BAVARIA (Ger. Bayern), the largest of the Lander of Ger many in area and population, next to Prussia. It consists of two distinct and unequal portions, Bavaria proper, and the Palatinate of the Rhine, which lie from 25 to 4om. apart and are separated by the Lander of Baden and Hesse. Bavaria proper is bounded on the south by the Alps, on the north-east, over against Czecho slovakia, by the Bohmerwald; on the north by the Fichtelgebirge and the Frankenwald, and on the west by Wurttemberg and Baden. Except for the valley of the Main in the north-west, nearly all the surface is over i,000ft., the ranges seldom exceed 3,000ft.; but the ridges in the south, towards Tirol, frequently attain 9,000 or i o,000 feet. The country mainly belongs to the basin of the Danube, which, entering from Suabia as a navigable stream, traverses the Land with a winding course of worn., receiving the Iller, Lech, Isar and Inn from the south, and the Altmuhl and Naab from the north. The Inn is navigable before it enters Ba varian territory, and afterwards receives the Salzach, a large river flowing from Upper Austria. The Main follows a winding course among the broken hills of Upper and Lower Franconia, and greatly facilitates the trade of the provinces. The district watered by the southern tributaries of the Danube consists for the most part of the sub-Alpine plateau, with a mean elevation of 2,390 feet. The smaller or western portion, the Palatinate, is bounded on the east by the Rhine, which divides it from Baden; on the south by Alsace, and on the west and north by the Haardtgebirge, which separate it from Lorraine and the Prussian Rhine province. Area and Population.—Bavaria proper contains an area of 27,210 sq.m., and the Palatinate or western (without the Saar district) 2,124 sq.m., making a total of 29,334 sq.m. Pop. , 7,684,645. In 1925, 5 2 % of the population were living in towns, etc., with 2,000 inhabitants and over. The towns with over 5o,000 inhabitants (1933) are: Munich ; Nurnberg (410,175) ; Augsburg (176,631) ; Ludwigshafen (105,198) ; Wurz burg (100,937) ; Regensburg (81,171) ; Furth ; Kaisers lautern (62,578) and Bamberg (53,58o). Politically the country is divided into eight provinces, as follows: Religion.—The majority of the inhabitants (about 7 0 ;%%) are Roman Catholics. Protestants number over 2,000,000. The dis tricts of Lower Bavaria, Upper Bavaria, and the Upper Palati nate are almost wholly Roman Catholic, while in the Rhine Palatinate, Upper Franconia, and especially Middle Franconia, Protestants predominate. Of the Roman Catholic Church the heads are the two archbishops of Munich and Bamberg, and the six suffragan bishops of Eichstatt, Speyer, Wbrzburg, Augsburg, Regensburg and Passau. The Protestant Church is under a superior church council, with three general deaneries for Bavaria proper and one general church council for the Palatinate. The republic has two Roman Catholic universities, Munich and Wiirz burg, and a Lutheran, Erlangen ; Munich has a famous technical high school and academies of sciences and of art. It is famous as a centre of culture.
Agriculture.—Of the total area, nearly one-half is under cultivation, one-third forest, and the remaining sixth mostly pas ture. The level country of Lower Bavaria and parts of Franconia are productive of rye, oats, wheat, barley and vines. The last are grown chiefly in the vicinity of the Lake of Constance on the banks of the lower Main, and in the Palatinate. Hops are ex tensively grown in central Franconia; tobacco (the best in Ger many) is raised round NUrnberg and in the Palatinate, which also produces sugar-beet. Potatoes are cultivated especially in the Palatinate and in the Spessart district, which lies within a curve of the Main. The southern divisions of Suabia and Upper Bavaria, where pastureland predominates, form a cattle-breeding district and the dairy produce is extensive. The extensive forests are principally situated in the provinces of Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria and the Palatinate; they have played an important part in moulding the life of these areas.
