Hanauer ultimatum
The Hanau ultimatum of March 9, 1848 was a petition from Hanau citizens to their rulers in the context of the German revolution of 1848/1849 to obtain basic civil rights and freedoms.
Starting position
In the course of the July Revolution of 1830, the Electorate of Hesse received a very liberal constitution , which was overturned by the Elector in the political practice of the following years .
Hanau was geographically very isolated in the Electorate of Hesse in the southernmost tip of the country. In terms of trade and industrialization , it was the most advanced city in the country alongside the capital Kassel , but its location meant it was largely surrounded by customs borders that hindered its development. The tensions with the sovereign rulers, who leaned towards late absolutism , initially Elector Wilhelm II , from 1831 the Prince Regent and later Elector Friedrich Wilhelm , were most pronounced and the revolutionary movement first took hold here.
Delegation to Kassel
The Hanau ultimatum of March 9, 1848 arose in the course of a petition to the elector: After a petition drawn up in February 1848 had not brought about any change for a short time, Hanau citizens who gathered on the market square in Hanau Neustadt elected a 24-person “People's Commission “, Which included August Schärttner , Christian Lautenschläger , Pedro Jung , August Rühl and Mayor Bernhard Eberhard . The People's Commission traveled to Kassel and again brought the elector the petition, which has now been threateningly reformulated as the ultimate request. This so-called Hanauer ultimatum brought about its purpose: Elector Friedrich Wilhelm was given the revolutionary mood that formed the background of the event, by and granted the demands for the press , of religion and freedom of conscience , the petition, presented association and assembly law restores and granted an amnesty for political offenses. At the same time, a liberal March government was formed under the Hanau mayor Eberhard, in which this minister of the interior.
On their return to Hanau, the delegation was given an enthusiastic reception on the Neustädter Markt . However, the ultimatum did not have a long-term effect: after the suppression of the March Revolution in 1849, the reaction with the government formed in 1850 under Ludwig Hassenpflug found its way back into Electoral Hesse politics.
literature
- Richard Schaffer-Hartmann: The Hanauer Ultimatum . In: Stadtzeit (1998). History magazine on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the revolution and gymnastics movement Hanau 1848-1998, pp. 86-89.
- Ernst Julius Zimmermann : Hanau city and country . 3. Edition. Hanau 1919, ND 1978.