Kingdom of Bavaria

"Kingdom of Bavaria" redirects here. For other uses, see Kingdom of Bavaria (disambiguation).

Kingdom of Bavaria Königreich Bayern (German) Kinereich Bayern (Bavarian)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Gerecht und Beharrlich Just and persistent
Anthem:  "Die bayerische Hymne" "The Bavarian Anthem"
Light Green is the EU, Green is Germany and Dark Green is Bavaria
Capital	Munich
Official languages	Bavarian English
Recognised regional languages	German Bavarian English
Demonym(s)	Bavarian
Government	Constitutional Monarchy
• Prince	Grant Taylor
Legislature	Landtag
• Upper house	House of Councillors
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Independence from Germany
• Treaty of Pressburg	26 December 1805
• Original Establishment	26 December 1805
• Treaty of Ried	8 October 1813
• Treaty of Paris	30 May 1814
• Unification of Germany	18 January 1871
• German Revolution	9 November 1918
• Anif declaration	12 November 1918
• Redeclared Independence	31 December 2021
Area
• Total	70,550.19 km2 (27,239.58 sq mi)
Population
• 2020 estimate	13,124,737
• Density	186/km2 (481.7/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Date format	yyyy-mm-dd
Driving side	right
Preceded by w:Free State of Bavaria

The Kingdom of Bavaria, Commonly known as Bavaria is a self-proclaimed nation founded on the 31 December 2021, but is viewed as the Free State of Bavaria part of Germany and or a Micronation. Founded by Grant Taylor before he joined MicroWiki and Micronationalism as he loved Bavaria at the time, the original Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingdom became a federated state of the new empire and was second in size, power, and wealth only to the leading state, the Kingdom of Prussia. Bavaria shares a border with Austria to the south, Germany to the north and west, and the Czech Republic to the east of Bavaria. Bavaria is known for its pristine countryside, clean air, wealth of culture and infamous laid-back Bavarian attitude. Medieval castles, small towns, magnificent palaces, Baroque churches and Bavaria's urban hubs provide the backdrop for traditional events and opera festivals. Bavaria is the one of the countries that shares the Alps. It is made up of four major vacation regions: There is Upper Bavaria with Munich, the highest Alpine peaks and picturesque lakes. Allgäu/Bavarian Swabia with its fairy-tale castle, unique mountain panoramas and a huge meteorite crater. Bavaria is currently part of the New Holy Roman Empire.

The polity's foundation dates back to the ascension of prince-elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach as King of Bavaria in 1805. The crown would go on being held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom came to an end in 1918. Most of the border of modern Germany's Free State of Bavaria were established after 1814 with the Treaty of Paris, in which the Kingdom of Bavaria ceded Tyrol and Vorarlberg to the Austrian Empire while receiving Aschaffenburg and Würzburg. In 1918, Bavaria became a republic after the German Revolution, and the kingdom was thus succeeded by the Free State of Bavaria, before seceding from germany reforming the Kingdom of Bavaria

Etymology

From New Latin Bavaria, from Medieval Latin Baioarii (“Bavarians”), from Latin Boiuvarii (literally “Boii settlers”), a compound of a Gaulish word meaning “cattle owner” (from Proto-Celtic *bāus (“cow”)) + Proto-Germanic *warjaz (“settler”). The lands were eventually settled by Germanic tribes from the east and north who mixed with the remaining Celts and Romans. The tribe that gave the territory its name was the Baiovarii (Bavarians), which settled in the south between 488 ce - 520 ce.

History

This History Section does not cover all the history of Bavaria because of too much text for potention readers, for more information please view History of Bavaria.

Foundation and expansion under Maximilian I

The Kingdom of Bavaria (green) within the German Confederation (dark grey) in 1815

On 30 December 1777, the Bavarian line of the Wittelsbachs became extinct, and the succession on the Electorate of Bavaria passed to Charles Theodore, the Elector Palatine. After a separation of four and a half centuries, the Palatinate, to which the duchies of Jülich and Berg had been added, was thus reunited with Bavaria. In 1793, French revolutionary armies overran the Palatinate; in 1795, the French, under Moreau, invaded Bavaria itself, advanced to Munich—where they were received with joy by the long-suppressed Liberals—and laid siege to Ingolstadt. Charles Theodore, who had done nothing to prevent wars or to resist the invasion, fled to Saxony, leaving a regency, the members of which signed a convention with Moreau, by which he granted an armistice in return for a heavy contribution (7 September 1796). Between the French and the Austrians, Bavaria was now in a bad situation. Before the death of Charles Theodore (16 February 1799), the Austrians had again occupied the country, in preparation for renewing the war with France.

Maximilian IV Joseph (of Zweibrücken), the new elector, succeeded to a difficult inheritance. Though his own sympathies, and those of his all-powerful minister, Maximilian von Montgelas, were, if anything, French rather than Austrian, the state of the Bavarian finances, and the fact that the Bavarian troops were scattered and disorganized, placed him helpless in the hands of Austria; on 2 December 1800, the Bavarian arms were involved in the Austrian defeat at Hohenlinden, and Moreau once more occupied Munich. By the Treaty of Lunéville (9 February 1801), Bavaria lost the Palatinate and the duchies of Zweibrücken and Jülich. In view of the scarcely disguised ambitions and intrigues of the Austrian court, Montgelas now believed that the interests of Bavaria lay in a frank alliance with the French Republic; he succeeded in overcoming the reluctance of Maximilian Joseph; and, on 24 August, a separate treaty of peace and alliance with France was signed at Paris.

The 1805 Peace of Pressburg allowed Maximilian to raise Bavaria to the status of a kingdom. Accordingly, Maximilian proclaimed himself king on 1 January 1806. The King still served as an elector until Bavaria seceded from the Holy Roman Empire on 1 August 1806. The Duchy of Berg was ceded to Napoleon only in 1806. The new kingdom faced challenges from the outset of its creation, relying on the support of Napoleonic France. The kingdom faced war with Austria in 1808 and from 1810 to 1814, lost territory to Württemberg, Italy, and then Austria. In 1808, all relics of serfdom were abolished, which had left the old empire. In the same year, Maximilian promulgated Bavaria's first written constitution. Over the next five years, it was amended numerous times in accordance with Paris' wishes.

During the French invasion of Russia in 1812 about 30,000 Bavarian soldiers were killed in action. With the Treaty of Ried of 8 October 1813 Bavaria left the Confederation of the Rhine and agreed to join the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon in exchange for a guarantee of her continued sovereign and independent status. On 14 October, Bavaria made a formal declaration of war against Napoleonic France. The treaty was passionately backed by the Crown Prince Ludwig and by Marshal von Wrede. With the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813 ended the German Campaign with the Coalition nations as the victors, in a complete failure for the French, although they achieved a minor victory when an army of Kingdom of Bavaria attempted to block the retreat of the French Grande Armée at Hanau.

With the defeat of Napoleon's France in 1814, Bavaria was compensated for some of its losses, and received new territories such as the Grand Duchy of Würzburg, the Archbishopric of Mainz (Aschaffenburg) and parts of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Finally, in 1816, the Rhenish Palatinate was taken from France in exchange for most of Salzburg which was then ceded to Austria (Treaty of Munich (1816)). It was the second largest and second most powerful state south of the Main, behind only Austria. In Germany as a whole, it ranked third behind Prussia and Austria.

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 (in their core) valid until today. On 1 February 1817, Montgelas had been dismissed and Bavaria had entered on a new era of constitutional reform.

Ludwig I, Maximilian II and the Revolutions

Map of Europe in 1848–1849 depicting the main revolutionary centers, important counter-revolutionary troop movements and states with abdications

In 1825, Ludwig I ascended the throne of Bavaria. Under Ludwig, the arts flourished in Bavaria, and Ludwig personally ordered and financially assisted the creation of many neoclassical buildings and architecture across Bavaria. Ludwig also increased Bavaria's pace towards industrialization under his reign. In foreign affairs under Ludwig's rule, Bavaria supported the Greeks during the Greek War of Independence with his second son, Otto being elected King of Greece in 1832. As for politics, initial reforms advocated by Ludwig were both liberal and reform-oriented. However, after the Revolutions of 1830, Ludwig turned to conservative reaction. The Hambacher Fest in 1832 showed the discontent of the population with high taxes and censorship. Bavaria joined the Zollverein in 1834. In 1835, the first German railway was constructed in Bavaria, between the cities of Fürth and Nuremberg.

