The Steigerkopf, also

colloquially Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conversa ...

called the Schänzel, near

Edenkoben Edenkoben () is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It lies approximately halfway between Landau and Neustadt an der Weinstraße. Edenkoben is one of the towns situated along the German Wine R ...

in the county of

Südliche Weinstraße Südliche Weinstraße ( pfl, Siedlischi Woischdrooß; en, "Southern Wine Route") is a district (''Kreis'') in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Südwestpfalz, Bad Dürkheim, the district ...

in the German state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

, is a mountain, , in the Palatine Forest. At the summit, which lies on the territory of

Gommersheim Gommersheim is a municipality in Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state ...

, is the Schänzel tower.

Location

The Steigerkopf lies in the eastern part of the Palatine Forest in the eponymous nature park. Its summit rises about 7 kilometres west-northwest of the small town of

on the western rim of a group of mountains that are all over 600 m; 4 kilometres to the northeast is the highest peak in the Palatine Forest, the

Kalmit The Kalmit is the highest peak in the Palatinate Forest and the second highest (after the Donnersberg) in the Palatinate region of Germany. It is and located south of the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße. The mountain attracts many tourists ...

(672.6 m). The summit and those parts of the mountain in the northeast belong to the forest parish of

, which form an

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

of this municipality around 17 km to the west of Gommersheim itself. Geologically the Steigerkopf is a northwestern outlier of the 661.8 m high Kesselberg, whose top is 2 km (

as the crow flies __NOTOC__ The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliv ...

) away. The

Modenbach The Modenbach is a stream, just under {{convert, 30, km long, and a right-hand tributary of the Speyerbach in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Course The Modenbach rises in the Palatine Forest east of the Palatine Watershed at a heigh ...

, a right tributary of

Speyerbach The Speyerbach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the Palatinate part of Rhineland-Palatinate. In Speyer, the river split into ''Gießhübelbach'' and ''Woogbach''. The Woogbach changes its name to ''Nonnenbach'', then flows into Gießh� ...

, rises on the southwestern flank of the mountain on which the Gommersheim Forest lies.

History

Schänzel

Colloquially the Steigerkopf has also been referred to as the ''Schänzel'' ("little rampart") since about 4,500

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n soldiers built a

sconce Sconce may refer to: * Sconce (fortification), a military fortification * Sconce (light fixture) * Sconcing, imposing a penalty in the form of drink * Sconce Point on the Isle of Wight, England People with the surname *Jeffrey Sconce, professor ...

there in summer 1794. The earthworks were built to delay the 7,000

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

ary troops who had been dispatched to conquer the German territories west of the Rhine. The French were victorious, however, following the decisive and bloody

Battle of Trippstadt The Battle of Trippstadt was a relatively-minor French military action in 1794 during the War of the First Coalition. The clash between French Republican forces and the armies of Prussia and Habsburg Austria was fought over several days (1 ...

on 12 and 13 Jul 1794, after a local hunter from the nearby village of Dernbach had guided them into the rear of the Prussian position on the second day. The Prussian commander, General (1727–1794), was taken prisoner after being severely wounded and died the same day.

Schänzel tower

In 1874, the Schänzel Tower (''Schänzelturm'') was built at the summit of the Steigerkopf in memory of the defeated Prussians in recognition of German victory in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War. It is an octagonal

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, and ...

, 13 metres high and made of hewn

bunter sandstone The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsands ...

. The viewing platform on top of the tower is protected by railings. The observation tower was dedicated in 1894, a hundred years after the 1794 battle, by the Schänzelturm Society of Edenkoben as follows:

Gallery

File:Schaenzelturm.JPG, The ''Schänzelturm'' in November 2007 File:2012 Pfälzerwald 013 Ritterstein Zur Schanze III.jpg,

Ritterstein A Ritterstein ("Ritter Stone") is the German name given to markers made of sandstone erected at sites of historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the ...

No. 64a: ''Zur Schanze III'' File:2012 Pfälzerwald 011 Gedenkstein Inf Reg v. Schladen 25 06 1794.jpg, Monument to the von Schladen Infantry Regiment, 25 June 1794

Location

History

Schänzel

Schänzel tower

Gallery

References

Further reading