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{{Short description|1809 rebellion during the War of the Fifth Coalition}}
{{refimprove|date=March 2021}}
{{infobox military conflict
| conflict          = 1809 Gottscheer rebellion
| partof            = [[War of the Fifth Coalition]]
| image             = Carlo Zucchi (1777-1863).jpg
| caption           = Carlo Zucchi, Italian general
| date              = September 10; October 7–18, 1809
| place             = [[Gottschee|Gottschee County]], modern day [[Slovenia]]
| coordinates       = {{coord|45|38|23|N|14|51|41|E}}
| result            = *Execution of rebel leaders
* Plundering of the City of [[Kočevje|Gottschee]] and burning of several peasant villages
* Scattered guerrilla attacks by Gottscheer farmers begin
* French occupation of [[Carniola]] is enforced
| combatant1        = {{flagicon|Austrian Empire}} [[Gottscheers|Gottschee Germans]]
| combatant2        = {{flagicon|France}} [[First French Empire]]
| commander1        = {{flagicon|Austrian Empire}} Mathias Dulzer{{executed}}<br />{{flagicon|Austrian Empire}} [[Johann Erker]]{{executed}}<br />{{flagicon|Austrian Empire}} Georg Eisenzopf{{executed}}<br />{{flagicon|Austrian Empire}} Bartholomäus Kusold{{executed}}<br />{{flagicon|Austrian Empire}} Johann Jonke{{executed}}
| commander2        = {{flagicon|France}} District Commissioner Gasparini{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|France}} General [[Carlo Zucchi (general)|Carlo Zucchi]]<br />{{flagicon|France}} Captain Luigi Tarducci
| strength1         = {{circa}} 2,000 Gottscheers <br /> {{circa}} 500 Slovenes <br /> <br /> Total: {{circa}} 2,500
| strength2         = - 2nd Italian Light Infantry Regiment <br /> - 8th Italian Infantry Regiment <br /> - Unknown Artillery Unit <br /> - Unknown Cavalry Regiment <br /> - Garrison troops <br /> <br /> Total: 1,300–1,500
| casualties1       = Unknown, but more than the French
| casualties2       = Unknown, but minimal
}}
{{Campaignbox Fifth Coalition}}
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| title= [[War of the Fifth Coalition]]:<br>Gottscheer rebellion

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| label1 = Gottscheer
| mark-coord1 = {{coord|45.64|14.86}}
| mark-title1 = 1809 Gottscheer rebellion<br>on 10 September 1809<br>from 7 to 18 October 1809
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The '''1809 Gottscheer rebellion''' ({{langx|de|Gottscheer Bauernaufstand}})<ref>Jonke, Peter, 1930. "Der Gottscheer Bauernaufstand im Herbste 1809." ''Gottscheer Kalender'' 10: 83–86.</ref> was a revolt by the [[Gottscheers|Gottschee Germans]] against the [[First French Empire]] during the French occupation of [[Gottschee]] following the [[War of the Fifth Coalition]].

== Background: War of the Fifth Coalition and Treaty of Schönbrunn ==
In April 1809, the [[Austrian Empire]] declared war against [[Napoleon I]] to start the War of the Fifth Coalition. After suffering some major setbacks, notably the [[Battle of Aspern-Essling]], the French swiftly triumphed over the Austrian commander [[Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen|Archduke Charles]]. At the [[Battle of Wagram]], the French ultimately had already won the war. Following this battle, the French troops marched south to occupy [[Carniola]], and with it [[Gottschee|Gottschee County]], that had been centuries earlier settled by Austrians from Tyrol and Carinthia.

Determined not to be occupied by the French, the German-speaking [[Gottscheers]] hastily assembled a local militia who marched north from the City of [[Gottschee]] to face the advancing French. At the Battle of Kerndorf, located just north of the City, 900 Gottscheer peasants stood against the French army. In a quick fight, the Gottscheers were thoroughly routed. After this brief episode, the French occupied the remainder of the region with little incident, however French troops were needed to disperse 600 Gottscheer farmers on September 10, 1809, when they  protested the new war tax imposed on them. On October 14, 1809, the [[Treaty of Schönbrunn]] transferred the region of [[Carniola]], which Gottschee was in, to France along with many other territories.

== The Rebellion ==
It was the riot of September 10 in the town of Gottschee that escalated the turmoil in the Gottschee region and the adjacent Slovene counties. On October 6, a squad of 18 French soldiers entered the Slovene village of [[Kostel, Kostel|Kostel]], south of the Gottschee German region. When the French could not find any tax money, they threatened to burn down the town in retribution. The town mayor managed to escape the French, and he rallied the neighboring villagers (mostly Gottschee Germans) and on the morning of October 7 attacked the French squadron in Kostel. After a brief fight, only 1 farmer and 2 French soldiers were wounded. With their backs to the [[Kupa|Kolpa River]], the French officer surrendered. The rebels then delivered their captives to Austrian positions on the other side of the river, in present-day Croatia. Later that day, once word of the action in Kostel spread, the Slovene villagers of the village of [[Predgrad|Pölland]], also just south of the Gottschee region, drove out a French garrison of 28 men. They fled to nearby [[Stari Trg ob Kolpi|Altenmarkt]], where the following morning they were surrounded by 300 rebels, a mix of Gottschee Germans and Slovenes. The French surrendered and were summarily marched to the banks of the Kolpa and executed.

