Westphalia (1648) which named four "Paritetic Imperial Cities" (German: Parit�tische Reichsst�dte): Augsburg, Biberach, Dinkelsb�hl and Ravensburg.
In 1803 the Immerw�hrende Reichstag passed the Reichs deputationshauptschluss, a bill which included the secularisation and mediatisation of many German states � the first meaning the confiscation of the estates belonging to the church, the second the incorporation of the imperial estates and Imperial Free Cities into larger regional states. As a result, Ravensburg first became a Bavarian exclave within W�rttemberg. After a swap of estates between Bavaria and W�rttemberg it was incorporated in the Kingdom of W�rttemberg in 1810.
Since Ravensburg was impoverished and depopulated after the Thirty Years' War, only a few new buildings were raised during the 18th and the early 19th century. The benefit of this economic stagnation was the conservation of a widely intact medieval city with nearly all towers and gates of the historic fortification.
During the World War II Ravensburg was strategically of no relevance. Ravensburg didn't harbour any noteworthy arms industry (unlike nearby Friedrichshafen with its large aircraft industry), but was home to a big aid supplies center belonging to the Swiss Red Cross. So no air raid destroyed the historical city center.
In the 1970s, Ravensburg increased in population and territory by the incorporation of smaller communities like Eschach, Schmalegg and Taldorf. Ravensburg University of Cooperative Education was established in the town in 1978.
In the 1980s, the Old Town was renovated and all transit traffic was banned from the city center
