Gustav Struve, known as Gustav von Struve
until he gave up his title (11 October 1805 – 21 August 1870), was a German surgeon, politician, lawyer and publicist, and a revolutionary during the
German revolutions of 1848–1849 in
Baden, Germany
The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918.
The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a Margravia ...
. He also spent over a decade in the United States and was active there as a reformer.
Early years
Struve was born in Munich the son of a Russian diplomat
Johann Christoph Gustav von Struve, whose
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
came from the lesser nobility. His father Gustav, after whom he was named, had served as Russian Staff Councilor at the Russian Embassy in Warsaw, Munich and The Hague, and later was the Royal Russian Ambassador at the Badonian court in Karlsruhe. The younger Gustav Struve grew up and went to school in Munich, then studied law at universities in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
and
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
. For a short time (from 1829 to 1831) he was employed in the civil service in
Oldenburg, then moved to
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Ba ...
in 1833 where in 1836 he settled down to work as a lawyer in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...
.
In Baden, Struve also entered politics by standing up for the liberal members of the Baden parliament in news articles. His point of view headed more and more in a radical
democratic, early
socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
direction. As editor of the ', he was repeatedly condemned to imprisonment. He was compelled in 1846 to retire from the management of this paper.
In 1845, Struve married
Amalie Düsar on 16 November 1845 and in 1847 he dropped the aristocratic "von" from his surname due to his democratic ideals.
He also gave attention to
phrenology
Phrenology is a pseudoscience that involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. It is based on the concept that the Human brain, brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific ...
, and published three books on the subject.
Pre-revolutionary period
During ''
Vormärz
' (; English: ''pre-March'') was a period in the history of Germany preceding the 1848 March Revolution in the states of the German Confederation. The beginning of the period is less well-defined. Some place the starting point directly after ...
'', the years between the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...
in 1815 and the
revolutions of 1848-49, Struve was strongly against the politics of
Metternich
Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ( ; 15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich () or Prince Metternich, was a Germans, German statesman and diplomat in the service of the Austrian ...
, a strict
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
and
reactionary
In politics, a reactionary is a person who favors a return to a previous state of society which they believe possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary.''The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought'' Third Edition, (1999) p. 729. ...
against the democratic movement who ruled
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
at the time and had a strong influence on restoration Germany with his
Congress system
The Concert of Europe was a general agreement among the great powers of 19th-century Europe to maintain the European balance of power, political boundaries, and spheres of influence. Never a perfect unity and subject to disputes and jockeying ...
.
The revolution begins
Along with
Friedrich Hecker, whom he had met in Mannheim, Struve took on a leading role in the revolutions in Baden (see
History of Baden) beginning with the
Hecker Uprising, also accompanied by his wife Amalie. Both Hecker and Struve belonged to the radical democratic, anti-
monarch
A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...
ist wing of the revolutionaries. In Baden their group was particularly strong in number, with many political societies being founded in the area.
When the revolution broke out, Struve published a demand for a
federal republic
A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
, to include all Germany, but this was rejected by "Pre-Parliament" (''Vorparlament''), the meeting of politicians and other important German figures which later became the
Frankfurt Parliament
The Frankfurt National Assembly () was the first freely elected parliament for all German Confederation, German states, including the German-populated areas of the Austrian Empire, elected on 1 May 1848 (see German federal election, 1848).
The ...
.
Dreams of a federal Germany
Struve wanted to spread his radical dreams for a federal Germany across the country, starting in southwest Germany, and accompanied by Hecker and other revolutionary leaders. They organised the meeting of a revolutionary assembly in
Konstanz
Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...
on 14 April 1848. From there, the ''Heckerzug'' (Hecker's column) was to join up with another revolutionary group led by the poet
Georg Herwegh and march to
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...
. Few people joined in the march, however, and it was headed off in the
Black Forest
The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...
by troops from
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
.
Hecker and Struve fled to
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, where Struve continued to plan the struggle. He published ''Die Grundrechte des deutschen Volkes'' (The Basic Rights of the German People) and made a "Plan for the Revolution and Republicanisation of Germany" along with the revolutionary playwright and journalist
Karl Heinzen. On 21 September 1848 he made another attempt to start an uprising in Germany, in
Lörrach
Lörrach () is a city in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the district seat of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, inclu ...
. Once again it failed, and this time Struve was caught and imprisoned.
May Uprising in Baden
Struve was freed during the May Uprising in Baden in 1849.
Grand Duke
Grand duke (feminine: grand duchess) is a European hereditary title, used either by certain monarchs or by members of certain monarchs' families. The title is used in some current and former independent monarchies in Europe, particularly:
* in ...