There are steamboat services on the navigable rivers to the east by way of Passau on the Danube, and to the west by Lud wigshafen. The Ludwigskanal connects the Rhine with the Dan ube, extending from Bamberg on the Regriitz to Dietfurt on the Altmiihl. In 1921 work was begun on the Rhine-Main-Danube waterway; and the portion as far as Aschaffenburg was opened to through traffic in 1924. It was expected that the completion of the works for the transit of ships of 1,500 tons would take 12 years. The kingdom of Bavaria, incorporated with the German empire in 1871, was declared a republic on Nov. 28, 1918. Its constitution is dated Aug. 14, 1919. The supreme power lies with the people. Religious associations have equal rights and are free in all their activities. The diet consists of one chamber, elected for four years and having (in 1928) 129 members, each repre senting about 62,000 inhabitants. On March 11, 192o, the Free State of Coburg was united by a bill with the republic of Bavaria, the inhabitants of Coburg having unanimously decided in favour of union in 1919.
The earliest known inhabitants of the district afterwards called Bavaria were a people, probably Celtic, who were subdued by the Romans just before the opening of the Christian era, their land being included in the province of Raetia. The cities of Augsburg, Regensburg, and Passau were originally Roman colonies. During the 5th century it was ravaged by the troops of Odoacer and, of ter being almost depopulated, was occupied by tribes who, push ing along the valley of the Danube, settled there between A.D. 488 and 52o. They were, like the Franks, composed of a mixture of Teutonic tribes, and were known as Bawarii or Baiuwarii, words derived most probably from Baya and given to them because they came from Baya-Hernum or Bohemia. They are first men tioned in a Frankish document of 52o. Their country was bounded by the Enns, the Danube, the Lech, and the Alps.
The Bavarians soon came under the dominion of the Franks, and were ruled from 555 to 788 by dukes of the Agilolfing family, possibly of Frankish descent. For a century and a half these dukes resisted the inroads of the Slays, and by the time of Duke Theodo I. (d. 717) were independent of the feeble Frankish kings. When Charles Martel became the virtual ruler of the Frankish realm he brought the Bavarians into strict dependence, and Pip pin the Short was equally successful in maintaining his authority.
Christianity was introduced into Bavaria by Rupert, bishop of Worms who came at the invitation of Duke Theodo I. in 696. He founded several monasteries, and a similar work was also per formed by St. Emmeran, bishop of Poitiers. The 8th century witnessed indeed a heathen reaction; but it was checked by the arrival in Bavaria about 734 of St. Bonif ace, who organized the Bavarian church and founded or restored bishoprics at Salzburg, Freising, Regensburg, and Passau.
When the empire was partitioned in 817, Bavaria was assigned to Louis the German, king of the East Franks, and thus formed part of the larger territories which were confirmed to him in by the treaty of Verdun. Louis made Regensburg his capital and was active in improving the condition of Bavaria. When he di vided his possessions in 865 it passed to his eldest son Carloman, and after his death in 88o formed part of the territories of the emperor Charles the Fat. Its defence was left by this incompe tent emperor to Arnulf, an illegitimate son of Carloman, and it was mainly owing to the support of the Bavarians that Arnulf was able to take the field against Charles in 887, and to secure his own election as German king. Bavaria, which was the centre of the East Frankish kingdom, passed in 899 to Louis the Child, during whose reign it was constantly ravaged and all but depopu lated by the Hungarians. For the defence of Bavaria the mark of Carinthia had been erected on the south-eastern frontier, which during the reign of Louis the Child was ruled by Liutpold, count of Scheyern, who fell in the disastrous defeat of the Bavarians by the Hungarians on July 5, 907. His son Arnulf I., surnamed the Bad, rallied the remnants of the race, drove back the Hun garians, and was chosen duke of the Bavarians in 911, when Bavaria and Carinthia were united under his rule. Refusing to acknowledge the supremacy of the German king Conrad I., he was unsuccessfully attacked by the latter, and in 920 was recog nized as duke by Conrad's successor, Henry I., the Fowler, who admitted his right to appoint the bishops, coin money, and issue laws. A similar conflict took place between Arnulf's son Eber hard and Otto the Great ; but Eberhard was less successful than his father, for in 938 he was driven from Bavaria, which was given by Otto, with reduced privileges, to the duke's uncle, Ber told. When Bertold died in 947 Otto conferred the duchy upon his own brother Henry, who had married Judith, a daughter of Duke Arnulf ; Henry's short reign was spent mainly in disputes with his people. The