German states in the 16th century map. German states in the xvii - xviii centuries Germany on the eve of the revolution
New history of the countries of Europe and America of the 16th-19th centuries. Part 3: a textbook for universities A team of authors
Political system of German states: princely absolutism and republics
The rise of Brandenburg is often viewed in the context of the formation there of a rigid model of absolutism. Meanwhile recent research in the field of theory and practice of absolutism, they are forced to recognize the model of growing princely power, which is far from classical. On the one hand, Friedrich Wilhelm, unlike his father, in the first decade of his reign regularly convened the Landtag and restored the activities of the Privy Council. In all possessions of the Hohenzollern, the position of the Landtag was strong, he voted the main tax "indemnity". During the Thirty Years War, the army swore allegiance not only to the Elector, but also to the estates. However, shortly after the war, the Brandenburg Junkers expressed dissatisfaction with the foreign policy ambitions of the Elector.
In 1652, Friedrich Wilhelm convened a "Grand Landtag" (it had not been convened since 1615) and proposed a plan for the introduction of an excise tax on trade in basic goods, which would apply to all classes. Representatives of the nobility strongly opposed, but stated that they agree to the vote of the traditional "indemnities" by the Landtag, if the elector confirms all the noble privileges. But such a policy seriously worsened the situation of the urban population. Burglary demanded a reduction in the total amount of "contributions" collected from cities. The Elector took advantage of these sentiments and in 1660 announced the introduction of an excise tax without the approval of the Landtag.
However, this excise was applied only to cities, while in the villages the old "indemnity" was still levied. As a result, the composition of the Landtag also changed: in view of the fact that the Landtag continued to vote on the "contribution," representatives of the cities were not invited there. Subsequently, the Landtag continued to convene, but its role diminished.
In parallel, military and civilian bureaucratic structures emerged. So, in 1660, the post of general-kriegskommissar appeared: he was engaged in supplying the army, was virtually independent of the Privy Council. Under his command were the provincial commissariats with their own staff of excise collectors. Since 1682, a single military treasury for the whole country arose. In the civilian sphere, the role of the Privy Council was declining. Various specialized committees (financial, foreign policy etc.), which have become independent administrative bodies. The Privy Council evolved into an Appeals Tribunal and in 1724 became known as the Council of State for Justice. Since the beginning of the XVIII century. the role of the secretaries of the monarch's own office increased. Estates both in Brandenburg and then in the Prussian kingdom were not completely removed from management. But the growing role of military and civilian bureaucratic structures has become a constant trend.
Elector Frederick III (1688-1713) did not have the business qualities and will of Frederick Wilhelm, but it was he who received the royal crown from the emperor in 1701 and became known as King Frederick I. Brandenburg turned into a Prussian kingdom, which was not part of the Holy Roman Empire and received the status of an independent European state. Frederick I continued to receive the Protestant population from Switzerland, the Palatinate. It was then that the Mennonites moved to Prussia.
The next Prussian king Frederick William I (17131740) was a practical, active, hardworking person, but not too educated, and at times rude. The motto of his reign: "Do not reason." Frederick Wilhelm I was very fond of the army drill and received the nickname "King Sergeant". His recruiters from everywhere brought tall and strong young men to serve in the army. They even captured the Mennonites, although they refused to serve in the army. Frederick William I resigned himself to the presence of the Mennonites on his territory, so as not to lose the taxes they paid. At the same time, he continued to receive immigrants from all over Germany. Frederick William I even published a special "Code of Rights and Duties of Colonists" designed to protect the interests of the settlers.
In 1733, in Prussia, the legalization of the conscription of the serf population took place (the introduction of cantonal regulations). The military registration covered the bulk of the male population of the village. But immigrant colonists and their descendants were exempted from military service. The cantonal regulations provided that after urgent service, the peasant remained assigned to a specific canton and underwent military training annually. Cantonists made up two-thirds of Friedrich Wilhelm I's army, with the rest being hired contingents. The total number of the Prussian army by 1740 reached 80 thousand people, which was equal to 3.7% of the total population (the population of the Prussian kingdom then reached about 2 million people). The prestige of military service has grown enormously. An officer's career gave good opportunities for arranging younger sons from noble families. The nobility understood all the benefits of maintaining a large standing army, although they were obliged to submit to strict state discipline. All the social privileges of the landowners remained inviolable, the political ones were reduced, but did not completely disappear.
In other Germanic states, absolutism found an even more modest embodiment than in the Prussian-Brandenburg state. In the Habsburg state, the state system was characterized by a bizarre combination of bureaucratic management and the activity of estate-representative bodies. It is possible to designate such a system of power as absolutist with a fairly large degree of convention.
The structure of the Habsburg state included various state formations, united by a personal union. The Austrian duchies were their hereditary possessions, in Bohemia they became hereditary monarchs after the suppression of the uprising of 1627, the Hungarian crown was elected until 1687.The Habsburgs occupied the throne of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, but they really strengthened the power of the emperor in connection with the conditions of the Peace of Westphalia. could not. However, the imperial dignity gave high international prestige, as well as certain opportunities for obtaining financial and military assistance.
Austrian and some Czech lands had influential estate-representative bodies, which met almost annually. These assemblies were dominated by the nobility. In the XVII century. there was a process of losing some of their ancient prerogatives. So, they could no longer claim a monopoly in the field of legislation. The Czech Seims generally lost the right to initiate legislation, the Austrian Landtags still retained this right, but their decrees were increasingly replaced by the emperor's patents and mandates. But the estate-representative bodies retained two most important prerogatives: the right to vote taxes and the right to recruit military contingents. These rights were interrelated: the taxes collected went to the upkeep of the troops, and were enforced by local nobles. Estates' assemblies voted for direct taxes ("indemnities"), indirect taxes (excise taxes), and extraordinary direct levies such as "Turkish money." Their consent was also required for the introduction of new taxes, and they will actively oppose taxes that infringe upon their class privileges.
In the second half of the 17th century. the system of estate bodies was opposed by an already ramified bureaucratic apparatus, which included various councils and chancelleries. Previously, the only body in charge of general policy was the Privy Council, but from the second half of the 17th century. the Secret Conference was distinguished, which was soon divided into commissions. The central body of financial management was the gof camera. Sometimes it invaded the competence of class meetings, for example, the Czech excise tax on drinks was approved by the Seim, but was collected by the officials of the corrugated chamber. The court military council (gofkrigsrat) controlled the army, but only the imperial troops were subordinate to it, the seim contingents were subordinate to the officers appointed by the estates. However, by the end of the 17th century. the importance of the seim contingents began to fall, and the imperial army in 1703 amounted to 129 thousand soldiers.
The central bureaucratic apparatus of the Habsburg monarchy also consisted of state chanceries: for each of the parts of the state - its own chancellery: the Reich Chancellery for the Holy Roman Empire, the Chancellery for the Austrian lands, respectively, the Czech and Hungarian chanceries. These offices dealt with a wide variety of issues and had a large staff of executors. The emergence of such bodies is a symptom of the increasing bureaucratization of management.
A special role in the system of government was played by the court aristocracy, which was cosmopolitan, which was important given the multinational nature of the Habsburg state. By the middle of the 17th century. the German and renewed Czech aristocracy constituted a single social stratum. The formation by the emperor of some local government bodies (central administrative and judicial councils, Czech governorship, etc.) should be assessed as an extension of the monarch's prerogative.
In general, the Habsburg monarchy could not rule without class meetings: its repeated attempts to levy new taxes encountered their constant opposition, and it was also not possible to actively introduce excise taxes in most parts of the state. Absolutist tendencies, of course, were observed in the Habsburg monarchy, but did not dominate.
A prominent role in the 17th century. played by Saxony. She was ahead of all other principalities in terms of economic development. Its population was 0.5 million more than in Brandenburg, which surpassed it in territory. Large trade and cultural center was Leipzig. In 1657, the first newspaper in Germany began to appear here. The natives of Saxony were Leibniz, Pufendorf, Thomasius, Gellert, Klopstock, Lessing. Dresden is an exemplary example of the Baroque style (the Zwinger palace ensemble). This state acquired the greatest importance under King Augustus II the Strong (1694-1733), who was also the Polish king. But in Saxony, the monarch did not occupy a priority position: here the Landtag continued to exist, which retained, until the 19th century, the right to vote taxes.
A very specific absolutism existed in the spiritual principalities: the monarch was elected in them. The heads of the spiritual principalities were, as a rule, the offspring of the noble families who ruled the secular principalities, therefore, they also perceived certain absolutist tendencies inherent in secular principalities. These tendencies were most pronounced in Mainz, whose head was the chairman of the college of electors.
The German states were also preserved, which were not affected at all by the absolutist tendencies. The estates retained their independence in Mecklenburg: a noble republic was formed here, the republican system is characteristic of the Hanseatic cities.
The political situation in the Duchy of Württemberg was very controversial. There was almost no clan nobility here. The patrician consisted of the social and political elite. During the second half of the XVII - the first half of the XVIII century. the confrontation between the ducal power and the estates remained. Extensive construction and attempts to increase the size of the army required the introduction of new taxes and raised the question of reorganizing the entire system of government. The declarations of the estates about the need to observe the established political order often hid the selfish interests and fear of the deputies that any innovations could weaken their influence.
The reluctance of Duke Eberhard III to go into conflict with the estates and the latter's rejection of any reforms led to the fact that the supreme power in Württemberg lost its centralizing energy, and the government increasingly sought to share political responsibility with the estates. But even in these conditions, the state institutions of the duchy underwent serious changes. Thus, a monopoly position in the Landtag of city magistrates meant the patriciate was assigned the status of a privileged social stratum. The expansion of the powers of the Privy Council contributed to the development of a system of family ties among the highest officials. But the estates still wielded considerable power. Local law assigned them important rights and ensured them broad participation in governance. Estates also enjoyed the support of imperial legislation.
The diverse political structure of the German states and their interaction with the Empire make it possible, rather conditionally, to speak of the formation of an integral system of princely absolutism in Germany.
From the book Civilization of the Etruscans author Thuillet Jean-PaulSYSTEM OF CITIES-STATES We constantly talk about Etruria as a single and cohesive geographic and political whole, as if about a state in the full sense of the word. Indeed, the Etruscans, especially when it comes to their language and religion, felt their belonging
From the book Barbaric Invasions of Europe: the German Onslaught author Musset LucienB) To the comparative history of the German states in the Mediterranean region On any page of history, one can feel that the states founded by the Goths, Vandals and, to a lesser extent, the Burgundians belong to a completely different type than the Merovingian Gaul.
From the book History of Denmark author Paludan HelgePolitical system in the 16th century Historian I.A. Fridericia dubbed the period from 1536 to 1660 the period of "nobility". At a later time, experts avoided this term, preferring to emphasize that although the nobility was at that time an influential factor in life
From the book Coercion, Capital and European States. 990-1992 by Tilly CharlesSystem of European states
From the book Germans and Kalmyks 1942-1945 the author Hoffmann Joachim4. Economic measures of the German and Romanian units in the republics. The good attitude of the Kalmyks towards the Germans was nevertheless subject to certain tests, not only because of the influence of the Soviet authorities on the eastern side of the front, but also because of certain decisions
From the book History of Culture ancient greece and Rome the author Kumanetsky KazimierzPOLITICAL LIFE AT SUNSET OF THE REPUBLIC Since the time of the internecine struggle between the Marians and the Sullans in the political life of Rome, commanders who stood at the head of mercenary armies loyal to their commanders began to acquire more and more importance. With the help of these armies, the lucky ones
From the book History of Georgia (from ancient times to the present day) author Vachnadze Merab§2. Political System In Georgia, as in the entire Soviet Union, the highest legislative and executive power was exercised under the dictates of the Communist Party. The highest legislative and executive power implemented the decisions that were made
1.2. The political system of Slovakia, within the borders established in 1920, had an area of 49,006 square meters. km and 2,998,244 inhabitants, 35% of the area of the whole of Czechoslovakia and 22% of its population. Agriculture and forestry were related to 60.6% of the population, in the Czech lands - only 31.6%. In industrial
the author Avenarius Alexander2.1. International situation and politic system Slovak Republic The area of the Slovak Republic was 38,004 sq. km, population - 2 655 053 people. In the west, and after the defeat of Poland in September 1939 and in the north, the republic's neighbor was the German Empire with
From the book History of Slovakia the author Avenarius Alexander4.1. Political System Strengthening of the political power of the Communist Party was carried out throughout the state according to a single scenario. Similarly to the Prague parliament, a "purge" was carried out for the Slovak National Council. Some of the unwanted deputies were
From the book Who and How Ruined the USSR. Chronicle of the largest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century the author Isakov Vladimir BorisovichStatement by the heads of state of the Republic of Belarus, the RSFSR, Ukraine We, the leaders of the Republic of Belarus, the RSFSR, Ukraine - noting that negotiations on the preparation of a new Union Treaty have reached a dead end, the objective process of the republics' secession from the USSR and education
From the book General History [Civilization. Modern concepts. Facts, events] the author Olga DmitrievaThe system of the Hellenistic states. Their conquest by Rome From the time of the campaigns of Alexander the Great to the east, for the peoples of a significant part of the Mediterranean, Egypt, Asia Minor and Western Asia and adjacent regions, the southern parts of Central and part of Central Asia to the lower
From the book Stories on the History of Crimea the author Dyulichev Valery PetrovichPOLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF ANTIQUE CITY-STATES The form of the political organization of the newly-founded city-states was, as a rule, a republic. The city-states based on the new lands in the early stages of their existence had a political organization,
The section consists of separate essays:
Germany in ancient times
The Germans (Germanen) were the closest neighbors of the Celts who inhabited Central and Western Europe. The first mention of them occurs in the 4th century. BC NS. However, archaeological data indicate that the addition of the Pro-Germanic ethnic and linguistic substratum, dating back to the Indo-European community, in northern Europe can be attributed to the period ca. 1000 BC NS. By the 1st century. BC NS. the Germans occupied a region that roughly coincided with the territory of modern Germany. The etymology of the word "Germanen" itself is still unclear.By geographic location the Germans were divided into several tribes. Batavs, Bruckers, Hamavs and others belonged to the tribes that lived between the Rhine, Main and Weser. Alemans inhabited the southern part of the Elbe basin. The Bavars lived in the mountains in the south. Hawks, Cimbri, Teutons, Ambrons, Angles, Varins and Frisians settled on the coast of the North Sea. From the middle and upper Elbe to the Oder, the tribes of the Suevi, Marcomannian, Quads, Lombards and Semnons settled; and between the Oder and the Vistula there are Vandals, Burgundians and Goths. Swions and Gouts settled in southern Scandinavia.
In the 1st century. BC NS. the Germans lived in a tribal system. The supreme power in the tribe belonged to the assembly of the people. Cattle breeding played an important role in the economy. Land ownership was collective. Social contradictions began to emerge between the community members and the nobility, which had more slaves and land. Internecine wars were the main trade.
The first contacts between the Germans and Rome refer to 58 BC NS. Then Julius Caesar defeated the Suevi, headed by Ariovistus. This happened on the territory of Northern Gaul - modern Alsace. Three years later, Caesar drove two more Germanic tribes beyond the Rhine. Around the same time, descriptions of the Germans as a separate ethnic group appear in the literature, including in Caesar's "Notes on the Gallic War". In 12 BC. A large-scale German campaign was launched by Nero Claudius Druse, who received the title of Germanicus. The borders of the empire were expanded to Albis (Elbe) and by 7 BC. NS. most of the tribes were subdued. The territory between the Rhine and the Elbe was not ruled by the Romans for long - before uprising of Arminius... Arminius, the son of the leader of the Cherusci, was sent to Rome as a hostage, received an education there, and served in the Roman army. He later returned to his tribe and served the Roman governor Var. When in 9 g. Var with an army and a wagon train moved to winter quarters, Arminius lagged behind with his army from the main one and attacked separate detachments in the Teutonic forest. In three days, the Germans destroyed all the Romans (from 18 to 27 thousand people). The Rhine became the border of Roman possessions. A line of fortifications "Limes" was built from the Rhine to the Danube, traces of which have survived to this day.
At the beginning of the first millennium, the Germanic tribes gradually began to form alliances that were stable. From history, the unions of Alemans, Saxons, Franks, and Goths became known. The most significant tribal union of the Germans was the union of the Marcomanians led by Marobodu. In the 2nd century. the Germans intensified the onslaught on the borders of the Roman Empire, the result of which in 166 was Marcomannian War... In 174, Emperor Aurelius managed to stop the onslaught of the Marcomanians and other Germanic tribes.
The invasions of Germanic tribes into the territory of the Roman Empire continued throughout the 4th-7th centuries. During this period, and great migration of peoples Europe. These processes had important socio-economic and political consequences for the Western Roman Empire. Changes in the social structure of the tribes, as well as the crisis in the empire itself, contributed to the fall of Rome.
Formation of the first German states
In 395, after the death of Emperor Theodosius, the united Roman Empire was divided between his sons into Western and Eastern (Byzantium), whose rulers used the barbarian Germans to resolve their conflicts. In 401, the fortunes under the command of Alaric left the Eastern Empire for the Western, where, after a series of unsuccessful battles in Italy, they were forced to conclude a peace treaty with the Romans and settle in Illyricum. In 410, the Goths, under the command of Alaric, captured and plundered Rome. Also during this period, the Vandals, Suevi, Alans, Burgundians and Franks invaded the territory of Gaul.The first kingdom was founded in Aquitaine, the Burgundian kingdom in Gaul, the kingdoms in Spain and North Africa, England.
V 476 BC Germanic mercenaries, who made up the army of the Western Empire, led by Odoacer, deposed the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustus. Emperors in Rome in 460-470 appointed commanders from the Germans, first Svev Ricimer, then Burgundy Gundobad. In fact, they ruled on behalf of their henchmen, overthrowing those if the emperors tried to act independently. Odoacer decided to become the head of state, for which he had to sacrifice the title of emperor in order to keep the peace with the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium). This event is formally considered the end of the Roman Empire.
In the 460s. Franks under King Childeric formed their own state at the mouth of the Rhine. The Frankish kingdom became the third Germanic state in the lands of Gaul (after the Wezegots and Burgundians). Under Chlodwig, Paris became the capital of the Frankish state, and the king himself with an army converted to Christianity in the form of Catholicism, which ensured the support of the Roman clergy in the struggle against other Germans who professed Arianism. The expansion of the Frankish state led to the creation in 800 of the Frankish empire of Charlemagne, which united for a short time the possessions of all Germanic peoples with the exception of England, Denmark and Scandinavia.
East Frankish Kingdom
The Kingdom of the Franks was founded by King Clovis I of the Merovingian family. The starting point in the formation of the Frankish state was the conquest of the last Roman possessions in Gaul by the Salic Franks led by Clovis I in 486. During the many years of wars, the Franks, led by Clovis, also conquered most of the Alemannic possessions on the Rhine (496), the Visigoth lands in Aquitaine ( 507) and the Franks who lived along the middle course of the Rhine. Under the sons of Clovis, the king of the Burgundians, Godomar, was defeated (534), and his kingdom was included in the kingdom of the Franks. In 536 the Ostrogothic king Vitigis abandoned Provence in favor of the Franks. In the 30s. 6 c. were also conquered the Alpine possessions of the Alemanni and the lands of the Thuringians between the Weser and the Elbe, and in the 50s. - Bavarian lands on the Danube. Power Merovingian represented an ephemeral political entity. It lacked not only economic and ethnic community, but also political and judicial-administrative unity (immediately after the death of Clovis, his 4 sons divided the Frankish state among themselves, only sometimes uniting for joint conquest campaigns). As a result of internecine strife among representatives of the house of the ruling dynasty - the Merovingians, power gradually passed into the hands of the mayordoms, who once held the posts of governors of the royal court. In 751, Major Pepin the Short, son of the famous major and commander Karl Martel, deposed the last king from the Merovingian family and became king, founding a dynasty Carolingian.In 800 the Frankish king Charlemagne, son of Pepin the Short, was declared the Roman emperor. Under him, the Frankish state reached its peak. The capital was in Aachen. The son of Charles the Great, Louis the Pious, became the last sovereign ruler of the unified Frankish state. Louis successfully continued his father's policy of reforms, but last years his reigns were spent in wars against his own sons and external enemies. The state found itself in a deep crisis, which a few years after his death led to the collapse of the empire and the formation of several states in its place - the predecessors of modern Germany, Italy and France. By The Verdun Treaty, which in 843 was concluded between the grandsons of Charlemagne, the French part (West Frankish kingdom) went to Charles the Bald, the Italian-Lorraine (Middle Kingdom) to Lothar, the German part to Louis the German.
The East Frankish state is traditionally considered to be the first German state. During the 10th century. the unofficial name "Reich of the Germans" (Regnum Teutonicorum) appeared, which after several centuries became generally recognized (in the form of "Reich der Deutschen"). The state included territories east of the Rhine and north of the Alps. The territory of the state was relatively stable and tended to expansion: the eastern part of Lorraine, including the Netherlands, Alsace and Lorraine proper, was annexed in 870, colonization of the Slavic lands along the Elbe began.The border with the West Frankish kingdom, established in 890, existed until the 14th century. kingdom under Louis the German became Regensburg.
