Dörnberg uprising

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The Dörnberg uprising on April 22, 1809 in Homberg (Efze) in Hesse was directed against the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia . The aim was to overthrow the government of Jérôme Bonaparte , which was perceived as French foreign rule and which had been established by Napoleon after the peace of Tilsit in 1807. The uprising got its name from Colonel Wilhelm von Dörnberg , the leader of the uprising.

Wilhelm von Dörnberg

prehistory

The Kingdom of Westphalia was created by Napoleon after the Peace of Tilsit in 1807 with the intention of securing political influence over the Confederation of the Rhine and serving as a model state based on the French model for the other German states. The kingdom extended over numerous previously independent territories, the core being the Electorate of Hesse , the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and, after its annexation in 1810, the Electorate of Hanover and large parts of the areas to the left of the Elbe ceded by Prussia in the Peace of Tilsit . In contrast, the Duchy of Westphalia was not part of the kingdom. Napoleon appointed his younger brother Jérôme king of the Kingdom of Westphalia, which is part of the Rhine Confederation .

Baron Wilhelm von Dörnberg , the initiator of the uprising, came from the old Hessian nobility. He had served first in the Hesse-Kassel, later in the Dutch and from 1796 to 1807 in the Prussian army. After the Peace of Tilsit, he returned to his homeland, which has now become the Kingdom of Westphalia. When he was offered a position as battalion chief of the emerging Guards Grenadiers, he accepted this despite his disdain for Jérôme Bonaparte. He quickly rose to a favorite of Jérôme and was entrusted with the command of a hunter battalion in Marburg . The justice of the peace Siegmund Peter Martin from Frielendorf became one of Dörnberg's most important allies. It made it possible to secure the popularity of the rural population. Through his measures it was possible to find support for the cause of the conspirators , especially in the area of Schwalm and Hombergs, which finally led to a crowd of about 1,000 mostly lightly armed farmers during the uprising on April 22, 1809.

The remaining conspirators belonged to the Hessian aristocracy , which saw themselves ousted from their traditional political and social role at court. The bourgeois classes, on the other hand, profited from Napoleon's rule, the civil servants were strengthened by the new rule. These groups were rather positive towards French rule. The leadership of the uprising came from the rather reactionary, old leadership class.

The headquarters: Wallenstein Abbey in Homberg

The women's monastery in Homberg was chosen as the headquarters of the conspiracy . The noble ladies living here, u. a. the abbess Marianne vom und zum Stein , the sister of the Prussian reformer Freiherr vom und zum Stein , were already anti-French and were therefore open to the conspiracy. In the course of incorporation into the Rhine Confederation, Napoleon had abolished many of the noble privileges and thus caused great uncertainty about the future of the monastery. Quite a few residents of the monastery wanted a restoration of the Holy Roman Empire . The rebels' flag, which was embroidered here by Karoline von Baumbach, did not show the Hessian lion, but the black double-headed eagle of the former Holy Roman Empire. Many nobles, including Dörnberg, frequented the monastery on a regular basis. From April 16 to 18, the exact planning of the uprising was discussed again: It was to begin simultaneously in Wolfhagen , Hofgeismar , Münden , Gudensberg and Homberg. The rural people should be called together with the help of the storm bell and armed quickly. The individual troops of the rural population were to march to Kassel towards evening, the hunter battalions take the king and his military command staff prisoner at night.

The riot

The beginning of the uprising was not a lucky star. Dörnberg was urged to attack prematurely by Justice of the Peace Martin. Dörnberg reluctantly accepted April 22nd, although he would have preferred to carry out the action a few weeks later. However, some of the insurgents struck too early. Already at sunrise the storm bells were rung in some places. The undisciplined and poorly armed farmers moved to Homberg on the market square. Around noon the news of the uprising reached Kassel. Jérôme was extremely upset and called an extraordinary council meeting. He had no suspicion of any kind towards Dörnberg, and even ordered him to reinforce the castle guard with two companies of the guardsmen under his command. Later that day, a member of the royal court in Dörnberg announced that he had been betrayed. The king knows about his participation. Dörnberg gave up command of the hunters and fled to Homberg on horseback. There he took command of the insurgents. With that he had lost the command over a powerful, experienced armed force and the expected surprise effect did not materialize. The crowd that came together in Homberg consisted mostly of farmers, forest workers and old soldiers from the immediate and wider area, but were mostly unarmed and not very disciplined. In addition, most of them apparently assumed that the elector was already sitting on his throne in Kassel, which is why there would be no serious fighting. During the night the troops, several thousand strong, moved towards the royal seat, but were expected by a unit of the Westphalian artillery near the Knallhütte about 10 km from Kassel and were under fire. This unexpected resistance led to a collapse of morale and the insurgents fled, leaving few dead. Dörnberg and Martin were able to escape the grip of the Westphalian judiciary and survive, just as a large part of the landed aristocracy involved in the uprising managed to get away with it. The rural population who took part in the uprising were pardoned by Jérôme:

