Castle.
In 1803, Stuttgart was proclaimed capital of the Electorate of W�rttemberg until Napoleon Bonaparte's break-up of the Holy Roman Empire in 1805 when Stuttgart became capital of the Kingdom of W�rttemberg. The royal residence was expanded under Frederick I of W�rttemberg although many of Stuttgart's most important buildings, including the Wilhelm Palace, Katharina Hospital, the State Gallery, the Villa Berg and the K�nigsbau were built under the reign of King Wilhelm I. The jubilee column (erected between 1841 and 1846) on the Schlossplatz is located on the orthodromic distance line from the church of St. Michael in Roeselare over the Kokino observatory to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
Stuttgart's development as a city was impeded in the 19th century by its location. It was not until the opening of the Main Station in 1846 that the city underwent an economic revival. The population at the time was around 50,000.
During the revolution of 1848/1849, a democratic pan-German national parliament (Frankfurt Parliament) was formed in Frankfurt to overcome the division of Germany. After long discussions, the parliament decided to offer the title of the German emperor to King Frederick William IV of Prussia. As the democratic movement became weaker, the German princes regained control of their independent states. Finally, the Prussian king declined the revolutionaries' offer. The members of parliament were driven out of Frankfurt and the most radical members (who wanted to establish a republic) fled to Stuttgart. A short while later, this rump parliament was dissolved by the W�rttemberg military.
By 1871 Stuttgart boasted 91,000 inhabitants, and by the time Gottlieb Daimler invented the automobile in a small workshop in Cannstatt, the population had risen rapidly to 176,000.
In 1871, as an autonomous kingdom, W�rttemberg joined the German Empire created by Otto von Bismarck, Prime Minister of Prussia, during the unification of
