East Frisia at the time of the Seven Years' War
After the death of Carl Edzard , the last East Frisian prince , East Frisia fell to Prussia in 1744 . The country, torn by internal power struggles, was given a Prussian administration. To promote trade, Emden was declared a free port and the Emden East Asian trading company was founded in 1751 to bring tea and spices from East Asia to the empire based on the model of the Dutch .
Since East Friesland belonged to Prussia, various war powers marched through East Friesland during the Seven Years' War from 1757 to 1761. In 1761, the country was sacked in particular by French troops , with several skirmishes taking place . The extortion of contributions , in particular, was a heavy burden.
East Frisia and Prussia at the beginning of the 18th century
On the eve of the Seven Years' War, East Frisia had only been Prussian for a few years. The last native prince , Carl Edzard , died on May 25, 1744. King Friedrich II of Prussia then immediately asserted his right of succession, which was regulated in the Emden Convention . He let East Frisia, starting from Emden, occupied without resistance, whereupon on June 23 the country paid homage to the crown. The state capital Aurich remained the seat of the state authorities, received a war and domain chamber and became the government capital of the Prussian province of East Frisia.
Prussia recognized the independent position of East Frisia within the state and installed a largely autonomous chancellor. The first chancellor was the above-mentioned, extremely influential Sebastian Anton Homfeld, from a family of notables from the Rhine region, to whom rumors attribute the poisoning of the last East Frisian prince.
According to widely fluctuating estimates, East Frisia had between 80,000 and 101,000 inhabitants at that time. Almost two thirds made a living from agriculture. Economically, the region found itself in a phase of stagnation after the Christmas flood of 1717 and the civil war of 1726/27 . The largest city in the state was Emden, which with around 7,000 inhabitants only had half as many inhabitants as in its heyday of the late 16th century. In 1751 and 1755, Friedrich II visited East Frisia. The Prussian rule initially brought about a considerable economic upswing for East Frisia and increased opening to the outside world. The city of Emden, for example, benefited from the establishment of a free port in 1751. This makes the port of Emden one of the oldest free ports in Europe. The beginning of the Seven Years' War put an end to this development.
At that time Prussia was a state with fragmented territory. The Prussian possessions in the west of the empire led a life of their own due to the distance to the heartland and could not be held militarily. At the beginning of the Seven Years' War, Prussia refrained from defending these areas for tactical reasons.
French and Austrians 1757–1758
On August 29, 1756, the Prussian army opened the war by invading Saxony . Because of this, troops had been withdrawn from the outskirts of Prussia. In East Frisia, only a small unit of 180 men was stationed in Emden under Colonel Ernst Georg von Kalckreuth (1690–1763). The Wesel fortress on the Rhine had actually been evacuated. The attack of the French troops of Marshal Tellier began in spring 1757. The main objective was the British monarch George III. Kurhannover ruled in personal union . By conquering Hanover, Great Britain was to be put under pressure. Wesel was occupied and the marshal opened his headquarters in Munster on May 25th .
In May the French troops under Marquis Dauvet reached Leer . He ordered the estates to Oldersum , where they had to hand over a statement of assets in order to determine the contributions . At the urging of the Emden Council, Kalckreuth decided not to defend the city.
In October 1757, 1200 Austrian troops moved in under the Count of Pisa, who was appointed governor of East Friesland shortly afterwards, to support the French. Emden was chosen as the headquarters of the imperial troops, and the French quarters moved to Aurich . Marquis Dauvet was replaced by Colonel Courbisson. The population had to pay a contribution of 345,000 thalers ; but many merchants had brought their money to safety on the Dutch side of Friesland.
In November 1757 there was the Battle of Roßbach , in which the French supported by the Imperial Army suffered a defeat against Prussia. On February 17th, the Allied army of the Duke of Braunschweig set out from his winter quarters in Lüneburg . In order not to be cut off, General Saint-Germain had to evacuate Bremen , which was occupied in August of the previous year, on February 25th . Due to the enemy advance on February 27, the Austrian Count of Pisa ordered the fortification of the city of Emden to be strengthened. The new French commander-in-chief Clermont vacated the Electorate of Hanover shortly afterwards. On March 3, General Saint-Germain crossed the Weser near Hamelin and vacated Minden , which was occupied by the Allies on March 14. On March 2nd the French had left Aurich under Courbisson and moved to Emden (with the captured treasury). On March 18, 1758, the French also evacuated Emden after they had collected contributions worth over 320,000 thalers. However, when they left in a hurry, they had to leave a lot of material behind in the magazines: two British warships had prevented it from being shipped across the Ems , while the poor roads made it impossible to transport it by carriage.