The kingdom actually consisted of five semi-independent large tribal duchies: Saxony, Bavaria, Franconia, Swabia and Thuringia (later Lorraine was added). The king's power turned out to be rather limited and dependent on the largest feudal lords. The process of enslaving the peasants in the kingdom was still in its initial stage, and in many regions a fairly wide layer of free peasantry remained (Swabia, Saxony, Tyrol). By the end of the 9th century. the principle of the indivisibility of the state was formed, the power in which was to be inherited by the eldest son of the deceased monarch. The termination of the German line of the Carolingians in 911 did not lead to the transfer of the throne to the French Carolingians: the East Frankish nobility elected the Franconian Duke Konrad I as their ruler, thus securing the right of the German princes to elect a successor to the king in the absence of a direct heir to the deceased monarch.
The regular raids of the Vikings became a serious threat to the state. In 886 the Vikings reached Paris. The Carolingian Empire at this time was united under the rule of Karl Tolstoy, who was a weak ruler and lost his power. At the beginning of the 10th century. the situation was complicated by continuous wars with the Hungarians. During the reign of Konrad 1, the central government practically ceased to control the state of affairs in the duchies. In 918, after Konrad's death, the Duke of Saxony was elected king Henry 1 Birdcatcher(918-936). Heinrich successfully fought against the Hungarians and Danes and created a line of fortifications protecting Saxony from the raids of the Slavs and Hungarians.
Holy roman empire
Henry's successor is his son Otto 1 the Great(936-973). Otto assumed the title "Emperor of the Romans and Franks" - the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation was founded. Soon after accession to the throne, Otto had to fight the dukes of Bavaria, Franconia and Lorraine and their own brothers who joined them, and at the same time repel the attacks of the Danes and Slavs. After many years of struggle, Otto was helped by chance - two of his opponents were killed in one of the battles, and younger brother Heinrich, who tried to send murderers to him, was pardoned and remained loyal to him in the future. Henry received the Duchy of Bavaria, the son of Otto Ludolph - the Duchy of Swabia, Otto himself ruled Saxony and Franconia.In 950, Otto made his first trip to Italy under the pretext of saving the young widow of the Italian king Adelheida, who was kept in captivity and forced to a new marriage. The Queen, however, managed to escape herself and asked for Otto's help. The following year, Otto himself married Adelheide. After the birth of Adelheida's son, an internecine war began, which began the son of Otto from his first marriage, Ludolph and the Duke of Lorraine. They called for help from the Hungarians. Otto managed to cope with this uprising. After that, the Hungarians suffered a crushing defeat on the Lech River (955), and then the Slavs were also defeated.
In 961, Otto made a second campaign in Italy, where he was summoned by Pope John 12, who was oppressed by the Duke of Lombard. Otto easily reached Rome with his army, where he was crowned as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Otto had to pacify the Duke of Lombard and the Pope, who were beginning the turmoil, several times and insist on choosing a new Pope.
With the death of the grandson of Otto 1, Otto 3, the male line of the Saxon dynasty was cut short. Became king Henry 2 Saint(1002-1024), great-grandson of Heinrich 1 the Fowler, son of a Bavarian duke, the last representative of the Saxon dynasty. Henry had to fight the Slavs, Greeks, pacify internal turmoil, make campaigns in Italy to establish the popes loyal to him. However, at the same time, Henry was devoted to the church and canonized after his death. After Henry 2, Konrad 2, the son of the Earl of Speyer, a descendant of Henry 1 the Fowler (Salic, or Franconian, dynasty) was elected king. He was succeeded by his son Heinrich 3 Cherny.
The title accepted by Otto 1 allowed him complete control over the ecclesiastical institutions in his domain. The church became one of the main pillars of the imperial power. The integration of the church into the state structure reached its climax under Conrad II (1024-1039) and Henry III (1039-1056), when the classical imperial church system was formed.
The state institutions of the empire in the early period remained rather poorly differentiated. The emperor was at the same time the king of Germany, Italy, and after the death in 1032 of the last Burgundian king Rudolph 3 - and Burgundy. The main political unit in Germany was the tribal duchies: Saxony, Bavaria, Franconia, Swabia, Lorraine (the latter was divided into Lower and Upper in 965) and, since 976, Carinthia. A system of marks was created along the eastern border (North, Saxon East, Bavarian East, later - Meissen, Brandenburg, Luzhitskaya). In the 980s. For some time the Slavs again threw the Germans over the Elbe and captured Hamburg, but at the beginning of the 11th century. the empire restored its position in the region, although further advancement stopped the entry of Poland and Hungary as independent kingdoms into the European Christian community. In Italy, marks were also formed (Tuscany, Verona, Ivrea), however, by the beginning of the 12th century. this structure collapsed. The main problem for the emperors was to retain power both north and south of the Alps. Otto 2, Otto 3 and Konrad 2 were forced to stay in Italy for a long time, where they fought against the offensive of the Arabs and Byzantines, and also periodically suppressed the unrest of the Italian patriciate, but they did not succeed in finally establishing imperial power on the Apennine Peninsula. With the exception of the short reign of Otto 3, who transferred his residence to Rome, Germany always remained the core of the empire. The reign of Konrad 2 (1024-1039), the first monarch of the Salic dynasty, includes the formation of an estate of small knights (including ministerials), whose rights the emperor guaranteed in his decree "Constitutio de feudis" of 1036, which formed the basis of imperial feudal law ... The heredity and inalienability of the fiefs was recognized. Small and medium knighthood later became one of the main carriers of the trends of integration in the empire. Konrad II and his successor Henry III controlled most of the German regional principalities, independently appointing counts and dukes, and completely dominated the territorial aristocracy and clergy. This made it possible to introduce into the imperial law the institution of "God's peace" - the prohibition of internecine wars and military conflicts within the empire.
The apogee of imperial power, reached under Henry III, turned out to be short-lived: already during the minority of his son Henry 4(1056-1106) the fall of the emperor's influence began. The ideas of the Gregorian reform were developed, which asserted the supremacy of the Pope and the complete independence of the church authorities from the secular authorities. Pope Gregory 7 tried to eliminate the possibility of the emperor's influence on the process of filling church positions and condemned the practice of secular investiture. However, Henry 4 resolutely defended the emperor's prerogatives, which entailed a long struggle for investiture between the emperor and the pope. In 1075, Henry's appointment of the 4th bishop to Milan was the reason for the excommunication of the emperor Gregory 7 from the church and the release of the subjects from the oath of allegiance. Under pressure from the German princes, the emperor was forced in 1077 to make a penitential "walk to Canossa" and beg the Pope for forgiveness. The struggle for investiture ended only in 1122 with the signing of the Worms Concordat, which secured a compromise between secular and spiritual authorities: the election of bishops was to take place freely and without simony (buying a position for money), but secular investment in land holdings, and thus the opportunity the imperial influence on the appointment of bishops and abbots continued. In general, the struggle for investiture significantly weakened the control of the emperor over the church, brought the papacy out of imperial dependence and contributed to the rise of the influence of territorial secular and spiritual princes.
The reign of Henry 4 passed in a constant struggle with the popes and their own vassals and sons, who tried to deprive him of power. Henry was excommunicated. To maintain power, Henry relied on the ministerials loyal to him (servants who received flax for their own merits, petty chivalry, obliged military service emperor or feudal lord) and large cities. Henry 4 was engaged in the construction of new castles and cathedrals, consecrated the cathedral in Speyer, which he wanted to make imperial. Henry IV also took Jewish communities under his protection and legislated their rights. After his death, the reign passed to his son Henry 5, with whose death the Salic dynasty ended. After his death, the family property passed to the Hohenstaufens, in whose possessions Franconia and Swabia were at that time. After Henry's death, Lothair 2 of Saxony (1125-1137) was elected king. The Hohenstaufens tried to fight him, but failed and were forced to acknowledge his authority. In 1138 Konrad 3 of Hohenstaufen was elected emperor.
During the reign of Lothar II, a struggle began between two large princely families of Germany - the Hohenstaufen (Swabia, Alsace, Franconia) and the Welfs (Bavaria, Saxony, Tuscany). This confrontation began the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines in Italy. The Guelphs (on behalf of the Welfs) advocated limiting the power of the empire in Italy and strengthening the role of the pope. The Gibellines (from the name of the Hohenstaufen castle of Waiblingen near Stuttgart) were adherents of the imperial power.
After the death of Konrad III in 1152, his nephew became emperor Frederick 1 Barbarossa(Italian "red-beard", 1152-1190), whose reign was a period of significant strengthening of the central power in Germany. Even as Duke of Swabia, he participated in the Second Crusade, in which he became famous. The main direction of the policy of Frederick 1 was the restoration of imperial power in Italy. Frederick made six campaigns in Italy, during the first of which he was crowned imperial crown in Rome. At the Ronkala Diet of 1158, an attempt was made to legalize the omnipotence of the emperor in Italy and Germany. The strengthening of the emperor on the Apennine Peninsula provoked resistance from both Pope Alexander III and the Kingdom of Sicily, and the Northern Italian urban communes, which in 1167 united into the Lombard League. The Lombard League managed to organize an effective rebuff to the plans of Frederick 1 in relation to Italy and in 1176 inflict a crushing defeat on the imperial troops at the Battle of Legnano, which forced the emperor in 1187 to recognize the autonomy of the cities. In Germany itself, the position of the emperor was significantly strengthened thanks to the division of the Welf holdings in 1181 and the formation of a fairly large Hohenstaufen domain. Frederick Barbarossa created a large European army for his time, the main force of which was the heavy knightly cavalry, clad in steel armor, and improved its organization. At the end of his life, Frederick I went to the Third crusade, during which he died in 1190, drowning while crossing the river.
Frederick Barbarossa's successor was his son Henry 6(1169 - 1197). He managed to expand the territorial power of the emperor by subjugating the Sicilian kingdom. It was in this state that the Hohenstaufens were able to create a centralized hereditary monarchy with a strong royal power and a developed bureaucratic system, while in the German lands proper, the strengthening of regional princes did not allow not only to consolidate the autocratic system of government, but also to ensure the transfer of the imperial throne by inheritance. After the death of Henry 6 in 1197, two Roman kings, Philip of Swabia and Otto 4 of Brunswick were elected at once, which led to internecine war in Germany.
In 1220 he was crowned emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen(1212-1250), son of Henry 6 and king of Sicily, who renewed the Hohenstaufen policy of establishing imperial rule in Italy. He went into a tough conflict with the Pope, was excommunicated and declared the Antichrist, but nevertheless undertook a crusade to Palestine and was elected king of Jerusalem. During the reign of Frederick 2 in Italy, the struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines developed with varying success, but on the whole it was quite successful for Frederick 2: his troops controlled most of Northern Italy, Tuscany and Romagna, not to mention the emperor's hereditary possessions in southern Italy. The focus on Italian politics, however, forced Frederick II to make significant concessions to the German princes. According to the Agreement with the princes of the church in 1220 and the Decree in favor of the princes of 1232, the bishops and secular princes of Germany were recognized as sovereign rights within the territory of their possessions. These documents became legal basis to form semi-independent hereditary principalities within the empire and expand the influence of regional rulers to the detriment of the emperor's prerogatives.
Late Middle Ages
With the death of the sons of Frederick II, the Hohenstaufen dynasty ended and the interregnum began (1254-1273). But even after his overcoming and accession to the throne in 1273, Rudolf I of Habsburg the importance of the central government continued to decline, and the role of the rulers of regional principalities increased. Although the monarchs made attempts to restore the former power of the empire, dynastic interests came to the fore: the elected kings first of all tried to expand the possessions of their families as much as possible: the Habsburgs were entrenched in the Austrian lands, the Luxemburgs - in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, Wittelsbach - in Brandenburg, Holland and Gennegau. It was in the late Middle Ages that the principle of electing the emperor acquired a real embodiment: during the second half of the 13th - end of the 15th century. the emperor was indeed chosen from several candidates, and attempts to transfer power by inheritance were usually unsuccessful. The influence of large territorial princes on the policy of the empire increased sharply, and the seven most powerful princes arrogated to themselves the exclusive right to elect and remove the emperor. This was accompanied by the strengthening of the middle and small nobility, the collapse of the imperial domain of the Hohenstaufens and the growth of feudal strife.In 1274 in Nuremberg, Rudolf 1 of Habsburg (1273-1291) convened the Reichstag - a meeting of representatives of the lands. They took part in the discussions, but the decision was left to the emperor. It was decided to return the property and rights of the empire seized after Frederick II. They could be returned back with the consent of the king and the electors. This decision was directed against Ottokar 2, who created a large state from the Czech Republic, Moravia, Austria, Styria, Carinthia. Ottokar tried to fight for these possessions, but was defeated. Rudolph secured the received lands as hereditary possession for the Habsburgs.
At the same time, Guelphism finally triumphed in Italy, and the empire lost its influence on the Apennine Peninsula. On the western borders, France strengthened, which managed to withdraw from the influence of the emperor of the land of the former Burgundian kingdom. Some revival of the imperial idea during the reign of Henry 7 (the first representative of the Luxembourg dynasty, 1308-1313), who made in 1310-1313. the expedition to Italy and for the first time after Frederick II crowned the imperial crown in Rome, was, however, short-lived: starting from the end of the 13th century. The Holy Roman Empire was increasingly confined exclusively to German lands, turning into the national state formation of the German people. In parallel, there was also a process of liberation of imperial institutions from the power of the papacy: during the period of the Avignon captivity of the popes, the role of the pope in Europe sharply decreased, which allowed the German king Ludwig of Bavaria, and after him the large regional German princes, to withdraw from subordination to the Roman throne.
Into the reign Karla 4(1346-1378, Luxembourg dynasty) the center of the empire moved to Prague (Charles was also the Czech king). Charles' reign is considered the golden age of Czech history. Charles 4 succeeded in carrying out an important reform of the constitutional structure of the empire: the Golden Bull of the Emperor in 1356 established a collegium of electors of 7 members, which included the archbishops of Cologne, Mainz, Trier, the king of Bohemia, the Elector of the Palatinate, the Duke of Saxony and the Margrave of Brandenburg. Members of the college of electors received the exclusive right to elect the emperor and actually determine the directions of the empire's policy; the electors were also recognized the right of internal sovereignty, which consolidated the fragmentation of the German states. At the same time, all influence of the pope on the election of the emperor was eliminated.
Crisis sentiment in the empire intensified after the plague epidemic of 1347-1350, which led to a sharp drop in the population and dealt a tangible blow to the German economy. At the same time, the second half of the 14th century. was marked by the rise of the North German union of the trading cities of the Hansa, which turned into an important factor in international politics and gained significant influence in the Scandinavian states, England and the Baltic states. In southern Germany, cities also turned into an influential political force that opposed princes and knights, but in a series of military conflicts at the end of the 14th century. The Swabian and Rhine unions of cities were defeated by the troops of the imperial princes.
In 1438, Albrecht II of Habsburg was elected king of Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and Germany. From this year, representatives of this dynasty constantly became emperors of the empire.
By the end of the 15th century. the empire was in a deep crisis caused by the inconsistency of its institutions with the requirements of the time, the collapse of the military and financial institution and the actual liberation of regional principalities from the power of the emperor. In the principalities, the formation of their own administrative apparatus, military, judicial and tax systems began, estate representative bodies of power (landtags) arose. At Friedrich 3(1440-1493) the emperor was drawn into protracted and unsuccessful wars with Hungary, while in other directions European politics the influence of the emperor tended to zero. At the same time, the fall of the emperor's influence in the empire contributed to the more active involvement of the imperial estates in the management processes and the formation of an all-imperial representative body - the Reichstag.
In the 1440s, Gutenberg invented typography.
During the reign of Frederick 3, the weakness of the imperial power manifested itself especially strongly; he also took little part in church affairs. In 1446, Frederick concluded the Vienna Concordat with the Holy See, which settled the relationship between the Austrian monarchs and the Pope and remained in force until 1806. By agreement with the Pope, Frederick received the right to distribute 100 church benefits and appoint 6 bishops. In 1452 Frederick 3 traveled to Italy and was crowned in Rome by Pope Nicholas 5.
The transformation of the empire in accordance with the requirement of the new time was carried out during the reign of Maximilian I (1486-1519) and Charles 5.
Maximilian 1 married the heiress of the Duchy of Burgundy, Mary, which brought the Habsburg possessions in Burgundy and the Netherlands. The War of the Burgundian Succession soon began. Maximilian's son, Philip, married a Spanish princess, with the result that his son Charles became the Spanish king. After the death of his first wife, Maximilian himself was betrothed in absentia to Anna of Breton, and his daughter to the French king Charles 8. However, Charles 8 went to Brittany and forced Anna to marry him, which caused condemnation throughout Europe. At this time, Maximilian had to fight the Hungarians, who even took Vienna for a while. Maximilian was able to defeat the Hungarians after the sudden death of the Hungarian king. The dynastic marriages of Maximilian's granddaughter with the son of the King of Hungary and Bohemia Vsevolod 2, and the grandson of Maximilian with the daughter of Vsevolod 2 later allowed these two states to be annexed to the Habsburg possessions. Maximilian created a new, centralized system of government in Austria and laid the foundation for the unification of the ancestral Habsburg possessions into a single Austrian state.
In 1495, Maximilian I convened a general Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire in Worms, for whose approval he presented a draft reform of the empire's public administration. As a result of the discussion, the so-called "Reichsreform" was adopted. Germany was divided into six imperial districts (four more were added in 1512). The district meeting became the governing body of the district, in which all state entities on the territory of the district had the right to participate: secular and spiritual principalities, imperial knights and free cities. Each state entity had one vote (in some districts this ensured the predominance of imperial knights, small principalities and cities, which constituted the main support of the emperor). The districts dealt with issues of military development, organization of defense, recruitment of the army, as well as the distribution and collection of imperial taxes. The creation of the Imperial Supreme Court - the supreme body of judicial power in Germany, which became one of the main instruments of the emperor's influence on the territorial princes and a mechanism for pursuing a single policy in all state formations of the empire - was also of great importance. A system of financing general imperial expenditures was developed, which, although it failed due to the reluctance of the electors to contribute their share to the general budget, nevertheless gave the emperors the opportunity to conduct an active foreign policy and made it possible to repel the Turkish threat at the beginning of the 16th century.
However, Maximilian's attempts to deepen the reform of the empire and create unified executive bodies, as well as a unified imperial army, failed: the princes of the empire strongly opposed and did not allow these proposals of the emperor to be passed through the Reichstag. Moreover, the imperial estates refused to finance the Italian campaigns of Maximilian 1, which sharply weakened the position of the emperor in international scene and in the empire itself. Maximilian's military campaigns were unsuccessful, but he created a new type of mercenary army, which was further developed in Europe, and also under him the practice of selling German soldiers to other armies began.
Realizing the institutional weakness of the imperial power in Germany, Maximilian I continued the policy of his predecessors to isolate the Austrian monarchy from the empire: as Archduke of Austria, he refused to participate in the financing of imperial institutions, did not allow imperial taxes to be levied on Austrian lands. The Austrian duchies did not participate in the work of the Imperial Reichstag and other general bodies. Austria was actually placed outside the empire, its independence was expanded. Almost the entire policy of Maximilian I was carried out primarily in the interests of Austria and the Habsburg dynasty, but only secondarily in Germany.
In 1499, Maximilian suffered a crushing defeat from the Swiss Union and the Basel Treaty actually recognized the independence of Switzerland not only from the Habsburgs, but also from the empire.
Of great importance for the constitution of the Holy Roman Empire was also the rejection of the principle of the need for the coronation of the emperor by the pope in order to legitimize his rights to the title of emperor. In 1508, Maximilian tried to make an expedition to Rome for his coronation, but was not let through by the Venetians who controlled the routes from Germany to Italy. On February 4, 1508, at a festive ceremony in Tiente, he was proclaimed emperor. Pope Julius II, who badly needed Maximilian I to create a broad coalition against Venice, allowed him to use the title of "Emperor Chosen". In the future, the successors of Maximilian 1 (except for Charles V) no longer aspired to coronation, and the imperial law included the provision that the very election of the German king as electors makes him emperor. From that time on, the empire received its new official name - "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation."
During the reign of Maximilian 1 in Germany, there was a flourishing of the humanist movement. The ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam and the Erfurt circle of humanists gained European fame. The Emperor provided support for the arts, sciences and new philosophical ideas.
Reformation and Thirty Years' War
Maximilian 1 was succeeded by his grandson Karl 5(King of Germany 1519-1530, Holy Roman Emperor 1530-1556). Huge lands were under his control: Holland, Zealand, Burgundy, Spain, Lombardy, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, Roussillon, Canary Islands, West Indies, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Istria. He himself annexed Tunisia, Luxembourg, Artois, Piacenza, New Granada, New Spain, Peru, the Philippines, etc. Charles 5 was the last emperor to be crowned by the pope in Rome. Under him, a single criminal code was approved for the entire empire. During his reign, Charles fought successful wars with France for Italian possessions and less successful wars with Turkey. In 1555, disillusioned with the idea of an all-European empire, Charles gave the Dutch and Spanish possessions to his son Philip. In Germany and Austria from 1531 his brother Ferdinand 1 ruled. In 1556 the emperor renounced the title of emperor and went to a monastery. Ferdinand 1 became the emperor.At the end of the reign of Maximilian, 1517, in Wittenberg, Martin Luther nailed to the door of the church "95 Theses", in which he spoke out against the existing abuses of the Catholic Church. This moment is considered the beginning Reformation, which ended in 1648 with the signing of the Peace of Westphalia.
