Soldiers trade under Landgrave Friedrich II of Hessen-Kassel

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English caricature of a Hessian grenadier

As soldiers trade under Landgrave Friedrich II. Of Hesse-Kassel are subsidy treaties for release of soldiers from Hesse-Kassel in the UK as part of the American Revolution in the 18th century called.

Treaties with Great Britain

→ Main article: German participation in the American War of Independence

Landgrave Friedrich II of Hessen-Kassel signed on January 15, 1776 with his brother-in-law, King Georg III. of Great Britain , so-called subsidy contracts . According to these contracts, the Prince of Hesse undertook to rent a contingent of soldiers to Great Britain on a permanent basis, with a total troop strength of around 12,000 men.

Classification and today's evaluation

Even contemporaries, for example Friedrich Schiller in 1784 and Johann Gottfried Seume in 1813 in his autobiography Mein Leben , criticized this soldier trade . However, this criticism is not directed against war, mercenary services or the loan of soldiers between sovereign states. The contemporary criticism was directed specifically against the actual deprivation of liberty that was practiced when the soldiers were recruited , against human trafficking and against the uses of the proceeds.

Frederick II's procedure was not particularly unusual . Due to its geostrategic situation, Hessen-Kassel was dependent on the maintenance of a strong armed force at the time the contracts were signed. The state itself, however, had suffered severe economic setbacks from previous acts of war by foreign powers on its own territory and was hardly able to maintain the necessary troop strength without developing further sources of finance.

The recruitment of the Hessian troops, who fought in the American War of Independence from 1776 to 1783, took place according to the then valid law recognized in the Reich . The hiring out of troops was a common practice and was not restricted to feudal states . It was also common later, for example in Switzerland .

Because of the forced recruitment that was at least partially carried out in Hesse, it was also used to "sell" children from the state or, in the case of people passing through, to "human trafficking". Johann Gottfried Seume describes his recruitment in his autobiography Mein Leben : The third evening I stayed in Vach and, despite all the protests, the Landgrave of Kassel, the great human broker at the time, took over the procurement of my more distant night quarters in Ziegenhain, Kassel and beyond through his recruiter the new world. ... Finally we went from Ziegenhain to Kassel, where the old Betelkauer [Friedrich II., AdR] took us on his own, didn't say a syllable and crossed the Fulda ship bridge, the stone bridge was not built at that time, to Hannövrisch-Münden forwarded. Our train was pretty much like prisoners; for we were unarmed, and the armored ankle-boots dragoons and guardsmen and hunters kept ranks and limbs nicely in order with their loads ready.

Friedrich Schiller dealt with the topic in a scene of cabal and love in 1784 and thus represented the contemporary external impact of the Hessian subsidy treaty from his point of view. There, renting out troops is compared to trading in real estate. The proceeds will be used to buy jewelry, even though one city in the country is in dire straits after a fire.

According to some sources, Friedrich II is said to have at least officially renounced press squads or advertising groups in order to arbitrarily press people into service.

In the overall view of the life situations at that time, the service with the weapon can actually have been an interesting source of income for many of Seeum's contemporaries; perhaps the only way to be and be cared for. The rental contracts concluded with Great Britain contained clauses according to which the serving soldiers and, in the event of death, their surviving dependents had to be looked after. Since at that time there was not even the slightest form of social security - unemployed war veterans were often beggars in old age , and very often also disabled - this supplementary pension was an incentive for many to register voluntarily. The last of the funds from Great Britain's subsidy obligation were not used up until the inflation of the 1920s .

Frederick II's instruction to protect the children of the country as much as possible was probably fulfilled according to the usual ideas of the time. And, as can also be seen from the description of Seumes, in the form of trying to recruit as many travelers (foreigners) as possible.

Canton system and service obligation

At that time, Hesse had already introduced the canton system, a kind of general conscription . This obliged every subject who was capable of weapons between the ages of 16 and 30 to serve in the army . The canton system replaced the forced recruitment of the entire force that had been common up until then.

The country was divided into so-called cantons. Each regiment received a canton in order to recruit the necessary troops from it. Because of the prevailing political system, most of the recruits were raised from the lower classes. There were different circumstances among these recruited country children. Unemployed veterans from previous wars were happy to be put back into service, others were looking forward to the “adventures” that had to be had in America, and still others had to fulfill their service obligations due to the canton's obligations, but did not do so voluntarily, but just because of their military service or duty . Thus, for the children of the Hessian state, although many entered the service voluntarily, the recruitment was ultimately based on the canton system.

