Free City of Danzig (Napoleonic)
Free City of Danzig | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1807–1814 | |||||||||
Constitutional republic | |||||||||
Governor | |||||||||
• 1807–1814 | Jean Rapp | ||||||||
Mayor | |||||||||
• 1807–1808 | Carl von Gralath | ||||||||
• 1808–1810 | Gottlieb Hufeland | ||||||||
• 1812–1814 | Johann Wernsdorff | ||||||||
• 1814 | Joachim von Weickhmann | ||||||||
Historical era | Napoleonic Wars | ||||||||
• Established | 9 September 1807 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 2 January 1814 | ||||||||
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The Free City of Danzig (French: Ville libre de Dantzig; German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk), sometimes referred to as the Republic of Danzig (French: République de Dantzig; German: Republik Danzig), was a semi-independent city-state established by Napoleon on 9 September 1807, during the time of the Napoleonic Wars following the capture of the city in the siege of Danzig in May. After the Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815, Danzig was re-incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia.[1]
History
Prussia had acquired the City of Danzig in the course of the
The Republic was officially proclaimed on 21 July 1807, after the French troops had handed over the city on May 27. Prussia and the Kingdom of Saxony under Frederick Augustus I, also Duke of Warsaw, were appointed guarantee powers. Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre, commander of the Danzig siege, received the honorific title of Duc de Danzig from the hands of Napoleon, however, the actual ruler of the city was the French governor General Jean Rapp. The citizens had to accommodate Napoleon's Grande Armée forces and to pay large tributes in the preparation of the French invasion of Russia in 1812.[3]
After the French retreat, the Imperial Russian forces laid siege to the city from late January to 29 November 1813, and the remaining c. 40,000 French soldiers finally withdrew on 2 January 1814. Although the Prussian authorities made it the capital of West Prussia and the administrative centre of the Regierungsbezirk Danzig, the autonomy of the city was significantly reduced.[4]
See also
- History of Gdańsk
- Free City of Danzig
- Administrations of Danzig before April 1945
References
- ^ "Poland and the Local Poles in the Free City of Danzig between the two World Wars" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
- ^ Hamlin, Danuta (2023-08-30). "From ashes to glory, the city of Gdańsk, Poland, soldiers on through history". Fox News. Archived from the original on 2024-01-26. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
- ^ "In Napoleonic times, Danzig (now Gdańsk) was a republic… not a lot of people know that". www.thefirstnews.com. Archived from the original on 2024-01-26. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
- ^ "The "free city" of Danzig 1807 - 1814" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-01-26. Retrieved 2024-01-26.