Editing Ludwigshafen (section)

===The Rheinschanze===
[[File:RheinschanzeMannheim.jpg|thumb|Rheinschanze c. 1750]]
The Rhine Neckar region was part of the territory of the [[Prince-elector]] of the ''Kurpfalz'', or [[Electorate of the Palatinate]], one of the larger states within the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The foundation of the new capital of the Kurpfalz, Mannheim, was a decisive influence on the development of the area as a whole. Parallel to the foundation of Mannheim in 1606, a fortress (''die Rheinschanze'') was built by [[Frederick IV, Elector Palatine]] on the other side of the Rhine to protect the City of Mannheim, thus forming the nucleus of the City of Ludwigshafen itself.

In the 17th century, the region was devastated and depopulated during the [[Thirty Years' War]], and also in King [[Louis XIV of France]]’s wars of conquest in the later part of the century.

It was only in the 18th century, that the settlements around the Rheinschanze began to prosper, profiting from the proximity of the capital Mannheim. Oggersheim in particular gained some importance, after the construction of both a small palace serving as secondary residence for the Elector, and the famous pilgrimage church, [[Wallfahrtskirche]]. For some weeks in 1782, the great German writer and playwright [[Friedrich Schiller]] lived in Oggersheim, on flight from his native [[Württemberg]].

War returned to the Ludwigshafen area with the armies of the [[French Revolution]]. The palace at Oggersheim was burned down, Mannheim besieged several times, and all the area west of the Rhine annexed by France from 1798 to 1813. The [[Electorate of the Palatinate]] was split up. The eastern bank of the Rhine with Mannheim and [[Heidelberg]] was given to [[Baden]], while the western bank (including the Ludwigshafen area) was granted to the [[Kingdom of Bavaria]], following the [[War of the Sixth Coalition|Wars of Liberation]] (1813–1815), in which the French were expelled. The Rhine had become a frontier and the Rheinschanze, cut off politically from Mannheim, lost its function as the neighbouring city's military bulwark.