Kingdom of Hanover
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The Kingdom of Hanover (German: Königreich Hannover) was established in October of 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. The Congress of Vienna also instituted a territorial exchange between Hanover and the Kingdom of Prussia, in which Hanover increased its area substantially, gaining the Bishopric of Hildesheim, East Frisia, the Lower County of Lingen and the northern part of the Bishopric of Münster. It lost those parts of the Duchy of Lauenburg to the right of the Elbe, and several small exclaves in the east.
[edit] History
The territory of Hanover had earlier been a principality within the Holy Roman Empire, before being elevated into an Electorate in 1708. Hanover was formed by the union of several dynastic divisions of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, with the sole exception of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
Between 1714 and 1837 it was joined in a personal union, first the Kingdom of Great Britain, and then from 1801 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1803 the electorate was occupied by French and Prussian troops, and following the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, its territories together with territories ceded from Prussia was created into the Kingdom of Westphalia ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte. French control lasted until October 1813 when the territory was overrun by Russian cossack troops, and the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig later the same month spelled the definitive end to the Napoleonic client state as well as the entire Confederation of the Rhine, after which the House of Hannover was restored as rulers and elevated from prince-electors, of a former vassal in the Holy Roman Empire, to monarchs of an independent kingdom at the Congress of Vienna in 1814.
During the Austro-Prussian War, Hanover attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation. After voting in favour of mobilising confederation troops against Prussia on 14 June 1866, Prussia saw this as a just cause for declaring war. The outcome of the war led to the dissolution of Hanover as an independent kingdom and it was annexed by Prussia, where it became the Province of Hanover.
[edit] Kings of Hannover
The personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 on the accession of Queen Victoria because the succession laws (Salic Law) in Hanover prevented a female inheriting the title if there was any surviving male heir (in the United Kingdom, a male takes precedence over only his own sisters).
- George III 1814-1820
- George IV (1820–1830)
- William (1830-1837)
- Ernest Augustus (1837–1851)
- George V (1851–1866)
[edit] See also
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