Routes

Planner

Features

Updates

App

Get the App

Memorial to the Freedom Fighters of the Battle of Rinnthal

Memorial to the Freedom Fighters of the Battle of Rinnthal

Highlight • Monument

Memorial to the Freedom Fighters of the Battle of Rinnthal

Recommended by 29 cyclists out of 37

This Highlight is in a protected area

Please check local regulations for: Biosphärenreservat Pfälzerwald-Vosges du Nord

Save

Location: Rinnthal, Südliche Weinstraße, Südpfalz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Save

See rides here

Take Me There

Routes here

Top cycling routes to Memorial to the Freedom Fighters of the Battle of Rinnthal

4.7

(239)

1,016

riders

1. Kaiserbach Valley – Ilbesheim Town Hall loop from Kapellen-Drusweiler

57.0km

03:35

610m

Expert bike ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

Navigate

Send to Phone

Save

Expert

4.6

(102)

506

riders

2. Hauenstein Town Center loop from Godramstein

48.5km

02:56

260m

Intermediate bike ride. Good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

Navigate

Send to Phone

Save

Intermediate

4.5

(96)

451

riders

3. Museum beneath Trifels loop from Hauenstein (Pfalz)

47.5km

02:54

330m

Intermediate bike ride. Good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

Navigate

Send to Phone

Save

Intermediate

Tips

Ruth Wünstel-Schiefer

June 17, 2023

How the revolution failed, Rheinpfalz 06/17/2023, author Helmut Seebach
Justice and freedom can only be guessed at, but freedom is easy to read. At the site of the historical battle near Rinnthal: Here died on June 17, 1849 the "Frschärler for freedom, justice and unity". Friedrich Engels, the protégé of Karl Marx, was there as a member of the Heidelberg student legion. The goal of the revolution of 1849 was nothing less, to realize as a German Republick.
On May 2nd of that year a people's assembly was held in Kaiserslautern. Their main goal was the enforcement of the imperial constitution and the prevention of military actions by Bavarians in the Palatinate.
When the revolution in the Palatinate began with the formation of a state defense committee on the same day in the Fruchthalle, there were only the vigilante groups formed in 1848 and the armed corps formed by the gymnastics clubs in April 1849, which could have enforced the goals of the revolution by force of arms
It was very difficult for the provisional government to raise an armed force. Volunteer associations of the Freischaren were to be the support of the struggle. At the end of May, the military commission in Kaiserslautern announced that 14 units with 5,462 men, including 800 soldiers, were under arms, equipped with fewer than 2,000 rifles, plus the vigilantes with 4,000 to 5,000 men and 72 mounted soldiers.
Sequel follows .....

Translated by Google •

Ruth Wünstel-Schiefer

June 17, 2023

Part 2 ....
On May 4th, Bavaria asked Prussia for arms assistance. On June 10th, their incursion into the Palatinate seemed inevitable. On the same day, the commander-in-chief of the Palatinate People's Army issued an appeal together with the provisional government: "The Prussians, even if only in small numbers, are approaching the borders, but will not have the courage to cross them if the Palatinate people show that it meets man for man. Palatinate! Now is the time when you must prove that you stand up for the cause of freedom!”
After the rapid passage of three Prussian divisions through the Palatinate, it was foreseeable that military resistance would only make sense to enable the majority of the revolutionary army to cross over to Baden. On June 17, 1849, the 2nd Prussian Division, on its way through the Palatinate Forest near Rinnthal, encountered Freischaren units whose aim was to block the valley and stop the Prussians. The resistance did not last long this Sunday.
We follow the account of Friedrich Engels: “The next morning we set out (from Frankweiler). While the majority of the refugees retreated to the Knielingen Bridge, Willich and his corps marched into the mountains against the Prussians in the Dreher Battalion. One of our companies, about 50 Landau gymnasts, had advanced into the highest mountains near Johanniskreuz, and Schimmelpfennig was still with his corps on the road from Pirmasens to Landau. The Prussians had to be stopped and the road to Bergzabern and the Lauter valley blocked for them in Hinterweidenthal. Meanwhile, Schimmelpfennig had already given up Hinterweidenthal and stood in Rinnthal and Annweiler. The road makes a bend here and it is precisely in this bend that the mountains enclosing the Queichtal form a kind of defile behind which lies the village of Rinnthal. This defile was manned by a kind of field guard.”

Translated by Google •

Ruth Wünstel-Schiefer

June 17, 2023

Part 3 ....
The revolutionary army had no chance. Hay and pitchforks, axes, scythes and hatchets, flails and clubs stood against cannons, rifles, bayonets and sabres. The Prussian General von Webern describes the end of the decisive battle: "Many irregulars who were late in the houses of Rinnthal were killed by our people. 13 had dragged themselves away to Annweiler, just as many and even more stayed in the houses of Rinnthal, since they could not be taken away.”
On June 18, 8,000 men crossed the Rhine near Knielingen to unite with the Baden revolutionaries - the revolution in the Palatinate was over. And the tragic end of the battle with the surrender of Rastatt Fortress was inevitable. Hecker's dream of a free republic had been bloodily shattered. The realization of democracy and freedom on German soil was again postponed.
Also on June 17, soldiers for a revolutionary army were to be pressed from the population, but the villagers resisted. In Völkersweiler and Gossersweiler there were gunfights with one dead. In Steinfeld, the citizens put up organized resistance, resulting in dead and wounded people - this event became known as the "Steinfelder Zug".
In Gossersweiler, the volunteers tried to get hold of Pastor Fautsch, but he was able to escape in time. They blamed the "priest" for the people's refusal to submit to the provisional government. So they stormed into the parsonage, caroused and consumed. According to the pastor's housekeeper, a three-necked barrel (around 450 liters) was drunk and seven to eight loaves of bread were eaten. Finally, the militia from Bergzabern appeared with about 250 men. Instead of the originally demanded 500 guilders, the corps was content with free food and drink.

Translated by Google •

Details

Informations

Elevation 260 m

Weather

Today

Sunday 26 October

9°C

6°C

0 %

If you start your activity now...

Max wind speed: 20.0 km/h

Most visited during

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

See rides here

Take Me There

Location: Rinnthal, Südliche Weinstraße, Südpfalz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Other Popular Places to Check Out

View of Bavariafels from Above Prälatenkammer

Metzger-Pfad

Geiersteine Rock Formation

Dingentalturm

Wildlife Enclosure Pathway Between Hauenstein and Lug

Klingel-Kopf Rock Formation

Großer Ferkelstein

Dimbacher Falkenstein Rock Formation

Wackelfels (Jahresstein)

Old Mill

Wackelstein

Memorial to the Freedom Fighters of the Battle of Rinnthal

1. Kaiserbach Valley – Ilbesheim Town Hall loop from Kapellen-Drusweiler

2. Hauenstein Town Center loop from Godramstein

3. Museum beneath Trifels loop from Hauenstein (Pfalz)

Other Popular Places to Check Out

We value your privacy ⛰️

We value your privacy ⛰️