Kingdom of Westphalia
| Kingdom of Westphalia | ||||||
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Royaume de Westphalie (French) Königreich Westphalen (German) |
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| Client state of the French Empire | ||||||
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Motto Character und Aufrichtigkeit "Character and Honesty" |
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.svg) The Kingdom of Westphalia in 1812
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| Capital | Kassel | |||||
| Languages |
German, French (official) Low German (regional) |
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| Religion | Roman Catholic | |||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | |||||
| King | Jérôme Bonaparte | |||||
| Prime minister | Joseph Jérôme, Comte Siméon | |||||
| Legislature | Reichsstände | |||||
| Historical era | Napoleonic Wars | |||||
| • | Treaty of Tilsit | 9 July 1807 | ||||
| • | Constitution adopted | 7 December 1807 | ||||
| • | Battle of Leipzig | 19 October 1813 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| • | 1809 | 37,883 km² (14,627 sq mi) | ||||
| • | 1810 | 63,652 km² (24,576 sq mi) | ||||
| • | 1812 | 45,427 km² (17,539 sq mi) | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| • | 1809 est. | 1,950,724 | ||||
| Density | 51.5 /km² (133.4 /sq mi) | |||||
| • | 1810 est. | 2,612,000 | ||||
| Density | 41 /km² (106.3 /sq mi) | |||||
| • | 1812 est. | 2,065,970 | ||||
| Density | 45.5 /km² (117.8 /sq mi) | |||||
| Currency | Westphalian frank | |||||
| Today part of |
 Germany
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The Kingdom of Westphalia was a kingdom in Germany, with a population of 2.6 million, that existed from 1807 to 1813. It included territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire and was ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte. It was named after Westphalia, but this was a misnomer since the kingdom had little territory in common with that area; rather the kingdom mostly covered territory formerly known as Eastphalia.
Napoleon imposed the first written modern constitution in Germany, a French-style central administration, and agricultural reform. The Kingdom liberated the serfs and gave everyone equal rights and the right to a jury trial. In 1808 the Kingdom passed Germany's first laws granting Jews equal rights, thereby providing a model for reform in the other German states. Westphalia seemed to be progressive in immediately enacting and enforcing the new reforms.
The country was relatively poor but Napoleon demanded heavy taxes and payments, and conscripted soldiers. Few of the men who marched into Russia with Napoleon in 1812 ever returned. The Kingdom was bankrupt by 1812. When Napoleon was retreating in the face of Allied advances in 1813, the Kingdom was overrun by the Allies and (in 1815) most of its territories became Prussian ruled. Most of the reforms, however, remained in place.
The Kingdom of Westphalia was created in 1807 by merging territories ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia in the Peace of Tilsit, among them the region of the Duchy of Magdeburg west of the Elbe River, the Brunswick-Lüneburg territories of Hanover and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and the Electorate of Hesse. Hesse's capital Kassel then fulfilled the same function for Westphalia, and the king kept court at the palace of Wilhelmshöhe, renamed Napoleonshöhe. The state was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine.
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Wikipedia