The reasons for the Reformation were the emergence of centralized states, the economic crisis after the appearance of a huge amount of American gold, the ruin of banks, the dissatisfaction of various segments of the European population with the moral decay of the Catholic Church, which was accompanied by economic and political monopolization. Throughout the Middle Ages, the church ideally fit into the existing feudal system, used the hierarchy of feudal society, owned up to a third of all cultivated land and formed an ideology. The layer of the bourgeoisie that appeared in the Renaissance needed a new ideology and a new church. In addition, at this time, new humanistic ideas appeared, the intellectual environment changed. Back in the 14th century. in England, the first protests against the Catholic Church (John Wyclif) began, they were adopted in the Czech Republic, where they became the basis for the ideas of Jan Hus.
In Germany, which by the beginning of the 16th century. still remained a politically fragmented state, dissatisfaction with the church was shared by almost all estates. Martin Luther, Doctor of Divinity, opposed the sale of indulgences, proclaimed that the church and the clergy were not an intermediary between man and God, and refuted the authority of church decrees and papal decrees, stating that the only source of truth is Scripture. In 1520, with a huge crowd of people, Luther burned the papal bull, where his views were condemned. Charles V summoned Luther to the Imperial Diet in Worms in order to persuade him to abandon his views, but Luther replied: “On that I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. " According to the Edict of Worms, Luther was outlawed in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire. From that moment on, the persecution of Luther's supporters began. Luther himself was kidnapped on the way from Worms by the people of Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, who decided to protect Luther. He was placed in the Wartburg castle and only the elector's secretary knew about his whereabouts. In Wartburg, Luther began translating the Bible into German. Luther's speech at Worms provoked a spontaneous burgher movement, and then the imperial chivalry. Soon (1524) the Peasant Uprising began. The peasants took Luther's reform as a call for social change. In 1526 the uprising was suppressed. After the Peasant War at the Reichstag in Speyer, the Edict of Worms was suspended, but resumed three years later, to which the Speyer protest was filed. By its name, the supporters of the Reformation began to be called Protestants. The protest was signed by six princes (including the Elector of Saxony, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Landgrave of Hesse) and free cities (including Augsburg, Ulm, Konstanz, Lindau, Heilbronn, etc.).
In 1530, the opposing sides made attempts to reach an agreement on the Augsburg Reichstag. Luther's friend Melanchthon presented there a document called the Augsburg Confession. After the reistag, the Protestant princes formed the defensive Schmalkalden League.
In 1546 Luther died, Emperor Charles 5, after victories over the French and Turks, decided to take up the internal affairs of Germany. As a result, the Protestant troops were defeated. At the Reichstag in Augsburg in 1548, an interim was declared - an agreement between Catholics and Protestants, according to which Protestants were forced to make significant concessions. However, Karl failed to implement the plan: Protestantism managed to put down deep roots on German soil and had long been the religion of not only princes and merchants, but also peasants and miners, as a result of which the interim met with stubborn resistance. Protestantism was accepted by many large principalities (Saxony, Brandenburg, Kurpfalz, Braunschweig-Luneburg, Hesse, Württemberg), as well as the most important imperial cities - Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Hamburg, Lübeck. The ecclesiastical electors of the Rhine, Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, Bavaria, Austria, Lorraine, Augsburg, Salzburg and some other states remained Catholic. In 1552, the Protestant Schmalkalden Union, together with the French king Henry II, began a second war against the emperor, which ended in their victory. After the second Schmalkalden War, Protestant and Catholic princes concluded with the emperor the Augsburg Religious Peace (1555), which established guarantees of freedom of religion for the imperial estates (electors, secular and spiritual princes, free cities and imperial knights). But despite the demands of the Lutherans, the Augsburg Peace did not give the right to choose religion to the subjects of the imperial princes and knights. It was understood that each ruler himself determines the religion in his domain. Later, this position was transformed into the principle of "whose power, that is the faith." The Catholics' concession with regard to the confession of their subjects was the fixation in the text of the agreement of the right to emigrate for residents of the principalities who did not want to accept the religion of their ruler, and they were guaranteed the inviolability of their person and property.
The abdication of Charles 5 and the division of the Habsburg possessions in 1556, as a result of which Spain, Flanders and Italy went to his son Philip 2, and the Austrian lands and the post of emperor - to his brother Ferdinand 1, also contributed to the stabilization of the situation in the empire, since it eliminated the danger of coming to power uncompromising Catholic Philip 2. Ferdinand 1, one of the authors of the Augsburg religious world and a consistent advocate of strengthening the empire through a close alliance with the princes and increasing the efficiency of the functioning of imperial institutions, is rightfully considered the de facto founder of the empire of modern times. The successor of Ferdinand 1, Emperor Maximilian 2, himself sympathized with Protestantism, and during his reign (1564-1576) he managed, relying on the imperial princes of both denominations, to maintain territorial and religious order in the empire, resolving conflicts that arise using exclusively the legal mechanisms of the empire. The main development trend in the second half of the 16th - early 17th century was the dogmatic and organizational formation and isolation of three confessions - Catholicism, Lutheranism and Calvinism, and the associated confessionalization of all aspects of the social and political life of the German states. In modern historiography, this period is called the "Confessional Era".
By the end of the 16th century. the period of relative stability is over. The Catholic Church wanted to regain the lost influence. Censorship and the Inquisition intensified, and the Jesuit Order was strengthened. The Vatican in every possible way pushed the remaining Catholic rulers to eradicate Protestantism in their domains. The Habsburgs were Catholics, but the imperial status obliged them to adhere to the principles of religious tolerance. Therefore, they gave up the main place in Counter-reformation Bavarian rulers. To organize an organized rebuff to the growing pressure, the Protestant princes of South and West Germany united in the Evangelical Union, created in 1608. In response, the Catholics united in the Catholic League (1609). Both alliances were immediately supported by foreign states. Under these conditions, the activities of the general imperial organs - the Reichstag and the Judicial Chamber - were paralyzed.
In 1617, both branches of the Habsburg dynasty entered into a secret agreement - the Onyate Treaty, which settled the existing differences. Under his terms, Spain was promised lands in Alsace and Northern Italy, which would provide a land link between the Spanish Netherlands and the Italian possessions of the Habsburgs. In return, the Spanish king Philip III renounced his claims to the crown of the empire and agreed to support the candidacy of Ferdinand of Styria. The ruling emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Bohemia, Matthew, had no direct heirs, and in 1617 he forced the Czech Diet to recognize his nephew Ferdinand of Styria, an ardent Catholic and pupil of the Jesuits, as his successor. He was extremely unpopular in the predominantly Protestant Czech Republic, which was the reason for the uprising, which grew into a long conflict - Thirty Years' War.
On the side of the Habsburgs were: Austria, most of the Catholic principalities of Germany, Spain, united with Portugal, the Holy See, Poland. On the side of the anti-Habsburg coalition - France, Sweden, Denmark, the Protestant principalities of Germany, the Czech Republic, Transylvania, Venice, Savoy, the Republic of the United Provinces, were supported by England, Scotland and Russia. In general, the war turned out to be a clash of traditional conservative forces with growing nation states.
The Evangelical Union was led by the Elector of the Palatinate Frederick 5. However, the army of the Catholic League under the command of General Tilly pacified upper Austria, and the imperial troops - lower Austria. Uniting after this, they suppressed the Czech uprising. Having finished with the Czech Republic, the Habsburg troops went to the Palatinate. In 1622 Mannheim and Heidelberg fell. Frederick 5 lost his possessions and was expelled from the Holy Roman Empire, the Evangelical Union disintegrated. Bavaria gained the Upper Palatinate, and Spain captured the Palatinate.
The defeat at the first stage of the war forced the Protestants to rally. In 1624 France and Holland signed the Treaty of Compiegne, which was joined by England, Sweden, Denmark, Savoy, Venice.
In the second stage of the war, the Habsburg troops attacked the Netherlands and Denmark. An army was created under the command of the Czech nobleman Albrecht von Wallenstein, who offered to feed the army by plundering the occupied territories. The Danes were defeated, Wallenstein occupied Mecklenburg and Pomerania.
Sweden was the last major state to change the balance of power. Gustav II Adolphus, King of Sweden, sought to stop the Catholic expansion as well as to establish his control over the Baltic coast of northern Germany. It was generously subsidized by Cardinal Richelieu, first minister of Louis 13. Prior to that, Sweden was kept from war by the war with Poland in the struggle for the Baltic coast. By 1630, Sweden had ended the war and secured Russian support. The Catholic League was defeated in several battles by the Swedes. In 1632, General Tilly died first, then King Gustav Adolphus. In March 1633 Sweden and the German Protestant principalities formed the Heilbronn League; all the fullness of military and political power in Germany passed to an elected council headed by the Swedish chancellor Axel Oxenscherna. But the lack of a single authoritative commander began to affect the Protestant troops, and in 1634 the previously invincible Swedes suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Nördlingen. The Emperor and the princes concluded the Treaty of Prague (1635), which ended the Swedish phase of the war. This treaty provided for the return of possessions to the framework of the Augsburg Peace, the unification of the army of the emperor and the armies of the German states into the army of the Holy Roman Empire, and the legalization of Calvinism.
However, this treaty did not suit France, so in 1635 she entered the war herself. In 1639 France managed to break through to Swabia, Brandenburg left the war in 1640, Saxony was defeated in 1642, Bavaria capitulated in 1647, Spain was forced to recognize the independence of the Netherlands. In this war, all armies have exhausted their strength. The war brought the greatest damage to Germany, where up to 5 million people died. All over Europe there were epidemics of typhus, plague and dysentery. As a result, the Peace of Westphalia was concluded in 1648. Under its terms, Switzerland gained independence, France received South Alsace and Lorraine, Sweden - the island of Rügen, Western Pomerania, the Duchy of Bremen. Only the war between Spain and France remained unsettled.
The secularization of church holdings in Northern Germany was recognized. Adherents of all religions (Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism) acquired equal rights in the empire, the transition to another faith of the ruler ceased to mean a change in the faith of his subjects. Religious issues were separated from administrative and legal issues, and the principle of confessional parity was introduced in the Reichstag and the Imperial Court to resolve them: each denomination was given an equal number of votes, which restored the effectiveness of the Reichstag and the court. The Peace of Westphalia also redistributed powers between institutions of power within the empire: current issues, including legislation, the judiciary, taxation, ratification of peace treaties, were transferred to the competence of the Reichstag, which became a permanent body. This significantly changed the balance of power between the emperor and the estates in favor of the latter and established the status quo, contributed to the national cohesion of the German people. The rights of German appanage princes were expanded. Now they received the right to vote in matters of war and peace, the amount of taxes and laws concerning the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. They were allowed to enter into alliances with foreign powers, provided that they did not jeopardize the interests of the emperor and the empire. Thus, the German appanage principalities became subjects of international law. Strengthening the power of the appanage princes laid the foundation for the federal structure of present-day Germany.
Germany after the Peace of Westphalia
After the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia, the role of the leading power passed to France, so the rest of the countries began to converge to fight it. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) was the emperor's revenge Leopold 1 of Habsburg(1658-1705) for the Thirty Years' War: French hegemony in Western Europe collapsed, the Southern Netherlands, Naples and Milan came under the rule of the Austrian Habsburgs. In the northern direction, a partnership of the Habsburgs, Poland, Hanover and Brandenburg in the confrontation with Sweden developed, as a result of which, after the Dutch War (1672-1678) and the Second Northern War (1700-1721), Swedish dominance in the Baltic region came to an end, and most of its possessions were the territories of the empire (Western Pomerania, Bremen and Verden) were divided between Brandenburg and Hanover. The Habsburgs achieved their main success in the southeastern direction: in a series of military campaigns against the Ottoman Empire in the last quarter of the 17th century. Hungary, Transylvania and northern Serbia were liberated, which became part of the Habsburg monarchy, which sharply raised the political prestige and economic base of the emperors. Wars with France and Turkey in the late 17th - early 18th centuries. caused a revival of imperial patriotism and again turned the imperial throne into a symbol of the national community of the German people.The establishment in the Palatinate in 1685 of the Catholic line of the Wittelsbach dynasty allowed Emperor Leopold I to restore his position in the west of the country and rally the Rhine states around the imperial throne. The main allies of the imperial throne in this region were the electors of the Palatinate, Hesse-Darmstadt, Mainz and the imperial knights of Westphalia, Middle Rhine and Swabia. In the southern sector of Germany in the late 17th - early 18th century. Bavaria completely prevailed, the elector of which competed in influence with the emperor himself. In the northern part of the empire, under the conditions of the strengthening of Brandenburg, Saxony, whose ruler converted to Catholicism in 1697, passed to a closer alliance with the Habsburgs, as well as Hanover, who achieved the ninth title of Elector for himself in 1692. Brandenburg was also included in the processes of imperial integration: orientation on the emperor became the basis of the policy of the "Great Elector", and his son in 1700 received the consent of Leopold I to accept the title of King of Prussia.
The Reichstag since 1662 has become a permanent body, meeting in Regensburg. His work was notable for sufficient efficiency and contributed to the preservation of the unity of the empire. Emperor Leopold I took an active part in the work of the Reichstag, who consistently pursued a policy of restoring the role of the imperial throne and further integration of the estates. The representative function of the imperial court in Vienna began to play an important role, which turned into a center of attraction for noblemen from all over Germany, and the city itself became the main center of the imperial baroque. The strengthening of the position of the Habsburgs in the hereditary lands, the successful policy of dynastic marriages and the distribution of titles and positions also significantly contributed to the rise of the emperor's influence. At the same time, the processes of consolidation at the imperial level were superimposed on regional integration: in the largest German principalities, their own ramified state apparatus, a magnificent princely court, rallying the local nobility, and armed forces were formed, allowing the electors to pursue a policy more independent of the emperor. During the wars with France and Turkey, the role of the imperial districts significantly increased, which from 1681 assumed the function of recruiting the army, collecting imperial taxes and maintaining permanent military contingents in the empire. Later, associations of imperial districts were formed, which made it possible to organize a more effective defense of the imperial borders.
Under the successors of Leopold 1, a striving for absolutism arose. The emperors again began to lay claims to Italian territories, to interfere in the internal affairs of the German principalities, which provoked their resistance. At the same time, the power of the large principalities grew (Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony, Hanover), which sought to pursue their own independent policy in Europe, taking little into account the interests of the empire and the emperor. By the middle of the 18th century. the unity of the empire was significantly undermined, the large German principalities practically got out of the control of the emperor, the tendencies of disintegration clearly prevailed over the weak attempts of the emperor to maintain a balance of power in Germany.
Kingdom of Prussia
According to the Peace of Westphalia, the Brandenburg Elector acquired a number of territories, and in 1618 the Duchy of Prussia ceded to it. In 1701, the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick III, with the consent of Emperor Leopold I, was crowned King of Prussia, Frederick I.After the death of Frederick 1 in 1713, Frederick William 1, nicknamed the Soldier King, ascended the Prussian throne. During his reign, the Prussian army became the strongest army in Europe. From 1740 to 1786 King of Prussia was Frederick II the Great. During this period, Prussia took part in numerous wars. The economic upsurge, the creation of an effective bureaucratic management system under Frederick I and Frederick Wilhelm I, and the formation of a strong army pushed Prussia to the fore among the German states, which led to an aggravation of rivalry with Austria. Prussia actually ceased to take part in general imperial issues: norms protecting the interests of the estates did not operate on its territory, the decisions of the imperial court were not implemented, the army did not take part in the emperor's military campaigns, and the work of the Upper Saxon imperial district was paralyzed. As a result of the growing discrepancy between the actual military-political power of Prussia and other large German principalities and the outdated imperial hierarchy by the middle of the 18th century. an acute systemic crisis of the Holy Roman Empire was ripe. After the death of Emperor Charles 6 in 1740 and the suppression of the direct male line of the House of Habsburgs, the Austro-Prussian confrontation turned into open war. The Silesian Wars (1740-1745) between the Prussian King Frederick II and the Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa ended with the defeat of Austria and the loss of Silesia. Attempts by the Habsburgs to restore the efficiency of the imperial structures and put them at the service of the interests of Austria ran into decisive resistance from the principalities led by Prussia, which assumed the role of the defender of German freedoms from the "absolutist" claims of the Habsburgs.
In 1756-1763. Prussia took part in the Seven Years' War, in which it won, but suffered heavy losses. In this war, Prussia had to fight in alliance with England against Austria, France and Russia.
Frederick II died in 1786 in Potsdam, leaving no direct heir. He was succeeded by his nephew Friedrich Wilhelm 2. Under him, the system of government created by Frederick began to collapse, and the decline of Prussia began. Under Frederick Wilhelm II, during the Great French Revolution, Prussia, together with Austria, formed the core of the 1st anti-French coalition, but after a series of defeats it was forced to sign a separate Basel Peace with France in 1795. In 1797, after the death of the Prussian king Frederick Wilhelm 2, the throne was succeeded by his son, Friedrich Wilhelm 3. Friedrich Wilhelm turned out to be a weak and indecisive ruler. In the Napoleonic wars, for a long time he could not decide which side he was on. As a result, according to the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, Prussia lost about half of its territories.
To bring the country out of the crisis in which it found itself after the defeat, reforms were undertaken, which subsequently gave rich fruits. A small group of officials in the person of the head of the Prussian government, Baron Heinrich Friedrich Karl Stein and Prince Karl August von Hardenberg, Generals Gerhard von Scharnhorst and August Wilhelm Nidhardt Griesenau, an official and scientist Wilhelm von Humboldt, developed the largest package of reforms in the so-called German "history" reforms ", begun in 1807. The education system was reformed, general rules admission to the university, an exam for teachers has been introduced. The reformers abolished the workshop monopoly and allowed citizens to engage in any economic activity. In 1811 serfdom was abolished, the peasants received the right to have private property and choose a profession, the right to redeem land. Ministries were created, the post of Chancellor - Chairman of the Council of State (the body that gives advice to the king) was introduced. In addition, the army and municipal government were reformed, and an income tax was introduced to replace the poll tax. As a result of reforms over the next several decades, the Prussian economy revived, a free labor market emerged. Industry began to develop, and this laid the foundation for further industrialization of the economy. Many components of the modern German economy, social structure and education were laid down two centuries ago.
Napoleonic Wars and the End of the Empire
In 1785, under the leadership of the Prussian King Frederick II the Great, the Union of German Princes was created as an alternative to the imperial institutions controlled by the Habsburgs. The Austro-Prussian rivalry deprived the other German states of the opportunity to exert at least some influence on internal imperial affairs and made it impossible to carry out reforms. This led to "empire fatigue" of secular and ecclesiastical principalities, knights and free cities, which historically were the main pillar of the structure of the Holy Roman Empire. The stability of the empire was finally lost.The outbreak of the Great French Revolution initially led to the consolidation of the empire. In 1790, the Reichenbach Union was concluded between the emperor and Prussia, which temporarily ended the Austro-Prussian confrontation, and in 1792 the Pilnitz Convention was signed, according to which both states pledged to provide military assistance to the French king. However, the goals of the new Austrian emperor Franz II were not to strengthen the empire, but to implement the foreign policy plans of the Habsburgs, the expansion of the Austrian monarchy, including at the expense of the German principalities, and the expulsion of the French from Germany. The Prussian king had similar aspirations. On March 23, 1793, the Reichstag declared Imperial War on France.
By this time, the left bank of the Rhine and the Austrian Netherlands were occupied by the French, and Frankfurt was burned. The imperial army was extremely weak. The subjects of the empire sought to limit the participation of their military contingents in hostilities outside their own lands as much as possible, refused to pay military contributions and tried to conclude a separate peace with France as soon as possible. Already in 1794, the imperial coalition began to disintegrate. In 1795, having concluded the Peace of Basel, Prussia withdrew from the war, followed by the North German states, and in 1796 Baden and Württemberg. The Austrian army, which continued to conduct military operations, suffered defeats on all fronts. Finally, in 1797, the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte invaded from Italy into the territory of the hereditary possessions of Austria. In the spring of 1797, the Campoformi Peace Treaty was concluded. The emperor handed over Belgium and Lombardy to France and agreed to the cession of the left bank of the Rhine, and in return received the continental possessions of Venice and the right to increase the Austrian possessions in the empire at the expense of the ecclesiastical principalities of southeastern Germany.
The war of the Second Coalition that broke out in 1799 (1799-1801), in which Austria tried to achieve revenge, ended in complete defeat of the Allies. The Luneville Peace of 1801 recognized the annexation of the left bank of the Rhine by France, including the lands of three spiritual electors - Cologne, Mainz and Trier. The decision on the issue of territorial compensation to the injured German princes was submitted to the imperial deputation. After lengthy negotiations under pressure from France and Russia and with actual disregard for the position of the emperor, the final project for the reorganization of the empire was adopted, which was approved in 1803.
