Chartaque Wachturm (Niefern-Öschelbronn)

The Eppingen lines (german: Eppinger Linien) were a fortified defensive line, which stretched from Weißenstein near Pforzheim via

Mühlacker Mühlacker is a town in the eastern part of the Enz district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Mühlacker station has direct rail connections with Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, Pforzheim and the Northern Black Forest. Mühlhausen an der En ...

, Sternenfels,

Eppingen Eppingen () is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The town has the second-largest population in the district. Eppingen lies in the Kraichgau, a hilly region in southwestern Germany, close to the conflu ...

Neckargemünd Neckargemünd ( pfl, Neggergmin) is a town in Germany, in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, state of Baden-Württemberg. It lies on the Neckar, 10 km upriver from Heidelberg at the confluence with the river Elsenz. This confluence of the t ...

in southern Germany. It had a total length of 86 kilometres.

Purpose

The French king, Louis XIV. (the "Sun King") made claims to the inheritance of Liselotte of the Palatinate ( Elizabeth Charlotte). She had married Duke Philip of Orleans, the brother of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

. This conflict resulted in the

War of the Palatine Succession The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarc ...

. The Eppingen lines were built between 1695 and 1697 under Margrave Louis William of Baden, also known as "Turkish Louis", using

socage Socage () was one of the feudal duties and land tenure forms in the English feudal system. It eventually evolved into the freehold tenure called "free and common socage", which did not involve feudal duties. Farmers held land in exchange for cle ...

labour, in order to prevent French raids during the Palatine succession crisis (1688–1697). Louis William of Baden understood the geographical advantage and the need for a state line of defence (''Landesdefensionslinie''). The location of the Eppingen lines had the benefit that the terrain could be held even against a stronger enemy. File:HGM Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden Baden.jpg, "Turkish Louis" File:Louis XIV of France.jpg, Louis XIV, the "Sun King"

Design

The bulwark consisted of a roughly 40-metre-wide ''Verhack'', an

abatis An abatis, abattis, or abbattis is a field fortification consisting of an obstacle formed (in the modern era) of the branches of trees laid in a row, with the sharpened tops directed outwards, towards the enemy. The trees are usually interlaced ...

of branches and logs that was followed by a roughly 2.5-metre-deep

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

. The spoil from the ditch was used to build a

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * "O'er the Ramparts We Watched" is a key line from "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the ...

behind the ditch. The ditch and bank system of the Eppingen lines was guarded by

watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

s, called '' chartaques''. A ''chartaque'' was a tower-like blockhouse with a plan measuring 6×6m and a height of about 12 metres. File:Chartaque 5.JPG, Model of the original fortifications

Situation of the civilian population

Civilians from Durlach and Baden were forced to work on the

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form Physical object, objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Pr ...

of the defences. These so-called ''schanzers'' came from the area in front of the Eppingen lines and were thus at the mercy of French forces. The French army threatened to raze villages if ''schanzen'' were built. The German generals, for their part, threatened executions if the

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

did not assist with building the defences. Thus the people who lived in front of the lines often had to suffer twice as much.

Modern day reconstructions

Examples of the typical wooden watchtowers have been reconstructed and may be seen today at Eppingen () and

(). In 1988 a 12.5-metre-high wooden

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

was built at the ''Waldschanz'' south of Niefern-Öschelbronn near . In the south, near Pforzheim, the line is linked to the Black Forest lines. The Eppingen Lines Way (''Eppinger-Linien-Weg''), a footpath, runs along the course of the defensive lines and through parts of the Stromberg-Heuchelberg Nature Park. It has display boards with information about the historic monument. The way is marked with a stylised symbol of a ''chartaque''. File:Chartaque 3.JPG, Remains of the old ditch and rampart File:Chartaque 4.JPG, View from the Eppingen ''chartaque'' looking west.

References

Literature

* Rudolf Groll: ''Der Orleanische Krieg und die Zerstörung Brettens 1689''. In. ''Brettener Jahrbuch für Kultur und Geschichte 1960'', Bretten 1960, S. 9-29 (S. 20-25: ''Eppinger Linien'') * Gerhard Weber: Die Eppinger Linie, Kraichgau - Heimatforschung im Landkreis Sinsheim, 1979 * Heimatfreunde Eppingen: Rund um den Ottilienberg, Band 6, 1994, ISBN 3 - 930172 - 11 - 9

External links

Eppingen Lines footpath at OpenStreetMap
* http://www.stimme.de/kraichgau/kultur/sonstige-Letzte-Arbeiten-an-Eppinger-Linien;art16463,1839651 * http://www.heimatverein-lomersheim.de/geschichte/eppingerlinie/index.html * http://www.ploync.de/reisen/359-deutsche-verteidigungslinie-wachtuerme-auf-den-eppinger-linien-mit-bildern.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20150629121608/http://www.niefern-oeschelbronn.de/index.cfm?fuseaction=gaeste&rubrik=sehenswertes&id=299 {{Coord, 48, 54, 16, N, 08, 46, 57, E, type:landmark_region:DE-BW, display=title Forts in Germany Margraviate of Baden Eppingen