"Art. 2. Complete and utter impunity is granted to all of our subjects who took part in the uprising that broke out on the night of the 21st to the 22nd of the current month, insofar as they returned to their homes, or in the first eight days after the Notice of the current decree to be returned. "

- Royal Decree of April 29th, 1809, concerning the insurgents in the departments of Fulda and Werra

consequences

In June of the same year, the local dignitaries, led by the mayor of Homberg, came to Kassel and asked for an audience with Jérôme, which they finally got. Jérôme finally refrained from retaliation against Homberg. He quartered troops in the city. Not only was this psychologically degrading, but it also had a very high cost for the small town. A year after the uprising, Jérôme visited the city to demonstrate his claim to power, for which the citizens of Homberg built a gate of honor for him. The residents of the women's monastery in Wallenstein were accused of having supported the uprising both organizationally and financially. In a royal decree of April 30, 1809, the benefices were taken from the canons, the estates and assets of the monastery were confiscated until further notice and the monastery was placed under state administration until the end of the investigation into its participation in the uprising. In the course of the inspection of their correspondence by the royal agent Karl Friedrich von Reinhard, however, neither connections to the rebels nor their financial support could be proven.

Other revolts against Napoleonic rule

Concrete reasons for most of the numerous uprisings against Napoleonic rule were mostly of an economic nature. The numerous wars of Napoleon and the associated raising of troops, tax increases or new introductions as well as the continental lock led to an ever worsening economic situation. 1809 is considered a year of crisis for Napoleonic rule. Austria tried to end French domination on the continent in the Fifth Coalition War , and uprisings broke out in Spain and Germany.

Hesse

The Dörnberg uprising was not the first uprising against the French occupation or the Kingdom of Westphalia on the territory of the former Electorate of Hesse-Kassel.

The first uprising against the French occupation took place at the end of 1806. Soldiers of the officially "leave" army of the Electorate of Hesse, together with peasants, fought against conscriptions for the kingdom's new army, attacked garrisons and even took control of the city in Marburg . The advance on Kassel, however, failed due to the passivity or rejection on the part of the city population, which even stood in the way of the farmers. By the beginning of 1807 the uprising was completely suppressed by French troops, the participants were persecuted, arrested and partially executed. The phenomenon of urban passivity also reappeared in 1809. While the rural areas around Kassel were ready to revolt, there was largely inaction in Kassel.

Execution of Emmerich and Sternberg after the failed Marburg uprising

The Dörnberg uprising is also one of the main driving forces behind the Marburg uprising that took place in June 1809 . The former Electorate Hessian colonel Andreas Emmerich , who was already over seventy and had already served in America and belonged to the circle of conspirators around Dörnberg, as well as the court advisor and professor of medicine Johann Heinrich Sternberg tried to induce farmers and students in and around Marburg to revolt. Only Emmerich was successful in his efforts to win supporters among the farmers in the area. In the early morning of June 24, 1809 he attacked the weak Westphalian garrison in Marburg with about 50-150 men and drove them away. As with Dörnberg's uprising, this act was also intended to spark a general uprising. But this was not done here either; Rather, the Marburg citizens slept through the shooting and presented themselves ignorant after the revolt was quickly put down by the Westphalian military. Emmerich, Sternberg (who was sick in bed during the revolt) and two others involved were executed a few weeks later.

Simultaneous uprisings outside of Hesse

An uprising against the French raged in Spain from mid-1808 , which tied troops in addition to the war in Portugal (which was supported by Great Britain). In addition to French soldiers, units from states allied with France, such as the Kingdom of Westphalia, were sent to suppress this uprising.

