|
The States of Germany
Germany was first born as a nation during ancient Roman times begining when the Merovingian kings of Gaul, dynasties of the Germanic Franks, conquered several other German tribes in the sixth century, and placed them under the control of autonomous dukes of mixed Frankish and native blood.
Colonists from Gaul were encouraged to move to the newly conquered territories well into the 8th and 9th century, during the early part of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Holy Roman Empire was a mainly Germanic conglomeration of lands in Central Europe during the Middle Ages up until the early modern period. It was also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and was considered to be the First German Empire, "Zuerst Deutsch Reich".
It originated with the partition of the Frankish Empire following the Treaty of Verdun in 843. At its largest extent, the territory of this empire included what today is Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, western Poland, eastern France, Switzerland and most of northern Italy.
After the Napoleonic Wars the Holy Roman Empire was formally dissolved on 6 August 1806 and the Confederation of the Rhine was established under Napoleon's protection and lasted until 1815.
This was followed by the German Confederation that lasted from 1815 to 1866. Then amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, Germany was first truely unified as a nation-state and became known as the German Empire. This was considered to be the Second German Empire or "Zweitens Deutsch Reich" and lasted from 1871 to 1918.
Later it became the Weimar Republic but was short lived and only lasted from 1919 until 1933. Then Adolf Hitler formed his Nazi Germany and named it the Third Reich or Third Empire, "Drittens Reich". This was also short lived and only lasted 12 years from 1933 to1945 when Germany lost the Second World War.
At the end of the WWII German was split into two states known as the Federal Republic of Germany or "FDR", which was West Germany and the German Democratic Republic or "GDR", which was East Germany. This lasted from 1945 until 1990.
The remaining 13 are termed "Flächenländer" or "area states". This differentiation is important, because after the end of the Second World War, the Länder in the western part of the former German Empire, "Deutsches Reich" were constituted as administrative areas first and then joined together into the federation, "Bund" to form the Federal Republic of Germany. Each Land is represented at the federal level in the Federal Council, "Bundesrat".
The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the Group of Eight (G8), the Groupe of Four Nations (G4), and is a founding member of the European Union. It has the largest population and largest economy of all European Union member states. As a modern great power, Germany was both the world's third largest economy, after the United States and Japan, and its largest exporter of goods in 2005.
Hamburg
Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and with Hamburg Harbour, its principal port, Hamburg is also the second largest port city in the European Union and the largest city of the Union which is not a capital.
The official name "Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg" or in German, "Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg", refers to Hamburg's membership in the medieval Hanseatic League and the fact that Hamburg is a City State and one of the sixteen Federal States of Germany.
Hamburg is situated on the southern tip of Jutland Peninsula, geographically centred between Continental Europe and Scandinavia and between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The city of Hamburg lies at the junction of the river Elbe with the rivers Alster and Bille and the city centre is set around Lake Binnenalster and Lake Außenalster.
Hamburg is an international trade city and the commercial and cultural centre of Northern Germany.
The city takes its name from the first permanent building on the site, a castle ordered to be built by Emperor Charlemagne in 808 AD. The castle was built on some rocky ground in a marsh between the Alster and the Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion. The castle was named Hammaburg, where "burg" means "castle".
The "Hamma" element remains uncertain. Old High German includes both a hamma, "angle" and a hamme, "pastureland." The angle might refer to a spit of land or to the curvature of a river. However, the language spoken might not have been Old High German, as Low Saxon was spoken there later. Other theories are that the castle was named for a surrounding Hamma forest, or for the village of Hamm, later incorporated into the city. Hamm as a place name occurs a number of times in Germany, but its meaning is equally uncertain. It could be related to "heim" and Hamburg could have been placed in the territory of the ancient Chamavi. However, a derivation of "home city" is perhaps too direct, as the city was named after the castle. Another theory is that Hamburg comes from ham which is Old Saxon for shore.
In 834 Hamburg was designated the seat of a bishopric, whose first bishop, Ansgar, became known as the Apostle of the North. In 845 a fleet of 600 Viking ships came up the River Elbe and destroyed Hamburg, at that time a town of around 500 inhabitants. Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen.
In 1030, the city was burned down by King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland. After further raids in 1066 and 1072 the bishop permanently moved to Bremen. Hamburg had several great fires, notably in 1284 and 1842.
The charter in 1189 by Frederick I "Barbarossa" granted Hamburg the status of an Imperial Free City and tax free access up the Lower Elbe into the North Sea. This and Hamburg's proximity to the main trade routes of the North Sea and Baltic Sea quickly made it a major port in Northern Europe. Its trade alliance with Lübeck in 1241 marks the origin and core of the powerful Hanseatic League of trading cities.
In 1520 the city embraced Lutheranism, and Hamburg subsequently received Protestant refugees from the Netherlands and France. Hamburg was at times under Danish sovereignty while remaining part of the Holy Roman Empire as an Imperial Free City.
Briefly annexed by Napoleon I (1810-14), Hamburg suffered severely during his last campaign in Germany. The city was besieged for over a year by Allied forces (mostly Russian, Swedish and German). Russian forces under General Bennigsen finally freed the city in 1814. During the first half of the 19th century a patron goddess with Hamburg's Latin name Hammonia emerged, mostly in romantic and poetic references, and although she has no mythology to call her own, Hammonia became the symbol of the city's spirit during this time.
Hamburg experienced its fastest growth during the second half of the 19th century as the growth of the city's Atlantic trade helped make it Europe's third-largest port.
After World War I Germany lost her colonies and Hamburg lost many of its trade routes. In 1938 the city boundaries were extended with the Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz, or Greater Hamburg Act, to incorporate Wandsbek, Harburg, Wilhelmsburg and Altona.
During World War II Hamburg suffered a series of devastating air raids which killed 42,000 German civilians. Through this, and the new zoning guidelines of the 1960s, the inner city lost much of its architectural past.
After German reunification in 1990, and the accession of some Eastern European and Baltic States into the European Union in 2004, Hamburg Harbour and Hamburg is regaining their positions as the region's largest deep-sea port for shipping and its major commercial and trading center.
Bremen
The state of Bremen consists of two separated enclaves: Bremen, officially the 'City Municipality of Bremen' (Stadtgemeinde Bremen) which is the state capital, and the city of Bremerhaven (Stadt Bremerhaven). Both are located on the River Weser; Bremerhaven is further downstream and serves as a North Sea harbour (the name means "Bremen's port"). Both cities are completely surrounded by the neighbouring State of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). The two cities are the only administrative subdivisions the state has.
The City of Bremen, a member of the Hanseatic League, became an imperial free city of the Holy Roman Empire, and hence a state, in 1646. After the state was dissolved during the Napoleonic period, in 1815 it became an independent country and was subsequently a member of the German Confederation and the North German Confederation. Several areas including the area on which the City of Bremerhaven was to be founded were purchased from Hanover in 1827. In 1871, Bremen joined the German Empire.
While surrounding Hanover was put under British control after the end of World War II in 1945, Bremen was put under administration of the USA because the US occupation zone needed ocean access. As a result, Bremen retained its statehood even though, at this time, all other small states were merged into larger ones.
In 1905, Bremen had a population of 263,000. In 1939, the population was 450,000.
Berlin
The name Berlin is of uncertain origin, but may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl or birl meaning "swamp".
