austro-Prussian War, and after the Prussian victory his lands were annexed by Prussia in 1866. Along with the annexed Duchy of Nassau and Free City of Frankfurt, Hesse-Kassel became part of the new Province of Hesse-Nassau of the Kingdom of Prussia.

20th century

In 1918, Hesse-Nassau became part of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. From 1944–45 as part of Nazi Germany, it was divided into the Prussian provinces of Kurhessen and Nassau. From 1945–46, it was renamed Greater Hesse (Großhessen) and was part of the US occupation zone in Germany. From 1946 onwards, it was reorganised into the state of Hesse(Bundesland Hesse), in the Federal Republic of Germany'.

In 1918, Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, younger brother of the head of the house and a brother-in-law of Emperor William II, was elected by the pro-German Finnish government to beKing of Finland, but he never reigned.

In 1968, the head of the House of Hesse-Kassel became the head of the entire House of Hesse due to the extinction of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt.

• Map of Hesse in 1789 - Northern Part

Historical Map of Northern Hesse 1789

Historische Karte von Nord-Hessen 1789

Carte historique de la Hesse du Nord 1789

• Map of Hesse in 1789 - Southern Part

Historical Map of Southern Hesse 1789

Historische Karte von Süd-Hessen 1789

Carte historique de la Hesse du Sud 1789

Katzenelnbogen is the name of a castle and small city in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde

Verbandsgemeinde

A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit unique to the German Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate. There are 163 Verbandsgemeinden, which are grouped into the 24 districts and subdivided into nearly 2200 Ortsgemeinden.Most of the Verbandsgemeinden were established in 1969. Formerly the name of...

 ("collective municipality") Katzenelnbogen.

History

Katzenelnbogen originated as a castle built on a promontory over the river Lahn around 1095. The lords of the castle became important local magnates, acquiring during the centuries some key and highly lucrative customs rights on the Rhine. The Counts of Katzenelnbogen also built Burg Neukatzenelnbogen and Burg Rheinfels on the Rhine. The German family died out in 1479, while the Austrian lineage continued, and the county became disputed between Hesse and Nassau. In 1557, the former finally won, but when Hesse was split due to the testament of Philipp the Magnanimous, Katzenelnbogen was split as well, between Hesse-Darmstadt and the small new secondary principality of Hesse-Rheinfels. When the latter line expired in 1583, its property went to Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), which added the inherited part of Katzenelnbogen to its side-line principality of Hesse-Rotenburg. After the Congress of Vienna, this part of Katzenelnbogen was given to Nassau in exchange for property that had been taken away from it; after the War of 1866, with all Nassau, it became part of Prussia.

In 1945, Hesse-Darmstadt was united with most of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, which included the formerHesse-Kassel along with Nassau and the formerly Free City of Frankfurt, to form the federal state of Hesse. Thus, Hesse now includes the larger part of former county of Katzenelnbogen. A smaller part of Nassau, including the old castle and village bearing the name of Katzenelnbogen, ended up as part of Rhineland-Palatinate (part of the Rhein-Lahn andWesterwaldkreis districts).

Etymology

The name Katzenelnbogen derives from the old Cattimelibocus. It consists of the ancient Germanic tribal name of theChatti and Melibokus, the Roman name of any mountains like the Harz or the Teutoburg Forest. Over the centuries the name changed to Katzenelnbogen: in folk etymology "cat's elbow".

History of wine

In the history of wine, Katzenelnbogen is famous for the first documentation of Riesling grapes in the world: this was in 1435, when the storage inventory of Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen, a member of the Holy Roman high nobility, lists the purchase of vines of "Rieslingen".

External links

• http://www.graf-von-katzenelnbogen.de/
• http://www.schloss-katzenelnbogen.de/
• http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/k/katzenel.htm
• http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=135&letter=K

----------------------

German States to 1918  F-M 

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Note: The list below is only complete for those polities that survived beyond 1806.  Within the Holy Roman Empire, there existed countless minor states (ecclesiastical states, imperialcities, imperial villages, lordships, counties, baronies, principalities, etc.), whichare nearly impossible to list with even partial accuracy.  A major reorganization wasbrought about by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, when more than 100 polities wereabolished.  Polities listed prior to 1806 are a sample of the major or most well knownpolities of the Holy Roman Empire and the Confederation of the Rhine.  After 1806, all thepolities that survived the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna are listed. For the sake of providing a division between eras, after the republican revolutions of 1918, which overthrew the last German monarchies, remaining states are listed underGerman states since 1918; these include the states and provinces of the Weimar Republic, Third Reich, and the modern period.  The provinces of Prussia are listed in a separate section following the entry for Prussia (Prussian provinces to 1946). Statistical data is given only for those polities that survived to 1918. 
Noble titles: Edler/Edle = Noble; Graf/Gräfin = Count/Countess; Freiherr/Freifrau = Baron/Baroness; Erzherzog/Erzherzogin = Archduke/Archduchess; Herzog/Herzogin = Duke/Duchess;Fürst/Fürstin, Prinz/Prinzessin = Prince/Princess; Grossherzog/Grossherzogin = Grand Duke/Grand Duchess; Kurfürst/Kurfürstin = Prince/Princess Elector; Ritter = Knight;Pfalzgraf/Pfalzgräfin = Count/Countess Palatine; Rheingraf/Rheingräfin = Rhinegrave;Markgraf/Markgrafin = Marquess/Marchioness; Herr/Frau (Herrin) = Lord/Lady;Landgraf/Landgräfin = Landgrave; Wildgraf = Wildgrave; Kurfürst = Elector; Gefürsteter Graf/Gräfin = Princely Count/Countess; Reichsfreiherr = Imperial Baron; Köing/Königin = King/Queen; Kaiser/Kaiserin = Emperor/Empress;Religious titles: Abt/Abtissin = Abbot/Abbess; Bischof = bishop; Erzbischof = Archbishop;Fürstäbte = Prince-Abbot; Fürstinabtissin = Princess-Abbess; Fürstbischof = Prince-bishop Maps showing some of the major territorial changes: Historical Map of Germany in 1660;Historical map of Germany in 1789; Historical map of Germany in 1803; Map of Germany in 1812;Map of German Confederation 1815; Map of German Empire 1871

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Fagnolle: see Ligne under Belgium

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Feldkirch : see Vorarlberg under Austrian Lands

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Franche-Comté: see France provinces

Holy Roman Empire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Imperium Romanum Sacrum Heiliges Römisches Reich Holy Roman Empire[1] ←    ←  962–1806 ↓ Imperial Banner Quaternion Eagle The extent of the Holy Roman Empire around 1300, superimposed over today's state borders. Capital Rome (962-1448)[citation needed] Vienna (1448-1806)[citation needed] Language(s) Latin, Germanic, Romance andSlavic dialects Religion Roman Catholicism (emperor and other imperial princes) Lutheranism[2] and Calvinism[3](several imperial princes) Government Elective monarchy Emperor For the full list of Holy Roman Emperors, see Holy Roman Emperor. Legislature Reichstag Historical era Middle Ages  - Otto I crowned     Emperor of the Romans 2 May 962  - Conrad II assumes     crown of Burgundy 1034  - Peace of Augsburg 1555  - Peace of Westphalia 24 October 1648  - Disestablished 6 August 1806 Preceded by Succeeded by Francia East Francia Old Swiss Confederacy Dutch Republic Confederation of the Rhine Austrian Empire First French Empire Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Prussia United States of Belgium Principality of Liechtenstein Today part of  Austria  Belgium  Czech Republic  France  Germany  Italy  Liechtenstein  Luxembourg  The Netherlands  Poland  Slovenia  Switzerland

The Holy Roman Empire (HRE; German: Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR), Latin: Imperium Romanum Sacrum (IRS)) was for about a millennium a realm in Central Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and theEarly Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes. In its last centuries its character became actual, though not in the same way judicial, quite close to a union of territories. The first emperor of the realm, which was later called Holy Roman Empire, who was not member of the Carolingian dynasty, was Otto I, crowned in 962.^[4] The last wasFrancis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. In a decree following the 1512 Diet ofCologne, the name was officially changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (German: Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation, Latin: Imperium Romanum Sacrum Nationis Germanicæ) ^[5].