In 1837, the Roman Catholic-supported clerical movement, the Ultramontanes, came to power in the Bavarian parliament and began a campaign of reform to the constitution, which removed civil rights that had earlier been granted to Protestants, as well as enforcing censorship and forbidding the free discussion of internal politics. This regime was short-lived due to the demand by the Ultramontanes of the naturalization of Ludwig I's Irish mistress, Lola Montez, a notorious courtesan and dancer, which was resented by Ludwig, and the Ultramontanes were pushed out.

During the Revolutions of 1848, Ludwig abdicated on 20 March 1848 in favour of his eldest son, Maximilian II. The revolutions also brought amendments to the constitution, including changes to the lower house of the Landtag with equal suffrage for every male who paid a direct tax. Maximilian II responded to the demands of the people for a united German state by attending the Frankfurt Assembly, which intended to create such a state. However, when Maximilian II rejected the Frankfurt Constitution in 1849, there was an uprising in the Bavarian Palatinate under Joseph Martin Reichard, which was put down with the support of Prussian forces. However Maximilian II stood alongside Bavaria's ally, the Austrian Empire, in opposition to Austria's enemy, the Kingdom of Prussia. This position was resented by many Bavarian citizens, who wanted a united Germany. In the end Prussia declined the crown offered by the Frankfurt Assembly as the proposed constitution of a German state was perceived to be too liberal and not in Prussia's interests.

In the aftermath of the failure of the Frankfurt Assembly, Prussia and Austria continued to debate over which monarchy had the inherent right to rule Germany. A dispute between Austria and the Prince of Hesse-Kassel was used by Austria and its allies (including Bavaria) to promote the isolation of Prussia in German political affairs. This diplomatic insult almost led to war when Austria, Bavaria, and other allies moved troops through Bavaria towards Hesse-Kassel in 1850. However, Prussia backed down to Austria, and accepted of dual leadership. This event was known as the Punctation of Olmütz but also known as the "Humiliation of Olmütz" by Prussia. This event solidified the Bavarian kingdom's alliance with Austria against Prussia. When the project to unite the German middle-sized powers under Bavarian leadership against Prussia and Austria (the so-called Trias) failed, Minister-President Von der Pfordten resigned in 1859. Attempts by Prussia to reorganize the loose and un-led German Confederation were opposed by Bavaria and Austria, with Bavaria taking part in its own discussions with Austria and other allies in 1863, in Frankfurt, without Prussia and its allies attending.

Austro-Prussian War

Austro-Prussian War map.

In 1864, Maximilian II died early, and his eighteen-year-old son, Ludwig II, became King of Bavaria as tensions between Austria and Prussia escalated steadily. Prussian Minister-President Otto von Bismarck, recognizing the immediate likelihood of war, tried to keep Bavaria neutral. Ludwig II refused Bismarck's offers and continued Bavaria's alliance with Austria. In 1866, the Austro-Prussian War began. Bavaria and most of the south German states allied with Austria, but contributed far less to the war against Prussia.

Prussia quickly defeated the Kingdom of Hanover, then won the Battle of Königgrätz (3 July 1866) against Austria, which was totally defeated by Prussia shortly afterward. The states of the German Confederation had not agreed on a common strategy in the war. Their separate armies were therefore defeated in succession by Prussia.

The Bavarian army was defeated in Lower Franconia at the Battle of Kissingen (10 July 1866). Prince Karl Theodor of Bavaria took command, but the Bavarians were decisively beaten at Uettingen (26 July 1866).

Austria was defeated, and the German Confederation was dissolved, ending Austria's influence over the lesser German states. Bavaria lost Gersfeld, Bad Orb and Kaulsdorf to Prussia; former two became part of the new province of Hesse-Nassau whereas the latter became part of Province of Saxony. From this time, Bavaria steadily progressed into Prussia's sphere of influence.

Ludwig II and the German Empire

The North German Confederation (red). The southern German states that joined in 1870 to form the German Empire are in orange. Alsace-Lorraine, the territory annexed following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, is in tan. The red territory in the south marks the original princedom of the House of Hohenzollern, rulers of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Green is Bavaria.

With Austria's defeat in the Austro-Prussian War, the northern German states quickly unified into the North German Confederation, with the Prussian king leading the state. Bavaria's previous inhibitions towards Prussia changed, along with those of many of the south German states, after French emperor Napoleon III began speaking of France's need for "compensation" from its loss in 1814 and included Bavarian-held Palatinate as part of its territorial claims. Ludwig II joined an alliance with Prussia in 1870 against France, which was seen by Germans as the greatest enemy to a united Germany. At the same time, Bavaria increased its political, legal, and trade ties with the North German Confederation. In 1870, war erupted between France and Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War. The Bavarian Army was sent under the command of the Prussian crown prince against the French army.