Church holdings in Germany were secularized and for the most part became part of large secular states. Almost all (with the exception of six) imperial cities also ceased to exist as subjects of imperial law. In total, not counting the lands annexed by France, more than 100 state formations within the empire were abolished, and the population of the secularized lands reached three million people. Moreover, the largest increments in terms of territory and population were obtained by the French satellites Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria, as well as Prussia, under whose rule most of the church's possessions in Northern Germany came to be. After the completion of the territorial demarcation by 1804, about 130 states remained in the Holy Roman Empire, not counting the possessions of the imperial knights.
Territorial changes brought about radical changes in the composition of the Reichstag and the College of Electors. The titles of the three ecclesiastical electors were abolished, and instead, the electors' rights were granted to the rulers of Baden, Württemberg, Hesse-Kassel and the Arch Chancellor of the Empire Karl-Theodor von Dahlberg. As a result, in the College of Electors, as well as in the House of Princes of the Imperial Reichstag, the majority went to the Protestants and a strong pro-French party was formed. The liquidation of free cities and ecclesiastical principalities - traditionally the main pillar of the empire - led to the loss of stability by the empire and the complete fall of the influence of the imperial throne. The Holy Roman Empire finally turned into a conglomerate of virtually independent states and lost the prospects of its survival as a single political entity.
In 1805, the war of the Third Coalition began. The army of Franz II was utterly defeated in the battle of Austerlitz, and Vienna was captured by the French. On the side of Napoleon in this war, the troops of Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg fought, which did not cause any negative reaction in the empire. Franz II was forced to conclude the Peace of Presburg with France, according to which the emperor not only renounced possessions in Italy, Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Forward Austria in favor of Napoleon and his satellites, but also recognized the titles of kings for the rulers of Bavaria and Württemberg, which legally deduced these states from under any power of the emperor and gave them almost complete sovereignty. Austria was finally pushed aside to the periphery of Germany, and the empire turned into a fiction.
In 1806 Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau (both lines), Berg, the Erz Chancellor Dahlberg and eight other German principalities signed an agreement in Paris on the formation of the Rhine Union under the auspices of Napoleon. On August 1, these states announced their secession from the Holy Roman Empire. Franz II announced the resignation of the title and powers of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, explaining this by the impossibility of fulfilling the duties of the emperor after the establishment of the Rhine Union. The Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist.
Unification of German lands
Defeat of Napoleon in 1813-1814 opened up opportunities for the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire. However, the restoration of the Old Empire was no longer possible. In accordance with the Austro-Prussian treaties of 1807 and 1813, agreements on the accession of former members of the Rhine Union to the anti-French coalition in 1814, and, finally, according to the terms of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1814, Germany was to become a confederate entity. The attempt to revive the empire threatened with a military conflict between Austria and Prussia and other large German states. At the Vienna Congress of 1814-1815, Franz II renounced the imperial crown and obstructed the project of restoring the empire under the rule of an emperor elected from the German princes. Instead, the German Confederation was established - a confederation of 38 German states, including the hereditary possessions of the Austrian Empire and the Prussian Kingdom, within borders roughly corresponding to the former Holy Roman Empire. The Emperor of Austria remained the chairman of the German Confederation until 1866. The German Confederation was dissolved after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, it was replaced by the North German Confederation, and from 1871 - the German Empire under the rule of Prussia.The German Union included the Austrian Empire, the kingdoms of Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover, Württemberg, duchies, principalities and 4 city-republics (Frankfurt, Hamburg, Bremen and Lubeck). The indisputable military-economic superiority of Austria and Prussia gave them a clear political priority over other members of the union, although formally it proclaimed the equality of all participants. At the same time, a number of lands of the Austrian Empire (Hungary, Slovenia, Dalmatia, Istria, etc.) and the Prussian Kingdom (East and West Prussia, Poznan) were completely excluded from the union jurisdiction. The governing body of the German Confederation was the Allied Sejm. It consisted of delegates from 34 German states (including Austria) and 4 free cities and sat in Frankfurt am Main. The chairmanship in the union belonged to Austria, as the largest state of the German Union in terms of territory and population. Each of the states united in the union had sovereignty and its own system of government. In some, autocracy was preserved, in others, similarities of parliaments (Landtags) functioned, and only seven were constitutions limiting the power of the monarch adopted (Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, Braunschweig and Saxe-Weimar).
In March 1848, a wave of demonstrations swept across Germany, as well as in France and Austria, including street battles in Berlin, demanding political freedoms and a united Germany. On May 18, 1848, in Frankfurt am Main, on the initiative of the liberal intelligentsia, the All-German National Assembly, which went down in history as the Frankfurt Parliament, met. The Frankfurt parliament adopted an imperial constitution, according to which the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm 4 was to become the constitutional monarch of the German Empire. The Constitution was recognized by 29 German states, but not by the largest members of the German Confederation (Prussia, Austria, Bavaria, Hanover, Saxony). Frederick Wilhelm 4 refused to accept the imperial crown from the hands of the revolutionary Frankfurt parliament, Austria and Prussia withdrew delegates from there. Having lost the political support of the upper classes against the background of the fading of the revolution, the parliament disintegrated. Some of the delegates voluntarily left it, the other extreme left part was dispersed by the Württemberg troops in Stuttgart in June 1849. The unrest that broke out in some states was suppressed by the Prussian troops.
The desire of Austria and Prussia to unite all German lands under their auspices led to the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, the results of which were the annexation by Prussia of the territories of Hanover, Kurgessen, Nassau, Schleswig-Holstein, Frankfurt am Main, achieved as a result of these annexations the territorial connection of the Rhine provinces of Prussia with the main territory of the kingdom and the formation of the North German Confederation, which united 21 German states north of the Main.
In 1870-1871. Prussia waged a war against France, as a result of which the South German lands - Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria - were annexed to the North German Alliance. On January 18, 1871, even before the end of the war, at Versailles, Prussian Minister-President Bismarck and Prussian King Wilhelm I announced the creation of the German Empire. France, in addition to having lost a number of lands, paid a large indemnity as a result of the war.
German empire
Bismarck's new empire became one of the most powerful states in continental Europe. Prussian domination in the new empire was almost as absolute as it was in the North German Confederation. Prussia had three-fifths of the empire's area, and two-thirds of its population. The imperial crown became hereditary to the Hohenzollern dynasty. From the mid-1880s, Germany joined the process of colonization and acquired quite large colonies in a short time.According to the constitution, the presidency belonged to the Prussian king, who enjoyed the title of German emperor. The emperor had the right to participate in legislative matters only as a Prussian king. The emperor had the right to promulgate laws; but since, according to the constitution, he did not even use a delaying veto, this right is a simple duty of the executive branch. The emperor was given, however, a fairly broad right to issue his own orders. The emperor was given the right in cases threatening public safety, both in wartime and in peacetime, declare any part of the empire (with the exception of Bavaria) in a state of siege. The Emperor had the power to appoint and dismiss all major imperial officials, starting with the Chancellor. The Reich Chancellor was the main body of executive power and at the same time the only person responsible to the Union Council and the Reichstag for all actions of this power. Apart from the Reich Chancellor himself, there were no ministers in the German Empire. Instead, there were secretaries of state subordinate to the Reich Chancellor, who presided over the imperial departments (railways, postal, legal, treasury, Alsace-Lorraine administration, foreign and domestic political departments, naval and, finally, colonial).
William 1 died in 1888 and was succeeded on the throne by the Crown Prince, Frederick 3. The new emperor, was an Anglophile and planned to implement sweeping liberal reforms. But he died 99 days after his ascension to the throne. He was succeeded by 29-year-old Wilhelm II.
The new Kaiser quickly spoiled relations with the British and Russian royal families (although he was closely related to them), became their rival and finally an enemy. Wilhelm II removed Bismarck from office in 1890 and launched a campaign of militarization and adventurism in foreign policy that ultimately led Germany to isolation and World War I.
In 1914 the First World War began. Germany was in coalition with Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria. The start of the war was successful for Germany: Russian troops were defeated in East Prussia, the German army occupied Belgium and Luxembourg, and invaded North-East France. Paris was saved, but the threat remained. Germany's allies fought worse: the Austrians were utterly defeated in Galicia, the Turks suffered many defeats on the Caucasian front. Italy betrayed its allies and declared war on Austria-Hungary. Only with the help of the German army did the Austrians and Turks regain some positions, and the Italians were defeated at Caporetto. Germany won many victories in the course of active hostilities, but by 1915 a trench warfare began on all fronts, which was a mutual siege of attrition. Despite its industrial potential, Germany could not defeat the enemy in trench warfare. The German colonies were occupied. The Entente had an advantage in resources, and on November 11, 1918, two days after the start of the revolution, Germany surrendered. After the war, the country lay in ruins, absolutely exhausted. As a result, Germany was gripped by an economic crisis. In four months, the price of a paper stamp fell 382,000 times.
The post-war Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to bear full responsibility for the war. The treaty was signed at Versailles, in the Hall of Mirrors, where the German Empire was created. Under this peace treaty, Prussia lost a number of territories that had previously been part of it (Upper Silesia, Poznan, part of the provinces of East and West Prussia, Saarland, North Schleswig and some others).
Even before the end of the war in Germany, the November Revolution of 1918 broke out, forcing William II to abdicate both the Prussian throne and the title of German emperor associated with it. Germany became a republic, the Kingdom of Prussia was renamed the Free State of Prussia.
Weimar republic
The Weimar Republic (1919-1934) in Germany existed for most of the peace period between the two world wars. After the March Revolution of 1848, it was the second (and first successful) attempt to establish liberal democracy in Germany. It ended with the rise to power of the NSDAP, which created a totalitarian dictatorship. The Weimar state, even during its existence, was given the definition of "democracy without democrats", which was only partially correct, but indicated a significant problem in its structure: in the Weimar Republic there was no strong constitutional consensus that could bind the entire spectrum of political forces - from the right to left. The wave of democratization did not touch the institutions of administration, justice and, above all, the military apparatus inherited from the Kaiser's empire. In the end, a parliamentary majority in the Reichstag was won by parties that rejected the values of parliamentary democracy: the National Socialist German Workers' Party and the German National People's Party on the one hand, and the German Communist Party on the other. The parties of the Weimar Coalition (SPD, Center Party and German Democratic Party), which received this name, having formed a government coalition in the Weimar Constituent Assembly, lost their absolute majority already in the first elections to the Reichstag in 1920 and were never returned again. Over 14 years, 20 government offices have been replaced. Eleven cabinets, created by the minority, worked with the permission of the parliamentary majority, and at the end of the Weimar Republic, already with the removed Reichstag, only at the discretion of the Reich President and on the basis of emergency decrees issued instead of laws in accordance with Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. The number of parties in the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic often reached 17, and only in rare cases dropped to 11.Since its inception, the young republic has been forced to fight the attacks of the radicalists from both the right and the left. The left-wing forces accused the Social Democrats of collaborating with the old elite and betraying the ideals of the labor movement. The right-wingers blamed the supporters of the republic - the "November criminals" - for the defeat in the First World War, reproaching them that with his revolution he stuck a knife in the back of the "invincible on the battlefield" of the German army.
The Kapp putsch in March 1920 was the first serious test of strength for the republic. Freikor (paramilitary patriotic formations), which, under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, Germany was obliged to dissolve, under the leadership of General Baron Walter von Lütwitz, seized the government quarter in Berlin and appointed the former head of the regional government in Prussia Wolfgang Kapp as Reich Chancellor. The legitimate government first withdrew to Dresden and then to Stuttgart and from there called for a general strike against the conspirators. The putschists were soon defeated, the decisive role in this was played by the refusal of the ministerial officials to obey Kapp's orders. The army remained neutral. The government could no longer hope for the support of the Reichswehr. Almost simultaneously with the Kapp putsch, the Ruhr region was shaken by an attempted workers' uprising. Its suppression by the forces of the Reichswehr and Freikor ended in bloodshed. The uprisings in the central part of Germany, in Thuringia and Hamburg (the March Uprising of 1921) also ended.
Despite all the tension of the situation and the abundance of conflicts that the young republic had to cope with, democracy began to bear its first fruits. Monetary reform and the flow of loans from the United States under the Dawes plan gave rise to a new phase characterized by relative stabilization in the economy and politics, the so-called "golden twenties." Stabilization was also supported by the fact that, despite numerous changes of government, Gustave Stresemann remained at the helm of foreign policy, who, together with his French counterpart Aristide Briand, took the first steps towards rapprochement between the two countries. Stresemann consistently sought to revise the Versailles Treaty and recognize Germany as an equal member of the international community. Germany's accession to the League of Nations and the Locarno Agreements marked the first successes in this direction. With the Berlin Treaty with the USSR, which confirmed friendly relations and mutual obligations of neutrality, the Reich Foreign Minister tried to allay fears about the unilateral conclusion of an alliance with the West, which took place not only in the USSR, but also in Germany itself. The next milestones on the road to reconciliation with former opponents were the signing of the Briand-Kellogg pact, which proclaimed the renunciation of war as a political instrument, as well as the agreement to the Jung plan given by Germany despite the serious resistance of the right, expressed in the creation of a popular initiative. Jung's plan finally settled the issue of reparations and became a prerequisite for the early withdrawal of the allied occupation forces from the Rhineland.
On the whole, these years have brought only relative, but not absolute, stabilization. And in these years, only two governments were supported by a parliamentary majority, and the coalitions of the majority were constantly under the threat of collapse. No government lasted its entire term of office. The parties served not so much the interests of the people as of certain narrow circles, or were aimed at their own political success. At this time, the first signs of an economic crisis were outlined due to the lack of balance in foreign trade, which was leveled off by short-term loans from abroad. With the withdrawal of credit funds, the economy began to collapse.
The world economic crisis, which affected Germany much more severely than other European countries, was decisive in the radicalization of politics. The massive unemployment that began exacerbated the already very difficult social and economic situation. All of this was accompanied by a protracted government crisis. In the elections and government crises that followed each other, the radical parties, and above all the NSDAP, gained more and more votes.
Faith in democracy and a republic was rapidly falling. The republic was already charged with a worsening economic situation, and the imperial government during 1930 also introduced several new taxes to cover state needs. The voices of those yearning for a "strong hand" that could restore the German Empire to its former greatness grew louder. First of all, the National Socialists responded to the requests of this part of society, who, in their propaganda focused on the personality of Hitler, purposefully created such a "strong" image for him. But not only the right, but also the left forces grew stronger. The Republican Social Democrats, unlike the liberal ones, passed the elections with practically no losses, and the Communist Party of Germany even improved its results and turned into a serious force both in parliament and on the streets, where the struggle of the militant organizations of the NSDAP (SA) and the KKE ( Rot Front)), which looked more and more like civil war... The fighting organization of the republican forces, the Reichsbanner, also took part in the street fighting. In the end, all these chaotic armed clashes, often initiated by the National Socialists themselves, played into the hands of Hitler, who was increasingly seen as a "last resort" to restore order.
Third Reich and World War II
The global economic crisis that began in 1929, the rise in unemployment and the burden of reparations still pressing on the Weimar Republic put the Weimar Republic in dire straits. In March 1930, having failed to agree with parliament on a single financial policy, President Paul Hindenburg appoints a new Reich Chancellor, who no longer relies on the support of the parliamentary majority and depends only on the president himself.The new chancellor, Heinrich Brüning, is putting Germany on austerity. The number of dissatisfied people is growing. In the elections to the Reichstag in September 1930, the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (NSDAP), led by Hitler, managed to increase the number of its mandates from 12 to 107, and the Communists from 54 to 77. Thus, right-wing and left-wing extremists together conquer almost a third seats in parliament. In these conditions, any constructive policy becomes practically impossible. In the 1932 elections, the National Socialists receive 37 percent of the vote and become the strongest faction in the Reichstag.
The NSDAP receives support from influential representatives of the business community. Relying on big business and his own success in the elections, in August 1932 Hitler appealed to Hindenburg with a demand to appoint him Reich Chancellor. Hindenburg initially refuses, but already on January 30, 1933 yields to pressure. However, in the first Nazi cabinet of the NSDAP, only three out of eleven ministerial posts belonged. Hindenburg and his advisers hoped to use the brown movement for their own purposes. However, these hopes turned out to be illusory. Hitler quickly seeks to consolidate his power. Just a few weeks after his appointment as Reich Chancellor, Germany was effectively declared a permanent state of emergency. After becoming chancellor, Hitler first asks Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag and call new elections. In the meantime, the Nazi Minister of the Interior gains the right, at his own discretion, to ban newspapers, magazines and meetings that he does not like. On February 27, 1933, the arson of the Reichstag was organized. Who is behind the crime is unclear to this day. In any case, Nazi propaganda derives considerable benefit from the incident, attributing the arson to the communists. The next day, the so-called Decree on the Protection of the People and the State is issued, abolishing the freedoms of the press, assembly and opinion. The NSDAP is almost alone in the election campaign. All other parties are half or completely driven underground. The results of the elections in March 1933 are all the more surprising: the Nazis fail to gain an absolute majority of the votes. Hitler is forced to create a coalition government.
Having failed to achieve his goal with the help of elections, Hitler takes a different path. On his instructions, a law on emergency powers is being developed and implemented. It allows the National Socialists to rule bypassing parliament. The process of so-called "familiarization with the dominant ideology" of all socio-political forces in the country begins. In practice, this is expressed in the fact that the NSDAP places its people in key positions in the state and society and establishes control over all aspects public life... NSDAP becomes a state party. All other parties are either banned or cease to exist themselves. The Reichswehr, the state apparatus and the judiciary offer practically no resistance to the course of becoming familiar with the dominant ideology. Comes under the control of the National Socialists and the police. Almost all power structures in the country obey Hitler. Opponents of the regime are monitored by the secret state police, the Gestapo. In February 1933, the first concentration camps for political prisoners appeared. Paul Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934. The Nazi government decides that from now on the post of president is merged with the post of Reich Chancellor. All the former powers of the president are transferred to the Reich Chancellor - the Fuhrer. Hitler's course of a sharp increase in armaments first brings him the sympathy of the army elite, but then, when it becomes clear that the Nazis are preparing for war, the generals begin to express dissatisfaction. In response, in 1938, Hitler made radical replacements of the military leadership.
The Weimar Constitution established a federal structure in Germany, the country's territory was divided into regions (lands), which had their own constitutions and authorities. Already on April 7, 1933, the Second Law "On the Unification of Lands with the Reich" was adopted, according to which the institution of imperial governors (Reichsstatgalter) was introduced in the German lands. The task of the governors was to govern the local authorities, for which they were given extraordinary powers (including the right to dissolve the Landtag, dissolve and form a land government headed by a minister-president). The law "On the new structure of the Reich" of January 30, 1934, the sovereignty of the lands was abolished, the Landtags in all lands were dissolved. Germany became a unitary state. In January 1935, the imperial governors became permanent representatives of the government in the states.
On September 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. During 1939-1941, Germany defeated Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Greece, Yugoslavia. In June 1941, Germany invaded the territory of the Soviet Union and occupied part of its territory. Labor shortages were growing in Germany. In all the occupied territories, civilian workers were recruited. In the Slavic territories, a massive export of the able-bodied population was forcibly carried out. In France, the forced recruitment of workers was also carried out, whose position in Germany was intermediate between the position of civilians and prisoners.
An intimidation regime was established in the occupied territories. Started immediately mass destruction Jews, and in some areas (mainly on the territory of the USSR) - and the destruction of the local non-Jewish population as a prevention of the partisan movement. The number of concentration camps, death camps and prisoner of war camps grew in Germany and in some occupied territories. In the latter, the position of Soviet, Polish, Yugoslav and French prisoners of war differed little from the position of prisoners in concentration camps. The position of the British and Americans was generally better. The methods of terror used by the German administration in the occupied territories excluded the possibility of cooperation with the local population, and caused the growth of the partisan movement in Poland, Belarus and Serbia. Gradually, partisan warfare also developed in other occupied territories of the USSR and Slavic countries, as well as in Greece and France. In Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, the occupation regime was softer, so there were fewer anti-Nazi protests. Separate underground organizations also operated in Germany and Austria.
On July 20, 1944, a group of Wehrmacht generals made an unsuccessful attempt at an anti-Nazi coup with an attempt on Hitler's life. This conspiracy was later called the "Conspiracy of the Generals." Many officers were executed, even those who were only indirectly related to the conspiracy.
In 1944, the Germans also began to feel the lack of raw materials. Aviation of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition bombed cities. Hamburg and Dresden were almost completely destroyed by aircraft of England and the USA. Due to large losses of personnel, a Volkssturm was created in October 1944, in which local residents were mobilized, including the elderly and young men. Were prepared detachments "Werewolf" for future guerrilla and sabotage activities.
On May 7, 1945, an act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed in Reims, duplicated the next day by the Soviet side in Berlin (Karlshorst). May 9 was declared the day of the cessation of hostilities. Then, on May 23 in Flensburg, the government of the Third Reich was arrested.
