"Saxony, 1789-1815" Topic

"FREDERICK AUGUSTUS III. had succeeded his father as Duke-Elector of Saxony in 1763 and assumed power after being declared of age in 1768. Regent Xaver had declared to, for the time being, to waiver a possible continuation of the PERSONAL UNION between Saxony and Poland in 1765. The Saxon government, in 1772 and again in 1793-1795, had to observe the PARTITION OF POLAND, a country the Duchy of Saxony had underheld close ties with between 1694 and 1763.
The last decades of the 18th century had seen a flourishing manufacture industry and the emergence of the first factories. The Saxon government had registered budget surplusses, public debt had been reduced. When the French Revolution erupted in 1789; Saxony was in a relatively good position. However, the last two years had brought misharvests, and the peasants were restless. News of the events in France were published in newspapers, such as Wieland's TEUTSCHER MERKUR, and in pamphlets. Peasants took matters in their own hands and, breaking the law, hunted deer, hares, wild boars that grazed on their fields, not only chasing them off, but hunting them on ground belonging to nobles, the church, the state. In May 1790 the administration had lost control of the situation; only when stern measures were undertaken in July, control was reestablished. In order to reduce tension, the stock of wildlife was drastically cut down.
CHRISTIAN BENJAMIN GEISSLER had published a series of pamphlets critical of the feudal system. On July 22nd 1790 a group of peasants refused corvee; on August 3rd a peasant uprising began, quickly expanding over much of Saxony.By August 23rd they were 8,000 men strong, poorly armed and badly organized. General HEINRICH ADOLF VON BOBLICK, in command of a force 5,600 men strong, suppressed the rebellion within a week; the ringleaders were arrested and severely punished. A law was passed in which antifeudal acts were descrbed as subversive and threatened by severe punishment.
The ideas of the French Revolution, however, were discussed in publications…"
From here
link

Amicalement
Armand