The Empire's territorial extent varied over its history, but at its peak it encompassed the Kingdom of Germany, the Kingdom of Italyand the Kingdom of Burgundy; for much of its history the Empire consisted of hundreds of smaller sub-units, principalities, duchies,counties, Free Imperial Cities, as well as other domains. Despite its name, for most of its history the Empire did not include Romewithin its borders.

The territories and dominion of the Holy Roman Empire in terms of present-day states comprised Germany (except Southern Schleswig), Austria (except Burgenland), the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Belgium,Luxembourg, and Slovenia (except Prekmurje), besides significant parts of eastern France (mainly Artois, Alsace, Franche-Comté,Savoie and Lorraine), northern Italy (mainly Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, and South Tyrol), and western Poland(mainly Silesia, Pomerania, and Neumark).

History

Charlemagne, crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800 AD was the forerunner of the Holy Roman Empire,^[6][7][8] largely because he had inaugurated the tradition of imperial coronation by the Pope of the Catholic Church, which continued as a significant institution in the Holy Roman Empire until the 16th century.^[9] Charlemagne's policy of "renovatio Romanorum imperii" (reviving the Roman Empire) remained at least in theory as the official position of the Empire until its end in 1806.

[edit]Formation

Further information: Carolingian Empire and Ottonians

The Carolingian imperial crown was initially disputed among the Carolingian rulers of Western Francia (France) and Eastern Francia(Germany), with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat) attaining the prize. However, after the death of Charles the Fat in 888 the empire broke asunder, never to be restored. According to Regino of Prüm, each part of the realm elected a "kinglet" from its own "bowels". After the death of Charles the Fat those who were crowned Emperors by the Popecontrolled only territories in Italy. The last of such Emperors was Berengar I of Italy who died in 924.

The dukes of Alemannia, Bavaria, Franconia and Saxony elected Conrad I of the Franks, not a Carolingian, as their leader in 911. His successor, Henry (Heinrich) I the Fowler (r. 919–936), a Saxon elected at the Reichstag of Fritzlar in 919, achieved the acceptance of a separate Eastern Empire by the West Frankish (still ruled by the Carolingians) in 921, calling himself Rex Francorum Orientalum (King of the East Franks). He founded the Ottonian dynasty.

Henry designated his son Otto, who was elected King in Aachen in 936, to be his successor. A marriage alliance with the widowed queen of Italy gave Otto control over that nation as well. His later crowning as Emperor Otto I (later called "the Great") in 962 would mark an important step, since from then on the Eastern-Frankish realm – and not the West-Frankish kingdom that was the other remainder of the Frankish kingdoms–would have the blessing of the Pope. Otto had gained much of his power earlier, when, in 955, the Magyars were defeated in the Battle of Lechfeld.

The German Kingdom around the year 1000

The Empire in 1000

In contemporary and later writings, this crowning would also be referred to as translatio imperii, the transfer of the Empire from the Romans to a new Empire. The German Emperors thus thought of themselves as being in direct succession of those of the Roman Empire; this is why they initially called themselves Augustus. Still, they did not call themselves "Roman" Emperors at first, probably in order not to provoke conflict with the Roman Emperor who still existed in Constantinople. The term imperator Romanorum only became common under Conrad II (later than his crowning in 1027, thus in the early-middle 11th century) after the Great Schism.

[edit]High Middle Ages

Further information: High Middle Ages and Pomerania during the High Middle Ages

In the early 11th century, the eastern kingdom was not "German" but a "confederation" of the old Germanic tribes of the Bavarians, Alemanns, Franks and Saxons. The Empire as a political union probably only survived because of the strong personal influence of King Henry the Saxon and his son, Otto. Although formally elected by the leaders of the Germanic tribes, they were actually able to designate their successors.

This changed after Henry II died in 1024 without any children. Conrad II, first of the Salian Dynasty, was then elected king in 1024 only after some debate. How exactly the king was chosen thus seems to be a complicated conglomeration of personal influence, tribal quarrels, inheritance, and acclamation by those leaders that would eventually become the collegiate of Electors.

Already at this time the dualism between the "territories", then those of the old tribes rooted in the Frankish lands, and the King/Emperor, became apparent. Each king preferred to spend most time in his own homelands; the Saxons, for example, spent much time in palatinatesaround the Harz mountains, among them Goslar. This practice had only changed under Otto III (king 983, Emperor 996–1002), who began to utilise bishoprics all over the Empire as temporary seats of government. Also, his successors, Henry II, Conrad II, and Henry III, apparently managed to appoint the dukes of the territories. It is thus no coincidence that at this time, the terminology changes and the first occurrences of aregnum Teutonicum (German Kingdom) are found.

[edit]Investiture Controversy

The glory of the Empire almost collapsed in the Investiture Controversy, in which Pope Gregory VII declared a ban on the practice of lay investiture, that is, the practice of secular leaders appointing Catholic clergy and investing them with the symbols of the bishopric. Since lay investiture allowed secular rulers a measure of control over the Church in a given area (and therefore, over the minds of a king's subjects,) Henry IV saw this action by the Pope as a form of interference with Henry's authority.Henry IV (king 1056, Emperor 1084–1106) persuaded bishops under his control to excommunicate the Pope Gregory VII whom he famously addressed as "Hildebrand...Not Pope but false monk!" The Pope however, announced that the oaths of loyalty made to Henry by his vassals were no longer binding, since he'd been excommunicated. Suddenly, the emperor found himself with almost no political support and was forced to make the famous Walk to Canossa in 1077. Because this episode demonstrated the limits of any would-be ruler's power in Christendom, it had wide-reaching implications for the rest of the Medieval Period. Meanwhile, the German dukes had elected a second king, Rudolf of Swabia, whom Henry IV could only defeat after a three-year war in 1080. The mythical roots of the Empire were permanently damaged; the German king was humiliated. Most importantly though, the church was clearly an independent player in the political system of the Empire, not subject to imperial authority.

[edit]Under the Hohenstaufen

Conrad III came to the throne in 1138. He was the first ruler of the Hohenstaufen dynasty; the Hohenstaufen was to restore the glory of the Empire, albeit under the new conditions of the 1122 Concordat of Worms. It was Frederick I "Barbarossa" (king 1152, Emperor 1155–1190) who first called the Empire "holy", with which he intended to address mainly law and legislation.

