Encyclopedia
The
Free State of Bavaria , with an area of 70,553 km² and 12.4 million inhabitants, forms the southernmost
state of today's
Germany. Its capital is
Munich.
History
Main article: History of BavariaThe region north of the Alps was inhabited by Celts and was part of the Roman Empire until tribes from the East, the so-called 'Bayuvaren' started to settle in the region in the 6th century AD. A later mention was made by the
Franks ca. 520.
Saint Boniface completed the people's conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria resisted the
Protestant Reformation, and remains strongly
Roman Catholic.
From about 550 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the duchy of Bavaria, ending with Tassilo III who was deposed by
Charlemagne. For the next 400 years numerous families held the duchy, rarely for more than three generations. The last, and one of the most important, of these dukes was
Henry the Lion of the house of
Welf, founder of Munich.
When Henry the Lion was deposed as duke of
Saxony and Bavaria by his cousin,
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1180, Bavaria was awarded as fief to the
Wittelsbach family, which ruled from 1180 to 1918. The first of several divisions of the duchy occurred in 1255 but in 1506 Bavaria was reunited and Munich became the sole capital. In 1623 the dukes replaced their relative, the
Count Palatine of the Rhine in the early days of the
Thirty Years War and acquired the powerful
prince-electoral dignity in the
Holy Roman Empire, determining its Emperor thence forward, as well as special legal status under the empire's laws.
When
Napoleon abolished the Empire, Bavaria became a kingdom in 1806, and in 1815 the Rhenish Palatinate was annexed to it. In between 1799 and 1817 the leading minister count
Montgelas followed a strict policy of modernisation and laid the foundations of administrative structures that survived even the monarchy and are valid until today. In 1818 a modern constitution was passed, that established a bicameral Parliament with a House of Lords and a House of Commons . The constitution was valid until the collapse of the monarchy at the end of the First World War.
After the rise of Prussia to prominence Bavaria managed to preserve its independence by playing off the rivalries of
Prussia and
Austria, but defeat in the 1866
Austro-Prussian War led to its incorporation into the
German Empire in 1871. In the early 20th century
Wassily Kandinsky,
Paul Klee,
Henrik Ibsen, and other notable artists were drawn to Bavaria, notably to the
Schwabing district of Munich, but the region was devastated by
World War I.
Socialist premier
Kurt Eisner, who deposed King
Ludwig III, was assassinated in 1919 leading to a violently suppressed communist revolt. Extremist activity on the right also increased, notably the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, and Munich and
Nuremberg became
Nazi strongholds under the
Third Reich. As a manufacturing center, Munich was heavily bombed during
World War II and occupied by
U.S. troops.
Since
World War II, Bavaria has been rehabilitated into a prosperous industrial hub. A massive reconstruction effort restored much of Munich's historic core, and the city played host to the
1972 Summer Olympics. More recently, state minister-president
Edmund Stoiber was the CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor in the
2002 federal election, and native son
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected
Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg was born in Jettingen / Bavaria.
Geography
Bavaria shares international borders with
Austria and the
Czech Republic as well as with
Switzerland . Neighbouring states within Germany are
Baden-Württemberg,
Hesse,
Thuringia and
Saxony. Two major rivers flow through the state, the
Danube and the
Main. The Bavarian Alps define the border with
Austria, and within the range is the highest peak in
Germany, the
Zugspitze.
The major cities in Bavaria are
Munich ,
Nuremberg ,
Augsburg,
Regensburg,
Würzburg,
Ingolstadt,
Fürth and
Erlangen.
See also: List of places in Bavaria.
Politics
Bavaria has a
unicameral Landtag, or state parliament, elected by universal suffrage. Until December 1999, there was also a
Senat, or Senate, whose members were chosen by social and economic groups in Bavaria, but following a referendum in 1998, this institution was abolished. The head of government is the
Minister-President.
Bavaria has long been a bastion of conservative politics in Germany, with the Christian Social Union having almost a monopoly on power since its inception in 1946. Every Minister-President since 1957 has been a member of this party.
In 1995 the Bavarians decided to introduce direct democracy on the local level in a referendum. This was initiated bottom-up by an association called
Mehr Demokratie . This is a grass-roots organisation which campaigns for the right to citizen-initiated referenda. In 1997 the Bavarian Supreme Court aggravated the regulations considerably . Nevertheless, Bavaria has the most advanced regulations on local direct democracy in
Germany. This has led to a spirited citizens’ participation in communal and municipal affairs - 835 referenda took place from 1995 through 2005.
In the 2003 elections the CSU won more than two thirds of the seats in
Landtag. No party in post-war West German history had achieved this before .
On the other hand the bigger and more liberal, or rather social democratic, cities, especially Munich, have been governed for decades by the SPD .
From the historical point of view, older Bavaria was one of the most liberal, even though predominantly
Roman Catholic, states until the rather rural areas of Swabia and Franconia were added in 1814/15 at the Congress of Vienna.
The Kingdom of Bavaria and the Duchy of Baden were the first German States to have a constitution in the early 19th Century.
