> 历史
The city's name is derived from the ancient Castellum Cattorum, a castle of the Chatti, a German tribe that has lived in the area since Roman times.
Kassel as such is first mentioned in 913 as the place where two deeds were signed by king Conrad I. The place was called Chasella and was a fortification at a bridge crossing the Fulda river. A deed from 1189 certifies that Kassel had city rights, but the date of their conveyance is not known.
In 1567 the landgraviate of Hesse, until then centered in Marburg, was divided among four sons, with Hesse-Kassel becoming one of its successor states. Kassel was its capital and became a centre of Calvinist Protestantism in Germany. Strong fortifications were built to protect the Protestant stronghold against Catholic enemies. In 1685 Kassel became a refuge for 1700 Huguenots who found shelter in the newly established borough of Oberneustadt. Landgrave Charles, who was responsible for this humanitarian act, also ordered the construction of the Oktogon and of the Orangerie (see sights). In the late 18th century Hesse-Kassel became infamous for selling mercenaries (Hessians) to the British crown to help suppress the American Revolution and to finance the construction of palaces and the landgrave's opulent lifestyle.
In the early 19th century the Brothers Grimm lived in Kassel and collected and wrote most of their fairy tales. At this time (1803) the landgravate was elevated to a principality and its ruler to Elector. Shortly after, it was annexed by Napoleon and, in 1807 became the capital of the short-lived Kingdom of Westphalia under Napoleon's brother Jérôme. The electorate was restored in 1813.
Having sided with Austria in the Austro-Prussian War for supremacy in Germany, the principality was annexed by Prussia in 1866. The Prussian administration united Nassau, Frankfurt and Hesse-Kassel into the new Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. Kassel ceased to be a princely residence, but soon developed into a major industrial centre as well as a major railway junction.
In 1870 after the Battle of Sedan, NapoleonIIIwas sent as a prisoner to the castle of Wilhelmshöhe above the city.
During World WarII,during the night of October 22/
The US First Army captured Kassel on April 3, 1945. After the war, most of the ancient buildings were not restored, and large parts of the city centre were completely rebuilt in the style of the 1950s. A few historic buildings, however, such as the Museum Fridericianum (see below), were restored.
There is a frequently repeated legend among Kassel citizens alleging that the city was close to becoming the provisional capital of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. It is true that the interim parliament ("Parlamentarischer Rat") was at that time considering a new location for the capital, since Berlin was then a special administrative region controlled directly by the allies and surrounded by the Soviet zone of occupation. A number of cities were proposed to host the federal government, but Kassel was eliminated in the first round. Most of the members of the German constitutional assembly (as well as the[link].Supreme Command) favoured Frankfurt am Main where the Hessian administration had already started the construction of a plenary assembly hall. In the end Bonn won after Chancellor Adenauer intervened emphatically for Bonn which was only fifteen kilometers away from his hometown.