Adhemar de Monetel carries the Holy Lance

Under Barbarossa, the idea of the "Romanness" of the Empire culminated again, which seemed to be an attempt to justify the Emperor's power independently of the (now strengthened) Pope. An imperial assembly at the fields of Roncaglia in 1158 explicitly reclaimed imperial rights at the advice of quattuor doctores of the emerging judicial facility of the University of Bologna, citing phrases such as princeps legibus solutus ("the emperor princeps is not bound by law") from the Digestae of the Corpus Juris Civilis. That the Roman laws were created for an entirely different system and didn't fit the structure of the Empire was obviously secondary; the point here was that the court of the Emperor made an attempt to establish a legal constitution.

Imperial rights had been referred to as regalia since the Investiture Controversy, but were enumerated for the first time at Roncaglia as well. This comprehensive list included public roads, tariffs, coining, collecting punitive fees, and the investiture, the seating and unseating of office holders. These rights were now explicitly rooted in Roman Law, a far-reaching constitutional act; north of the Alps, the system was also now connected tofeudal law, a change most visible in the withdrawal of the feuds of Henry the Lion in 1180 which led to his public banning. Barbarossa thus managed for a time to more closely bind the stubborn Germanic dukes to the Empire as a whole.

Another important constitutional move at Roncaglia was the establishment of a new peace (Landfrieden) for all of the Empire, an attempt to (on the one hand) abolish private feuds not only between the many local dukes, but on the other hand a means to tie the Emperor's subordinates to a legal system of jurisdiction and public prosecution of criminal acts – a predecessor concept of "rule of law", in modern terms, that was, at this time, not yet universally accepted.

In order to solve the problem that the emperor was (after the Investiture Controversy) no longer as able to use the church as a mechanism to maintain power, the Staufer increasingly lent land to ministerialia, formerly non-free service men, which Frederick hoped would be more reliable than local dukes. Initially used mainly for war services, this new class of people would form the basis for the later knights, another basis of imperial power.

Another new concept of the time was the systematic foundation of new cities, both by the emperor and the local dukes. These were partly caused by the explosion in population, but also to concentrate economic power at strategic locations, while formerly cities only existed in the shape of either old Roman foundations or older bishoprics. Cities that were founded in the 12th century include Freiburg, possibly the economic model for many later cities, and Munich.

The later reign of the last Staufer Emperor, Frederick II, was in many ways different from that of earlier Emperors. Still a child, he first reigned in Sicily, while in Germany, Barbarossa's second son Philip of Swabia and Henry the Lion's son Otto IV competed with him for the title of King of the Germans. After finally having been crowned emperor in 1220, he risked conflict with the pope when he claimed power over Rome; astonishingly to many, he managed to claim Jerusalem in a crusade in 1228 while still under the pope's ban.

While Frederick brought the mythical idea of the Empire to a last high point, he was also the one to initiate the major steps that led to its disintegration. On the one hand, he concentrated on establishing an innovative state in Sicily, with public services, finances, and other reforms. On the other hand, Frederick was the emperor who granted major powers to the German dukes in the form of two far-reaching privileges that would never be reclaimed by the central power. In the 1220 Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis, Frederick gave up a number ofregalia in favour of the bishops, among them tariffs, coining, and fortification. The 1232 Statutum in favorem principum mostly extended these privileges to the other (non-clerical) territories (Frederick II was forced to give those privileges by a rebellion of his son, Henry). Although many of these privileges had existed earlier, they were now granted globally, and once and for all, to allow the German dukes to maintain order north of the Alps while Frederick wanted to concentrate on his homelands in Italy. The 1232 document marked the first time that the German dukes were called domini terræ, owners of their lands, a remarkable change in terminology as well.

The Teutonic Knights were invited to Prussia by Duke Konrad of Masovia to Christianise the Prussians in 1226. The monastic state of the Teutonic Order (German: Deutschordensstaat) and its later German successor states of Prussia never formally belonged to the Holy Roman Empire during its existence.

During the long stays of the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254) in Italy, the German princes became stronger and facilitated a successful, peaceful eastward settlement of lands previously sparsely inhabited by West Slavs or uninhabited, by German farmers, traders and others. The gradual germanization of these lands was a complex phenomenon which should not be interpreted in terms of 19th century nationalism's bias. By the eastward settlement the empire's influence increased to eventually include Pomerania and Silesia - also due to intermarriage of the local, still mostly Slavic, rulers with German spouses.

[edit]Interregnum

Flag of the Holy Roman Empire 1200–1350

After the death of Frederick II in 1250, none of the dynasties worthy of producing the king proved able to do so, and the leading dukes elected several competing kings. The time from 1246 (beginning with the election of Heinrich Raspe and William of Holland) to 1273, when Rudolph I of Habsburg was elected king, is commonly referred to as the Interregnum. During the Interregnum, much of what was left of imperial authority was lost, as the princes were given time to consolidate their holdings and become even more independent rulers.

The Prince-electors

In 1257, there occurred a double election which produced a situation that guaranteed a long interregnum. William of Holland had fallen the previous year, and Conrad of Swabia had died three years earlier. First, three electors (Palatinate, Cologne and Mainz) (being mostly of the Guelph persuasion) cast their votes for Richard of Cornwall who became the successor of William of Holland as king. After a delay, a fourth elector, Bohemia, joined this choice. However, a couple of months later, Bohemia and the three other electors Trier, Brandenburg and Saxonyvoted for Alfonso X of Castile, this being based on Ghibelline party. The realm now had two kings. Was the King of Bohemia entitled to change his vote, or was the election complete when four electors had chosen a king? Were the four electors together entitled to depose Richard a couple of months later, if his election had been valid?

[edit]Changes in political structure

Further information: Medieval commune, Städtebund, Hanseatic League, and Reichsfreiheit

The 13th century also saw a general structural change in how land was administered, preparing the shift of political power towards the risingbourgeoisie at the expense of aristocratic feudalism that would characterize the Late Middle Ages.

Instead of personal duties, money increasingly became the common means to represent economic value in agriculture. Peasants were increasingly required to pay tribute for their lands. The concept of "property" began to replace more ancient forms of jurisdiction, although they were still very much tied together. In the territories (not at the level of the Empire), power became increasingly bundled: Whoever owned the land had jurisdiction, from which other powers derived. It is important to note, however, that jurisdiction at this time did not include legislation, which virtually did not exist until well into the 15th century. Court practice heavily relied on traditional customs or rules described as customary.

It is during this time that the territories began to transform themselves into predecessors of modern states. The process varied greatly among the various lands and was most advanced in those territories that were most identical to the lands of the old Germanic tribes, e.g. Bavaria. It was slower in those scattered territories that were founded through imperial privileges.

[edit]Late Middle Ages

Further information: Late Middle Ages and Pomerania during the Late Middle Ages

[edit]Rise of the territories after the Staufen

Holy Roman Empire from 1273–1378, and its principal royal dynasties

The difficulties in electing the king eventually led to the emergence of a fixed college of electors, the Kurfürsten, whose composition and procedures were set forth in the Golden Bull of 1356. This development probably best symbolises the emerging duality between Kaiser und Reich, emperor and realm, which were no longer considered identical. This is also revealed in the way the post-Staufen kings attempted to sustain their power. Earlier, the Empire's strength (and finances) greatly relied on the Empire's own lands, the so-called Reichsgut, which always belonged to the respective king (and included many Imperial Cities). After the 13th century, its relevance faded (even though some parts of it did remain until the Empire's end in 1806). Instead, the Reichsgut was increasingly pawned to local dukes, sometimes to raise money for the Empire but, more frequently, to reward faithful duty or as an attempt to civilise stubborn dukes. The direct governance of the Reichsgut no longer matched the needs of either the king or the dukes.

