Prussian State Board

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Avenue in Brandenburg

Prussian state show lakes are the forerunners of modern German highways . Later it was imperial roads , the highways in the GDR and today the main roads . The Prussian Staatschausseen formed the basis for today's modern highway network in Germany . Although the development of cities and municipalities and the changing demands on the transport network led to various modernizations and route relocations, many routes have been preserved in their original course.

The predecessors

Miles obelisk near Nordhausen
Chausseehaus in Nassenheide

Already in ancient times , the metropolises on what is now the German state were connected by highways. The Roman roads already had many elements of modern roads, such as surface pavements, drainage and path markings. In the course of history, many existing skills in the construction, management and maintenance of traffic routes have been lost. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the modern era , there were no notable developments in the area of ​​road connections.

The transfer of troops, the transport of trade goods and travel were associated with great expense and danger in the Middle Ages . Military roads that existed in the Middle Ages avoided the unpredictable river valleys and followed the terrain on higher natural routes, the so-called high - altitude trails .

Only with the establishment of the postal system in Germany in the form of the Imperial Post Office and the messenger agencies of the cities, as well as the subsequently established state postal agencies, the postal routes gradually emerged on these postal routes. Post stations and waymarks were set up on these long-distance routes . At the latest with the first attempts to introduce driving mail and stagecoaches , the deficiencies of the existing roads became apparent. But many years had to pass before politicians addressed these shortcomings.

The first highways - the Prussian art street program up to the war against Napoleon

Reconstructed mile obelisk in Leipziger Strasse in Berlin

Already during the time of King Friedrich Wilhelm I , milestones in the form of obelisks based on the Saxon post-mile pillars were set up on important routes . Due to the distance measurement in miles (1  Prussian mile = 7.532484 km) these stone station signs were also referred to as milestones. The distances from Prussian milestones always referred to the zero milestone that was on the former Dönhoffplatz in Berlin .

Friedrich Wilhelm II. 1797, initiator of the Prussian art road construction
( German Historical Museum Berlin )

In 1786, Friedrich Wilhelm II. A new ruler entered the political arena. The industrial age , starting from Great Britain, had also reached Germany. The increased exchange of goods made new demands on the traffic, communication and trade routes .

The first phase of the Prussian highway construction is closely connected with Alexander Friedrich Graf von der Schulenburg- Blumberg, who was based in Magdeburg . Under his responsibility, on behalf of the king, the permanent repair of the largely unpaved road connections in the Duchy of Magdeburg should take place. Chausseen were also discussed in this context. Since there was no experience in building these modern transport routes, explorations were carried out in the western parts of the empire and in France in the form of business trips.

At Schulenburg's initiative, the construction of the first Prussian Chaussee from Magdeburg to Halle (Saale) and on to the state border of Saxony near Leipzig and ended in Großkugel . Construction began in 1788.

This road was characterized by a straight route, arched road embankments fortified with stones, drainage systems, tree planting for sun protection, a parallel unpaved summer path, as well as the presence of signposts (milestones) for determining the distance and indicating the direction.

The French word “Chaussee” was initially not used, nor were the analogous translations such as “Hochweg” or “Straßendamm”. The word " Art Street " was coined for this. However, at the latest after the occupation by Napoleon , the word "Chaussee" also established itself in German .

Schulenburg used his close ties to the king to force road construction elsewhere. Almost simultaneously with the start of construction on Chaussee Magdeburg - Leipzig, work on one of the Chaussee from Berlin to Potsdam began . In 1791 the Generalchausseebauintendantur was founded under the direction of Hanns Moritz Graf Brühl .

Hanns Moritz Graf Brühl General Inspector of the Generalchausseebauintendantur
(painting by Anton Graff, 1796)

One of the first projects of the Generalchausseebauintendantur consisted in the selection of the route of the Berlin-Potsdamer Chaussee via Zehlendorf , which was carried out by Count Brühl, and its construction. In the first few years, the Generalchausseebauintendantur built 212 kilometers of highways. The war with France ended this first Prussian road construction program.

The highway construction program after the wars of liberation

Freiherr vom Stein
State Chancellor
(painting by Johann Christoph Rincklake )

After the crushing defeat of Prussia against the French in the battle of Jena and Auerstedt on October 14, 1806, which led to large territorial losses and overwhelming tribute payments for Prussia, fundamental reforms and modernizations were necessary in order to rise again into the circle of the great European powers. The Russo-French peace agreement, known as the Peace of Tilsit , divided Eastern Europe into a French and a Russian sphere of influence. Prussia was marginalized to a middle power. Prussia's response to this was fundamental modernizations that affected all areas of the state and were based on the principles of the Enlightenment, the Stein-Hardenberg reforms . Under Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom and zum Stein's leadership as State Chancellor, the Prussian states became a unified Prussian state. The administrative penetration of the entire country resulting from the reforms had a major influence on the expansion of the traffic routes.

