BAVARIA 



629 



BAVARIA 



Physical Features and Resources." The gen- 

 eral article GERMANY includes Bavaria as well 

 as the other states in its discussion of geo- 



FORMER 

 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 



TIIH FORMKR KINGDOM OF BAVAKIA 

 : .ration in the new Germany. 



liical features, resources and industries, but 

 tin -re may be mentioned here a few of its dis- 

 tinctive characteristics. It is almost entirely 

 cut off from the surrounding states by moun- 

 tains, within which lies a basin-like plateau 

 of 1,600 feet elevation, broken by ranges of 

 lulls. Most of the country is drained by the 

 Danube River, but in the northwestern part 

 the drainage is toward the Main. 



More than any other German state Bavaria 



is given over to agriculture, and many agricul- 



1 associations have aided in spreading 



advanced methods until the soil has been 



brought to a point of productiveness equaled 



in few other sections of the world. Grains, 



potatoes and hay are the principal crops, but 



hops also are raised in larco quantities, for 



Bavaria is the greatest beer-producing spot in 



Id for years has averaged 



420,000,000 gallons annually, or a million 



and a third gallons every working day. 



Government. Though a part of the German 

 Empire, Bavaria was ind. JM ndent in internal 

 affairs and had its own hereditary monarch. 

 kin wax the sole executive, but he was 

 assisted by a Cabinet of seven ministers who 

 were responsible to the people for his acts, 

 legislative body was known as the Landtag, and 

 consisted of two houses, a Chamber of Coun- 

 cilors of the Realm of about ninety members, 

 all hereditary or appointed for life, and a lower 

 house of 163 elected members. When Germanic 

 arms were defeated in N kinu 



and royal house abdicated and fled. In Sep- 

 tember, 1019, it was impossible to forecast its 

 form of government. 



The principal cities are Munich, the capital; 

 and Augsburg, Nuremberg, Wurzburg and 

 Ratisbon. They are described in their alpha- 

 betical places in these volumes. 



History. The inhabitants of the territory 

 now known as Bavaria were Celts at the time 

 the country first engaged the attention of his- 

 torians (see CELTS). The Celtic tribe was con- 

 quered by the Romans about 15 B.C.; in t he- 

 eighth century the Franks gained control, and 

 Bavaria was included in the empire of Charle- 

 magne. After his death and that of his de- 

 scendants, it was constituted a duchy, and in 

 1180 was transferred to the family of Wittels- 

 bach, a member of which is still the ruling 

 sovereign. The Rhinish Palatinate came into 

 the possession of the same family in the next 

 century; the connection between these two 

 parts of the kingdom is thus an old one, though 

 it has at various times been broken. One of 

 its dukes was for a brief time (1742-1745) 

 emperor of Germany. See PALATINATE. 



Its Years as a Kingdom. Napoleon made of 

 Bavaria a kingdom in 1805, and increased its 

 territory because its king furnished him an 

 army, and although a portion of this land 

 had to be given up at the final adjustment after 

 Napoleon's fall, the new kingdom was consid- 

 erably larger than the old duchy. A constitu- 

 tion, which with certain changes is still in 

 force, was adopted in 1818, but the people did 

 not receive from it the larger liberties which 

 they had expected. This was largely owing to 

 the inability of successive kings to realize tin- 

 needs of the country. 



Through jealousy and other causes, Bavaria 

 opposed the efforts of Prussia to unite the 

 German stales under its own headship, and in 

 tlu War of 1866 took sides with Austria. As 

 a result it was made to give up a generous slice 

 of territory and to form an offensive and de- 

 fensive alliance with the victorious Prussia. 

 Compelled by this alliance and the feeling of 

 the people, Bavaria took part in the l"i m.M- 

 German War in 1870 and at the close of the 

 stnmcle took a leading part in the formation 

 of the German Empire. For a time the king- 

 dom was most unfortunate in its sovereigns. 

 I.ouis II went insane and killed himself in 

 1886, and his brother, Otto I, was also declared 

 incapable of ruling because of mental infirmity. 

 In l!i:t the recent. Prince Ludwig Leopold, 

 waa proclaimed king as Ludwig III. 



In times of peace Bavaria had control of its 

 own army, but in war time-- tin- |.a-d under 

 the sway of the Empire. When the War of 



