Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Großherzogtum Mecklenburg-Schwerin (German) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1815–1918 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||
.svg) The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin within theGerman Empire | |||||||||
 Map of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (orange) | |||||||||
| Status |
| ||||||||
| Capital | Schwerin 53°38′0″N11°25′0″E / 53.63333°N 11.41667°E /53.63333; 11.41667 | ||||||||
| Common languages | German,Low German | ||||||||
| Religion | Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Mecklenburg-Schwerin | ||||||||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy | ||||||||
| Grand Duke | |||||||||
• 1815–1837 | Frederick Francis I | ||||||||
• 1837–1842 | Paul Frederick | ||||||||
• 1842–1883 | Frederick Francis II | ||||||||
• 1883–1897 | Frederick Francis III | ||||||||
• 1897–1918 | Frederick Francis IV | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 14 June 1815 | |||||||||
| 14 November 1918 | |||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• Total | 13,161 km2 (5,081 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Currency | Mecklenburg thaler(to 1857) Vereinsthaler(to 1857–73) German gold mark(1873–1918) | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||
TheGrand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (German:Großherzogtum Mecklenburg-Schwerin) was a territory inNorthern Germany held by theHouse of Mecklenburg residing atSchwerin. It was a sovereign member state of theGerman Confederation and became afederated state of theNorth German Confederation and finally of theGerman Empire in 1871.
Like its predecessor, theDuchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the Schwerin lands upon the incorporation of the extinct Duchy ofMecklenburg-Güstrow in 1701 comprised the larger central and western parts of the historicMecklenburg region. The smaller southeastern part was held by theDuchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz branch of the grand ducal house, who also ruled over the lands of the formerPrince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg in the far northwest.
The grand duchy was bounded by theBaltic coast in the north and thePrussian province ofPomerania in the northeast, where the border with theHither Pomeranian (formerlySwedish Pomeranian) region ran along theRecknitz river, thePeene, andKummerower See. In the south it bordered with the PrussianProvince of Brandenburg (with theexclaves ofRossow and Schönberg nearWittstock) and in the southwest with theAmt Neuhaus district held by theKingdom of Hanover, which was incorporated into the PrussianProvince of Hanover after theAustro-Prussian War in 1866. Likewise in the west, theDuchy of Holstein was incorporated into theSchleswig-Holstein Province, after which Mecklenburg was almost entirely surrounded by Prussian territory.
Beside the capital at Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Schwerin comprised the coastal cities ofRostock andWismar, which had been held by theSwedish crown until 1803, as well as the inland towns ofParchim andGüstrow.
In the early years of theFrench Revolutionary Wars DukeFrederick Francis I had remained neutral, and in 1803 he regained Wismar, which was pawned to him from Sweden. AfterNapoleon's victory at theBattle of Austerlitz and the final dissolution of theHoly Roman Empire in 1806, he joined theConfederation of the Rhine by a treaty of 22 March 1808.Napoleon, in preparation for theFrench invasion of Russia in 1812, disregarded this alliance; he offered the duchy to the Swedish heir apparentJean Bernadotte for his support. Duke Frederick Francis was the first member of the confederation to abandon Napoleon, to whose armies he had sent a contingent,[1] and in the followingWar of the Sixth Coalition he fought against the troops of theFirst French Empire —with the result that his new allies,Prussia andRussia, now offered his duchy to the Kingdom ofDenmark. Instead, Denmark was promised the adjacent lands of Swedish Pomerania by the 1814Peace of Kiel and the rule of the Mecklenburg dukes remained inviolate.
At the 1815Congress of Vienna, Frederick Francis joined the newly establishedGerman Confederation, and like his Strelitz cousinCharles II, was elevated to the title of "Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin". In 1819serfdom was finally abolished in his dominions. The Mecklenburg governance was still determined by the 1755 inheritance agreement (Landesgrundgesetzlicher Erbvergleich), which upheld the medieval hierarchy of theestates, which largely affected the social and economic development of both grand duchies. During therevolutions of 1848, the grand duchy witnessed a considerable agitation in favour of a liberal constitution. On 10 October 1849 Grand DukeFrederick Francis II (1823–1883) granted a newBasic law elaborated by his First MinisterLudwig von Lützow. In the subsequent reaction of the Mecklenburg nobility, backed by the Strelitz grand dukeGeorge, all the concessions which had been made to democracy were withdrawn and further restrictive measures were introduced in 1851 and 1852.[1]
In the dispute over neighbouringDuchy of Holstein which culminated in the 1866Austro-Prussian War, Frederick Francis II supported the Kingdom of Prussia, whom he aided with Mecklenburg-Schwerin soldiers. His grand duchy began to fall more and more under Prussian influence. In 1867 he joined theNorth German Confederation and theZollverein. In theFranco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Prussia again received valuable assistance from Grand Duke Frederick Francis II, who was an ardent advocate of German unity and held a high command in her armies. In the course of theGerman unification in 1871, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz became states of theGerman Empire. There was now renewed agitation for a more democratic constitution, and the GermanReichstag gave some countenance to this movement.[1]
In 1897Frederick Francis IV (b. 1882) succeeded his fatherFrederick Francis III (1851–1897) as the last grand duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In 1907 the grand duke promised a constitution to his subjects. The grand duchy had always been under a feudal system of government, the grand duke having the executive entirely in his hands (though acting through ministers). The grand duchy shared a diet (Landtag), which met for a short session each year. At other times they were represented by a committee consisting of the proprietors of knights' estates (Rittergüter), known as the Ritterschaft, and the Landschaft, or burgomasters of certain towns. Mecklenburg-Schwerin returned six members to the Reichstag.[1] Upon the suicide of his cousin Grand DukeAdolphus Frederick VI on 23 February 1918, Frederick Francis served as regent of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Shortly afterwards, on 14 November, he was forced to renounce the Mecklenburg throne in the course of theGerman Revolution. The grand duchy turned into theFree State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, a federated state of theWeimar Republic.
Thereby ended nearly eight centuries of continuous rule (only interrupted byAlbrecht von Wallenstein from 1628 to 1630) by the originallyObotrite (West Slavic) Mecklenburg dynasty, beginning with their progenitor PrinceNiklot (d. 1160). Until 1918 the grand duke was styled as "Prince of the Wends".
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mecklenburg".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
States of the German Confederation (1815–1866) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empires |  | ||||||||
| Kingdoms | |||||||||
| Electorates | |||||||||
| Grand duchies | |||||||||
| Duchies |
| ||||||||
| Principalities |
| ||||||||
| Free cities | |||||||||
| |||||||||
States of the North German Confederation (1866–1871) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kingdoms |  | |
| Grand Duchies | ||
| Duchies | ||
| Principalities | ||
| City-states | ||
States of the German Empire (1871–1918) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kingdoms |
| -en.png) |
| Grand Duchies | ||
| Duchies | ||
| Principalities | ||
| City-states | ||
| Imperial Territories | ||
| Other | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