With France's defeat and humiliation against the combined German forces, it was Ludwig II who proposed that Prussian King Wilhelm I be proclaimed German Emperor or "Kaiser" of the German Empire ("Deutsches Reich"), which occurred in 1871 in German-occupied Versailles, France. The territories of the German Empire were declared, which included the states of the North German Confederation and all of the south German states, with the major exception of Austria. The Empire also annexed the formerly French territory of Alsace-Lorraine, due in large part to Ludwig's desire to move the French frontier away from the Palatinate.

Bavaria's entry into the German Empire changed from jubilation over France's defeat to dismay shortly afterward because of the direction Germany took under the new German Chancellor and Prussian Prime Minister, Otto von Bismarck. The Bavarian delegation under Count Otto von Bray-Steinburg had secured a privileged status for the Kingdom of Bavaria within the German Empire (Reservatrechte). The Kingdom of Bavaria was even able to retain its own diplomatic body and its own army, which would fall under Prussian command only in times of war.

After Bavaria's entry into the Empire, Ludwig II became increasingly detached from Bavaria's political affairs and spent vast amounts of money on personal projects, such as the construction of a number of fairytale castles and palaces, the most famous being the Wagnerian-style Castle Neuschwanstein. Ludwig used his personal wealth to finance these projects, and not state funds, and the construction projects landed him deeply in debt. These debts caused much concern among Bavaria's political elite, who sought to persuade Ludwig to cease his building; he refused, and relations between the government's ministers and the crown deteriorated.

At last, in 1886, the crisis came to a head. A medical commission appointed by the cabinet declared Ludwig insane and thus incapable of reigning. His uncle, Prince Luitpold, was appointed as regent. A day after Ludwig's deposition, the king died mysteriously after asking the commission's chief psychiatrist to go on a walk with him along Lake Starnberg (then called Lake Würm). Ludwig and the psychiatrist were found dead, floating in the lake. The official autopsy listed cause of death as suicide by drowning, but some sources claim that no water was found in Ludwig's lungs. While these claims could be explained by dry drowning, they have also led to conspiracy theories of political assassination.

Regency and institutional reform

The crown passed to Ludwig's brother Otto. However, Otto had a long history of mental illness and had been placed under medical supervision three years earlier. The duties of head of state actually rested in the hands of Prince Luitpold, who continued to serve as regent for Otto.

During the regency of Prince-Regent Luitpold, from 1886 to 1912, relations between Bavaria and Prussia remained cold, with Bavarians remembering the anti-Catholic agenda of Bismarck's Kulturkampf, as well as Prussia's strategic dominance over the empire. Bavaria protested Prussian dominance over Germany and snubbed the Prussian-born German Emperor, Wilhelm II, in 1900, by forbidding the flying of any other flag other than the Bavarian flag on public buildings for the Emperor's birthday, but this was swiftly modified afterwards, allowing the German imperial flag to be hung beside the Bavarian flag.

The Catholic, conservative Patriotic Party founded in 1868 became the leading party in the Bavarian Landtag (Parliament). In 1887, its name was changed to Bavarian Centre. In 1893, the Social Democrats were elected to the parliament. From 1903, the University Education was also possible for female students. Electoral reforms changed the elections of the parliament from indirect to direct elections in 1906. With the Centre politician Georg von Hertling the Prince-Regent appointed to the head of government for the first time a representative of the Landtag's majority in 1912.

Luitpold's years as regent were marked by tremendous artistic and cultural activity in Bavaria where they are known as the Prinzregenten Jahre ("The Prince Regent Years"). In 1912, Luitpold died, and his son, Prince-Regent Ludwig, took over as regent. By then, it had long been apparent that Otto would never be able to reign, and sentiment grew for Ludwig to become king in his own right. On 6 November, a year after the Landtag passed a law allowing him to do so, Ludwig ended the regency, deposed Otto and declared himself King of Bavaria as Ludwig III.

