I still owe @northernmariette a post about the Tyrolean uprising of 1809. Let me state at the very first that, being a Bavarian and mostly studying sources close to the Wittelsbach family, I'm the last person who should comment on this. So, if there's any Austrian, preferably Tyrolean, here who would like to jump in, please feel free to do so. This is one of those events where legend has overpowered history; the figure of Andreas Hofer in particular during the last two centuries has been (re)interpreted and (ab)used by pretty much every political side, and he has been judged everything from a heroic martyr to an Alpine version of the Taliban. (No, that latter term did not come from Bavaria!)
I may in the past have talked »a little« already about this incident:
The marriage between Eugène de Beauharnais and Auguste von Bayern. Yes, I'm pretty sure that topic did already come up before. We can take it from there, because one of the things that Napoleon dangled in front of Max Joseph's nose in order to make him agree to this marriage was - Tyrol. He kept his word. After the war of 1805, Austria had to cede Tyrol to Bavaria.
And with that, Max Joseph had bit off a lot more than he could chew. Tyrol, a mountainous region including many Alpine passes connecting Bavaria and Northern Italy, was, except for its capital Innsbruck, a very rural, highly conservative and fanatically catholic region (that catholicism included plenty of regional and local customs and superstitions), plus they had, under Austrian rule, enjoyed certain special laws and law exemptions that I understand emperor Joseph II already had desperately tried - and failed - to get rid of. Now, after Bavaria took over, Tyrol as a region was dissolved into a couple of counties, to be governed like the rest of Bavaria, and there were no more extras for Tyroleans. In particular, this concerned conscription. Tyroleans under Austrian rule had been exempt from serving in the regular Austrian army, but were supposed to form militias and defend their mountains on their own. That, too, ended under Bavarian rule.
Tyrol also was among the first regions to seriously feel the effect of economic decline caused by French hegemony and Napoleon's policies. Situated in the mountains, a huge portion of its wealth came through trade routes, that after 1806 gradually declined: The usual trading partner, the vast Habsburg empire, was shut off for the Tyroleans, and much smaller Bavaria simply could not provide the same options. Plus, a large part of international trade simply disappeared after Napoleon decreed the continental system.
(In the Bavarians's defense, they did see the problem but were unable (and in some points simply unwilling) to solve it. When Max Joseph in December 1807 took his whole family to Italy in order to meet Napoleon there, he did not only want to see his first grand-child and take the queen shopping and sightseeing in Venice (but that, too!) but also to negotiate a trade deal with Napoleon's kingdom of Italy (conveniently governed by Max's son-in-law, so basically a family business). However, at this point Napoleon had already lost interest in all trade that did not directly benefit France.)
And then there were in Tyrol all the additional holidays and pilgrimages for obscure local saints and lots of local customs regarding religious ceremonies, all the tiny monasteries and hermitages and wandering monks peope considered a regular part of true catholicism, all of which was gone with the stroke of a pen. Montgelas, Bavaria's de facto prime minister, had grown up in the era of enlightenment and did not take kindly to all kind of religious superstition. Needless to say, the bavarian officials in Tyrol and their revolutionary French friends were seen by locals as harbingers of the Antichrist, after the first three years of Bavarian rule already.
Austria's renewed interest in war in late 1808 was mostly caused by anxiety. After having seen how Napoleon had deposed of the Spanish Bourbons, the whole of Europe panicked, counted Napoleon's siblings and marshals and wondered how many countries were still needed for them and who would be dethroned next. It was archduke Johann (= Jean = John), very interested in liberal thinking, who came up with the idea to start a people's revolt in Tyrol, where people were extremely pissed at their new superiors already. The idea caused lots of controversy at the Austrian court. Calling the people to rise up against their legitimate ruler ... one just does not do that among monarchs. I guess it was considered a serious breach of etiquette. However, times were desperate. Johann was allowed to secretely conspire with some Tyroleans who had come to Vienna, among them famous Andreas Hofer.
Hofer was a well-respected trader and owner of an inn in the Alpes, also a devout catholic, and other than that apparently a friendly, honest and simple guy. Even his enemies agreed that he personally had done nothing dishonourable throughout the uprising, in a war that often saw similar brutalities as the guerilla war in Spain.
