Duchy of SaxonyThe Duchy of Saxony (Hartogdom Sassen, Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun, Saxony was one of the five German stem duchies of East Francia; Duke Henry the Fowler was elected German king in 919.
SaxonySaxony (Sachsen ˈzaksn̩; Upper Saxon: Saggsn; Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈzaksn̩; Upper Saxon: Freischdaad Saggsn; Swobodny stat Sakska), is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of , and the sixth most populous, with more than 4 million inhabitants.
Province of BrandenburgThe Province of Brandenburg (Provinz Brandenburg) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg (excluding Altmark) and the Lower Lusatia region, and became part of the German Empire in 1871. From 1918, Brandenburg was a province of the Free State of Prussia until Prussia was dissolved in 1945 after World War II, and replaced with reduced territory as the State of Brandenburg in East Germany, which was later dissolved in 1952.
SaxonsThe Saxons (Saxones, Sachsen, Seaxan, Sahson, Sassen, Saksen) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, Saxonia) near the North Sea coast of northern Germania, in what is now Germany. In the late Roman Empire, the name was used to refer to Germanic coastal raiders, and in a similar sense to the later "Viking" (pirate or raider). Their origins are believed to be in or near the German North Sea coast where they appear later, in Carolingian times.
PotsdamPotsdam (ˈpɔtsdam) is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of Berlin, and lies embedded in a hilly morainic landscape dotted with many lakes, around 20 of which are located within Potsdam's city limits. It lies some southwest of Berlin's city centre. The name of the city and of many of its boroughs are of Slavic origin.
BrandenburgBrandenburg (ˈbʁandn̩bʊʁk; Brannenborg; Bramborska ˈbrambɔrska), officially the State of Brandenburg (German: Land Brandenburg; Low German: Land Brannenborg; Kraj Bramborska), is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 square kilometres (11,382 square miles) and a population of 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth-largest German state by area and the tenth-most populous.
WittenbergWittenberg (ˈwɪtənbɜːrɡ,_ˈvɪt- , ˈvɪtn̩bɛʁk; Low Saxon: Wittenbarg; meaning White Mountain; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Luther City Wittenberg)), is the fourth-largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of Berlin, and has a population of 46,008 (2018). Wittenberg is famous for its close connection with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, for which it received the honorific Lutherstadt.
GermanisationGermanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people, and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In linguistics, Germanisation of non-German languages also occurs when they adopt many German words. Under the policies of states such as the Teutonic Order, Austria, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the German Empire, non-German minorities were often discouraged or even prohibited from using their native language, and had their traditions and culture suppressed in the name of linguistic imperialism.
House of WettinThe House of Wettin (Haus Wettin) was a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt. The Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of several medieval states, starting with the Saxon Eastern March in 1030.
Electorate of SaxonyThe Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (Kurfürstentum Sachsen or Kursachsen), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles IV designated the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg an electorate, a territory whose ruler was one of the prince-electors who chose the Holy Roman emperor. After the extinction of the male Saxe-Wittenberg line of the House of Ascania in 1422, the duchy and the electorate passed to the House of Wettin.