ravages of the Hungarians ceased after their defeat by the emperor Otto on the Lechfeld in 955. In that year Henry I. was succeeded by his young son Henry, surnamed the Quarrelsome, who in 974 was implicated in a rising against King Otto II. The revolt was soon suppressed; and in 976 Henry was formally deposed, Bavaria being given to Otto, duke of Swabia. At the same time Carinthia was made into a separate duchy. Restored in 985, Duke Henry II. proved himself a capable ruler by establishing internal order, issuing important laws and reforming the monasteries. His son, who was chosen German king as Henry II. in 1002, gave Bavaria to his brother-in-law, Henry of Luxemburg, after whose death in 5026 it passed suc cessively to Henry, afterwards the emperor Henry III., and to another member of the family of Luxemburg, as Duke Henry VII. In 1o61 the empress Agnes, mother of and regent for the German king Henry IV., entrusted the duchy to Otto of Nordheim, who was deposed by the king in 1070, when the duchy was granted to his son-in-law Count Welf, son of Azzo II., of Este. In conse quence of his support of Pope Gregory VII., in his quarrel with Henry, Welf lost but subsequently regained Bavaria ; and was followed successively by his sons, Welf II. in Ho', and Henry IX. in 1120. Henry was succeeded in 1126 by his son Henry X., the Proud, who obtained the duchy of Saxony in 1137. King Conrad III., however, refused to allow two duchies to remain in the same hands, declared Henry deposed, and bestowed Bavaria upon Leopold IV., margrave of Austria. When Leopold died in "41 the king retained the duchy himself ; but it continued to be the scene of considerable disorder, and in 1143 he entrusted it to Henry II., surnamed Jasomirgott, margrave of Austria. The struggle for its possession continued until 1156, when King Fred erick I. persuaded Henry to give up Bavaria to Henry the Lion, a son of Duke Henry the Proud.
When Otto of Wittelsbach was invested with Bavaria in Sept. 1180 the duchy was bounded by the Bohmerwald, the Inn, the Alps, and the Lech; and the power of the duke was practically confined to his extensive private domains around Wittelsbach, Kelheim, and Straubing. Otto was succeeded in 1183 by his son Louis I., who took a leading part in German affairs during the earlier years of the reign of the emperor Frederick II., and was assassinated at Kelheim in Sept. 1231. His son Otto II., called the Illustrious, increased the area of his lands by purchases; and he had strengthened his hold upon the duchy before he died in Nov. 1253. The efforts of the dukes to consolidate their power over the duchy had been fairly successful; but they were soon vitiated by partitions among different members of the family, which for 25o years made the history of Bavaria little more than a chronicle of territorial divisions, family feuds and petty squabblings.
When in 1290 Henry I. of Lower Bavaria died, the duchy was ruled by his three sons, Otto III., Louis III. and Stephen I. Louis died childless in 1296; Stephen left two sons at his death in 1310, namely, Henry II. and Otto IV., and Otto, who was king of Hungary from 1305 to 1308, died in 1312, leaving a son, Henry III. Lower Bavaria was ruled by these three princes until 1333, when Henry III. died, followed in 1334 by his cousin Otto; and as both died without sons the whole of Lower Bavaria passed to Henry II. Dying in 1339, Henry left an only son, John I., who died childless in the following year, when the emperor Louis IV. secured Lower Bavaria and united the whole duchy under his sway. The union of Bavaria under Louis lasted seven years, with much benefit to the country. When he died in 1347 he left six sons to share his possessions, who agreed upon a division of Ba varia in 1349. Its history, however, was complicated by its con nection with Brandenburg, Holland, and Tirol, all of which had also been left by the emperor to his sons. All six brothers exer cised some authority in Bavaria; but three alone left issue, and of these the eldest, Louis, margrave of Brandenburg, died in 1361, his only son Meinhard dying two years later without issue. The two remaining brothers, Stephen II. and Albert I., ruled over Ba varia-Landshut and Bavaria-Straubing respectively, and when Stephen died in 1375 his portion of Bavaria was ruled jointly by his three sons. In 1392, when all the lines except those of Stephen and Albert had died out, an important partition took place, by which the greater part of the duchy was divided among Stephen's three sons, Stephen III., Frederick, and John II., who founded respectively the lines of Ingolstadt, Landshut, and Munich. Al bert's duchy of Bavaria-Straubing passed on his death in 1404 to his son William II., and in 1417 to his younger son John, who re signed the bishopric of Liege on becoming duke. When John died in 1425 this family became extinct, and after a contest between various claimants Bavaria-Straubing was divided between the three remaining branches of the family.