In accordance with the ruler's request to protect his own population as much as possible - a loss of people meant a loss of labor - after the first contingent had been sent, the losses to be compensated were mainly covered by recruiting foreigners. In the first years of the war, the approach was more likely to look for volunteers to whom the business was made “palatable”. They were promised wealth, gold, land and much more. Many of them signed more because they had the prospect of regular food in the troop. In later years towards the end of the war, however, there were increasing reports that those “volunteers” were brought into the troops using the same method as earlier by the press commandos .

In order to meet the obligation to keep the regiment ready for military service, it was imperative to recruit the number of soldiers who did not volunteer from the population due to the cantonal regulations. From a legal point of view, this was not a forced recruitment, but in fact resulted in the same thing for those affected. But it was precisely this measure that led to family tragedy in many cases: young marriages were torn apart, parents were taken away with their sons, there was a noticeable shortage of workers in Hessen-Kassel, and there was also rural exodus for fear of compulsory service .

The farmer's sons and simple craftsmen had to join the troops according to their duty, whether they wanted to or not. The process of such a recruitment is described in a few words: A small group of soldiers knocks on the door of a farmer's cottage, the duty of service is read to the family or briefly explained, and men between 16 and 30 years of age in the household are taken along. Those affected, both those who were called up and their relatives, mostly submitted to their "fate" without complaint, as this procedure took place according to the law applicable at the time.

The implementation of the measures described, that is, the drafting of soldiers from the own people as well as the recruiting of foreigners, must have been under increasing pressure as the war lasted. The evacuation or capture of entire regiments was a great burden for the canton concerned, and the enthusiasm for volunteering declined noticeably as the war went on. Despite the news blackout, positive reports from the young USA did not always reach the population of Hesse.

Another peculiarity may also have contributed to the generally poor reputation of Frederick II's procedure: If a soldier deserted , there was a special regulation: In this case, according to the canton system, a blood relative of the deserter was forcibly drawn into the troops. If there was no relative capable of arms, someone from the same village was drafted as a replacement - again under duress. In addition, the deserter's relatives could have all their belongings taken away.

This practice had a direct disciplinary effect on the troops. Not least because of this measure, which is draconian from today's perspective, the number of desertions in the cantonist armies remained small. It is not difficult to imagine what impression this measure made on the population. Old memories of the advertisers before the cantonal era were certainly brought back to life.

The saying “Off to Kassel ” is said to come from this time , but this is not definitively proven.

Troop composition and strength

After historical sources from the region, the quota of 15 consisted of infantry - regiments , 4 Grenadier - battalions , two companies of military police and the Artillery Corps . Later there were also three companies of military police on foot and one on horseback. According to these sources, the original contingent, which set out for North America as early as March 1776 , consisted mainly of regional children, i.e. most of the approximately 12,000 soldiers were sons of Hesse-Kassel. This initial contingent consisted mainly of volunteers . In order to maintain the troop strength during the course of the war, the forces lost due to captivity, illness, death or desertion had to be continuously replaced. For this purpose, until the end of the war in 1783 only some recruits were recruited from Hessen-Kassel, a far larger proportion of these recruits were recruits from various countries. In total, about 19,000 soldiers were rented from Hessen-Kassel to Great Britain during the course of the American War of Independence. The troop strength of the Hessians in North America was always between 10,000 and 12,000 men during the course of the war and thus made up about a third of the total contingent of British troops in the North American colonies.

After the end of the war in America, the regiments were moved back to their locations in Hesse and the men were reduced to peacetime strength.