Germany after World War II
After the termination of the state existence of Germany on May 23, 1945, the territory of former Austria (divided into 4 zones of occupation), Alsace and Lorraine (returned to France), the Sudetenland (returned to Czechoslovakia), Eupen and Malmedy (returned into Belgium), the statehood of Luxembourg was restored, the territories of Poland annexed in 1939 were separated (Posen, Wartaland, part of Pomerania). The Memel (Klaipeda) region was returned to the Lithuanian SSR. East Prussia divided between the USSR and Poland. The rest is divided into 4 zones of occupation - Soviet, American, British and French. The USSR transferred part of its occupation zone east of the Oder and Neisse rivers to Poland.In 1949, from the American, British and French zones was formed Federal Republic of Germany... Bonn became the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. The first Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949-1963) was Konrad Adenauer, who put forward the concept of a social market economy. Adenauer was one of the founders (1946) and since 1950 the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union party.
Thanks to US assistance under the Marshall Plan, as well as the implementation of the country's economic development plans developed under the leadership of Ludwig Erhard, the 1950s saw rapid economic growth (a German economic miracle) that lasted until 1965. To meet the need for cheap labor, Germany supported the influx of guest workers, mainly from Turkey.
In 1955, Germany joined NATO. In 1969, the Social Democrats came to power. They recognized the inviolability of post-war borders, weakened emergency legislation, and carried out a number of social reforms. During the reign of Federal Chancellors Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt, there was a significant improvement in relations between the FRG and the USSR, which was further developed in the policy of detente. The Moscow treaty between the USSR and the FRG in 1970 fixed the inviolability of borders, renounced territorial claims (East Prussia) and declared the possibility of uniting the FRG and the GDR. Subsequently, the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats alternated in power.
In the Soviet zone in 1949 was formed German Democratic Republic(GDR). In 1952, a course was proclaimed to build socialism in the GDR. On June 17, 1953, a "popular uprising" took place. As a result, instead of levying reparations, the USSR began to provide the GDR with economic assistance. In the context of the aggravation of the foreign policy situation around the German question and the mass exodus of qualified personnel from the GDR to West Berlin, on August 13, 1961, the construction of a system of barrage structures between the GDR and West Berlin - the "Berlin Wall" began. In the early 1970s. a gradual normalization of relations between the two German states began. In June 1973, the Treaty on the Basics of Relations between the GDR and the FRG entered into force. In September 1973, the GDR became a full member of the UN and other international organizations. On November 8, 1973, the GDR officially recognized the FRG and established diplomatic relations with it. In the second half of the 1980s, economic difficulties began to grow in the country, in the fall of 1989 a socio-political crisis arose, as a result of which the SED leadership resigned (October 24 - Erich Honecker, November 7 - Willy Stof). The new Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED on November 9 decided to allow GDR citizens to travel abroad privately without good reason, which resulted in the spontaneous fall of the "Berlin Wall." After the victory of the CDU in the elections on March 18, 1990, the new government of Lotard de Mezieres began intensive negotiations with the government of the Federal Republic of Germany on issues of German unification. In May and August 1990, two Treaties were signed containing the conditions for the accession of the GDR to the FRG. On September 12, 1990 in Moscow, the Agreement on the final settlement with respect to Germany was signed, which contained decisions on the entire range of issues of German unification. In accordance with the decision of the People's Chamber of the GDR, it joined the FRG on October 3, 1990.
Ludwig 2. Biography
Material taken from the site www.opera-news.ru "I want to remain an eternal mystery for myself and for others," - Ludwig once told his governess. The poet Paul Verlaine called Ludwig II the only true king of this century. The prince did not have a carefree childhood. He and his brother Otto, 2 years younger than him, had to get used to royal duties from an early age. They were not allowed to interact with other children, and contact with their parents was kept to a minimum, which was believed to foster independence. The princes spent most of their childhood away from the capital in Hohenschwangau. Here the prince grew up influenced by the romantic landscape, architecture, German fairy tales and sagas. The prince was especially interested in theater, opera librettos and literature.When Ludwig was 16 years old, an event took place in his life that largely determined his fate - on February 2, 1861, he attended the performance of Wagner's opera Lohengrin. Wagner's music shocked him. He saw in her the embodiment of his romantic dreams. From that time on, he became a passionate admirer of Wagner and a collector of his works.
When he became king, the first thing he did was to find and bring Wagner to him in Munich. Their meeting took place on May 4, 1864 and had far-reaching consequences for both. In the evening of the same day, Wagner wrote to his friend, Dr. Wille: "Unfortunately, he (the king) is so brilliant, so noble, so emotional and amazing that I am afraid that his life would disappear like a trickle in the sand. cruel world... I'm so lucky that I'm just crushed; if only he lived ... "Ludwig made him his protégé, built him a luxurious house and took over all material concerns. From now on, Wagner could fully engage in creativity, not being distracted by getting his daily bread. But Wagner, alas, turned out to be a prophet ...
The king created a music school in Munich and decided to build a new opera house, equipped in accordance with the requirements of Wagner's operas. He saw Munich as the musical capital of Germany, something like German Vienna. But then the king's plans ran into confrontation between the government, his own relatives and the inhabitants of Munich.
For a year and a half, Ludwig bravely confronted the indignation of the parliament and the masses. In the end, the king was forced to give in and ask Wagner to leave Munich, which cost him untold moral torment. It was then that the mutual alienation of the king and parliament began, deepening over the years and leading to disaster. Ludwig hated Munich so much that he wanted to move the capital to Nuremberg.
It was not possible to marry the king: he stubbornly avoided the bonds of Hymen and was not noticed in adultery. His engagement to his cousin, Princess Sophia, was canceled after 8 months without explanation. It became obvious to the royal family that they could not wait for the heir to the throne.
In 1866, a war with Prussia was brewing, which Ludwig, a purely peaceful man, tried in every possible way to avoid. He was even ready to give up the throne in the name of this. Not trusting his government, he secretly left Munich and, without telling anyone, went to Wagner in Switzerland for advice. What was the advice can be judged by the fact that two days later the king returned, refused to abdicate and announced mobilization. In this war, which lasted only three weeks, Bavaria was utterly defeated by the Prussian army, suffered heavy losses and had to pay reparations to Prussia in the amount of 154 million marks. Against the backdrop of this national catastrophe, Ludwig began to embody the romantic dream of his life - the construction of castles in the Bavarian Alps.
In total, three of them were built during his life, but only one was completed - in Linderhof.
In 1869, Ludwig laid the first stone at the site of an ancient fortress on the slopes of the Alps. Neuschwanstein Castle was built in the form of a medieval castle with a fortress wall, towers and passages. Its construction took 17 years, but was never completed. Ironically, in this romantic castle, Ludwig II experienced the greatest humiliation of his life.
His favorite castle was Linderhof, a real little Versailles. Ludwig took Louis XIV as a model of his life and followed him in everything. Even the bedroom in Linderhof, like the bedroom of the "sun king", was arranged and arranged so that the sun never set in the windows. The evocative luxury of Rococo amazes even seasoned tourists. An abundance of gold, mirrors, vases, of which Ludwig was a great connoisseur and collector; life-size peacocks from precious Meissen porcelain, an ivory chandelier, a bouquet of porcelain flowers indistinguishable from real ones; a huge crystal chandelier for 108 candles, never lit for fear of fire, a lifting table from kitchen to dining room - all this testified not only to unlimited funds, but also to the exquisite taste of their owner. A white grand piano covered with gold ornaments was commissioned especially for Wagner, but the composer never touched his keys. All the excess, pretentious luxury of Lindenhof was designed for one and only person - Richard Wagner, but he never visited Lindenhof. The king whiled away his days in complete solitude, except for a few servants, listening to Wagner's music performed by first-class orchestras and opera groups in a grotto theater specially carved into the rock, or boating on an artificial lake nearby. He more and more moved away from public affairs, plunging into the ideal romantic world created for himself.
Meanwhile, in 1870, a second war broke out, which Ludwig wanted to avoid as passionately as the first, and was just as forced to take part in it. Bavaria, according to the terms of the peace treaty, was to fight against France on the side of Prussia. This war ended with the defeat of France. Prussian King William I was declared emperor of the united German Empire. All the German aristocracy attended this solemn event in the hall of mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. Only the king of Bavaria was absent. The rampant construction and the funds spent on it did not contribute to the popularity of the once adored monarch. He planted his own annual income of 5.5 million marks into his projects and went deep into the pocket of the state. At the time of Ludwig's death, his debt to the state was 21 million marks. The wealth of the country, acquired over 800 years by many generations of Bavarian monarchs, was wasted in just 20 years.
As a result of a successful conspiracy led by Prime Minister Lutz, the king was declared incapacitated. His uncle, the Bavarian prince Lutpold, was declared the ruler. Lutz was interested in isolating the king because, as head of government, he was aware of the exorbitant costs, but kept them secret from the king, who was poorly versed in economics. In exile at Berg Castle near Lake Starnberg, Ludwig was led by the court physician von Hudden. He also informed him of the decision of a council of four doctors about the need for isolation and treatment.
-How can you declare me mentally ill if you have never examined me? Ludwig asked. To which the court doctor replied:
“Your Majesty, this is not necessary. We have information that gives us enough evidence.
On June 13, 1886, at six o'clock in the evening, Ludwig and his doctor Gudden went for a short walk in the park without bodyguards - a doctor refused their services at the last minute. A few hours later, their bodies were found in the lake. Whether it was murder or suicide, the investigation has not established. Both were in frock coats, hats and umbrellas, which excluded the intention to swim. Ludwig was an excellent swimmer, which made the accident version unlikely. The autopsy also did not shed light on the reasons for the death of the king. It was beneficial for official sources to support the version of insanity and suicide. After Ludwig's death, the reign passed to his mentally disabled brother Otto under the tutelage of his uncle Lutpold.
After Ludwig's reign, in addition to his palaces, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Technological Institute in Munich, the Bavarian Red Cross remained. The funds he created supported the development of musical culture, which led to the construction of the Palais des Festivals in Bayreuth.
Fussen
The area where Füssen is located was shaped by various ice ages, mainly due to the influence of the Lech glacier. The numerous moraine hills and most of the lakes are legacies from this period.People began to settle in these places from the end of the Paleolithic. At first, these were the tribes of the Celts, who were romanized approx. 15 BC during the campaigns of Augustus' stepchildren - Tiberius and Drusus. The area became part of the Roman province of Raetia, which during the reign of Emperor Diacletian (284-305 AD) was divided into Raetia 1 (capital of Chur) and Raetia 2 (with capital Augsburg). To connect the new territories, the Roman emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) built the military road of Claudius Augustus, which began at Altinum (now a place near Venice) and at the r. Po and reached the Danube through Füssen and Augsburg. At the end of the 3rd century. on the hill where the palace is located, a Roman camp was set up to defend against the attacks of the Germanic tribes, which began at the beginning of the century. In the 4th century. the territory was inhabited by Germanic tribes, first under the rule of the Ostrogoths, then the Franks.
There are different versions about the origin of the name Fussen. For the first time this word appeared on a Roman tombstone of the 4th century. (fotensium) And at the beginning of the 5th century. appeared in the official papers of the Romans (in the form of foetibus). It is unclear whether this word appeared in pre-Roman times and was Latinized or it was originally a Latin word meaning "a place at a gorge" (the mouth of Lech in the rocks was called Lusaltenfelsen). On the other hand, it could be a Roman military term: "praepositus Fotensium" - the commander of the troops of Füssen. The monks of St. Mungo called the site of their monastery "ad fauces" (near the gorge) and in 1175 the German word Fozen was recorded.
By the time the settlement received the status of a city, it was called Fuezzen, and this name was associated with the word for feet (fuesse), so the city's coat of arms depicts three legs. Seals with the coat of arms appeared since 1317. Three legs are associated with three sources of power to which the city is subordinated: the prince-archbishop of Augsburg (or the Duchy of Swabia), the County of Tyrol and the Duke of Bavaria).
St. Magnus was born c. 700 g. He worked in this area not so much as a missionary, but rather as a teacher of ordinary people, helping them. In 750 or 772 he died and the monastery of St. Mungo was later built on his grave.
In the 12th century. the city was at first under the rule of the Guelphs, then the Duke of Bavaria built a palace here in 1298, thus trying to establish his power. But the archbishops of Augsburg have had power over Füssen since ancient times. In the 13th century. Füssen acquired independence and was governed by its own municipal laws, although it was under the rule of the archbishop until secularization in 1802, when it came under the rule of Bavaria.
Since the time of the Romans and the construction of the road, Füssen has become an important trade center, goods came from the south and north, floated along the Lech.
In the 16th century. the first European guild for making lutes and violins was founded. Violin makers from Fussen spread throughout Europe, especially a large number of them settled in Vienna, thanks to which Vienna became the largest city for the manufacture of musical instruments, along with Paris and London. From the 16th century. a tradition of organ-making was also developing. There are now two toolmaking workshops in Füssen that supply products to the international market.
After the wars of the 16-18 centuries. Füssen has lost its significance. Only in the 19th century. with the construction of a tesktile factory, and then with the development of alpine tourism, the city's economy began to recover.
In 1995, Füssen celebrated its 700th anniversary.
travel / about the sights in short / photos / maps
Neuschwanstein
Construction began in 1869 by order of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, known as the "Mad King Ludwig". The castle stands on the site of two fortresses - the front and rear Schwangau. The king ordered at this place, by blowing up a rock, to lower the plateau by about 8 meters and thereby create a place for construction.The castle was conceived as a giant stage, where the world of German mythology comes to life, especially the image of the legendary swan knight Lohengrin from the opera of the same name by Wagner (see libretto). The name of the castle in translation from German means "new swan stone".
The castle was not built as quickly as the king wanted. The gate building was the first to be built and Ludwig lived here for several years. He moved to the palace in 1884. Moving further and further away from society, Ludwig changed the purpose of the rooms. The guest rooms were replaced in the plan by the Moorish Hall with a fountain, but it was never built. The study was turned into a small grotto in 1880. The audience room has been transformed into a huge Throne Room. It was no longer intended for audience, but embodied royal grandeur and was a copy of the legendary Grail Hall.
The medieval appearance of the castle hides the most modern technical innovations at that time: the castle was heated by central heating, there is water on each floor, there is hot and cold water in the kitchen, toilets have an automatic cleaning system, servants were called by an electric bell system. There were even telephones on the third and fourth floors. The food did not climb the stairs, but the elevator. One of the innovations is large windows. Windows of this size were still unusual in Ludwig's time.
The construction of the castle was not completed during the life of the king. Soon after his mystical death in 1886, the castle and its magnificent interior were opened to the general public. It took 17 years to complete its construction.
At the end of World War II, the castle contained the gold reserves of the German Reich, but in the last days During the war, he was taken to an unknown destination.
Halls of the castle
The walls of the halls are painted according to the themes of medieval legends and Wagner's operas. The main characters are kings, knights, poets and lovers. The main figures are the poet Tannhäuser (Singing Hall) (see the plot of Wagner's opera Tannhäuser), the swan knight Lohengrin (see the plot of Wagner’s opera Lohengrin) and his father, the Grail King Parzival (see the plot of Wagner’s opera Parzival) ...The Salzburg marble royal staircase, over which a stylized dragon and hunting scenes are depicted, lead to the passage to the royal chambers on the 4th floor. On the vault are the coats of arms of Schwangau, Bavaria and Wittelsbach.
Since the castle was built in the style of a medieval fortress, and in the 12th century. there were no glass windows, the king wanted to create the impression of open window arches. Therefore, the glass of the vaults, as well as the glass between the columns, was built directly into the stone wall.
Next to the door leading to the main staircase are oak doors leading to the servants' staircase. At the time of the presence of the king, the servants did not have the right to use the main staircase.
The servants lived on the first top floor. Five servants' rooms are showing today. They have simple oak furniture. Two people slept in each room. When the king was absent, 10-15 people lived in the castle, looking after him. When he returned, the number of workers more than doubled.
The main staircase leads to the hall on the third floor. To the west of it is the Throne Room, to the east are the royal apartments. The paintings on the walls depict scenes from the Sigurd legend based on the Elder Edda. It served as the basis for the legend of Siegfried from the medieval German Song of the Nibelungs, which formed the basis of Wagner's cycle of operas The Ring of the Nibelungs. There is a curse on the treasures of the Nibelungen. Sigurd killed the dragon and took possession of the treasure, but a curse fell on him and he was killed. The murals on the walls in the hall show scenes from the fortune-telling of Sigurd to his death. The fate of Sigurd's wife Gudrun is shown in the hall in the next tier.
Throne room resembles a Byzantine basilica. Ludwig wanted it to be like the Cathedral of All Saints in Munich and St. Sophia in Constantinople. The throne, which was supposed to stand in the place of the altar, was never built. Ludwig 2 had his own ideas about the role of the king and the monarchy, which are vividly illustrated in the Throne Room by paintings: the throne is the source of law, royal power is given by the grace of God.
The wall paintings depict Christ in glory with Mary and St. John surrounded by angels, and below are 6 canonized kings, among whom is St. Louis 9 of France, the king's patron. On the opposite wall are St. Michael the Archangel (above) and St. George, patron saint of the Bavarian order of knights. Ludwig did not want state receptions to take place in the Throne Room. He considered this hall a holy of holies, a place where his fantasies came true. The mosaic floor is especially beautiful in this room. On the surface, a celestial sphere with the image of animals and plants is visible. Above it is the heavenly dome, the sun and the stars, and between heaven and earth, the symbol of the royal crown is a huge chandelier, emphasizing the mediating role of the king between God and people. The chandelier is made of gilded copper, decorated with glass stones and 96 candles. With the help of a special spiral, the chandelier (weighing 900 kg) can be lowered to the floor.
On the canvases Dining room depicts scenes of the legendary contests of singers-minnesingers (which became the basis of Wagner's opera "Tannhäuser"). All the paintings of the royal chambers are painted on rough linen, so they give the impression of tapestries. This was also done at the request of the king, since tapestries were expensive and took a long time to make. The food was lifted into the dining room using a lift.
Bedroom king is sustained in the neo-gothic style, with luxurious oak carvings. The wall paintings show scenes from the saga of Tristan and Isolde. It was in this room that on June 12, 1886, the king was announced that he was declared insane and incapacitated. He died the next day.
The next room is court chapel... It is also designed in a neo-gothic style.
Next is the royal hall, living room king. It consists of a large salon and a so-called swan's corner separated by columns. The theme of the wall paintings is the Lohengrin saga. In the bay window there is a large swan-shaped vase made of nympheburg majolica.
Between the living room and the study was created artificial grotto in a romantic style. The walls are made of simple materials such as tow and gypsum, there is an artificial waterfall, and a passage on the right leads to the winter garden.
Study king is designed in the Romanesque style. As in the living room, there is carved oak, lamps made of gilded copper. The walls are decorated with paintings on the theme of the Tannhäuser saga. Then the group is taken to the adjutant and on the 5th floor - in Singing hall... Numerous wall paintings illustrate scenes from the legend of Parzifal (see legend of Parzifal). The painting, which serves as a backdrop for the stage - a gazebo for singing, depicts the garden of the wizard Klingsor and is designed to create the most reliable illusion that the listener sees a real garden in front of him. Concerts are held in the Singing Hall every September.
The tour ends at the landing of a staircase that only the king could walk on.
The palace kitchen, which has been completely preserved from the time of the king, visitors explore on their own. The kitchen was equipped with the latest innovations of the time: it has a built-in unit with hot and cold water, automatic skewers for roasts. The stove heat served at the same time to heat the dishes.
travel / / photo
Hohenschwangau
It is based on the Schwanstein fortress. It was built in the 12th century. and immediately became a meeting point for singers-minnesingers. The Knights of Schwangau received these lands into fief from the Welfs, then they were subordinate to the Hohenstaufens. Hitpold von Schwangau, one of the first known knights with this name, went down in history as a famous minnesinger and was immortalized in the Heidelberg Songbook and Manes Manuscript.In the 16th century. the family of knights of Schwangau died out, the fortress gradually began to fall apart. In 1538-41. it was reconstructed by the Italian architect Licio de Spari for the then owner of the Augsburg aristocrat Paumgarten. The building was the main seat of the Schwangau government.
After several owners changed, the castle in the form of ruins was bought by Crown Prince Maximilian of Bavaria, future King Maximilian II and father of Ludwig 2. Restoration began in 1833. King Maximilian II used the castle as a summer residence. Ludwig II lived here as a child and later also spent a lot of time, and here he received Wagner.
The lack of interiors of the castle is filled with countless paintings telling about the deeds of prominent personalities from German legends and history, as well as about the generations of the Wittelsbach family: about the swan knight Lohengrin (the swan was a heraldic animal of the Knights of Schwangau), about the life of the Wittelsbufrich family (Hohenstaal Barbarossa), a kind of knights of Schwangau, Charlemagne, etc.
The castle has been open to the public as a museum since 1913. During the Second World War, the castle was not damaged, today it still belongs to the members of the royal house of Bavaria, the Wittelsbach family.
about the sights briefly / photo
Linderhof
The first plan for Linderhof was made by Ludwig in 1868. The new building was erected on the basis of a forest house belonging to Ludwig's father Maximilian 2. The palace was the only one completed of all Ludwig's projects, and he spent a lot of time here alone.In 1869 Ludwig began rebuilding the forest lodge, calling it the Royal Cottage. In 1870, under the supervision of the palace builder Georg Dollmann, a wing was added and the original plan was changed: a second wing was added to balance the first, and a bedroom to link the two wings. In 1873, the final design of the palace was drawn up. The original timber structure was replaced by a stone one and was covered with a new roof. In 1874 the cottage was moved 200 meters to the place where it is now. Now the exterior of the facade has acquired its current appearance. By 1876, the creation of the interiors of the palace was completed. In 1874, work was completed on the plans for the park.
