Brunswick French period

The Braunschweig French period describes the period from 1806 to 1814, when both the city of Braunschweig and the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg - as well as other parts of Germany - were occupied by Napoleonic troops following the defeat of Prussia in the battle of Jena and Auerstedt (1806) was. This period was commonly referred to as the " French Period ".

The Brunswick Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , who was able to keep the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg out of the coalition wars, died on November 10, 1806 of the consequences of an injury that he suffered as commander-in-chief of the Prussian army in the double battle near Jena and Auerstedt had received.

1806

After Prussia occupied Hanover on February 27, 1806, Braunschweig felt safe from Napoleon. Trade in Braunschweig suffered from the closure of the Elbe and Weser estuaries as a result of the Prussian customs policy since 1805, but new industrial establishments and other regional products made it possible to compensate for this at trade fairs.

In the empire, Emperor Franz II from the House of Habsburg-Lothringen laid down the imperial crown on August 6, 1806. The Holy Roman Empire had ceased to exist. The Rheinbund , a military alliance between German states and France , had existed since July 12, 1806 .

Friedrich Wilhelm III. von Prussia declared war on France, and with it the Confederation of the Rhine, on October 9, 1806. In the battle of Jena and Auerstedt on October 14, 1806, Napoleon I defeated the Prussian army. On October 27th, Napoleon entered Berlin with his troops.

When Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand went into Prussian military service, it became, as he himself considered a private matter, actually incompatible with the welfare of the country.

The French were not expected to be good. For this reason the Duke sent his Oberhofmarschall Christian Freiherr von Münchhausen to Napoleon, in order to persuade him to recognize the neutrality of the duchy not previously involved in the war. Napoleon had other plans with Brunswick and declared the duchy as a conquered area.

The temporary end of the Duchy of Braunschweig

On October 16, 1806, Captain Meier brought the news of the defeat at Auerstedt . Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand was wounded. On October 21, 1806, the Prussian regiment of the Duke von Oels made quarters in Braunschweig on his way to Helgoland. Because of the blindness of his two older brothers, he appointed his younger son Friedrich Wilhelm as his successor.

When the Duke had also left, a weak French cavalry regiment entered Braunschweig on October 26th. The House of Brunswick had ceased to rule. With the removal of the old coats of arms, the possession, like that of Kassel, was carried out in the name of the emperor. Privy Councilor Gustav Anton von Wolffradt continued to pursue his duties in the Ministry of the Interior .

The sovereign died on November 10, 1806 in Ottensen at the age of 71 as a result of his wounding.

Beginning of the French period

Despite the onerous conventions and billeting, the occupiers were not greeted with hatred. That only changed when the occupiers' costly court ownership became apparent. At the end of October the French occupiers, with 400 men, finally entered the city.

The occupiers under the imperial commissioner Malraison and the director Daru who succeeded him determined the fate of the city. The Jews were put on an equal footing, the nobility largely disempowered and deprived of their privileges. Under the French art connoisseur Denon, art treasures from Braunschweig and Kassel were brought to Paris.

A time of great pulls began. It all started with a French infantry regiment on December 14th. 1,100 Italians followed on Christmas Day. A group of 300 French hussars took a break in Braunschweig "who behaved very roughly and wildly".

A little foretaste of the time when the military road was laid over Braunschweig at the end of August 1807. (Northeim - Seesen - Lutter aB - Braunschweig). What was led to the Great Army marched through the High Gate, those from the Great Army marched through the August Gate. Among them were numerous wounded and prisoners, who offered "a picture of horror and compassion". On May 13th, 1,500 men from the Imperial Guards presented a completely different sight .

Traffic increased on Heerstrasse. Now the troops also had to pass through the stone gate and the high gate. There was a short break in July, only small groups came through Braunschweig. In August 11,000 men from the Imperial Guards took a rest with 5,500 horses before they moved on to Hanover. Braunschweig had about 27,500 inhabitants at that time.

At the beginning of November 1806, the French division general Baptiste Pierre Bisson took up his post. Together with the remaining intendant Daru, a brother of the intendant of the great army, he took over the interim French administration of the duchy as military governor. He had set up his headquarters in the castle.

For the time being, nothing has changed in the government apparatus. The Ministry of the Interior, under the Brunswick Councilor Gustav Anton von Wolffradt , went about its business.

