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76-746: The Hessian Ludwig Railway was a product of the failed – or, more accurately, non-existent – railway politics in the Grand Duchy of Hesse . Whilst the province of Starkenburg was given a central railway link, the Main-Neckar Railway very early on and the province of Upper Hesse at least had connexions to the railway network through the Main-Weser Railway at its periphery - the Grand Duchy had shares in both lines and they were operated as joint railways ( Kondominalbahnen ) –

152-526: A grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The grand duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse (German: Großherzogtum Hessen ). It assumed the name Hesse und bei Rhein in 1816 to distinguish itself from the Electorate of Hesse , which had formed from the neighbouring Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel . Colloquially,

228-474: A close with military force, but accepted the farmers' demands. This marked the end of the "hot phase" of the revolution in the grand duchy, which thus lasted only two weeks. After March 1848, there was a reshuffle of the ministries, since Heinrich von Gagern was elected president of the Frankfurt Parliament and therefore had to resign from his role as a minister in the grand duchy. Nevertheless,

304-558: A coup d'état against the Landstände in autumn 1850. On 7 October 1850, he issued an edict setting aside the existing voting system, removing the sitting Landstände from power, and ordering a return to an electoral law like the one that existed before the March Revolution for "extraordinary" elections to the Landstände. These led to the election of the 14th (extraordinary) Landstände, in which pro-government representatives had

380-544: A crisis in the grand duchy. Then on 24 February 1848, a revolution in Paris forced King Louis-Philippe to abdicate. The political tension grew so great that the government no longer waited for citizens' committees and other societies to take banned political actions before persecuting them. Within a few days, the situation had become so dire that, on 5 March 1848, Grand Duke Louis II named his son Louis III as his co-regent (in fact, Louis III became sole ruler, since Louis II

456-654: A licence for railway construction in the Bavarian Palatinate, a northern expansion of the railway into Rhenish Hesse appeared attractive. In addition, the pioneer of the German railways, Friedrich List , personally championed the building of a line from Mainz to Worms . The grand ducal government in Darmstadt however, initially remained opposed, especially as it had passed a law in 1842 for a state railway system. From 1845 onwards, however, there were proponents in

532-549: A majority, and marked the beginning of comprehensive efforts to dismantle the achievements of the revolution. Even after the introduction of limited suffrage in October 1850, the Landstände still had many democratic and liberal members and the crisis regarding the Zollverein in 1852 showed how effective this opposition could still be. However, increased pressure on individual representatives (many of whom gave up and emigrated to

608-415: A minority in favour of this policy. On 14 May 1852, the government went so far as to dissolve the city council of Friedberg with armed police. All of this did not help Dalwigk at all. In the end, Austria and Prussia came to an agreement between themselves on customs and Austria gave up on the idea of a customs union with the German middle states. The whole affair created an enduring enemy to Dalwigk, however:

684-520: A newly designed Rhine bridge was constructed by MAN-Werk Gustavsburg and given to traffic on 1 of December 1862. This line not only connected Mainz, second in importance after the grand-ducal capital, with Darmstadt. But it enabled also to run trains through from the Bavarian railways up the Rhine valley to Cologne and further on to Belgium . Over the succeeding decades the following lines were added to

760-477: A population of 140,000 people and included the important federal Fortress of Mainz , as compensation for the Duchy of Westphalia , which Hesse had received in 1803 and which was now transferred to Prussia. During the turbulence of Hundred Days , when Napoleon returned from exile, Austria, Prussia, and the Grand Duchy of Hesse concluded a treaty on 30 June 1816, which regulated the region and went into more detail that

836-524: A result of the revolution of 1848 , the state could no longer be relied on to provide any support and the construction of the line threatened to grind to a halt. Not until August 1852 did the Hesse-Darmstadt government, decided to support the HLB. In addition a treaty was agreed with Kingdom of Bavaria for the entire Mainz–Ludwigshafen line . Whilst the city of Worms would have preferred a station in