Halls of the palace
The tour starts at Lobby, they give out brochures with text in different languages if the visitor does not understand English or German. In the center of the room is a bronze statue of the French king Louis 14, whom Ludwig II admired and who was for him a symbol of absolute royalty. From the lobby, stairs lead to the living rooms.V western tapestry room, otherwise called the Musical, strikes the multicolored wall paintings and seating furniture. The paintings, reminiscent of tapestries, depict scenes from high society and shepherd life in the Rococo style. Next to a richly decorated musical instrument - a combination of piano and harmonium typical of the 19th century - stands a life-size peacock made of painted Sèvres porcelain. The same peacock stands in the east tapestry room. This bird is considered, like the swan, the king's favorite animal.
Visitors enter the reception area through a yellow office overlooking the western terraces. This room was originally intended to be the throne room. Into the precious wall cladding audience rooms inscribed are two marble fireplaces with equestrian statues of kings Louis XV and Louis XVI. Between the fireplaces is the king's desk with a gilded writing set. Above the work table there is a canope, decorated with gold thread embroidery. Round malachite tables are a gift from the Russian empress.
Royal bedroom- this is the central and most capacious room of the castle, illuminated by 108 candles from a crystal candelabrum. Marble sculptures, stucco moldings and ceiling paintings pay tribute to the heroes of ancient mythology.
Pink Cabinet- This is the king's dressing room, one of four small rooms connecting the main premises. She leads to the dining room.
Aged in vibrant red canteen has an oval shape. In the middle of the room is a retractable table decorated with a Meissen porcelain vase. He was served in the lower rooms and raised to the king so that even the presence of the servants would not bother him.
V east tapestry room dominated by motives of Greek mythology. It leads to the Hall of Mirrors.
Fabulous Mirror hall was established in 1874. Mirrored cabinets are typical of German palaces of the 18th century, but in Linderhof this found its highest embodiment. Huge mirrors, white and gold panels between the mirrors create endless rows of rooms.
Park and park pavilions
The park covers 80 hectares and includes Renaissance terraces, austere baroque parterres and an English landscape park that gradually turns into forest and mountains.Right behind the palace there is a flower bed with the image of the Bourbon lily. The creators of the park made good use of the natural environment, the fact that the castle stands at the foot of steep slopes. Linden pergolas go up along the cascade, which ends at the palace with a fountain with the figure of Neptune, stone figures symbolize the four continents. Upstairs there is a gazebo, from there a beautiful view of the palace, a cascade, terraces and the Temple of Venus opens up on a hill on the other side of the palace.
To the right and to the left of the palace are the eastern and western parterres, respectively. Eastern parterre is a three-tiered garden in the style of French regular gardens with ornamented flower beds and figures depicting the 4 elements allegorically: fire, water, earth and air. In the center - a stone sculpture of Venus and Adonis, a fountain with a gilded figure of Cupid with an arrow and a stone bust of King Louis 16 of France. Western parterre was the first palace garden. In the center there are flower beds with two fountains with gilded figures of the goddess of glory Fama and Cupid. Along the perimeter there are symbolic figures of the four seasons.
In front of the palace - a geometric garden surrounded by a hornbeam hedge, in the center - the fountain(22 m) with a gilded group "Flora and Putti", which turns on for 5 minutes every half hour. Nearby is a huge linden tree (about 300 years old), which originally gave the name to the farm located here, and then to the palace. Three Italian-style terraces rise up the Linderbichl hill. Terraced gardens decorated with 2 lions and the Naiad fountain. In the center of the terrace there is a complex of grotto niches with a bust of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. The terraces end with a platform with a round Greek temple with the figure of Venus. Initially, a theater was planned on this site.
All other pavilions are located along the perimeter of the arc, in the center of which is the palace.
Closest to the park entrance Moroccan Pavilion... It was purchased at the World's Fair in Paris in 1878, and the interior was changed at the request of Ludwig. The house was originally located outside Linderhof next to the German-Austrian border, not far from the hunting lodge. After Ludwig's death, it was bought by a private person and returned back, now to the park, only in 1982.
The next building on the way to the palace is Royal Loggia... The building dates back to 1790. It was already used by Maximilian as a hunting lodge. Ludwig often lived here until the palace was finished, and after the king's death, it was often used by Prince Regent Luitpold.
To the right of the palace - St. Anne's Chapel... The oldest building in the Linderhof complex, built in 1684 by Abbot Ettal. The interiors were changed under the direction of Ludwig 2.
The furthest from the palace, at the exit (closed for visitors), leading to Ettal and Oberammergau, is Hunting lodge... It was built in 1876 and was located in the Ammertal valleys, burned down in 1884 and immediately rebuilt. In 1945 it burned down again and was rebuilt in 1990 in Linderhof. The interior of the house serves as a decoration for Wagner's opera Valkyrie. In the center is an ash tree, a symbol of the World Tree of Scandinavian Myths.
Perhaps the most interesting Moorish Pavilion... Ludwig was particularly interested in oriental architecture, and by the time he bought the Moorish Pavilion, he had already built the Indian Pavilion at his Munich residence. The Moorish Pavilion was built in 1867 in Prussia for the world exhibition in Paris. In the twilight light of colored glass windows and colored lamps, the splendor of an exotic interior is revealed. A peacock throne, made for the king in 1877 in Paris, was installed in the rounding of the apse: three peacocks are made of bright enameled cast metal, and the tails are made of polished Bohemian glass. The furnishings are complemented by a Moorish fountain, stylized lamps, smoking tables and coffee tables.
Grotto of Venus was built in 1877. The cave with a lake and a waterfall was created for the performance of the first act of Wagner's opera Tannhäuser. The lights were supplied with electricity. The stone doors were opened with a special secret switch.
vXvi- Xvii
The struggle of Prussia with the Austrian Habsburgs. War of the Austrian Succession 1740-48
The struggle of Prussia with the Austrian Habsburgs. Seven Years War.
Economic development of the Habsburg possessions. Reforms of Maria Theresa and JosephII.
Features of the political state and development of Austria inXvi- Xviicenturies Fight against the Ottoman Empire.
The largest state in the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" was the possession of the Habsburgs. This state did not even have a specific name, since it was a union of lands inhabited by different peoples under the rule of the Habsburg dynasty. However, since Austria was the core of the original hereditary possessions of this house, this state is most often called so. The growth of the possessions of the Austrian archdukes of the Habsburg dynasty, who were also elected emperors of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German nation" from 1438, was closely related to the need to repel Turkish invasions in the 15th - 16th centuries. So, the general danger of the Turkish conquest forced at the end of the 15th century. unite Hungary and the Czech Republic. After the death of the Hungarian king Matthew Corvinus in 1490, the Hungarian feudal lords elected the Czech king Vladislav II Jagiellon to the throne. Personal union united the Czech Republic and Hungary under the son of Vladislav II, Louis II. However, after the defeat of the combined Czech-Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohacs in 1526, in which Louis II died, and the capture of the magnificent capital of Hungary - Buda by the troops of the Turkish Sultan Suleiman, the Czech nobility proclaimed the king of the Czech Republic, and the Hungarian nobility - the king of Hungary, Ferdinand I of Habsburg ... Although the transfer of the Czech crown to the Habsburgs was an act of personal union (one common monarch for the two states), later, after the suppression of the Czech uprising in 1547, the Habsburg rule in Bohemia was declared hereditary. In Hungary, the power of the Habsburgs was based on a marriage contract and was established after the wars with Suleiman the Magnificent in 1529 and 1532-1533. and 1540-1547 according to the Adrianople peace only in the western part of the country, the central part came under the rule of the Turks, became the Turkish vilayet. According to the Adrianople world, vassal dependence on the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent also fell into the eastern part of Hungary, where the semi-independent principality of Transylvania was formed. For the possession of this principality again in 1566-1568. Suleiman the Magnificent and Ferdinand of Austria fought. Transylvanian princes, who considered themselves legitimate claimants to the Hungarian throne, often waged wars against the Habsburgs in alliance with the Ottoman Empire.
By the end of the XVI century. the pressure of Turkey on the possessions of the Habsburgs weakened: according to the peace of 1568, the Habsburgs pledged to pay the Sultan an annual tribute, after which the Turkish army left the Austrian possessions. The Habsburgs tried to restore their influence in the German lands by strengthening the imperial power, weakened by the Reformation. This explains that the struggle for the subordination of the German princes to the imperial power was a struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism. The intervention of neighboring powers in this conflict led to the escalation of the internal German conflict into a European one: the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648 began.
During the Thirty Years War, the Austrian Habsburgs were defeated, and Emperor Ferdinand III was forced to sign the Peace of Westphalia, which consolidated the political fragmentation of the German lands. True, the Austrian Habsburgs did not suffer territorial losses.
Having failed in an attempt to transform Germany into a single centralized Catholic state, the Austrian Habsburgs tried to create a centralized state based on their family holdings. Emperor Leopold I (1658-1705) carried out a number of measures to strengthen the central government:
introduces uniform taxation in all of its holdings,
strengthens the existing and creates new central bodies: the State Council, the Military Council, the Kommmerts Collegium, the Collegium for the collection of taxes, etc.
All these measures were a continuation of the policy of limiting the power of local feudal-estate institutions in the Czech Republic. So, back in 1528, Ferdinand I forbade the gathering of seims (congresses) of the nobles and townspeople of Bohemia without his permission. After the suppression of the 1547 uprising, all Czech cities except Prague and three other cities were deprived of their representation in the Sejm.
These measures violated the established order of government in the Hungarian lands of the Habsburgs. During the struggle with Turkey, wishing to win over the Hungarian nobility, the Habsburgs retained both the State Council of Hungary and its right to issue laws. The West Hungarian lands, which were part of the possessions of the Habsburgs, were divided into komitats, in which the power belonged entirely to the local nobility.
In the midst of the administrative reforms of Leopold I, the international situation aggravated: Turkey again begins campaigns of conquest directed against Austria, Venice, the Commonwealth and Russia.
In 1660, the 80 thousandth army of the Turkish Sultan under the command of the great vizier Fazil Ahmet Kepiolu Pasha invaded western Hungary and laid siege to the city of Klausenburg. The allied Austro-French army under the command of Raimund Montecuculi, supported by Hungarian troops, not only liberated the city of Klausenberg, but also defeated the Turkish army in the battle of St. Leopold was stopped fighting and concluded in 1664 the Vashvar Peace Treaty, according to which all their possessions in central Hungary and Transylvania were returned to Turkey. These actions of Leopold were explained by the aggravation of contradictions in Europe, which was brewing with the war of Louis XIV with the aim of capturing the Netherlands and Holland (1672-1678).
Dissatisfied with the conclusion of the Vasvar Treaty, as a missed opportunity to liberate central Hungary and Transylvania from Turkish rule, indignant at the violation of the rights and privileges of self-government, in connection with the reforms of Leopold I, the Hungarian nobles repeatedly tried to revolt against the Habsburgs. In 1666-1667, Franz Vyachshelen made an attempt to raise the uprising, in 1670-1671. the conspiracy and uprising was raised by P. Zrigny, F. Nadashdi and F. Rakoczi I. These conspiracies and uprisings failed, their participants were executed. Not wanting repeated noble conspiracies, Leopold I increases the number of the occupying Austrian troops and dissolves the Hungarian troops (Honved), which had previously carried the border service. For the administration of the western Hungarian lands, a governor's system was established, at the head of which was the grand master of the German knightly order G. Ampringen.
Taking advantage of European contradictions, the Turkish Sultan Mahmud IV in 1671 declared war on the Commonwealth. Turkish troops defeated the Polish king Mikhail Vishnevetsky (elected king after the abdication of Jan-Casimir II in 1668) and forced him to conclude the Buchach peace in 1672, according to which Podolia withdrew to Turkey, and Western Ukraine, led by hetman Petro Doroshenko , gained independence with the obligation to pay tribute to the Sultan. This peace was not approved by the Polish Sejm, and the Polish crown hetman Jan Sobieski continued the war. Polish troops defeated the Turks in the Battle of Khotin, the Khotin garrison capitulated. In 1674, after the death of Mikhail Vishnevetsky, Jan III Sobessky was elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but during the elections, the Turks again captured Khotin and approached Lviv. Having won the battle of Lvov in 1675, Jan Sobieski freed almost the entire territory of Poland from the Turks. After several victories in the battles of 1676 near Zoravnoye, Zlochevo and Suchavna, in October 1676, the Peace of Zoravna was signed: Turkey returned Western Ukraine to Poland, with the exception of Podolia and two fortresses (Kamenets-Podolsky and Khotin).
The reason for the beginning of a new big war of Turkey in Central Europe in 1670-1699. was an anti-Austrian revolt led by Count Imre Tekeli. Since the end of the XVI century. most of the townspeople and nobility of western Hungary accepted the Reformation. After the end of the Thirty Years War, the Protestant churches were closed, the Jesuits entered the country and seized most of the schools. The reforms of Leopold I were accompanied by increased tax levies, plundering of hired Austrian imperial troops stationed in Hungary, which prompted many Hungarian and Slovak peasants to flee to the eastern regions bordering with Transylvania. Runaway peasants were called crusaders (kuruts) in memory of the peasant war of 1514. In the summer of 1670, an uprising of Hungarian and Slovak peasants and demoted Honvedians began in Northern Hungary.
Count Imre Tekeli took advantage of this uprising of the Kuruts, who planned to recreate the Hungarian state independent of the Austrian Habsburgs. Many Hungarian nobles, dissatisfied with the reforms of Leopold I and the Vashvar Treaty and the reprisals against the participants in the anti-Austrian conspiracies of 1666-1671. joined this uprising. Since 1678, the peasant uprising takes on an organized character in connection with the joining of the noble detachments. By 1679, most of the territory of Slovakia, Northern Hungary and Transcarpathia was liberated from Austrian troops, and Imre Tekeli proclaimed himself prince (king) of Hungary.
These events forced Leopold I to abolish the "governor's" reign and to convene in 1681 the National Assembly of Hungary, which elected the governor of the Hungarian prince P. Esterhazy. The meeting confirmed the restoration of noble privileges in the management of the committees, and allowed the preaching of the Protestant religion in some of the committees. In addition, Leopold I began to generously distribute titles and lands to the Hungarian nobility. These measures led to the withdrawal from the uprising of most of the Hungarian nobility. Not wanting to end the struggle, I. Tekeli appeals for help to the Turkish Sultan Mahmud IV, recognizing himself as his vassal. With the help of the Turkish army under the command of the great vizier Kara-Mustafa, by 1683 the entire north-east of Hungary was again under the rule of I. Tekeli. Leopold I hastened to recognize I. Tekeli as a prince (king) of Hungary, but the Turkish Sultan Mahmud IV decided to continue the war.
Under these conditions, Jan Sobieski, king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, concluded a defensive alliance with Leopold I. on March 31, 1683.
At this time, the huge Turkish army under the command of Kara-Mustafa was already moving from Adrianople to Belgrade. On the way, the army of the Transylvanian prince Mikhail Apofi (Mihai Apafi) joined the Turkish army, and the army of the Hungarian prince (king) I. Tekeli launched an offensive in Slovakia.
The Tekeli army, which operated separately, was defeated at Pressburg, and the Turkish-Transylvanian troops on the territory of Austria proper were divided: the 50 thousandth group began to siege the city of Gyor, and the remaining 150 thousand began the siege of Vienna. Emperor Leopold I fled from Vienna to Passau, the 30 thousandth Austrian army under the command of Charles of Lorraine retreated west to the city of Linz, leaving the 15 thousandth garrison under the command of Count Staremberg to defend Vienna. The siege of Vienna dragged on, as the Turks did not have enough siege guns. Having learned about the events near Vienna, the Polish king Jan Sobieski, at the call of Pope Innocent XI, and fulfilling an allied duty, at the head of an army of 30 thousand, hastened to the rescue. Having covered 320 km from Warsaw to Vienna in 15 days, the troops of J. Sobieski caught the Turks by surprise. On September 12, 1683, during the Battle of Vienna, 76 thousand united troops of Charles of Lorraine (center), Jan Sobieski (right flank) and German troops (left flank), supported by a sortie of the Vienna garrison, defeated the Turkish army. The outcome of the long battle was predetermined by the attack of the Polish cavalry to the tent of the great vizier. During the battle, 6 Pasha were killed, the Banner of the Prophet was captured, which was sent as a gift to the Pope.
In 1684, to liberate the Christian lands from Turkish rule, at the call of Innocent XI, the Holy League was created: the German Empire (Austria), Poland, Venice. In 1686 Russia also joined this league, having concluded the "Eternal Peace" with the Commonwealth.
During the years 1684-1685. Austrian and Polish troops captured the entire territory of the Hungarian principality of I. Tekei. Over the next two years, Austrian troops occupied central Hungary and the Hungarian capital, Buda.
In 1687, Leopold I convened the Hungarian State Assembly (Diet) and achieved the adoption of decisions important for the Habsburg dynasty:
the estates renounced the right to choose the Hungarian king, recognizing the hereditary right of the Habsburgs to the throne,
abolished the provision of the "Golden Bull" on the right to armed resistance of the nobility to the king in case of violation of the Constitution,
the territory of Transylvania, recognized as the hereditary possession of the Habsburgs, was finally torn away from Hungary.
In 1688, the imperial troops liberated Belgrade from the Turks and invaded Serbia, which was a Turkish possession. Concerned about the success of the Habsburgs and the creation of the Augsburg League (1686), Louis XIV broke the truce with the German Empire and invaded the Palatinate. This is how the great European war began in 1688 (at the same time it was the third "Dutch" war of Louis XIV) on several fronts. French troops were able to win ground battles in the Netherlands, in Italy, in Spain. Only at sea, France was defeated by the Anglo-Dutch fleet. It was at this time that the young Russian Tsar Peter tried to use the international situation and undertook campaigns against an ally of France - Ottoman Empire- to the Turkish fortress of Azov (campaigns in 1695 and 1696). Unexpectedly for all participants in the war in 1697, France, having won so many victories, proposed peace negotiations. Under the terms of the Peace of Reswick in 1697, all the fortresses in Catalonia, Luxembourg and the fortresses of Courtray and Mons in the Southern Netherlands were returned to Spain. The reasons for such a fast and clearly unfavorable world for France were information about the imminent death of the childless Spanish king Charles II and the hopes of Louis XIV for the division of the Spanish inheritance (Spain - France, the Netherlands - Austria), to which a relative of Charles II of Habsburg, Leopold I Habsburg, the German emperor, also agreed. It was at this time that the Russian Tsar Peter, as part of the Great Embassy, and therefore unsuccessfully tried to persuade the German Emperor Leopold, and then England and Holland to continue the war against France's ally - the Ottoman Empire.
In 1890, in connection with the death of the Transylvanian prince Mikhail Apofi, I. Tekei seized his throne, but not for long. Since the war against the Turks acquired a liberating character, he lost the support of both the peasantry and the nobility, and his troops were unable to resist the offensive of the Austrian troops. And later, the Turkish troops, thanks to which Tekei still held the power in some parts of Transylvania, were defeated. In September 1697, on the borders of Transylvania, the commander of the Austrian troops, Yevgeny Savoysky, in a battle on the banks of the Zenta River, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Turkish army of the vizier Ilyas Mehmed. As a result, in 1699 the Karlovytsky Peace was concluded and the war with Turkey ended, which distracted the Habsburgs from the struggle for influence in the German lands and from the problems of Europe. The Karlovytsky Peace cemented the victory of the Austrian Habsburgs over the Turkish (Ottoman) Empire: the Habsburgs received central and eastern Hungary (Transylvania), Croatia and Slovenia (Slavonia).
The outbreak of a new European war "War of the Spanish Succession" 1701-1713. again accompanied by serious internal upheavals in the possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs. The anti-Austrian uprising was prepared by Ferenc Rakoczi II (1676-1753), whose name was a symbol of the struggle for the independence of Hungary, since his father and maternal grandfather were among the executed conspirators in 1671. His stepfather Tekeli also fought against the Austrians, and under the leadership of his mother Ilona Zrinyi defended the Mukachevo fortress against the Austrians for three years in 1685-88. F. Rákóczi's letter, sent to Louis XIV in the hope of supporting France in organizing the anti-Austrian uprising, was intercepted, and Rákóczi was imprisoned in a fortress near Vienna. Rákóczi managed to escape, he found shelter in Poland, where envoys from Hungarian peasants, dissatisfied with the increased tax burden, arrived to him. Rákóczi created armed forces, and since the main forces of the Austrian army were occupied on the battlefields in Western Europe, he was able to quickly liberate most of the territory of Hungary. In 1704, his army approached the borders of Austria. In 1705, Rákóczi II convened the National Assembly of Hungary (Diet), whose deputies refused to recognize the new emperor Joseph I (1705-1711) as King of Hungary, since this violated the Hungarian Constitution on the election of kings (although this provision of the Constitution was canceled in 1687 G). Rakoczi's hopes for help from France and the allied France of Bavaria were dashed after the Battle of Blenheim on August 13, 1704, where the Austrian troops of Eugene of Savoy and the British under the command of Marlborough defeated the Franco-Bavarian army of Marshal Tallard and the Duke of Baden. French troops were forced to withdraw across the Rhine. Then Rákóczi II tried to carry out reforms aimed at winning the trust of the Hungarian population:
the Senate and the Economic Council were established,
own currency introduced,
schools were opened and a newspaper in Latin began to be published (Mercurius Verdicus),
a decree was adopted on the liberation from serfdom of the peasants participating in the war of independence,
those peasants who served in the army were also exempted from feudal duties,
the nobility was taxed.
