Brunswick-Lüneburg was an historical state within the Holy Roman Empire. As the name implies, the main cities of this state were Brunswick and Lüneburg.

The state emerged from the inheritance of the first Saxon state of Henry the Lion in the late 12th century. Henry was deposed by the Emperor as Duke of Saxony, but retained various Lower Saxon lands which were inherited by his children as the Duchies of Brunswick and Lüneburg

The first duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg was Otto the child, who reigned from 1235 on. After 1267 the duchy was split into two partial states (which later became a multitude of partial states), but all of them were ruled by the Welfen dynasty and still formed a common state. The centres of power moved in the meantime from Brunswick and Lüneburg to Celle and Wolfenbüttel.

One of the collateral lines was the line of the dukes of Calenberg, who managed to gain all the territory of the former duchy except for that of the Wolfenbüttel line. The city of Hanover was the residence of the Calenberg line. Calenberg (sometimes also called Calenberg-Celle) was made an electorate by the Holy Roman Emperor in 1692. It was then known under many different names (Brunswick-Lüneburg, Calenberg, Hanover), but eventually became the state of Hanover.

The Wolfenbüttel line retained its independence from Hanover. The Congress of Vienna of 1815 turned it into an independent country under the name Duchy of Brunswick, with Wolfenbüttel as its capital. The Duchy of Brunswick joined the German Empire in 1871 and, as the Free State of Brunswick, became a part of the Weimar Republic in 1919. In 1946, it was made a part of the newly founded state of Lower Saxony. Some small parts (mainly around Blankenburg ) were made part of Saxony-Anhalt. Brunswick had an area of 3690 km² and 580,000 inhabitants (1939).

List of heads of state after 1815

1. 1815 - 1830: Charles II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
2. 1830 - 1884: William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
3. 1885 - 1906: Albrecht, Prince of Prussia , regent
4. 1907 - 1913: John Albrecht, Duke of Mecklenburg , regent
5. 1913 - 1918: Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
6. 1918 - 1919: Sepp Oerter (USPD)
7. 1919 - 1920: Heinrich Jasper (SPD)
8. 1920 - 1921: Sepp Oerter (USPD)
9. 1921 - 1922: August Junke (SPD)
10. 1922: Otto Antrick (SPD)
11. 1922: Heinrich Jasper (SPD)
12. 1924 - 1927: Gerhard Marquordt (DVP)
13. 1927 - 1930: Heinrich Jasper (SPD)
14. 1930 - 1933: Werner Küchenthal (DNVP)
15. 1933 - 1945: Dietrich Klagges (NSDAP)

Districts

The Duchy of Brunswick was subdivided into districts (Kreise) in 1833. The following districts existed from 1833 to 1946:

• District of Blankenburg
• City of Brunswick
• District of Brunswick
• District of Gandersheim
• District of Goslar (from 1942 on)
• District of Helmstedt
• District of Holzminden (until 1942)
• City of Watenstedt-Salzgitter (from 1942 on)
• District of Wolfenbüttel

External links

• map of the Duchy of Brunswick