The territory grew and assumed its ducal status after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire but suffered a revolution in 1848, whose demands had been formulated in Offenburg the previous year at a meeting now considered the first-ever democratic program in Germany.

In 1803 Baden was raised to Electoral dignity within the Holy Roman Empire, with ecclesiastical and secular territories added to it during the German mediatisation.

Baden was defeated in 1796 with Margrave Charles Frederick being compelled to pay an indemnity and cede his territories on the left bank of the Rhine to France.

In 1803, largely owing to the good offices of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, Charles Frederick received the Prince-Bishopric of Constance, part of the Rhenish Palatinate, and other smaller districts, together with the dignity of a prince-elector.

France and its allies won the war, and in the Peace of Pressburg the same year, Baden obtained the Breisgau and other territories in Further Austria at the expense of the Austrian Empire.

[4] Baden continued to assist France militarily, and by the Treaty of Schönbrunn in 1809, it was rewarded with accessions of territory at the expense of the Kingdom of Württemberg.

The reaction that followed was as severe in Baden as elsewhere in Germany, and culminated in 1823 when, on the refusal of the chambers to vote on the military budget, the grand duke dissolved them and levied the taxes on his own authority.

On 12 September 1847, a popular demonstration held at Offenburg passed resolutions demanding the conversion of the regular army into a national militia, which should take an oath to the constitution, as well as a progressive income tax, and a fair adjustment of the interests of capital and labour.

The ministry remodelled itself in a more liberal direction, and sent a new delegate to the federal diet at Frankfurt, empowered to vote for the establishment of a parliament for a united Germany.

The following elections resulted in a majority favourable to the new ministry, which passed a series of laws of a reactionary tendency with a view to strengthening the government.

However, on 24 July 1866, two days before the Battle of Werbach, the second chamber petitioned the grand duke to end the war and enter into an offensive and defensive alliance with Prussia.

He had no wish to give Napoleon III a good excuse for intervention, but the opposition of Baden to the formation of a South German confederation made the union inevitable.

The signing on 28 June 1859 of a concordat with the Holy See, which placed education under the oversight of the clergy and facilitated the establishment of religious institutes, led to a constitutional struggle.

In 1867, on the accession to the premiership of Julius von Jolly (1823–1891), several constitutional changes in a secular direction occurred: responsibility of ministers, freedom of the press, and compulsory education.

From 1893, they could stay in power only with the aid of the Conservatives and, in 1897, a coalition of the Catholic Centre Party, Socialists, Social Democrats and Radicals (Freisinnige) won a majority for the opposition in the chamber.

But more significant, perhaps, was the tribute paid by Le Temps, the leading Parisian paper:[4] Nothing more clearly demonstrates the sterile paradox of the Napoleonic work than the history of the Grand Duchy.

His wife, Princess Hilda of Nassau, was popular due her supports of artistic endeavors and treatment of the wounded soldiers during World War I.

[10] The NLP, Centre, and Progressive (FVP) parties requested President Heinrich Bodman's resignation on 9 November, due to fears that violence would break out in Mannheim.

[4] The upper chamber included all the princes of the ruling family of full age, the heads of all the mediatized families, the Archbishop of Freiburg, the president of the Protestant Evangelical Church of Baden, a deputy from each of the universities and the technical high school, eight members elected by the territorial nobility for four years, three representatives elected by the chamber of commerce, two by that of agriculture, one by the trades, two mayors of municipalities, and eight members (two of them legal functionaries) nominated by the Grand Duke.

[4] The country was divided into the following districts:[4] The capital of the duchy was Karlsruhe, and important towns other than those listed included Rastatt, Baden-Baden, Bruchsal, Lahr and Offenburg.

The inhabitants of Baden are of various origins, those to the south of Murg being descended from the Alemanni and those to the north from the Franks, while the Swabian Plateau derives its name from the adjacent German tribe (Schwaben),[4] who lived in Württemberg.

The grand duchy had an area of 15,081 km2 (5,823 sq mi)[17] and consisted of a considerable portion of the eastern half of the fertile valley of the Rhine and of the mountains which form its boundary.

From Lake Constance in the south to the river Neckar in the north is a portion of the Black Forest (German: Schwarzwald), which is divided by the valley of the Kinzig into two districts of different elevation.

[4] The greater part of Baden belongs to the basin of the Rhine, which receives upwards of twenty tributaries from the highlands; the north-eastern portion of the territory is also watered by the Main and the Neckar.

The Rhine valley is the warmest district in Germany, but the higher elevations of the Black Forest record the greatest degrees of cold experienced in the south.

[4] The mineral wealth of Baden was not great, but iron, coal, lead and zinc of excellent quality were produced; silver, copper, gold, cobalt, vitriol and sulfur were obtained in small quantities.

The mineral springs of Baden are still very numerous and have acquired great celebrity, those of Baden-Baden, Badenweiler, Antogast, Griesbach, Friersbach and Peterthal being the most frequented.

Of game, deer, boar, snipe and wild partridges are fairly abundant, while the mountain streams yield trout of excellent quality.

In these, the predominant trees are European beech and silver fir, but many others, such as sweet chestnut, Scots pine, Norway spruce and the exotic coast Douglas-fir, are well represented.

The chief products were machinery, woollen and cotton goods, silk ribbons, paper, tobacco, china, leather, glass, clocks, jewellery, and chemicals.