Kingdom of Bavaria

Kingdom of Bavaria (1806–1825) Königreich Baiern Kinereich Baiern (1825–1918) Königreich Bayern Kinereich Bayern
1806–1918
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: In Treue fest ("Steadfast in loyalty")[1]
Anthem: Bayerische Königshymne (German)[2] "Bavarian Royal Hymn" Instrumental rendition in B major
The Kingdom of Bavaria in 1914, as part of the German Empire
Status	Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire (1806) State of the Confederation of the Rhine (1806–1813) State of the German Confederation (1815–1866) Federal State of the German Empire (1871–1918)
Capital and largest city	Munich
Common languages	Bavarian, Upper German dialects
Religion	Majority: Roman Catholicism Minorities: Calvinism Judaism
Government	Constitutional monarchy
King
• 1806–1825	Maximilian I Joseph
• 1825–1848	Ludwig I
• 1848–1864	Maximilian II
• 1864–1886	Ludwig II
• 1886-1913	Otto
• 1913–1918	Ludwig III
Prince Regent
• 1886–1912	Luitpold
• 1912–1913	Ludwig
Minister-President
• 1806–1817	Maximilian von Montgelas
• 1912–1917	Georg von Hertling
• 1917–1918	Otto Ritter von Dandl
Legislature	German Revolution	9 November 1918
• Anif declaration	12 November 1918
Population
• 1910[3]	6,524,372
Currency	German Papiermark (1914–1918)
Preceded by Succeeded by Electorate of Bavaria Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg Imperial County of Ortenburg People's State of Bavaria Bavarian Soviet Republic
Today part of	Germany

The Kingdom of Bavaria (German: Königreich Bayern [ˈkøːnɪkʁaɪç ˈbaɪɐn]; Bavarian: Kinereich Bayern [ˈkɪnəraɪ̯x ˈb̥ajɛɐ̯n]; spelled Baiern until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingdom became a federated state of the new empire and was second in size, power, and wealth only to the leading state, the Kingdom of Prussia.^[4]

The polity's foundation dates back to the ascension of Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach as King of Bavaria in 1806. The crown continued to be held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom came to an end in 1918. Most of the border of modern Germany's Free State of Bavaria was established after 1814 with the Treaty of Paris, in which the Kingdom of Bavaria ceded Tyrol and Vorarlberg to the Austrian Empire while receiving Aschaffenburg and Würzburg.

In 1918, Bavaria became a republic after the

On 30 December 1777, the Bavarian line of the Wittelsbachs became extinct, and the

Maximilian IV Joseph (of Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Zweibrücken), the new elector, succeeded to a difficult inheritance. Though his own sympathies, and those of his all-powerful minister, Maximilian von Montgelas, were, if anything, French rather than Austrian, the state of the Bavarian finances, and the fact that the Bavarian Army was scattered and disorganized, left him helpless in the hands of Austria; on 2 December 1800, the Bavarian Army was involved in the Austrian defeat at Hohenlinden, and Moreau once more occupied Munich. By the Treaty of Lunéville (9 February 1801), Bavaria lost the Palatinate and the duchies of Zweibrücken and Jülich. In view of the scarcely disguised ambitions and intrigues of the Austrian court, Montgelas now believed that the interests of Bavaria lay in a frank alliance with the French Republic; he succeeded in overcoming the reluctance of Maximilian Joseph; and, on 24 August, a separate treaty of peace and alliance with France was signed at Paris.^{[citation needed]}

The 1805

With the defeat of Napoleon's France in 1814, Bavaria lost the territories it had gained from Austria, but was compensated for some of its losses, receiving new territories such as the Grand Duchy of Würzburg, the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt and parts of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Finally, the Rhenish Palatinate was given to Bavaria by the Treaty of Munich. It was the second largest and second most powerful state south of the Main, behind only Austria. In Germany as a whole, it ranked third behind Prussia and Austria.

Between 1799 and 1817, the leading minister Count Montgelas followed a strict policy of modernisation and laid the foundations of administrative structures that survived even the monarchy and are (in their core) valid until today. On 1 February 1817, Montgelas was dismissed and Bavaria entered a new era of constitutional reform.

On 26 May 1818, Bavaria's second constitution was proclaimed. The constitution established a bicameral Parliament (

Within the Kingdom of Bavaria, the Palatinate enjoyed a special legal and administrative position, as the Bavarian government maintained substantial achievements of the French period. The German historian Heiner Haan[6] described the special status of the Palatinate within Bavaria as a relation of Hauptstaat (main state, i.e. Bavaria) and Nebenstaat (alongside state, i.e. the Palatinate).

In 1825, Ludwig I ascended the throne of Bavaria. Under Ludwig, the arts flourished in Bavaria, and Ludwig personally ordered and financially assisted the creation of many

In 1837, the Roman Catholic-supported clerical movement, the Ultramontanes, came to power in the Bavarian parliament and began a campaign of reform to the constitution, which removed civil rights that had earlier been granted to Protestants, as well as enforcing censorship and forbidding the free discussion of internal politics. This regime was short-lived due to the demand by the Ultramontanes of the naturalization of Ludwig I's Irish mistress, Lola Montez, a notorious courtesan and dancer, which was resented by Ludwig, and the Ultramontanes were pushed out.

