1648-1714 1815-1866









The Electorate of Hannover, 1714-1815



In 1714 Duct-Elector Georg Ludwig was crowned King George I. of England; thus a DYNASTIC UNION between England and Hannover was created, which was to last until 1837. The kings would reside, of course, in London; George II. did not even visit Hannover.
Hannover was an independent political entity, separate from the British Empire. It both profited and suffered from the connection with Britain. In 1715/ 1720 Hannover acquired the PRINCEBISHOPRICS OF BREMEN and VERDEN from Sweden, by buying out other claimants (with English money). During the WAR OF AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION Hannoverian soldiers fought as mercenaries for the British, although the electorate formally remained neutral. In the SEVEN YEARS WAR, a French army invaded Hannover, forcing the electorate to surrender in the Capitulation of Zeven (1757); after the French defeat by the Prussians in the Battle of Rossbach, the French were expelled. In 1759, the Electorate of Hannover contributed a force of c. 36,000 men to the Anglo-Prussian army.
In the garrisons of Gibraltar, on Menorca, in India Hannoveranians served as mercenaries. In the FIRST WAR OF THE COALITION they served in the British army in operations against the French. In 1801 Hannover was temporarily occupied by French troops. In the REICHSDEPUTATIONSHAUPTSCHLUSS of 1803, Hannover is granted the PRINCEBISHOPRIC OF OSNABRÜCK. In the course of 1803, Hannover was occupied by French troops (war between France and England had resumed). In 1805 at French insistance (TREATY OF SCHÖNBRUNN) Hannover is annexed by Prussia; in 1807 Prussia had to cede it, and it formed the bulk of the newly created KINGDOM OF WESTPHALIA.

In 1737 the UNIVERSITY OF GÖTTINGEN was founded; here men such as GEORG CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG taught. The University developed into a center of German science, later to become the model for the university reforms and the Humboldt University in Berlin. In 1772 W. Voss founded the GÖTTINGER DICHTERBUND (Society of Göttingen Poets). In 1764 the Agricultural Society is founded, in an attempt to modernize the territory's agriculture. The drainage of swamps is begun. On the ducal domains, the serfs were liberated. A CADASTRAL SURVEY was begun. A school for veterinaries was opened in 1778, as one of the first of her kind. In 1775 the CLAUSTHAL MINING ACADEMY was established.
Freiherr VON KNIGGE lived in Hannover, establishing a code of good behaviour still quoted in Germany.
In 1751, the Königliche Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen (Royal Society of Sciences and Humanities in Göttingen) was founded.



Duke-Electors of Hannover
Georg Ludwig (1698-1727)
Georg II. (1727-1760)
Georg III. (1760-1820)



EXTERNAL
FILES 		Chronology of the city of the city of Hannover, from Hannover Online, in German
Article Hanover, from Catholic Encyclopedia 1910 edition
Chronicle of Scholarly Societies founded 1740-1759, from Scholarly Societies Project
On the Hannoverian force in the Seven Years War : Siebenjähriger Krieg, from Preussen Web, in German
DOCUMENTS Coins of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, from Napoleonic Medals, click a-d, Brunswick-Luneburg
Flags of the Electorate/Kingdom of Hannover (Braunschweig-Lüneburg), from FOTW, some dating before 1800, scroll down
List of Dukes/Kings, from World Rulers by Ben Cahoon, scroll down to Hanover
Map : Kurfürstentum Hannover 1789, posted by Thomas Höckmann, click on maps to enlarge, comment in German
Map : Germany in 1803, posted by Val Rozn
Hanovre, encyclopedic entries c. 1800, from Heraldica
REFERENCE Territorien-Ploetz : Geschichte der Deutschen Länder, Vol.1, Würzburg 1964, pp.369-371
Coins of Braunschweig-Lueneburg-Calenberg-Hannover, 1701-1800, in : Krause, Mishler Standard Catalog of World Coins : Eighteenth Century 1701-1800, 2nd ed., 1887, pp.289-308



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on February 23rd 2002; last revised on November 12th 2004

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