Instead, the kings, beginning with Rudolph I of Habsburg, increasingly relied on the lands of their respective dynasties to support their power. In contrast with the Reichsgut, which was mostly scattered and difficult to administer, these territories were comparably compact and thus easier to control. In 1282, Rudolph I thus lent Austria and Styria to his own sons.

With Henry VII, the House of Luxembourg entered the stage. In 1312, he was crowned as the first Holy Roman Emperor since Frederick II. After him all kings and emperors relied on the lands of their own family (Hausmacht): Louis IV of Wittelsbach (king 1314, emperor 1328–1347) relied on his lands in Bavaria; Charles IV of Luxembourg, the grandson of Henry VII, drew strength from his own lands in Bohemia. Interestingly, it was thus increasingly in the king's own interest to strengthen the power of the territories, since the king profited from such a benefit in his own lands as well.

[edit]Imperial Reform

Further information: Vehmic court

Map of the Empire showing division into Circles in 1512

The "constitution" of the Empire was still largely unsettled at the beginning of the 15th century. Although some procedures and institutions had been fixed, for example by the Golden Bull of 1356, the rules of how the king, the electors, and the other dukes should cooperate in the Empire much depended on the personality of the respective king. It therefore proved somewhat fatal that Sigismund of Luxemburg (king 1410, emperor 1433–1437) and Frederick III of Habsburg (king 1440, emperor 1452–1493) neglected the old core lands of the empire and mostly resided in their own lands. Without the presence of the king, the old institution of the Hoftag, the assembly of the realm's leading men, deteriorated. TheReichstag as a legislative organ of the Empire did not exist yet. Even worse, dukes often went into feuds against each other that, more often than not, escalated into local wars.

At the same time, the church was in crisis too. The conflict between several competing popes was only resolved at the Council of Constance(1414–1418); after 1419, much energy was spent on fighting the heresy of the Hussites.^{[neutrality is disputed]} The medieval idea of a unified Corpus christianum, of which the papacy and the Empire were the leading institutions, began to decline.

With these drastic changes, much discussion emerged in the 15th century about the Empire itself. Rules from the past no longer adequately described the structure of the time, and a reinforcement of earlier Landfrieden was urgently called for. During this time, the concept of "reform" emerged, in the original sense of the Latin verb re-formare, to regain an earlier shape that had been lost.

When Frederick III needed the dukes to finance war against Hungary in 1486 and at the same time had his son, later Maximilian I elected king, he was presented with the dukes' united demand to participate in an Imperial Court. For the first time, the assembly of the electors and other dukes was now called Reichstag (to be joined by the Imperial Free Cities later). While Frederick refused, his more conciliatory son finally convened the Reichstag at Worms in 1495, after his father's death in 1493. Here, the king and the dukes agreed on four bills, commonly referred to as the Reichsreform (Imperial Reform): a set of legal acts to give the disintegrating Empire back some structure. Among others, this act produced the Imperial Circle Estates and the Reichskammergericht (Imperial Chamber Court); structures that would—to a degree—persist until the end of the Empire in 1806.

However, it took a few more decades until the new regulation was universally accepted and the new court began to actually function; only in 1512 would the Imperial Circles be finalised. The King also made sure that his own court, the Reichshofrat, continued to function in parallel to the Reichskammergericht. It is interesting to note that in this year, the Empire also received its new title, the Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation ("Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation").

[edit]Reformation and Renaissance

Further information: German Reformation and German Renaissance

See also: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

In 1516, the grandfather (Ferdinand II of Aragon) of the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, died. Due to a combination of (1) the traditions of dynastic succession in Aragon, which permitted maternal inheritance with no precedence for female rule; (2) the insanity of Charles's mother, Joanna of Castile; and (3) the insistence by his remaining grandfather, Maximilian I, that he take up his royal titles, Charles initiated his reign in Castile and Aragon in conjunction with his mother. This ensured for the first time that all the realms of the Iberian peninsula (save for Portugal) would be united by one monarch under one nascent Spanish crown, with the founding territories retaining their separate governance codes and laws. In 1519, already reigning as Carlos I in Spain, Charles took up the imperial title as Karl V. The balance (and imbalance) between these separate inheritances would be defining elements of his reign, and would ensure that personal union between the German and Spanish crowns would be short-lived. The former would end up going to a more junior branch of the Habsburgs in the person of Charles's brother Ferdinand, while the senior branch continued rule in Spain and in the Burgundian inheritance in the person of Charles's son, Philip.

In addition to conflicts between his German and Spanish inheritances, conflicts of religion would be another source of tension during the reign of Charles V. Before Charles even began his reign in the Holy Roman Empire, in 1517, Martin Luther initiated what would later be known as the Reformation. At this time, many local dukes saw it as a chance to oppose the hegemony of Emperor Charles V. The empire then became fatally divided along religious lines, with the North, the East, and many of the major cities—Strasbourg, Frankfurt and Nuremberg—becoming Protestant while the southern and western regions largely remained Catholic.

Carta itineraria europae (byWaldseemüller, 1520 dedicated to Emperor Charles V.)

From 1515 to 1523, the Habsburg government in the Netherlands also had to contend with the Frisian peasant rebellion, led first by Pier Gerlofs Donia and then by his nephew Wijerd Jelckama. The rebels were initially successful, but after a series of defeats, the remaining leaders were taken and decapitated in 1523. This was a blow for the Holy Roman Empire since many major cities were sacked and as many as 132 ships sunk (once even 28 in a single battle).

[edit]Baroque period

Main articles: Early Modern history of Germany and Pomerania during the Early Modern Age

Further information: Baroque period, Protestant Union, and Catholic League (German)

[edit]Religious war

Charles V continued to battle the French and the Protestant princes in Germany for much of his reign. After his son Philip married Queen Mary of England, it appeared that France would be completely surrounded by Habsburg domains, but this hope proved unfounded when the marriage produced no children. In 1555, Paul IV was elected pope and took the side of France, whereupon an exhausted Charles finally gave up his hopes of a world Christian empire. He abdicated and divided his territories between Philip and Ferdinand of Austria. The Peace of Augsburg ended the war in Germany and accepted the existence of the Protestant princes, although not Calvinism, Anabaptism, or Zwingliism. Although the Holy Roman Empire would nominally exist until 1806, it effectively ceased to mean anything after 1555. Germany would enjoy relative peace for the next six decades. On the eastern front, the Turks continued to loom large as a threat, although war would mean further compromises with the Protestant princes, and so the emperor sought to avoid that. In the west, the Rhineland increasingly fell under French influence. And after the Dutch revolt against Spain erupted, the Empire remained neutral. A side effect of that conflict was the Cologne War, which ravaged much of the upper Rhine. After Ferdinand died in 1564, his son Maximilian II became emperor, and like his father, accepted the existence of Protestantism and the need for occasional compromise with it. Maximilian was succeeded in 1576 by Rudolf II, a strange man who preferred classical Greek philosophy to Christianity and lived an isolated existence in Bohemia. He became afraid to act when the Catholic Church was forcibly reasserting control in Austria and Hungary and the Protestant princes became upset over this. Imperial power sharply deteriorated by the time of Rudolf's death in 1612. When Bohemians rebelled against the emperor, the immediate result was the series of conflicts known as the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which devastated the Empire. Foreign powers, including France and Sweden, intervened in the conflict and strengthened those fighting Imperial power, but they also seized considerable chunks of territory for themselves. The long conflict bled the Empire to such a degree that it would never recover its former strength.