Bisson was recalled from Braunschweig as early as February 1807. His successor was Division General Rivaud, a veteran officer. His preference was parades and riding as well as hunting parties in the Buchhorst. He preferred a “due expense”. When he left on March 5, 1808, he was warmly welcomed by the mayor Wilmerding , who was very close to the ducal house. This is astonishing under the given circumstances. In addition to the growing pressure from billeting and other burdens, there was the certainty that the independence of the duchy would be destroyed.

Marshal Berthier was expected in town on July 27, 1807, and a festive reception had been prepared. But the marshal did not come. In order not to have made the preparations in vain, the governor decided to celebrate the peace festival on July 29th. “Nothing should be sold between 8 and 10, all ministers met in the Catholic Church, where mass was read and the Te Deum was sung. In the evening there was a free comedy and ball at court, to which all citizens' officers and their wives were invited. Then the news arrived that we were going to be Westphalian. There was a deep silence in the city at the Peace Festival because of this publication. "

Kingdom of Westphalia

On August 18, the French Emperor Napoleon I established the Kingdom of Westphalia, ruled from Kassel, by decree . He installed his brother Jérôme as king.

The Kingdom of Westphalia was proclaimed by Napoleon Bonaparte on December 7, 1807 , its constitution made known by royal decree and entry into the Confederation of the Rhine regulated.

On December 7th, 1807, Jerôme arrived with his splendid court in Wilhelmshöhe , Kassel, which from then on was called Napoleonshöhe . King Jêrôme took over the rule of his new kingdom. The previous, provisional government under the Brunswick Ministry dissolved. Rivaud left his post on March 5, 1808. Gustav Anton von Wolffradt , a former Brunswick court councilor , was appointed to the new Westphalian interior ministry.

Now in Braunschweig, as everywhere in the kingdom, it was time to pay homage to the king. The Braunschweigers only met their new king two months later. Arriving at Richmond Castle in the evening of May 16, 1808 , Jérôme Bonaparte entered the city on the morning of May 17 in a gleaming cavalcade of noble and bourgeois honor guards, guard cavalry and gendarmes between a line of troops and riflemen. At the Augusttor (Kennedy-Platz) the architect Peter Joseph Krahe had built a triumphal arch especially for this reception. Here the mayor, now as mayor, offered him the key to the city. A deputation from the merchants presented the royal couple with a poem. At the Agidienmarkt, boys and girls in Spanish costume greeted him and again presented him with a poem with the words “Dear King, I pray for myself and my country”. Such embarrassing appearances for many people were made in every city of the kingdom. The actors wanted to secure their benefices or do business.

Between October 1806 and November 5, 1807, 4,510 officers and 98,706 NCOs and commons are said to have made it through to foreign troops. It went on: Polish Uhlans followed a Polish-Italian infantry regiment that remained in Braunschweig until March 1808. The reason was the suspicion of treacherous activities in the Gifhorn office . In the course of time, the Uhlans increasingly took on the role of gendarmes.

The new organization

The kingdom was divided into departments and districts based on the French model. Braunschweig became the capital of the Oker department . Government councilor Friedrich Christian Ludwig Henneberg became prefect of the department, and von Mahrenholz was the mayor of the city , now called Maire. Justice of the peace took the place of the previous judicial officers. Forester masters, head foresters and foresters became Conservateurs, Inspecteurs and Guard General. A municipal council was created to represent urban affairs.

Many, including newly created positions, tried to collect the tax. The new, foreign legislation, the previously completely unknown form of office and accounting did not make it easy.

There was a company of prefectural guards and instead of the small police force there was a brigade of the soon-to-be-feared gendarmes and a "secret police". Especially because of the treatment of conscientious objectors, there was resistance from the Braunschweig citizens. Once they stormed the Neustadt town hall and overthrew two gendarmes from the balcony.

Nevertheless, the rebuilding of the administration could be completed in an astonishingly short time. Responsibility was removed from the communities. People loyal to the government were selected for the new administration.

The great dissatisfaction came with the great illumination on Napoleon's coronation day on December 2nd. The court bookseller Engelhard Voigts on Bohlweg had illuminated his house and affixed the verse “Vive Napoleon, vive son bon coeur” above the front door. So much "French enthusiasm" has outraged part of the population. Others were quite happy with the festivities.