On 23 March, the headquarters of the Allies was already in Detmold . On March 25th the French evacuated Münster and on March 26th the allied arms crossed the Ems near Warendorf . The contributions should have totaled about 734,800 thalers; But in order to be able to pay the crew's contributions, a loan of 400,000 thalers had to be taken out in Holland.
The chronicler Wiarda reports that the French and Austrians were very disciplined. When the British were chasing the last ship of the fleeing French, some of the luggage fell into their hands, including the stock exchanges of Lieutenant Colonel von Schulheim and Captain Oda . When the British Commander Charles Holmes heard of the exemplary behavior of the troops, he returned their purses and luggage to the officers in a safe place.
British 1758-1761
On April 11, Prussia and Great Britain signed an assistance agreement. As early as April 21, around 900 soldiers came to East Frisia under the command of Colonel Brüdenel. After the victory at Krefeld, the British parliament approved new funds. On July 29, a fleet of 169 ships and 10,000 land troops landed. Under the leadership of Marlborough , Waldgrave (meaning John Waldegrave (1718–1784)) and Sackville landed in Emden. The troops did not stay in the region, however, but marched to Coesfeld in order to unite with the troops of the Duke of Braunschweig on August 20 . At the same time privateers were equipped.
The Prussian general von Jeney tried from January 1761 to set up the free battalion Voluntaires d'Ostfriese . However, recruiting was slow; by May 375 recruits had been recruited. The British gradually reduced the occupation of Emden until only two companies remained invalid . By September 24th, there were hardly any troops in East Frisia. The cost of the city treasury for the British soldiers in the period from August 1, 1758 to September 24, 1761 was given as 16,636 thalers.
French 1761–1762
In 1761 the army of the Prince of Soubise moved through northern Westphalia . He sent the Marquis de Conflans to East Frisia to collect contributions. Coming from Lingen (Ems) , the Marquis reached Leer on September 22nd. The next day, the French Colonel Martin and fifty hussars went to Aurich to collect 200,000 thalers contribution. He planned to take the money with him, but after a brief sack of the town it became clear that it would take more time to raise the money. The next day, September 24th, General Conflans occupied Emden and captured the British soldiers who had stayed there. He demanded a contribution of 30,000 thalers, but there were only 10,000 thalers in the city coffers and only a further 12,000 thalers were raised through collection from residents. The hussars then plundered the residents and the captured British. Conflans then sent his officers to the surrounding cities to collect contributions there as well, while he himself moved to Aurich to collect the 200,000 thalers. The Prussian district president von Derschau was able to convince him of the impossibility of his project.
On September 25th, Colonel Kühlwein (also: Thulewein ) rode north with 83 hussars to collect the contributions . When he got there in the afternoon, he first asked for 30,000 ducats, after negotiations 10,000. However, the residents were only able to raise about 6000 thalers in (inferior) war money. In order to back up the demand, the French hussars began to beat the head of the office in the market with stick blows until they were driven away by angry citizens. Colonel Kühlwein took the money from the town hall, and the French troops shot their way through. On the way back, some residents of Osteel and Marienhafe were left hanging as a deterrent .
On the same day Colonel Martin reached Wittmund ; Here, too, hussars were sent into the surrounding country to squeeze out the population, like Colonel Campfort from the Rheiderland , who was sent to Stickhausen . The first resistance took place in Stickhausen. At Holtland five hussars who molested girls were slain by angry peasants; the rest of the troop then fled to Hesel . At Schirum , where the Heerweg at the Schirum Bridge was blocked, some farmers gathered under the leadership of Hajo Cordes . The Marquis de Conflans tried to use force against them; a first attack failed, however, and only made the peasants even more angry with the foreign troops in the country.
On September 26th, the British soldiers were transferred by sea to the British garrison in Bremen. Meanwhile, the bailiff Stürenburg tried in vain to reassure the farmers on the one hand and to arrest their leaders on the other. Even during the unsuccessful negotiations, General von Aurich rode back to Emden; a Colonel Geyler remained as commandant. As the evening failed to gain the promised, the Hussars gathered in the town square and started from the Auricher Castle plundered lead objects to pour bullets.
