HANNOVER 
History

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In the 1000's, Hannover was called Angila and was a part of what was known as Saxony. A small part of it belonged to the Friesland area. Hannover was originally a part of the duchy of Brunswick and passed to Otto the Child in 1235 as the duchy of Brunswick-Lueneburg.

In the 16th century Ernest regained control and established the Protestant religion. In 1634 the duchies of Calenberg and Goettingen were added to Brunswick-Lueneburg. In 1636 Duke George inherited the principality of Brunswick-Calenberg-Göttingen, one of the divisions of the House of Brunswick-Lueneburg, and established his residence in the city of Hannover. In time this principality took on the name of Hannover. Ernest Augustus, who was bishop of Osnabrueck in 1661, became duke of Hannover in 1680. In 1682 he established the law of primogeniture. He began setting up a unification with the principality of Lueneburg with Calenberg by entering into a treaty with his brother George William of Celle and by having his son marry his brother's only daughter. This unification occurred in 1705, after the death of George William. In 1692 Emperor Leopold elevated the principalities of Lueneburg and Calenberg to an electorate, and was called the Electorate of Brunswick-Lueneburg. In 1814 the kingdom of Hannover became reorganized in constitutional law.

In 1658, Ernest Augustus married Sophia of the Palatinate, the granddaughter of James I of Great Britain. The Act of Settlement in 1701 have her the right to succeed Queen Anne of England. However, Sophia died a few weeks before Queen Anne and so it was Sophia's son, the Electorate George Louis, who became George I, King of England. The two areas were kept separate and the Hannover electorate was governed by a privy council and by the German chancellery in London. In 1737 it received a university at Goettingen and obtained access to the North Sea by acquiring Bremen and Verden, and the bishopric of Osnabrueck was also incorporated.

Due to Hannover's connection with England it was made a target of England's enemies. The Seven Years War was an example of this and was seen in the Battle of Hastenbeck, and the Capitulation of Kloster Zever in 1757, and the Battle of Minden in 1759. During the French Revolutionary Wars, Hannover was occupied by Prussians in 1801, and in 1805, and by French in 1803 and 1806. The French occupation continued until 1813.

After the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, Hannover was reestablished and enlarged with the additions of Hildresheim, Eichsfed, East Frisia, Behtheim, Lingen, and Emsland. In October 1814, Hannover was raised to the position of a kingdom and in 1814 was made a member of the German Confederation. Under William IV, Hannover received a liberal constitution on September 26, 1833. In 1834 Hannover entered the customs union with Oldenburg, Brunswick, and Schaumburg-Lippe.

According to Hannoverian law, female succession was only allowed if there were no male heirs. With the death of King William IV on June 20, 1837, succession in the Kingdom of Hannover passed not to his niece Victoria, who became queen of England, but to his brother Ernest Augustine, Duke of Cumberland. On November 1, 1837 he repealed the liberal constitution, which received the sanction of the German Confederation. Because of his concern for his people's welfare and bringing them through the revolutionary period without bloodshed, he became very popular. He instituted a liberal constitution and numerous reforms in justice and administration. In 1851 he renounced the custom union of 1834 and joined the German customs union.

At the death of Ernest Augustus on November 18, 1851, he was succeeded by his son George V, who had been blind since age 14. He was devoted to the arts and sciences and believed in the divine right of kings. He welcomed the repeal of reforms and the reinstitution of the German Confederation. During the power struggle between Prussia and Austria, he tried to maintain a state of neutrality. In June 1866 he left his country with his army and had to surrender and went to France as an exile. On September 20, 1866 Hannover was annexed by Prussia and made into a province.

Hannover became a part of the German Empire in 1871 although it never became totally assimilated by Prussia. Attempts were made in the 1920's to establish a free Lower Saxony but they failed. On November 1, 1916 Hannover was united with Oldenburg, Brunswick, and Schaumburg-Lippe into the modern state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony).