Baden Revolution


The Baden Revolution of 1848/1849 was a regional uprising in the Grand Duchy of Baden which was part of the revolutionary unrest that gripped almost all of Central Europe at that time.
As part of the popular liberal March Revolution in the states of the German Confederation the revolution in the state of Baden in what is now southwestern Germany was driven to a great extent by radical democratic influences: they were striving to create a Baden republic—subordinated to a greater Germany—under the sovereignty of the people, and aligned themselves against the ruling princes.
Their high points were the Hecker uprising in April 1848, the Struve Putsch of September 1848 and the rebellion as part of the Imperial Constitution campaign in May 1849 which assumed civil war-like proportions and was also known as the May Revolution. The rebellion ended on 23 July 1849 with the military defeat of the last revolt and the capture of Rastatt Fortress by federal troops under Prussian leadership.

Historical overview

At the Hambach Festival of 1832 the signs of political upheaval, known as the Vormärz were evident. Among the participants at the festival was Johann Philipp Becker. After the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1848 in Paris and the proclamation of the Second Republic in France, the revolutionary spark initially jumped to Baden before the other countries of the German Confederation gave way to revolutionary unrest and uprisings.
The German March revolution not only started in Baden, but also ended here when Rastatt Fortress, the last bastion of the revolutionaries, was captured by Prussian troops on 23 July 1849.
The Baden Revolution had two phases: between the beginning of March 1848 and September 1848 there were two attempts to form a republic in southwestern Germany: the Hecker Uprising and the rebellion led by Gustav Struve in Lörrach. With the defeat of Friedrich Hecker and his followers at Kandern and his flight into exile, and the arrest of Gustav Struve in September, this first phase ended.
The second phase began—after the rejection of the Constitution of St. Paul's Church by the most of the royal houses of the German Parliament—with the May insurrections of 1849, not only in Baden, but also in other German states. They represented an attempt to enforce the constitution. This second phase ended in Baden with the defeat of the rebels at the last battle in July 1849 in Rastatt.
Characteristic of the Baden Revolution, unlike other uprisings in the German Confederation, was the persistent demand for a democratic republic. By contrast, the revolutionary councils and parliaments of the other principalities of the Confederation favoured a constitutional and hereditary monarchy.
Radical democratic and early socialist revolutionaries were strongly represented in Baden. Some of the most prominent leaders were Friedrich Hecker, Gustav Struve and his wife Amalie, Gottfried Kinkel, Georg Herwegh and his wife Emma. Furthermore, Wilhelm Liebknecht, who at that time was relatively unknown but later co-founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany, the predecessor party of SPD, participated in September 1848 in the uprising in Lörrach and in May 1849 in the Baden Revolution as Struve's adjutant.
The socialist Friedrich Engels who, during the March revolution wrote for the Neue Rheinische Zeitung published in Cologne by Karl Marx, also took an active part in 1849 in the final phase of the Baden Revolution in the fighting against counter-revolutionary Prussian troops. Finally, the married couple Fritz and Mathilde Franziska Anneke from Cologne joined the Baden rebels.
The basis of the revolution in Baden was based on the Volksvereine or popular associations.
The following table shows the connexion between the revolution in Baden, the events in the German Confederation and Europe.
PeriodGrand Duchy of BadenGerman ConfederationEurope
1847
SeptemberOffenburg Assembly
OctoberHeppenheim Assembly
NovemberSwitzerland: Sonderbund War
1848Baden RevolutionGerman revolutionsItaly: First Italian War of Independence ; March 1848 to July 1849
Hungary: Hungarian Revolution/1849; March 1848 to August 1849
FebruaryMannheim Popular AssemblyFrance: French Revolution
MarchHeidelberg AssemblyMarch Revolution
Berlin: Barricade Uprising; March Revolution victims; Vienna: Revolutions in the Austrian Empire; Revolution in Sigmaringen
AprilHecker Uprising
Battle on the Scheideck; Battle of Günterstal; Storming of Freiburg; Battle of Dossenbach
JunePentecost Uprising in PragueFrance: June Uprising and Counter-Revolution
SeptemberStruve Putsch
Battle of Staufen		Rebellion in FrankfurtSlovakia: Slovak Uprising to November 1849
OctoberVienna Uprising
1849
AprilStorming of the Zeughaus in Prüm
MayBaden Revolution ; to July 1849,
Baden Revolutionary Government; Baden constitutional assembly; Battle of Waghäusel;
Rastatt Fortress;		Reichsverfassungskampagne; Kaiser Deputation
Dresden Uprising; Palatine Uprising; Iserlohn Uprising; Elberfeld Uprising

Chronology

adopts a bill to abolish the remnants of feudalism, to make the army swear loyalty to the Baden Constitution and to establish religious equality for members of non-Christian faiths.
: Battle in Gernsbach on 29 June 1849
The revolution had failed. The Baden Army was disbanded and later rebuilt under Prussian leadership. Many of the rebels escaped into exile including Struve, Brentano, Carl Schurz, Friedrich Engels and Friedrich Beust; others were arrested and brought before courts martial with Prussian and Baden boards. Following the fall of Rastatt, the Prussian commander, Karl Alois Fickler, the brother of Baden agitator, Joseph Fickler, was charged with the defence of the accused. The courts sentenced 27 rebels to death by firing squad and pronounced long gaol sentences in Prussian prisons against other revolutionaries. In the casemates of Rastatt, where many revolutionaries were held prisoner, typhoid fever broke out and caused many deaths.

Revolutionaries executed by court martial

From 27 July to 27 October 1849, courts martial took place in Mannheim, Rastatt and Freiburg. A total of 27 death sentences were pronounced and carried out – four other death sentences were not carried out.

In Rastatt

In Rastatt, 19 death sentences were pronounced. Otto von Corvin, who had also been given the death sentence, was reprieved and his sentence commuted to imprisonment.
Following court martial-like proceedings three revolutionaries were sentenced to death in 1849 in Freiburg and executed by firing squad at Wiehre Cemetery on the dates shown:
In Mannheim five death sentences were pronounced. Theodor Mögling, who was also sentenced to death in Mannheim, was reprieved and his sentence commuted to a term of imprisonment. The Mannheim court martial issued gaol sentences of 10 years in 15 other cases.

Theatre