Saxony

Administrative region (German Land) in eastern Germany; area 18,412 sq km/7,109 sq mi; population (1999 est) 4,459,700. The capital is Dresden, and other major towns include Leipzig, Chemnitz, and Zwickau. The region is on the plain of the River Elbe north of the Erzgebirge mountain range. Industries include electronics, textiles, vehicles, machinery, chemicals, and coal.

Early history Saxony takes its name from the early Saxon inhabitants whose territories originally reached as far west as the Rhine. After the final conquest of the Saxons by Charlemagne in 792, they became one of the components of the Holy Roman Empire. Their country, which included most of the territory between the Elbe, the Harz Mountains, the Rhine, and Friesland, was turned in 850 into a dukedom, with Lübeck as its capital, and ruled by hereditary princes. Ludolf, the first duke, is said to have been the great-grandson of the Saxon leader Wittekind. His grandson, Henry (I) the Fowler, obtained the throne in 919, and commenced the Saxon line of German kings, which ended in 1024.

The duchy of Saxony was divided in 1260 but reconstituted in 1424 when a new electorate embracing Thuringia, Meissen, and Wittenberg was formed. The northern part of Saxony became a province of Prussia in 1815, its king having sided with Napoleon.

In 960, Otto I handed over the duchy to Hermann Billung, on condition of military service, and this family held it until 1106. In the middle of the 11th century, a duchy of ‘Saxony of the Weser’ was also founded; but this duchy went (in 1113) to Lothair of Supplinburg, who was also invested (in 1106) with the Duchy of Saxony. The latter was now more extensive than ever, stretching from the Unstrut, in Gotha, to the Eider, and from the Rhine to Pomerania.

After Lothair's accession to the German throne in 1125, he handed over the Duchy (1127) to his son-in-law, Henry the Proud, the Guelph Duke of Bavaria, who was thus the ruler of more than half Germany; but under his son, Henry the Lion, it was wrested (in 1180) from the house of Guelph.

Division In 1260 the diminished Saxony was permanently divided into two portions, Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. The latter portion retained its status as an electorate, this being later confirmed by the celebrated Golden Bull (see elector) of 1356. The line became extinct in 1422 with Duke Albert III, and the Duchy then passed to Frederick the Warlike in 1423.

The Saxon elector was now one of the most powerful princes of Germany, but during the reign of the Elector Frederick the Mild (1428–64), whose brother William had obtained Thuringia, a civil war broke out which lasted for several years.

From the Reformation to the Seven Years' War Ernest (1464–86) and Albert (1464–1500), the sons of Frederick, in accordance with the will of their father, reigned conjointly over the hereditary domains of the family till the death of their uncle (1485), when Ernest obtained Thuringia, and Albert obtained Meissen, while Osterland was equally divided between them.

Ernest, the founder of the Ernestine, which was also the elder or electoral, line, was succeeded by his son, Frederick III, the Wise, who favoured the Protestant Reformation, and firmly supported and protected Martin Luther. Albert was the founder of the younger, ducal, or Albertine line, of whom the most celebrated was Maurice (1541–47).

After the rout of the Protestant princes by the forces of the Emperor Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg, Maurice received the electoral title (1547–53), and the greater portion of the estates of his vanquished cousin. His brother, Augustus I (1553–86), considerably increased his territories by purchase and otherwise, and restored Altenburg to the Ernestine line.

John George I (1611–56) allied himself with Gustavus Adolphus, and took part in the Thirty Years' War. The reign of Frederick Augustus I (1694–1733), who converted to Catholicism and gained the throne of Poland, well-nigh ruined the hitherto prosperous electorate. Frederick Augustus II (1733–63) took part in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War.

19th century In the reign of Frederick Augustus I (1763–1827) agricultural, manufacturing, and industrial enterprise progressed rapidly. He sided with the French between the battles of Lützen (2 May 1813) and Leipzig (16–19 October 1813). For his support of Napoleon he was deprived of the greater portion of Saxony, which was handed over to Prussia, but he retained the title of king, which had been conferred upon him in 1806. The rest of his reign was occupied with internal reforms.

Anthony (1827–36) reformed the entire legislation of the Saxony, and granted a liberal constitution, and the state's representatives first assembled on 27 January 1833.

Saxony assisted Prussia in the defeat of Austria at the Battle of Sadowa in 1866, thereafter becoming a member of the new German Empire in 1871, having previously come under Prussian military control as a Member of the North German Confederation.

20th century At the end of World War I Saxony joined in the revolutionary unrest which overtook Germany. In November 1918 a revolution took place, the Liberal government then in power resigned, and King Frederick Augustus abdicated (13 November). The republic was proclaimed on 9 November 1918, and its constitution dated from 26 October 1920.

In 1923 there were riots among the unemployed in Dresden, Leipzig, and other industrial towns, and shortly afterwards the Communists got the upper hand, setting up, in coalition with the more extreme Socialists, the Republican Proletariat government of Saxony. After some fighting the Reich appointed Dr Heintze, the Reich minister of justice, as civil commissioner for Saxony. With the aid of the military he occupied the Diet. Order was established by 6 November, and the republican regime continued until 1933, when Hitler abolished the Diet.

In 1946 Saxony was joined with Anhalt as a region of East Germany and in 1952 it was split into the districts of Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz (later named Karl-Marx-Stadt). The state of Saxony was restored in 1990 following German reunification and the abolition of the former districts of East Germany.