Baden Revolution
Heckerzug (April 13-27 , 1848): Scheideck - Günterstal - Freiburg - Dossenbach
Struve Putsch (September 21-25, 1848): Staufen
Baden military uprising (May 9 to July 23, 1849): Heppenheim - Weinheim - Wald-Michelbach - Ludwigshafen - Käfertal - Ladenburg I - Hirschhorn - Waghäusel - Ladenburg II - Sinsheim - Ubstadt - Durlach - Gernsbach - Rastatt
The Baden Revolution of 1848/1849 is understood as the regional course of the revolutionary unrest in the Grand Duchy of Baden, which encompassed almost all of Central Europe .
As part of the bourgeois-liberal “ March Revolution ” in the states of the German Confederation , the revolution in Baden, southwest Germany, was largely driven by radical democratic influences: It sought a Baden - in the overarching context also German - republic under the sovereignty of the people and directed against the rule of princes .
Its high points were the Hecker uprising in April 1848, the Struve Putsch in September 1848 and the civil war-like uprising, also known as the "May Revolution", as part of the imperial constitution campaign from May 1849. The revolution ended on July 23, 1849 with the military Suppression of the last uprising and the capture of the Rastatt fortress by federal troops under Prussian leadership.
Historical overview
With the Hambach Festival in 1832, the tendencies of the Vormärz became apparent. One of the participants in the Hambach Festival was Johann Philipp Becker . After the outbreak of the February Revolution in Paris in 1848 and the proclamation of the Second Republic in France, the revolutionary spark first spread to Baden before revolutionary unrest and uprisings broke out in other states of the German Confederation .
The German March Revolution began not only in Baden, but also ended here when the Rastatt fortress was captured by Prussian troops on July 23, 1849, as the last bastion of the revolutionaries.
The Baden Revolution took place in two phases: between the beginning of March 1848 and September 1848 there were two attempts to establish a republic from southwest Germany with the Heckerzug and the Gustav Struve uprising in Lörrach .
Four revolutionary platoons started in the second half of April. The Hecker train from Friedrich Hecker from Konstanz from 13. – 20. April 1848, which failed in the battle on the Scheideck near Kandern . The Sigel train from Konstanz from 15.-24. April 1848, which was defeated in the battle at Günterstal on April 23rd and in the assault on Freiburg on April 24th, 1848. The Weißhaar-Zug from Jestetten from 17. – 20. April, which ended on April 20th in Steinen (Baden) . The Herwegh train from Kleinkems am Rhein from 24.-27. April 1848, which went down in the battle near Dossenbach . With the defeat of Friedrich Hecker and his followers near Kandern and his flight into exile, as well as the arrest of Gustav Struve in September, this first phase came to an end.
The second phase began - after the rejection of the Paulskirche constitution by most of the royal houses of the German Confederation - with the May uprisings of 1849, which were an attempt to implement it not only in Baden but also in other German states (especially in the Bavarian Rhine Palatinate ) to enforce the constitution ( imperial constitution campaign ). This second phase ended in Baden with the suppression of the revolution after the last fighting in July 1849 in Rastatt.
In contrast to the other surveys in the German Confederation, it was characteristic of the Baden Revolution that the demand for a democratic republic was most consistently represented in it. In contrast, the committees and revolutionary parliaments of the other principalities of the German Confederation largely favored a constitutional monarchy with a hereditary empire .
Radical democratic and early socialist revolutionaries were strongly represented in Baden. Some of the most prominent figures were Friedrich Hecker, Gustav Struve and his wife Amalie , Gottfried Kinkel , Georg Herwegh and his wife Emma . Furthermore, Wilhelm Liebknecht , who at that time was still relatively unknown co-founder of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP), the forerunner of the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany), was involved in the uprising in Lörrach in September 1848 and in May 1849 as Adjutant Struve's participant in the Baden Revolution. The socialist Friedrich Engels , who wrote during the March Revolution for the " Neue Rheinische Zeitung " published by Karl Marx in Cologne , also took an active part in the struggles against counter-revolutionary Prussian troops in the final phase of the Baden Revolution in 1849 . Finally, the couple Fritz and Mathilde Franziska Anneke from Cologne also joined the Baden militants.