The instructions for the construction and maintenance of the art roads dates back to 1814 . The revised version of this was still valid until the Nazi era . It formed the technical basis for the subsequent construction of all roads. The definition of a width of 8.80 meters, rows of trees on both sides and sewer ditches behind them still shape the image of the federal and state roads today. The specifications for the milestones after 1814, obelisks with benches and bell-shaped stones, were based on designs by Karl Friedrich Schinkel . In 1834, finance minister Christian Rother introduced the round base stones based on the model of Roman milestones for reasons of cost .

A concept by senior building officer August Leopold Crelle and General Karl von Grolman from 1817 showed the advantages of a road construction program for politics, business and the military and formed the guideline for future developments in road construction.

August Leopold Crelle ,
mathematician and political scientist
Karl Wilhelm Georg von Grolman ,
Prussian general and reformer

From the beginning, the financing was one of the biggest problems. The difficulties in the implementation also resulted from the decentralized distribution of tasks in the construction program. While the administration and financing lay with the Prussian ministries, the construction work was the responsibility of the provincial administrations. Responsibility for building construction in the cities passed to the municipalities in a lengthy process that lasted until the 1870s. Because of this and the lack of building material, the urban chausee courses were largely unpaved until 1870.

In the first years after the war until 1836, the financing was made through the Prussian State Bank , which at that time was still called the “ Seehandlungsgesellschaft ”. In the period after that, various Chausseebau joint stock companies were founded, but they were subsidized by the Prussian state.

From the beginning, the collection of road money was a means of refinancing the construction costs. The toll collection took place at these toll booths, the most important element of which was a barrier that only opened after the toll was paid. Special highway houses were built for those taking the toll, which were always close to the road and from which the taker had a good view of the street to make his job easier. The roadside attendants who were responsible for maintaining the roads were also stationed in these road houses. Some of these street houses are still standing today.

With the establishment of the German Customs Association , the political motivation of the highway construction program fell away. This was also reflected in the reduced provision of funds to subsidize the road construction. In 1834, the president of the sea trading company Christian Rother also took over political responsibility for the construction of the road. He reduced the costs of the construction projects by outsourcing the provision of transport services and the provision of materials to the communities.

In Prussia, around 35 million thalers were spent between 1815 and 1845 for the construction of the Staatschausseen. Although it was the desired political goal from 1835, there was even a cabinet order , it was only from around 1850 that the pace of the new road construction was reduced.

The transition of the highways administration to the area of ​​responsibility of the provinces

With the legislation of July 3, 1875, the supervision of the State Showers passed from 1876 to the provincial administrations. So-called "state building inspectors" were responsible for and supervised the construction of the roads and the administration of the roads in all Prussian provinces.

In 1933 the network of Reichsstraßen, in which the Prussian Staatschausseen merged, was redefined.

Routing and numbering of the Prussian State Exhibition Lakes

See also

literature

  • Herbert Liman: Road construction in Brandenburg , documentation of the state road system on Brandenburg road history

as part of the Kulturland Brandenburg 2008 project

  • Herbert Liman: Chausseen - Alleen - Milestones - Chausseehäuser , Landesbetrieb Straßenwesen Brandenburg
  • Uwe Müller: The Prussian Kreisschausseebau between municipal self-administration and state regulation (1830-1880) , Berlin
  • Olaf Grell, Rolf Zimmermann: Prussian Post Roads and Prussian Post Milestones in Brandenburg , State Office for Roads Brandenburg
  • Wolfgang Scharfe: Chausseen 1792–1875 , 1973
  • Wolfgang Fredrich: The history of the Berlin milestones
  • Patrick Fengler: Motifs for the Prussian road construction in the years 1815 to 1835 , housework ( advanced seminar), 2003
  • Andreas Leinert: On the history of road construction and the resistance associated with it until the end of the Old Kingdom , GRIN Verlag
  • Instructions for the construction and maintenance of the artificial streets , Berlin, 1834

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Herbert Liman: Chausseen - Alleen - Milestones - Chausseehäuser , Landesbetrieb Straßenwesen Brandenburg, p. 13
  2. ↑ Andreas Leinert: On the history of the road construction and the resistance associated with it up to the end of the Old Empire , GRIN Verlag, p. 16
  3. ^ Herbert Liman: Road construction in Brandenburg , documentation of the state road system for Brandenburg road history, p. 38
  4. ^ Herbert Liman: Road construction in Brandenburg , p. 39
  5. ↑ Uwe Müller: The Prussian Kreisschausseebau between local self-government and state regulation (1830-1880) , Berlin, p. 12
  6. ↑ Uwe Müller: The Prussian Kreisschausseebau between municipal self-government and state regulation (1830-1880 ), Berlin, p. 11