Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate
Nassau, a town located in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, lies in the valley of the Lahn River between the cities of Bad Ems and Limburg an der Lahn. Nassau is the seat of the Nassau district, and is part of the Nassau Nature Park, the town is on the German-Dutch holiday road, the Orange Route. As of 2002, it had a population of 5,209, the earliest known surviving mention of Nassau refers to the Villa Nassova estate of the Bishopric of Worms in a 915 deed. In 1348 the Emperor Charles IV granted Nassau town-privileges rights together with nearby Dausenau, count Dudo-Heinrich of Laurenburg had the Nassau Castle built about 1100 and his descendants began to call themselves the Counts of Nassau. Count Adolf of Nassau served as the elected King of the Romans from 1292 until his death on 2 July 1298, the Counts of Nassau married into the line of the neighbouring Counts of Arnstein, founders of the monastery at Arnstein. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the became part of the Duchy of Nassau.
Nassau suffered heavily from bombings by American B-26 Marauders during World War II, despite the ancient and eventful history of this town, it had a population of fewer than 5,000 inhabitants as of 2012. The town of Nassau became the namesake of the Duchy of Nassau, the royal House of Nassau and its named the House of Orange-Nassau. Its name has spawned a multitude of other namings in the Americas, such as Nassau, the capital city of the Bahamas. The name occurs in the titles of ships, located in Nassau, south of the Lahn River, is the Nassau Castle. It is the ancestral seat of the counts of Nassau and thus the joint ancestral castle of the Grand Dukes of Luxembourg. The Imperial Baron Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein, Prussian statesman, here he wrote his famous Nassauer Memorandum of 1807. Stein descended from an ancient aristocratic dynasty, who had been residents of Nassau since the 12th century. The family estate lies in the centre of the town, called the Steinische Hof, which today is still in the possession of the descendants of the reformer and he died in Cappenberg, district of Selm in the year 1831
William, Duke of Nassau
Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg was the father of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Queen Sophia of Sweden and Norway, consort of King Oscar II. Wilhelm was the eldest son of Frederick William, Duke of Nassau, with the Nassau troops, he was involved on the Seventh Coalitions side in the Battle of Waterloo against Napoleon. When his cousin and co-Duke died on 24 March 1816, Wilhelm inherited the Usingen territories and he kept the title of Duke of Nassau for the rest of his reign. On 24 June 1813 in Weilburg, Wilhelm married his first wife and she was a daughter of Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg and his wife, Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. They had eight children, Princess Auguste Luise Friederike Maximiliane Wilhelmine of Nassau-Weilburg, Princess Therese Wilhelmine Friederike Isabelle Charlotte of Nassau-Weilburg, married in Biebrich on 23 April 1837 Duke Peter of Oldenburg. Their grandson was the Imperial Russian General Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia the Younger, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the present Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg, which became extinct in the male line in 1912, descends from him.
Prince Wilhelm Karl Heinrich Friedrich of Nassau-Weilburg, Prince Moritz Wilhelm August Karl Heinrich of Nassau-Weilburg and without issue. Princess Marie Wilhelmine Luise Friederike Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg, Prince Wilhelm Karl August Friedrich of Nassau-Weilburg. Princess Marie Wilhelmine Friederike Elisabeth of Nassau-Weilburg, married in Biebrich on 20 June 1842 Hermann and their daughter Elisabeth married King Carol I of Romania. Wilhelm married, as his wife, his first wifes niece. Pauline was a daughter of Prince Paul of Württemberg and his wife Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen and Pauline had four children, An unnamed daughter. Helene Wilhelmine Henriette Pauline Marianne of Nassau, married in Wiesbaden on 26 September 1853 George Victor, Prince of Waldeck, morganatically, Natalia Alexandrovna Pushkina, Countess of Merenberg. She was a daughter of Alexander Pushkin and his wife Natalya Goncharova and they had issue, now extinct in male line. Sophia Wilhelmine Marianne Henriette of Nassau, married King Oscar II of Sweden.
The present Belgian, Danish and Swedish royal families, a listing of descendants of the House of Nassau-Weilburg
Kingdom of Prussia
It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent.
The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade.
Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
Frederick Augustus, Duke of Nassau
Friedrich August, Duke of Nassau, Prince of Nassau-Usingen was the last Prince of Nassau-Usingen and, jointly with his cousin, Friedrich Wilhelm of Nassau-Weilburg, first Duke of Nassau. He died without surviving issue and was succeeded by his cousins son. Friedrich August, born in Usingen, was a son of Prince Charles of Nassau-Usingen. From 1744, he lived with his parents in Schloss Biebrich in Wiesbaden and he followed a military career in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and served in the Seven Years War. In 1790, he became a Field Marshal, on 17 May 1803, he succeeded as the Prince of Nassau-Usingen when his elder brother, Charles William, died without male heirs. On 6 July 1806, he joined the Confederation of the Rhine in order to prevent Napoleon from annexing the principality, since Friedrich Augusts sons had died young, it was agreed that the combined duchy and sole rulership would pass to the heir of the Nassau-Weilburg line. After Napoleons defeat at the Battle of Leipzig, Friedrich August joined in the fighting against the French emperor.
Nassaus troops fought under the command of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo, at the Congress of Vienna, the unification of the Duchy of Nassau was approved and the duchy joined the German Confederation. His court at the Biebrich Castle was praised by visitors for its serenity and hospitality, on 9 June 1775, Friedrich August married Princess Luise of Waldeck, daughter of Karl August, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont. The couple had seven children, but only their daughters survived infancy, married on 29 November 1791 to Margrave Friedrich of Baden, son of Grand Duke Karl Friedrich of Baden. Married on 9 February 1792 to Christian August, Duke of Anhalt-Köthen, first married on 2 August 1804 to Ludwig of Hesse-Homburg son of Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, divorced 1805. Married secondly on 7 September 1807 to Friedrich Wilhelm von Bismarck, friederike Victoria, married to the count Ludwig Heinrich Klaus von Burgund. Friedrich Karl 23 April 1738 –17 May 1803, His Serene Highness Frederick Augustus,17 May 1803 –24 March 1816, His Serene Highness The Prince of Nassau-Usingen.
30 August 1806 –24 March 1816, His Highness The Duke of Nassau
Nassau (region)
Nassau is a geographical and cultural region in todays Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in western Germany. Named for the town Nassau, it includes the territory of the Duchy of Nassau, occupied by Prussia and annexed into the Province of Hesse-Nassau in 1866, Nassau briefly became the name of a separate province, the Province of Nassau, in 1944. Much of the area is part of the Nassau Nature Park. Nassau is the name of the smaller Nassau collective municipality, Duke of Nassau is still used as the secondary title by the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The coat of arms of the Netherlands is based on the Nassau arms, the Nassau name is part of the name of the Dutch royal family, Orange-Nassau, and its secondary titles of Prince or Princess of Orange-Nassau. The Nassau cultural identity can be seen in the name of the regional newspaper Nassauische Neue Presse, both Nassau County, New York and the city of Nassau, Bahamas are named for the region in Germany
Frederick William, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg
Frederick William, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg was a ruler of Nassau-Weilburg. In 1806 he was given the title of Prince of Nassau, while his cousin, Prince Frederick Augustus of Nassau-Usingen, Frederick William died in January 1816, only two months before his cousin. Both men were succeeded by Frederick Williams son, Frederick William was the eldest surviving son of Karl Christian of Nassau-Weilburg and Princess Wilhelmine Carolina of Orange-Nassau. Wilhelmine Carolina was a daughter of William IV, Prince of Orange and Anne, Princess Royal, Anne was in turn the eldest daughter of George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. On 31 July 1788 in Hachenburg, Frederick William married Burgravine Louise Isabelle of Kirchberg, the groom was almost twenty years old and the bride only sixteen. At the time he was still the heir to the principality and his father died on 28 November of the same year and Frederick William succeeded him. Frederick William and Louise Isabelle had four children, Duke of Nassau, married Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen Friedrich Wilhelm of Nassau-Weilburg, of Nassau.
