Kingdom of Württemberg
Kingdom of Württemberg Königreich Württemberg (German) | |||||||||
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1805–1918 | |||||||||
Motto: Furchtlos und treu "Fearless and loyal" | |||||||||
Anthem: Württemberger Hymne "Württemberg Anthem" | |||||||||
Status |
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Capital | Stuttgart | ||||||||
Common languages | Swabian German | ||||||||
Religion |
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Demonym(s) | Württemberger | ||||||||
Government | Constitutional monarchy | ||||||||
King | |||||||||
• 1805–1816 | Frederick I | ||||||||
• 1816–1864 | William I | ||||||||
• 1864–1891 | Charles I | ||||||||
• 1891–1918 | William II | ||||||||
Theodor Liesching | |||||||||
Legislature | German Revolution | 30 November 1918 | |||||||
Population | |||||||||
• 1812 | 1,379,501 | ||||||||
• 1910 | 2,437,574 | ||||||||
Currency |
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The Kingdom of Württemberg (German: Königreich Württemberg [ˌkøːnɪkʁaɪç ˈvʏʁtəmbɛʁk]) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Electorate of Württemberg, which existed from 1803 to 1806.
Geography
The borders of the Kingdom of Württemberg, as defined in 1813, lay between 47°34' and 49°35' north and 8°15' and 10°30' east. The greatest distance north to south was 225 kilometres (140 mi) and the greatest east to west was 160 km (99 mi). The border had a total length of 1,800 km (1,100 mi) and the total area of the state was 19,508 km2 (7,532 sq mi).
The kingdom had borders with Bavaria on the east and south, with Baden in the north, west, and south. The southern part surrounded the Prussian province of Hohenzollern on most of its sides and touched on Lake Constance.
History
Frederick I
Frederick III, the
In 1806, Frederick joined the
William I
Frederick was succeeded by his son, William I (1781–1864; succeeded: 1816), who after much discussion, granted a new constitution in September 1819. This constitution (with subsequent modifications) remained in force until 1918. The desire for greater political freedom did not entirely fade under the constitution of 1819, and after 1830, some transitory unrest occurred.[2]
A period of quiet set in and the condition of the kingdom, and its education, agriculture, trade, and economy improved. Both in public and in private matters, William's frugality helped to repair the country's shattered finances. The inclusion of Württemberg in the German Zollverein and the construction of railways fostered trade.[3]
The
Charles I
In July 1864,
The end of the struggle against Prussia allowed a renewal of democratic agitation in Württemberg, but this had achieved no tangible results when the war broke out in 1870. Although Württemberg had continued to be antagonistic to Prussia, the kingdom shared in the national enthusiasm that swept over Germany. The Army of Württemberg played a creditable part in the Battle of Wörth and in other operations of the war.[4]
In 1871, Württemberg became a member of the new German Empire, but retained control of its own post office, telegraphs, and railways. It also had certain special privileges with regard to taxation and maintained its army autonomously within the Imperial German Army. For the next 10 years, Württemberg enthusiastically supported the new order. Many important reforms ensued, especially in the area of finance, but a proposal to unify the railway system with that of the rest of Germany failed. After reductions in taxation in 1889, changes to the constitution were considered. Charles wished to strengthen the conservative element in the chambers, but the laws of 1874, 1876, and 1879 effected only a slight amount of change.[4]
William II
When King Charles died suddenly on 6 October 1891, he was succeeded by his nephew, William II (1848–1921; succeeded: 1891), who continued Charles' policies. Constitutional discussions continued and the election of 1895 returned a powerful party of democrats. William had no sons, nor had his only
King William
Government
Constitution
The Kingdom of Württemberg functioned as a constitutional monarchy within the German Empire, with four votes in the Federal Council (German: Bundesrat) and 17 in the Imperial Diet (German: Reichstag). The constitution rested on a law of 1819, amended in 1868, 1874, and 1906. The king received a civil list (annual grant) equivalent to 103,227 pounds sterling in the early 20th century.[6]
The kingdom possessed a centuries-old
- Adult princes of the blood
- Heads of noble families from the rank of count (German: Graf) upwards
- Representatives of territories (German: Standesherrschaften) that possessed votes in the old German Imperial Diet or in the local diet
- Not more than six members nominated by the king
- Eight members of knightly rank
- Six ecclesiastical dignitaries
- One representative of the University of Tübingen
- One representative of the Stuttgart University of Technology
- Two representatives of commerce and industry
- Two representatives of agriculture
- One representative of handicrafts[6]
The lower house (German: Abgeordnetenhaus) had 92 members:
- The 63 representatives from the administrative divisions (German: Oberamtsbezirke)
- Six representatives from Stuttgart, elected by proportional representation
- Six representatives, one from each of the six chief provincial towns
- Seventeen members from the two electoral divisions (German: Landeswahlkreise), elected by proportional representation[6]
The king appointed the president of the upper chamber; after 1874, the lower chamber elected its own chairman. Members of each house had to be over 25 years of age. Württemberg parliamentary terms lasted six years and all male citizens over 25 had the right to vote in the ballots.[6]
The highest executive power rested in the hands of the Ministry of State (German: Staatsministerium), consisting of six ministers: justice, foreign affairs (with the royal household, railways, posts and telegraphs), interior, public worship and education, war, and finance.