News of these victories spread deep into Gottschee and on the early hours of October 9, a swarm of hundreds of rebels from Gottscheer villages near the town fell upon the French troops stationed there under Commissioner Gasparini. Seeing the attack, Gasparini sent a messenger to [[Ribnica, Ribnica|Reifnitz]] just as the Gottschee Germans closed in. All the French troops fell back to Auersperg Castle, and a siege ensued for several hours. Finally, the Gottschee Germans broke down the doors and captured and killed the entire garrison. Gasparini was dragged from the fortress, found hiding in a back room. He was dragged through the streets while being kicked and hit and had rocks thrown on him. He finally was killed in the village of Lienfeld, south of the town, and his body unceremoniously disposed of. According to legend, his final words were "Vive L'Empereur". Out of the French defenders in Gottschee, 42 were captured and they were also handed over to the Austrians in Croatia like the prisoners from Kostel. The amount of the total French troops in the town was from 50 to up to 100. Rebel casualties are unknown.

Gasparini's messenger reached Reifnitz after the town fell, and a small detachment was dispatched to go to his aid. However, the relief force never made it as they were waylaid by Gottschee Germans who were hiding along the road before they reached the town and the majority of the unit was killed.

All throughout the Gottschee region in the next few days, the Gottschee German rebels triumphed. They ambushed a French squad between the villages of [[Šalka Vas|Schalkendorf]] and [[Željne|Seele]], forcing them to flee into the nearby caves where they either were massacred or surrendered. In the village of [[Mala Gora, Kočevje|Malgern]], Captain Chambelli led a tax convoy from [[Novo Mesto|Neustadt]], which was north of the Gottschee region. The rebels pounced on his caravan, killing at least him and his lieutenant and presumably others.

The victory was short-lived, however. On October 15 the Gottschee Germans and some Slovene peasant farmers who joined them after the initial success assaulted the French garrison in Neustadt. They planned to attack in the early morning, but after many delays the French and Italian soldiers defending were prepared. After some small gains in the early stage of the battle, the Gottschee Germans and other peasants were ultimately driven off by shrapnel from Neustadt's two artillery pieces. In the end, 35 to 40 rebels were killed, the other 400 scattering. For the French, losses were three killed, five wounded, and 11 taken prisoner. This was the turning point in the uprising.

The French quickly marched reinforcements into the area under General Zucchi and when they entered the town of Gottschee on October 16 they crushed and scattered the Gottschee German rebels and restored French control. Once the French reinforcements liberated the garrison, they planned to raze Gottschee. Father Georg Jonke, a Gottschee German priest, interceded here and pleaded to the French to spare the town. Due to his actions to spare the lives of many of the French prisoners, the French listened to him and decided to plunder the town rather than burn it to the ground. From October 16 to 18, 1809, Gottschee was pillaged by the French troops. In one final act of punishment for this uprising, on October 18 the five Gottschee German leaders of the rebellion captured by the French were executed by firing squad in the churchyard of the town: Johann Jonke (from the town of Gottschee), Matthias Dulzer and Georg Eisenzopf (from Malgern), Johann Erker (from [[Slovenska Vas, Kočevje|Windischdorf]]), and Bartholomäus Kusold (from [[Ravne, Kočevje|Eben]]).

== Aftermath ==
Under the rule of the French, Gottschee and the rest of Carniola was incorporated into the [[Illyrian Provinces]] which was a territory under Napoleon's direct control. Even though their rebellion was destroyed and the French had increased their military presence in the area, the Gottscheers were still defiant. As it was written in the article "''Gottschee und sein Volk''":
"Fewer and fewer soldiers of the French patrols returned home because the peasants lay in waiting for them and a good many of them were killed, In order to end this violence of the Gottscheers, the French took 200 Gottscheer citizens, placed them in back of the Stadtpfarr (parish church) and every tenth person was shot to death. In many sections of Gottschee, you can still (1947) find the mounds which are known as ''Franzosengräber (French graves)". '' Until the Gottscheers had all left their homeland following World War Two, these French graves were marks of pride for the Gottscheers. It was custom for someone to throw a stone onto a mound when he passed.
In 1813, the [[War of the Sixth Coalition]] broke out and Austria invaded the Illyrian Provinces, liberating the Gottscheers from French rule and ending the ''Franzosenzeit'' (time of the French) in Gottschee. The Gottscheers remained under Austrian rule for the next 105 years, until the end of the [[First World War]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* -Bencin, Thomas F. Gottschee: A History of a German Community on Slovenia from the Fourteenth to the Twentieth Century. Louisville, Colorado: Gottscheer Heritage and Genealogy Association, 1995. Print.
* -Kikel, "Gottschee und sein Volk," ''Godenkbuch'', p.&nbsp;29.
* -GHGA, https://web.archive.org/web/20120814171336/http://www.gottschee.org/history.html

==External links==
* {{commons-inline}}

{{European Peasant Wars (19th and 20th centuries)}}
[[Category:Battles of the War of the Fifth Coalition]]
[[Category:1809 in the Illyrian Provinces]]
[[Category:Lower Carniola]]
[[Category:Rebellions against empires]]
[[Category:Duchy of Carniola]]
[[Category:September 1809 events]]
[[Category:October 1809 events]]
[[Category:19th-century rebellions]]