Kingdom of Württemberg

The Kingdom of Württemberg was the German state that existed from 1806 to 1918 in what is now the south of Baden-Württemberg. Duke Frederick II had been raised to Elector in 1803 in the mediatisation that secularised church lands and free cities into his hands, and when the Holy Roman Empire collapsed in 1806 he took the royal title under Napoleon's protection, joining the Confederation of the Rhine and furnishing troops for the imperial campaigns while remodelling his administration on French lines. His son William I, succeeding in 1816, granted the constitution of September 1819 after long argument, and it governed the kingdom, with amendments, to the end. Württemberg became a medium constitutional monarchy, first in the German Confederation and then in the Empire, backing Austria against Prussia until the defeat of 1866 at Tauberbischofsheim, then joining Prussia in 1870 and entering the new Empire in 1871 with its own post, telegraphs, railways, taxation privileges and army. The German Revolution of 1918 forced King William II to abdicate, and the Free People's State took its place.