fortified, but the fortifications were rased in 1806 and gardens fill their places. There is a large chateau here belonging to the Grand Duke and a very good garden; part of the chateau was destroyed when the town was bombarded and has never since been repaired, the other part is occupied by the Grand Duchess widow of the late Grand Duke who was succeeded by his uncle having left only three daughters. She is the sister of Eugene Beauharnais [sic, she was in fact his second cousin]. There is a cathedral, a theatre which is considered good, an observatory, a gallery of pictures at the chateau, and some private collections. About two km (one mile) below the town the Russian Army crossed the Rhine in 1813. Population 18,300.
Also in 1819, August von Kotzebue was assassinated in Mannheim.
During the climate crisis of 1816/17, which caused famine and the death of horses in Mannheim, Karl Drais invented the first bicycle. The Rhine Harbour was established in 1828 and the first Baden railway opened from Mannheim to Heidelberg in 1840. Influenced by the economic rise of the middle class, another golden age of Mannheim gradually began. In the March Revolution of 1848, the city was a centre for political and revolutionary activity. In 1865, Friedrich Engelhorn founded the Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (Baden Aniline and Soda Factory, BASF) in Mannheim, but the factory was actually constructed across the Rhine in Ludwigshafen because of Mannheim�s fears of air pollution. From the dye factory BASF has developed into the largest chemical company in the world. In 1886, Carl Benz patented the first motor car.
The Sch�tte-Lanz company, founded by Karl Lanz and Johann Sch�tte in 1909, built 22 airships. The company's main competitor was the Zeppelin works.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Mannheim's industry plants played a key role in Germany's war economy. This contributed to the fact that, on 27 May 1915, Mannheim was the world's first civilian
