Vorarlberg popular survey 1809
The Vorarlberg People's Uprising of 1809 (partly also the Vorarlberg Uprising or the Vorarlberg People's Uprising ) is the name given to the violent resistance of the population of the Austrian state of Vorarlberg to foreign rule by Bavaria as part of the Austro-French War . In March 1806, after the Peace of Pressburg, Vorarlberg was ceded to the Kingdom of Bavaria by the inferior Austrian Empire, together with Tyrol . After Austria had once again decided to argue against Napoleonic France in 1809, the Tyroleans under Andreas Hofer rose up in the well-known Tyrolean popular uprising and, following this, also the Vorarlbergers under the leadership of the provincial commissioner Anton Schneider and the militia officers Bernhard Riedmiller , Siegmund Nachbauer and Christian Müller .
Although the Vorarlbergers were militarily successful and the Bavarian and Württemberg troops were twice able to drive out of Vorarlberg territory, the Austrian defeat in the Battle of Wagram and the resulting capitulation of Austria ended the popular uprising in August 1809. Vorarlberg remained until Congress of Vienna under Bavarian rule and did not return to Austria until 1814 (albeit without the Weiler district court ).
prehistory
After the Austrian defeat in the Battle of Austerlitz as part of the Third Coalition War against France, at the Peace of Pressburg Austria had to cede its two front Austrian possessions, Tyrol and Vorarlberg, to the French coalition partner Bavaria, which rose from the electorate to the kingdom at the same time . Thus, the "seven rulers in Vorarlberg with their inclusions" - essentially the area of today's Vorarlberg - came under Bavarian rule in 1806. These were the previously Habsburg-controlled dominions Neuburg, Feldkirch , Bludenz , Bregenz including Hohenegg , Sonnenberg , Hohenems and Blumenegg .
As early as Christmas 1805, a small Bavarian troop moved into Bregenz, and on January 19, 1806, the Bavarian King Maximilian I received a delegation from the Vorarlberg estates to pay homage . The official handover of the country finally took place on March 13, 1806. Vorarlberg was integrated into the province of Swabia , the 24 original court districts of Vorarlberg were dissolved and replaced by seven Bavarian regional courts . With the introduction of compulsory military service, the estates lost their powers in the field of national defense, and a little later also the right to collect taxes. Ultimately, the repeal of all special constitutions in the Kingdom of Bavaria in accordance with the Bavarian Constitution of May 1, 1808, led to the complete dissolution of the Vorarlberg estates. The complete extinction of Vorarlberg's independence by assigning the newly created regional courts to the Illerkreis and its general commissioner in Kempten was particularly bitter for the people of Vorarlberg. The abolition of the Mehrerau monastery as part of the secularization , which was connected with the looting of the monastery and the razing of the baroque monastery church , also caused great resentment among the deeply religious Vorarlberg population . Overall, there was resistance in particular to the high pace of reform, the anti-tradition policy of the Bavarian government and the religious innovations.
Survey of the year 1809
In 1809, the French troops of Napoleon Bonaparte were defeated by the rebellious Spaniards , which gave the Austrian government the chance to revise the territorial losses of the Bratislava Peace and defeat France militarily. The result was the beginning of the Austro-French War , the most important battles of which were played out between the French ally Bavaria and Austria. Shortly after the start of the war, the Tyroleans under Andreas Hofer rose up against the Bavarian rule by force of arms. After the Austrian military subsequently advanced from Tyrol via the Arlberg, the southern, rural parts of the country in particular also decided to resist the Bavarians. Because no Bavarian troops were stationed in Vorarlberg at this time, the Austrian military was able to move into Bregenz unhindered on April 25, 1809, reinforced by domestic contingents under the leadership of the militia officers Bernhard Riedmiller , Siegmund Nachbauer and Christian Müller .
The Austrian and Vorarlberg troops then began to advance against Wasserburg , Wangen im Allgäu , Wurzach and Leutkirch im Allgäu and the northern shore of Lake Constance as far as Constance . A counter-attack by Württemberg troops with a strength of around 1000 penetrated into the Vorarlberg Rhine Valley on May 29 . In the battle of the Hohenems district of Oberklien , the Württemberg troops were clearly defeated by the Vorarlbergers and thrown back across the border. On May 19, 1809, the reactivated state estates appointed the lawyer Anton Schneider , who came from the hamlet in the Allgäu , which at that time belonged to Vorarlberg , as state commissioner. On June 9th he was appointed general commissioner and thus civil and military state chief of Vorarlberg, which is why Schneider is often described in modern historiography as the commander in chief of the Vorarlberg popular uprising.
