History of Saxony-Anhalt

Grand Duchy of Baden, a former sovereign state of Germany, which was bounded to the north by the kingdom of Bavaria and the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt - to the west and practically throughout its whole length by the river Rhine, which separated it from the Bavarian Palatinate and the imperial province of Alsace-Lorraine; to the south by Switzerland, and to the east by the kingdom of Wurttemberg and also part of Bavaria.

The country has an area of 5823 sq. m. and consists of a considerable portion of the eastern half of the fertile valley of the Rhine and of the mountains which form its boundary. The mountainous part is by far the most extensive, forming, indeed, nearly 8o% of the whole area. From Lake Constance in the south to the river Neckar in the north is a portion of the Black Forest or Schwarzwald, which is divided by the valley of the Kinzig into two districts of different elevation. To the south of the Kinzig the mean height is 3100 ft., and the loftiest summit, the Feldberg, reaches about 4898 ft;, while to the north the mean height is only 2100 ft., and the Belchen, the culminating point of the whole, does not exceed 4480 ft. To the north of the Neckar is the Odenwald Range, with a mean of 1440 ft., and inthe Katzenbuckel, an extreme of 1980 ft. Lying between the Rhine and the Dreisam is the Kaiserstuhl, an independent volcanic group, nearly 10 m. in length and 5 in breadth, the highest point of which is 1760 ft. The greater part of Baden belongs to the basin of the Rhine, which receives upwards of twenty tributaries from the highlands; the north-eastern portion of the territory is also watered by the Main and the Neckar. A part, however, of the eastern slope of the Black Forest belongs to the basin of the Danube, which there takes its rise in a number of mountain streams. Among the numerous lakes which belong to the duchy are the Mummel, Wilder, Eichener and Schluch, but none of them is of any size. The Lake of Constance (Boden-See) belongs partly to Bavaria and Switzerland.

Owing to its physical configuration Baden presents great extremes of heat and cold, The Rhine valley is the warmest district in Germany, but the higher elevations of the Black Forest record the greatest degrees of cold experienced in the South. The mean temperature of the Rhine valley is approximately 50° F. and that, of the high table-land, 43° F. July is the hottest and January the coldest month in the year.

Christopher divided it before his death in 1527 among his three sons. One 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, Ii aIled~ after 1565 Baden-Durlach. 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 added to this~ rivalry. During the period of the Reformation some of the rulers of Baden adhered to the older and some adopted the newer faith, 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 treaty of Westphalia in 1648 restored the status quo, and the family rivalry gradually died out. During the wars of the reign of Louis XIV, the Margravate was ravaged by the French troops, and the margrave of Baden-Baden, Louis William (d. 1707), was prominent among the soldiers who resisted the aggressions of France. In 1771 Augustus George of Baden-Baden died without sons, and his territories passed to Charles Frederick of Baden-Durlach, who thus became ruler of the whole of Baden. Although in 1771 Baden was united under a single ruler it did not form a compact territory, and its total area was only about 1350 sq. m. Consisting of a number of isolated districts on either bank of the upper Rhine, it was the work of Charles Frederick to acquire the intervening stretches of highland, and so to give territorial unity to his country. Beginning his 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 was in general a wise and liberal ruler. His opportunity for territorial aggrandizement came during the Napoleonic wars. When war broke out between France and Austria in 1792, the Badenese fought for Austria; consequently their country was devastated, and 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 Greisgau 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. The Baden contingent continued to assist France, and by the peace of Vienna in 1809 the grand-duke was rewarded with accessions of territory at the expense of the kingdom of Württemberg. Having quadrupled the area of Baden, Charles Frederick died in June 1811, and was suceeded by his grandson, Charles, who was married to Stephanie de Beauharnais (d. 1860), an adopted daughter of Napoleon. Charles fought for his father-in-law until after the battle of Leipzig In 1813, when he joined the Allies.

In 1815 Baden became a member of the Germanic confederation established by the Act of the 8th of June, annexed to the ??inal Act of the congress of Vienna of the 9th of June. In the hurry of 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 6th 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 Zahringen.

