Following this trend, the student body of the Hanover Technical College (the present-day Leibniz University Hannover) demanded in early 1899 that such a monument be erected in the city, which could also serve as a meeting place for large nationalist events.

On 25 July 1899, an assembly of city magistrates and the civic council outvoted the Social Democrats and German-Hanoverian Party to commit to creating a memorial.

It was decided in March 1901 that it would be built in the centre of the Aegidien-Masch, a wild meadow land area used for various leisure activities at the time, instead of the alternative site of the Eilenriede forest.

His design of a 19.5-metre-high (64 ft) tower featuring a fire bowl surrounded by four dragons’ heads at its peak was selected from a shortlist of five entries in March 1902.

After several postponements due to funding issues and strike action, the laying of the foundation stone eventually took place on 18 October 1903, the 90th anniversary of the victory over the Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig.