HOW MANY GERMAN STATES WERE THERE?

Gibbons and Michel list sixteen states issuing postage stamps before the formation of the North German Confederation, plus Heligoland which was a British possession until 1890, and Alsace-Lorraine which was in military occupation from 1870.

Like most things in history, the background was more complex. Originally in the Middle Ages, Germany was a messy patchwork of states, ecclesiastical territories, and "free" cities, all nominally dependent on the Holy Roman Emperor. Princely families built up or discarded territories through war or marriage, so that sometimes a "state" ended up as a dozen parcels of territory spread across different parts of Germany. The Hapsburg family, who had royal connections throughout Europe, largely controlled the Empire until 1806. Napoleon's meteoric conquests in central Europe and the creation of the French-controlled Confederation of the Rhine disrupted connections between northern and southern parts, creating feelings of German nationalism in the protestant north, but greater separation from Catholic Austria. Smaller states in the north either merged with neighbours, or fell under the influence of Prussia with their strong army and well-organised though rigid civil service.

In the 1700s there were around 300 states or ecclesiastical territories, but by 1806 only about 30 sovereign states remained. After the final defeat of Napoleon, a German Confederation was set up to link these states more closely. Still, a diversity of dialects, currencies, weights and measures, and customs borders remained. Under the lead of Prussia, a Zollverein (customs union) was created between 1828 and 1834 encompassing Prussia and neighbouring territories, permitting free trade, and rationalising currencies and weights and measures. Progress was part persuasion from economic benefits, and part arm-twisting though threat of military force. Sovereign, political and judicial union followed later, with the North German Confederation set up in 1867, and the full German Reich declared in 1871 following glorious victory in the Franco-Prussian war. Bavaria continued to have a separate postal system with their own stamps until 1920, and Wurttemberg until 1902 for regular stamps while retaining Official and Municipal postal services with special stamps until 1920 and 1924 respectively. Hence Bavaria and Wurttemberg have the largest number of stamp issues among the states, despite being late members of the confederation.

A few states issued revenue stamps in this period, but not postage stamps. For this reason Sachsen-Anhalt, Schaumberg-Lippe, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Hessen & Kurhessen and some others are less known to postage stamp collectors than to revenue stamp enthusiasts. We are compiling an English-language catalogue of the revenue stamps of all the German States, which may help to bring these forgotten States back into the lime-light. (Leave us your contact details if you are interested to obtain the book when it finally comes out - still work in progress right now!)

The concept of these States did not entirely disappear under the Reich of 1871. States retained a great deal of autonomy with regional finance and separate judiciary until the 1930s, hence many State revenue stamps can be found in this interwar period. In 1936 the leaders of the III Reich set about centralising administration to the detriment of the States. Likewise in the DDR the old states were broken down into smaller Bezirks. In federal West Germany a more traditional approach was taken, with many former states re-emerging, albeit often with changed territories and statutes. Hence, revenue stamps can still be found from the postwar ear for former States of the 19th century.