History of Saxony-Anhalt
The territories of the Duchy of Saxony, the Principality of Anhalt, and their successors are now part of the modern German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
During Nazi rule, all of the previous subdivisions, including Anhalt and the Province of Saxony, ceased to exist de facto as they were replaced with Gaue in 1934.
After World War II what had been Anhalt and the Province of Saxony formed the basis of the occupying Soviet administration's state (Land) of Saxony-Anhalt.
After Charlemagne's conquest of the Saxons (772–804), their land was incorporated into the Carolingian empire, and late in the 9th century, it became the first Duchy of Saxony.
It occupied nearly all the territory between the Elbe and Saale rivers to the east and the Rhine to the west; it bordered on Franconia and Thuringia in the south.
The ducal title of Saxony went to Bernhard of Anhalt, a younger son of Albert the Bear of Brandenburg and founder of the Ascanian line of Saxon dukes.
The Golden Bull of 1356 raised the Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg to the permanent rank of elector, with the right to participate in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor.
Albert, founder of the Albertine branch, received a ducal rank and the Meissen territories, including Dresden and Leipzig.
Duke Maurice of Saxony, a grandson of Albert and a Protestant, received the electoral title in the 16th century; it remained in the Albertine branch until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.
In the War of the Austrian Succession, Saxony adhered to what had become its traditional wavering policy, changing sides in the middle of the conflict.
The period of Saxon rule in Poland marked a time of economic and social decay but also of cultural and artistic flowering.
Esico's grandson, Otto the Rich, Count of Ballenstedt, was the father of Albert the Bear, who united Anhalt with Brandenburg.
The family ruling in Aschersleben became extinct in 1315, and this district was subsequently incorporated into the neighbouring Bishopric of Halberstadt, thus dividing the territory of Anhalt-Bernburg into two separate pieces.
He was a co-signer of the Augsburg Confession in 1530, and after the Battle of Mühlberg in 1547 was placed under Imperial ban and deprived of his lands by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
Ernest I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1516), left three sons, John II, George III, and Joachim, who jointly ruled their lands for many years and favoured the reformed doctrines, which thus became dominant in Anhalt.
[1] Joachim Ernest died in 1586, and his five sons ruled the land in common until 1603, when Anhalt was again divided, and the lines of Dessau, Bernburg, Plötzkau, Zerbst, and Köthen were re-established.
This action was probably due to the necessity of maintaining an appearance of unity in view of the disturbed state of European politics at the time.
The growth of Prussia provided Anhalt with a formidable neighbour, and the establishment and practice of primogeniture by all branches of the family prevented the further division of the principality.
The land is undulating in the west and mountainous in the extreme north-west, where it forms part of the Harz range, the Ramberg peak marking the highest elevation at 1900 ft (579 m).
East of the Elbe, the land is mostly a flat sandy plain, with extensive pine forests, interspersed with bog-land and rich pastures.
The Elbe is the chief river, intersecting the eastern portion of the former duchy from east to west and joining the Mulde at Rosslau.
The navigable Saale takes a northerly direction through the central portion of the territory and receives, on the right, the Fuhne and, on the left, the Wipper and Bode rivers.
The inhabitants of the former duchy, who mainly belonged to the upper Saxon race, were, with the exception of about 12,000 Roman Catholics and 1,700 Jews, members of the Evangelical Church of the Union.
A synod of 39 members, elected for six years, assembled periodically to deliberate on internal matters pertaining to the organization of the church.
The duke governed through a minister of state, who was the head of all the departments: finance, home affairs, education, public worship, and statistics.
