Electorate of Baden - History

History

By the eruption of the French Revolution, the Margraviate of Baden was united under Charles Frederick but it did not form a compact territory. Its total area was only about 1,350 square miles (3,500 km2). Consisting of a number of isolated districts lying on either bank of the upper Rhine, Charles Frederick undertook to acquire the intervening stretches of land, and so to give territorial unity to his country. His opportunity for territorial aggrandizement came during the French Revolutionary Wars. When war broke out between the French First Republic and Habsburg Monarchy in 1792, the Margraviate of Baden fought for the House of Habsburg; consequently their country was devastated and in 1796 the Margrave was compelled to pay an indemnity, and to cede his territories, on the left bank of the Rhine, to the French First Republic. Fortune, however, soon returned to his side. In 1803 with the German Mediatisation, largely owing to the good offices of Alexander I of Russia, he received the Bishopric of Constance, part of the Electorate of the Palatinate, and other smaller districts, together with the dignity of a Prince-elector. Changing sides in 1805, he fought for Napoleon, with the result that by the Peace of Pressburg in that year he obtained Breisgau and other territories at the expense of the Austrian Empire (see Further Austria). In 1806, the Electorate signed the Rheinbundakte, joining the Confederation of the Rhine. Supported by the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, he declared sovereignty, becoming the Grand Duchy of Baden, and received other territorial additions.