He married on 7 June 1840 Anna Ritter, Edle von Vallyemare, created Gräfin von Tiefenbach in 1840 and their only daughter was, Wilhelmine Brunold, created in 1844 Gräfin von Tiefenbach, married in Paris on 30 October 1856 and divorced in 1872 Émile de Girardin. A listing of descendants of the House of Nassau-Weilburg
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. In July 2016, it had about 288,000 inhabitants, the Wiesbaden urban area is home to approx. The city, together with nearby Frankfurt am Main and Mainz, is part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region, Wiesbaden is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name translates to meadow baths, making reference to the hot springs and it is internationally famous for its architecture and its hot springs. At one time, Wiesbaden boasted 26 hot springs, fourteen of the springs are still flowing today. In 1970, the hosted the tenth Hessentag state festival. The city is considered the tenth richest in Germany with 113. 3% of gross domestic product, every citizen has an average annual buying power of €24,798. Wiesbaden is situated on the bank of the Rhine River, below the confluence of the Main. The city is across the Rhine from Mainz, the capital of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Frankfurt am Main is located about 38 kilometres east, to the north of the city are the Taunus Mountains, which trend in a northeasterly direction.
The city center, the Stadtmitte, is located in the north-easternmost part of the Upper Rhine Valley at the spurs of the Taunus mountains, about 5 kilometres from the Rhine. The downtown is drained only by the valley of the Salzbach. The citys main line and the Mainz road follow this valley. Above the city center, the Salzbach is better known as the Rambach, the highest point of the Wiesbaden municipality is located northwest of the city center near the summit of the Hohe Wurzel, with an elevation of 608 metres above sea level. The lowest point is the entrance of Schierstein at 83 metres above sea level. The central square is at an elevation of 115 metres, Wiesbaden covers an area of 204 km2. It is 17.6 kilometres from north to south and 19.7 kilometres from west to east, in the north are vast forest areas, which cover 27. 4% of the urban area. In the west and east are vineyards and agricultural land, which cover 31. 1% of the area, of the municipalitys 79 kilometres -long border, the Rhine makes up 10.3 kilometres
Duchy of Nassau
The Duchy of Nassau, or simply Nassau, was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and of the German Confederation and its ruling dynasty, now extinct, was the House of Nassau. The duchy was named for its core city, although Wiesbaden. In 1865, it had 465,636 inhabitants, after being occupied and annexed into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866, it was succeeded by the Province of Hesse-Nassau. The area today is a geographical and historical region, today, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg still uses Duke of Nassau as his secondary title, and Prince or Princess of Nassau is used as a title of pretense by other members of the grand ducal family. Nassau is part of the name of the Dutch Royal Family, on 17 July 1806, the remaining counties of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg joined the Confederation of the Rhine. Under pressure from Napoleon I both counties merged to form the Duchy of Nassau on 30 August 1806, under the joint rule of Frederick Augustus, as Frederick August had no heirs, he agreed that Frederick William should become sole ruler after his death.
However Frederick William died from a fall on the stairs at Weilburg Castle on 9 January 1816, williams son Adolphe, the last Duke of Nassau, received Luxembourg after the male line of Nassau-Dillenburg became extinct in 1890
Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederation of the Rhine was a confederation of client states of the First French Empire. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon after he defeated Austria and Russia in the Battle of Austerlitz, the Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine. It lasted from 1806 to 1813, the members of the confederation were German princes from the Holy Roman Empire. They were joined by 19 others, all together ruling a total of over 15 million subjects providing a significant strategic advantage to the French Empire on its eastern front and Austria were not members. Napoleon sought to consolidate the modernizing achievements of the revolution, but he wanted the soldiers, Napoleon required it to supply 63,000 troops to his army. The success of the Confederation depended on Napoleons success in battle, on 12 July 1806, on signing the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine in Paris,16 states in present-day Germany joined together in a confederation.
On 1 August, the members of the confederation formally seceded from the Holy Roman Empire and his Habsburg dynasty continued as emperors of Austria. According to the treaty, the confederation was to be run by common constitutional bodies, as such, he was President of the College of Kings and presided over the Diet of the Confederation, designed to be a parliament-like body although it never actually assembled. The President of the Council of the Princes was the Prince of Nassau-Usingen, in return for their support of Napoleon, some rulers were given higher statuses, Hesse and Berg were made into grand duchies, and Württemberg and Bavaria became kingdoms. States were made larger by incorporating the many smaller Kleinstaaten and they had to pay a very high price for their new status, however. The Confederation was above all a military alliance, the members had to maintain substantial armies for mutual defense, as events played out the members of the confederation found themselves more subordinated to Napoleon than they had been to the Habsburgs.