The fairs were less attended. Trade, mostly national products, declined noticeably due to the continental barrier and the impossibility of offering colonial goods. A lively smuggling trade developed. Anyone caught, their goods were publicly destroyed.

At the same time, the population oppressed forced loans and high taxes. The taxes rose from 2½ Francs per person (1807) to 5¾ Francs in 1809. The frequent billeting did not make life any easier.

1809

The Prussian Minister of State von Stein was the soul of the freedom movement of that time. In Bohemia he met Duke Friedrich Wilhelm, who was just putting together a corps. Schill and Katt's secret embassies prepared an uprising in the north. The meeting point of all anti-Napoleonic efforts was on Heligoland. It was hoped that the English would intervene.

On April 1, 1809, the "Black Duke" Friedrich Wilhelm set up the Black Squad , a German free corps that fought against Napoléon Bonaparte's troops in the Wars of Liberation until 1815 .

The Schill irregulars had moved into Magdeburg. The fleeing French came more and more towards the city. In May 1809, it was feared that the Schill troops would march on Braunschweig. The forester of the department of the Oker was hastily convened. On May 20, Dutch and Westphalian troops moved in and only moved back after Schill had withdrawn.

On the afternoon of April 11, 1809, the Westphalian King Jêrome, this time with the Queen ( Katharina von Württemberg ), returned to Braunschweig. Now there were a number of commedia visits and masquerades. It is not known whether the reception was just as warm.

In June several Westphalian regiments came alternately through the city en route to Saxon. There they should be used against the Austrians.

The 6th and 9th Dutch regiments came fresh from the Stralsund bloodbath (June 16, 1809, during which Schill fell), each with several hundred Schill prisoners. There was quarrel and quarrel almost every day. On June 19, the rumor spread that the Dutch were on the retreat and were looting Braunschweig. The great hiding of valuables began, unnecessarily as it turned out.

At the end of June 16 of the Schill prisoners were shot on the Sandberg in front of the stone gate and buried on the spot. During the night they were dug up by Brunswick citizens and buried in a row. Each grave was marked with a cross.

Battle at Ölper

Obelisk in memory of the battle near Ölper on August 1, 1809

It was rumored that the Black Duke was on his way to town. The excitement was great. On June 30, Braunschweig was evacuated by all French troops and authorities. It was called "Off to Kassel". Courageous Brunswickers advanced towards the duke and strengthened the black crowd.

On August 1, after the battle at Ölper (on the hop fields in the west of Ölper) on July 31, 1809, they had to retreat against a Westphalian division under General Reubell. When Duke Friedrich Wilhelm marched on Hanover, the French runaways came back to the city. At 5 o'clock the Westphalian gendarmes could be seen again on the streets of the city. The spying of the citizens was intensified.

In the meantime Duke Friedrich Wilhelm, Schill and Hofer (Tyrol) had become heroes of the German nation. Their images on clay pipes, as they were fashionable, were hunted by the authorities until it was realized that half the nation should have been arrested.

September riots

The passage of troops continued. Not every lodging guest behaved well. On September 4th, 1809, there was a terrible fight between three French gendarmes and Brunswick citizens. Johann Gottfried Rudolf Lüttge from Kannengießerstrasse was slain. The next morning the fight started again. Brigadier Lefebre, who had started the argument, had to be brought to the hospital around noon. The population was so upset that they tried to prevent this. The military had gathered. Since the riots did not want to stop, firearms had to be used. Mrs. Barnstorff died and a child was wounded.

During the king's third visit to Braunschweig, on September 8, 1809, all celebrations were canceled.

The encroachments of the troops passing through and billeted increased more and more.

At the end of 1809 there was peace in Germany. After troubled times, the usual marching-through traffic returned.

Incorporation of Hanover

Trade in Braunschweig became more and more difficult. With the incorporation of Hanover into the Kingdom of Westphalia, relations with Prussia also broke off. Smuggling almost came to a standstill. Coffee was rarely available anymore. But people were inventive. Instead of coffee there was chicory coffee , a coffee-like drink made from the roots of the common chicory (also called chicory ). A substitute was found for the dye indigo . Jamaica rum has been replaced by grain or potato brandy. The extraction of sugar from beets spread rapidly.

