Rastatt

Rastatt, or RASTADT, a town and first-class fortress in Baden, stands on the Murg, 3 miles from its junction with the Rhine, and 15 miles SW. of Carlsruhe. Steel wares, beer, and tobacco are manufactured. From 1725 to 1771 the town was the residence of the Margraves of Baden-Baden. The present fortifications were erected in 1840–48 by Austrian engineers to protect the northern entrance to the Black Forest. Rastatt is memorable for two congresses—the first in 1714, when a treaty of peace, which brought the war of the Spanish Succession to a close, was signed between Marshal Villars and Prince Eugene; and the second in 1797–99. On the breaking up of this latter congress without any definite result the three French plenipotentiaries set out for Strasburg; but they had scarcely got beyond the gates of Rastatt when they were attacked by Austrian hussars, and two of the three slain, whilst the third was left for dead in a ditch. Their papers were carried off, but no further spoil was taken. It seems that the Archduke Charles gave orders to the hussars to drive the French representatives out of Rastatt and take away their papers; the killing was the work of the officers, misunderstanding their orders. The town played a prominent part in 1849 as the stronghold of the revolutionists in Baden. Pop. (1895) 13,276.