Berlin is the capital city and a state of Germany. It is the country's largest city in area and population, and the second most populous city in the European Union.
First documented in the 13th century, Berlin became the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701 and of the German Empire in 1871. It remained so during periods of Weimar Republic and Third Reich until 1945. After World War II, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) claimed East Berlin as its capital, while West Berlin was a West German enclave surrounded by East Germany. Following the reunification in 1990, Berlin again became the capital of Germany.
The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns, Cölln which was on the Fisher Island, is first mentioned in a 1237 document, and Berlin, across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel, in a document from 1244.
The Nikolaiviertel, or "St. Nicholas Quarter", is the reconstructed historical heart of the German capital, Berlin, located five minutes away from Alexanderplatz. It is bounded by the river Spree, Rathausstraße, Spandauer Straße and Mühlendamm. The Nikolai Church, or "Nikolaikirche", lies at the centre of the district.
In 1307, the two cities were united and over time, the twin cities came to be known simply as Berlin.
In 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. Subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled until 1918 in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and finally as German emperors. In 1448 citizens rebelled in the “Berlin Indignation” against the construction of a new royal palace by Elector Frederick II Irontooth. This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. In 1451 Berlin became the royal residence of the Brandenburg electors, and Berlin had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city. In 1539 the electors and the city officially became Lutheran.
17th - 19th Century
The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 had devastating consequences for Berlin. A third of the houses were damaged, and the city lost half of its population. Frederick William, known as the “Great Elector”, who had succeeded his father George William as ruler in 1640, initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious toleration. With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William invited the French Huguenots to Brandenburg. More than 15,000 Huguenots came, of whom 6,000 settled in Berlin. Around 1700, approximately twenty percent of Berlin's residents were French, and their cultural influence was great. Many other immigrants came from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg.
With the coronation of Frederick I in 1701 as king, Berlin became the capital of the kingdom of Prussia. In 1740 Friedrich II, known as Frederick the Great (1740-1786) came to power. Berlin became, under the rule of the philosophically-oriented Frederick II, center of the Enlightenment. The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main rail hub and economic center of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, outlying suburbs including Wedding, Moabit, and several others were incorporated into Berlin. In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire.
20th Century
At the end of World War I in 1918, the Weimar Republic was proclaimed in Berlin. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act united dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into a greatly expanded city. After this expansion, Berlin had a population of around 4 million. 1920s Berlin was an exciting city known for its liberal subcultures, including homosexuals and prostitution, and well known for its fierce political street fights.
The Nazi Party came to power in 1933 and started World War II in 1939. Nazi rule destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which numbered 170,000 before the Nazis came to power. After the pogrom of Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's German Jews were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp or, in early 1943, were shipped to death camps such as Auschwitz. During the war, large parts of Berlin were destroyed in the 1943–45 air raids and during the Battle of Berlin. After the end of the war in Europe in 1945, Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the Western Allies (the United States, United Kingdom, and France) formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin.
All four allies retained shared responsibility for Berlin. However, the growing political differences between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union led the latter, which controlled the territory surrounding Berlin, to impose the Berlin Blockade, an economic blockade of West Berlin. The allies successfully overcame the Blockade by airlifting food and other supplies into the city from 24 June 1948 to 11 May 1949.[15] In 1949 the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany, while the Marxist-Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany.
The founding of the two German states increased Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory. East Germany, however, proclaimed East Berlin (which it described only as "Berlin") as its capital, a move that was not recognized by the western powers. Although half the size and population of West Berlin, it included most of the historic center. The tensions between east and west culminated in the construction of Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin and other barriers around West Berlin by the East Germany on 13 August 1961 and were exacerbated by a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie on 27 October 1961. West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany.
Berlin was completely separated. It was possible for Westerners to pass from one to the other only through strictly controlled checkpoints. For most Easterners, travel to West Berlin or West Germany was no longer possible. In 1971, a Four-Power agreement guaranteed access across East Germany to West Berlin and ended the potential for harassment or closure of the routes.
In 1989 pressure from the East German population brought a transition to democracy in East Germany, and its citizens gained free access across the Berlin Wall, which was mostly demolished. Not much is left of it today; the East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain near the Oberbaumbrücke over the Spree preserves a portion of the Wall. In 1990 the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin became the German capital according to the unification treaty. In 1999 the German parliament and government began their work in Berlin.
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is located in the southwestern part of the Germany to the east of the Upper Rhine. The state borders on Switzerland to the south, Alsace,France to the west, Rhineland-Palatinate in the northwest, Hessen to the north and Bavaria to the east. It is third largest in both area and population among the country's sixteen states. The Rhine forms the western border as well as large portions of the southern border. The Black Forest, known as "Schwarzwald", the main mountain range of the state, rises east of the Rhine valley. Baden-Württemberg shares both Lake Constance, known as Bodensee, and the foothills of the Alps with Switzerland. The Danube river has its source in Baden-Württemberg near the town of Donaueschingen, in a place called Furtwangen in the Black Forest.
The state capital is Stuttgart and its principal cities include Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Ludwigsburg, Ulm, Tübingen, Pforzheim and Reutlingen. This state combines the historical states of Baden, Hohenzollern and Württemberg. After World War II the Allied forces established three states:
Württemberg-Baden occupied by the USA
Württemberg-Hohenzollern occupied by France and
Baden, also occupied by France
The 1949 constitution of West Germany contains special clauses that makes mergers of states possible. In 1952 these states merged to form the State of Baden-Württemberg.
For detailed information click on Baden, Hohenzollern or Württemberg.
Hohenzollern
Hohenzollern no longer exists in 21st century Germany, and therefore it is not one of the 16 States of Germany. However, it is worth mentioning here due to the fact that so many regions of Germany's past were ruled by members of the Hohenzollern family dating back to the 12 century.
In 1170 Conrad of Hohenzollern was appointed as an "Imperial Representative", known as a Burgrave, of Nuremberg by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. Hohenzollern was a princely German family that ruled throughout centeral Europe. Members of the family ruled Brandenburg from 1415 to 1918. Some became kings of Prussia from 1525 to 1918, some were German Emperors from 1871 to 1918.
Hohenzollern was also a province of the Kingdom of Prussia. This province was created In 1850 from the principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen. The two principalities were annexed by Prussia and joined together to form the Hohenzollern province of the Kingdom of Prussia and were ruled by the protestant branch of the House of Hohenzollern. While Hohenzollern enjoyed all the rights of a full-fledged province of Prussia, including representation in the Prussian parliament, its military matters were governed by the Rhine Province. Another branch of the Hohenzollerns, the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringens, were princes and kings of Romania from 1866 to as late as 1947.
After the Second World War, in 1946, the French military administration made the province of Hohenzollern of the Kingdom of Prussia a part of the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern. Later, in 1952 it became a part of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. After regional reforms in 1973 the Hohenzollern borders were totally eliminated, with the region now belonging to the districts of Sigmaringen and Zollernalbkreis.
Bavaria
Bavaria shares international borders with Austria and the Czech Republic as well as with Switzerland (across Lake Constance). Neighbouring states within Germany are Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony. Two major rivers flow through the state, the Danube (Donau) and the Main. The Bavarian Alps define the border with Austria, and within the range is the highest peak in Germany, the Zugspitze.
