The end of the Baden revolution

The fortress of Rastatt surrenders to superior Prussian troops

Separated from France only by the Rhine, the Grand Duchy of Baden played a special role during the revolutions of 1848/49. Not only were the uprisings of February 1848 amongst the first in Germany, but the abandonment of the fortress of Rastatt by insurgents in 1849 marked the end of the revolutions. The Badeners started and finished the revolutions and made the most radical demands: the complete abolition of princely rule and its replacement with a democratic republic.

Whilst the early revolutions in Baden were a failure, the May uprisings of 1849 were initially a success and helped drive the Imperial Constitutional Campaign forward. Mutinous troops banded together with republicans in Freiburg the federal fortress town of Rastatt, causing the Grand Duke to flee to another territory. The revolutionaries deposed the ducal government, imposed the imperial constitution drafted by the Frankfurt Parliament and formed a provisional democratic government. Although the forces of the new republic won a handful of engagements with federal troops sent to end the revolution, Prussian forces eventually put it down and many Badenese insurgents fled to Switzerland. The fortress of Rastatt surrendered on 23 July 1849, and a number of revolutionaries – including Friedrich Engels – escaped abroad. Whilst many of those captured were given long prison sentences, 27 were executed.