Baden-Württemberg

Basic data:

Universities:

Freiburg: Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg im Breisgau
Friedrichshafen: Zeppelin University
Heidelberg: Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg
Karlsruhe: University of Karlsruhe (TH)
Konstanz: University of Konstanz
Mannheim: University of Mannheim
Stuttgart: University of Hohenheim
University of Stuttgart
Tübingen: Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Ulm: University of Ulm

Geography:

Baden-Württemberg extends over parts of the upper Rhine plain with the Kaiserstuhl, the Black Forest with the Feldberg (1,493 m above sea level), the highest elevation in the state, the Kraichgau, the southern Odenwald and the western southern German stratum with the Swabian Jura. Between Lake Constance and Iller (Allgäu), Baden-Württemberg has a share of the foothills of the Alps in the south.

On both sides of the Neckar and its side valleys are fertile plateaus and wooded heights. The main rivers of Baden-Württemberg are the Rhine, Danube and Neckar. The Rhine level near Mannheim is 85 m above sea level. NN the lowest point in the country. The federal state shares borders with France (Alsace region), Switzerland and, via Lake Constance, with Austria.

Climate:

Thanks to its southern location, Baden-Württemberg has an advantage over other federal states in terms of temperatures. The Upper Rhine lowlands, with an average annual temperature of 10 °C, are among the warmest areas in Germany.

The southern Black Forest, on the other hand, with an annual mean temperature of 4°C, is one of the coldest areas in Germany. The Kraichgau, the Neckar Valley north of Stuttgart, the Lake Constance area, the High Rhine area and the Tauber Valley also belong to the climatically favored areas.

history:

The Homo heidelbergensis found near Heidelberg with an age of 500,000 years before our era proves that today\'s area of ​​Baden-Württemberg can be counted among the oldest settlements in Europe.

Under Tiberius, the Romans crossed the Alps around 15 BC and founded the province of Raetia, which extended to the Danube and included Upper Swabia. With the exception of the north-eastern part of Hohenlohe, today\'s Baden-Württemberg was part of the Roman Empire.

By the 3rd century AD, the Romans had expanded to the areas to the right of the Rhine and left of the Danube when they were pushed back across the Rhine border by the Alemanni in 406.

Counties emerged in the 8th century, creating administrative units such as Breisgau, Ortenau and Hegau. With the formation of new tribal duchies, the area of ​​Baden-Württemberg was divided into the Duchy of Swabia and the northern areas into the Duchy of Franconia.

In addition to the Swabian Staufers, who fought for the imperial crown in the High Middle Ages, there were other important noble houses, the Welfs and the Zähringer. With the development of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, they initiated the high medieval city founding phase.

The end of the Staufer dynasty in the 13th century brought about a decentralization of the empire. The territorial fragmentation into small counties, imperial cities and religious areas proved to be very constant and lasted until the years of upheaval.

After the dissolution of the Old Empire at the beginning of the 19th century, the approximately 300 states in the area of ​​today\'s Baden-Württemberg were reduced to four. The Kingdom of Württemberg and the Grand Duchy of Baden were among the winners of the coalition wars.The principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen only survived the mediatization thanks to a special relationship with Napoleon.

In 1849, after a three-week siege of Rastatt Fortress, the Baden Revolution was crushed by Prussian intervention troops. The Baden army was disbanded and placed under Prussian leadership. Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen became part of the Prussian province of Hohenzollerische Land in 1850.

In the armed conflict between the German Confederation and the Kingdom of Prussia and its allies in 1866, Baden and Württemberg were on the losing side and had to pay war indemnities to Prussia.

Furthermore, there were military secret treaties with the North German Confederation, which led to the entry of these states into the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. After the end of the war, Baden and Württemberg joined the newly founded German Empire led by Prussia.

After the end of World War I in 1919, the Republic of Baden and the Free People\'s State of Württemberg adopted democratic constitutions. In 1933, the independent state governments were disempowered in the course of the co-ordination in favor of National Socialist Gauleiters and Reichsstatthalter.

During the Second World War, the cities of south-west Germany were affected to varying degrees. Stuttgart, Mannheim, Heilbronn, Friedrichshafen, Freiburg and Ulm were hit very hard. As well as Karlsruhe, Reutlingen, Ludwigsburg, Sindelfingen, Offenburg and Göppingen. On the other hand, cities such as Rottweil, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, Esslingen, Tübingen, Villingen, Constance, Aalen and Schwäbisch Gmünd remained almost intact and still have intact old towns.

After the end of the war, the area in the south-west of Germany was arbitrarily divided into three without regard to geographic, social or economic conditions. The border between the American and French zones of occupation ran through the middle of Baden and Württemberg along the Autobahn Karlsruhe - Stuttgart - Ulm. This ended the existence of the traditional old states of Baden, Württemberg and Prussian Hohenzollern.

The Americans formed the transitional state of Württemberg-Baden with the capital Stuttgart from the areas they occupied in North Baden and North Württemberg, in which the state district of Baden had extensive administrative autonomy.

The French turned the south of Württemberg and Hohenzollern into the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern with the capital at Tübingen. The southern Baden part of the country became Baden with the metropolis of Freiburg. These three countries became part of the Federal Republic of Germany on May 23, 1949.

After a bitter struggle between supporters and opponents of the planned \"southwestern state\", a referendum was held on December 9, 1951, in which the opponents lost. The state of Baden-Württemberg was founded on April 25, 1952. Reinhold Maier was the first prime minister. On November 11, 1953, the state assembly passed the constitution of Baden-Württemberg.

Economy:

Baden-Württemberg is one of the economically strongest and most competitive regions in Europe. It is the most heavily industrialized country in Germany. B. Daimler-Benz, BASF dominate the medium-sized companies. The most important sectors are mechanical engineering, vehicle construction, electrical engineering, chemical, metal processing, plastics and textile industries and, especially in the Black Forest, the timber industry. Baden-Württemberg has only few mineral resources, approx. 41.1% of the total area of ​​the state is used for agriculture (as of 1997).