The major cities in Bavaria are Munich (München), Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Augsburg, Regensburg, Würzburg, Ingolstadt, Fürth and Erlangen.
The region north of the Alps was inhabited by Celts and was part of the Roman Empire until (probably Slavonic) tribes from the East, the so-called 'Bayuvaren' started to settle in the region in the 6th century AD. A later mention was made by the Franks ca. 520. Saint Boniface completed the people's conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria resisted the Protestant Reformation, and remains strongly Roman Catholic.
From about 550 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the duchy of Bavaria, ending with Tassilo III who was deposed by Charlemagne. For the next 400 years numerous families held the duchy, rarely for more than three generations. The last, and one of the most important, of these dukes was Henry the Lion of the house of Welf, founder of Munich.
When Henry the Lion was deposed as duke of Saxony and Bavaria by his cousin, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1180, Bavaria was awarded as fief to the Wittelsbach family, which ruled from 1180 to 1918. The first of several divisions of the duchy occurred in 1255 but in 1506 Bavaria was reunited and Munich became the sole capital. In 1623 the dukes replaced their relative, the Count Palatine of the Rhine in the early days of the Thirty Years War and acquired the powerful prince-electoral dignity in the Holy Roman Empire, determining its Emperor thence forward, as well as special legal status under the empire's laws. When Napoleon abolished the Empire, Bavaria became a kingdom in 1806, and in 1815 the Rhenish Palatinate was annexed to it. In between 1799 and 1817 the leading minister count Montgelas followed a strict policy of modernisation and laid the foundations of administrative structures that survived even the monarchy and are (in their core) valid until today. In 1818 a modern constitution (by the standards of the time) was passed, that established a bicameral Parliament with a House of Lords ("Kammer der Reichsräte") and a House of Commons ("Kammer der Abgeordneten"). The constitution was valid until the collapse of the monarchy at the end of the First World War.
After the rise of Prussia to prominence Bavaria managed to preserve its independence by playing off the rivalries of Prussia and Austria, but defeat in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War led to its incorporation into the German Empire in 1871. In the early 20th century Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Henrik Ibsen, and other notable artists were drawn to Bavaria, notably to the Schwabing district of Munich, but the region was devastated by World War I.
Since World War II, Bavaria has been rehabilitated into a prosperous industrial hub. A massive reconstruction effort restored much of Munich's historic core, and the city played host to the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Brandenburg
Brandenburg lies in the northeastern part of Germany and is situated in territory once known in antiquity as Magna Germania. The current capital is Potsdam. Brandenburg surrounds but excludes the national capital Berlin. Historically Brandenburg was an independent state which grew to become the core of modern Germany. The state of Brandenburg was named after the town of Brandenburg an der Havel.
By 600 AD the first groups of Slavic peoples, as well as Magyars, Avars, and Hungarians, arrived in Germany. By the early 900s settlements such as Brenna (Brandenburg an der Havel), Budišin (Bautzen), and Chotebuž (Cottbus) came under German control. In 948 Emperor Otto I the Great established German control over the Slavic territory and founded the Bishoprics of Brandenburg and Havelberg. The Northern March was founded as a northern border territory of the Holy Roman Empire However, In a great rebellion in 983 the Slavs wiped out German control from the territory of present-day Brandenburg.
From 1323 until 1373 Brandenburg was under the control of the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria. After a period of rule by the Luxembourg dynasty, however, the margravate was granted in 1415 by Emperor Sigismund to the House of Hohenzollern, which would rule until the end of World War I. From1356 until the Empire's end in 1806, the Margrave of Brandenburg was also one of the seven electoral states of the Holy Roman Empire.
Along with Prussia, Brandenburg formed the original core of the German Empire, the first unified German state. Governed by Hohenzollern since 1415, it contained the future German capital Berlin. Brandenburg converted to Protestantism in 1539 in the wake of the Protestant Reformation and the dynasty expanded its lands to include the Duchy of Cleves along the lower Rhine in 1614 and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618.
Both the Margravate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia formed Brandenburg-Prussia, when they were ruled by the House of Hohenzollern.The result however, was a sprawling, disconnected country that was in poor shape to defend itself during the Thirty Years' War.
The Thirty Years' War was fought between 1618 and 1648 and involved most of the major European continental powers. Although it was from the outset a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics, the rivalry between the Habsburg dynasty and other powers was also a central motive. The impact of the Thirty Years' War and related episodes of famine and disease was devastating. The war ended with the Treaty of Westphalia. Towards the end of that war and after Brandenburg enjoyed a string of rulers who gradually maneuvered their country towards the heights of power in Europe.
The first of these was Frederick William, the so-called "Great Elector", who worked to rebuild and consolidate the nation. When he died in 1688, he was followed by his son who was also named Frederick. The lands that had been acquired in Prussia were outside the formal boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, and as such in 1701 Frederick assumed the title of "King Frederick I in Prussia" and elevated the state to a Kingdom.
When Prussia was subdivided into provinces in 1815, the territory of the Margravate of Brandenburg became the Province of Brandenburg. In 1881, the City of Berlin was separated from the Province of Brandenburg. After World War II part of Brandenburg was annexed by Poland. The remainder of the province became a state when Prussia was dissolved in 1947. The State of Brandenburg was dissolved in 1952 by the government of East Germany. Later, in 1990 the present State of Brandenburg was re-established after German reunification.
Hessen
Situated in western-central Germany, Hesse borders on the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. Its principal cities include Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach, Hanau, Gießen, Wetzlar and Limburg in the greater Rhine Main Area, Fulda in the east, as well as Kassel and Marburg in the north.
The main rivers in the northern part of Hesse are Fulda and Lahn. It is a hilly countryside, the main mountain chains being the Rhön, the Westerwald, the Taunus and the Spessart. The Rhine river borders Hesse on the southwest without running through the state. The mountain chain between the Main and the Rhine is called the Odenwald. Most inhabitants live in the southernmost part of Hesse between the rivers Main and Rhine.
The area was settled by the Germanic Chatti tribe in the 1st century BC, and the name Hesse is a continuation of that tribal name. In the early Middle Ages, Hesse was a part of Thuringia, but in the War of the Thuringian Succession, which lasted from 1247 to 1264, Hesse gained its independence and became a Landgraviate within the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1918 Hesse-Darmstadt became a republic, calling itself officially the People's state Hesse, "Volksstaat Hessen". The parts of Hesse-Darmstadt on the left bank of the Rhine, province Rheinhessen, were occupied by French troops until 1930 under the terms of the Versailles peace treaty that officially ended WWI in 1919.
After World War II the Hessian territory left of the Rhine was again occupied by France, whereas the rest of the country was part of the US occupation zone. The French separated their part of Hesse from the rest of the country and incorporated it into the newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate, "Rheinland-Pfalz". The United States, on the other side, proclaimed the state of Greater Hesse, "Groß-Hessen" on 19 September 1945, out of Hesse-Darmstadt and most of the former Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. On December 4, 1946 Groß-Hessen was officially renamed Hessen.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Mecklenburg, to the west of Vorpommern, became a duchy in 1348 but was divided from the 17th century until 1934. The states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz became grand duchies in 1815 but republican government was established in 1918. They were briefly combined with Vorpommern in 1947–1952 and have been part of the present state since German reunification in 1990. Between 1952 and 1990 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was split in three districts (Bezirke), Bezirk Rostock, Bezirk Schwerin and Bezirk Neubrandenburg, named after the district capitals under the highly-centralised government of the GDR.