The main result of the threefold division of 1392 was the tem porary eclipse of Bavaria. Neighbouring states encroached upon its borders and the nobles ignored the authority of the dukes, who for 5o years were mainly occupied with intestine strife. This condition of affairs, however, was not wholly harmful. The gov ernment of the country and the control of the finances passed mainly into the hands of an assembly called the Landtag or Land schaf t, organized in 1392. The towns, assuming a certain inde pendence, became strong and wealthy as trade increased, and the citizens of Munich and Regensburg were often formidable an tagonists to the dukes. Thus a period of disorder saw the growth of representative institutions and of a strong civic spirit. The rule of Stephen III., duke of Bavaria-Ingolstadt, was marked by struggles with various towns and with his brother, John of Ba varia-Munich. Dying in 1413, he was followed by his son Louis, called the Bearded, a restless and quarrelsome prince, who had played an important part in the affairs of France, where his sister Isabella was the queen of King Charles VI. About 1417 he be came involved in a violent quarrel with his cousin, Henry of Ba varia-Landshut, fell under both the papal and the imperial ban, and in 1439 was attacked by his son Louis the Lame. This prince, who had married a daughter of Frederick I. of Hohenzollern, mar grave of Brandenburg, was incensed at the favour shown by his father to an illegitimate son. Aided by Albert Achilles, afterwards margrave of Brandenburg, he took the elder Louis prisoner and compelled him to abdicate in 1443. When Louis the Lame died in his father came into the power of his enemy, Henry of Ba varia-Landshut, and died in prison in 1447. The duchy of Bavaria Ingolstadt passed to Henry, who had succeeded his father Fred erick as duke of Bavaria-Landshut in 1393, and whose long reign was almost entirely occupied with family feuds. He died in July 1450, and was followed by his son, Louis IX., "the Rich," and about this time Bavaria began to recover some of its former im portance. Louis IX. expelled the Jews from his duchy, took some steps for the security of traders, and improved both the admin istration of justice and the condition of the finances. In 1472 he founded the university of Ingolstadt, and he made an attempt to reform the monasteries. On his death in 1479 he was succeeded by his son George, also called the Rich, who died without sons in Dec. 1503, whereupon a war broke out for the possession of his duchy.
Bavaria-Munich passed, on the death of John II. in 1397, to his sons Ernest and William III., but they only obtained posses sion after a struggle with Stephen of Bavaria-Ingolstadt. Both brothers were then engaged in warfare with the other branches of the family and with the citizens of Munich. William, a loyal servant of the emperor Sigismund, died in 1435, leaving an only son, Adolf, who died five years later; and Ernest died in 1438. In 144o the whole of Bavaria-Munich came to Ernest's son Albert, whose attempts to reform the monasteries earned for him the sur name of Pious. He died in 1460, leaving five sons, the two elder of whom, John IV. and Sigismund, reigned in common until the death of John in 1463. The third brother, Albert, who had been educated for the church, joined his brother in 1465, and when Sigismund abdicated two years later became sole ruler, in spite of the claims of his two younger brothers.
