Europe · The modern states
Grand Duchy of Berg
1806–1813
Established on 15 March 1806 from the Duchy of Berg (ceded by Bavaria in exchange for Ansbach) and the former Prussian Duchy of Cleves, and granted to Napoleon's brother-in-law Marshal Joachim Murat, who joined the Confederation of the Rhine (July 1806) as Grand Duke. Capital: Düsseldorf; area ~17,300 km²; population ~880,000 (some sources ~686,000 in 1811).
- Existed
- 1806–1813
- Shown on the map
- 1806–1827
- Peak area
- 103k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
Established on 15 March 1806 from the Duchy of Berg (ceded by Bavaria in exchange for Ansbach) and the former Prussian Duchy of Cleves, and granted to Napoleon's brother-in-law Marshal Joachim Murat, who joined the Confederation of the Rhine (July 1806) as Grand Duke. Capital: Düsseldorf; area ~17,300 km²; population ~880,000 (some sources ~686,000 in 1811). When Murat became King of Naples (1808), Berg reverted to Napoleon's direct rule, then in 1809 passed to his young nephew Napoléon Louis Bonaparte, with French administrators (Pierre-Louis Roederer) governing in his name. The Napoleonic Code and reforms were introduced, though its industrial areas (an early German manufacturing zone) suffered under the Continental System. It was dissolved after the Confederation collapsed (late 1813) and became the Prussian province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg.
Common questions
- What was the Grand Duchy of Berg?
- Established on 15 March 1806 from the Duchy of Berg (ceded by Bavaria in exchange for Ansbach) and the former Prussian Duchy of Cleves, and granted to Napoleon's brother-in-law Marshal Joachim Murat, who joined the Confederation of the Rhine (July 1806) as Grand Duke. Capital: Düsseldorf; area ~17,300 km²; population ~880,000 (some sources ~686,000 in 1811).
- When did the Grand Duchy of Berg exist?
- The Grand Duchy of Berg existed 1806–1813. On this map it is drawn 1806–1827.
- How large was the Grand Duchy of Berg?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Grand Duchy of Berg covered about 103,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, napoleon.org (Fondation Napoléon), the Deutsches Historisches Museum, and academic studies (H-France Review, the *Napoleonica* journal) on the Revolution's and Napoleon's contested death tolls and legacy. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Grand Duchy of Berg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Berg
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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