The old Pomerania proper (Pommern), consisting of Szczecin (Stettin) and the land east of the Oder river (Hinterpommern), is now a part of Poland. Western Pomerania (Vorpommern) was under Swedish control from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 until its annexation to Prussia in 1720 and 1815.
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a Duchy (from 1815 a Grand Duchy) in northeastern Germany, formed by a partition of the Duchy of Mecklenburg. Ruled by the Nikloting dynasty, it was a relatively poor state along the Baltic littoral. After the fall of the monarchies in 1918, it remained a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. In 1933, after the onset of Nazi rule, it was united with the smaller neighboring state of Mecklenburg-Strelitz to form the united state of Mecklenburg.
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a duchy in northern Germany, roughly consisting of the present day district of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (the historical Stargarder Land), bordering areas of modern-day Brandenburg with the town of Fürstenberg and the area around Ratzeburg in modern Schleswig-Holstein. It was established in 1701, roughly on the territory of the former duchy of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. The capital was Neustrelitz. In 1808, the duchy joined the Confederation of the Rhine. The Congress of Vienna recognized it as a grand duchy and member of the German Confederation. Mecklenburg-Strelitz joined the North German Confederation in 1867, and became a part of the German Empire in 1871. On January 1st 1934 it was united with the neighbouring state of Mecklenburg-Schwerin to form the state of Mecklenburg (today part of the Bundesland Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania).
The US county Mecklenburg (Charlotte, North Carolina) is named after Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Strelitz-born princess Charlotte (queen of King George III of the United Kingdom). The flower Strelitzia ("Bird of Paradise") also is in honor of her home country. Queen Luise of Prussia also was a born princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
The lingering end of the ruling family of Mecklenburg-Strelitz occurred just prior to the loss of actual monarchy in developments of First World War: at that time, there existed only two surviving recognized male dynasts of Strelitz, the young Grand Duke Adolf Frederick VI and his cousin Duke Charles Michael who was in Russian service, being a son of a Grand duchess. In 1914 after the death of Grand Duke Adolf Frederick V and before the proclamation of war between Germany and Russia, Duke Charles Michael (d 1934) renounced his mecklenburgish citizenship and in 1918 his rights to succession of Strelitz (though possibly not of Schwerin). 23 February 1918, Grand duke Adolf Frederick VI committed suicide, leaving no male heirs of the Strelitz line. In the unclear and possibly heirless situation, the agnate Grand Duke Frederick Francis IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (possibly the rightful heir, though the case was yet under adjudication) was appointed as the regent of this small grand duchy.
From Count George of Carlow (d 1963) - also known as Duke George of Mecklenburg, who was the morganatic nephew (son of Duke George Alexander and Countess Natalia Carlow) of Duke Charles Michael, descends a male-line family of today Mecklenburg (lead by George Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg). Their dynastic status is under discussion, depending on the validity of the family-act of Frederick Francis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d 2001) to recognize him as dynast of Mecklenburg with rights to succession.
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states, "Länder" of Germany. It borders on the North Sea, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hessen, North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The state's principal cities include Hanover, Braunschweig (Brunswick), Osnabrück, Oldenburg, and Göttingen. In rural areas Low German is still spoken, but the number of speakers is declining. The state of Bremen forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony.
The area is named after the Saxons. They lived in today's state of Schleswig-Holstein and merged with the Chauci on the left bank of the river Elbe until the middle of the 1st millennium AD. They then expanded over the whole of today's Lower Saxony and further. Originally the region was simply called Saxony, but as the center of the Duchy of Saxony gradually moved up the Elbe, towards the present-day states of Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony, the region was given the name of Lower Saxony in the late 15th century.
The state was founded in 1946 after the Second World War by the British military administration, who merged the former states of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe with the former Prussian province of Hanover. In that same year the military authorities appointed the first Legislative Assembly, "Landtag", which was followed by a direct election of Lower Saxony's legislature a year later.
Lower Saxony's new government was faced with the reconstruction of the cities and towns destroyed by the Allied air raids of the war years. In addition, The government faced the challenge of integrating hundreds of thousands of refugees from Germany's former territories in the east, such as Silesia and East Prussia, which had been annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union.
Between 1978 and 2004, the state's districts and independent towns were grouped into four administrative regions, known as government districts, "Regierungsbezirke". Since 2004 the government districts have been broken up again.
North Rhine ~ Westphalia
Westphalia (German: Westfalen) is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Bielefeld, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Münster, and Osnabrück and included in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.
The name "West-phalia" probably means "West-Plain". The second word, "Falen", is related to the Germanic words "Field", "Flat", and "Floor" (all of which are related to the Latin "Plain" through a common Proto-Indo-European root, *pele, meaning "flat, (to) spread").
Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia" was applied to several different entities in history. For this reason specifications of area and population are greatly differing. They range between 16,000 and 22,000 km² resp. between 4.3 million and 8 million inhabitants.
Originally Westphalia was a part of the Duchy of Saxony, until it was elevated to the rank of a duchy by Emperor Barbarossa in 1180. The Duchy of Westphalia comprised only a small area south of the Lippe River.
There was a Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813. It was founded by Napoleon and was a French vassal state. This state only shared the name with the historical region, it contained mostly Hessian and Eastphalian regions and only a relatively small part of Westphalia.
After 1813, Westphalia became a province of Prussia. The northernmost portions of the former Westphalia, including the town of Osnabrück, had become part of the states of Hanover and Oldenburg.
The present state of North Rhine-Westphalia is composed of the former Prussian province of Westphalia, the northern half of the former Prussian Rhine Province, and the former state of Lippe.
Westphalia is known for the 1648 Peace of Westphalia (in fact the two treaties of Münster and Osnabrück), which ended the Thirty Years' War.
A linguistic definition of Westphalia includes the former Prussian province (except Siegen-Wittgenstein), Lippe and the region around Osnabrück. Present-day common use, however, restricts the notion to the present part of North Rhine-Westphalia, because of the name.
Westphalia is also the location of Baron Thunder-Ten-Tronckh's castle in Voltaire's novella Candide.
Palatinate of the Rhine
The Palatinate, or "Pfalz", historically is also known as the Palatinate of the Rhine, or "Rheinpfalz", is a region in south-western Germany. It occupies more than a quarter of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, or "Rheinland-Pfalz". The Palatinate borders on, from the north and clockwise, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, France, Saarland, Luxembourg and Belgium.
The main axis of the state is the Rhine river, that forms the border with Baden-Württemberg and Hesse in the southeast before running across the northern part of Rhineland-Palatinate. The Rhine Valley is bounded by mountain chains and forms a fascinating landscape with some of the historically most significant places of Germany.
In the north there are the Eifel and Hunsrück mountain chains on the left bank, and the Westerwald and Taunus mountains on the right banks of the Rhine. The hilly lands in the very south of the state are called the Palatine Forest (Pfälzerwald). These mountain chains are separated from each other by the tributaries of the Rhine: the Moselle (Mosel), the Lahn and the Nahe.