The kingdom also had a privy council, consisting of the ministers and some nominated councillors (German: wirkliche Staatsräte), who advised the sovereign. The judges of a special supreme court of justice, called the State Tribunal (German: Staatsgerichtshof) functioned as the guardians of the constitution. This court was partly elected by the chambers and partly appointed by the king. Each of the chambers had the right to impeach ministers.[6]
The nation comprised four departments or districts (German: Kreise), subdivided into 64 divisions (German: Oberamtsbezirke), each under a "head man" (German: Oberamtmann) assisted by a local council (German: Amtsversammlung). Each department was headed by its own government (German: Regierung).[6]
Between 1900 and 1910, the political history of Württemberg centred on constitutional and educational questions. The constitution was revised in 1906 when Württemberg introduced, before any other German state, the proportional system of election for the Second Chamber of the Diet. The result of the elections of 1906 was such that the two Liberal parties on the one side and the Catholic Centre and the Conservatives on the other were equally strong, so that the Social Democrats held the balance. Subsequent political changes resulted in a keen split between the parties, but the Prime Minister Karl von Weizsäcker stayed in office until the change in the constitution of the German Empire under Prince Maximilian of Baden's chancellorship in October 1918 compelled the Württemberg Government to give way, and the Weizsäcker Ministry resigned.[7]
The kingdom ended with the abdication of William II in November, but the political system experienced no further convulsions of a serious character, with a constitution that resembled those of the other German states.[8]
Religion
Authority over the churches resided with the king. So long as he belonged to the
The Catholic Church in the kingdom was led by the
A state-appointed council (Oberkirchenbehörde) regulated Judaism after 1828,[6] forming the Israelite Religious Community of Württemberg (German: Israelitische Religionsgemeinschaft Württembergs).
Education
The kingdom claimed universal literacy (reading and writing) among citizens over the age of 10 years. Higher education institutions included the
Army
Under the terms of a military convention of 25 November 1870, the troops of Württemberg formed the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps of the Imperial German Army.[6]
Finances
Until 1873, the kingdom and some neighbouring states used the
The state revenue for 1909–1910 totalled an estimated amount equivalent at the time to £4,840,520, nearly balanced by expenditure. About one-third of the revenue derived from railways, forests, and mines, about £1,400,000 from direct taxation, and the remainder from indirect taxes, the post office and sundry items. In 1909, the public debt amounted to £29,285,335, of which more than £27,000,000 resulted from railway construction.[6]
Of the expenditure, over £900,000 went towards public worship and education, and over £1,200,000 went in interest and debt repayment. The kingdom contributed £660,000 to the treasury of the German Empire.[6]
Population
Population statistics for Württemberg's four departments (Kreise) for 1900 and 1905 appear below:[9]
District (Kreis) | Area | Population | Density | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(sq mi.) | (km2) | 1900 | 1905 | (pop./sq mi.) 1905 |
(pop./km2) 1905 | |
Neckarkreis (Neckar) | 1,286 | 3,330 | 745,669 | 811,478 | 631 | 244 |
Schwarzwald /Black Forest)
|
1,844 | 4,780 | 509,258 | 541,662 | 293 | 113 |
Jagstkreis (Jagst) | 1,985 | 5,140 | 400,126 | 407,059 | 205 | 79 |
Donaukreis (Danube) | 2,419 | 6,270 | 514,427 | 541,980 | 224 | 87 |
Total | 7,534 | 19,520 | 2,169,480 | 2,302,179 | 306 | 118 |
Settlement density was concentrated in the Neckar valley from Esslingen northward.[9]
The overall rate of population increase from 1900 to 1905 amounted to 1.22% per year. About 8.5% of births were out of wedlock. Classified according to religion around 1905, about 69% of the population professed Protestantism, 30% Roman Catholicism, and about 0.5% Judaism. Protestants predominated in the Neckar district and Roman Catholics in the Danube district. The people of the north-west represent Alemannic stock, those of the north-east Franconian, and those of the centre and south Swabian.[9]
Prominent Civil Servants
The Kingdom’s civil service employed families and individuals who remained prominent in German public life after 1918. These included the Weizsäcker family, the von Neuraths and the von Stauffenbergs, and individuals such as Matthias Erzberger and Friedrich von Payer.