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912-493: A result, on 8 March, a massive demonstration gathered before the residences of the Standesherren and stormed some of them. After this, the Standesherren agreed to the abolition of serfdom without compensation. In doing this, however, the farmers exceeded the limits of what the bourgeoise were willing to accept, since they were not willing to countenance interventions in private property . Von Gagern brought this protest to

988-488: A series of reforms delivered most of the "March demands". The new organisation of the administration saw the three provinces and all of the districts abolished and replaced by a single level of local administration midway between them, the Regierungsbezirk ("government district"). Each of these had a Bezirksrat (district council) to represent the people. A reform of the justice system was also carried out in

1064-421: A system of civic and parish citizenship. Bürgermeister (mayors) were established for individual settlements and parish associations with at least 400 inhabitants. In 1831 there were 1092 parishes in the grand duchy, administered by 732 mayors. The mayoralties were administered by an elected local board, consisting of the mayor, deputies, and parish councillors. Male residents elected three men and one of them

1140-610: The 1848 revolutions , the government was forced to grant wide-ranging reforms, including the full abolition of serfdom and universal manhood suffrage, but the reactionary government of Reinhard von Dalwigick rolled most of these back over the following decade. In 1866, Hesse entered the Austro-Prussian War on the Austrian side, but received a relatively mild settlement from the Prussian victors. The grand duchy joined

1216-724: The Battle of Austerlitz , this policy became untenable. At the last minute, Louis X switched sides and supplied troops to Napoleon . Along with fifteen other states, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt left the Holy Roman Empire and joined the Confederation of the Rhine . The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was promoted to a grand duchy and Louis X thereafter styled himself Grand Duke Louis I ( German : Großherzog Ludewig I. , with an extra 'e') and announced not only

1292-636: The Bergstraße and viticulture in Rhine-Hesse. There were two large navigable rivers, the Rhine and the Main , which were the most important transportation routes until the development of the railway . Burgeoning industry developed in this region. The three major centres of the grand duchy were located here: the capital at Darmstadt , the largest industrial centre at Offenbach am Main , and Mainz which

1368-545: The Constitution of the German Confederation required each member state to establish their own "parliamentary constitution" ( Landständische Verfassung ). Louis I balked at this and was quoted as saying that a parliament "in a sovereign state [is] not necessary, not useful, and in some respects dangerous." In fact, the process of constitutional reform was mainly undertaken by the civil service rather than

1444-633: The Free City of Frankfurt , and the Electorate of Hesse . About 25% of the land area was forested. The two sections had very different characters: Upper Hesse was the largest of the three provinces by area. Most of this territory was forested uplands of the Vogelsberg and the Hessian Hinterland . Only a small portion was part of the fertile Wetterau , where there were also brown coal deposits. There were many streams and waterways in

1520-597: The German Empire in 1871. As a small state within the empire, the grand duchy had limits placed on its autonomy, but significant religious, social, and cultural reforms were carried out. During the November Revolution after World War I in 1918, the grand duchy was overthrown and replaced by the People's State of Hesse . The portion of the grand duchy on the right bank of the Rhine stretched most of

1596-419: The Grand Duchy of Baden . The territory consisted of two separate areas: the province  [ de ] of Upper Hesse in the north and the provinces of Starkenburg and Rhenish Hesse in the south, as well as a number of much smaller exclaves. The northern and southern sections were separated by a narrow stretch of territory, which belonged to Prussia after 1866 and before that to Duchy of Nassau ,

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1672-503: The Hessian Ludwig Railway Company ( H essische- L udwigs-Eisen b ahngesellschaft ) or HLB – in honour of Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine , although he initially opposed the building of the line. In the times following the HLB got increasingly into financial deep water, because several share holders withdrew their money. Construction began in spring 1848. However, as the state purse became empty as