At the Battle of Vienna (1683), the army of the Holy Roman Empire led by Polish King John III Sobieski decisively defeated a large Turkish army, ending the western colonial Ottoman advance and leading to the eventual dismemberment of the Ottoman empire in Europe. The HRE army was half Polish/Lithuanian Commonwealth forces, mostly cavalry, and half Holy Roman Empire forces (German/Austrian), mostly infantry. The cavalry charge was the largest in the history of warfare.

The Empire after the Peace of Westphalia, 1648

The Empire in 1705, map "L’Empire d’Allemagne" from Nicolas de Fer

The actual end of the empire came in several steps. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which ended the Thirty Years' War, gave the territories almost complete sovereignty. The Swiss Confederation, which had already established quasi-independence in 1499, as well as the Northern Netherlands, left the empire. Although its constituent states still had some restrictions—in particular, they could not form alliances against the Emperor—the Empire from this point was a powerless entity, existing in name only. The Habsburg Emperors instead focused on consolidating their own estates in Austria and elsewhere.

[edit]Modern period

Main article: 18th century history of Germany

[edit]Prussia and Austria

Further information: German dualism, Kingdom of Prussia, and Habsburg Monarchy

By the rise of Louis XIV, the Habsburgs were dependent on the position as Archdukes of Austria to counter the rise of Prussia, some of whose territories lay inside the Empire. Throughout the 18th century, the Habsburgs were embroiled in various European conflicts, such as the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Polish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession. The German dualism between Austria and Prussia dominated the empire's history after 1740.

[edit]French Revolutionary Wars and final dissolution

Further information: 19th century history of Germany

Map of the Holy Roman Empire in 1789. The map is dominated by the Habsburg Monarchy (brown) and the Kingdom of Prussia (blue), besides a large number of small states (many of them too small to be shown on map)

From 1792 onwards, revolutionary France was at war with various parts of the Empire intermittently. The German Mediatisation was the series ofmediatisations and secularisations that occurred in 1795–1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era.

Mediatisation was the process of annexing the lands of one sovereign monarchy to another, often leaving the annexed some rights.Secularisation was the redistribution to secular states of the secular lands held by an ecclesiastical ruler such as a bishop or an abbot.

The Empire was formally dissolved on 6 August 1806 when the last Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (from 1804, Emperor Francis I of Austria) abdicated, following a military defeat by the French under Napoleon (see Treaty of Pressburg). Napoleon reorganised much of the empire into theConfederation of the Rhine, a French satellite. Francis' House of Habsburg-Lorraine survived the demise of the Empire, continuing to reign asEmperors of Austria and Kings of Hungary until the Habsburg empire's final dissolution in 1918 in the aftermath of World War I. Meanwhile, the Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine was replaced by the German Confederation and the North German Confederation in succession, until the German-speaking territories outside of Austria and Switzerland were united under Prussian leadership in 1871, as the German Empire, the predecessor-state of modern Germany.

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars a new German union, the German Confederation, was established in 1815. It lasted until 1866 when Prussia founded the North German Confederation, which in 1871 became a part of the German Empire.

[edit]Institutions

The Holy Roman Empire was not a highly centralized state like most countries today. Instead, it was divided into dozens—eventually hundreds—of individual entities governed by kings,^[10] dukes, counts, bishops, abbots or other rulers, collectively known as princes. There were also some areas ruled directly by the Emperor. At no time could the Emperor simply issue decrees and govern autonomously over the Empire. His power was severely restricted by the various local leaders.

From the High Middle Ages onwards, the Holy Roman Empire was marked by an uneasy coexistence of the princes of the local territories who were struggling to take power away from it. To a greater extent than in other medieval kingdoms such as France and England, the Emperors were unable to gain much control over the lands that they formally owned. Instead, to secure their own position from the threat of being deposed, Emperors were forced to grant more and more autonomy to local rulers, both nobles and bishops. This process began in the 11th century with the Investiture Controversy and was more or less concluded with the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. Several Emperors attempted to reverse this steady dissemination of their authority, but were thwarted both by the papacy and by the princes of the Empire.

[edit]Imperial estates

The number of territories in the Empire was considerable, rising to approximately 300 at the time of the Peace of Westphalia. Many of these Kleinstaaten ("little states") covered no more than a few square miles, or included several non-contiguous pieces, so the Empire was often called a Flickenteppich ("patchwork carpet").

An entity was considered a Reichsstand (imperial estate) if, according to feudal law, it had no authority above it except the Holy Roman Emperor himself. The imperial estates comprised:

• Territories ruled by a hereditary nobleman, such as a prince, archduke, duke, or count.
• Territories in which secular authority was held by a clerical dignitary, such as an archbishop, bishop, or abbot. Such a cleric was a prince of the church. In the common case of a prince-bishop, this temporal territory (called a prince-bishopric) frequently overlapped with his often-larger ecclesiastical diocese, giving the bishop both civil and clerical powers. Examples include the three prince-archbishoprics: Cologne, Trier, and Mainz.
• Free imperial cities, which were subject only to the jurisdiction of the emperor.

For a list of Reichsstände in 1792, see List of Reichstag participants (1792).

[edit]King of the Romans

Main article: King of the Romans

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The crown of the Holy Roman Empire(2nd half of the 10th century), now held in the Vienna Schatzkammer

A prospective Emperor had first to be elected King of the Romans (Latin: Rex romanorum; German:römischer König). German kings had been elected since the 9th century; at that point they were chosen by the leaders of the five most important tribes (the Salian Franks of Lorraine, Ripuarian Franks of Franconia,Saxons, Bavarians and Swabians). In the Holy Roman Empire, the main dukes and bishops of the kingdom elected the King of the Romans. In 1356, Emperor Charles IV issued the Golden Bull, which limited theelectors to seven: the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the King of Bohemia, the Duke of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg and the archbishops of Cologne, Mainz, and Trier. During the Thirty Years' War, the Duke of Bavaria was given the right to vote as the eighth elector. A candidate for election would be expected to offer concessions of land or money to the electors in order to secure their vote.

After being elected, the King of the Romans could theoretically claim the title of "Emperor" only after being crowned by the Pope. In many cases, this took several years while the King was held up by other tasks: frequently he first had to resolve conflicts in rebellious northern Italy, or was in quarrel with the Pope himself. Later Emperors dispensed with the papal coronation altogether, being content with the styling Emperor-Elect: the last Emperor to be crowned by the Pope was Charles V in 1530.

The Emperor had to be a man of good character over 18 years. All four of his grandparents were expected to be of noble blood. No law required him to be a Catholic, though imperial law assumed that he was. He did not need to be a German (Alfonso X of Castile was not). By the 17th century candidates generally possessed estates within the Empire.

[edit]Reichstag

Main article: Reichstag (institution)

The Reichstag, or Reichsversammlung, was the legislative body of the Holy Roman Empire and theoretically superior to the emperor himself. It was divided into three classes. The first class, the Council of Electors, consisted of the electors, or the princes who could vote for King of the Romans. The second class, the Council of Princes, consisted of the other princes. The Council of Princes was divided into two "benches," one for secular rulers and one for ecclesiastical ones. Higher-ranking princes had individual votes, while lower-ranking princes were grouped into "colleges" by geography. Each college had one vote.

