Württemberg (redirected from Dukedom of Württemberg)

Württemberg (vür`təmbĕrk'), former state, SW Germany. Württemberg was formerly also spelled Würtemberg and Wirtemberg. The former state bordered on Baden in the northwest, west, and southwest, on Hohenzollern and Switzerland (from which it was separated by Lake Constance) in the south, and on Bavaria in the east and northeast. It included the Swabian Jura in the south and part of the Black Forest in the west. Stuttgart was the capital; other important cities were Ulm, Esslingen, Heilbronn, Tübingen, and Friedrichshafen. In 1952 it was incorporated into the new state of Baden-Württemberg.

History

The southern part of Württemberg was the core of the medieval duchy of Swabia; Württemberg N of Stuttgart was part of Franconia. The various territories were subdivided among the branches of the family, but in 1482 Count Eberhard V declared the indivisibility of the holdings. Württemberg was raised to ducal rank in 1495. In 1519, however, the Swabian League of cities, fearing the rising power of Württemberg, expelled Duke Ulrich I from his domains, and in 1520 it sold the duchy to the newly elected emperor Charles V.

Ulrich, a turbulent individual, never ceased in his attempts to recover his lands. A Protestant convert, Ulrich secured (1534) the help of Philip of Hesse, a leading defender of the Reformation, and, through Philip, of Francis I of France; at the same time the peasants of Württemberg were rising against the unpopular government of King (later Emperor) Ferdinand I. At the battle of Lauffen (1534), Ulrich and Philip routed Ferdinand's troops. Ferdinand was obliged to restore Württemberg to Ulrich, although nominally Ulrich was to hold the duchy as a fief from Austria. Immediacy under the empire was restored only in 1599.

With Ulrich's return, Lutheranism was introduced. However, large parts of S Württemberg remained in the hands of the house of Hapsburg and of a number of powerful abbeys; these territories were incorporated into Württemberg only later. As a result, a large minority of the present population is Roman Catholic.

Württemberg was repeatedly the scene of fighting in the wars of the 17th and 18th cent. Duke Frederick II (1754–1816), through his alliance with Napoleon I, obtained the rank of elector in 1803 and became king of Württemberg as Frederick I in 1806, after joining the Confederation of the Rhine. Between 1802 and 1810 the territories of Württemberg were more than doubled and reached their final frontiers after an alliance with France under Napoleon. Frederick retained both his royal title and his lands at the Congress of Vienna, after having passed (1813) from the French to the Allied camp.

William I, his successor, granted a liberal constitution in 1819. During the reign (1864–91) of King Charles, Württemberg sided against Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, joined Prussia's side in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, and became (1871) a member of the German Empire. Charles's successor, William II, abdicated in 1918, and Württemberg joined (1919) the Weimar Republic. After World War II, N Württemberg was a part of the temporary state of Württemberg-Baden, and S Württemberg was a part of the temporary state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern until the two were joined as Baden-Württemberg in 1952.

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Württemberg

Former state, Germany. Its territory approximated the central and eastern areas of the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg. The capital was Stuttgart. Originally inhabited by Celts, Württemberg was occupied successively by Suevi, Romans, Alemanni, and Franks. In the Middle Ages it was part of Swabia. Württemberg became an electorate in 1803 and a kingdom in 1806. A constitutional monarchy (1819–1918), it became an independent republic in 1918 but joined the Weimar Republic in 1919. Württemberg came under the control of the Third Reich in 1934. During World War II the Allies overran it (1945). It was made part of Baden-Württemberg in 1952.

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Württemberg 

a historical region in southwestern Germany. Württemberg was a county from the middle of the 13th century and gradually absorbed the territories of the former Duchy of Swabia. In 1495 Württemberg became a duchy (with its capital at Stuttgart). The reign of Ulrich of Württemberg (who ruled 1498-1519 and again 1534-50) saw the Armer Konrad Uprising (1514) and the implementation of the Reformation. Württemberg was one of the main focuses of the Peasants’ War of 1524-26. During the period of the Napoleonic Wars, Württemberg—an ally of Napoleon I—became a kingdom (1805), joined the Rhenish Confederation (1806), and considerably expanded its own territory. In the period of the struggle for the unification of Germany, Württemberg sided with Austria; in 1871 it was included within the German Empire with the rights of a kingdom. During the course of the November Revolution of 1918 the Württemberg monarchy was overthrown. During the years 1919-33, Württemberg was a Land within the Weimar Republic. In 1945 it was divided between the French and American zones of occupied Germany. Since 1949 it has been part of the Federal Republic of Germany (since December 1951 as a part of the Land of Baden-Württemberg).