Grand Duchy of Hesse

State flag of Hesse

### Common Name

Hesse, Hesse-Rhein, Hesse-Darmstadt, Südhessen**(Hesse-Rhine, Hesse-Darmstadt, South Hesse)**

### Motto

"Gott, Ehre, Vaterland"("God, Honour, Fatherland")

### Language

Lower German, Rhine German, Upper German, Hessian German

### Government

Parliamentary Monarchy, Constitutionalist, Federalist

### Populations

1.005,698.

The **Grand Duchy of Baden and by Rhine** (German: *Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein*), sometimes called **Hesse-Darmstadt**, and **South Hesse** (German: *Südhessen*) is a South German State, and like them, Hesse is puppet-autonomous/Satellite State of French Empire, Hesse, is bordered by the Kingdom of Prussia to the north, Kingdom of Bavaria by the Palatinate and the northern part of Bavaria, also the Grand Duchy of Baden to the south.

Formed in 1806, being the Grand Duchy of Hesse as it was initially called, during the First Napoleonic Era, Prussia invaded the Duchy of Westphalia, plus the Grand Duchy received a region across the Rhine Bank according to the province of Starkenburg, creating a new province of Rhinenish Hesse, after the defeat of the French in 1815, Hesse joined the German Confederation, in accordance with the Congress of Vienna, although like the German States of the Confederation they claimed to be an Artificial State that did not exactly represent Germans in general.

In the War of the Brothers, Hesse joined the Austrian side until reaching a soft agreement with the Prussian victors. The Grand Duchy of Baden joined the French side in the Prusso-French War, being more of a buffer for the Prussians against France and vice versa. The Grand Duchy of Hesse has a territory within Prussia, this territory being a possession of Hesse and at the same time a German Federated State Prussia, being a very strange combination, because at the same time that it is an independent nation or almost, it is part of Prussia by the province of Upper Hesse.

## History

### Before the War Unification Attempt (1850-1870)

*For more informations:* Grand Duchy of Hesse (German)

#### Reinhard von Clawigk Era

On 30 June 1850, the Grand Duke appointed Reinhard von Dalwigk as Director of the Ministry of the Interior, on 8 August 1850 he was transferred provisionally to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, and finally became Minister-President on 25 June 1850. September 1852. Dalwigk and Grand Duke Louis, were practically Paternalist rulers, Conservatives and against Liberalism and Democracy, for Dalwigk the principles of Democracy [were] dangerous for the State, because it would lead him to Socialism and then for Communism.

Under Dalwigk's rule, efforts were made to dismantle everything gained by the March revolution in 1848, during his rule, Dalwigk and Louis III declared their support for Austria, the German Confederation and the Greater Germany Solution.

#### Austro-Prussian War (1866)

The Grand Duchy of Hesse, unlike its neighbor to the south, promptly entered the war on the Austrian side, after the outbreak of hostilities between Prussia and Austria in June 1866, initially the declaration of war bonds was disapproved, by the Landstände, being accepted after Landstände backed down by popular opposition.

In anticipation of the then possible Austro-Prussian war, the command of the 8th Army of the Confederation was granted and entrusted to Prince Alexander of Hesse, who was the brother of Grand Duke Louis III. Even though he was a Russian General and Lieutenant Field Marshal of Austria, he was full of real military experience.

With the Prussian occupation of the Duchy of Holstein on June 14, 1866, several German states rallied against Prussia while the rest favored Prussia, the troops from Hesse were ready to march, unfortunately for the Grand Duchy, it took two weeks to rally the remainder of the 8th Army from Frankfurt. During a certain period Hessian troops did not find the enemy and on July 13, 1866, they were intercepted by Prussian troops at Aschaffenburg. In the following battle at Frohnhofen, the Hessian troops were defeated, later withdrawing to the south where they were defeated at the battle of Tauberbischofsheim.

#### A Brief Post War

After the war, after the Prussians took some time to decide the losses of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, they ended up losing 82 km² and had to pay a debt, in addition to receiving 10 km² more, one of the consequences of the war is that the province of Upper Hesse which was joined to the newly founded North German Confederation. Dalwigk rejected the possibility of the rest of southern Hesse, unless there was a war between Prussia and France.

### During the Unification War Attempt (1870/71)

When the Prusso-French war broke out, the Grand Duchy initially declared neutrality, as Dalwigk wanted to delay Hesse's entry into the North German Confederation, but since he had not been specific in refusing to join, he used as an argument that for Hesse to join the Confederation, it was necessary for France to be the aggressor, so the Grand Duchy joined France, and quickly was almost overthrown by pseudo revolts of the Freikorps, until the moment when the Freikorp Insurgency really broke out, causing the Grand -Duchy declared State of Collapse.

Being aggravated by the Prussian invasion, the Freikorps were held back with the arrival of troops from Baden, and from France, together with the support of the Francs-Tireurs, the Grand Duke was forced to dismiss Dalwigk, and indicated as a new Minister-President Friedrich von Lindelof, who tried to renegotiate a neutrality of the Grand Duchy, refused by Prussia, as Hesse could very well be occupied and serve as a stage of passage military power of the French, and the French had also refused as Hesse was almost too destroyed to leave now, and that the only way to get back together and staying in the war, the Hessian divisions were not much recognized for their willpower in trying to deal with all of Hesse's problems.

### Post Unification War Attempt (1871-1883)

With the end of the war, the Grand Duchy of Hesse fell under the influence of France, initially the return of Upper Hesse to the Grand Duchy was considered, but as the Grand Duchy would not have access because the Prussians could not guarantee much thing about the security of the Province other than the fact that it would be quite dependent on Prussia, so it was officially ceded to Prussia although Prussia declares it as shared ownership, during the reign of Napoleon III.

Hesse was one of the first South German States, where the French created a military presence, with the addition of the Franc-Tireurs, and like the other South German States, recognition of their activity in the war was devalued, creating a pejorative term "State, Damsel in Distress", with the Grand -Duchy being a big joke for Europe and the world, because of that, the Hessian military decreed a general strike, with repressions of the French troops, with the death of Napoleon III, Napoleon IV began to grant autonomy to the Grand-D ucado, and as autonomy was granted, the Grand Duchy was no longer a simple Satellite State/Puppet State, it had become a Client State of France, not being represented by Bavaria in the Declaration of the Representative State, and which the French would now control entirely Hessian diplomacy.

## Leadership

The Grand Duchy of Hesse has a very simplified government to the Grand Duke and the Minister-President, as the other positions are controlled by foreign politicians of French origin.

**(Hessen Großherzog)**
**(Ministerpräsident von Hessen)**
**(Außenminister)**
**(Wirtschaftsminister)**
**(Innenministerium)**