On June 13, another attack by the Württemberg and French at Lochau was repelled. Just a few days later, however, the Austro-French War ended with the defeat of the Austrian troops in the Battle of Wagram , which, after the Battle of Znojmo on July 10 and 11, 1809, contributed significantly to bringing about an armistice and finally the Peace Treaty of Schönbrunn . Despite the promise of the emperor in the Wolkersdorf proclamation that he would never enter into a peace that would result in the cession of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, the armistice of Znojmo and the Schönbrunn peace declared exactly that. Faced with a threatened French attack from the east, the state parliament decided first the dismissal of the national defenders and the start of ceasefire negotiations, but finally further resistance. In the end, however, the Vorarlberg popular uprising collapsed completely in view of the military situation at the beginning of August. As a result, strong Württemberg and French units - around 10,000 men in total - occupied the Vorarlberg areas. 177 hostages from all parts of the country were dug up by the occupation forces and brought to Belgium via Ulm . Anton Schneider surrendered to the Württemberg people and was subsequently imprisoned by Bavaria, but not extradited to the French, thus avoiding the execution and thus the later fate of Andreas Hofer. The continued uprising against Bavaria in Tyrol until the end of November then took place essentially without Vorarlberg participation.
Effects and Consequences
After the Vorarlbergers had to come to terms with Bavarian rule for an indefinite period after Austria's military defeat, both sides subsequently pursued a kind of détente policy . For example, the Bavarians set up deputies elected by the people at the regional courts as confidants in an advisory capacity. The Vorarlbergers made the former Mehrerau monastery a gift to the Bavarian Queen Karoline and renamed the then independent municipality of Rieden to Karolinenau .
In the Paris Convention signed on June 3, 1814 between the Bavarians and Austrians, allied at the time, it was finally determined that Bavaria had to return the Inn and Hausruck districts , Salzburg , Tyrol and Vorarlberg to Austria. Vorarlberg came back under Habsburg rule on July 24, 1814, five years after the popular uprising in 1809, although the areas of the former Vorarlberg district court of Weiler did not return to Austria and are still part of Bavaria today.
literature
- Alois Niederstätter : "The Bavarian Servitude". Vorarlberg from 1805 to 1814 . In: Alois Niederstätter, Ulrich Nachbaur (eds.): 200 years of community organization. Almanac for the Vorarlberg community year 2008 . Bregenz 2009, ISBN 978-3-902622-10-5 , pp. 113–121 ( full text as PDF on the Vorarlberger Landesarchiv's website).
- Alois Niederstätter : Powder steam and hero's sweat. The year 1809 as a milestone in Vorarlberg's history? (= Vorarlberger Landesarchiv [Hrsg.]: Verba volant. Online contributions from the Vorarlberger Landesarchiv . No. 71 ). Bregenz April 27, 2009 ( full text as PDF on the Vorarlberg State Archives' website).
- Walter Johler: The popular uprising in Vorarlberg in 1809, Part I: From the beginning to the state parliament on June 5, 1809 . In: Heimatpflegeverein Bregenzerwald (Ed.): Bregenzerwald-Heft . Volume 28 - 2009. Riefensberg 2009, p. 6-15 .
- Walter Johler: The popular uprising in Vorarlberg in 1809, Part 2: The Dr. Anton Schneider . In: Heimatpflegeverein Bregenzerwald (Ed.): Bregenzerwald-Heft . Volume 29 - 2010. Riefensberg 2010, p. 70-75 .
- Karl Heinz Burmeister (Ed.): People's hero or traitor? Dr. Anton Schneider 1777–1820 (= Vorarlberger Landesarchiv [Hrsg.]: Writings of the Vorarlberger Landesarchiv . Volume 1 ). Fink's Verlag, Bregenz 1985, ISBN 978-3-900438-16-6 ( full text as PDF on the website of the Vorarlberger Landesarchiv).
- Ferdinand Hirn : Vorarlberg's survey in 1809 . Teutsch, Bregenz 1909.
Web links
- Alois Niederstätter : The popular uprising of 1809. In: Vorarlberg Chronik. State of Vorarlberg, accessed on January 23, 2018 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Niederstätter: Powder vapor and hero's sweat. The year 1809 as a milestone in Vorarlberg's history? 2004, p. 4.
- ^ Niederstätter: Powder vapor and hero's sweat. The year 1809 as a milestone in Vorarlberg's history? 2004, p. 6.
- ↑ a b c Niederstätter: Powder vapor and hero's sweat. The year 1809 as a milestone in Vorarlberg's history? 2004, p. 7.
- ↑ a b Niederstätter: Powder vapor and hero's sweat. The year 1809 as a milestone in Vorarlberg's history? 2004, p. 8.
- ^ Niederstätter: Powder vapor and hero's sweat. The year 1809 as a milestone in Vorarlberg's history? 2004, p. 9.