1748-633: The Kingdom of Westphalia , was re-established by the Congress of Vienna as the Electorate of Hesse . After Louis I's counterpart in Hesse-Kessel, William I, Elector of Hesse , began styling himself "Elector of Hesse and Grand Duke of Fulda", Louis sought the additional title "Elector of Mainz and Duke of Worms " in order to match William I. However, Austria and Prussia refused to grant this. Instead, William gestured to this claimed title by changing

1824-630: The Landratsbezirke  [ de ] and Landgerichten established in the Souveränitätslanden , which meant that the Standesherren chose the local councillors and judges. This remaining power was only removed during the German revolutions of 1848–1849 . From the 50+ Ämter that had previously existed 24 Landratsbezirke and 27 Landgerichten were created. The new Landgerichte had their own judicial districts , which covered almost

1900-670: The United States ) and, especially, the new electoral law of 1856 weakened even this opposition. In external politics, Dalwigk and Louis III supported Austria, the German Confederation , and a pan-German solution to the German Question . The first crisis with Prussia arose in 1852 in connection with the Zollverein , the north German customs union dominated by Prussia. In 1851, the Prussians terminated

1976-559: The great powers , Prussia and Austria. On the other hand, the government continually persecuted the opposition (although without much long-term success in the courts), since they feared a revolution. A political crisis was already broiling in Hesse at the time of the July Revolution in 1830: when Louis II succeeded as grand duke after the death of his father in 1830, he had a total debt of two million guilder , which he expected

2052-410: The mediatised houses , retained a significant portion of their former powers. Before this territorial expansion, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt had around 210,000 inhabitants in its territories on the right bank of the Rhine. After 1806, the population was around 546,000. At the same time, the Grand Duchy reached its greatest territorial extent, around 9,300 km . Almost simultaneously, there

2128-402: The HLB had 19 3rd class coaches and 36 luggage vans and goods wagons to begin with (there was no 4th class). In 1861 the HLB had 39 locomotives and in 1864 52. At the end of 1895 the fleet comprised 544 coaches, 107 luggage vans, 1552 covered and 2240 open wagons. Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine ( German : Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein ) was

2204-476: The National Association, which so overwhelmed the prosecutors, that the whole persecution was discontinued in 1861. In summer 1861, the National Association had 937 members in Hesse – the highest number outside Prussia. In 1862, the liberal Hessian Progress Party stood in the Landstände elections and won a landslide victory with 32 of the 50 seats in the lower chamber. Dalwigk's attempt to organise

2280-483: The Prussian representative in the Federal Convention , Otto von Bismarck . He advised the Prussian government to refuse to grant a new customs treaty to the grand duchy, unless Dalwigk resigned. However, this advice was not followed. The German National Association was founded in 1859. Its goal was to create a liberal Lesser Germany under Prussian leadership – the opposite goal from Dalwigk. He advised

2356-574: The abolition of the Teutonic Order , amalgamating Kloppenheim and Schiffenberg Abbey  [ de ] into the grand duchy. Between 1808 and 1810, there were plans to introduce the Napoleonic Code as only valid law for the whole grand duchy. However, these discussions were terminated by the conservative government of Friedrich August von Lichtenberg  [ de ] , which was opposed to social changes. On 11 May 1810,

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2432-611: The administrative system were separated at the lowest level in Starkenburg and Upper Hesse provinces. In Rheinhessen, this had already been done around twenty years earlier, while the area was under French control. The tasks that had previously been assigned to the Ämter were transferred to Landratsbezirke  [ de ] ("local council districts", responsible for administration) and Landgerichten  [ de ] ("local courts", responsible for judicial functions). This process took place over several years, since at first

2508-457: The area, but none of them were big enough to serve as transport routes. Agriculture brought only low yields, while there was no industry at all. This led to increasing poverty over the course of the 19th century and massive emigration to the established industrial centres in Germany and overseas. While Upper Hesse was also the largest province by population at the start of the 19th century, by

