Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
Cossacks liberate Bremen...!
Since January 1808, the city of Bremen (then 30,000 inhabitants) has been occupied by the French...:
Although the city suffers some losses (including the surrender of the postal monopoly and trade barriers due to the Napoleonic continent dam and it has to pay the billeted troops), the new masters largely leave it alone for the time being.
That changes on August 5, 1809, when the Duke of Brunswick…
…staying in town for 24 hours with his “black band”...:
The people of Bremen then have to pay high penal reparations to France. Napoleon then plans to integrate the city into the Confederation of the Rhine.
But it turns out differently:
In the mid-1810s, the French formed the new "Departement des Bouches du Weser" (Department of the Weser estuaries) with Bremen as the administrative capital. Bremen is now French soil!
The Bremen Council is dissolved by a decree from Marshal Louis Davout...
... on February 16, 1811.
The extremely liberal municipal constitution in Bremen was very soon adapted to the French model.
And the city gets a new coat of arms that is very meaningful: The imperial-Napoleonic bees are above the Bremen key...:
In handicrafts, the guilds are abolished. The Collegium Seniorum of the parents in Bremen is no longer responsible for trade, but a chamber of commerce (Chambre de Commerce, which has remained so to this day)...
... the commercial court (Tribunal de Commerce) and the commercial stock exchange (Bourse de Commerce).
Sea trade to the North Sea is blocked, so trade is only possible via the Baltic Sea, via canals and over land.
Smuggling, especially via the then British island of Helgoland, is of great importance!
The various French internal tariffs make the goods considerably more expensive. The tobacco trade comes to a standstill. Sugar refineries need to switch to sugar beets instead of sugar cane. The Bremen economy experiences its low point...:
The old taxes were replaced by real estate, furniture, doors, windows, stamp and personal taxes as well as municipal taxes and patent fees (trade tax). The Imperial Tobacco Company was extremely unpopular because of the high monopoly prices.
The French defeat in the Russian campaign of 1812/13 increased the French hostility observed in the city by the Imperial Ministry of the Interior.
After the first riots in Bremen on March 15, 1813, General Jean Francois Saint-Cyr imposed a state of siege on Bremen on March 20. The Generals Dominique Joseph Vandamme…
…as supreme commander, as well as Saint-Cyr and Joseph Morand, commanded four divisions in the area around Bremen. There were 1,500 French soldiers in the city and another 2,000 in the surrounding area.
After the defeat of the French in the Battle of Göhrde (September 16)...
... the Russian General von Tettenborn...
... coming from Boitzenburg on the Elbe via Verden with 440 cavalry, 330 infantry and 800 Cossacks of the Don regiments (each named after the Colonels/Polkovniks) Komissaryov (1st), Grebkow (2nd), Denisov (7th). and Sulin (9th Regiment). Arrived in Bremen on October 15, 1813.
The picture shows Cossacks storming the Bremen Easter Gate...:
For the people of Bremen, the Cossacks are an unusual, eerily beautiful sight...:
On October 18, General von Tettenborn will again have to withdraw from the troops of General Louis François Bertrand Lauberdière...
... entering Bremen again – but only briefly.
After Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig (October 16), the French quickly retreat.
On November 4, 1813, the Russians will be back - Bremen's "French era" is finally over.
Since January 1808, the city of Bremen (then 30,000 inhabitants) has been occupied by the French...:
Although the city suffers some losses (including the surrender of the postal monopoly and trade barriers due to the Napoleonic continent dam and it has to pay the billeted troops), the new masters largely leave it alone for the time being.
That changes on August 5, 1809, when the Duke of Brunswick…
…staying in town for 24 hours with his “black band”...:
The people of Bremen then have to pay high penal reparations to France. Napoleon then plans to integrate the city into the Confederation of the Rhine.
But it turns out differently:
In the mid-1810s, the French formed the new "Departement des Bouches du Weser" (Department of the Weser estuaries) with Bremen as the administrative capital. Bremen is now French soil!
The Bremen Council is dissolved by a decree from Marshal Louis Davout...
... on February 16, 1811.
The extremely liberal municipal constitution in Bremen was very soon adapted to the French model.
And the city gets a new coat of arms that is very meaningful: The imperial-Napoleonic bees are above the Bremen key...:
In handicrafts, the guilds are abolished. The Collegium Seniorum of the parents in Bremen is no longer responsible for trade, but a chamber of commerce (Chambre de Commerce, which has remained so to this day)...
... the commercial court (Tribunal de Commerce) and the commercial stock exchange (Bourse de Commerce).
Sea trade to the North Sea is blocked, so trade is only possible via the Baltic Sea, via canals and over land.
Smuggling, especially via the then British island of Helgoland, is of great importance!
The various French internal tariffs make the goods considerably more expensive. The tobacco trade comes to a standstill. Sugar refineries need to switch to sugar beets instead of sugar cane. The Bremen economy experiences its low point...:
The old taxes were replaced by real estate, furniture, doors, windows, stamp and personal taxes as well as municipal taxes and patent fees (trade tax). The Imperial Tobacco Company was extremely unpopular because of the high monopoly prices.
The French defeat in the Russian campaign of 1812/13 increased the French hostility observed in the city by the Imperial Ministry of the Interior.
After the first riots in Bremen on March 15, 1813, General Jean Francois Saint-Cyr imposed a state of siege on Bremen on March 20. The Generals Dominique Joseph Vandamme…
…as supreme commander, as well as Saint-Cyr and Joseph Morand, commanded four divisions in the area around Bremen. There were 1,500 French soldiers in the city and another 2,000 in the surrounding area.
After the defeat of the French in the Battle of Göhrde (September 16)...
... the Russian General von Tettenborn...
... coming from Boitzenburg on the Elbe via Verden with 440 cavalry, 330 infantry and 800 Cossacks of the Don regiments (each named after the Colonels/Polkovniks) Komissaryov (1st), Grebkow (2nd), Denisov (7th). and Sulin (9th Regiment). Arrived in Bremen on October 15, 1813.
The picture shows Cossacks storming the Bremen Easter Gate...:
For the people of Bremen, the Cossacks are an unusual, eerily beautiful sight...:
On October 18, General von Tettenborn will again have to withdraw from the troops of General Louis François Bertrand Lauberdière...
... entering Bremen again – but only briefly.
After Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig (October 16), the French quickly retreat.
On November 4, 1813, the Russians will be back - Bremen's "French era" is finally over.