Movies

Web links

literature

Non-fiction and life testimonies

  • Auerbach, Inge: The Hessians in America 1776–1783 , self-published by the Hessian Historical Commission in Darmstadt and the Historical Commission for Hesse, Darmstadt and Marburg 1996 ISBN 3-88443-197-8
  • Auerbach, Inge u. Fröhlich, Otto (ed.): Hessian troops in the American War of Independence (HETRINA), index by family name. 2nd Edition. Archivschule Marburg, Marburg 1987 (Volume II) (Regiments Prinz Carl, v. Ditfurth, v. Donop / v. Knyphausen, v. Loßberg / Alt v. Loßberg, v. Mirbach / Jung v. Loßberg, v. Trümbach / v. Angry)
  • Auerbach, Inge u. Fröhlich, Otto (ed.): Hessian troops in the American War of Independence (HETRINA), index by family name. Archivschule Marburg, Marburg 1976 (Volume III) (Regiments Leib-Infanterie-Regiment / Hereditary Prince, Landgraf / Leib-Infanterie-Regiment, Hereditary Prince, v. Cochenhausen / Prince Friedrich, v. Knyphausen / v. Donop, Rall / v. Wöllwarth / v. Trümbach / v. Angelelly, v. Wissenbach / v. Knoblauch)
  • Auerbach, Inge u. Fröhlich, Otto (ed.): Hessian troops in the American War of Independence (HETRINA), index by family name. Archivschule Marburg, Marburg 1976 (Volume IV) (Garrison Regiment von Bünau, Garrison Regiment von Stein / v. Seitz / v. Porbeck, Feldjäger-Korps, Artillerie-Korps and supplements)
  • Auerbach, Inge u. Fröhlich, Otto (Ed.): W aldecker Troops in the American War of Independence (HETRINA), index by family name. Archive School Marburg, Marburg 1976 (Volume V) (Waldecker Troops)
  • Auerbach, Inge u. Fröhlich, Otto (ed.): Hessian troops in the American War of Independence (HETRINA), index by family name. Archive School Marburg, Marburg 1987 (Volume VI) ISBN 3-923833-14-8 (Hanau Regiments)
  • Döhla, Johann Conrad: Diary of a Bayreuth soldier by Johann Conrad Döhla from the North American War of Independence from 1777–1783 with a foreword by W. Frh. Von Waldenfels. Bayreuth: Ellwanger, 1913 (from: Archive for History and Archeology of Upper Franconia. 1912 and 1913. (Vol. 25, H. 1. 2))
  • Franz, Eckart G. u. Fröhlich, Otto (ed.): Hessian troops in the American War of Independence (HETRINA), index by family name. 2nd Edition. Archivschule Marburg, Marburg 1984 (Volume I) (Grenadier Battalions v. Linsingen, Block / v. Lengerke, v. Minnigerode / v. Löwenstein, Köhler / Graf / Platte and Garrison Regiment v. Huyn / v. Benning / v. Normann)
  • Gall, Manfred von: Hanauer Journals and Letters from the American War of Independence 1776–1783 by the officers Wilhelm Rudolph von Gall, Friedrich Wilhelm von Geismar, his boys (anonymous), Jakob Heerwagen, Georg Paeusch and others involved. Hanau 2005 ( =  Hanauer Geschichtsblätter  41 ), ISBN 3-935395-04-3 .
  • Gräf, Holger Th./Haunert, Lena (ed.): Among Canadians, Iroquois and rebels. The diary of the Hessen-Hanau hunter Philipp Jakob Hildebrandt from the years 1777–1781. Hanauer Geschichtsverein 1844 eV / Hessisches Landesamt für Geschichtliche Landeskunde, Hanau / Marburg 2011 ( = studies and materials on constitutional and regional history 29; Hanauer Geschichtsblätter 46 ), ISBN 978-3-921254-79-0 .
  • Lowell, Edward J .: The Hessians and the other German auxiliary troops in the war of Great Britain against America 1776–1783 ; Edited from the English by Edward J. Lowell with the author's authorization. by OC Freiherrn von Verschuer. Braunschweig, R. Sattler, 1901.
  • Seume, Johann Gottfried: My life , Stuttgart, Reclam, 1986, ISBN 978-3-15-001060-0 .
  • Wetzel, Georg H .; The Hochfürstlich Hessische Feld-Jaeger Corps in the American War of Independence (1776–1783), Kassel, 1992, ISBN 3-9803159-0-8 .

Novels

  • Howard Fast : The Drum Boy , Vienna / Munich 1975; New edition as Der Sohn der Söldner , Vienna / Munich 1978 (English OT: The Hessian , New York 1972, en: The Hessian ).
  • Sandra Paretti : The winter that was a summer , Munich / Gütersloh / Vienna 1972.
  • Franz Treller : Der Held von Trenton , Norderstedt 2013 (reprint of the original edition from 1903).
  • Grete Weiskopf : mercenary without pay. A novel for the youth . 1948 (from the 2nd edition in 1951 under the title The great adventure of Kaspar Schmeck ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see Seume, Mein Leben, pp. 209 ff.
  2. ↑ Cabal and love, Act 2, second scene : ... how dearly the prince sells the yoke to people ...