The Prinzregentenzeit ("prince's regent's time"), as the regency of Luitpold is often called, was due to the political passiveness of Luitpold an era of the gradual transfer of Bavarian interests behind those of the German empire. In connection with the unhappy end of the preceding rule of King Ludwig II this break in the Bavarian monarchy looked even stronger. Finally, the constitutional amendment of 1913 brought the determining break in the continuity of the king's rule in the opinion of historians, particularly as this change had been granted by the Landtag as a House of Representatives and meant therefore indirectly the first step from constitutional to the parliamentary monarchy. Today the connection of these two developments is regarded as a main cause for the unspectacular end of the Bavarian kingdom without opposition in the course of the November revolution of 1918. However the course of his 26-year regency Luitpold knew to overcome, by modesty, ability and popularity, the initial uneasiness of his subjects. These prince regent's years were transfigured, finally—above all in the retrospect – to a golden age of Bavaria, even if one mourned the "fairy tale king" Ludwig II furthermore what happens in a folkloric-nostalgic manner till this day.

Military autonomy

With the establishment of the German Empire, a series of conventions brought the bulk of the various state military forces directly under the administration of the Prussian War Ministry. Bavaria however maintained a degree of autonomy in peacetime, with its own two (later three) army corps remaining outside the Prussian order of battle. The Bavarian infantry and cavalry regiments retained their historic light blue and green uniforms, distinctive from the Prussian model adopted throughout most of the army. The individual Bavarian soldier swore an oath of loyalty to King Ludwig, though in wartime this pledge of obedience was extended to Kaiser Wilhelm as supreme commander. In July 1914, the Bavarian Army numbered 92,400 or 11 percent of the total Imperial Army.

World War I and the end of the Kingdom

The Kingdom of Bavaria within the German Empire with the exclave of Palatinate

In 1914, a clash of alliances occurred over Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia following the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Bosnian Serb militant. Germany went to the side of its former rival-turned-ally, Austria-Hungary, and declared war on France and Russia. Following the German invasion of neutral Belgium the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. Initially, in Bavaria and all across Germany, many recruits flocked enthusiastically to the Army. At the outbreak of the war, King Ludwig III sent an official dispatch to Berlin, to express Bavaria's solidarity. Later Ludwig even claimed annexations for Bavaria (Alsace and the city of Antwerp in Belgium, to receive an access to the sea). His hidden agenda was to maintain the balance of power between Prussia and Bavaria within the German Empire after a victory. Over time, with a stalemated and bloody war on the western front, Bavarians, like many Germans, grew weary of the conflict.

In 1917, the Bavarian Prime Minister Georg von Hertling became German Chancellor and Prime Minister of Prussia; Otto Ritter von Dandl became the new Prime Minister of Bavaria. Accused of showing blind loyalty to Prussia, Ludwig III became increasingly unpopular during the war. In 1918, the kingdom attempted to negotiate a separate peace with the allies but failed. By 1918, civil unrest was spreading across Bavaria and Germany, Bavarian defiance to Prussian hegemony and Bavarian separatism being key motivators.

On 7 November 1918, Ludwig fled from the Residenz Palace in Munich with his family. He was the first of the monarchs in the German Empire to be deposed; only days later, the Kaiser abdicated the German throne. Ludwig took up residence in Austria for what was intended to be a temporary stay. On 12 November, he issued the Anif declaration, declaring that under the circumstances, he was "in no position to lead the government." Accordingly, he released his soldiers and officials from their oath to him. Although he never formally abdicated, the socialist-led government of Kurt Eisner took Ludwig's declaration as such and declared the House of Wittelsbach deposed. With this, the 700-year rule of the Wittelsbach dynasty came to an end, and the former Kingdom of Bavaria became the People's State of Bavaria.

The funeral of Ludwig III in 1921 was feared or hoped to spark a restoration of the monarchy. Despite the abolition of the monarchy, the former King was laid to rest in front of the former royal family, the Bavarian government, military personnel, and an estimated 100,000 spectators, in the style of royal funerals. Prince Rupprecht did not wish to use the occasion of the passing of his father to attempt to reestablish the monarchy by force, preferring to do so by legal means. Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, Archbishop of Munich, in his funeral speech, made a clear commitment to the monarchy while Rupprecht only declared that he had stepped into his birthright.

