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Grand Duchy of Berg | |||||||||||||||
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| 1806–1813 | |||||||||||||||
.svg) Flag .svg) Coat of arms | |||||||||||||||
.svg) The Grand Duchy of Berg in 1812 | |||||||||||||||
| Status | Member state of theConfederation of the Rhine | ||||||||||||||
| Capital | Düsseldorf | ||||||||||||||
| Common languages | German,French | ||||||||||||||
| Religion | Protestant,Catholic | ||||||||||||||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy | ||||||||||||||
| Grand Duke | |||||||||||||||
• 1806–1808 | Joachim I | ||||||||||||||
• 1808–1809 | Napoleon I | ||||||||||||||
• 1809–1813 | Louis I | ||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Napoleonic Wars | ||||||||||||||
• Established | 15 March 1806 | ||||||||||||||
| 1 December 1813 | |||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||
| 1811 | 17,300 km2 (6,700 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||
• | 880,000 | ||||||||||||||
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TheGrand Duchy of Berg (German:Großherzogtum Berg), also known as theGrand Duchy of Berg and Cleves, was a territorialgrand duchy established in 1806 byNapoleon after his victory at theBattle of Austerlitz (1805) on territories between theFrench Empire at theRhine river and the GermanKingdom of Westphalia.
The French annexation of theDuchy of Jülich (French:Juliers) during theFrench Revolutionary wars in 1794 had separated the two duchies of Jülich andBerg, which had been ruled inpersonal union by theWittelsbach dukes ofPalatinate-Neuburg since 1614 (and before that by the house ofLa Marck since 1423 seeUnited Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg). In 1803, the heir of Palatinate-Neuburg, theBavarian electorMaximilian Joseph, separated the remaining Duchy of Berg from his other Bavarian territories and granted it to his cousinWilliam of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen as administrator, whereby it came under the rule of a junior branch of the Wittelsbachs.
In 1806, in the reorganization of Germany occasioned by the dissolution of theHoly Roman Empire, Maximilian I Joseph, nowKing of Bavaria, ceded Berg to Napoleon in return for thePrincipality of Ansbach. On 15 March 1806, the French emperor put Berg under the rule of his brother-in-lawJoachim Murat, including territories of the former PrussianDuchy of Cleves east of the Rhine river.[1] Murat's arms combined the red lion of Berg with the Cleves arms. The anchor and the batons came to the party due to Murat's position as Grand Admiral and asMarshal of the Empire. As the husband of Napoleon's sister, he also had the right to use the imperial eagle. On 12 July 1806, Murat joined theConfederation of the Rhine and assumed the title of agrand duke. His lands were further enlarged by the annexation of theCounty of Mark, thePrince-Bishopric of Münster, the Imperial city ofDortmund and numerous minor territories of theLower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle.
Murat eventually left the grand duchy in 1808 to take up his new title asking of Naples but he kept grand duke in his title. Berg was at first directly ruled by Napoleon in aPersonal Union. In 1809, Napoleon appointed his young nephew, PrinceNapoleon Louis Bonaparte (1804–1831), the elder son of Napoleon's brotherLouis Bonaparte,King of Holland, as Grand Duke of Berg; French bureaucrats underPierre Louis Roederer administered the territory in his name. For nine days in July 1810, Grand Duke Napoleon Louis also ruled over the Kingdom of Holland in another personal union, but this was short-lived, and French troops moved into the kingdom and incorporated it into France.
The state was in constant economic decline from its formation, in large part due to Napoleon's failedContinental System which led to a series of revolts and uprisings. The grand duchy's short existence came to an end when the French forces pulled back in the course of theGerman campaign of 1813. The territory was then administered byPrussia, which officially incorporated the former grand duchy according to the Final Act of the 1815Congress of Vienna. Berg became part of theProvince of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, and the eastern territories ofMünster andMark were merged into theProvince of Westphalia. Today, the territory is part of modernGermany.
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Media related toDuchy of Berg at Wikimedia Commons| Sister republics |
|  Europe at the height of Napoleon's Empire | |||||||||||
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