2584-485: The areas to the right of the Rhine, including the introduction of jury courts . A new electoral law was not passed until 1849. Under this law, all members of both chambers of the Landstände were now to be elected – the lower house by universal equal suffrage and the upper house by census suffrage . So much "democracy" was novel even for liberal politicians and the interior ministry urged people to act responsibly with their right to vote. Two elections were held under

2660-545: The constitution was formally granted by him. Louis I was honoured as a great lawgiver, with the Ludwigsmonument  [ de ] in Darmstadt honouring him for "his" constitution. The constitution was followed by a wide range of further reforms in the grand duchy. After its territorial augmentation, the grand duchy consisted of numerous territories with different administrative systems. To regularise this, it

2736-676: The construction of a line in Rhenish Hesse came not however from local people, but from outside; in particular the Bavarian Palatinate was interested. For military strategic reasons the Prussian state disapproved of a route running west of the Rhine. The Grand Duchy of Baden saw the project competing with the Main-Neckar Railway in which Baden also had shares. When, in 1844, the Bavarian government issued

2812-433: The council of ministers on 25 September 1852. Louis III, who "imitated the image of a paternalistic ruler projected by his grandfather, without achieving his significance," and Dalwigk shared a conservative outlook and were both opposed to liberalism and democracy. For Dalwigk, "the democratic principle [was] perilous for the state, since it necessarily leads to socialism and communism . In this role, Dalwigk organised

2888-628: The end of the grand duchy in 1918 it had become the smallest. The only significant institution which was based here was the University of Giessen . Starkenburg and Rhenish Hesse were totally different. They lay almost entirely on the banks of the Rhine (except for the Odenwald , which faced similar structural problems to the Vogelsberg). Intensive agriculture was possible and profitable in many areas of these plains, such as fruit growing on

2964-459: The existing customs treaty from the end of 1853. Austria then attempted to establish a customs union with the German middle states. Dalwigk signed up for this project, against all economic logic, since the grand duchy's exports to Austria were only 3% of its exports to Prussia. Massive protests followed. Even in the Landestände, which was now dominated by pro-Dalwigk conservatives, he found only

3040-426: The first elections in the grand duchy, it also caused massive protests, tax strikes , and even armed rebellions against the government in some parts of the grand duchy. The grand duke and his administration gave in to the pressure and a new constitution was promulgated on 17 December 1820. The new constitution contained most of what the opponents of the first constitution had wanted, but the grand duke saved face since

3116-645: The first train on the Mainz - Oppenheim line), Gutenberg (after Johannes Gensfleisch called Johannes Gutenberg , the inventor of the printing press ), Arnold Walpoden (after Arnold Walpoden, the initiator of the Rheinische Bund in 1254) as well as Mainz and Worms . At the end of 1895, i.e. one year before the Hessian Ludwig Railway was nationalised, it had 216 locomotives. In addition to 11 1st and 2nd class passenger coaches

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3192-492: The government for a private railway for the province of Rhenish Hesse. At first, the route to be used was totally unclear. The alternative from Mainz via Alzey to Worms was soon discarded in favour of a direct route along the Rhine. On 15 August 1845 a licence was granted to the Mainz-Ludwigshafen Railway Company ( Mainz-Ludwigshafener-Eisenbahngesellschaft ). The company was later renamed to

3268-570: The grand duchy and the French Empire concluded a treaty, which granted the grand duchy further areas under French control, which had been taken from Electoral Hesse in 1806. Although the treaty was agreed in May, it was only signed by Napoleon on 17 October 1810. The Hessian certificate of possession is dated 10 November 1810. The Babenhausen district was attached to Strakenburg province, the other territories to Upper Hesse. In August 1810, there

3344-465: The grand duchy continued to be known by its former name of Hesse-Darmstadt . In 1806, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt seceded from the Holy Roman Empire and joined Napoleon 's new Confederation of the Rhine . The country was promoted to the status of grand duchy and received considerable new territories, principally the Duchy of Westphalia . After the French defeat in 1815, the grand duchy joined