Added to this were the unchanged high taxes. Napoleon's opinion that "war must feed itself" required large sums of money, e.g. B. for the maintenance of the 7,000 Braunschweig soldiers who were in Spain to reinforce the French army. The state would have wanted to use this money more sensibly to maintain the university in Helmstedt (Napoleon had it closed in 1810).

After the initial approval of the new system, the opinion “It will be fine” fell by the wayside. The foreign government and the emperor were hated more and more publicly.

Maximilian of Bavaria's saying during the Thirty Years War: “No powerful head, no German emperor. Our freedom consists in the German division ”, was just right for the small German dynasties. Now the weaknesses of this system became apparent. If you were previously only a Braunschweig native, the feeling arose that you were also German. The intelligent Baron von Stein remarked: "Certainly a large German Empire is better than a small one, where the head is always there to manage it and the strong arm to protect it."

When Napoléon Bonaparte annexed the northern German coastal areas for France by decree on December 13, 1810 in order to increase the effectiveness of the continental barrier and the interruption of trade with England, the situation worsened. Napoleon made a very wide strip along the North Sea coast (line between Lippstadt and Schnakenburg an der Elbe) a French department. Among other things, the Duchy of Oldenburg and the Hanseatic cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck came to the French Empire.

1812 Russian campaign

On June 24, 1812, Napoleon crossed the Memel. From the beginning of the spring of 1812, huge streams of the French army were advancing towards the Russian border.

Infantry columns that withdrew from Braunschweig in the morning were followed by cavalry regiments in the evening. In addition the material, the heavy artillery, pontoons , field bakeries , ambulances and baggage wagons, mixed with equipages and riding horses of the marshals and the high generals. The billeting seemed to have no end. The farmers lost their horses and hardly found time to till their fields. Braunschweig often resembled a field camp. Meat could hardly be found, but bread was seldom lacking. There were bad times when the population got together and helped each other out.

It is calculated that Braunschweig had to spend 100,000 thalers during this time due to extra taxes, requisitions and billeting, etc. The city was still lucky, cities and villages near the border were far worse.

What followed could be described as calm.

Little was heard or seen of the campaign against Russia. There were isolated rumors of terrible losses. The "Moniteur royal westphalia", the official newspaper of Westphalia, only brought news that was acceptable to the authorities. None of the withdrawn soldiers had yet returned. Young people, quickly trained, were constantly being sent after the troops.

There was no joy in a celebration for Napoleon's entry into Moscow (September 14). One thought of the many fathers and brothers who had to serve a cause that was none of their business.

Soon there were rumors of the fire in Moscow, the unregulated escape of the French and the fall of the Great Army . Only 18,000 Napoleonic soldiers crossed the Prussian border on the Memel in December 1812. The soldiers who returned were greeted warmly, just as warmly as the Russians who were advancing.

1813

The commanding general of the Prussian auxiliary corps of the Grande Armée Yorck concluded an armistice with the Russian troops on December 30, 1812, in the Tauroggen Convention . Prussia declares war on France again on March 16. The Russian / Prussian liberation troops were joined by scattered German units. Everyone wanted to participate in the liberation of Germany from French rule. Successes were reported from all parts of Germany. Names like Blücher and Lützow were on everyone's lips and the singer and writer Körner with his freedom songs. The Brunswick Duke Friedrich Wilhelm returned from exile in London, first to Hamburg, which was still liberated.

France needed new soldiers and so in the spring of 1813 young men from Braunschweig were drafted again and, after a short training period, transferred to the front if they were not freed by locals on the way, which often happened. The hatred of Napoleon was great. The French recaptured Hamburg . The city of Hamburg was horribly punished with atrocities under Davoust. It was not until 1814 that the French left Hamburg, a long time after the Peace of Paris in 1814, under arms and with a game of music. Before the reconquest of Hamburg, Davoust had taken a position near Gifhorn. They lived as if they were in enemy land.

Liberation of Braunschweig

The Prussians appeared in Braunschweig under Lieutenant Colonel von der Marwitz on September 25, 1813. With his mounted corps he took the weak French garrison prisoner. General vom Klösterlein , in French service, fled to Wolfenbüttel with his 1,500 men. When the Prussians followed at Halchter (to the right of the Herrstrasse leading to the Bungenstadt tower), von Klösterlein and some of his officers only saved the speed of their horses.