The popular associations founded in many places formed the basis of the revolution in Baden .
The following table shows the connections between the revolution in Baden, the processes in the German Confederation and in Europe, as far as these are described in Wikipedia.
Timeline of the Baden Revolution
- September 12, 1847: At the Offenburg meeting of the determined constitutional friends, Friedrich Hecker presented the 13 “demands of the people in Baden” for civil rights, social security and equality, which Gustav Struve summarized in four “urgent demands to the deputies in Carlsruhe”: 1 Arming of the people with free election of officers. 2. Unconditional freedom of the press. 3. Jury courts on the model of England. 4. Immediate establishment of a German parliament.
- February 27, 1848: The Mannheim People's Assembly takes up the 13 demands of the people again and petitions them to the Second Chamber of the Baden Estates.
- February 28, 1848: In Freiburg in the “Zur Tannen” building, the assembly elects a people's committee, compiles a catalog of revolutionary demands and sends a delegation to Karlsruhe. The delegation will arrive in the state capital on March 1st.
- March 1, 1848: 20,000 people demonstrate in front of the House of the Estates of parliament . Some protesters enter the building. Hecker demands the abolition of noble privileges and the liberation of the peasants , thus the abolition of the remnants of the medieval feudal system .
- March 2, 1848: The First Chamber (Chamber of Estates) passes a bill to abolish the remnants of feudalism, to swear the army to the Baden constitution and to ensure religious equality for members of non-Christian denominations.
- March 4, 1848: Peasant uprising in North Baden. The revolution spreads to other states of the German Confederation.
- March 19, 1848: Large popular assembly in Offenburg with 20,000 participants. Hecker and Struve speak to the crowd. They accuse the Baden government of having agreed to the 13 demands of the people of September last year under the impression of the popular movement at the beginning of March, but with their delayed implementation only wanting to gain time to withdraw the concessions at the next opportunity.
- March 26, 1848: Karl von Rotteck junior opens a people's assembly in Freiburg in the presence of Struve, at which the organizers demand the safeguarding of personal freedom through a special law ("habeas corpus act") and the complete separation of church and state. In a frenzy of enthusiasm, the assembly on Münsterplatz approved a letter to the Prussian king, in which Struve branded Friedrich Wilhelm's behavior in the March days as a "royal actor and citizen's foe".
- April 12, 1848: Hecker and Struve proclaim the republic in Konstanz and call on the people to an armed uprising in the name of a provisional government. The " Heckerzug " sets off towards the Rhine plain, where it wants to unite with a train from Georg Herwegh, the " German Democratic Legion " from France, to march to the state capital Karlsruhe .
- April 20, 1848: Battle on the Scheideck . In Kandern in Black Forest, the insurgents of Hecker turn defeated by Hessian troops and ground. Friedrich Hecker fled into exile, which first led him to Switzerland and then to the USA.
- April 24, 1848: Freischaren under Franz Sigel march towards Freiburg , which is occupied by insurgents , in order to break through the ring of siege of the government troops. The relief attack fails. Instead, the government troops storm the last barricade at the Schwabentor and then cause a bloodbath among the rioters.
- April 27, 1848: Herwegh's 900-man "German Legion" is defeated by the Württemberg military in a battle near Dossenbach .
- September 21, 1848: During an uprising in Lörrach , Struve proclaimed a republic under the motto “Prosperity, education, freedom for everyone!”, But on his subsequent march to the north he only made it to Staufen. In the battle for Staufen , Baden troops beat the rebels. Struve was arrested a few days later (see Struve Putsch ).
- January 29, 1849: Karl von Rotteck junior founds the Republican People's Association in Freiburg. As a countermovement, his cousin, Mayor Joseph von Rotteck, and other constitutional liberals called on February 18 for the founding meeting of a patriotic association loyal to the prince. Both clubs fight each other in a dogged propaganda war.
- March 20, 1849: In Freiburg, trial of Gustav Struve and Karl Blind in the Basler Hof before a jury. The convicts are brought to Rastatt Fortress to serve their eight years in prison.