3420-467: The grand duchy. In Rhine-Hesse, the guilds had been abolished during French rule, while in the provinces on the right bank of the Rhine, guild privileges had only been abolished in a few places for a few industries. This abolition was expanded, but guild privileges continued to exist. The government in Darmstadt only implemented the Karlsbad Decrees in a moderate manner, to the displeasure of

3496-469: The grand duke himself. The members of the civil service who led the reforms were: In 1816, a three-man legal commission was established to craft a constitution and other necessary laws, composed of Floret and Carl Ludwig Wilhelm Grolman . The constitution which was promulgated by grand ducal edict in March 1820 provided for a parliament ( Landstände ), but with no authority of its own. Although this led to

3572-405: The individual lords, in order to integrate their judicial powers into the state's court system. In some cases this took until the middle of the 1820s. The "Edict concerning Standesherren's Legal Relationships in the Grand Duchy of Hesse" of 27 March 1820 served as the frame of reference for these agreements. According to this edict, the individual Standesherren retained their personnel sovereignty in

3648-464: The local councils to prosecute all known members of the Association, using the ban on all political associations as justification. After some prominent Hessians, including August Metz  [ de ] , Carl Johann Hoffmann  [ de ] and Emil Pirazzi  [ de ] , were convicted to a symbolic few days imprisonment for this, there was a massive increase in membership of

3724-604: The local government offices were destroyed. The toll office in Heldenbergen and the Nidda courthouse were also affected. The grand duke introduced summary execution , which was unanimously approved by the Landstände. Under the command of the grand duke's brother, Prince Emil , the rebellion was suppressed by the army. Part of this suppression was the Södel Bloodbath , named for the number of dead and wounded. After

3800-468: The mayors, while in Rhinehessen, where this local district did not exist, the mayors were chosen directly by the provincial governments. The state was also interested in replacing the old agricultural ground rent , which was often based on the yield of the year's harvest, with a modern system of taxation. There had been plans for this since 1816. A first step in the process was also implemented during

3876-423: The name of the grand duchy to the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine ( German : Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein ), which also helped to distinguish the two Hessian states. As a result of these territorial acquisitions, the grand duchy was composed of numerous disparate components. A constitution was therefore urgently needed in order to unite the various territories of the new state. Furthermore, article 13 of

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3952-524: The network and the HLB became the major provider of rail services within the two southern provinces of the grand-duchy ( Rheinhessen and Starkenburg ) as well as one of the largest privately owned railways of Germany. In the early 1890s the HLB numbered its routes as follows: On 1 April 1897 the HLB was nationalised and became part of the Prussian-Hessian Railway Operating and Financial Association . The abbreviation "HLB"

4028-501: The new German Confederation . Westphalia was taken by Prussia , but Hesse received Rhenish Hesse in return. A constitution was proclaimed in 1820 and a long process of legal reforms was begun, with the aim of unifying the disparate territories under the grand duke's control. The political history of the grand duchy during this period was characterised by conflict between the conservative mediatised houses ( Standesherren ) and forces supporting political and social liberalisation . During

4104-527: The new electoral system, in 1849 and 1850. Both times, the democrats received a strong majority in the lower chamber, which they used to block the enactment of a state budget. Grand Duke Louis III appointed Reinhard von Dalwigk  [ de ] as director of the ministry of the interior on 30 June 1850, transferred him provisionally to the ministry of foreign affairs and the Grand Ducal House on 8 August 1850, and finally named him president of

4180-466: The press, but reacted harshly to the distribution of The Hessian Courier , a pamphlet by Georg Büchner calling for social revolution. The persecution of his fellow contributors continued until 1839. In the 1840s, Karl du Thil  [ de ] , chief minister from 1821 to 1848, inaugurated the "System du Thil", which entailed the complete suppression of all political discussion. Crop failures and rapidly rising prices for basic foodstuffs created

