Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Kingdom of Württemberg and German Empire

King Frederick I's Württemberg was given high status in the Confederation of the Rhine among the College of Kings, and the lands of nearby secondary German states.[67] Within Stuttgart, the royal residence was expanded under Frederick although many of Stuttgart's most important buildings, including Wilhelm Palace, Katharina Hospital, the State Gallery, the Villa Berg and the Königsbau were built under the reign of King Wilhelm I.[68] In 1818. King Wilhelm I and Queen Catherine in an attempt to assuage the suffering caused by the Year Without Summer and following famine,[69] introduced the first Cannstatter Volksfest to celebrate the year's bountiful harvest.[27][29] Hohenheim University was founded in 1818,[70] and two years later the Württemberg Mausoleum as completed on the hill where Wirtemberg Castle once stood.
From the outset of the 19th Century, Stuttgart's development was once again impeded by its location (population of the city at the time was around 50,000),[71] but the city began to experience the beginning of economic revival with the opening of the Main Station in 1846. Prior to then, the signs of rebirth in Stuttgart were evidenced by the construction of such buildings of Rosenstein Castle in 1822–1830, the Wilhelmspalais 1834-1840, and the foundations of the Staatsgalerie in 1843, University of Stuttgart in 1829,[72] the University of Music and Performing Arts later, in 1857.[73] Stuttgart had a role to play during the revolution of 1848/1849 as well. When internal divisions of the Frankfurt Parliament began the demise of that congress, the majority of the Frankfurt Congress voted to move to Stuttgart to flee the reach of the Prussian and Austrian armies in Frankfurt and Mainz.[74] Even though the Congress may have had contacts with revolutionaries in Baden and Württemberg,[75] the Congress, not popular with the content citizens of Stuttgart,[75] were driven out by the King's army.[75]
Stuttgart's literary tradition also bore yet more fruits, being the home of such writers of national importance as Wilhelm Hauff, Ludwig Uhland, Gustav Schwab, and Eduard Mörike.[76] From 1841 to 1846, the Jubiläumssäule was erected on the Schlossplatz before the New Palace according to the plans of Johann Michael Knapp to celebrate the rule of King Wilhelm I.[77] A decade later, the Königsbau was constructed by Knapp and court architect Christian Friedrich von Leins as a concert hall.[78] Another milestone in Stuttgart's history was the running of the first rail line from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim on 22 October 1845. The advent of Industrialisation in Germany heralded a major growth of population for Stuttgart: In 1834, Stuttgart counted 35,200 inhabitants,[79] rose to 50,000 in 1852, 69,084 inhabitants in 1864,[79] and finally 91,000 residents in 1871.[79] By 1874, Stuttgart once again exceeded the 100,000 inhabitant mark. This number doubled, due to the incorporation of local towns, to approximately 185,000 in 1901 and then 200,000 in 1904. In 1871, Württemberg joined the German Empire created by Otto von Bismarck, Prime Minister of Prussia, during the Unification of Germany, as an autonomous kingdom.
Stuttgart is purported to be the location of the automobile's invention by Karl Benz and then industrialized by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in a small workshop in Bad Cannstatt that would become Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in 1887.[80] As a result, it is considered to be the starting point of the worldwide automotive industry and is sometimes referred to as the 'cradle of the automobile',[19] and today Mercedes-Benz and Porsche both have their headquarters in Stuttgart, as well as automotive parts giants Bosch and Mahle. The year prior, Robert Bosch opened his first "Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering" in Stuttgart. In 1907, the International Socialist Congress was held in Stuttgart was attended by about 60,000 people.[81] In 1912, VfB Stuttgart was founded.[76] Two years later, the current iteration of the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof was completed according to plan by Paul Bonatz from 1914 to 1927.[82]
During World War I, the city was accosted by air raids. In 1915, 29 bombs struck the city and the nearby Rotebühlkaserne, killing four soldiers and injuring another 43, and likewise killing four civilians. The next major air raid on Stuttgart occurred 15 September 1918, when structural damage caused house collapses that killed eleven people.[83]

Weimar Republic

At the end of the First World War, November revolutionaries[84] stormed the Wilhelmpalais on 30 November 1918 to force King Wilhelm II to abdicate, but failed halfway. Under pressure from the revolutionaries, Wilhelm II refused the crown, but also refused to abdicate the throne.[85] When he did eventually abdicate, the Free State of Württemberg was established as a part of the Weimar Republic, and Stuttgart was declared its capital. On 26 April 1919, a new constitution was devised, and the final draft was approved and ratified on 25 September 1919 by the Constituent Assembly. In 1920, Stuttgart temporarily became the seat of the German National Government when the administration fled from Berlin from the Kapp Putsch.[86] Also in 1920, Erwin Rommel became the company commander of the 13th Infantry Regiment based in Stuttgart and would remain as such for the next nine years.[87]

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