La Bataille de Bautzen 1813

Bautzen Then And Now Bautzen is located in the southeastern portion of today’s German Federal Republic about 30 miles east of Dresden. It is another 30 miles or so from Bautzen to the Polish frontier at the Neisse River. Bautzen is built upon the granite heights above the Spree River, which eventually moves through Brandenburg into Berlin; and then to the Oder River; and then to the Baltic Sea. Bautzen is a part of the German State of Saxony. Bautzen has had a great many cultural; political and ethnic links to the Saxon government with its many permutations throughout Saxon history. French troops visiting the lands surrounding Bautzen in mid-May of 1813 would have found an area overwhelmed with low rolling hills and intertwined with waterways; woods; swamps and carp ponds. Bautzen was the key city in the Upper Lusatia area of Saxony. In fact, the French 1813 visit to Bautzen was their first visit to this lush portion of Saxony in the Napoleonic Wars.

Modern Bautzen as seen from the Spree River The physical geography of Bautzen today has not significantly changed from 1813 with the exception that just below Bautzen, on the Spree River, there is now the Bautzen Reservoir. This artificial body of water was opened in 1977 after nearly a decade of construction. This reservoir helps manage the complex water issues that support one of the more densely populated agricultural regions in Europe. Bautzen Population Boom and Bust The population of Saxony was about 2.35 million in 1813. Bautzen and its surrounding towns had about 10,000 residents in 1813. Prussia took over about 850,000 of those Saxon volk in 1815 as a result of the Congress of Vienna. The 19th Century saw a population explosion as the Germany fully entered the Industrial Revolution. Today, the Saxon state, without the Prussian portion, has about 4.0 million people. Like so much of Europe, Saxony has lost about 500,000 in population in the last 20 or so years. Bautzen, for example, has dropped to under 40,000 residents after reaching nearly 50,000 a decade ago. Bautzen is expected to decline even more so as the years go by. This is not unlike most European regions and cities as most of the continent has a birth rate below replacement levels. People over 65 outnumber children 17 and under by a factor of 2 to 1.

La Bataille de Bautzen 1813

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