Elchingen
Encyclopedia
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
about 7 km east of Ulm
Ulm
Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...
–Neu-Ulm
Neu-Ulm
Neu-Ulm is a town in Bavaria, capital of the Neu-Ulm district. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 51,110 .-History:...
in the district of Neu-Ulm
Neu-Ulm (district)
Neu-Ulm is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Günzburg and Unterallgäu and the state of Baden-Württemberg ....
in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Municipality parts:
- Thalfingen: 4 211 residents, 8.83 km²
- Oberelchingen: 3 024 residents, 7.31 km²
- Unterelchingen: 2 863 residents, 8.76 km²
History
In 1294, Elchingen (today: Unterelchingen) was sold by Konrad of Plochingen to the Cistercian monastery of Salem. Unterelchingen stayed in its property until the secularization in 1802. Unterelchingen never was in possession of the Monastery of Elchingen.In 1803, Ober-, Unterlchingen and Thalfingen became bavarian, due to the Principal Decree of the Imperial Deputation.
The Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monastery of Elchingen was founded at the beginning of the 12th century. In 1395 all authentic documents were destroyed in a fire. So the probable consecration date (15 August 1128) cannot be proven.
Elchingen became famous through the Battle of Elchingen
Battle of Elchingen
The Battle of Elchingen, fought on October 14, 1805, saw French forces under Michel Ney rout an Austrian corps led by Johann Sigismund Riesch. This defeat led to a large part of the Austrian army being invested in the fortress of Ulm by the army of Emperor Napoleon I of France while other...
: on 14 October 1805 the Napoleonic troops under the command of Marshal Michel Ney
Michel Ney
Michel Ney , 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I...
defeated the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
ns. One day later the siege of Ulm
Ulm
Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...
began, after which Karl Mack von Leiberich finally had to capitulate. In 1806 Napoleon conferred the title of Duc d'Elchingen on Marshal Ney and the name of Elchingen was engraved on the Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
For the region the Napoleonic victory meant the end of the Austrian supremacy which led to a re-organization of the area of Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
and Bavaria.
Today's municipality of Elchingen is the result of the reorganization of Bavaria on 1 May 1978 through the integration of Thalfingen, Oberelchingen and Unterelchingen.
Traffic
Elchingen lies on the A8 autobahnBundesautobahn 8
is an autobahn in southern Germany that runs 497 km from the Luxembourg A13 motorway at Schengen via Neunkirchen, Pirmasens, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg and Munich to the Austrian West Autobahn near Salzburg....
, which connects Stuttgart and Munich, near the intersection where the A8 crosses the A7, and has its own exit.
Elchingen also lies on the train line between Ulm and Aalen
Aalen
Aalen is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about east of Stuttgart and north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district, and its largest city, as well as the largest city within the Ostwürttemberg region. In spatial planning, Aalen is designated a Mittelzentrum...
, the so-called Brenzbahn.
Literature
- Franz Willbold: Napoleons Feldzug um Ulm. Die Schlacht von Elchingen 1805 ISBN 3-7995-8027-1
- Alfred Krauss: 1805 – Der Feldzug von Ulm. Vienna 1912 (Maps from this at napoleon-online.de: Battle near Elchingen und Situation at the evening of the 14th October)
External links
- Official website
- Action report, Elchingen October 14, 1805