In a counterblast to this the grand-duke Charles issued in 1817 a pragmatic sanction (Hausgesetz) declaring the counts of Hochberg, the issue of a morganatic marriage between the grand-duke Charles Hochberg), capable of succeeding to the crown. A controversy between Bavaria and Baden resulted, which was only decided in favour of the Hochberg claims by the treaty signed by the ur great powers and Baden at Frankfurt on the 10th of July ‘9. Meanwhile the dispute had produced important effects for Baden. In order to secure popular support for the Hochberg heir, Charles in 1818 granted to the grand-duchy, under article ii. 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, belonging to the Celtic fringe of Germany, had lain during the revolutionary period 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 Convention in the earlier days of the French Revolution. On the other hand, the new Grand-duke Louis, 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 1816, 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, fully 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 Louis was succeeded as grand~duke by his half-brother Leopold, the first of the Hochberg line. The July Revolution led to no disturbances in Baden; but the new grand-duke from the first showed liberal tendencies. The elections of 1830 were not interfered with; and the result was 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 revolutiony year 1848, however, Radicalism once more began to lift up its head. At a popular demonstration held at Offenburg in September 1847, resolutions were passed demanding the conversion of the regular army into a national militia which would take an oath to the constitution, a progressive income tax and a fair adjustment of the interests of capital and labour. The news of the revolution of February 1848 in Paris brought this agitation to a head. Numerous public meetings were held at which the Offenburg programme was adopted, and on the 4th March, under the influence of the popular excitement, it was accepted almost unanimously by the lower chamber. As in other German states, the government bowed to the storm, proclaimed an amnesty and promised reforms. The ministry was remodelled in a more Liberal direction; and a new delegate was sent to the federal diet at Frankfort, empowered to vote for the establishment of a parliament for united Germany. The disorders, fomented by republican agitators, none the less 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 were beaten at Kandern on the 20th of April; Freiburg, which they held, fell on the 24th; and on the 27th a Francoerman legion, which had invaded Baden from Strassburg, was routed at Dossenbach.

At the beginning of 1849, however, the issue of a new constiition, in accordance with the resolutions of the Frankfort parliament, led to more serious trouble. It did little to satisfy the Radicals, who were angered by the refusal of the second chamber to agree to their proposal for the summoning of a constituent assembly (10th of February 1849). The new insurrection that now broke out was a more formidable affair than the first.

A military mutiny at Rastatt on the 11th of May showed that the army sympathized with the revolution, which was proclaimed two days later at Offenburg amid tumultuous scenes. On the same day (13th of May) a mutiny at Karlsruhe forced the grand-duke to take to flight, and the next day he was followed by the ministers, while a committee of the diet 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 the 1st of June, and on the 10th the constituent diet, consisting entirely of the most advanced politicians, assembled. It had little chance of doing more than make speeches; the country was 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 was 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 emperor), invaded Baden in the middle of June. The insurgent forces were under the command of the Pole, Ludwig von Mieroslawski (1814 - 1878), who reduced them to some semblance of order. On the 20th he met the Prussians at Waghausel, and was completely defeated; on the ??th 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 Baden was occupied for the time by Prussian troops. The grand-duke returned on the 15th of August, and at once dissolved the diet., The elections resulted in a majority favourable to the new ministry, and a series of laws were passed of a reactionary tendency with a view to strengthening the government.

The grand-duke Leopold died on the 24th of April 1852, and was succeeded by his second son, Frederick, as regent, the eldest, Louis (d. 22nd of January 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 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 (24th of July), however, the second chamber had petitioned the grand-duke to end the war and enter into an offensive and defensive alliance with Prussia. The grand-duke had from the first been opposed to the war with Prussia, but had been forced to yield owing to popular resentment at the policy of Prussia in the Schleswig-Holstein question (q.v.). The ministry, now at one, resigned; Baden announced her withdrawal from the German confederation; and on the 17th of August a treaty of peace and alliance was signed with Prussia. The adhesion of Baden to the North German confederation was presented by Bismarck himself, who had no wish to give Napoleon III. so good an excuse for intervention; but it was the opposition of Baden to the formation of a South German confederation that made the ultimate union inevitable. The troops of Baden took a conspicuous share in the war of 2870; and it was the grand-duke 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.