Economy
In 1910, there were 506,061 people working in agriculture; 432,114 had industrial occupations; and 100,109 were in trade and commerce. The largest towns included Stuttgart (with Cannstatt), Ulm, Heilbronn, Esslingen am Neckar, Reutlingen, Ludwigsburg, Göppingen, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Tübingen, Tuttlingen, and Ravensburg.[9]
Agriculture
The territory of Württemberg was largely agricultural; of its 19,508 square kilometres (7,532 sq mi), 44.9% comprised agricultural land and gardens, 1.1% vineyards, 17.9% meadows and pastures, and 30.8% forests. It possessed rich meadowlands, cornfields, orchards, gardens, and hills covered with vines. The chief agricultural products were oats, spelt, rye, wheat, barley and hops, peas and beans, maize, fruit (chiefly cherries and apples), beets, and tobacco, as well as dairy and garden produce. Livestock included cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses.[9]
Württemberg has a long history of producing red wines, growing different varieties from those grown in other German wine regions. The Württemberg wine region centred on the valley of the Neckar and several of its tributaries, the Rems, Enz, Kocher, and Jagst.[citation needed]
Swine
The Mohrenköpfle is the traditional swine. On the orders of King William I, masked pigs were imported from Central China in 1820/21, to improve pig breeding in the Kingdom of Württemberg. This crossbreeding with the "Chinese pigs" was particularly successful within the stocks of domestic pigs in the Hohenlohe region and the area around the town of Schwäbisch Hall.[10][11]
Fruit trees
To help people to help themselves, Württemberg planted an alley of trees.(Dienstbarkeit on private ground). The tree farms of William I and the
Mining
In former times, iron ore was mined on the Heuberg[clarification needed].[13] The buttress wood was bought in Truchtelfingen and used by Lautlingen miners at the Hörnle area.[14] In Oberdigisheim Geppert in 1738 SHW-Ludwigsthal produced iron ore.[15] From an old 3.5 km mine in an ooidal iron ore seam (Doggererzflöz) in Weilheim is wood in the Tuttlinger Fruchtkasten.[16] Steel was produced in Tuttlingen by the Schwäbische Hüttenwerke in Ludwigstal, which produces now iron brakes. had a factory. Ooidal iron ore (Bohnerz aus Eisenroggenstein) was found.[17] After the Franco-Prussian War, the mining was stopped.[18] The main minerals of industrial importance found in the kingdom were salt and iron. The salt industry came to prominence at the beginning of the 19th century. The iron industry had greater antiquity, but the lack of coal slowed its development. Other minerals included granite, limestone, ironstone, and fireclay.[9]
Manufacturing
Textile manufacturers produced linen, woolen, and cotton fabrics, particularly at Esslingen and Göppingen, and paper making was prominent in Ravensburg, Heilbronn, and throughout Lower Swabia.[9]
Assisted by the government, manufacturing industries developed rapidly during the later years of the 19th century, notably metal working, especially branches that required skilled workmanship. Particular importance attached to iron and steel goods, locomotives (for which Esslingen enjoyed a good reputation), machinery, cars, bicycles, small arms (in the Mauser factory at Oberndorf am Neckar), scientific and artistic appliances, pianos (at Stuttgart), organs and other musical instruments, photographic apparatus, clocks (in the Black Forest), electrical apparatus, and gold and silver goods. Chemical works, potteries, cabinet-making workshops, sugar factories, breweries, and distilleries operated throughout the kingdom. Hydropower and petrol largely compensated for the lack of coal, and liquid carbonic acid was produced from natural gas springs beside the Eyach, a tributary of the Neckar.[9]
Commerce
The kingdom's principal exports included cattle, cereals, wood, pianos, salt, oil, leather, cotton and linen fabrics, beer, wine, and spirits. Commerce centred on the cities of Stuttgart, Ulm, Heilbronn, and Friedrichshafen. Stuttgart boasted an extensive book trade.[19] The kingdom had creative inventors; Gottlieb Daimler, the first car manufacturer, incorporated his business in 1900 as Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, and its successor company Mercedes-Benz always had plants near Stuttgart. At Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin constructed airships from 1897 until his death in 1917.[citation needed]
Transport
In 1907, the kingdom had 2,000 km (1,200 mi) of railways, of which all except 256 km (159 mi) belonged to the state. Navigable waterways included the Neckar, the Schussen, Lake Constance, and the Danube downstream from Ulm. The kingdom had fairly good quality roads, the oldest of them of Roman construction. Württemberg, like Bavaria, retained the control of its own postal and telegraph service following the foundation of the new German Empire in 1871.[6] In 1904, the Württemberg railway system integrated with that of the rest of Germany.[4]
References
- ISBN 978-0-19-926286-1.
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1911, p. 858.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 858–859.
- ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911, p. 859.
- ^ "25. April 1952 – Die Entstehung des Landes Baden-Württemberg". Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Chisholm 1911, p. 857.
- ^ von Blume 1922, pp. 1089–1090.
- ^ von Blume 1922, p. 1090.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Chisholm 1911, p. 856.
- ^ "domestic pig of Schwäbisch Hall - Wilhelma". www.wilhelma.de. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
- ^ "BESH - Schwäbisch-Hällisches Qualitätsschweinefleisch g.g.A." www.besh.de.
- ^ Apfelgeschichte Archived 29 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine auf Apfelgut Sulz
- ^ Birgit Tuchen, Landesdenkmalamt (ed.), Pingen (in German), Stuttgart: Landesdenkmalamt 2004, p. 123
- ^ Hermann Bitzer, Hermann Bitzer (ed.), Tailfinger Heimatbuch 1954 (in German), p. 35
- ^ Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg Abt.Wirtschaftsarchiv Stuttgart Hohenheim (ed.), Archiv SHW: B 40 Bü 1232 (in German), Harras, Ludwigsthal
- ^ Fruchtkasten: Abteilung Ludwigsthal. In: Pressemiteilungen. 21 November 2016.
- ^ Friedrich von Alberti, Die Gebirge des Königreichs Würtemberg, in besonderer Beziehung auf Halurgie (in German), Stuttgart und Tübingen: J. G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung 1826, p. 124
- ^ : Eisenindustrie In: Schwarzwälder Bote, 28 September 2016.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 856–857.
Sources
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Württemberg". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 856–859. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: von Blume, Wilhelm (1922). "Württemberg". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 32 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. pp. 1089–1090.
Further reading
- Marquardt, Ernst (1985). Geschichte Württembergs (3rd ed.). Stuttgart: DVA. ISBN 3-421-06271-4. (in German)
- Weller, Karl; Weller, Arnold (1989). Württembergische Geschichte im südwestdeutschen Raum (10th ed.). Stuttgart: Theiss. ISBN 3-8062-0587-6. (in German)
- Wilson, Peter H. (1995). War, state, and society in Württemberg, 1677–1793. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47302-0.
External links
- Jews in Württemberg (Settlement in the Middle Ages – impoverishment and expulsion decree of 1521 – new settlements and equality – WWII and Holocaust) Archived 23 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine (Encyclopaedia Judaica)