September 21, 2003 state election
Edmund Stoiber remained Minister-President, with the CSU forming a government without a coalition. The two-thirds majority of seats obtained by the CSU is the first one in any state parliament in Germany ever.
| Party | Party List votes | Vote percentage | Total Seats | Seat percentage |
|---|
| Christian Social Union | 6,217,864 | 60.7% | +7.8% | 124 | +1 | 68.9% |
| Social Democratic Party | 2,012,065 | 19.6% | -9.1% | 41 | -26 | 22.8% |
| Alliance '90/The Greens | 793,050 | 7.7% | +2.0% | 15 | +1 | 8.3% |
| Free Democratic Party | 263,731 | 2.6% | +0.9% | 0 | +0 | 0.0% |
| The Republicans | 229,464 | 2.2% | -1.4% | 0 | +0 | 0.0% |
| Free Voters of Bavaria | 411,306 | 4.0% | +0.3% | 0 | +0 | 0.0% |
| Ecological Democratic Party | 200,103 | 2.0% | +0.2% | 0 | +0 | 0.0% |
| All Others | 120,952 | 1.2% | -0.7% | 0 | +0 | 0.0% |
|
| Totals | 10,248,735 | 100.0% | | 180 | -24 | 100.0% |
|---|
Culture
Due to their long independence , Bavarians have always maintained a strong national identity. Their culture and mentality are very distinct from the rest of Germany. Noteworthy differences can be found with respect to:
Religion
Particularly in Southern Bavaria the predominant faith is
Roman Catholicism, contrasting with the more
Lutheran Northern Bavaria. This is expressed by the typical Bavarian and Austrian greeting: "
Grüß Gott!" . The current pope,
Benedict XVI , was born in
Marktl am Inn in
Upper Bavaria.
Attitude towards traditions
In contrast to many other regions of Germany, where traditions are often associated with being backward, Bavarians are proud of their traditions. Traditional costumes are worn on special occasions, century-old folk music is practised and dialect songs and poems are taught in nursery schools. The May Poles , and the bagpipes in the Upper Palatinate region bear witness to the very ancient Celtic and Germanic remnants of cultural heritage of the region.
Food and drink
Bavarians tend to place a greater value on food and drink than do other Germans. Bavarians also consume many items of food and drink which are unusual elsewhere in
Germany. Beer in particular has always been regarded as a basic nutrient or 'liquid bread'. It is traditionally served by the litre . Bavarians are particularly proud of the purity law, which now applies to all German beers but was initially established by the Duke of Bavaria in 1516. According to this law, only four ingredients are allowed in beer: water, malt, hops and yeast.
Language
Bavarians are very proud of their marked dialects and most of them speak with their Bavarian, Franconian or
Swabian accent. As with traditions in general, cultivation of dialect and regional accent is not associated with backwardness, as is often the case especially in North Germany.
Politics
The Christian Social Union, which has ruled in Bavaria uninterruptedly since 1957, does not seek election in any other state of Germany. The
CSU, arguably the most inward looking of the major German political parties, combines socially conservative positions with advocacy for extensive involvement of the state in the economy.
Social behaviour
In comparison to the elaborate formality in the rest of
Germany, Bavarians can be extremely egalitarian and folksy. Their sociability is probably best experienced at the annual Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival welcoming around 6 million visitors every year, or in the famous beer gardens. Genuine traditional Bavarian beer gardens work on a BYO basis, i.e. patrons bring their own food and only buy the chilled beer from the brewery that runs the beer garden. On hot Bavarian summer days and evenings, the long tables under shady chestnut trees are very popular and invite people to sit down next to complete strangers and share their food with them.
Administrative Divisions
Regierungsbezirke
Bavaria is divided into 7 administrative regions called
Regierungsbezirke .
- Oberfranken
- Mittelfranken
...
- Unterfranken
...
- Schwaben
- Oberpfalz
- Oberbayern
Historical Population of Upper Bavaria:
...
- Niederbayern
These administrative regions consist of 71 administrative districts and 25 independent cities .
Landkreise/kreisfreie Städte
Rural districts:
Urban districts:
Gemeinden
The 71 administrative districts are on the lowest level divided into 2031 municipalities . Together with the 25 independent cities , there are a total of 2056 municipalities in Bavaria.
In 44 of the 71 administrative districts, there are a total of 215 unincorporated areas , not belonging to any municipality, all uninhabited, mostly forested areas, but also four lakes .
Dialects
Several
German dialects are spoken in Bavaria. In the administrative regions to the north the
Franconian dialect is prevalent, in
Swabia the local dialect is Swabian, a thread of the
Alemannic dialect family. In the Upper Palatinate people speak the Northern Bavarian dialect that can vary regionally. In Upper and Lower Bavaria
Austro-Bavarian is the predominant dialect.
See also
- Bavarian Soviet Republic
- List of rulers of Bavaria
- List of Premiers of Bavaria
- Former countries in Europe after 1815
Historical Buildings
Miscellaneous
There are many famous people who were born or lived in present-day Bavaria:
...
,
Albrecht Dürer,
Albrecht Altdorfer, Lucas Cranach,
Carl Spitzweg,
Franz von Lenbach,
Franz von Stuck and
Franz Marc.
...
,
Christian Morgenstern, Oskar Maria Graf,
Bertolt Brecht, Lion Feuchtwanger,
Thomas Mann and his sons
Klaus and Golo Mann.
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