The third class was the Council of Imperial Cities, which was divided into two colleges: Swabia and the Rhine. Each college had one collective vote. The Council of Imperial Cities was not fully equal to the others; it could not vote on several matters such as the admission of new territories. The representation of the Free Cities at the Reichstag had become common since the late Middle Ages. Nevertheless, their participation was formally acknowledged only as late as in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years' War.

[edit]Imperial courts

The Empire also had two courts: the Reichshofrat (also known in English as the Aulic Council) at the court of the King/Emperor, and theReichskammergericht (Imperial Chamber Court), established with the Imperial Reform of 1495.

[edit]Imperial circles

As part of the Imperial Reform, six Imperial Circles were established in 1500; four more were established in 1512. These were regional groupings of most (though not all) of the various states of the Empire for the purposes of defence, imperial taxation, supervision of coining, peace-keeping functions and public security. Each circle had its own parliament, known as a Kreistag ("Circle Diet").

[edit]Analysis

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (October 2009)

It has been said^{[by whom?]} that modern history of Germany was primarily predetermined by three factors: the Reich, the Reformation, and the later dualism between Austria and Prussia. Many attempts^{[by whom?]} have been made to explain why the Reich never managed to gain a strong centralized power over its territories, as opposed to neighbouring France^{[citation needed]}. The Empire had been a very federal body from the beginning: again, as opposed to France, which had mostly been part of the Roman Empire, in the eastern parts of the Frankish kingdom, the Germanic tribes later comprising the German nation (Saxons, Thuringians, Franks, Bavarians, Alamanni or Swabians) were much more independent and reluctant to cede power to a central authority. All attempts to make the kingdom hereditary failed; instead, the king was always elected. Later, every candidate for the king had to make promises to his electorate, the so-called Wahlkapitulationen (election capitulations), thus granting the territories more and more power over the centuries.

Because of its religious connotations, the Empire as an institution was severely damaged by the contest between the Pope and the German Kings over their respective coronations as Emperor. It was never entirely clear under which conditions the pope would crown the emperor and especially whether the worldly power of the emperor was dependent on the clerical power of the pope. Much debate occurred over this, especially during the 11th century, eventually leading to the Investiture Controversy and the Concordat of Worms in 1122. Whether the feudalsystem of the Empire, where the King formally was the top of the so-called "feudal pyramid", was a cause of or a symptom of the Empire's weakness is unclear. In any case, military obedience, which – according to Germanic tradition – was closely tied to the giving of land to tributaries, was always a problem: when the Empire had to go to war, decisions were slow and brittle^{[citation needed]}.

Until the sixteenth century, the economic interests of the south and west diverged from those of the north where the Hanseatic League operated. German historiography^[who?] nowadays often views the Holy Roman Empire as a well balanced system of organizing a multitude of (effectively independent) states under a complex system of legal regulations^{[citation needed]}. Smaller estates like the Lordships or the Imperial Free cities survived for centuries as independent entities, although they had no effective military strength. The supreme courts, theReichshofrat and the Reichskammergericht helped to settle conflicts, or at least prevent verbal arguments from spilling over into actual conflicts^{[citation needed]}. The multitude of different territories with different languages (German, French, Italian, Czech, Slovene etc.), religious denominations and different forms of government led to a great variety of cultural diversification, which can be felt^{[by whom?]} even in present day Germany with regional cultures, patterns of behaviour and dialects changing sometimes within the range of kilometres^{[citation needed]}.

[edit]See also

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[edit]Notes

1. ^ Names of the Holy Roman Empire in other languages:
• Latin: Imperium Romanum Sacrum
• German: Heiliges Römisches Reich
• Italian: Sacro Romano Impero
2. ^ officially recognized since the Peace of Augsburg 1555
3. ^ officiallly recognozed since the Peace of Westphalia 1648
4. ^ Martin Arbage, "Otto I," in Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia (Routledge, 2004), p. 810 online: "Otto can be considered the first ruler of the Holy Roman empire, though that term was not used until the twelfth century."
5. ^ Peter Hamish Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, 1495-1806, MacMillan Press 1999, London, page 2; The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in London website
6. ^ http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa35
7. ^ http://history-world.org/charlemagne.htm
8. ^ Pagden, Anthony (2008). World's at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West (First ed.). Random House. p. 147.
9. ^ Bryce, James (1968). The Holy Roman Empire. Macmilan.
10. ^ The only prince allowed to call himself "king" of a territory in the Empire was the King of Bohemia. Some other princes were kings by virtue of kingdoms they controlled outside of the Empire

[edit]References

• Heinz Angermeier, Das Alte Reich in der deutschen Geschichte. Studien über Kontinuitäten und Zäsuren, München 1991
• Karl Otmar Freiherr von Aretin, Das Alte Reich 1648–1806. 4 vols. Stuttgart, 1993–2000
• Peter Claus Hartmann, Kulturgeschichte des Heiligen Römischen Reiches 1648 bis 1806. Wien, 2001
• Georg Schmidt, Geschichte des Alten Reiches. München, 1999
• James Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire. ISBN 0-333-03609-3
• Jonathan W. Zophy (ed.), The Holy Roman Empire: A Dictionary Handbook. Greenwood Press, 1980
• Deutsche Reichstagsakten
• George Donaldson, Germany: A Complete History. Gotham Books, New York 1985

[edit]External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Holy Roman Empire

• The constitutional structure of the Reich
• Das Heilige Reich (German Museum of History, Berlin)
• List of Wars of the Holy Roman Empire
• Deutschland beim Tode Kaiser Karls IV. 1378 (Germany at the death of emperor Charles IV.) taken from "Meyers Kleines Konversationslexikon in sechs Bänden. Bd. 2. Leipzig u. Wien : Bibliogr. Institut 1908", map inserted after page 342
• Books and articles on the Reich
• The Holy Roman Empire

German Confederation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deutscher Bund German Confederation ←    ←    ←  1815 – 1866 ↓ Coat of arms (from 1848) The German Confederation in 1820. The two major powers - theAustrian Empire (yellow) and the Kingdom of Prussia (blue) - were not entirely within the confederation's borders (red) Capital Frankfurt Political structure Confederation Presidency Austria Federal Assembly Federal Assembly inFrankfurt History  - Established June 8, 1815  - Disestablished August 23, 1866 Preceded by Succeeded by Confederation of the Rhine Austrian Empire Kingdom of Prussia North German Confederation Austrian Empire Kingdom of Bavaria Kingdom of Württemberg Grand Duchy of Baden Grand Duchy of Hesse Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Principality of Liechtenstein

The German Confederation (German: Deutscher Bund) was the association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to serve as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which had been abolished in 1806. In 1848, revolutions by liberals and nationalists occurred in an attempt to establish a unified German state. Talks between the German states failed in 1848, and the confederation briefly dissolved but was re-established in 1850.

The dispute between the two dominant member states of the confederation, Austria and Prussia, over which of the two had the inherent right to rule German lands ended in favour of Prussia after the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, and the collapse of the confederation. This resulted in the creation of the North German Confederation, with a number of south German states remaining independent, although allied first with Austria (until 1867) and subsequently with Prussia (until 1871), after which they became a part of the new nation of Germany. 

Members of the German Confederation

The German Confederation or German Union was a loose confederation of 39 states. The Federal Assembly in Frankfurt represented the sovereigns, not the people of those states. All member states essentially continued to act as independent countries. For example, during the wars against Denmark (the First (1848–1851) and Second (1864) Schleswig wars), the Austrians and Prussians did not fight under the banner of the German Confederation.

