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Schleswig-Holstein

Administrative region (German Land) in north Germany, bounded to the north by Denmark, to the east by the Baltic Sea and Mecklenberg-West Pomerania, to the south by Lower Saxony and Hamburg, and to the west by the North Sea and the Heligoland Bight; area 15,770 sq km/6,089 sq mi; population (2003 est) 2,814,100. The capital is Kiel, and other major towns include Lübeck, Flensburg, Schleswig, Neumünster, and Rendsburg.

Physical

There are many lakes, and the east coast has many inlets (forde); the west coast is uniformly low and protected by embankments. The island of Fehmarn lies off the east coast; off the west coast there are several islands, including Föhr and Heligoland. The Kiel Canal passes through the Land, connecting the Baltic with the Elbe estuary. Schleswig in the north is divided from Holstein in the south by the River Eider.

Economy

There are shipbuilding, mechanical and electrical engineering, clothing, food processing, and textile industries; there are oil-fields in the Dithmarschen region. Shipping and fishing are important along the coast. The state has fertile agricultural land except in the centre, where heaths and moors predominate. Grain, potaotoes, and vegetables are cultivated, and cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry are raised.

Features

The islands of Sylt and Föhr and the south Baltic coast are popular tourist resorts, while Lúbeck, Eutin, and Schleswig are historic centres. There is a university in Kiel.

Early history Holstein was originally an independent duchy, while the Margravate of Schleswig was annexed by Henry I, King of the Germans, in the 10th century. It was, however, ceded to the Danish king, Canute the Great, by Conrad II in 1032. Holstein also came under Danish rule, though, unlike Schleswig, it formed part of the Holy Roman Empire, and the two duchies remained annexed to the Danish crown until the 19th century, when there appeared a prospect of the direct male line of the Danish dynasty dying out. In this event the German population of Schleswig-Holstein hoped to set up their independent sovereignty under Duke Christian August of the Augustenburg line. While Holstein was a member, after 1815, of the German Confederation, Schleswig remained outside of imperial, and later German jurisdiction. In 1948 Frederick VII of Denmark proclaimed a common constitution for Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein.

War of independence In response to this attempt at annexation, the people of Schleswig-Holstein revolted, and in their war of independence were aided by the troops of the German Confederation. The Danes were defeated at Schleswig on 23 April. In 1849 Denmark, aided by Britain, France, and Russia, renewed the war, and Schleswig-Holstein's army, commanded by the Prussian general, Barin, defeated the Danes at Kolding, but was repulsed at Fredericia, and Prussia eventually abandoned the two duchies. By the terms of the armistice, concluded at Berlin, Schleswig was separated from Holstein and remained outside the German confederation.

Prussia made peace with Denmark, but in 1850 the Holsteiners continued the war on their own account. They were defeated at Idstedt on 25 July, and the German powers forced hostilities to cease, Schleswig-Holstein being disarmed by Austrian troops. By the London protocol of 1852 it was ordered that Schleswig-Holstein should go without division to Prince Christian of Glucksburg, heir to Frederick VII. Frederick died on 15 November 1863, and Prussia and Austria united in preventing the incorporation of Schleswig-Holstein into Denmark. Britain refused to support the London protocol single-handed and the Prussian army under Wrangel and Prince Frederick Charles, and the Austrian army under Gabelentz, advanced against the Dannewerk, a 80-km fortification across southern Schleswig from the River Schlei on the east to the marshes on the west. On 2 February 1864 the Schlei was crossed, and the Dannewerk was surrendered. Britain's mediation secured an armistice from 12 May to 26 June. The Danes refused to partition Schleswig-Holstein according to nationality, but after a renewal of war accepted a peace concluded at Vienna on 1 August, and signed on 30 October 1864. Denmark ceded all claims to Schleswig-Holstein to the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia. By the 1865 Convention of Gastein, Austria had received jurisdiction over Holstein and Prussia over Schleswig and the duchy of Laurenburg.

Annexation by Prussia Disagreement between Prussia and Austria over administration of the duchies resulted in the Seven Weeks' War (1866). Victorious Prussia annexed Holstein, Laurenburg, and Schleswig, from which the province of Schleswig-Holstein was constituted.

After World War I In 1918 the Allies granted plebiscites in two zones in Schleswig-Holstein, and as a result the frontier was redrawn more in accord with nationality. That part of northern Schleswig, some 3,937 sq km/1,520 sq mi, which was assigned to Denmark was renamed the South Jutland Provinces. The former free city of Lübeck and the Lübeck district of Oldenburd were incorporated into Schleswig-Holstein in 1937. After the end of World War II, Schleswig-Holstein was constituted as a state of West Germany, and in 1990 as a state of the newly reunified Germany.