- May 9, 1849: In the course of the May uprisings of 1849 , with which the people wanted to force recognition of the revolutionary achievements of the imperial constitution in individual states of the German Confederation, soldiers of the Baden garrison mutinied in the federal fortress of Rastatt and solemnly fraternized with parts of the revolutionary militia "Invocation of loyalty and love for the people".
- May 11, 1849: Fraternization of the Republicans with the 2nd Baden Infantry Regiment in Freiburg
- 12./13. May 1849: Amand Goegg posed "the question about the proclamation of the republic" at the delegates' conference of the Baden Volksvereine in Freiburg, but did not agree.
- May 13, 1849: A popular assembly in Offenburg resolves a 16-point program, which u. a. calls for the unconditional recognition of the imperial constitution and the formation of a new - albeit still grand-ducal - government under the liberal politician Lorenz Brentano . The current grand-ducal government rejects the demands of the Offenburg Assembly. On the evening of May 13th, the revolutionary state committee of the people's associations goes to Rastatt, where Amand Goegg announces the Offenburg resolutions from the balcony of the town hall and Brentano swears the vigilante and soldiers on the imperial constitution. On the same night from May 13th to 14th, Grand Duke Leopold flees from his residence in Karlsruhe and goes into exile in Koblenz.
- May 14, 1849: The Hoffmann / Bekk ministry is declared deposed and an executive commission of the state committee , which initially takes over government business instead of the fled grand ducal government, is established with Amand Goegg, Joseph Ignatz Peter and Carl Joseph Eichfeldt under its president Lorenz Brentano.
- May 1849: Johann Philipp Becker is entrusted with the creation and organization of the people's armed forces. His first order of the day is dated May 21st.
- May 30, 1849: Battle of the Volkswehr against Hessian troops near Heppenheim.
- June 1, 1849: Under Lorenz Brentano a provisional democratic government is formed in which the conservative-liberal forces dominate; the state committee dissolves.
- June 3, 1849: The men of Baden who are entitled to vote vote on the composition of a constituent state assembly in accordance with the electoral rules of the German National Assembly . The activity of the Baden Constituent Assembly from 1849 was limited to the short period from June 10th to June 30th, 1849.
- June 5, 1849: In Karlsruhe, under the leadership of Struve and Becker, who had been released from prison, a “Club of Decided Progress” was formed and demanded decisive revolutionary measures from the government. The latter has the delegation arrested, but has to release them again under pressure from the troops stationed in the city.
- June 1849: The Polish revolutionary Ludwik Mierosławski is appointed general of the revolutionary army. Federal troops under the command of Lieutenant General Eduard von Peucker and two improvised Prussian army corps under the Prince of Prussia as well as a Hessian troop contingent under Friedrich von Schäffer-Bernstein invade Baden to put down the revolution.
- 15./16. June 1849: Victorious battles of the Baden troops on the Neckar line near Mannheim, Käferthal, Ladenburg and Hirschhorn
- June 20, 1849: The First Prussian Corps under Moritz von Hirschfeld crossed the Rhine after the revolutionary troops had been forced out of the Palatinate near Germersheim
- 21./22. June 1849: Hirschfeld's victory in the battle near Waghäusel forces the Baden troops to retreat in order to avoid a threatening grip.
- June 25, 1849: Battle near Durlach, in which Becker's People's Army covered the withdrawal of the army on the Murglinie. The revolutionary government fled to Freiburg im Breisgau and with it units of the revolutionary troops.
- June 28, 1849: The constituent assembly meets in the Basler Hof in Freiburg. At the request of Struve, the committee decided to continue the war against the enemies of German unity and freedom with all possible means. Then Brentano resigned as head of government, Amand Goegg, together with War Minister Werner, formed the "provisional government of Baden with dictatorial power".
- 29./30. June 1849: Lossy battles on the Murg with the battle in Gernsbach on June 29th. Ludwik Mierosławski appoints Major Gustav Tiedemann from the Struve area as governor of the Rastatt fortress. The revolutionary units withdraw to South Baden. The Second Prussian Corps under Karl von der Groeben graces Rastatt.
- July 1, 1849: A last contingent of about 4,000 men marched past the representatives of the revolutionary government and their commander-in-chief Franz Sigel in Freiburg.
- July 7, 1849: The Prussians enter Freiburg without a fight.
- July 9, 1849 The Sipplingen vigilante groups arrest rebels in Bodman and transfer them to Pfullendorf .
- July 12, 1849 The revolutionary troops cross the border to Switzerland near Baltersweil and Konstanz and ask for asylum.
- July 21, 1849: Hessian troops invade the Baden enclave of Büsingen on the Upper Rhine during the so-called Büsinger trade via Swiss territory . The conflict with Switzerland will not be resolved until July 30th with the withdrawal of the Hessian troops.
- July 23, 1849: After being locked in for three weeks, Rastatt surrenders to Groeben. The Prussian general Heinrich von Holleben becomes governor of Rastatt .
The revolution had failed. The Baden army was dissolved and later rebuilt under Prussian leadership. Many revolutionaries managed to escape into exile, including Struve, Brentano, Carl Schurz , Friedrich Engels, Friedrich Beust , others were arrested and tried before court courts with Prussian-Baden occupation. After the fall of Rastatt, the Prussian commando assigned Karl Alois Fickler , the brother of the Baden agitator Joseph Fickler , to defend the defendants. The court courts sentenced 27 revolutionaries to death by shooting (including the last commandant of Rastatt fortress, Gustav Tiedemann) and imposed long sentences on others in Prussian prisons. Typhus broke out in the casemates of Rastatt, where many revolutionaries were imprisoned, and claimed many victims.
Executed revolutionaries
From July 27 to October 27, 1849, mixed Prussian-Baden court courts and Prussian courts-martial were active in Mannheim, Rastatt and Freiburg . A total of 27 death sentences were passed and executed - four more death sentences were not executed.
In Rastatt
19 death sentences were carried out in Rastatt. Otto von Corvin , who was also sentenced to death, was pardoned and his sentence was converted into a prison sentence.
- Gottfried Bauer († October 4, 1849) - soldier, Gissigheim
- Karl Bernigau († October 20, 1849) - Major, Mühlhausen
- Ernst Gustav von Biedenfeld († August 9, 1849) - battalion commander, Bühl
- Georg Böhning († August 17, 1849) - clockmaker, head of the refugee legion, most recently colonel, Wiesbaden
- Andreas Counis († September 15, 1849) - Soldier, Pforzheim
- Ernst Elsenhans († August 7, 1849) - publicist, Feuerbach
- Josef Günthard († September 22, 1849) - soldier, Constance
- Konrad Heilig († August 11, 1849) - former Baden sergeant, most recently major and commander of the fortress artillery in Rastatt, Pfullendorf
- Karl Jakobi († September 3, 1849) - Major of the Workers' Battalion, Mannheim
- Peter Jäger († September 22, 1849) - soldier, Assamstadt
- Jean Joseph Jansen († October 20, 1849) - Geometer, Cologne
- Josef Kilmarx († October 8, 1849) - Sergeant, Rastatt
- Ludwig Kohlbecker († October 8, 1849) - soldier, Karlsruhe
- Konrad Lenzinger († August 25, 1849) - corporal, Durlach
- Theophil Mniewski († August 25, 1849) - Polish officer, Wodzierady (Russian Poland)
- Ludwig Peter Wilhelm Schade († September 12, 1849) - Lieutenant, Karlsruhe
- Friedrich Wilhelm Schrader († October 20, 1849) - deserter of the 8th Prussian Artillery Brigade, Mansfeld
- Gustav Nikolaus Tiedemann († August 11, 1849) - former Baden lieutenant dragoons, most recently Colonel and Commander of Rastatt Fortress, Landshut,
- Philipp Zenthöfer († August 25, 1849) - gunsmith and soldier, Mannheim
The Rastatt trader and banker Franz Simon Meyer recorded his observations of the trials and the executions in detail in his notes. In the trial of Theophil Mniewski, he even acted as an interpreter for the defendant and visited him in his cell the night before the execution.