In April 1809 a great uprising began in Tyrol (then part of Bavaria ) under the leadership of Andreas Hofer , who opposed the introduction of the new Bavarian constitution (and the resulting recruitment of Tyroleans for wars outside the national borders) and interventions in church affairs the Bavarian administration turned. The Tyrolean rebels were far more successful than the Dörnberg uprising, as they succeeded in temporarily liberating Tyrol from Bavarian-French rule, which was only reestablished towards the end of the year - after troops were freed by the victory over Austria in the 5th coalition war could be. The uprising in Tyrol was a beacon for further uprisings in Germany, which also hoped that the Austrian declaration of war on France would benefit their enterprises. An intervention by Prussia was also hoped and assumed in many places.

Research and reception

National research in the 19th and early 20th centuries

The research of the 19th century interpreted the attempted uprising of 1809 as a patriotic uprising against the French rule and saw in it a "thought [s] of national unity" at work. In the area of ​​the Electorate of Hesse , the resistance of the simple population as well as the nobility was particularly great, since the bond with Elector Wilhelm I, who was in exile in Prague, was very strong. Even the positive aspects of the new rule were ignored.

National Socialism

In June 1934, the “Dörnberg Festival” took place on the Homberg market square, the central point of which was a play “Dörnberg” written by Karl Engelhard in 1913. The event was organized by SA and other Nazi organizations from Homberg. The spectacle was not only attended by the residents of the city and the surrounding area, but also by high-ranking representatives of the regime such as the propaganda leader of the NSDAP district Kurhessen, Karl Gerland . The uprising of 1809 was interpreted in the sense of National Socialist propaganda as a liberation that Hitler should repeat.

Modern research

Today's research contradicts an uprising aimed at the whole of Germany. If the uprising was successful, it was planned to arrest Jérôme Bonaparte and to set up a temporary government to prepare the elector's return from exile. The aim was to restore the political situation from before 1806. In addition to Hessian symbols, the rebels also carried a banner with the double-headed eagle of the Old Kingdom. The idea of ​​a restoration promised - unlike that of the nation, which in any case only seems to be of interest to the educated classes - a much greater appeal. Different population groups could associate different positives with it.

Despite the failure of several attempts at uprising against the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1809, this fact should not hide the fact that it showed a crisis in this art state. Confidence in the state was damaged, efforts to reform failed, while at the same time the burden of taxes and collections for military service increased.

literature

  • Anika Bethan: Napoleon's Kingdom of Westphalia. Local, German and European memories . Schönigh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-77411-8 .
  • Elisabeth Fehrenbach: From the Ancien Regime to the Congress of Vienna . Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-49754-0 , pp. 82-85 .
  • Theodor Ilgen, Rudolf Goecke (ed.): The Kingdom of Westphalia. Seven years of French rule in the heart of Germany. 1807-1813 . L. Voss & Cie., Düsseldorf 1888.
  • Margret Lemberg: Marianne vom Stein and the Wallenstein Abbey in Homberg / Efze and Fulda . Elwert, Marburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7708-1302-5 .
  • Moritz von Kaisenberg: King Jérome Napoleon. A picture of time and life based on letters from Frau von Sothen in Kassel to my grandmother, from Reichserzkanzler von Dalberg to my grandfather and my father as the Westphalian Garde du Corps to his parents, as well as other family records . Schmidt & Günther, Leipzig 1899.
  • Arthur Kleinschmidt: History of the Kingdom of Westphalia . Gotha 1893.
  • Udo Muras: The Marburg Uprising 1809. A forgotten chapter of Marburg history from the Napoleonic era . Rathaus-Verlag, Marburg 1998, ISBN 3-923820-61-5 .
  • Thomas Schattner: June 8-10 , 1934: Open-air festival "Dörnberg" of the SA on the market square in Homberg / Efze . In: Circular letter from the Association for the Promotion of the Memorial and the Archives Breitenau e. V. No. 33 . Kassel 2014, p. 63–67 ( gedenkstaette-breitenau.de [PDF]).
  • Hellmut Seier: Electorate of Hesse 1803–1866 . In: Walter Heinemeyer (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Hessischen Geschichte . tape 4 , 2nd part of volume. Elwert, Marburg 1998, ISBN 3-7708-1102-X , p. 1-184 .
  • Bettina Severin-Barboutie: For the "fatherland" . In: Veit Veltzke (ed.): For freedom - against Napoleon. Ferdinand von Schill, Prussia and the German Nation . Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2009, ISBN 978-3-412-20340-5 , pp. 177-199 .
  • Winfried Speitkamp / Jens Flemming (Hrsg.): Foreign rule and freedom - The Kingdom of Westphalia as a Napoleonic model state . Kassel University Press, Kassel 2009, ISBN 978-3-89958-475-2 .