In the aftermath of the failure of the Frankfurt Parliament, Prussia and Austria continued to debate over which monarchy had the inherent right to rule Germany. A dispute between Austria and the Elector of Hesse-Kassel was used by Austria and its allies (including Bavaria) to promote the isolation of Prussia in German political affairs. This diplomatic insult almost led to war when Austria, Bavaria, and other allies moved troops through Bavaria towards Hesse-Kassel in 1850. However, Prussia backed down to Austria, and accepted its political leadership of Germany. This event was known as the Punctation of Olmütz but also known as the "Humiliation of Olmütz" by Prussia. This event solidified the Bavarian kingdom's alliance with Austria against Prussia. When the project to unite the German middle-sized powers under Bavarian leadership against Prussia and Austria (the so-called Trias) failed, Minister-President von der Pfordten resigned in 1859. Attempts by Prussia to reorganize the loose German Confederation were opposed by Bavaria and Austria, with Bavaria taking part in its own discussions with Austria and other allies in 1863, in Frankfurt, without Prussia attending.

In 1864, Maximilian II died early, and his eighteen-year-old son,

Prussia quickly defeated the Kingdom of Hanover, then won the Battle of Königgrätz (3 July 1866) against Austria, which sued for peace shortly afterward. The states of the German Confederation had not agreed on a common strategy in the war. Their separate armies were therefore defeated in succession by Prussia.

The Bavarian Army was defeated in Lower Franconia at the Battle of Kissingen (10 July 1866). Prince Karl Theodor of Bavaria took command, but the Bavarians were decisively beaten at Roßbrunn (26 July 1866).

Austria was defeated, and the German Confederation was dissolved, ending Austria's influence over the lesser German states. Bavaria lost Gersfeld, Bad Orb and Kaulsdorf to Prussia; former two became part of the new Province of Hesse-Nassau whereas the latter became part of Province of Saxony. From this time, Bavaria steadily progressed into Prussia's sphere of influence.

With Austria's defeat in the Austro-Prussian War, the northern German states quickly unified into the North German Confederation, with the Prussian king leading the state. Bavaria's previous inhibitions towards Prussia changed, along with those of many of the south German states, after French Emperor Napoleon III began speaking of France's need for "compensation" from its loss in 1814 and included the Bavarian-held Palatinate as part of its territorial claims. Ludwig II joined an alliance with Prussia in 1870 against France, which was seen by Germans as the greatest enemy to a united Germany. At the same time, Bavaria increased its political, legal, and trade ties with the North German Confederation. In 1870, war erupted between France and Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War. The Bavarian Army was sent under the command of the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick against the French Army.^[7]

With France's defeat and humiliation against the combined German forces, it was Ludwig II who proposed that Prussian King

Bavaria's entry into the German Empire changed from jubilation over France's defeat to dismay shortly afterward because of the direction Germany took under the new

The crown passed to Ludwig's brother Otto. However, Otto had a long history of mental illness and had been placed under medical supervision three years earlier. The duties of head of state actually rested in the hands of Prince Luitpold, who continued to serve as regent for Otto.

During the regency of Prince-Regent Luitpold, from 1886 to 1912, relations between Bavaria and Prussia remained cold, with Bavarians remembering the anti-Catholic agenda of Bismarck's Kulturkampf, as well as Prussia's strategic dominance over the empire. Bavaria protested Prussian dominance over Germany and snubbed the Prussian-born German Emperor, Wilhelm II, in 1900, by forbidding the flying of any other flag other than the Bavarian flag on public buildings for the emperor's birthday, but this was swiftly modified afterwards, allowing the German imperial flag to be hung beside the Bavarian flag.

The Catholic, conservative Patriotic Party founded in 1868 became the leading party in the Bavarian Landtag (Parliament). In 1887, its name was changed to Bavarian Centre. In 1893, the Social Democrats were elected to the parliament. From 1903, university education was also possible for female students. Electoral reforms changed the elections of the parliament from indirect to direct elections in 1906. With the Centre politician Georg von Hertling the Prince Regent appointed a government headed by a representative of the Landtag's majority for the first time in 1912.

Luitpold's years as regent were marked by tremendous artistic and cultural activity in Bavaria where they are known as the Prinzregentenjahre ("The Prince Regent Years"). In 1912, Luitpold died, and his son, Prince Regent Ludwig, took over as regent. By then, it had long been apparent that Otto would never be able to reign, and sentiment grew for Ludwig to become king in his own right. On 6 November, a day after the Landtag passed a law allowing him to do so, Ludwig ended the regency, deposed Otto and declared himself King of Bavaria as Ludwig III.