The Tyrolean uprising started at the same time as archduke Karl/Charles leading the Austrian main army into Bavaria and his brother Johann taking a second army into Italy in April 1809 (that latter army was the one that defeated Eugène's forces at Sacile), effectively hampering French/Bavarian communications. Austrian troops also marched in. The small Bavarian force at Innsbruck had to capitulate. Austrians and Tyroleans occupied the region and managed to kick out all remaining Bavarian troops and even to successfully raid parts of the region north of the Alps.
As for the course of that war, I'll just refer to the Wikipedia page. Basically, it was a back and forth, back and forth. When the Bavarians proved unable (and in some cases, like that of crown prince Ludwig, unwilling) to quench the revolt, Napoleon sent in French commanders, in particular marshal Lefebvre, in order to restore order. Lefebvre retook Innsbruck, the Tyrolean rebels retreated onto the mountains and into the valleys, and as soon as things seemed to have calmed down and parts of the troops had left, they returned and renewed the fight. There were no less than three battles at Bergisel (mountain at Innsbruck), all won by the rebels who time after time succeeded in reconquering town and country from the French, Bavarian and Rhinebund troops subsequently called in. After defeating Lefebvre himself in mid-August 1809, Andreas Hofer ruled for several months as a sort of unofficial governor in Innsbruck (and was soon enough out of his wits with that task but that’s a different story).
Meanwhile, in Austria, the battle of Wagram (July 6) had led to the armistice of Znaim. History books usually just state that the battle of Wagram decided the War of the Fifth Coalition but that’s not quite true. It took another three months until peace was negotiated, and emperor Franz opposed the negotiations for quite some time. During that time the Tyroleans were encouraged to continue their resistance; Hofer even received a golden necklace and a handwritten letter from his emperor, thanking him for his service and loyalty und promising that emperor Franz would never ever give up Tyrol to those godless Bavarian and French enemies!
It was for that reason that, when in mid-October the Peace of Schönbrunn once more gave Tyrol to the godless Bavarian and French enemies, nobody in Tyrol wanted to believe it. And so they didn’t. »Fake news!« Eugène, in charge of the southern half of the Tyrolean mess since November, had a proclamation published that promised amnesty to all those who laid down their weapons and threatened dire consequences to all who didn’t. Useless. The Tyroleans had their own newspaper in Innsbruck after all, and that paper had stated long ago that Napoleon had lost the war, been killed in a battle, fled to Paris on foot, caught the plague and whatever dark fate the writers could come up with. Eugène, as to him, had drowned in the Danube, if I remember correctly. (Those newspapers are a fun read!) Anyway, that guy surely was in no position to publish any proclamations right now, the Tyroleans knew that much!
The French and Bavarian troops now moved into Tyrol in force, while the Tyroleans, oblivious to the fact that the war was long over, stubbornly continued to fight.
It actually needed an aide-de-camp of Eugène’s, on his way north to deliver letters to king Max Joseph and crown prince Ludwig, to be taken prisoner by some rebels, to finally change that. A priest who a) could read and b) spoke French (both rare among the rebel forces) understood the importance of these letters that all spoke of the peace as a fact, and managed to convince Hofer of their authenticity. Hofer, at this point truely worn-out by the useless fight and the responsibility that had been burdened on him and probably doing some heavy drinking, sent this priest and one of his officers to Eugène in order to conduct an armistice. (That was the occasion when Eugène’s entourage had so much fun listening to the priest’s tales of the latest Bergisel battle.)
However, while these negotiations were going on, some of the other rebel leaders managed to convince Hofer to go back on his word and to continue the fight, mostly using religion as an argument. So there was a fourth battle at Bergisel, but by now, most rebels had indeed convinced themselves that further resistance was useless, and those who still showed up were easily beaten. The Tyrolean uprising was mostly over. Hofer himself was not even at the last battle, by then he must have been a broken man.
He fled, mid-winter, up into a small mountain cabin, where he hid until January, when somebody told French authorities of his whereabouts. He was captured, brought to Mantua, and shot on explicit orders by Napoleon in February.
Tyrol, by the way, was then divided, the (more lucrative) southern half added to the kingdom of Italy, while the northern half was returned to Bavaria (it returned to Austria after Napoleon’s fall, and I don’t think the Bavarians, as much as they had wanted the region before, at this point still held many regrets 😜).
