One of the frist coins of King Karl. Minted only two years!
Wuerttemberg
20 Mark 1872 F
Av.: King Karl of Württemberg
Rs.: Eagle
Mint: Darmstadt
Historical:
Karl Friedrich Alexander von Württemberg (1823 - 1891) was the third King of Wuerttemberg from 1864 to 1891 as Karl. He was the only son of King Wilhelm I of Wuerttemberg and his third wife Princess Pauline of Wuerttemberg. The crown prince studied in Tübingen and Berlin. In 1846 he married Grand Duchess Olga of Russia. Since the marriage remained childless, the Crown Princess adopted her niece Wera in 1863. One reason for this step was probably the king's homosexuality.
Karl became King of Wuerttemberg after the death of his father in 1864. One of his first official acts was to replace the leading minister Joseph von Linden with Karl von Varnbüler. That same year, the monarch restored freedom of the press and of association. In 1868, Karl introduced universal, equal, direct and secret suffrage for the people's deputies in the Second Chamber. This was countered by the king's tendency to withdraw into private life and neglect official business. This was both a curse and a blessing for Wuerttemberg. For the administration, the monarch's absence was a nuisance, since important documents could not be signed. The Wuerttemberg government, on the other hand, was thus able to govern largely without interference from Karl.
In terms of foreign policy, the king went new ways. In the early years of his reign, Wuerttemberg moved further and further away from its former ally Austria and instead nourished itself towards Prussia. Thus, in 1866, Wuerttemberg recognized the dissolution of the German Confederation and, like other southern German middle states, formed a secret alliance of protection and trust with Prussia, which became public in 1867. Officially, however, an anti-Prussian stance was taken by the court, the government and the people. Nevertheless, because of the alliance, Wuerttemberg participated in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and signed one of the November treaties. As a result, the state joined the North German Confederation in 1871. It thus lost much of its Wuerttemberg sovereignty, as well as its international standing, but gained greater security both internally and externally. In addition, postal and telegraph services, financial sovereignty, cultural care and railroad administration remained in Wuerttemberg's hands, and the kingdom even had its own military administration. The North German Confederation renamed itself the German Empire in 1871.