The Prinzregentenzeit ("prince's regent's time"), as the regency of Luitpold is often called, was an era of the gradual transfer of Bavarian interests behind those of the German Empire. In connection with the unhappy end of the preceding rule of King Ludwig II this break in the Bavarian monarchy looked even stronger. Finally, the constitutional amendment of 1913 brought the determining break in the continuity of the king's rule in the opinion of historians, particularly as this change had been granted by the Landtag as a House of Representatives and meant therefore indirectly the first step toward full parliamentary government. Today the connection of these two developments is regarded as a main cause for the unspectacular end of the Bavarian kingdom without opposition in the course of the November revolution of 1918. However the course of his 26-year regency Luitpold knew to overcome, by modesty, ability and popularity, the initial uneasiness of his subjects. These prince regent's years were transfigured, finally—above all in the retrospect – to a golden age of Bavaria, even if one mourned the "fairy tale king" Ludwig II, which happens in a folkloric-nostalgic manner till this day.

With the establishment of the German Empire, a series of conventions brought the bulk of the various state military forces directly under the administration of the Prussian War Ministry. Bavaria however maintained a degree of autonomy in peacetime, with its own two (later three) army corps remaining outside the Prussian order of battle.^[11] The Bavarian infantry and cavalry regiments retained their historic light blue and green uniforms, distinctive from the Prussian model adopted throughout most of the army. The individual Bavarian soldier swore an oath of loyalty to King Ludwig, though in wartime this pledge of obedience was extended to Kaiser Wilhelm as supreme commander. In July 1914, the Bavarian Army numbered 92,400 or 11 percent of the total Imperial German Army.^[12]

In 1914, a clash of alliances occurred over

In 1917, the Bavarian Prime Minister Georg von Hertling became German Chancellor and Prime Minister of Prussia; Otto Ritter von Dandl became the new Prime Minister of Bavaria. Accused of showing blind loyalty to Prussia, Ludwig III became increasingly unpopular during the war. In 1918, the kingdom attempted to negotiate a separate peace with the allies but failed. By 1918, civil unrest was spreading across Bavaria and Germany, Bavarian defiance to Prussian hegemony and Bavarian separatism being key motivators.

On 7 November 1918, Ludwig fled from the

When

As of 1838, at the instigation of King Ludwig I, the Kreise were renamed after the former historical tribes and territories of the respective area in: Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, Swabia and Neuburg, Upper Palatinate and Regensburg, Middle Franconia, Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, Upper Franconia and Palatinate. The town names of Neuburg, Regensburg and Aschaffenburg were later dropped. Accordingly, the king changed his royal titles to Ludwig, King of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia, Duke in Swabia and

After the Austro-Prussian War (1866) in which Bavaria had sided with defeated Austria, it had to cede several Lower Franconian districts to Prussia. The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was never part of the Kingdom of Bavaria since it was annexed to Bavaria only in 1920 after it had become the Free State of Saxe Coburg and Gotha. Ostheim was added to Bavaria in 1945.

In the first half of the 20th. century, the initial terminology of Kreis and Bezirk gave way to Regierungsbezirk and Landkreis.

Source:^[3]

• Area: 75,865 km² (1900)
• Population: 3,707,966 (1818) / 4,370,977 (1840) / 6,176,057 (1900) / 6,524,372 (1910)
• Government districts (Kreise) (1808–1817):
  • Altmühlkreis (1808–1810 / dissolved)
  • Eisackkreis (1808–1810 / ceded to Italy)
  • Etschkreis (1808–1810 / ceded to Italy)
  • Illerkreis (1808–1817 / dissolved)
  • Innkreis (1808–1814 / ceded to Austria)
  • Isarkreis (1808–1838)
  • Lechkreis (1808–1810 / dissolved)
  • Mainkreis (1808–1838)
  • Naabkreis (1808–1810 / dissolved)
  • Oberdonaukreis (1808–1838)
  • Pegnitzkreis (1808–1810 / dissolved)
  • Regenkreis (1808–1838)
  • Rezatkreis (1808–1838)
  • Salzachkreis (1810–1816 / ceded to Austria)
  • Unterdonaukreis
    (1808–1838)
• Government districts (Kreise) (1816/17–1838)
  • Isarkreis (transformed into Upper Bavaria)
  • Obermainkreis (transformed into Upper Franconia)
  • Oberdonaukreis (transformed into Swabia)
  • Regenkreis (transformed into Upper Palatinate)
  • Rezatkreis (transformed into Middle Franconia)
  • Unterdonaukreis
    (transformed into Lower Bavaria)
  • Untermainkreis (transformed into Lower Franconia)
  • Rheinkreis (transformed into Palatinate)
• Government districts (Kreise) (1838–1918):
  • Upper Bavaria (Oberbayern) (Capital: Munich)
  • Upper Franconia (Oberfranken) (Capital: Bayreuth)
  • Swabia (Schwaben) (Capital: Augsburg
    )
  • Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) (Capital: Regensburg)
  • Middle Franconia (Mittelfranken) (Capital: Ansbach)
  • Lower Bavaria (Niederbayern) (Capital: Landshut)
  • Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) (Capital: Würzburg)
  • Palatinate (Pfalz) (Capital: Speyer)

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