The influence of Montgelas now gave Bavarian policy a new direction. On Aug. 24 a separate treaty of peace and alliance with France was signed at Paris by which compensation was promised at the expense of Austria, for the territory on the left bank of the Rhine ceded at the Treaty of Luneville. Accordingly, in the ter ritorial rearrangements of 1803, Bavaria received the bishoprics of Wiirzburg, Bamberg, Augsburg and Freisingen, part of that of Passau, the territories of i 2 abbeys, and 17 cities, the whole form ing a compact territory. Pursuing the policy of alliance with France, Bavarian troops fought side by side with the French in the Ulm-Austerlitz campaign of 18os and by the Treaty of Pressburg, Dec. 26, the principality of Eichstadt, the margraviate of Burgau and the lordship of Vorarlberg, and other territories were to be added to Bavaria. On the other hand Wiirzburg, obtained in 1803, was to he ceded by Bavaria to the elector of Salzburg in exchange for Tirol ; the treaty also acknowledged the assumption by the elector of the title of king, as Maximilian I. The price which Maximilian had reluctantly to pay for this accession of dignity was the marriage of his daughter Augusta with Eugene Beau harnais.
For the internal constitution of Bavaria also the French al liance had noteworthy consequences. Maximilian and Montgelas belonged to the i8th-century school of "enlightened" princes and politicians. But the revolutionary changes introduced by the con stitution proclaimed on May 1, 1808, were due to the direct influence of Napoleon. A clean sweep was made of the mediaeval polity surviving in the somnolent local diets and corporations. In place of the old system of privileges and exemptions were set equality before the law, universal liability to taxation, abolition of serfdom, security of person and property, liberty of conscience and of the Press. A representative assembly was created on paper but never summoned.
In 18og Bavaria was again engaged in war with Austria on the side of France, and by the treaty signed at Schonbrunn on Oct. 15, 18og, ceded southern Tirol to Italy and some small districts to Wurttemberg, receiving as compensation parts of Salzburg, the quarters of the Inn and Hausruck and the principalities of Bay reuth and Regensburg. So far the policy of Montgelas had been brilliantly successful; but the star of Napoleon had now reached its zenith; already the astute opportunist had noted the signs of the coming change and on Oct. 8 was signed the Treaty of Ried, by which Bavaria threw in her lot with the Allies.
Tirol and Vorarlberg reverted to Austria at the first Peace of Paris (1814), but at the Congress of Vienna it was decided that Bavaria was to add to these the greater part of Salzburg and the quarters of the Inn and Hausruck, receiving as compensation Wiirzburg, Aschaffenburg and other territories. But with the col , lapse of France the old fear and jealousy of Austria had revived in full force, and war was only averted by the authority of the Grand Alliance. At the Congress of Aix (1818) and by the Treaty of Frankfurt, July 20, 181 g, the territorial questions at issue between Bavaria and Austria were settled, in spite of the protests of the former, in the general sense of the arrangement made at Vienna.
Anti-Prussian Policy.—The new sovereign was a zealous supporter of the national effort to achieve German freedom and unity, accepting the authority of the central Government at Frankfurt, and (Dec. 1g) sanctioning the official promulgation of the laws passed by the German parliament. But Prussia was henceforth the enemy, not Austria. In refusing to agree to the offer of the imperial crown to Frederick William IV., Maximilian had the support of his parliament. In withholding his assent to the new German Constitution, by which Austria was excluded from the Confederation, he ran, indeed, counter to the sentiment of his people; but by this time the back of the revolution was broken, and in the events which led to the humiliation of Prussia at Olmutz in 1851, and the restoration of the old diet of the Con federation, Bavaria was safe in casting in her lot with Austria (see GERMANY : History). The guiding spirit in this anti-Prus sian policy was Ludwig Karl Heinrich von der Pfordten (1811 8o) , who became minister for foreign affairs in April 1849, and who aimed at establishing a Trias, i.e., a league of the Rhenish States as a counterpoise to the preponderance of Austria and Prussia. His reactionary internal policy, less severe than else where in Germany, led none the less from 1854 onward to a struggle with the parliament, which ended in the dismissal of Pf ordten's ministry on March 27, 18S9. He was succeeded by Karl Freiherr von Schrenk auf Notzing (1806-84), an official of Liberal tendencies who introduced important reforms includ ing the separation of the judicial and executive powers and the drawing up of a new criminal code. In foreign affairs Schrenk followed his predecessor's policy.