Bavaria during the Weimar Republic

Main articles: People's State of Bavaria, Bavarian Soviet Republic, and Beer Hall Putsch

States of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s (with Prussia and its provinces shown in blue)

Republican institutions replaced royal ones in Bavaria during the upheavals of November 1918. Provisional National Council Minister-President Kurt Eisner declared Bavaria to be a free state on 8 November 1918. Eisner was assassinated on 21 February 1919 ultimately leading to a Communist revolt and the short lived Bavarian Socialist Republic (Bayerische Räterepublik or Münchner Räterepublik) being proclaimed from 6 April 1919. After violent suppression by elements of the German Army and notably the Freikorps, the Bavarian Socialist Republic fell on 3 May 1919. The Bamberg Constitution (Bamberger Verfassung) was enacted on 14 August 1919 creating the Free State of Bavaria within the Weimar Republic.

Munich became a hotbed of extremism: the 1919 Bavarian Soviet Republic and the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch involving Erich Ludendorff and Adolf Hitler took place in the same city. For most of the Weimar Republic, though, Bavaria was dominated by the relatively mainstream conservative Bavarian People's Party. The BPP was a Catholic party that represented the Bavarian tradition of particularist conservatism, through which monarchists and even separatist sentiments were conveyed. An attempt supported by a wide coalition of parties, to establish Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, as a Staatskommisar with dictatorial powers in 1932 to counter the Nazis failed due to the hesitant Bavarian government under Heinrich Held.

Bavaria during The Third German Riech

With the rise of the Nazis to power in 1933, the Bavarian parliament was dissolved without new elections. Instead, the seats were allocated according to the results in the national election of March 1933, giving the Nazis and its coalition partner, the DNVP, a narrow two-seat majority due to the fact that the seats won by the KPD were declared void. With this controlling power, the NSDAP was declared the only legal party and all other parties in Germany and Bavaria were dissolved. In 1934, the Bavarian parliament was, like all other state parliaments, dissolved too. Shortly after, Bavaria itself was broken up during the reorganization of the Reich. Instead of the states, Reichsgaue were established as administrative sub-divisions. Bavaria was split into six regions, the Reichsgaue Schwaben, München-Oberbayern, Bayerische Ostmark, Franken, Main-Franken and Westmark.

During the 12 years of Nazi rule, Bavaria was one of Hitler's favorite locations, and he spent much time in his residence at the Obersalzberg. The KZ in Dachau, near Munich, was the first to be established. But Bavaria was also the scene of passive resistance to the regime, the most well known of this being the White Rose. Nürnberg, Bavaria's second-largest city, became the scene of massive rallies, the Reichsparteitage. Ironically, the last of those in 1939, titled Reichsparteitag des Friedens (Reichsparteitag of peace), was canceled due to the outbreak of the second world war. After the war, carefully chosen, for this reason, the city became the location of the war crimes trials, the Nuremberg Military Tribunals.

While Bavaria had approximately 54,000 Jewish people living in its borders at the turn of the 20th century, by 1933 still 41,000 lived in the state. By 1939, this number had shrunk to 16,000, and few of those survived the Nazi rule.

Bavaria during the Federal Republic of Germany

Following the end of World War II, Bavaria was occupied by US forces, who reestablished the state on 19 September 1945. In 1946 Bavaria lost its district on the Rhine, the Palatinate. The destruction caused by aerial bombings during the war, alongside the arrival of refugees from the parts of Germany now under Soviet occupation, caused major problems for the authorities. By September 1950, 2,155,000 expellees had found refuge in Bavaria, or 23.6 percent of the population. Of these, 1,025,000 were Sudeten Germans from Bohemia and Moravia and 459,000 were Germans from Polish-annexed Silesia. A further large group were German-speakers from Hungary. In the following decades, Sudeten Germans were acknowledged as Bavaria's fourth largest ethnic group, along with Bavarians, Franconians, and Swabians.

Bavaria is home to the Bavarian Party, founded in 1946, whose goal is to establish an independent Bavarian state. For a time, the idea that Bavaria might become independent again was seriously entertained by the Allied occupation authorities, along with a possible union between Bavaria and Austria. With the onset of the Cold War, support for Bavarian independence quickly lost support both within Bavaria and from the Western allies, and the state became a part of West Germany.

The first post-World War II state elections were held on 30 June 1946, when 180 delegates were chosen. The main task of those delegates was to draft a new Bavarian constitution since the day-to-day running of the state still lay with the US authorities at this stage. The new constitution was accepted by a public vote on 1 December 1946, the same day the first post-war state parliament (German: Landtag) was elected. Bavaria was politically dominated by the Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party of the Christian Democratic Union, the main center-right party in Germany, until 1954. Bavaria was then governed by a coalition under the leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, returning to the CSU in 1957.