The internal politics of Baden, both before and after 1870, centre in the main round the question of religion. The signing on the 28th of June 1859 of a concordat with the Holy See, by which education was placed under the oversight of the clergy and the establishment of religious orders was facilitated, led to a constitutional struggle, which ended in 1863 with the victory ???

Frederick assumed the title of grand-duke on the 5th of September 1856.

Of Liberal principles, the communes being made responsible for education, though the priests were admitted to a share in the management. The quarrel between Liberalism and Clericalism was, however, not ended. In 1867, on the accession to the premiership of Julius von Jolly (1823-1891), several constitutional changes in a Liberal direction were made; responsibility of ministers, freedom of the press, compulsory education. In the same year (6th of September) a law was passed to compel all candidates for the priesthood to pass the government examinations. The archbishop of Freiburg resisted, and, on his death in April 1868, the see was left vacant. In 1869 the introduction of civil marriage did not allay the strife, which reached its climax after the proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility in 1870. The Kulturkampf raged in Baden, as in the rest of Germany; and here as elsewhere the government encouraged the formation of Old Catholic communities. Not till 1880, after the fall of the ministry of Jolly, was a reconciliation with Rome effected; in 1882 the archbishopric of Freiburg was again filled up. The political tendency of Baden, meanwhile, mirrored that of all Germany. In 1892 the National Liberals had but a majority of one in the diet; from 1893 they could maintaib 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, he had reserved only the exclusive right to tax beer and spirits; the army, the post-office, railways and the conduct of foreign relations were placed 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 the 20th of September 1906, the grand-duke celebrated at once the jubilee of his reign and his golden wedding, all Europe combined to do him honour. King Edward VII. sent him, by the hands of the duke of Connaught, the order of the Garter. But more significant, perhaps, was the tribute paid by the Temps, the leading Parisian paper.

"Nothing more clearly demonstrates the sterile paradox of the Napoleonic work," it wrote, "than the history of the grand-duchy. It was Napoleon, and he alone, who created this whole state in 1803 to reward in the person of the little margrave of Baden a relative of the emperor of Russia. It was he who after Austerlitz aggrandized the margravate at the expense of Austria; transformed it into a sovereign principality and raised it to a grand-duchy. It was he too who, by the secularization on the one hand and by the dismemberment of Wurttemberg on the other, gave the grand-duke 500,000 new subjects. He believed that the recognition of the prince and the artificial ethnical formation of the principality would be pledges of ;ecurity for France. But in 1813 Baden joined the coalition, and since then that nation created of odds and ends (de bric el le broc) and always handsomely treated by us, had not ceased to take a leading part in the struggles against our country. rhe grand-duke Frederick, grand-duke by the will of Napoleon, has done France all the harm he could. But French opinion itself renders justice to the probity of his character and to the ardour of his patriotism, and nobody will feel surprise at the homage with which Germany feels bound to surround his old age. He died at Mainau on the 28th of September ~, and was succeeded by his son, the grand-duke Frederick II."

BIBLIOGRAPHY. Das Grossherzogtum Baden in geographischer Hinsichi dargesleilt (Karisruhe, i885); Wielandt, Des Statsrecht des Grossherzogtums Baden (Freiburg, 1895); F. von Weech, Badische Geschichte (Karlsruhe, 1890); Die Zahringer in Baden (Karlsruhe, 1881); Baden unter den Grossherzëgen Karl Friedrich. Karl Ludwig (Freiburg, 1863); Geschichte der badischen Verfassung (Karlsruhe, I868); and Baden in den Jahren 1852 bis 1877 (Karlsruhe, 1877); C. F. Nebenius,and F. von Weech, Karl Friedrich von Baden (Karlsruhe, 1868); L. H. Häusser, DenkwiArdigkeiten gut Geschichte der badischen Revolution (Heidelberg, 1851)