Maximilian was succeeded on March I o, 1864, by his son, Ludwig II., a youth of 18. The Government was at first carried on by Schrenk and Pfordten in concert. Schrenk soon retired, when the Bavarian government found it necessary, in order to maintain its position in the Prussian Zollverein, to become a party to the Prussian commercial treaty with France, signed in 1862. In the complicated Schleswig-Holstein question (q.v.) Bavaria consistently opposed Prussia and finally, in the war of 1866, sided actively with Austria.
Union with the German Empire.-The rapid victory of the Prussians and the wise moderation of Bismarck paved the way for a complete revolution in Bavaria's relation to Prussia and the German question. The South German Confederation, contem plated by the Treaty of Prague, never came into being; and, though Prussia, in order not prematurely to excite the alarm of France, opposed the suggestion that the southern states should join the North German Confederation, an offensive and defensive alliance with Prussia was signed at Berlin on Aug. 22, 1866, as the result of Napoleon's demand for "compensation" in the Pal atinate. The separatist ambitions of Bavaria were thus formally given up and in the war of 187o-71, the Bavarian army marched against France under the command of the Prussian crown prince.
On Nov. 23, 1870, a treaty was signed between Bavaria and the North German Confederation, by which, though Bavaria became an integral part of the new German empire, she reserved a larger measure of sovereign independence than any of the other constit uent states. Thus she retained a separate diplomatic service, mili tary administration, and postal, telegraph and railway systems. The treaty was ratified by the Bavarian chambers on Jan. 21, 1871, in spite of the opposition of the "patriot" party. Their hostility was increased by the Kulturkampf, due to the promulgation in 187o of the dogma of papal infallibility. Munich university, where Dellinger (q.v.) was professor, became the centre of the opposition to the new dogma, and the "old Catholics" (q.v.) were protected by the king and the government. The federal law expelling the Jesuits was proclaimed in Bavaria on Sept. 6, 1871, and was extended to the Redemptorists in 1873. On March 31, 1871, moreover, the bonds with the rest of the empire had been drawn closer by the acceptance of a number of laws of the North German Confederation, of which the most important was the new criminal code, which was finally put into force in Bavaria in 1879. The opposition of the "patriot" party, however, rein forced by the strong Catholic sentiment of the country, continued powerful, and the support given by the king to successive Liberal ministries alone prevented its finding disastrous expression in the parliament.
Regency of Prince Luitpold.-Meanwhile, Ludwig II. and his brother, Otto I., both having been declared insane, the heir presumptive, Prince Luitpold, was proclaimed regent on June 7, 1886: six days later Ludwig committed suicide. During Luitpold's long rule Bavaria shared in the common prosperity of Germany: but it was long before she forgot her "particularism," founded on traditional racial and religious antagonism to Prussia.
Towards the end of Luitpold's regency the Catholic-Clerical Party came into power, after prolonged political struggles. On the defeat of the Podewil Ministry in the elections of Feb. 1912, Baron von Hertling, a leader of the Centre Party, formed a cabi net consisting mainly of officials. In December of the same year Luitpold died; on Nov. 5, 1913, his son Ludwig III., who had succeeded him as regent, was made king.
Revolution of 1918.-The World War brought a truce to party politics but in its later stages the discontent of the popu lation gradually assumed alarming proportions. Von Dandl, who had succeeded von Hertling as minister-president, was confronted with the revolution, which broke out in Munich on the night of Nov. 7-8, 1918, before the fall of the Imperial Government in Berlin. The Wittelsbach dynasty was deposed, and Kurt Eisner, the Independent Socialist, placed himself at the head of the Revo lutionary Government. Pending a re-election of the diet, a pro visional constitution of the Socialist Republic of Bavaria was set up. The diet was to meet on Feb. 21, 1919, but on that very day Eisner was shot dead. The result was the outbreak, on April 4, of a new revolution, inspired by the Bolsheviks, which col lapsed, after fierce fighting, on May 1. Once more the diet was assembled, and on May 5, 1919, Hoffmann, the minister-president, laid before it the Government's scheme for the new constitution.