The western and northern part of the Palatinate is densely forested and mountainous. The Pfälzer Wald (Palatine Forest) covers more than a third of the region and is the largest uninterrupted forest in Germany. The eastern part is lower, and is a well known wine region, known as the Deutsche Weinstrasse. Most of the cities of the Palatinate, Ludwigshafen, Speyer, Landau, Frankenthal, Neustadt, lie in the Rhineplain in the east.
Until the end of the 18th century, the Palatinate was divided over several bigger and smaller states. The most important of these were the Electoral Palatinate (Kurpfalz), the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken and the Bishopric of Speyer.
After the French era (see French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Wars and Mont-Tonnerre), a significant stretch of land on the left bank of the Rhine, which included greater parts of the former electoral Palatinate became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1816. Although the territory was geographically separate from Bavaria, it was ruled together with proper Bavaria as a single state for the next 130 years.
After 1808 the administrative regions in Bavaria were named after their main rivers. Thus the region after its annexation to Bavaria was officially called the "Rheinkreis". In 1835 the romantic-minded King Ludwig I of Bavaria ordered the administrative regions to be named by historical allusions. So the region officially became the "Pfalz" ("Palatinate"). It has to be noted here, that the historic Electoral Palatinate much more was centered on the right bank of the Rhine with Heidelberg and Mannheim as its capitals, whereas the new "Pfalz", that had been composed in 1815/16 solely on the left bank of the Rhine, also included territories that had never been part of the historic Palatinate (e.g. the former bishopric of Speyer or Kirchheimbolanden, which formerly had belonged to Weilburg branch of Nassau). In order not to confuse the "new" Palatinate with the historic one (and with the Upper Palatinate), the name "Rhenish Palatinate" was common, but never official. The term "Rheinbayern" (Rhenish Bavaria) can be found sometimes in older maps.
The French had introduced their system of administration and the Code Napoleon in the Palatinate. The Bavarian government preserved both after 1816, which gave the Palatinate a distinct legal status within the Bavarian kingdom. The royal family tried to symbolize the unity with Bavaria by erecting a royal palace in Edenkoben and by the restoration of Speyer Cathedral under direct supervision of King Ludwig I. himself. The town Ludwigshafen was named after the king. On the other hand the Palatinate's representatives to the common Bavarian Parliament always prided themselves of their origin from a more progressive region and tried to expand the liberalism, which the French had introduced in the Palatinate to the whole kingdom. The German Historian Heiner Haan described the special status of the Palatinate within Bavaria as a relation of "Hauptstaat" (main state - i.e. Bavaria) and "Nebenstaat" (alongside state, i.e. The Palatinate).
During the revolution of 1848 a separatist movement tried to establish a "palatinate republic", which collapsed under a bloody Prussian military intervention.
The union persisted after Bavaria became part of the German Empire in 1871, and after the Wittelsbach dynasty was deposed and Bavaria became a revolutionary state in 1918 and then a Land of the Weimar Republic.
After the First World War French troops occupied the Palatinate under the terms of the treaty of Versailles. The western districts St. Ingbert and Homburg were separated from the Palatinate and became part of the newly established Saarland, which according to peace treaty was governed by the League of Nations. In a clear breach of the treaty the French in 1923 encouraged a separatist movement for a Rhenish Republic in the remainder of the Rhenish Palatinate and the Prussian Rhineland. The Bavarian government reacted sharply and even had the leading separatist Franz Josef Heinz assassinated at the Wittelsbacher Hof in Speyer in January 1924. In February 1924 members of the separatist movement were killed in a shooting in Pirmasens. Also in February 1924 a treaty between Bavaria in the inter-allied commission of the Rhineland (the surpreme council of the Allied occupation forces) recognised and reassured the Palatinate being a part of Bavaria.
The union with Bavaria was finally dissolved following the reorganisation of German states after World War II due to the occupation of Germany. Whereas proper Bavaria was part of the US occupation Zone, the Palatinate was occupied by French Forces. The French reorganised their occupation Zone by founding new states and in 1947, the Palatinate was combined with Rheinhessen (formerly part of Hesse), and the southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province to form the German federal state Rhineland-Palatinate.
In 1956 a plebiscite for returning the region to Bavaria failed to gain the necessary support. Nowadays the "Bayern-Pfalz-Stifung" (foundation Bavaria-Palatinate) preserves the memory of common history.
Saarland
The state borders France (département of the Moselle) in the south and west, Luxembourg in the west and Rheinland-Pfalz in the north and the east.
It is named after the Saar River, which is a tributary of the Moselle River (a Rhine tributary) and runs through the state from the south to the northwest. Most inhabitants live in a city agglomeration on the French border, surrounding the capital of Saarbrücken.
After World War I
In 1920 the Saargebiet was created in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. It comprised portions of the Prussian Rhine Province and the Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate.
In 1933, a considerable number of anti-Nazi Germans fled to the Saar, as it was the only remaining part of Germany that was neither annexed by foreign countries (Memelland) nor under the political control of the Third Reich.
As a result, anti-Nazi groups campaigned heavily for the Saarland to remain under French control as long as Adolf Hitler ruled Germany, but only a small number of people favored that condition.
When the original 15-year-term was over, a plebiscite was held in the territory on 13 January 1935: 90.3% of those voting favored joining Germany.
The Nazis appointed Josef Bürckel (b. 1895 – d. 1944) on 1 March 1935 as Reichskommissar für die Rückgliederung des Saarlandes. When the reincorporation was considered accomplished, his title was changed (afer 17 June 1936) to Reichskommissar für das Saarland. A further change was made after 8 April 1940 to Reichskommissar für die Saarpfalz; finally, after 11 March 1941, he was made Reichsstatthalter in der "Westmark" (the region's new name, meaning "Western March or Border"), till 28 September 1944, when he was succeeded by Willi Stöhr (b. 1903, also NSDAP), until 21 March 1945.
After World War II
After World War II the Saarland came under French administration again, as the Saar Protectorate.
An official reason for that was given by the United States Secretary of State James F. Byrnes in a speech [1] in 1946 as "The United States does not feel that it can deny to France, which has been invaded three times by Germany in 70 years, its claim to the Saar territory".
The Morgenthau Plan of 1944, which became heavily entrenched in parts of the U.S. government, might also have influenced the U.S. decision to transfer the Saar to France, as it spelled out the need to cripple Germany industrially in order to preclude future wars. To achieve this goal, Germany would, amongst other things, have to surrender the areas richest in industry or the minerals necessary for industrial production (coal and iron). These areas included Silesia, the Ruhr area and the Saarland.
The Saar Protectorate was headed by a military governor from 30 August 1945: Gilbert Yves Édmond Grandval (b. 1904 - d. 1981), who remained on 1 January 1948 as High Commissioner, and January 1952 - June 1955 as the first of two French ambassadors, his successor being Eric de Carbonnel (b. 1910 - d. 1965) until 1956.
The Saarland's reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany was sometimes referred to as the kleine Wiedervereinigung ("small reunification", in contrast with the post-Cold War reabsorption of the GDR). Even after reunification, the Saar franc remained as the territory's currency, until West Germany's Deutsche Mark replaced it on July 7, 1959. The Saar Treaty established that French, not English as in the rest of West Germany, should remain the first foreign language taught in Saarland schools; this provision is still largely followed today, although no longer binding.