4256-514: The promotion, but also the territories he had received under the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine in an edict on 13 August 1806. Along with the promotion to the rank of grand duchy, Hesse was also rewarded with territorial gains, such as the Electorate of Cologne . However, although all this territory lay under his sovereignty , the princes who had previously held these territories,

4332-402: The reforms of 1821. However, this was only a limited reform, since only the ground rents paid to the state were removable. The removal of "private" ground rents, including those paid to churches, religious orders, and Standesherren, failed to pass the first chamber of the parliament. Furthermore, in order to remove the ground rent from their land, farmers were initially required to pay a fee which

4408-544: The revolution of 1830 was over, the government regained the upper hand and decided that if they could not suppress the rising appetites for reform, they would at least try to control them. The bourgeoisie partially switched its focus to cultural activities, which the government then began to monitor warily. Thus, the Historical Society for Hesse  [ de ] was allowed to be founded in 1833, but local societies that had originally been planned were not, and

4484-698: The same areas as the Landratsbezirke did. In general, the old seats of the Amtsmen remained either the seat of the Landrat or the Landgericht. Five further Landratsbezirke and six more Landgerichten were created over the following years as a result of the negotiations with the Standesherren. A modern system of civic administration, modelled on the French system, was also introduced in 1821. The outmoded cooperative parish associations were replaced by

4560-492: The society's charter stated that the society must not occupy itself with "contemporary history and discussion of the political circumstances of more recent times." Above all, sports clubs were considered highly suspicious, even though a demonstration of sporting activities was presented in Darmstadt at the dedication of the Ludwig Monument in 1844. The government initially maintained its relatively open policy towards

4636-433: The state could make new rules about administration and justice only where it had unrestricted authority over these matters. The areas in which the grand duchy's sovereignty was unrestricted were called Dominiallande , while the areas where the Standesherren and other nobles exercised their own judicial and administrative authority were the Souveränitätslanden . In the latter areas, the state first had to forge agreements with

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4712-548: The state to pay for. The liberal opposition in the Landstände considered this outrageous and rejected the proposal with a resounding vote of 41:7. In Upper Hesse province, a revolt broke out in September 1830, whose members expressed a general dissatisfaction with the state. Characteristically, the territories of the Standesherren were particularly affected: Büdingen and Ortenberg . In these areas, shops were burgled and

4788-410: The third province, Rhenish Hesse ( Rheinhessen ), had no such facilities. Because the state was not active in this area, there was an opportunity for private involvement in the shape of a joint stock company ( Aktiengesellschaft ). The HQ of the Hessian Ludwig Railway was therefore not based in the capital of Darmstadt , but in the provincial capital for Rhenish Hesse, Mainz . The first impetus for

4864-551: The treaty signed at Vienna in the previous year. There were further border agreements and exchanges of small areas of territory with the Electorate of Hesse and the Kingdom of Bavaria. The patents of possession are dated 8 July 1816, but were only published on 11 July. After this consolidation, the grand duchy had a population of roughly 630,000. The neighbouring Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel , which Napoleon had annexed into

4940-499: The vicinity of the port, the HLB, after a degree of toing and froing, built it further west where it is today. Thereafter building proceeded apace and the 46 kilometre long route was opened in several sections from Mainz to Worms during the period 23 March (Mainz – Oppenheim ) to 24 August 1853. From 15 November 1853 trains ran through from Mainz to Ludwigshafen. Initially there were 6 passenger trains daily (2 of which were expresses) in each direction between Mainz and Worms. In Mainz there

5016-511: The way from the south of the modern state of Hesse to Frankenberg . The portion on the left bank was located in the modern state of Rhineland-Palatinate . In addition to the great floodplains of the Rhine ( Hessian Ried ), Main , and Wetterau , the grand duchy also contained upland regions like the Vogelsberg , the Hessian Hinterland , and the Odenwald . In the south, the exclaves of the Wimpfen district  [ de ] extended into