The New Constitution.-The new constitution of Aug. 14, 1919, was based on the assumption that Bavaria was still a sov ereign state, though, by the Weimar Constitution of Aug. 11, foreign policy, the army and railways had become the concern of the Reich. Bavaria's economic policy also became severely re stricted, as the financial legislation of the Reich had requisitioned her principal sources of income. The form of the state was pre scribed by the Reich ; Bavaria became a democratic republic with parliamentary government, but without a president to act as a check on parliament. The diet has thus no superior authority ex cept that of the people, which elects its members and can dissolve it by a "popular demand" (Volksbegehren), or administer the laws directly by a referendum (Volksentscheidung). The diet is elected, like the Reichstag, by universal suffrage and secret ballot, on the system of proportional representation. It consists of a single chamber. The minister-president appointed by the diet has not the standing of a prime minister. The responsibility for administration rests upon individual ministers who may be forced to resign by a vote of non-confidence. Direct legislation by the people, by popular vote, may occur (I) when the diet rejects a "popular demand" for the enactment of a law or accepts it only in an amended form, and (2) when the diet has passed a law from which, within two months, an appeal is made by "popular de mand" or a referendum called for by the whole of the Ministry but with these exceptions the constitution is based upon a system of representative democracy.
The policy of Bavaria after 1919 was governed by (I) the fear of a conflict with the Reich and (2) the risk of a counter-revolu tion by Nationalist and Monarchist organizations. The dominat ing parties in Bavaria held that the Weimar Constitution involved excessive centralization, and wished to return to the old Federal Constitution of the Reich. On the question of the particular rights to be retained by Bavaria there were constant battles be tween the two Governments.
The rise of the Nationalist organizations was due, on the one hand, to a reaction against Bolshevism and, on the other, to the execution of the Versailles Treaty by the Entente. The attempted counter-revolution in Berlin, the so-called "Kapp Putsch" (March 1920), many participants in which sought refuge in Bavaria, was the indirect cause of the fall of Hoffmann's Socialist Ministry and Kahr's bourgeois (non-Socialist) Cabinet took its place. On June 6 the bourgeois parties obtained a two-thirds majority in the elections, and the "law-and-order party" ("Ordnungsblock") began its rule. Herr Escherich founded the Einwohnerwehr or "Orgesch" (Organization Escherich), a voluntary militia, for pro tection against possible repetitions of a Bolshevik revolution.
This organization was, however, dissolved by order of the Entente Commission, and Von Kahr resigned in consequence on Sept. 12, 1921. His successor, Count Lerchenfeld, had an equally good majority but was also obliged to go out of office in the following year on account of a conflict with the Reich Government (Oct. 27, 1922). Von Knilling's new Ministry leaned still more to the right and the Democrats left the Government. National feeling found its extreme expression in the views of the National Social ists, a militarist, nationalist and anti-semite body, nominally democratic in tendency, but actually largely used by the rich to break strikes and attack Socialism. This body, although gaining strength under the leadership of Hitler, wavered between Bavarian separatism and pan-Germanism in a bewildering fashion. It be came dangerous in the autumn of 1923, when Ludendorff joined it and gave it the backing of the secret military leagues. But it aroused opposition in Bavaria by setting itself against a restora tion of the Wittelsbach dynasty and against the Catholic Church. Herr von Kahr was appointed general state commissioner with full dictatorial powers.
On Nov. 8, 1923, the counter-revolution broke out in Munich. It was suppressed with bloodshed, the Reich defence force having remained loyal to the Constitution. Von Kahr's task was now at an end, and on Feb. 18, 1924, he retired. The elections for the diet gave no party a majority; a coalition Ministry was therefore once more formed, consisting of the Bavarian People's Party, the German Nationals and the Farmers' League (Bauernbund) . Held, the leader of the Bavarian People's Party, placed himself at the head. The monarchist sentiment was strong and for some years there was effective resistance to the Nazis. But in March Bavaria, sharing the fate of other federated states in the Reich, ceased to enjoy an autonomous existence. Dr. Heinrich Held, the Catholic premier was thrown out by storm troopers and Nazi control was enforced. (See GERMANY: History).