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony (German: Freistaat Sachsen) The state has a long history as a duchy, and eventually it became a kingdom. When the Monarchy was overthrown it became a republic under its current name in 1918. Abolished during communist rule, it was reestablished in 1990. The capital city of Saxony is Dresden.
During the early Middle Ages the term Saxony referred to the region occupied by today's states of Lower Saxony and northern North Rhine-Westphalia. The Saxons had migrated there from the area of present-day Schleswig-Holstein between 250 and 500.
Saxony borders, from the east and clockwise, on Poland, the Czech Republic and the German states of Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg. Its capital is Dresden, and the other principal cities are Leipzig and Chemnitz.
Prehistoric Saxony was the site of some of the largest of the ancient Central European monumental temples, dating from the 5th millennium BC. Notable archeological sites have been discovered in Dresden and the village of Aythra near Leipzig.
Foundation of the first Saxon State
Henry the Lion (with his wife Mathilda of England) is crowned as Duke of SaxonyThe first Duchy of Saxony emerged about AD 700 in today's Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. In the 10th century the dukes of Saxony were at the same time kings (or emperors) of the Holy Roman Empire (Ottonian or Saxon Dynasty). At that time, a Saxon noble family of Billungs received extensive fiefs in Saxony, and the Emperor eventually gave them the title of Duke of Saxony. After the extinction of the male line of Billungs, the duchy was given to Lothar of Supplinburg, who then also became Emperor for a short time.
In 1137 Saxony was passed to the Welfen dynasty, who were descendants (1) of Wulfhild Billung, eldest daughter of the last Billung duke, and (2) of the daughter of Lothar of Supplinburg. It reached its peak under Duke Henry the Lion, and after his death it began to decline (Henry had declined to participate in the later Italian wars of his liege lord, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and those expeditions to Italy ended in disasters. The furious emperor retaliated and sent his troops to end Duke Henry's dominion). In 1180 large portions west of the Weser were ceded to the Bishops of Cologne, while some central parts between Weser and Elbe remained to the Welfs, later forming the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg). The remaining Eastern lands, together with the title of Duke of Saxony, were passed to an Ascanian dynasty (who descended from Eilika Billung, Wulfhild's younger sister) and divided in 1260 into the two small states of Saxony-Lauenburg and Saxony-Wittenberg. Saxony-Lauenburg was later renamed Lauenburg and was no longer part of Saxony or its history. Saxe-Wittenberg was confirmed to have inherited the "main" ducal title of the Saxons and as such was recognized as an Elector of the Empire in 14th century.
Foundation of the second Saxon State
Between the years 1697-1763 the Electors of Saxony also were elected Kings of Poland in personal union.
Saxony is home to numerous castles, like the Schloss Moritzburg north of Dresden.Saxony-Wittenberg, in present Saxony-Anhalt, became subject to the margravate of Meißen and ruled by the Wettin dynasty in 1423. A new powerful state was established, occupying large portions of present Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. Although the center of this state was far southeast of the former Saxony, it came to be referred to as Upper Saxony and then simply Saxony, while the former Saxon territories were now known as Lower Saxony.
In 1485, Saxony was split as a collateral line of the Wettin princes received what later became Thuringia and founded several small states there (see Thuringia). The remaining Saxon state became even more powerful, becoming known in the 18th century for its cultural achievements, although it was politically inferior to Prussia and Austria, which pressed Saxony from either side.
Saxony in the 19th and 20th centuries
With the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Saxony became a kingdom, and Elector Frederick Augustus III became King Frederick Augustus I. Frederick Augustus made the mistake of remaining loyal for too long to Napoleon I, and he was taken prisoner and his territories declared forfeit by the allies in 1813, with the intention of their being annexed by Prussia. Ultimately, the opposition of Austria, France, and the United Kingdom resulted in Fre
derick Augustus being restored to his throne at the Congress of Vienna, but Saxony was forced to cede the northern part of the kingdom to Prussia. These lands became the Prussian province of Saxony, which is today incorporated in Saxony-Anhalt. What was left of the Kingdom of Saxony was roughly identical with the present federal state.
During the 1848-49 constitutionalist revolutions in Germany, Saxony became a hotbed for revolutionaries, with anarchists such as Mikhail Bakunin and democrats including Richard Wagner and Gottfried Semper taking part in the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849.
After 1918 Saxony was a state in the Weimar Republic and was the scene of Gustav Stresemann's overthrow of the KPD/SPD led government in 1923, during the Nazi era and under Soviet occupation. It was dissolved in 1952, and divided into three smaller 'Bezirke' based on Leipzig, Dresden and Karl-Marx-Stadt, but reestablished within slightly altered borders in 1990 upon German reunification. Today Saxony also includes a small part of Silesia around the town of Görlitz which remained German after the war and which for obvious reasons of unviability as a separate state was incorporated into Saxony. This part has been part of Silesia only after 1815 and belonged as part of Upper Lusatia to Bohemia before 1623 and previously to Saxony between 1623 and 1815.
Saxony-Anhalt
Dukes of Anhalt
During the 9th century the greater part of Anhalt was included in the duchy of Saxony, and in the 12th century it came under the rule of Albert the Bear, margrave of Brandenburg. Albert was descended from Albert, count of Ballenstedt, whose son Esico (d. 1059 or 1060) appears to have been the first to bear the title of count of Anhalt. Esico's grandson, Otto the Rich, count of Ballenstedt, was the father of Albert the Bear, by whom Anhalt was united with the march of Brandenburg. When Albert died in 1170, his son Bernard, who received the title of duke of Saxony in 1180, became count of Anhalt. Bernard died in 1212, and Anhalt, separated from Saxony, passed to his son Henry, who in 1218 took the title of prince and was the real founder of the house of Anhalt.
Princes of Anhalt
On Henry's death in 1252 his three sons partitioned the principality and founded respectively the lines of Aschersleben, Bernburg and Zerbst. The family ruling in Aschersleben became extinct in 1315, and this district was subsequently incorporated with the neighbouring Bishopric of Halberstadt. The last prince of the line of Anhalt-Bernburg died in 1468 and his lands were inherited by the princes of the sole remaining line, that of Anhalt-Zerbst. The territory belonging to this branch of the family had been divided in 1396, and after the acquisition of Bernburg Prince George I made a further partition of Zerbst (Zerbst and Dessau). Early in the 16th century, however, owing to the death or abdication of several princes, the family had become narrowed down to the two branches of Anhalt-Cothen and Anhalt-Dessau (Issued both from Anhalt-Dessau in 1471).
Wolfgang, who became prince of Anhalt-Cothen in 1508, was a stalwart adherent of the Reformation, and after the Battle of Mühlberg in 1547 was placed under the ban and deprived of his lands by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. After the peace of Passau in 1552 he bought back his principality, but as he was childless he surrendered it in 1562 to his kinsmen the princes of Anhalt-Dessau. Ernest I of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1516) left three sons, John II, George III, and Joachim, who ruled their lands together for many years, and who, like Prince Wolfgang, favoured the reformed doctrines, which thus became dominant in Anhalt. About 1546 the three brothers divided their principality and founded the lines of Zerbst, Plotzkau and Dessau. This division, however, was only temporary, as the acquisition of Cothen, and a series of deaths among the Vuling princes, enabled Joachim Ernest, a son of John II, to unite the whole of Anhalt under his rule in 1570.