Leopold of Baden fled and on 1 June 1849 Struve helped set up a provisionary republican parliament under the liberal politician
Lorenz Brentano. Prince Wilhelm of
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
, later to become
Wilhelm I of Germany, set out for Baden with troops. Afraid of a military escalation, Brentano reacted hesitantly - too hesitantly for Struve and his followers, who overthrew him. The revolutionaries took up arms and, led by
Ludwik Mieroslawski, tried to hold off the Prussian troops, who far outnumbered them. On 23 July the revolutionaries were defeated after a fierce battle at
Rastatt
Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 51,000 (2022). Rastatt was an ...
and the revolution came to an end.
Post-revolutionary life
Gustav Struve, along with other revolutionaries, managed to escape execution, fleeing to exile, first in Switzerland and then in 1851 to the US.
In the USA, Struve lived for a time in Philadelphia. He edited ''Der Deutsche Zuschauer'' (The German Observer) in New York City, but soon discontinued its publication because of insufficient support. He wrote several novels and a drama in German, and then in 1852 undertook, with the assistance of his wife, the composition of a universal history from the standpoint of radical republicanism. The result, ''Weltgeschichte'' (World History), was published in 1860.
It was the major literary product of his career and the result of 30 years of study. From 1858 to 1859, he edited ''Die Sociale Republik''.
He also promoted German public schools in New York City. In 1856, he supported
John Frémont for U.S. president. In 1860, he supported
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
.
At the start of the 1860s, Struve joined in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
in the
Union Army, a captain under
Blenker, and one of the many German emigrant soldiers known as the
Forty-Eighters. He resigned a short time later to avoid serving under Blenker's successor, the Prussian Prince
Felix Salm-Salm. Struve was an abolitionist, and opposed plans to create a colony of freed slaves in Liberia because he thought it would hinder the abolition of slavery in the United States.
Return to Germany
He never became naturalized since he felt his primary objective was to battle the despots of Europe. In 1863, a general amnesty was issued to all those who had been involved in the revolutions in Germany, and Struve returned to Germany. His first wife had died in
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
in 1862.
Back in Germany, he married a Frau von Centener.
Lincoln appointed him U. S. consul at
Sonneberg in 1865, but the
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
n states refused to issue his exequatur
due to his radical writings.
On 21 August 1870 he died in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
where he had settled in 1869.
Vegetarianism
Struve was a leading figure in the initial stage of the German
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
movement. He had become a vegetarian in 1832 under the influence of
Rousseau's treatise ''
Émile''.
Struve authored the first German vegetarian-themed novel, ''Mandaras Wanderungen'' in 1833.
[Puskar-Pasewicz, Margaret. (2010). ''Cultural Encyclopedia of Vegetarianism''. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 115. ] He founded the Vegetarische Gesellschaft Stuttgart (Stuttgart Vegetarian Society) in 1868.
He wrote the vegetarian book ''Pflanzenkost'', in 1869.
Historian Corinna Treitel has noted that Struve linked "vegetarianism to republican self governance."
Works
* ''Politische Briefe'' (Mannheim, 1846)
* ''Das öffentliche Recht des deutschen Bundes'' (2 vols., 1846)
* ''Grundzüge der Staatswissenschaft'' (4 vols., Frankfort, 1847–48)
* ''Geschichte der drei Volkserhebungen in Baden'' (Bern, 1849)
* ''Weltgeschichte'' (6 vols., New York, 1856–59; 7th ed., with a continuation, Coburg, 1866–69)
* ''Das Revolutionszeitalter'' (New York, 1859–60)
* ''Diesseits und jenseits des Oceans'' (Coburg, 1864-'5)
* ''Kurzgefasster Wegweiser für Auswanderer'' (Bamberg, 1867)
''Pflanzenkost die Grundlage einer neuen Weltanschauung''(Stuttgart, 1869)
* ''Das Seelenleben, oder die Naturgeschichte des Menschen'' (Berlin, 1869)
* ''Eines Fürsten Jugendliebe'', a drama (Vienna, 1870)
His wife Amalie published:
* ''Erinnerungen aus den badischen Freiheitskämpfen'' (Hamburg, 1850)
* ''Historische Zeitbilder'' (3 vols., Bremen, 1850)
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
External links
The Democrats: Gustav von Struve: Motion in the German Pre-Parliament (March 31, 1848) fro
by
Howard Williams
{{DEFAULTSORT:Struve, Gustav
1805 births
1870 deaths
19th-century American journalists
Physicians from Munich
People from the Electorate of Bavaria
German religious humanists
German revolutionaries
German-American Forty-Eighters
German vegetarianism activists
Politicians from Munich
Journalists from Munich
German male journalists
German male non-fiction writers
Phrenologists
Gustav
University of Göttingen alumni
Heidelberg University alumni
American abolitionists
American male journalists