Since the 1960s Bavaria has seen a dynamic development to one of Europe's leading economic zones, the country is no longer mainly an agricultural region but hosts a variety of high tech industries.

After the CSU lost more than 17% of the votes in the Bavarian state elections of 2008, incumbent Minister-President Günther Beckstein and Chairman of the CSU, Erwin Huber, announced their resignations. Horst Seehofer was quickly proposed as their successor. At a party convention on 25 October, he was affirmed as the new Chairman of the CSU, and on 27 October he was elected Minister-President by the Landtag with votes from the Free Democratic Party, forming the first coalition government in Bavaria since 1962.

In 2008, Bavaria became the first federal state of Germany to completely ban smoking in bars and restaurants. After this restriction was criticized as being "too harsh" by some members of the CSU, it was relaxed one year later. Supporters of smoking bans then brought about a public referendum on the issue, which led to even firmer restrictions than the initial ban. Thereafter, a more comprehensive ban was introduced in 2010.

Reformation of the Kingdom

In 2021, the Kingdom was re-founded by Grant Taylor seceding with all of modern Bavaria from Germany. The state has not been recognized as independent by germany or any nations in the EU, which the Kingdom of Bavaria is viewed as a Micronation since its re-founding.

Government

The Flag of the Bavarian Government, with the Bavarian flag in the corner with the bavarian coat of arms but with the Holy Roman Empire flag. Also having a circle saying "Kingdom of Bavaria" in English and Bavarian with the simpler Bavarian coat of arms in the middle of it sith 4 stars.

The Government of Bavaria is a Semi-absolute constitutional monarchy, consisting of a Monarch and a Legislature Landtag with the houses being the upper house the House of Councillors and the lower house the House of Representatives. The government of Bavaria is still using the orignal Kingdom of Bavaria, and does not use a more modern system of government. Every year the States of Bavaria will submit 1 participant to become the president of the Landtag of Bavaria, and then the 4 participants will be entered a vote to see who becomes president of the Landtag.

Political Parties

Bavaria only has Two political Parties, The Roman Monarchist Party and the Free Democratic Party, the Monarchist Party is the leading party of Bavaria but the Free Democratic Party is a party based on rejoining germany if it is put to use.

Geography

Bavaria shares international borders with Austria (Salzburg, Tyrol, Upper Austria and Vorarlberg) and the Czech Republic (Karlovy Vary, Plzeň and South Bohemian Regions), as well as with Switzerland (across Lake Constance to the Canton of St. Gallen). All of these countries are part of the Schengen Area, so the border is completely open. Neighboring states within Germany are Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia, and Saxony. Two major rivers flow through the state: the Danube (Donau) and the Main. The Bavarian Alps define the border with Austria (including the Austrian federal-states of Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg), and within the range is the highest peak in Germany: the Zugspitze.The Bavarian Forest and the Bohemian Forest form the vast majority of the frontier with the Czech Republic and Bohemia. The major cities in Bavaria are Munich (München), Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Augsburg, Regensburg, Würzburg, Ingolstadt, Fürth, and Erlangen. The geographic center of the European Union is located in the northwestern corner of Bavaria.

Climate

At lower elevations the climate is classified according to Köppen’s guide as “Cfb” or “Dfb” at lower altitudes, then at higher altitudes the climate becomes “Dfc” and “ET”.

The summer months have been getting hotter in recent years. For example, June 2019 was the warmest June in Bavaria since weather observations have been recorded and the winter 2019/2020 was 3 degrees Celsius warmer than the average temperature for many years all over Bavaria. On 20 December 2019 a record temperature of 20.2 °C (68.4 °F) was recorded in Piding. In general winter months are seeing more precipitation which is taking the form of rain more often than that of snow compared to the past. Extreme weather like the 2013 European floods or the 2019 European heavy snowfalls is occurring more and more often. One effect of the continuing warming is the melting of almost all Bavarian Alpine glaciers: Of the five glaciers of Bavaria only the Höllentalferner is predicted to exist over a longer time perspective. The Südliche Schneeferner has almost vanished since the 1980s.

Foreign Relations

Foreign Relations to the Kingdom of Bavaria are more national than micronational because of the nation claiming not to be a micronation, so the relations of Bavaria are very small ranging only from Unilateral recognition and Enemy states. Bavaria sees other Bavarian Micronations as illegitimate states who are immature and do not deserve to exist, such as the Kingdom of New Bavaria and Kingdom of Bavaria.