Since further battles of 1705-1707. were also in favor of the allied Austro-British troops, Rákóczi II turned to Russia for support. In 1707, Peter I signed an alliance treaty with Rakoczi, but Russia was unable to provide effective assistance in connection with the war with Sweden. In 1708, reinforced Austrian troops inflicted a series of defeats on the Rákóczi army. The Pope, under threat of excommunication, demanded that the Catholics submit to the legitimate sovereign - Emperor Joseph I. All this, together with dissatisfaction with the latest measures related to the situation of the peasants and tax policy, caused fluctuations in the mood of the Hungarian nobility. When Rakoczi II left for Warsaw to meet with Peter I, entrusting Count S. Karolyi with the command of the army and negotiating with the Austrians in order to "gain time", Karolyi signed the Satmar Peace Treaty with the Habsburgs (1711). The conditions of the peace were soft: a guarantee of the observance of the Hungarian Constitution, a guarantee of freedom of religion and amnesty for the participants in the war of independence. The amnesty extended to Rakoczi, but he preferred exile: he went to France and then to Turkey.
As a result of the War for the "Spanish Succession" (1701-1713), by agreement with France, the Austrian Habsburgs seized the Spanish Netherlands and the vast possessions of Spain in Italy: Lombardy with Milan, Mantua, Naples and Sardinia. However, this war and especially The Satmar Peace was prevented by the centralization of the possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs.
During the new Austro-Turkish war of 1716-1718. E. Savoisky, who received the rank of generalissimo, using the tactics of a "night attack" and having much smaller forces, managed to defeat the Turkish army of Darnad Ali Pasha on August 10, 1716 in the battle at Peterweidein. The Austrians under the command of Savoy inflicted a new defeat on the Turks under the walls of Belgrade. Soon after this battle, a peace treaty was signed, according to which the remainder of Hungary (Banat), part of Serbia with Belgrade and part of Bosnia and Wallachia withdrew to the hereditary possessions of the Habsburgs.
Thus, the hereditary possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs by the beginning of the 18th century. despite attempts to reform, for various reasons, they were not centralized, did not have a common legislation, a common management system. Many parts of the empire were governed by their own estates.
Of particular concern to the Austrian ruling circles was the fact that Emperor Charles VI (1711-1740) had no male heirs, which threatened the collapse of the state.
The struggle of Prussia with the Austrian Habsburgs. War of the Austrian Succession 1740-48 Seven Years War.
Charles VI, who became emperor of the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation” in 1711 during the war for the “Spanish Succession”, tried to link the conditions of the Utrecht Peace of 1713 with the problem of the Habsburg dynasty's succession to the throne. In the same 1713, the "Pragmatic Sanction" was issued, according to which the hereditary lands of the house of the Habsburgs were declared indivisible and could be inherited by the eldest daughter in the absence of sons. Charles VI made every effort to recognize this sanction by all representative-estate institutions in his lands and neighboring European powers. In 1723 this sanction was approved by the Council of State of Hungary, by 1740 this sanction was recognized by most European countries, including England, Prussia, Russia and France.
War of the Austrian Succession 1740-48
In 1740, when Emperor Charles VI died and his daughter Maria Theresia (1740-1780) ascended the throne, the imperial princes of Germany and King of Prussia Frederick II (1740-1786) began to make territorial claims in exchange for recognition of her rights to throne. Despite the recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction by his father, after becoming king, Frederick II demanded the surrender of Silesia to Prussia. Frederick acted counting on the military unpreparedness of Austria and on the abundance of enemies: the Bavarian Elector Karl-Albert, France and Spain (where Bourbon Philip V ruled). Having attacked Austria in 1740, the Prussian king Frederick gave an assurance to the French ambassador that he would "share with France if he won." As a result, an agreement was concluded between Prussia and France, Spain, Bavaria on the division of the "Austrian inheritance". In the very first year of the war, Frederick defeated the Austrian army and captured Silesia, and the allied Franco-Bavarian army captured Prague. The Bavarian Elector Karl Albert was elected King of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany under the name Charles VII (1742-1745). However, further the position of Austria's opponents became more complicated. Maria Theresa was able to rely on the support of the Hungarian nobility, having issued in 1741 a law on the exemption of noble lands from taxation and the expansion of the rights of the Komitat assemblies. Having replenished the forces with Hungarian troops, the Austrian army launched a counteroffensive. Seeing the change in the situation, Frederick II concluded a separate peace with Maria Theresa in 1742, on the terms of the transfer of Silesia to him. By 1743-44 Austria's allies were Saxony, England, Sardinia, Holland and Russia. In 1744, Frederick again enters the war against Austria and defeats the Austrian army of Charles of Lorraine at Hohenfriedberg in June, at Sorgau in September and at Hennesdorf in November 1745. As a result of the defeats, the Austrian army was forced to retreat to Bohemia.
Fighting in the Austrian Netherlands unfolded in Flanders in 1745. Allied Anglo-Dutch-Austrian troops under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, the son of the English king, also suffered a series of defeats from the French army under the command of Moritz of Saxony.
As a result, French troops occupied most of Flanders and such important cities as Tournai, Ghent, Bruges, Oudenaarde, Ostend and Brussels. In October 1746 at Roque, near Liege, Moritz of Saxony inflicted a new defeat on the Austrian army, commanded by Duke Charles of Lorraine. In July 1747, at Laufeld, the French army of Moritz of Saxony also defeated the allied Anglo-Austrian army under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, who had returned from Scotland.
Yet the War of Austrian Succession was lost by the French coalition. This was facilitated by the defeat inflicted by the British in the naval battle on June 14, 1747 to the French fleet, and the repeated termination of the war by the Prussian king Frederick II in 1745, on the condition that Silesia was recognized by Maria Theresa. In addition, the negotiations that had begun between Spain and Austria and England led to the withdrawal of Spain from the War of the Austrian Succession. Spain was satisfied with England's promises to preserve the borders in North America and Austria's transfer of Parma and Piacenza in Italy to Philip, the brother of Ferdinand VI, who came to the Spanish throne in 1746.
The Peace of Aachen in 1748 finally consolidated Silesia as part of Prussia.
Seven Years' War 1756-63
The new war was preceded by a diplomatic regrouping of powers. A.Kaunitz, the new chancellor of Maria Theresia, who did not give up hope for the return of Silesia, proposed the idea of creating an anti-Prussian coalition based on an alliance with France. France, fearing the strengthening of Prussia, and especially in the case of a possible alliance with England, went to rapprochement with the former enemy - Austria, signing the Treaty of Versailles, to which Russia, Saxony and Sweden joined. England, seeing the emergence of a hostile coalition, actually concluded in 1756 the Westminster Treaty of Alliance with Prussia.
On May 18, 1756 England officially declared war on France. In August of the same year, Prussia entered the war, attacking Saxony, Austria's ally. The Seven Years' War broke out, splitting Europe into two blocs. Frederick II planned to seize Saxony in the future to exchange it for Bohemia, and after seizing Russian Courland, to plant his brother Heinrich Hohenzollern on the throne of this duchy. Fighting during the Seven Years War in Europe took place between the allied forces of France, Austria, Russia, Sweden on the one hand and the Prussian armies on the other. England, as an ally of Prussia, provided her with only huge monetary subsidies, and concentrated all her troops in North America, trying to oust the French from Canada. This explains the originality of the course of the Seven Years War in Europe, when Frederick's army was transferred from one end of Europe to the other. Frederick II tried to prevent the union of the allied forces, to break the allied forces one by one.
On October 4, 1756, surrounded by the 95 thousandth Prussian army, the 18 thousandth Saxon army was forced to surrender. In April 1757, the French army under the command of Marshal d'Estre (70 thousand), defeating the Hanoverian army, occupied Hesse-Kassel and then, moving north, occupied Hanover itself.
Having left the French troops to capture Hanover, Frederick decided to defeat the Austrian army and, having collected huge forces (192 thousand), launched an offensive from four directions to Prague, where Brown's Austrian army (60 thousand) was located, on April 25 it was defeated, and its remnants blocked in Prague. Only the approach of another Austrian army under the command of Laudon (50 thousand) and the ensuing second unsuccessful battle for Frederick under the walls of Prague forced him to leave Bohemia for Saxony. The withdrawal was also facilitated by the news received in May about the beginning of the movement of the Russian army from the banks of the Neman. During the summer months, 1757, the Russian army under the command of S.F. Apraksin, moving very slowly, although it did not meet much resistance, captured Memel in June and entered the territory of East Prussia in July. Suddenly, near the village of Gross-Jegersdorf, the Russian army (70 thousand), which was in marching formation, was attacked by the Prussian army of Field Marshal Lewald (25 thousand). After repelling the first attack by the Moscow Grenadier Regiment, the Prussian battalions began to enter the rear. The inevitable defeat was prevented by a blow to the flank of the advancing Prussian troops of the brigade of General Rumyantsev, he did not begin to fight his way across the road clogged with carts and retreating crowds of soldiers, but led the brigade through the forest. The encirclement of the Russian army was stopped, and soon, realizing that the Russian army had time to deploy, Lewald ordered to retreat. Field Marshal Apraksin did not pursue the retreating Prussian troops, and refused to further move to Konigsberg: the Russian army turned back and retreated to Memel. For inactivity, by order of Empress Elizabeth, Apraksin was removed from office, later arrested and died during the investigation.
At the same time, the second grouping of the French army under the command of Prince Ch. De "Soubise (57 thousand), without encountering resistance, approached the city of Eisenach and began to wait for the connection with the Austrian army. Frederick II, thinking to prevent this combination of forces, transferred his army from the borders of Bohemia and Saxony to the west. On November 5, 1757, faced with the allies who managed to unite, Frederick withdrew, choosing a place for the battle. retreat for retreat, they decided to bypass and block the path to further retreat of Frederick's troops. Taking advantage of the enemy's oversight, Frederick attacked the allied forces and inflicted a serious defeat on them. 11 generals were taken prisoner, the entire baggage train, the total losses exceeded 8 thousand. This victory not only prevented the further advance of the French deep into Germany, but also allowed Frederick to redeploy his army east to Silesia, where the Austrian army of Laudon, taking advantage of the absence of the main forces of the Prussian army, captured Breslau (Wroclaw) and laid siege to the Schweidnitz fortress. Here, near the city of Leiden, there was also the main Austrian army under the command of Charles of Lorraine. The path of 300 km Frederick with his army overcame very quickly, in 15 days and, catching the Austrians by surprise, having half the strength (33 thousand against 60 thousand), on December 5, 1757 defeated them. The significance of the victory consisted both in the huge losses of the Austrians (27 thousand losses and 20 thousand prisoners), and in the subsequent surrender of the 16 thousandth garrison of Breslau.
Meanwhile, the new commander-in-chief of the Russian army V.V. Fermor re-entered East Prussia, occupied Tilsit, and on January 11, 1758, taking advantage of the departure of Lewald's army to counter the Swedish troops in Pomerania, after a short battle, captured Konigsberg. All of East Prussia was transformed into a Russian general government, and the population was sworn in to Empress Elizabeth.
In the summer of 1758, Fermor's army (42 thousand) moved towards Berlin. Already on August 3, they approached the Oder, and then began to fire from cannons at the town of Kustrin. Upon learning of this, Frederick, having the same size army (32 thousand), hastened from Silesia to meet the Russian army. Having lifted the siege of Kustrin, Fermor retreated to the hills near the village of Zorndorf, where the general battle took place on August 14, 1758. Despite the use of the "oblique attack" tactics, as in the battle against Charles of Lorraine, success was not achieved. A counterattack by the Russian infantry overturned the advancing Prussians. It was not immediately possible to break through the Russian front with the attack of the famous Prussian hussar cavalry: the grenadiers took them with hostility. Only a second attack by the Prussian cavalry on the left flank brought success. But the center of the Russian army held out, despite the inaction of the commander-in-chief Fermor during the battle, and by evening Frederick's army retreated. It was unclear who won this battle: the losses of the Russian army were twice as large (22 against 11 thousand), but Frederick did not dare to attack more. Friedrich and Fermor did not pursue the retreating, on his order the Russian army went north to Pomerania, where it began unsuccessfully to besiege the Kolberg fortress on the Baltic coast. Without taking Kohlberg, Fermor led the army to "winter quarters" back east to the lower Vistula. As a result, Fermor was removed and the army was led by the new commander-in-chief, General-in-Chief P.S. Saltykov.
In 1759, the first disagreements were outlined among the Russian and Austrian commanders. The Russian army was assigned a supporting role, it was to unite with the Austrians. Saltykov, fulfilling the plan, again led the Russian army to the Oder and defeated Wedel's Prussian corps at Palzig. Forcing the Oder, Saltykov captured Frankfurt on the Oder, creating a threat to Berlin. However, instead of the approach of the main forces of the Austrian army, only the 18 thousandth corps of Laudon joined the army of Saltykov. Fearing for his capital, Frederick imposed the battle at the village of Kunersdorf on the Russian-Austrian army. Having established himself on the heights on August 1, 1759, Saltykov repulsed several attacks of the Prussian army, and then overthrew Friedrich's army in a bayonet attack. After this battle, Frederick wrote to Count Finkenstein: “Unfortunately, I am still alive. Our losses are very significant. From the 48 thousandth army, I have 3 thousand people left. Berlin will do well if they think about their safety. This is a terrible defeat, I will not survive it. The consequences of the battle will be even worse than the battle itself. I no longer have the means to wage war; in truth, I think everything is lost. I will not survive the death of my fatherland. Goodbye forever".
However, Saltykov did not dare to go to Berlin with the forces of only one Russian army: the losses were too great (13 thousand). help from Austria still did not come. The Austrians and French demanded the continuation of the Russian offensive in the direction of Silesia. In protest, Saltykov leads the Russian army back to the Warta River in September, and he himself resigns. Field Marshal A.B. Buturlin.
Having received an unexpected respite, Frederick again rallied his strength and with his maneuvers at the beginning of 1760 fettered the actions of the Austrian troops. Taking advantage of this, the Russian corps of Z.G. Chernysheva and the cavalry of Count Totleben, contrary to the orders of the Austrian command, to join the main forces of the Austrian army on September 28, 1760 occupied Berlin. However, the approach of Frederick's main forces and the lack of assistance from the Austrian troops forced Chernyshev to leave the capital. The plan of the Austrian command was to encircle Frederick's army, and this almost succeeded in 1761, when Frederick's 70 thousandth army was surrounded by allied forces in Silesia (121 thousand), but the inconsistency of actions allowed Frederick to break out of the encirclement. After the success of the Russian corps P.A. Rumyantsev, who finally took on December 5, 1761, after a 4-month siege of Kolberg, the threat of capturing Berlin was again created. The position of Frederick's army became critical6 there were not enough forces to resist the allied forces. However, the unexpected death of Empress Elizabeth on December 25, 1761, dramatically changed the situation.
The new emperor Peter III, who idolized Frederick, made peace with Frederick on April 24, 1762, returning him all the conquered lands (including East Prussia), broke off the alliance with Austria and France and gave Chernyshev's corps to Frederick to help against the Austrians. And although on June 28, 1762, Peter III was overthrown, the new Empress Catherine, breaking the alliance with Frederick, did not renew the war with Prussia.
After Russia's withdrawal from the Seven Years' War in November 1762, the war-exhausted sides signed an armistice: first Prussia with France, and then Austria and Prussia. Officially, the Seven Years' War ended in 1763 with the signing of two peace treatises: the Paris Treaty (February 10), which ended the war between England and France, and the Hubertsburg Treaty, which secured peace between Prussia, on the one hand, and Austria and France, on the other.
France lost Canada, the river valley. Ohio and the entire left bank of the river. Mississippi (excluding New Orleans). The Spanish Florida also passed to England, for the loss of which France, as compensation, transferred to Spain its last possessions in North America - lands west of the Mississippi River (Louisiana). France also lost its colonies in Hindustan, with the exception of 5 cities. Austria lost Silesia forever. Thus, the Seven Years' War undermined the colonial power of France in the west, ensured the complete hegemony of England in the seas, and in the east, Prussia took the first step to gain primacy in German affairs, weakening the influence of Austria. Russia, due to the premature withdrawal from the war and the contradictory policies of Peter III and Catherine II, did not manage to take advantage of the fruits of its victories in the Seven Years War.
Economic development of the Habsburg possessions. Reforms of Maria Theresa and JosephII.
The economic state of the Habsburg possessions was different. Natural wealth and a variety of natural conditions, an abundance of rivers that could become transport arteries: all these objective conditions were not used due to both national and political characteristics.
Trade ties between the individual areas of the Habsburg possessions were sporadic and undeveloped: the poor condition of the roads and the weak development of the manufacturing industry led to the predominance of export abroad. Exported mainly raw materials and "semi-finished products": wool, flax, yarn, leather, ore.
In terms of economic development, the possessions of the Habsburgs (Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary) lagged behind not only England and France, but also from Prussia and some other German lands.
The most economically developed of the possessions of the Habsburgs were the lands of Austria, especially the Lower. An objective prerequisite for this was both the fact that the peasantry was no longer in personal serfdom, and the proximity to other Germanic lands.
The peasants for the most part were free holders of noble lands and paid a fixed monetary rent for use (chinsh), corvee, limited to 10-12 days a year, was preserved, peasants also paid state taxes.
Austrian nobles in their estates set up breweries and vodka factories, spinning and weaving factories, developed mines and salt mines. Wherein used a combination of wage and forced labor, counting this work as corvee.
At the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century. the peasants of the Austrian lands gradually began to be drawn into market relations: a "home industry" (wool and leather dressing) was developing, the products of which were acquired by buyers for subsequent resale abroad.
Guild craft prevailed in the cities. In such conditions, the needs of the country led to the rapid development of trade and commercial capital. This was facilitated by the creation in 1703 in Vienna of the State Bank and the construction of roads connecting Vienna with the Adriatic Sea, the construction of sea harbors in Trieste and Fiume. Even the Austrian East India Campaign was founded, which, however, did not last long.
Constantly in need of funds for the needs of foreign policy, for fiscal (tax) purposes, the Habsburgs began to resort to a well-known method: the sale of monopoly rights to trade in certain types of goods. However, a number of high officials close to the Habsburg court, especially I. Becher and W. Schroeder, who were also economists, in their works propagandized the ideas of "mercantilism" that were advanced in Europe at that time, defended the idea of the need to encourage domestic manufacturing. Becher, with government support, created the Eastern Trade Campaign, which traded in goods from his own manufactories. These were centralized manufactories, with the use of labor and peasants "homeworkers" for the production of silk threads, stockings, ribbons, woolen fabrics, linen cloths, velvet, shoes, mirrors. The campaign included both the state and private individuals as shareholders. The campaign did not last long, both due to insufficient government support and low purchasing power of the population.
In the Czech lands of the Habsburgs, similar processes were observed, however, with one, but significant difference. Here, the expansion of ties of noble land tenure took place on the basis of strengthening of serfdom of the Czech peasantry. The limitation of corvee in 1680 by Emperor Leopold I to three days a week was not observed. Moreover, judicial and administrative functions were again concentrated in the hands of the nobility: the imposition of fines and corporal punishment for the violation of numerous noble privileges and prohibitions for the peasants. The peasants were forbidden to leave the estate, to enter into marriage without permission, and to send their children to study the craft. The peasants were obliged to grind grain in the master's mill, bake bread in the master's bakery, buy beer only in the master's tavern, sell agricultural products not in cities, but at fairs held in the possessions of individual nobles, etc.
In addition, devastation and religious persecution after the Thirty Years War most of all affected the Czech lands from the possessions of the Habsburgs, which led to an increase in the already predominant German population among artisans and merchants in cities and the acquisition of lands, primarily by the German (Austrian) nobility.
As a result of long and devastating wars with Turkey, the Hungarian lands were devastated, the cities especially suffered. In addition, the political interests of the Habsburgs pushed them to concessions in relation to the Hungarian nobility, who demanded the preservation of class privileges. Under these conditions, agricultural production based on feudal serf land tenure began to prevail in the Hungarian economy.
Failures in the War of the Austrian Succession and in the Seven Years' War prompted Maria Theresa (1740-1780) and her son Joseph II (1780-1790) to pursue a series of interrelated reforms.
After the end of the War of the Austrian Succession, a military reform was carried out in 1748:
a new recruitment procedure was introduced - recruitment, based on mobilization lists, for the compilation of which the country was divided into military districts, recruits were to serve for life.