5092-670: Was a connexion to the steamships of the Cologne and Düsseldorf Company for Steamships on the Rhine River ( Kölnische und Düsseldorfer Gesellschaft für Rhein-Dampfschiffahrt ). On 1 of August 1858 the Rhine-Main line from Mainz via Darmstadt to Aschaffenburg in Bavaria was opened. Initially the Rhine river was crossed by a train ferry east of the railway station Mainz Neuthor (today: Mainz Römisches Theater station ) until

5168-437: Was a radical change in the state's internal politics. With two edicts on 1 October 1806, the Grand Duke revoked the financial privileges of the landed nobility on a large scale (the landed nobility became subject to taxation ) and their Landstände (feudal estates) were abolished, which transformed Hesse-Darmstadt "from a mosaic of patrimonial fragments into a centralized, absolute monarchy". On 24 April 1809, Napoleon ordered

5244-448: Was a three-way agreement between France, Hesse, and the Grand Duchy of Baden . Baden placed its territories at French disposal and France gave them back to the grand duchy with a treaty signed on 11 November 1810. The Hessian certificate of possession is dated 13 November 1810. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the grand duchy joined the German Confederation and received a portion of the former Mont-Tonnerre department , which had

5320-418: Was chosen as mayor: This system ensured that, if the authorities did not like a particular candidate, they could prevent them from taking office. Thus, for example, the entrepreneur Ernst Emil Hoffmann  [ de ] received the most votes in Darmstadt two times, but the mayoralty was assigned to the second or third place candidates. In Upper Hesse and Starkenburg, the local council had oversight of

5396-486: Was eighteen times their annual rent and most farmers could not afford this. The process of abolition would drag on into the second half of the 19th century. The constitution declared that an economic system based on liberal principles was the state's goal. Achieving economic freedom , which also required the abolition of guild privileges, proved difficult, as a result of "damage to multiple interests". Even in this area, different conditions applied in different parts of

5472-434: Was ill and died a few months later on 16 June 1848). The next day, Karl du Thil was dismissed and replaced as chief minister by Heinrich von Gagern . Von Gagern proclaimed that the new government would grant all of the "March demands". However, the rural population's demands that the Standesherren be stripped of their privileges and for serfdom to be abolished without requiring them to pay compensation were not fulfilled. As

5548-740: Was inherited by the Grand Duke of Hesse in 1866, but had to be ceded to Prussia later that same year. The Biedenkopf district and the Hessian Hinterland were also annexed by Prussia in 1866. These territories were combined with Electoral Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau, and Frankfurt to create the new Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau in 1868. During the Napoleonic Wars , Louis X , Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt , initially sought Prussian protection against Napoleonic France , but after

5624-619: Was said by the local people to stand for Hoch lebe Bismarck (Long live Bismarck). The Hessian Ludwig Railway began operations with 6 steam locomotives from the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen ; these sported (as was then common) illustrious names: Schenk (after Freiherr von Schenk, director of the Hessian Finance Ministry), Dalwigk (after Freiherr von Dalwigk, then Hesse's Ministerialdirektor and ex Territorialkommissär for Mainz - this engine hauled

5700-408: Was the largest city and the most significant centre for trade. The grand duchy was divided into three provinces: The neighbouring states were: There were also a number of Hessian exclaves to the north and south: Amt Dorheim  [ de ] , which belonged to the Electorate of Hesse, was an enclave within the grand duchy until 1866, when it was given to the grand duchy. Hesse-Homburg

5776-457: Was urgently necessary to integrate the various regions. At the lower levels, the administrative system of these regions was still based on the Amt system which had become obsolete centuries earlier. As well as being the lowest level administrative subdivision, the Ämter were also the courts of first instance . Preliminary work on reforming this system began by 1816, and from 1821, the court system and

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