Military road
A military road or Heer (es) road is a road that is or was built for the purpose of the rapid movement of troops and materials. The first military roads were built by the Romans , who perfected road construction like no other power before them and thus quickly brought their superior military strength to the theaters of war.
These roads were then used by settlers and traders to settle new areas of land and subsequently also led to the establishment of new cities.
There were also military roads in Germania when Roman troops were present. The Romans created roads south of the Limes in order to be able to move troops quickly. Over a thousand years after the end of Roman rule, these streets are known as the "Roman Army Road " , for example the street that once connected the Roman towns of Cannstatt and Pforzheim or Weil dem Dorf (since 1933 Stuttgart-Weilimdorf) with Leonberg .
In 1780, Anton Friedrich Büsching named in a "Topography of the Hochstift Hildesheim " for the location of the described villages, settlements, farmsteads and other localities as a description of the situation, such as Goslarische Heerstraße, Prussische Heerstraße, Hannöversche Heerstraße, Wolfenbüttelsche Heerstraße, Braunschweiger Heerstraße, Hildesheimische Hildesheim to Celle.
definition
The term Heerstraße already existed in Middle High German as her-strâze . In the “ Old High German Glosses” it is used as “via publica, heristraza, herstrazza”. Adelung's Grammatical-Critical Dictionary of High German Dialect from 1796 defines Heerstraße as “a wide road through a country on which a war army can get around comfortably; the country road, as far as it goes through a whole country or from one country to the other. ”The South Hessian dictionary shows the use of the term super herweg as early as 1307. Johann Georg Krünitz refers in his encyclopedia to “Land-Straße” and creates the connection with Heerstraße in the Landstraßenlemma: “It is also the Heer-Straße, or the Heer-Weg, in Angels. 'Herestraet', in middle lat. 'Herestrata', otherwise 'Via militaris', (called), partly from army, war army, because a war army can easily get away on such a road; partly from Heer, a lot of people. ”The German dictionary of the Brothers Grimm defines the term Heerstraße in the lemma“ Heerstrasze ”as follows:“ strasze for the heer, wide landstrasze, ahd. heristrâʒa ”(old high German) and indicates that earlier under Heerstrasse a Roman road was understood. It literally says: “In a source from 1464, a remarkable distinction is made between heerstrausze (Roman road) and land road, the latter being taken as the road that connects several places in the narrower country: 'zwüschent der heerstrausz and lantstrausz. A field next to the Heerstrausz and next to the Lantstrausz add '. "
Military roads in the Alps
A wide network of former military roads still exists in the entire Alpine region . In the middle of the 19th century , Austria built a new military road in the Alps from the upper Adige Valley through southern Tyrol (later part of Italy as South Tyrol ) with the aim of not having to move troops through Swiss territory. The alpine roads often have their origins in conflicts between Italy and France in the Maritime Alps and essentially from the times of the First World War and conflicts between Italy and Austria-Hungary in what is now Trentino and South Tyrol.
The course of these roads is impressive, some of which were built on vertical rock faces in the compact rock. The best example is the Strada delle 52 gallery . This historical network of trails is popular with hikers and mountain bikers today, as the trails with relatively flat inclines open up high alpine regions. In earlier times all military supplies were organized through these roads. Even heavy military equipment, such as cannons, had to be able to be transported uphill. In the Italian Trentino and South Tyrol, today the Sentiero della Pace , the Peace Trail , follows the former military roads and touches the former theaters of war.
Military roads today
In numerous cities and rural communities in Germany, even in the 21st century, there are still streets that have the term "Heerstraße" in the name specified by the city or local authority or are also assigned this term as national streets. These are, for example, “ Heerstraße Brandenburg – Magdeburg ”, “ Bonn-Aachener Heerstraße ”, “ Münder Heerstraße ”, “ Bernauer Heerstraße ” from the Spandau citadel in the east to Stettin, but also “Bernauer Heerstraße” in Frankfurt (Oder), “Bremer Heerstraße "in Oldenburg," Osterholzer Heerstraße "," Leher Heerstraße "," Horner Heerstraße "," Bremerhavener Heerstraße "," Bremer Heerstraße "," Oslebshauser Heerstraße "," Gröpelinger Heerstraße "," Waller Heerstraße "and" Schwachhauser Heerstraße " Bremen, “Celler Heerstraße” in Braunschweig, “Hannoversche Heerstraße” in Celle, “Alte Heerstraße” in St. Augustin and Kaarst, “ Heerstraße (Berlin) ”, “Heerstraße” in Bad Neuenahr, Bonn, Cologne, Herne, Hilden, Mülheim on the Ruhr, “Heerstraße” as a section of the old “ Elisabethenstraße ” in Frankfurt am Main-Praunheim , Wiesbaden and Hadmersleben.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Description of the Oberamt Leonberg , JB Müller's publishing house, Stuttgart 1852, Volume 30, p. 81 digitized
- ^ Anton Friedrich Büsching: Magazine for the new history and geography , published by Johann Jacob Curt, Halle 1780, volume 14, p. 329 and further digital copies
- ↑ Elias von Steinmeyer: The Old High German glosses , collected and edited by Elias von Steinmeyer and Eduard Sievers, Weidmann-Verlag, Volume 1 glosses on biblical writings. Berlin 1879, p. 356 digitized
- ^ Johann Christoph Adelung: Grammatical-Critical Dictionary of High German Dialect , 2nd Edition, Leipzig 1796, Volume 2, Column 1055 Digitized
- ↑ Maurer-Mulch: South Hessian Dictionary , Marburg 1973 to 1977, Volume 3, Column 309, Lemma "Heer-Strasse". South Hessian dictionary. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
- ^ Johann Georg Krünitz : Economic Encyclopedia or General System of State, City, House and Agriculture, Leipzig 1796, Volume 63, p. 3, [1]
- ^ Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm: German Dictionary, Volume 10, Column 761 Digitized
- ↑ Die neue Heerstrasse over the Finstermünz Pass , in: Mnemosyne, supplement to the new Würzburger Zeitung, Würzburg 1859, No. 51 of June 26, 1859, p. 207 digital copy