In Freiburg
Three revolutionaries were sentenced to death and shot in the Wiehre cemetery in 1849:
- Johann Maximilian Dortu - Prussian NCO , major of the Badische Volkswehr during the revolution - convicted on July 11th by a Prussian court martial - on July 31st, as well
- Friedrich Neff - student of philosophy, participant in the Hecker and Struve Freischarzzug on August 9th,
- Gebhard Kromer - Corporal of the Baden Revolutionary Army on August 21.
In Mannheim
Five death sentences were carried out in Mannheim. Theodor Mögling , who was also sentenced to death in Mannheim , was pardoned and the sentence was converted into a prison sentence. The Mannheim stand court determined a prison sentence of 10 years each in 15 further proceedings.
- Karl Höfer († August 16, 1849) - teacher, Brehmen / Altneudorf
- Valentin Streuber († October 11, 1849)
- Adolf von Trützschler († August 14, 1849)
- Peter Lacher († August 28, 1849)
- Gottlieb Heinrich Dietz († August 20, 1849)
Further consequences and effects
As a result, in addition to the professional shootings, there were also arrests and fines. The emigration of around 80,000 people from Baden (5% of the population), mainly to America, was due on the one hand to economic hardship, but also to some extent because of the failed revolution. The emigrants of this time are known as Forty-Eighters or " Forty-Eighters ". Baden remained occupied by the Prussian Army until 1851.
amnesty
Grand Duke Friedrich I issued three acts of grace in which those involved in the revolution of 1848/49 were granted amnesty in a graduated procedure. On July 9, 1857, revolutionaries were pardoned with a term of no more than eight years; on December 1, 1860, this amnesty was extended to include those convicted with no more than twelve years' imprisonment. On May 9, 1862, the Second Chamber of the Baden Estates Assembly dealt without discussion with a proposal from the Petitions Committee that left an amnesty to the grace of the Grand Duke. On August 7, 1862, the general pardon took place, although there was still uncertainty for those affected due to the lack of implementing provisions. An interpretation of the act of grace in a rescript of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of January 26, 1863 was described by Gustav Struve as "sham amnesty" and "humiliation".
Commemoration
In Constance, a cycle of images by Johannes Grützke below the balcony commemorates Friedrich Hecker's appeal . Tombs commemorate the executed revolutionaries.
See also
literature
- Franz Simon Meyer : The whole story of my indifferent life. Volume 2. 1829-1849. In times of revolution. Edited by Sebastian Diziol. Solivagus Praeteritum, Kiel 2017. ISBN 978-3-9817079-6-0 , pp. 333-485.
- Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (Ed.): 1848/49. Revolution of the German Democrats in Baden . Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden 1998, ISBN 3-7890-5201-9 .
- Alfred Georg Frei, Kurt Hochstuhl: Pioneers of Democracy. The Baden Revolution 1848/49. The dream of freedom. Verlag G. Braun, Karlsruhe 1997, ISBN 3-7650-8168-X .
- Stefan Heym : Lenz or freedom. (Novel, old title: Die Papiere des Andreas Lenz ), btb Verlag, new edition September 2005, ISBN 3-442-73457-6 . Fiction
- Wolfgang von Hippel: Revolution in the Southwest. The Grand Duchy of Baden 1848/49 . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1998 ISBN 3-17-014039-6 (= publications on political regional studies of Baden-Württemberg, Volume 26)
- The Rhine-Neckar area and the revolution of 1848/49. Revolutionaries and their opponents. Edited by Working group of archives in the Rhine-Neckar triangle. With contributions by Hans Fenske and Erich Schneider. Verlag Regionalkultur Ubstadt-Weiher, 1998. ISBN 3-929366-64-9
- Otto Wermuth: "We dared", The Baden-Palatinate Revolution 1849 . Rombach Verlag, 1981, ISBN 3-7930-0367-1 .
