Saxony , German- Saxony , French- Saxony , one of the most important areas of German history. Applied:(1) before the Display 1180, to an extensive far north German region including Holstein , but mainly to the west and southwest of the estuary and the lower course of the lounger Elbe ; (2) between 1180 and 1423 into two much smaller and widely separated areas, one on the right (east) bank of the lower Elbe southeast of Holstein , the other on the middle Elbe; and (3) between 1423 and 1952 into a large central German region, the main axis of which lies further up the Elbe and, in the broadest sense, includes the entire country from Thuringia to Lusatia on the Border with Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic ).
Before 1180, the name Saxony was applied to the area between about 200 and 700 n . Chr . From the Germanic Saxon tribe was conquered . This area includes Holstein and the area west of the lower Elbe where, what is the german now Country (state) Down Saxony . From there, the Saxons expanded westward into Britain by sea in the 5th century. In the late 8th century, the Saxons were ruled by the Franks Carl the Big ones conquered and Christianized . 843 Saxony became part of the East Frankish or German Kingdom.
At the beginning of the 10th century, Saxony was under the Liudolfing Dynasty a hereditary duchy , and in 919 Duke Henry of Saxony was elected King of Germany. He founded the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty that held the German crown until 1024. ( See Saxon dynasty .) Under the Ottonians, the Germans advanced east into Slavic territory.
961 the Saxon title of duke was transferred to the Family Billing , which held it until 1106. The Duchy went afterwards 1142 an Henry III, The lions of the House of Welf, above. As Henry the Lion 1180 from the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa has been banned , the duchy was dissolved. Only two small and widely separated areas kept the Saxon name:Saxe-Lauenburg southeast of Holstein and Saxe-Wittenberg on the Middle Elbe (today north of Leipzig) . Both areas were united under the Ascanian family, until 1260 two separate Ascanian dynasties appeared. From the mid-13th century, the Duke of Saxony was recognized as an Imperial Elector (a prince with the right to participate in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor); A dispute over this right between the two branches was settled in 1356 in favor of the Wittenberg branch. The Lauenburg line lasted until 1689, after which their lands were taken over by Hanover.
When the Wittenberg line died out in 1422, the duchy and electorate of Saxony became Friedrich I. bestowed on the warlike, Margrave of Meissen and member of the House of Wettin, and the name of Saxony was then applied to all Wettin possessions including the Osterland (the area around Leipzig) and large parts of Lusatia and Thuringia. After Frederick's death (1428), the Wettins disputed the division of the inheritance; 1485 arranged Albert and Ernest, the sons Frederick II. (died 1464), by the Treaty of Leipzig a permanent separation between the Saxon lands of Albertine (east) and Ernestine ( West). Albert's lands included the Margraviate of Meissen (with Dresden as the capital) and northern Thuringia. (See information about western countries see Saxon Duchies .)
In the 16th century, the Albertine line acquired the electorate and gained territory from the Ernestines in Thuringia and Wittenberg. Electors Henry (d. 1541) and Maurice (d. 1553) adopted Lutheranism. Augustus (r. 1553–86) codified the laws of Albertine Saxony and made the capital, Leipzig, a center of trade and art. John George I (r. 1611–56) led the organization of the German Protestant princes during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), but from this time onwards was increasingly overshadowed by Brandenburg-Prussia as the leading state of Protestant Germany. In 1697, Elector Friedrich August I (r. 1694–1733) became king of Poland (as August II.) ), an economically straining tie between Saxony and the declining Polish kingdom that lasted until 1768.
Napoleon conquered Saxony in 1806 and made it a kingdom. It was thereafter one of its most loyal allies, and after its fall, its territory was greatly reduced by the victorious powers at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815). Prussia acquired Wittenberg, Torgau, northern Thuringia and most of Lusatia, which became the Prussian province of Saxony. The abbreviated Kingdom of Saxony became a member of the German Confederation .
Following the rebellions of 1830, a constitution was established in the kingdom in 1831 inherit . King Friedrich August II. (r. 1836–54) was deposed by a revolutionary uprising in 1848, but was revived by Prussian troops a week later brought power. In 1871 the kingdom became part of the new German Empire . The Social Democrats became a powerful political force in Saxony as industrialization increased in the following decades. Saxony Monarchy was deprecated after Germany 's defeat in first World War (1918) and Saxony adopted a republican constitution as a free state under the Weimar Republic (1919-1933). The area continued to exist as Country (state) under Adolf Hitler 's Third Reich (1933-1945) and the German Democratic Republic until 1952 when it was abolished as a formal territory. The Saxon Country was created in 1990 as a result of the unification of Eastern and Recreated West Germany .