The first united principality of Anhalt was short-lived, and in 1603 it was split up into the mini states of Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Köthen, Anhalt-Zerbst and Anhalt-Plötzkau.
Joachim Ernest died in 1586 and his five sons ruled the land in common until 1603, when Anhalt was again divided, and the lines of Dessau, Bernburg, Plotzkau, Zerbst and Cothen were refounded. The principality was ravaged during the Thirty Years' War, and in the earlier part of this struggle Christian I of Anhalt-Bernburg took an important part. In 1635 an arrangement was made by the various princes of Anhalt, which gave a certain authority to the eldest member of the family, who was thus able to represent the principality as a whole. This proceeding was probably due to the necessity of maintaining an appearance of unity in view of the disturbed state of European politics. In 1665 the branch of Anhalt-Cothen became extinct, and according to a family compact this district was inherited by Lebrecht of Anhalt-Plotzkau, who surrendered Plotzkau to Bernburg, and took the title of prince of Anhalt-Cothen. In the same year the princes of Anhalt decided that if any branch of the family became extinct its lands should be equally divided between the remaining branches. This arrangement was carried out after the death of Frederick Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst in 1793, and Zerbst was divided between the three remaining princes. During these years the policy of the different princes was marked, perhaps intentionally, by considerable uniformity. Once or twice Calvinism was favoured by a prince, but in general the house was loyal to the doctrines of Martin Luther. The growth of Prussia provided Anhalt with a formidable neighbour, and the establishment and practice of primogeniture by all branches of the family prevented further divisions of the principality.
19th century Duchies
In 1806 Napoleon elevated the remaining states of Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Köthen to duchies. (Anhalt-Plötzkau and Anhalt-Zerbst had ceased to exist in the meantime.) These duchies were united in 1863 to form a united Anhalt again due to the extinction of the Köthen and Bernburg lines. The new duchy consisted of two large portions — Eastern and Western Anhalt, separated by the interposition of a part of the Prussian Province of Saxony — and of five enclaves surrounded by Prussian territory: Alsleben, Muhlingen, Dornburg, Goednitz and Tilkerode-Abberode. The eastern and larger portion of the duchy was enclosed by the Prussian government district of Potsdam (in the Prussian province of Brandenburg), and Magdeburg and Merseburg (belonging to the Prussian province of Saxony). The western or smaller portion (the so-called Upper Duchy or Ballenstedt) was also enclosed by the two latter districts and by the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The capital of Anhalt was Dessau.
In 1918 Anhalt became a state within the Weimar Republic. After World War II it was united with the Prussian parts of Saxony in order to form the new area of Saxony-Anhalt. After being dissolved in 1952 the state was reestablished prior to the German reunification and is now part of the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt in Germany.
In the west, the land is undulating and in the extreme southwest, where it forms part of the Harz range, mountainous, the Ramberg peak being the tallest at 1900 ft (579 m). From the Harz the country gently shelves down to the Saale; and between this river and the Elbe is fertile country. East of the Elbe, the land is mostly a flat sandy plain, with extensive pine forests, interspersed with bog-land and rich pastures. The Elbe is the chief river, intersecting the eastern portion of the former duchy, from east to west, and at Rosslau is met by the Mulde. The navigable Saale takes a northerly direction through the western portion of the eastern part of the territory and receives, on the right, the Fuhne and, on the left, the Wipper and the Bode.
The climate is generally mild, less so in the higher regions to the south-west. The area of the former duchy is 906 mile² (2300 km²), and the population in 1905 was 328,007, a ratio of about 351 to the square mile (909km²).
The country was divided into the districts of Dessau, Köthen, Zerbst, Bernburg and Ballenstedt, of which that of Bernburg was the most, and that of Ballenstedt the least, populated. Of the towns, four, viz. Dessau, Bernburg, Cothen and Zerbst, had populations exceeding 20,000. The inhabitants of the former duchy, who mainly belonged to the upper Saxon race, were, with the exception of about 12,000 Roman Catholics and 1700 Jews, members of the Evangelical (Union) Church. The supreme ecclesiastical authority was the consistory in Dessau; while a synod of 39 members, elected for six years, assembled at periods to deliberate on internal matters touching the organization of the church. The Roman Catholics were under the bishop of Paderborn.
Constitution. The duchy, by virtue of a fundamental law, proclaimed on September 17, 1859 and subsequently modified by various decrees, was a constitutional monarchy. The duke, who bore the title of "Highness," wielded the executive power while sharing the legislation with the estates. The diet (Landtag) was composed of thirty-six members, of whom two were appointed by the duke, eight were representatives of landowners paying the highest taxes, two of the highest assessed members of the commercial and manufacturing classes, fourteen of the other electors of the towns and ten of the rural districts. The representatives were chosen for six years by indirect vote and must have completed their twenty-fifth year. The duke governed through a minister of state, who was the praeses of all the departments—finance, home affairs, education, public worship and statistics.
Schleswig-Holstein
The Low German name is Sleswig-Holsteen. Historically, the name refers to a larger region that once containing both the present-day Schleswig-Holstein and the county of South Jutland in Denmark.
| Today Schleswig-Holstein lies on the base of the peninsula of Jutland between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. It borders on Denmark to the north, the North Sea to the west, the Baltic Sea and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to the east, and Lower Saxony and Hamburg to the south.
In the western part of the state there are lowlands with virtually no hills.
The North Frisian Islands, as well as almost all of Schleswig-Holstein's North Sea coast, form Schleswig-Holstein's Mud Flats National Park, or "Nationalpark Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer", which is the largest national park in Central Europe and is unique.
Germany's only high-sea island Heligoland is situated further out in the North Sea and Fehmarn is the only island off the eastern coast.
The Baltic Sea coast in the east of Schleswig-Holstein is marked by bays, fjords and cliff lines. There are rolling hills and many lakes, especially in the eastern part of Holstein called the Holsteinische Schweiz and the former Duchy of Lauenburg.
|
 |
 |
Schleswig
Schleswig is derived from the Schlei inlet in the east and vik meaning inlet or settlement in Old Saxon and Old Norse. Schleswig is the northern part of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and borders on Denmark. The area's traditional significance lies in the transfer of goods between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, connecting the trade route through Russia with the trade routes along Rhine and the Atlantic coast. See also Kiel Canal.
Schleswig was a Danish duchy that evolved in the 11–12th century. Feuds and marriage policies resulted in a close connection with the German Duchy of Holstein by the 15th century. The latter was a fief subordinated to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, while Schleswig remained a Danish fief. This caused several disputes between Germany and Denmark in the 19th century, when the ideas of the nation state won popular support (see Lied der Deutschen). The title Duke of Schleswig was adopted by the kings of Denmark in 1460, and the area was a fief under the Danish Crown until 1864.
In 1864, after the Second War of Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein became a part of Prussia.
Two referenda held in 1920 resulted in the region being partitioned, with Northern Schleswig joining Denmark, and Central Schleswig voting to remain a part of Germany. In Southern Schleswig no referendum was held as the possible outcome was apparent. Nowadays the name Southern Schleswig is used for all of German Schleswig.
