In the spring of 1848, the people of Württemberg protested across the region against their disenfranchisement and oppression by the state apparatus and its bureaucracy. The goal was to overthrow the existing bureaucratic order. The municipalities became the focal point of this conflict, as here bureaucracy and the population collided directly and often with severe consequences for individuals. The mayor, as the lowest representative and executor of bureaucratic state power on the ground, became a symbol of the issue and the core of the dispute. The movement against the mayors as a mass phenomenon represents a unique aspect of Württemberg.