Unilateral recognition

All United Nations member states
Belarusian Democratic Republic
Principality of Sealand
Manchukuo
Tibet
Republic of China
Republic of New Hessen
Germany

Enemy States

The Empire of New Prussia is hated because of its flag design similar to the German Empire, and dispite it being a USA micronation Bavaria does not like it nor its states.

States of New Prussia

• Kingdom of New Bavaria
  Kingdom of New Saxony
  Kingdom of Biberdamm
• Principality of New Hanover
  Grand Duchy of New Oldenburg

United Socialist Republics is hated for raiding discord servers, and immaturity and biased + it not supporting LGBTQ+
National Socialist Empire of New Prussia is hated for the nazi eagle on its flag and its immaturity.
German Free State of Bavaria

States, Former States, and Regions

States

Flag	Name	State Founded	Area	Regions Count	Population (2020)	Map
	State of Kraiburg	9 September 2022	37853.25 km2	3	7872620
	Imperial State of Nuremberg	25 October 2022	7,243.69 km2	1	1,777,143
	State of Württemberg	12 September 2022	9,993.97 km2	2	1,905,841
	State of Palatinate	12 September 2022	9,692.23 km2	1	1,112,267

There are 4 states of Bavaria, Bavaria's states used to be nations for long periods of time and have a long history with Bavaria. States of Bavaria exist to represent the people of the former nations now within modern Bavaria, Most Bavarian states use old national flags of the countries their representing rather than the german state flags used before Bavaria's Independence from Germany again.

Former States

Flag	Name	State Founded	Area	State disbanded	Population (2020)	Map
	Duchy of Würzburg	12 September 2022	15761.18 km2	25 October 2022	2379592

Bavaria has one Former State located within the Region of Shwaben called Würzburg, located south Mittelfranken, west of Oberbayern, located within the Duchy of Kraiburg. Würzburg was disbanded after it was found out Würzburg was never located within the modern Bavarian borders, and its role as 4th state went to the Imperial State of Nuremberg after Nuremberg became a state.

Regions (Districts)

The regions of Bavaria

Bavaria has 7 regions within its borders called Mittelfranken, Utterfranken, Oberfranken, Oberplaz, Niederbayren, Oberbayren, and Shwaben. Regions have zero power in Bavarian government all they do is separate different individuals of different origins, and do not have their own flags nor their own representative. Regions are also known as the "States of the New Holy Roman Empire" because of Bavaria being a Former state of the holy roman empire, also called the " Districts of Bavaria". All Bavarian regions names are German for Lower Franconia (Unterfranken), Upper Franconia (Oberfranken), Middle Franconia (Mittelfranken), Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz), Swabia (Schwaben), Lower Bavaria (Niederbayern) and Upper Bavaria (Oberbayern).

Culture

Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the state's Catholic heritage and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes a language, cuisine, architecture, festivals and elements of Alpine symbolism. Some Bavarian cuisine are, Schweinebraten (roast pork), Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle), Weisswurst sausages and, of course, dumplings, dumplings and more dumplings. To top it off you need a litre of beer and a good serving of Bavarian hospitality.

Media

Flag of Bavaria on a boat.

Media of Bavaria is very common because of the Free State of Bavaria, Bavarian Media can range from pictures inside bavaria to pictures of flag, videos, etc. Media of Bavaria ranges from Countryballs, Countryhumans, art, and more. 23 of the top 100 companies in the German media sector are Bavarian – just one of many figures which make Bavaria a great media location. Here, companies in the media sector find outstanding infrastructure with plenty of potential partners at all levels of media production, both in audio-visual and print and online media. This is one of the reasons that big players in the sector such as ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, Kabel Deutschland GmbH and Hubert Burda Media have chosen Bavaria. Bavaria's media sector represents high sales; Munich's information and communications and media sectors, for example, generate around EUR 70 billion. Success comes down to good staff. That is why many institutes in Bavaria, as well as institutions such as MedienCampus Bayern e.V., provide exemplary media education and further training. Success also comes down to good financing. That is why Bavaria offers outstanding financial support. When compared to other film funding organisations in Germany, Film Fernseh Fonds Bayern is one of the most successful organisations in this field. Bavaria also provides top support for cultural and educational games.