The Kingdom of Württemberg and the Making of Germany, 1815–1871, by Bodie A. Ashton

Abstract

Württemberg was one of the beneficiaries of the Napoleonic Wars, rising rapidly from a relatively small duchy embedded in the Holy Roman Empire to become a sovereign kingdom by 1806, expanding considerably in size and changing its character from an overwhelmingly Lutheran and largely rural state to one with a large Catholic minority and some fairly substantial market towns. Having backed Napoleon since 1805, Württemberg’s first king, Friedrich I, managed to change sides in time during 1813 to preserve his gains at the Peace of Vienna two years later. Württemberg survived the renewed cull of the smaller German states arranged as part of that settlement and remained only one of five German kingdoms alongside Bavaria, Hanover, Saxony and Prussia. Given the turbulence of the preceding three decades, this outcome represented a real political success in many respects. However, the kingdom remained vulnerable, because, though much enlarged, it was still a minor power in European terms and was dwarfed by Austria and Prussia, which together dominated the new German Confederation into which all the surviving German states had been marshalled as part of the Vienna settlement. Württemberg’s future depended on whether the Confederation could develop as a viable political framework, capable of safeguarding the interests of the smaller states, collectively known as the ‘Third Germany’, alongside the two German great powers of Austria and Prussia.