The size and influence of the individual states varied greatly:

• The Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia were the largest and by far the most powerful members of the Confederation. Large parts of both countries were not included in the Confederation, because they had not been part of the former Holy Roman Empire, nor had the greater parts of their armed forces been incorporated in the federal army. Each of them had one vote in the Federal Assembly.
• Three member states were ruled by foreign monarchs: the King of Denmark, the King of the Netherlands, and the King of Great Britain (until 1837) were members of the German Confederation; the first as Duke of Holstein, the second as Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Duke of Limburg, and the latter as King of Hanover. Each of them had a vote in the Federal Assembly.
• Six other greater states had one vote each in the Federal Assembly: the King of Bavaria, the King of Saxony, the King of Württemberg, the prince-elector of Hesse, the Grand Duke of Baden and the Grand Duke of Hesse.
• 23 smaller and tiny member states shared five votes in the Federal Assembly.
• The four free cities of Bremen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Lübeck shared one vote in the Federal Assembly.

The monarchs of the member states of the German Confederation meet at Frankfurt in 1863.

[edit]Situation in space and time

Between 1806 and 1815, Napoleon organized the German states into the Confederation of the Rhine, but this collapsed after his defeats in 1812 to 1815. The German Confederation had roughly the same boundaries as the Empire at the time of the French Revolution (less what is now Belgium). The member states, drastically reduced to 39 from more than 300 (see Kleinstaaterei) under theHoly Roman Empire, were recognized as fully sovereign. The members pledged themselves to mutual defense, and jointly maintained the fortresses at Mainz, the city of Luxembourg, Rastatt, Ulm, and Landau.

A Federal Assembly under Austrian presidency met in Frankfurt (the Habsburg Emperor and the King of the United Kingdom and Hanover were represented by 'envoy').

During the revolution of 1848/49 the German Confederation was inactive. It was revived in 1850 under Austrian presidency, but rivalry between Prussia and Austria grew more and more.

The Confederation was dissolved in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War, and was 'succeeded' in 1866 by the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation. Unlike the German Confederation, the North German Confederation was in fact a true state. Its territory comprised the parts of the German Confederation north of the river Main, plus Prussia's eastern territories and the Duchy of Schleswig, but excluded Austria and the southern German states.

Prussia's influence was widened by the Franco-Prussian War resulting in the proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles on 18 January 1871, which united the North German Federation with the southern German states. All the constituent states of the former German Confederation became part of the Kaiserreich in 1871, except Austria, Luxembourg, andLiechtenstein.

[edit]Impact of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic invasions

Austrian chancellor Klemens Wenzel von Metternich dominated the German Confederation from 1815 until 1848

The late 18th century was a period of political, economic, intellectual, and cultural reforms, the Enlightenment (represented by figures such asLocke, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Adam Smith), but also involving early Romanticism, and climaxing with the French Revolution, where freedom of the individual and nation was asserted against privilege and custom. Representing a great variety of types and theories, they were largely a response to the disintegration of previous cultural patterns, coupled with new patterns of production, specifically the rise of industrial capitalism.

However, the defeat of Napoleon enabled conservative and reactionary regimes such as those of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Austrian Empireand Tsarist Russia to survive, laying the groundwork for the Congress of Vienna and the alliance that strove to oppose radical demands for change ushered in by the French Revolution. The Great Powers at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 aimed to restore Europe (as far as possible) to its pre-war conditions by combating both liberalism and nationalism and by creating barriers around France. With Austria's position on the continent now intact and ostensibly secure under its reactionary premier Klemens von Metternich, the Habsburg empire would serve as a barrier to contain the emergence of Italian and German nation-states as well, in addition to containing France. But this reactionary balance of power, aimed at blocking German and Italian nationalism on the continent, was precarious.

After Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo in 1815, the surviving member states of the defunct Holy Roman Empire joined to form the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) — a rather loose organization, especially because the two great rivals, the Austrian Empire and the Prussian kingdom, each feared domination by the other.

In Prussia the Hohenzollern rulers forged a centralized state. By the time of the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia was a socially and institutionally backward state, grounded in the virtues of its established military aristocracy (the Junkers), stratified by rigid hierarchical lines. After 1815, Prussia's defeats by Napoleonic France highlighted the need for administrative, economic, and social reforms to improve the efficiency of the bureaucracy and encourage practical merit-based education. Inspired by the Napoleonic organization of German and Italian principalities, the reforms of Karl August von Hardenberg and Count Stein were conservative, enacted to preserve aristocratic privilege while modernizing institutions.

Outside Prussia, industrialization progressed slowly, and was held back because of political disunity, conflicts of interest between the nobility and merchants, and the continued existence of the guild system, which discouraged competition and innovation. While this kept the middle class small, affording the old order a measure of stability not seen in France, Prussia's vulnerability to Napoleon's military proved to many among the old order that a fragile, divided, and backward Germany would be easy prey for its cohesive and industrializing neighbor.

The reforms laid the foundation for Prussia's future military might by professionalizing the military and decreeing universal military conscription. In order to industrialize Prussia, working within the framework provided by the old aristocratic institutions, land reforms were enacted to break the monopoly of the Junkers on landownership, thereby also abolishing, among other things, the feudal practice of serfdom.

[edit]Romanticism, nationalism, and liberalism in the Vormärz era

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Although the forces unleashed by the French Revolution were seemingly under control after the Vienna Congress, the conflict between conservative forces and liberal nationalists was only deferred at best. The era until the failed 1848 revolution, in which these tensions built up, is commonly referred to as Vormärz ("pre-March"), in reference to the outbreak of riots in March 1848.

This conflict pitted the forces of the old order against those inspired by the French Revolution and the Rights of Man. The sociological breakdown of the competition was, roughly, one side engaged mostly in commerce, trade and industry, and the other side associated with landowning aristocracy or military aristocracy (the Junker) in Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy in Austria, and the conservative notables of the small princely states and city-states in Germany.

Meanwhile, demands for change from below had been fermenting since the influence of the French Revolution. Throughout the German Confederation, Austrian influence was paramount, drawing the ire of the nationalist movements. Metternich considered nationalism, especially the nationalist youth movement, the most pressing danger: German nationalism might not only repudiate Austrian dominance of the Confederation, but also stimulate nationalist sentiment within the Austrian Empire itself. In a multi-national polyglot state in which Slavs and Magyars outnumbered the Germans, the prospects of Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Serb, or Croatian sentiment along with middle class liberalism was certainly horrifying.

The Vormärz era saw the rise of figures like August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, Ludwig Uhland, Georg Herwegh, Heinrich Heine, Georg Büchner, Ludwig Börne and Bettina von Arnim. Father Friedrich Jahn's gymnastic associations exposed middle class German youth to nationalist and democratic ideas, which took the form of the nationalistic and liberal democratic college fraternities known as the Burschenschaften. The Wartburg Festival in 1817 celebrated Martin Luther as a proto-German nationalist, linking Lutheranism to German nationalism, and helping arouse religious sentiments for the cause of German nationhood. The festival culminated in the burning of several books and other items that symbolized reactionaryattitudes. One item was a book by August von Kotzebue. In 1819, Kotzebue was accused of spying for Russia, and then murdered by a theological student, Karl Ludwig Sand, who was executed for the crime. Sand belonged to a militant nationalist faction of the Burschenschaften. Metternich used the murder as a pretext to issue the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819, which dissolved the Burschenschaften, cracked down on the liberal press, and seriously restricted academic freedom.

