Wittenberg, which had been shot down and impoverished after the Napoleonic Wars, initially had little to offer: Since 1815, it had lived solely on crafts and trades, especially brewing, cloth making and linen weaving, but also on the trade in grain and flax from the rural area. The town now housed a Prussian district administration and a strong garrison. Only later did traffic and industrial developments take place, which opened up new perspectives for Wittenberg.

The University LEUCOREA, which had not been working in Wittenberg since 1813, was united with Halle in 1817 and thus moved there (see here). Afterwards it developed a certain afterlife. But even though academic life in the narrower sense no longer took place in Wittenberg after 1817, science and higher education still existed in other forms.