With the capture of Kassel , the Kingdom of Westphalia was considered to no longer exist. The civil order collapsed. People who had worked with the French were teased and sometimes even mistreated as so-called French friends. It took a few days for level-headed citizens to bring order to the city. After the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig it was said in Braunschweig that a French army corps would pass through the city on the way to Hamburg. This time was used to the new vigilante train.

Major Olfermann arrived in Braunschweig on December 6, 1813 to take possession of the land again in the name of Friedrich Wilhelm. The Brunswick Regency was warmly welcomed on December 22, 1813 after a seven-year absence. At noon on July 31st, Friedrich Wilhelm arrived in Wolfenbüttel. Some Braunschweig residents had driven to meet him and greeted him with great cheers. The first “ blacks ” arrived in Braunschweig around 8 o'clock in the evening. They freed the 30 or so prisoners from the August Gate Prison. a. soldiers from the Schill Corps and a few deserters.

The Duke and most of his troops did not march in until ten o'clock in the evening. Accompanied by some torchbearers, the duke went to the castle to the great cheer of the population. A bivouac was ordered for the troops on Petritorwall. After protests, they were given quarters where, after a few beers, they could finally relax. Soon the duke's troops had to march against the enemy again. If they were defeated, street fights in the city were feared, as had been heard from Halberstadt. Many residents took up arms and rushed to support. At 9 o'clock the news of the Brunswick victory released the city population.

After the end of the Kingdom of Westphalia, Duke Friedrich Wilhelm made him head of the provisional government college in 1814. Count von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg accompanied the duke to the headquarters of the anti-Napoleonic coalition in France.

Count von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg and August von Reiman , however, soon resigned from the college of privy councils because they had fallen out with the duke. A very inadequate replacement was created by the previous Ölser chamber director Mens. The soul of the state administration was and remained Justus von Schmidt-Phiseldeck , who also represented the duchy at the Congress of Vienna. Through academic studies and practical civil service he had made a thorough acquaintance with the constitutional and governmental conditions of the duchy, the shortcomings of the old and the progress of the new.

Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand had fallen as a Prussian general. His son Friederich Wilhelm was killed in the battle of Quatre-Bras on June 16, 1815 , when the Congress of Vienna was still in session. Here the Braunschweig representative Justus von Schmidt-Phiseldeck achieved the restoration of the duchy. It was hoped to be able to integrate the Diocese of Hildesheim and the Free Imperial City of Goslar . Prussia and Hanover (in personal union with England) were stronger.

Peace and order returned to the city and country of Braunschweig. The trade with Great Britain with its colonial goods regained its old importance.

literature

Ralf Hermann (Red.): The Braunschweig landscape in the Westphalian period 1807–1813 (= Braunschweig landscape in view. 6). Published by Braunschweigische Landschaft e. V. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2009, ISBN 978-3-941737-07-5 .
E. Heusinger: History of the royal seat of Braunschweig from 1806 to 1861. With special consideration of the Westphalian court and state relations. Verlag von Bock & Comp., Braunschweig 1861, ( publikationsserver.tu-braunschweig.de ).
Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Gerhard Schildt (ed.): The Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte. A region looking back over the millennia . 2nd Edition. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2001, ISBN 3-930292-28-9 .
Heinrich Mack : The financial exploitation of the Duchy of Braunschweig during the French occupation 1806/07. Reprint from the Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch 1908, undated, undated
Heinrich Mack: On the history of the city of Braunschweig in the French period. In: Braunschweigisches Magazin . No. 22 of October 24, 1897, pp. 169-173 and No. 23 of November 7, 1897, pp. 179-184.
Richard Moderhack (Hrsg.): Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte at a glance. 3. Edition. Waisenhaus-Buchdruckerei und Verlag, Braunschweig 1979 ( sources and research on Braunschweigische Geschichte 23, ZDB -ID 515291-4 ).
Richard Moderhack: Brunswick town history. With timetable and bibliography. Revised and new edition continued until 1995. Wagner, Braunschweig 1997, ISBN 3-87884-050-0 ( Braunschweig, the image of the city in 900 years. 1).
Stendhal : Diary from Braunschweig. In: Confessions of an I-Man . Propylaea, Berlin 1923, ( projekt-gutenberg.org ).
Paul Zimmermann : Wolffradt, Gustav Sebastian Graf von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 44, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, p. 64 f.

Web links

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