Web links

Wikisource: Investigation protocol on the Dörnberg uprising with uprising manifesto  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Elisabeth Fehrenbach: From the Ancien Regime to the Congress of Vienna . Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-49754-0 , pp. 82-85 .
  2. ^ Arthur Kleinschmidt: History of the Kingdom of Westphalia . Gotha 1893.
  3. ^ Arthur Kleinschmidt: History of the Kingdom of Westphalia . Gotha 1893.
  4. ^ Margret Lemberg: Marianne vom Stein and the Wallenstein Abbey in Homberg / Efze and Fulda . Elwert, Marburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7708-1302-5 , pp. 79-86 .
  5. ^ Arthur Kleinschmidt: History of the Kingdom of Westphalia . Gotha 1893.
  6. ^ Hellmut Seier: The Electorate of Hesse 1803–1866 . In: Walter Heinemeyer (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Hessischen Geschichte . 4: Hesse in the German Confederation and in the New German Empire (1806) 1815–1945 , Volume 2. p. 31.
  7. ↑ Westphälischer Moniteur , No. 53, May 4, 1809
  8. ↑ "Hieronymus Napoleon, ec. Considering that the abbess and the canonesses of the Wallenstein monastery in Homberg have not only favored the intentions of the leaders of the rebels in Our Kingdom for several months, but even gestured the sashes of the rebels, and gave them 3000 thalers to support this rebellion have given; […]. “ Westphälischer Moniteur , No. 53, May 4th 1809
  9. ↑ "Art. 1. The abbess and the canonesses of the Wallenstein monastery in Homberg who are present have had their benefices removed. " Westphälischer Moniteur , No. 53, May 4th 1809
  10. ↑ "Art. 2. Our finance minister will seize and sequester the goods and income of the abovementioned monastery, whether they are located in Our kingdom or elsewhere, and from this day onwards will have them administered provisionally by a commissioner to be appointed by us. " Westphälischer Moniteur , No. 53, May 4, 1809
  11. ↑ Winfried Speitkamp, Jens Flemming (ed.): Foreign rule and freedom - The Kingdom of Westphalia as a Napoleonic model state . kassel university press, Kassel 2009.
  12. ^ Hellmut Seier: The Electorate of Hesse 1803–1866 . In: Walter Heinemeyer (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Hessischen Geschichte. 4: Hesse in the German Confederation and in the New German Empire (1806) 1815–1945, Teilbd. 2 , p. 32.
  13. ^ Theodor Ilgen, Rudolf Goecke (ed.): The Kingdom of Westphalia. Seven years of French rule in the heart of Germany. 1807-1813 . L. Voß & Cie., Düsseldorf 1888, p. 150 .
  14. ↑ Thomas Schattner: June 8-10 , 1934: Open-air festival "Dörnberg" of the SA on the market square in Homberg / Efze . In: Circular letter from the Association for the Promotion of the Memorial and the Archives Breitenau e. V. No. 33 . Kassel 2014, p. 63–67 ( gedenkstaette-breitenau.de [PDF]).
  15. ↑ Winfried Speitkamp: Unrest, protest, uprising. Resistance and resistance to Napoleonic "foreign rule" . In: Winfried Speitkamp, Jens Flemming (ed.): Foreign rule and freedom - The Kingdom of Westphalia as a Napoleonic model state . Kassel University Press, Kassel 2009, ISBN 3-7708-1102-X , p. 145 .
  16. ^ Hellmut Seier: The Electorate of Hesse 1803–1866 . In: Walter Heinemeyer (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Hessischen Geschichte . 4: Hesse in the German Confederation and in the New German Empire (1806) 1815–1945 , Volume 2. pp. 29–32.