The next day (September 27th) the Aurich crew moved along the trek low to Emden; the peasants near Shirum were not attacked. The French committed numerous atrocities on the way: the village of Haxtum , located outside the city gates, was burned down to two houses. Two hikers, an old woman in her garden in Rahe , an old man in Bangstede and other people are said to have been murdered. In Barstede the priest was taken prisoner and forced to hand over the church utensils; Ochtelbur and Riepe were looted. In Wolthusen they united the Aurich garrison with the Emden garrison and moved to Leer via Oldersum.
After the farmers had arrived in Aurich, others came from the north. It was decided to go straight to Leer to take their booty from the hussars. On the way to Hesel they met an apprentice cobbler. After a short discussion, he was shot dead as a spy. The peasants marched over Hesel towards Loga.
In Emden, a vigilante group was tasked with maintaining order, but this was not successful, as farmers from the Greetmer Office (28 September), the next day the armory stormed the evacuated by the French city and armed.
An event during the visit of Generals Fronsac and Coigny was humiliating for the Marquis : when they, coming from Osnabrück , stood at the gates of the city with their escort of seventy hussars, they were not allowed in by the angry peasants and citizens. Several hussars were injured while trying to gain entry by force, including Cache , the adjutant of the Marquis of Fronsac, who died of his wounds.
Coming from Aurich, a group of 500 to 600 farmers had gathered near Loga . Around 4 p.m., 500 French soldiers arrived to drive the peasants away; There was a brief skirmish in which about forty peasants and thirty soldiers died and the insurgents were successfully driven out. Then began the looting of the Loga and Logabirums estate. Residents were tortured, killed and looted; a total of around 15 residents died. The soldiers returned to Leer in the evening.
The displaced farmers gathered again at Bagband on September 29 and were reinforced from Greetsiel and the north. The magistrate tried to calm the situation down, among other things by avoiding equipping the farmers with weapons and instead delivering provisions.
The next day the hussars finally left East Frisia with their booty; Instead, the Marquis called the Austrian Baron Wurmser with 2000 men for reinforcement. On October 1st it reaches Leer; the peasants fled in all directions when he arrived. Even the baron was frightened by the atrocities of the hussars, but could no longer change the contribution demands. After negotiations, including compensation, his troops withdrew on October 7th.
After calculating the landscape, damage of over 1,000,000 thalers was caused.
In July 1762 there were again French in Weener , now 1,500 men under Biomesnil , which led to panic and flight among the population. Biomesnil, however, had already been under Wurmser in East Friesland the year before and was therefore familiar with the local situation; it was probably clear to him that the contribution of 500,000 thalers that had been given to him was an illusion. After negotiations with the Derschau and Colomb councilors , he contented himself with 5000 thalers and withdrew.
The Seven Years' War ended with the Peace of Hubertusburg in 1763.
The Conflansertied has also left behind new word creations, such as the Kumflander for disreputable behavior or Campfort as the name for the farm dog, especially in the Rheiderland.
The behavior of the hussars caused a sensation all over Europe. Colonel Campfort was even summoned to see the king in Paris.
Contributions
In total, the Conflans hussars extorted 150,000 thalers from the Leer office; the Aurich office was to pay 200,000 thalers and the city of Emden after the surrender of the British garrison 22,000 ducats. The small town of Weener was hit particularly hard: fifty citizens were locked in the basement of the church tower to extort money. In addition, the hussars roamed the area and stole what was available. A lot of money had to be borrowed, which the community and citizens paid off years later.
literature
- Wilhelm Havemann: History of the Lands Braunschweig and Lüneburg . S. 436 ff . ( Google books ).
- Tileman Dothias Wiarda : East Frisian History: 1734–1758 . tape 8 , p. 437 ff . ( Google books ).
- Tileman Dothias Wiarda: East Frisian History: 1758–1786 . tape 9 ( Google books ).
- The Gentleman's and London magazine . S. 572 ( Google books - eyewitness account).
Individual evidence
- ^ Heinrich Schmidt: Political history of East Frisia . Self-published, Leer 1975, p. 341.
- ^ Heinrich Schmidt: Political history of East Frisia . Self-published, Leer 1975, p. 342.
- ^ About free ports ( memento from January 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) at German customs
- ↑ Christoph Gottlieb Richter: The history of the war between the Prussians and their allies , p. 171