- Klaus Gaßner / Diana Finkele: The uprising of the Baden democrats. Regional culture publisher, ISBN 3-929366-97-5
- Susanne Asche and Ernst Otto Bräunche (Hrsgb.): The road of democracy. Info Verlag Karlsruhe 2007
- Ang. Hauser-Hauswirth: Ways of the revolutionaries. Hiking routes German Revolution in Baden 1848/49 , LpB Baden-Württemberg 1998
- Frank Engehausen: Short history of the revolution 1848/49 in Baden. G. Braun Buchverlag, Karlsruhe 2010, ISBN 978-3-7650-8596-3
theatre
- The historical theater company Stuttgart acknowledged the greeting address Hecker of 4 July 1873, the Baden revolutionaries in a performance in period uniforms and with historical props for the 125th anniversary on 4 July 1998th
- Bathing burns. A popular play about the Baden Revolution of 1848/49, premiered in 1998 on the Ötigheim open-air stage , written and staged by Sepp Strubel .
Movie
- Lenz or freedom . 4-part television film. Revolutionary drama on the Baden Revolution of 1849. Based on the translation of the same name of the historical novel by Stefan Heym, originally written in English(“The Lenz papers”). Federal Republic of Germany 1986, 4 × 90 min., Director: Dieter Berner
Web links
- schwobeseckel.de: Extensive chronicle of the revolutionary uprisings in Württemberg and Baden, including events in smaller towns. Archived from the original on July 15, 2010 ; Retrieved September 10, 2012 .
- Chapter Karlsruhe from The German Reich Constitution Campaign by Friedrich Engels , published in 1850 (online excerpt from Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels: Works, Volume 7, “The German Reich Constitution Campaign”, pp. 133–145, Dietz Verlag, Berlin / GDR 1960)
- Chapter To Die For A Republic From The German Reich Constitutional Campaign by Friedrich Engels , published 1850
- Virtual tour through a museum exhibition on the Baden Revolution (click on "Tour")
- Freiburg's history in quotations and the revolution in Baden
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roland Kroell and Markus Vonberg: Republic or Death! Life paths after the revolution. In: Südkurier , April 21, 2018, p. 24.
- ↑ Karl-Heinz Söhner: Unity and justice and freedom. Eyewitness report by a soldier in the Baden Revolutionary Army. In: Kurpfälzer Winzerfest Anzeiger 2010. pp. 40–44.
- ↑ Sipplingen citizens' militia website
- ^ Historical Freiburg Citizens' Defense Association V .: The Baden Revolution of 1848/49 in Freiburg
- ↑ from L .: Fickler, Karl Alois . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 777 f.
- ↑ In Mannheim not 6 but 5 death sentences were carried out, which is why the total number has been reduced from 28 (Naturfreunde homepage) to 27
- ↑ s. Homepage of Naturfreunde Rastatt; Retrieved September 13, 2013
- ↑ Franz Simon Meyer : The whole story of my indifferent life. Volume 2. 1829 - 1849. In times of revolution. Edited by Sebastian Diziol. Solivagus Praeteritum, Kiel 2017. ISBN 978-3-9817079-6-0 , pp. 434–459.
- ^ Andreas Lüneberg: Mannheim and the revolution in Baden 1848 - 1849 , ISBN 3-937636-82-X , p. 199 online
- ↑ s. Karl Mossemann: Carl Hoefer. A teacher's fate from the revolutionary years 1848/1849 . In: Badische Heimat, 33rd year, 1953, issue 4; Pp. 290-295
- ↑ The Grand Duke's pardon of July 9, 1857. In: Großherzoglich Badisches Regierungsblatt No. XXVII. July 10, 1857, p. 299
- ↑ The Grand Duke's pardon of December 1, 1860. In: Großherzoglich Badisches Regierungsblatt No. LXI. of December 3, 1860, p. 453
- ↑ The Grand Duke's pardon of August 7, 1862. In: Großherzoglich Badisches Regierungsblatt No. XXXVII. August 8, 1862, p. 315
- ↑ Gustav Struve: II. In the east of the ocean. §. 14. Amnesty. In: Diesseits and Jenseits des Oceans , Coburg 1863, pp. 69-71 online in the Google book search
- ^ Page of the history theater society
- ^ Archives of the Ötigheim folk plays