Baden-Baden is a setting in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, but the city has a different name. Baden-Baden was then nicknamed the European summer capital and reached its zenith under Napoleon III during the 1850s and 1860s. The Russian writer, Dostoevsky, wrote The Gambler while compulsively gambling at the Baden-Baden Casino. Johannes Brahms' local residence, the Brahmshaus, can still be visited today.
In 1931, the town of Baden-Baden was officially given its double name, which is the short form for "Baden in Baden" (i.e., Baden in the state of Baden). This was already in common use to distinguish the town from Baden bei Wien ("Baden near Vienna") and Baden, Switzerland. In both World Wars, the town escaped destruction. After World War II, Baden-Baden became the headquarters of the French forces in Germany.
Under the supervision of the French Air Force, a military airfield was constructed at Baden-S�llingen between the Black Forest and the Rhine River, 15 km west of Baden-Baden; the runway and associated facilities were completed in June 1952. In 1953, units of the Royal Canadian Air Force were accommodated at the base later known as CFB Baden-Soellingen. In the 1990s, the base was converted into a civil airport, the Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport (also known as Baden Airpark), which is now the second-largest airport in Baden-W�rttemberg by number of passengers