After Prussia lost to France in 1806, Napoleon cajoled most of the states of Germany into the Confederation of the Rhine. Eventually, an additional 23 German states joined the Confederation and it was at its largest in 1808, when it included 36 states—four kingdoms, five grand duchies,13 duchies, seventeen principalities, and the Free Hansa towns of Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen. Only Austria, Danish Holstein, and Swedish Pomerania stayed outside, not counting the west bank of the Rhine and the Principality of Erfurt, which were annexed by the French empire. In 1810 large parts of what is now northwest Germany were quickly annexed to France in order to monitor the trade embargo with Great Britain. The Confederation of the Rhine collapsed in 1813, in the aftermath of Napoleons failed campaign against the Russian Empire, many of its members changed sides after the Battle of Leipzig, when it became apparent Napoleon would lose the War of the Sixth Coalition. The following table shows the members of the confederation, with their date of joining, the allies opposing Napoleon dissolved the Confederation of the Rhine on 4 November 1813.
It was dissolved on 20 June 1815, on 30 May 1814 the Treaty of Paris declared the German states independent
Nassau-Usingen
Nassau-Usingen was a county of the Holy Roman Empire in the Upper Rhenish Circle that became a principality in 1688. The origin of the county lies in the county of Weilnau that was acquired by the counts of Nassau-Weilburg in 1602. That county was divided in 1629 into the lines of Nassau-Weilburg, Nassau-Idstein, the emerging counties were Nassau-Saarbrücken, Nassau-Ottweiler and Nassau-Usingen. At the beginning of the 18th century 3 of the Nassau lines died out, in 1735 Nassau-Usingen was divided again into Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Saarbrücken. On July 17,1806 the counties of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg joined the Confederation of the Rhine, as Frederick August had no heirs he agreed that Frederick William should become sole ruler after his death. However Frederick William died from a fall on the stairs at Weilburg Castle on 9 January 1816, the title has been carried in pretense by Prince Frederick Augusts half-brother Karl Philips line
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of 19,846 square kilometres and about four million inhabitants, Rhineland-Palatinate is located in western Germany and borders Belgium and France, and the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Saarland. The state of Rhineland-Palatinate dates from 30 August 1946, as of 201044. 9% of the population of the state adhered to the Roman Catholic Church,30. 6% to the Evangelical Church in Germany. 22. 0% of the population is irreligious or adheres to other religions, muslims made up 2. 5% of the total. The league of ShUM-cities in the Rhineland-Palatinate comprised the Jewish communities of Mainz, the Takkanot Shum, or Enactments of ShUM were a set of decrees formulated and agreed upon over a period of decades by their Jewish community leaders. Rhineland-Palatinate leads all German states with a rate of approximately 50%. Important sectors are the industry, chemical industry, pharmaceutical industry.
Distinctive regional industries includes gemstone industry and glass industry and medium enterprises are considered the backbone of the economy in Rhineland-Palatinate. The principal employer is the chemical and plastics processing industry which is represented by BASF in Ludwigshafen, Joh. A. Benckiser, SGE Deutsche Holding, Schott Glassworks concludes the top 5 companies in the state. Rhineland-Palatinate is Germanys leading producer of wine in terms of grape cultivation, of thirteen wine regions producing quality wine in Germany, six are located in Rhineland-Palatinate, with 65% to 70% of the production of wine grapes in Germany having their origin within the state. 13,000 wine producers generate 80% to 90% of the German wine export, traditional grape varieties and a wide range of varieties developed during the last 125 years are characteristic for the region. Classical white varieties are cultivated at 63,683 hectares and these comprise the famous Rieslings 14,446 hectares, Müller-Thurgau and Kerner.
The share of red varieties grew constantly during the last decades, dornfelder, a new cultivar, is the leading red grape cultivated on 7,626 hectares, which is more than a third. Blauer Portugieser and Spätburgunder show appreciable cultivated shares, the state supports the wine industry by providing a comprehensive consultancy and education program in the service supply centers of the land. The Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding is fully financed by the state, many well known new breeds, such as Morio-Muskat, Bacchus and Regent have been created in these institutes. The worldwide leader in sparkling wine production, producing 245 million bottles in 2006, is the renowned Schloss Wachenheim Group and this company is headquartered in Trier, with operations in several locations in Rhineland-Palatinate
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States of the Confederation of the Rhine (1806–13)