The nobility, clergy, teachers, doctors, officials, merchants and artisans were exempted from recruiting. The peasants were given the right to hire a "hunter" instead,
The Military Academy ("Theresianum") was established to train officers.
As a result, both the number (up to 278 thousand) and the level of military training of the Austrian army increased.
A financial and economic reform was also carried out:
the first population census was carried out,
registration of land, livestock and property was introduced, on the basis of which
a universal poll tax was introduced, including both noble and ecclesiastical lands,
abolished internal customs duties and increased the size of duties on foreign-made goods and low on imported raw materials,
export of industrial raw materials abroad is prohibited: flax, wool, metals,
new industrial manufactures were exempted from paying taxes (up to 10 years),
the Mining Academy, the Trade Academy, technical and agricultural schools and vocational schools were established,
In the late 60s. judicial reform has begun:
developed and introduced a new criminal code (1768),
abolished judicial torture, limited the use of the death penalty and allowed forced labor in prison manufactories (1776)
At the same time, an educational reform was carried out:
schools of various levels were introduced (village - "trivial", where they taught to read, write and count, city - "Normal school", for the training of teachers),
the university in Vienna was reorganized, where the natural sciences were given preference over the theological.
The course of reforms was continued first by the co-ruler, and from 1780 by the emperor Joseph II.
A number of decrees related to the church and religious relations:
The "Patent on Tolerance" (religious tolerance) abolished discrimination against the Orthodox religion and Protestantism, allowing their adherents to occupy public and state posts, to build their own temples and schools.
Closed monasteries that were not engaged in "useful activities" (treatment of the sick, education of children, who did not have shelters, etc.), and their lands were confiscated in favor of the state.
The Jesuit Order was banned and expelled from the country.
Decrees have also been issued regarding the situation of the peasants:
in 1781 a “patent” was issued on the abolition of serfdom (for the Czech Republic) and for Hungary (1785), after the peasant uprising in the Czech Republic and Hungary, according to which the peasants received the right to move to the lands of another landowner or to cities.
In an effort to centralize the administration of the empire, Joseph II declared German the language of office (official, state language) in all provinces, abolished the existing local courts, estate institutions in charge of collecting local taxes, local government of cities and committees. All these measures to strengthen centralization, together with the previous progressive reforms in the field of economics and education, again caused an exacerbation of national contradictions in the Habsburg possessions towards the end Xviiiv.
The word "Germany" comes from the Latin word Germania. This is how the Romans called the people who lived east of the Rhine River during the Gallic War (58-51). The German name for the country Deutschland comes from the Germanic root, which means "people" or "people".
In the document of the Frankish court (written in Latin in 768 AD), the term "theodisca lingua" is used - it denoted the spoken language of people who did not speak either Latin or early forms of Romance languages. From this point on, the word "deutsch" was used to emphasize differences in speech that corresponded to political, geographic and social differences.
Since the Frankish and Saxon kings of the early Middle Ages liked to call themselves emperors of Rome, it was still too early to talk about the emergence of their own national identity. By the 15th century, the name Heiliges Römisches Reich, or Holy Roman Empire, was supplemented by the definition of the German nation (deutschen Nation).
It is important to note that at that time the phrase "German people", "German nation" referred only to those who were close to the emperor - dukes, counts, archbishops. However, this name indicates the desire of members of the imperial court to separate from the Roman curia, with which they conflicted on various political and financial issues.
The territory that became known as Deutschland, or, was nominally ruled by the German king, who was also the Roman emperor, starting in the 10th century. In fact, various principalities, counties, cities enjoyed a sufficient degree of autonomy. They kept their own traditions even after the founding of the nation-state - the German Empire in 1871.
Old names-, Brandenburg, Saxony are still the designations of their respective lands. Other names (for example, Swabia, Franconia) are saved in reference books and maps in the Historical Landscapes section. Regional differences are of great importance in German culture, although it is quite obvious that they are often manipulated by the authorities for political and commercial purposes.
The Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1949 after the country's defeat in World War II. Initially, it consisted of the so-called West Germany, that is, the area that was occupied by the French, British and Americans. In 1990, the five regions that make up East Germany - a territory controlled by the Soviet Union known as the GDR (German Democratic Republic) - became part of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Since then, Germany consists of 16 federal states: Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Goldstein and Thuringia.
Country education
At different times, the concept of the national was interpreted in different ways. Humanist scholars of the early 16th century initiated a controversy about the German nation. In their opinion, modern Germans are the descendants of the ancient Germanic peoples, which are described in the works of Roman thinkers - Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) and Cornelius Tacitus (55-116 AD), the author of the famous work "Germany" ...
From the point of view of Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523), it was Tacitus who most closely approached the understanding of the origin of the German nation, which in many ways, if not equal, then exceeded the Romans. The German humanists made their hero Armin, who defeated the Roman troops in the battle in the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD.
The interest of German thinkers in their famous predecessors and the literature of that time, as history shows, continued into the 18th century - this is felt in the inspired patriotic poetry of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803) and the poets belonging to the Göttinger Hain group, founded in 1772 ...
The scholar Norbert Elias argued that the heightened attention that German philosophers and writers paid to the works of Roman intellectuals was largely motivated by a rejection of the aristocratic court traditions that were characteristic of their French counterparts.
On the eve of the Great French revolution(1789), was divided into almost 300 political subjects of various sizes, each of which possessed its own degree of sovereignty. In 1974, French troops occupied the left bank of the Rhine, which was divided among several principalities.
In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) disbanded the territory of the Holy Roman Empire. In the same year, Napoleonic troops defeated Prussia and its allies in the battles of Jena and Auerstet. German nationalism developed in response to this defeat. During the War of Independence (1813-1815), many volunteer patriots joined the army, and the allied troops under the Prussian leadership drove the French out of Germany.
Those who hoped that a unified German state would be created were disillusioned with these aspirations after the Congress of Vienna (1815). The dynastic rulers of individual Germanic lands remained in their posts. Along with the rise of historical scholarship in the first half of the 19th century, the emphasis on German history was complemented by the views of medieval thinkers about the origins of the German nation.
In the era of nationalism, when the nation-state was understood as the final point of historical development, German historians tried to explain why Germany, unlike France and England, still could not become a single state. They believed they had found the answer to this question in medieval period stories. Shortly after the death of Charles (814), the Carolingian empire was divided into northern, middle and eastern kingdoms.
From the teleological point of view of 19th century historians, the western kingdom became France, the eastern one Germany, and the middle lands remained a bone of contention between these states. The German king Otto I, who ruled in the 10th century, organized a number of expeditions to. In 962, the Pope crowned him as emperor. From this point on, a close relationship began to form between Germany and the medieval version of the Roman Empire.
German historians of the 19th century viewed the medieval kingdom as the beginning of the process of forming a national German state. The medieval ruler was the main initiator of national development, but modern historians are inclined to believe that the real actions of the emperors contradicted this lofty goal.
The main villains of medieval history, especially in the eyes of Protestants, were the popes and those German princes who supported them against the emperor for reasons that were called "selfish." The opposition of the pope and the princes, as historians believed, "strangled" the correct development of the German nation. The highest point was the era of the emperors of Hohenstaufen (1138-1254).
Emperor Frederick I Hohenstaufen is considered a great hero of Germany, although after his reign the empire entered a long period of decline. The first Habsburgs, according to modern researchers, showed great promise, but their successors did not excel in anything particularly good. The lowest point in the development of national identity is considered the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), when Germany was tormented by both external and internal enemies.
The educated bourgeoisie and the masses of Germany in the 19th century hoped for a renewal of the state, but there was no consensus on what it should be. The main conflict was between supporters of grossdeutsch - "Greater Germany" under Austrian rule and kleindeutsch - "Little Germany" under Prussian rule and without taking into account the territory of Austria.
The second option was implemented, when Prussia won a number of wars - defeated Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866 and France in 1871. In the writings of the Prussian school of history, the victory of Prussia and the founding of the German Empire in 1981 is portrayed as the implementation of the plans of the medieval emperor Frederick I.
After the founding of the empire, the German government followed an aggressive policy aimed at other countries and in the territories adjacent to the eastern border. The defeat in World War I led to widespread dissatisfaction with the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, which many Germans viewed as unfair.
Also, the people opposed the founders of the Weimar Republic, since they considered them traitors. Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist Party, deliberately exploited the resentment of the masses and their desire to achieve national greatness. The propaganda of the National Socialists was built on the exaltation of the German nation, its biological superiority over other races.
National identity of Germany
After World War II, the question of the national identity of the Germans became not very convenient, since the national movement, it would seem, ended with the rule of the Third Reich, because one of its sides was the murder of millions of people, including 6 million Jews. The subsequent years of German history were devoted to combating this problem.
Many attempts have been made to explain the ideology of Nazism and the crimes committed by the Nazis. Some believe that Adolf Hitler and his henchmen are the villains who misled the German people. Others blame Nazism for the Germans' lack of national character. Still others see the beginning of Germany's problems in abandoning the rational and universal principles of the Enlightenment and embracing romantic irrationalism.
Marxist scholars consider Nazism a form of fascism, which, in turn, in their opinion, is capitalism, formed under certain historical conditions. There are also opinions about the unsuccessful bourgeois revolution of the 19th century and the lingering power of the feudal elites - this is also put in the reasons for the development of Nazism. Interpretations of this kind are called Vergangenheitsbewältigung (“overcoming the past”).
These attempts became widespread in West Germany during socialist rule in the GDR. Some Germans emphasized the similarities between the two forms of dictatorship - National Socialist and Communist, while others, mostly East Germans, believed that the Third Reich and the GDR were essentially different states. The differences between the opinions of West and East Germany are called with the so-called Mauer in den Köpfen, or walls - an allusion to the real wall that was erected to divide East and West Germany.
In recent years, German nationalism has been revised in line with the vision of the nation as an “imaginary community” based on “fictitious traditions”. Scholars have focused on the organization, symbolism and development of the national movement as it developed in the 19th century.
The most significant contribution to the development of national self-determination of that time was played by public associations that reverted back to local, regional and national traditions; a number of monuments erected by the government and citizens; various works on the history of Germany and the thoughts of historians, which have already been mentioned above. In addition, there is also literature in which the concept of the national was also understood.
There is considerable controversy over the political implications of Germany's critical history of nationalism. Some scholars, it would seem, seek to abandon the deviant consequences of modern German nationalism, while preserving along the way those aspects with which, in their opinion, Germans should identify themselves. Others see nationalism as a dangerous stage in the process of historical development that the Germans must leave behind.
Ethnic relations
The founders of the Grundgesetz ("Basic Law" or Constitution) of the Federal Republic of Germany passed the old laws, according to which citizenship is determined according to jus sanguinis (literally: "the right of blood"), that is, the child must be born to German parents. For this reason, many people born outside Germany are considered Germans, while those born in Germany itself are not.
Beginning in the 1960s, the country began to recognize the millions of immigrants who play a huge role in the German economy. Although immigrant workers from Turkey, Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal were called guest workers, many of them remained to live in Germany and started families here. They assimilated their livelihoods with the German way of life.
However, obtaining German citizenship is not easy for them. The Germans themselves consider them Ausländer (foreigners). Since 2000, new laws have come into force that grant dual citizenship to children of foreigners who were born in Germany.
Due to the new legislation, discussions about Germany's status as a country of immigrants intensified. Currently, all major political parties agree that there is and should be a country of immigrants, but their opinions differ on many aspects of immigration policy.
Official name: Federal Republic of Germany
Territory: 357 thousand sq. Km.
Population: According to data for 1997, 81.8 million people. The overwhelming majority are Germans and Danes. The population density is 230 people per 1 sq. Km.
Languages: German, limited English
Religion: Christianity, Protestants (Lutherans over 50%) and Catholics
Capital
Largest cities: Bremen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich
Administrative division: Germany consists of 16 states, each of which has its own capital, constitution, parliament and government.
Form of government: democratically parliamentary federal country, legislative federal body - the Bundestag. ...
Head of state: federal president.
Head of the government: Federal Chancellor.
Currency: Euro.
A Brief History of Germany
Until the end of the 5th century, there was no state on the territory of modern Germany. The first was the Frankish kingdom. Its rulers during the 6th-8th centuries completed the unification of the Germanic tribes, and in 800, Charlemagne proclaimed the creation of an empire. In 843 it broke up into independent states. In the eastern part, the German kingdom proper was formed.
His main foreign policy task was the revival of the lost empire of Charles. In 962, German troops succeeded in taking Rome, and the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" appeared on the map of Europe. Its heyday fell on the XII-XIII centuries. Under Frederick I Barbarossa in the middle of the 12th century, the borders of the German Empire expanded significantly.
At the beginning of the 16th century, a religious schism took place in Germany. At that time, Martin Luther began his activity. As a result of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), Germany was split into several dozen principalities and kingdoms, the most influential of which was Prussia.
Since the middle of the 19th century, Prussia has been gathering the scattered principalities into a single whole, and after victories in the Franco-Prussian War over the restraining centralization of Austria and France in 1871, announced the creation of an all-German Reich-Empire with the capital in Berlin. After several successful military campaigns and international treaties, the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck actually restored the German Empire and declared the King of Prussia Wilhelm the first German emperor (Kaiser).
While the leading international positions in the economy were in the hands of England, France, Russia and the United States, Germany could not count on European dominance. The German Empire reached its zenith by 1914. However, after the defeat in the First World War and the humiliating Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the country lost part of its lands and was imposed a huge indemnity. In 1919, Germany was proclaimed a republic and, according to the constitution adopted in the city of Weimar, was called the Weimar Republic.
The victory of France and England slowed down the development of Germany, transferred it to secondary positions in world politics, and this gave rise to the growth of the national revanchist aspirations of the German people. In the wake of such sentiments, the Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler, came to power in Berlin in 1933 and announced the formation of the Third Reich.
During the reign of Hitler, Germany remilitarized the Rhineland, seized Austria, part of Czechoslovakia. On September 1, 1939, having attacked Poland, Germany began World War II, in which it was defeated.
In 1945, Germany was occupied by allied forces and divided into four sectors. Three sectors: the French, British and American later made up the FRG, and the Soviet sector - the GDR. In 1949 Germany was divided into two states and Berlin into two sectors.
The two German states lasted until October 3, 1990, when East Germany and West Germany united. On June 20, 1991, Berlin was proclaimed the capital of the united Germany.
After reunification, Germany became even more diverse. Now she is not only located in the heart of Europe, but literally lives there: being open to all directions of the world and ready to establish new relations with old neighbors.
In this, Germany has remained faithful to its 2000-year history of change.
Today's Germany lives on this land rich in historical events. Traces left by successive eras are visible at every step. All these counts, princes, dukes, archbishops, kings and emperors built castles, lush residences, palaces with magnificent parks and gardens, proud cities with churches, monasteries and cathedrals all over the country. The heritage of the Middle Ages and burghers still define the appearance of many cities today, creating an impressive contrast to modern architecture.
Tourism in Germany
Germany is open to the whole world. Germany shares a border with 9 other states. The main routes of communication are designed for the fastest possible movement around the country: highways, a dense network of railways with high-speed trains, airports in every more or less large city.
However, you need to get to know the true Germany outside the noisy traffic flows. The flat and wide rural roads will lead you to regions where you can experience the original hospitality and delight your gastronomic taste. Many hotels are located in historical architectural monuments; There is sure to be a hotel to suit every traveler's taste, whether you prefer dreamy coziness or the opulent sheen of luxurious décor. In family hotels, the whole family goes to great lengths to please you; so tune in to the fact that it will be difficult for you to leave such a place.
In big cities, you will be surprised by the internationality of hotels and restaurants, and you will come to the conclusion that the best chefs from Italy, Japan, China, India, Thailand, Greece and Spain have specially gathered in Germany to compete with the national German cuisine.
In all more or less interesting places we have our own tourist service bureaus, providing all the necessary information and inviting you to excursions to the surrounding places.
The season lasts all year round. Summer in Germany is time for outdoor walks and sipping beer in beer gardens, at the beginning of the year you can plunge headlong into the unrestrained maelstrom of carnival festivities, and in winter you have every reason for sleepless nights throughout the ballroom season.
German cities
The Hanseatic City welcomes visitors in a solid, stately and elegant manner.
This is especially the case for the Inner Alster, with its trade palaces and the lush Jungfernstieg promenade. However, Hamburg's vital artery is the Elbe, with its large port serving international trade, a whole city of warehouses, a fish market and the entertainment district of St. Pauli.
The old Hanseatic city on the Weser. It also has a rich tradition of a commercial seaport, but more comfortable than the immense Hamburg.
The city is distinguished by many richly decorated bourgeois houses, a magnificent Renaissance town hall façade, an old Bremen merchants' guild building near the market square with "Roland" and "Bremen Town Musicians".
In the capital of Germany, like in no other city, past, present and future collide with such force: in architecture, in outlook and in the way of thinking.
Berlin is experiencing a breakthrough again, and in this it is again in its element. There is a fusion of the eastern and western parts of the city.
Berlin's appeal to young people is incomparable. This urbanized "melting pot" has taken on a new light against the backdrop of its centuries-old history.
The exact opposite of Berlin is the center of a very welcoming region with a rich past.
It makes sense to explore the richly restored city center with the famous shopping arcade Mädler and Speckx Hof, with the old town hall and the Church of Nicholas.
One of the hippest cities to enjoy shopping in is Dusseldorf with its famous Königs Alley. By walking here you can see with what elegance and pleasure you can spend money.
The World City of Commerce and Banking is not only synonymous with state-of-the-art high-rise architecture. The city exudes a distinctive charm with lots of greenery, original bars and taverns, quirky shops and a rich cultural life.
It is rightfully famous for its special soulfulness. Traditional October folk festivities, a palace brewery, an English garden - this city is a landmark, welcoming and stylish.
Charm Stuttgart lies in its sometimes almost rustic appearance. Nestled among vineyards and meadows, this Big City resembles a huge wine-making village rather than the center of a respectable automotive industry.
This impression changes only at the sight of an unparalleled shopping center with its enormous glass structures that form tall halls with terraced shops full of everything your heart desires.
Its neighbor - the Rhine metropolis and center of carnival festivities - exudes the joy of life in its purest form.
Contrasts make this city unique. Here and there traces of an old Roman settlement are visible, with modern buildings creating an extravagant backdrop.
German museums
Germany's art collections are among the largest in the world.
- The State Museum of Cultural Treasures of Prussia, in the Dahlem complex, which houses a collection of art objects from Ancient Egypt and paintings by old masters, and in the National Gallery - a collection of paintings from the 19th - 20th centuries;
- Museum of Applied Arts;
- Museum of Musical Instruments;
- The Pergamon Museum with a magnificent collection of ancient Roman, ancient Greek and Asian art, including entire walls of ancient temples;
- Bode Museum with a collection of ancient Egyptian and Byzantine art;
- Museum of Decorative Arts in the Charlottenburg Palace, there is also an art gallery with a collection of paintings from the 13th-16th centuries, a sculpture gallery,
- Museums of Indian, Islamic art;
- Museum of German Folklore.
- State National Galleries Alte Pinakotec (old masters) and Neue Pinakotec (contemporary art);
- Bavarian National Museum with a collection of sculpture, decorative arts, folk art; the state collection of natural history artifacts;
- Museum of Germany.
- Romano-Germanic Museum with a collection of art objects from the ancient Roman period;
- Vayarraf-Richarz Museum with a collection of ivory products;
- Museum of East Asian Art.
Dresden
- The State Art Collection, including the Zwinger Palace, which houses the Old Masters Gallery and the Porcelain Collection;
- Technical Museum;
- Museum of History.
Bonn
- Beethoven Museum.
Monuments of history and architecture
- Brandenburg Gate (1788-1791); arsenal building (1695-1706);
- Cathedral of st. Hedwig (1747-1773),
- cathedral of st. Nicholas in the Gothic style (XIV century);
- Reichstag building (1884-1894);
- The world's largest zoo;
- Berlin TV Tower, 365 m high;
- Botanical Garden;
- Treptow Park, which houses a complex of monuments to Soviet soldiers who died in Germany.
Dresden
- Several churches, including the Rococo Hofkirche (1739-1751), the Gothic Kreuzkirche (15th century).
- Citadel of the XIII century;
- Tower of the Battle of the Nations (XIX century), erected in honor of the soldiers who died in the battle of Leipzig with the army of Napoleon in 1813;
- Orthodox Church, erected in memory of the dead Russian soldiers (XIX century).
Bonn
- Cathedral in the Romanesque style (XI-XIII century);
- Town Hall in 1782;
- The house where Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770; Parliament building (1950);
- Villa Hammerschmidt (residence of the President of the country);
- Schaumburg Palace (residence of the Federal Chancellor).
- Cologne Cathedral in the Gothic style with two spiers 157 m high (construction began in 1248, completed in 1880), the cathedral contains the remains of three wise men who, according to the New Testament, brought gifts to the baby Jesus;
- Church of St. Maurice im Capital (1049);
- Church of St. Gereon (XII century);
- Church of St. Clibert (XIII century);
- Zoo;
- Aquarium;
- Botanical Garden.
Popular news, discounts, promotions
Reprinting, publication of the article on websites, forums, blogs, contact groups and mailing lists is NOT allowed