WÜRTTEMBERG
The Kingdom of Württemberg was a state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located in present-day Baden-Württemberg. It was successively a countship, a duchy, a kingdom, and a republic before its partition after World War II.
Its territory approximated the central and eastern areas of present-day Baden-Württemberg state, of Germany. For the last period of its separate existence, Württemberg was bounded northeast and east by Bavaria, southeast by Bavaria and Lake Constance (in German: Bodensee), and southwest, west, and northwest by Baden. The capital was Stuttgart.
In the earlier middle Ages, Württemberg was part of the region known as Swabia. The Wirtembergs (Württembergs), a local dynasty of counts established by the late 11th century, began from the mid-12th century to extend their control over large sections of Swabia.
By the time Württemberg was made a duchy in 1495, the Estates (representative assembly) had come to play an important role in its government.
Württemberg was devastated in the Thirty Years' War (1618–48) and fell prey to French invasions from 1688 until 1693 during the War of the Grand Alliance. Yet the country enjoyed progressive government. Compulsory education was introduced in 1649.
Württemberg was an ally of France from 1802 to 1813 and was rewarded by Napoleon I with large grants of territory, including many Habsburg lands in Swabia and numerous free imperial cities and ecclesiastical territories. These additions doubled Württemberg's size by 1810, and the duchy was successively raised to the status of an electorate (1803) and a kingdom (1806), which it remained after Napoleon's downfall.
Political unrest in Württemberg from 1815 until 1819 resulted in the issuance in 1819 of a constitution by King William I (reigned 1816–64), establishing a bicameral legislature.
Württemberg was a centre of liberalism in 19th century. It joined the Zollverein (Customs Union) with Prussia in 1834, but King Charles (1864–91) sided with Austria in the Seven Weeks' War (1866) and was forced to pay an indemnity by the victorious Prussians. Württemberg sided with Prussia in the Franco-German War (1870–71) and then joined the new German Empire.
With Hermann von Mittnacht as chief minister (from 1876 to 1900), Württemberg found a comfortable place in the new Germany, retaining its independence in internal administration, ecclesiastical affairs, and education and also in the management of the postal and railway services. It moreover retained special rights over taxation and the armed forces.
King Charles was succeeded in 1891 by his first cousin once removed, William II (reigned 1891–1918), under whom liberal political reforms were inaugurated and arts and drama flourished. Progress, however, was halted by World War I, and the revolution of November 1918 forced William II to abdicate. A republican constitution was promulgated in 1919. As a member state of Germany under the Weimar Constitution, Württemberg lost all the special privileges that had been reserved to it under the former system.
Under the Nazi regime a Reichsstatthalter, or a lieutenant governor, for Württemberg was appointed in 1933, and the state's government was subordinated to that of the Reich in 1934, while the Landtag, or State Diet, was abolished.
After World War II, Württemberg was divided between the U.S. and French occupation zones. Three of the states created in the birth of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 were Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern. These were merged in 1952 to form Baden-Württemberg.
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