[edit]Economic integration

During this period, Prussia continued to repress liberalism and enact reform from above. Further efforts to improve the confederation began in 1834 with the establishment of a customs union, the Zollverein. In 1834, the Prussian regime sought to stimulate wider trade advantages and industrialism by decree — a logical continuation of the program of Stein and Hardenberg less than two decades earlier. Inadvertently, these reforms sparked the unification movement and augmented a middle class demanding further political rights, but at the time backwardness and Prussia's fears of its stronger neighbors were greater concerns. The customs union opened up a common market, ended tariffs between states, and standardized weights, measures, and currencies within member states (excluding Austria), forming the basis of a proto-national economy.

By 1842 the Zollverein included most German states. Within the next twenty years the output of German furnaces increased fourfold. Coal production grew rapidly as well. In turn, German industry (especially the works established by the Krupp family) introduced the steel gun, cast-steel axles, and a breech loading rifle, exemplifying Germany's successful application of technology to weaponry. Germany's security was greatly enhanced, leaving the Prussian state and the landowning aristocracy secure from outside threat. German manufacturers also produced heavily for the civilian sector. No longer would Britain supply half of Germany's needs for manufactured goods, as it did beforehand.

However, by developing a strong industrial base, the Prussian state strengthened the middle class and thus the nationalist movement. Economic integration, especially increased national consciousness among the German states, made political unity a far likelier scenario. Germany finally began exhibiting all the features of a proto-nation.

The crucial factor enabling Prussia's conservative regime to survive the Vormärz era was a rough coalition between leading sectors of the landed upper class and the emerging commercial and manufacturing interests. Marx and Engels, in their analysis of the abortive 1848 Revolutions, defined such a coalition: "a commercial and industrial class which is too weak and dependent to take power and rule in its own right and which therefore throws itself into the arms of the landed aristocracy and the royal bureaucracy, exchanging the right to rule for the right to make money." ¹ It is necessary to add that, even if the commercial and industrial element is weak, it must be strong enough (or soon become strong enough) to become worthy of co-optation, and the French Revolution terrified enough perceptive elements of Prussia's Junkers for the state to be sufficiently accommodating.

While relative stability was maintained until 1848, with enough bourgeois elements still content to exchange the "right to rule for the right to make money", the landed upper class found its economic base sinking. While the Zollverein brought economic progress and helped to keep the bourgeoisie at bay for a while, it increased the ranks of the middle class swiftly - the very social base for the nationalism and liberalism that the Prussian state sought to stem.

The Zollverein was a move toward economic integration, modern industrial capitalism, and the victory of centralism over localism, quickly bringing to an end the era of guilds in the small German princely states. This led to the 1844 revolt of the Silesian Weavers, who saw their livelihood destroyed by the flood of new manufactures.

The Zollverein also weakened Austrian domination of the Confederation as economic unity increased the desire for political unity and nationalism.

[edit]The Revolutions of 1848

Main article: The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states

News of the 1848 Revolution in Paris quickly reached discontented bourgeois liberals, republicans and more radical workingmen.

The first revolutionary uprisings in Germany began in the state of Baden in March 1848. Within a few days, there were revolutionary uprisings in other states including Austria, and finally in Prussia.

On 15 March 1848, the subjects of Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia vented their long-repressed political aspirations in violent rioting in Berlin, while barricades were erected in the streets of Paris. King Louis-Philippe of France fled to Great Britain. Friedrich Wilhelm gave in to the popular fury, and promised a constitution, a parliament, and support for German unification. But at least his regime was still standing.

On 18 May the Frankfurt Parliament opened its first session, with delegates from various German states. It was immediately divided between those favoring a kleindeutsche (small German) or grossdeutsche (greater German) solution. The former favored offering the imperial crown to Prussia. The latter favored the Habsburg crown in Vienna, which would integrate Austria proper and Bohemia (but not Hungary) into the new Germany.

From May to December, the Assembly eloquently debated academic topics while conservatives swiftly moved against the reformers. As in Austria and Russia, this middle-class assertion increased authoritarian and reactionary sentiments among the landed upper class, whose economic position was declining. They turned to political levers to preserve their rule. As the Prussian army proved loyal, and the peasants were uninterested, Friedrich Wilhelm regained his confidence. The Assembly issued its Declaration of the Rights of the German people, a constitution was drawn up (excluding Austria which openly rejected the Assembly), and the leadership of the Reich was offered to Friedrich Wilhelm, who refused to "pick up a crown from the gutter". Thousands of middle class liberals fled abroad, especially to the United States.

In 1849, Friedrich Wilhelm proposed his own constitution. His document concentrated real power in the hands of the King and the upper classes, and called for a confederation of North German states (the Erfurt Union). Austria and Russia, fearing a strong, Prussian-dominated Germany, responded by pressuring Saxony and Hanover to withdraw, and forced Prussia to abandon the scheme in a treaty dubbed the "humiliation of Olmütz".

[edit]Bismarck and the Wars of Unification

Shortly after the "humiliation of Olmütz", a new generation of statesmen responded to popular demands for national unity for their own ends, continuing Prussia's tradition of autocracy and reform from above. It takes very able leadership to drag along the less perceptive reactionary elements, and Germany found it to accomplish the seemingly paradoxical task of conservative modernization. Bismarck, in fact, was appointed by Wilhelm IV of Prussia (the future Kaiser Wilhelm I) to circumvent the liberals in the Landtag who resisted Wilhelm's autocratic militarism. Gradually Bismarck won over the middle class, reacting to the revolutionary sentiments expressed in 1848 by providing them with the economic opportunities for which the urban middle sectors had been fighting.

[edit]Territorial legacy

Map of the German Confederation

The current countries whose territory were partly or entirely located inside the boundaries of German Confederation 1815–1866 are:

• Germany (all states)

• Austria (all states except Burgenland)

• Luxembourg (entire territory)

• Liechtenstein (entire territory)

• Netherlands (province of Limburg - the province joined the Confederation after 1839)

• Czech Republic (entire territory)

• Slovenia (except for Prekmurje and the municipalities of Koper, Izola and Piran)

• Poland (West Pomeranian Voivodship, Lubusz Voivodship, Lower Silesian Voivodship, Opole Voivodship, part of Silesia), temporary: Poznan (Posen) Territory, formerly South-east Prussia, formerly Free City of Gdansk (Danzig)

• Belgium (German-speaking community and some other territory at the east of the province of Liège); the larger province of Luxembourg had left the Confederation at its accession to Belgium in 1839

• Italy (autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, the Province of Trieste, most of the Province of Gorizia except the Monfalcone enclave, and the municipalities of Tarvisio,Malborghetto Valbruna, Pontebba, Aquileia, Fiumicello and Cervignano in the Province of Udine)

• Croatia (the Pazin territory in Istria county and the coastal strip between Opatija and Plomin in the Liburnia region)

• The Danish crown had been a member only in chief of its duchy of Holstein. Schleswig first joined as part of Prussia following the Second War of Schleswig (1864).

[edit]See also

Germany portal

• States of the German Confederation
• List of German monarchs
• History of Germany
• Holy Roman Empire
• German Empire
• North German Confederation
• Former countries in Europe after 1815