The History of the �Oktoberfest�
The history of the
�Oktoberfest� took a glamorous beginning. On October 12, 1810, the entire city of Munich celebrated the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig
with Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities were to be concluded by a horse-race on the large meadow outside the
Sendlinger city gate. During the preparations of the festivities by the National Guard, Sergeant Baumgartner - a hackney-coachman
- had made the suggestion to revive this old Bavarian tradition. A good many princely weddings had turned into a folk festival through a
horse race, e.g., the wedding of Albrecht III in 1437 to a duke�s daughter from Brunswick, or in 1722 when electoral Prince Karl Albrecht
- the later emperor Karl VII - took home Maria Amalia from Austria.
Major Andreas Dall�Armi immediately realized his chance of immortalizing
himself in the Munich history. After all, he was the first to receive the �Golden Citizen Medal� in 1824 as an advanced recognition.
By the time the king agreed - he willingly accepted Dall�Armis suggestion - the cavalry had already collected 200 ducats for the event.
The festivity was a complete success with all of the court present. 30,000 people of Munich celebrated its Crown Prince and his young consort.
The sympathy was remarkable, since at that time Munich only had 40,638 inhabitants including the military.
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