Bruchsal (German pronunciation: [ˈbʁʊxzaːl] ⓘ; South Franconian: Brusl) is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The Bruchsal area also includes the cities and towns of Bad Schönborn, Forst, Hambrücken, Karlsdorf-Neuthard, Kraichtal, Kronau, Oberhausen-Rheinhausen, Östringen, Philippsburg, Ubstadt-Weiher and Waghäusel.

When the new Body of Municipal Law for Baden-Württemberg went into effect on April 1, 1956, the city was therefore immediately awarded Große Kreisstadt status.

In addition the exclave of Bruchsal situated North of Karlsdorf-Neuthard shares borders with the towns of Graben-Neudorf, Waghäusel and Hambrücken.

These often only consist of one or several buildings, such as Langental, Rohrbacher Hof, Scheckenbronnerhof, Staighof, Talmühle and Auf dem Michaelsberg in the borough of Untergrombach.

In 1502 the first peasant revolt (Bundschuh), led by Joß Fritz of Untergrombach, chose Bruchsal as its target.

By April 24, 1711, Bruchsal had recovered sufficiently to play host to Prince Eugene of Savoy of the Habsburg Court in Vienna.

At the same time, Bruchsal became the seat of the "Vizedomamt", the most important office held by the Diocese on the West bank of the Rhine.

In 1719 Cardinal Damian Hugo von Schönborn became the new bishop, and after settling in he commissioned in (1722), among others, the new baroque château and the new Saint Peter's Church (from 1742).

In 1743 Franz Christof von Hutten, Schönborn's successor, completed the extensive construction of the baroque city of Bruchsal, by adding Damian's Gate, the military barracks and the Water Château (home to one of the city's two regional, college track high schools, the Schönborn Gymnasium).

German Mediatisation turned all property owned by the Diocese of Speyer over to the House of Baden, and Bruchsal became the seat of the district court.

Amalie's daughter Friedericke wed Gustaf IV Adolf to become Queen of Sweden (though she asked for and received asylum in Bruchsal after 1807 due to the coup d'état of her husband's government).

Later it was merged with Siemens AG, and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and 1871 made Bruchsal an important rail hub for the provisioning of German troops.

The city's slaughterhouse opened in 1908, and World War I again turned Bruchsal into a major hub on the supply line for the troops.

In 1938 the Nazis destroyed the synagogue (in its place stands a fire station today) and the Jewish population were deported.

At the time of the attack, the war was essentially over, with the front line only 20 km from the city limits and nearly no one left to defend it.

[citation needed] On March 1, 1945, shortly before 2 p.m., a bomb attack by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) with 116 heavy bombers killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed the entire city center immediately before the end of the war (the Allies were already 20 km (12 mi) away on the Rhine) and the castle of the then 12,000-strong city.

Between November 1945 and March 1946, 13 people, who had been sentenced to death by American military courts for their involvement in National Socialist war crimes, were executed in Bruchsal.

Figures reflect the city limits at the time and are estimates or census data (¹), or official extensions thereof[clarification needed], counting only primary residences.

They belong to political parties as follows: The head of the city is the Mayor, who is elected by registered voters for a term of 8 years.

The coat of arms symbolized the Cross of Speyer, referring to the fact that Bruchsal was the official residence of the Bishop until 1803, and has been in use for many centuries.

The Château of Bruchsal was built in the baroque style of the mid 18th century, starting around 1720, and served as the official residence of the bishops of Speyer.

After the plans had been modified several times, the central staircase was built by Balthasar Neumann, who had taken over and filled the role of Chief Engineer since 1731.

In the closing days of World War II the château was badly damaged by an air raid aimed at Bruchsal, and it burned out completely.

City Hall adjacent to the Market Place is a modern building erected in the 1950s which has since been protected by law as an important historic structure.

The Badischen Neuesten Nachrichten (BNN), a daily newspaper operating out of Karlsruhe, publishes a local edition by the name of Bruchsaler Rundschau.

Cable TV's Channel S14 broadcasts the Bruchsal-Magazin BM-TV with weekly programs on news from Bruchsal and the region.

The university occupied the former military barracks complex in the Kasernenstraße before ceasing operations at the end of 2009, a casualty of the 2008 economics crisis.

[3] The Abendrealschule Bruchsal allows students with middle school diplomas to achieve the first in a series of steps to gain college entrance prerequisites on a part-time basis after work.

The research project for urban and autonomous freight logistics, EfeuCampus, was launched in July 2019 on the site of the former Dragonerkaserne barracks.