The former Duchy of Schleswig has been divided between Denmark and Germany since 1920. Northern Schleswig, today the Danish county of South Jutland (Sønderjylland), was ceded to Denmark after a referendum following Germany's defeat in World War I.
Holstein
Holstein is the southern part of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, between the rivers Elbe and Eider. The capital of Holstein is Kiel. The city of Hamburg lies directly to the South.
The name "Holstein" is derived from the Saxon language, "Holseta Land", meaning "the land of those who dwell in the wood". Holz means wood in modern High German. Originally, it referred to the central of the three Saxon tribes north of the Elbe river. The longest river besides the Elbe is the Eider and the most important waterway is the Kiel Canal. The German navy wanted to link its bases in the Baltic and the North Sea to facilitate movement of the German fleet without sailing around Denmark.
| In June 1887, construction started on building a canal at Holtenau near Kiel on the Baltic Sea and ended at Brunsbüttel on the North Sea, a distance of 61 miles. It was only 95 feet wide with a depth of 10 feet.
It took 9,000 workers eight years to build and on June 21, 1895 the canal was officially opened by Kaiser Wilhelm II.
|
|
 |
A ceremony was held in Holtenau where Wilhelm II named it the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal, and laid the final stone. Between 1907 and 1914 the canal width and depth were increased to allow the passage of a Dreadnought sized battleships. Later the canal was re-named the Kiel Canal. An average of 280 nautical miles is saved by using the Kiel Canal instead of going around the Jutland peninsula.
Holstein, basically the part of Saxony that was situated north of the river Elbe, was conquered by Charlemagne around the year 800. From 804 it was a sovereign country, under few terms the sovereign family gave up the land, not the style and titles, in 1110. It was from 1111-1474 a County of the Holy Roman Empire, although occupied by Denmark during the early years of the 13th century, and thereafter an Imperial "reichsunmittelbar" Duchy until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806.
Since 1460 Holstein was, along with the Danish Duchy of Schleswig, inherited by the Kings of Denmark, who reigned the territories as Dukes (and not as kings). The two duchies were both further divided after they were inherited by the Kings of Denmark, with some parts under the control of the Kings of Denmark, and other parts under the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp, a cadet line of the family. The Duke of Holstein-Gottorp was forced to give up his lands in Schleswig to the Kings of Denmark following the Great Northern War in 1720, but he moved to Kiel and retained his lands in Holstein until 1773. But the Danes were eager to round out their possessions, especially after the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp became Emperor of Russia in 1762 as Peter III and was planning an attack on Denmark to recover the lost Gottorp lands in Schleswig. Although Peter was soon overthrown by his wife, Catherine the Great, the Danes determined to rid themselves of this problem. In 1773, they exchanged the County of Oldenburg for the Gottorp lands in Holstein, bringing all of Holstein under their control.
From 1815 to 1864 the Duchy of Holstein was part of the German Confederation, though still in personal union with Denmark, the King of Denmark being also Duke of Holstein. Following the death of King Frederick VII of Denmark in 1863, the inheritance of Schleswig and Holstein was disputed. The new king, Christian IX, made his claim to the Danish throne through a female line. The Duke of Augustenborg, a minor scion from another line of the family, claimed the Duchies, and soon the German Confederation, led by Prussia and Austria, went to war with Denmark, quickly defeating it in 1864 and forcing it to cede the duchies. However, the duchies were not given to the Duke of Augustenborg. In 1865 an arrangement was worked out between Prussia and Austria where the Austrians occupied and administered Holstein, while the Prussians did the same in Schleswig. This arrangement came to an end with the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which resulted in Schleswig and Holstein both being incorporated into Prussia.
The former Duchy of Holstein constitutes the southern part of Schleswig-Holstein, whereas Southern Schleswig constitutes the northern part. Furthermore, the Duchy of Lauenburg and the former Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck in the southeast of the state are part of today's Schleswig-Holstein.
Thuringia
The Republic of Thuringia (German: Freistaat Thüringen) lies in central Germany and is among the smaller of the country's sixteen Bundesländer (federal states), being eleventh in size with an area of 16,200 km² and twelfth most populous with 2.45 million inhabitants. The capital is Erfurt.
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
The Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Herzogtum Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach) was created in 1809 by the merger of the Ernestine duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach, which had been in personal union since 1741, when the Saxe-Eisenach line had died out. It became a Grand Duchy in 1815. In 1877, it officially changed its name to the Grand Duchy of Saxony (Großherzogtum Sachsen), but this name was rarely used. The Grand Duchy came to an end in 1918 with the other German monarchies, and the state was merged into the new state of Thuringia two years later.
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach had an area of 3,617 km² and a population of 388,000 (1905). Its capital was Weimar.
Thuringia borders, from the north and clockwise, on the German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Bavaria and Hesse.
The most conspicuous geographical feature of Thuringia is the Thuringian Forest (Thüringer Wald), a mountain chain in the southwest. In the northwest Thuringia includes a small part of the Harz mountains. The eastern part of Thuringia is generally a plain. The Saale river runs through these lowlands from south to north.
Named after the Thuringian people who occupied it around 300 AD, Thuringia came under Frankish domination in the 6th century, forming a part (from 1130 a landgravate) of the subsequent Holy Roman Empire.
After the extinction of the reigning Ludowing line of counts in 1247 and the War of the Thuringian Succession (1247-64), the western half became independent under the name of Hesse, never to become a part of Thuringia again. Most of the remaining Thuringia came under the rule of the Wettin dynasty of the nearby Margravate of Meißen, the nucleus of the later duchy and kingdom of Saxony. With the division of the house of Wettin in 1485, Thuringia went to the senior Ernestine branch of the family, which subsequently subdivided the area into a number of smaller states, according to the Saxon tradition of dividing inheritance amongst male heirs. These were the Saxon Duchies. They consisted, among others, of the states of Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Eisenach, Saxe-Jena, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg, and Saxe-Gotha. 'Thuringia' became merely a geographical concept.
Thuringia generally accepted the Reformation. The Catholic faith was abolished as early as 1520; priests that remained loyal were driven away and churches and monasteries were largely destroyed, especially during the Peasants' War of 1525. In Mulhausen and elsewhere, the Anabaptists found many adherents. Thomas Munzer, the founder of this sect, was active in this city. Within the borders of Thuringia the Catholic faith was maintained only in the district called Eichsfeld, which was ruled by the Archbishop of Mainz, and to a small degree in the city and vicinity of Erfurt.
Within the Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine organized in 1806, some reordering of territories began, confirmed at the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) with the creation of the German Confederation. The so-called Thuringian states within the German Empire were Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the two principalities of Reuß.
In 1920, during the Weimar Republic that followed World War I, these small states merged into one state, called Thuringia; only Saxe-Coburg voted to join Bavaria instead. Weimar became the new capital of Thuringia.
After July 1945, the state of Thuringia came under Soviet occupation, and was expanded to include parts of the Prussian Province of Saxony, such as the areas around Erfurt, Mühlhausen, and Nordhausen. Erfurt became the new capital of Thuringia.
In 1952, the German Democratic Republic dissolved its states, and created districts (Bezirke) instead. The three districts that shared the territory of Thuringia were based in Erfurt, Gera and Suhl.
The State of Thuringia was restored with slightly altered borders during Germany's reunification in 1990.
|
