Niedersachsen [Teil 1] | Junges Land und alte Wurzeln

Networking between us Our journey through Germany continues and this time we are in the northwest of the Federal Republic of Germany, in Lower Saxony and with Lower Saxony we have a special case, as always after the Second World War, the federal state of Lower Saxony. united from different areas against the small German states. However, in this area there are enormously important political structures and modern-day Lower Saxony refers to these ancient areas and in the case of this country we can or should look to the Saxons themselves. and this means that the association of the Germanic peoples, not the people who live today in the state of Saxony, is two pairs of shoes, as we will see later, the state of Lower Saxony is enormous with almost 48,000 square kilometers, not only It is the second largest federal state in Germany, but it is also much larger than all of Switzer

land

, since the free and Hanseatic city of Bremen, which we have already seen, is located in Lower Saxony.

It borders to the west with the Nether

land

s and, if we clearly exclude Bremen, Lower Saxony borders on at least eight other federal states. No other country in the Federal Republic of Germany borders so many federal states. To understand the historical core and origins of Lower Saxony. Something needs to be done about this 2000 years ago in history, the people of Saxony were probably made up of several Germanic tribes in the first centuries AD, including the famous Kruska. There is no exact geographical information, and the Saxons as a people do. The Saxons were probably already in a certain state of dependence on the Franks before their final conquest by the Frankish Empire.

The Saxons were responsible for the destruction of the richest gates in 531, something we will look at more closely in the Contribution to the Free State of Thuringia. In the year 772, Charlemagne, king of the Frankish Empire, began to bitterly conquer the territories of the Saxons. It was almost 30 years before the Saxons were finally subdued. In these Saxon wars, Widukind had to become the Saxon figurehead of the resistance, making the superiority of the Franks immortal, the Saxons still could not resist and finally joined the war. empire and Christianized just a few decades later, in 843, the Frankish Empire disintegrated and our Saxony or the area in which the Saxons lived became part of the East Franconian Empire and this East Franconian Empire was the precursor of the Holy Empire Germanic Roman.

Empire and here we are, for the first time, somewhat safe in the tribal duchy of Saxony. From the maps you can immediately see that the core of this duchy was in the area of ​​​​present-day Lower Saxony, that is, where the Saxons lived. They were once made up of several Germanic tribes merged with the other two federated states that had Saxons in their name. This duchy had nothing to do geographically or technically with whether and how this contiguous area existed before. this merger was limited to a loose alliance of several Saxon dukes under Henry. The Duchy of Saxony reached its greatest extent under Leo, who pursued a particularly strong policy of expansion.

In 1180, Frederick the First was going to dissolve the duchy of Saxony. called Barbarossa, from the Stau family of Henry the Lion They already had their conflicts before 1180, but Barbarossa held his protective hand over Henry several times, the final break between the two occurred in 1176 Indiana, today in northern Italy, very close to Barbarossa, on the Swiss border, he also urgently demanded military support in return, which a real lion The imperial palace of Goslar and its rich silver mines Barbarossa rejected this demand in 1177. Thus, a year later, Schlosser did peace with the Pope and the Lombards and In the Gelnhausen document of 1180, Henry the Lion was able to turn towards his powerful and rebellious subjects in Saxony, and the duchies of Saxony and Bavaria were revoked and divided.

In a relatively short time we find ourselves in the middle of the small German states and those that once were. The great and powerful Duchy of Saxony was a thing of the past. Many imperial cities, dioceses, duchies, counties, etc. arose on the territory of Saxony. Because that will be important again later when it comes to the name of the state. Attentive viewers will have noticed that an area in the far northwest of modern-day Lower Saxony is either missing from the maps or not part of it. If we talk about a truly special case in German history, East Frisia, this area with its islands of moors and swamps was for centuries a special case in almost all respects.

The Frisians in the north and northwest of present-day Germany knew how to defend themselves. their independence from the outside world for a long time and this independence was unique for many centuries, that the Frisian states organized Not mainly hierarchically but rather as a kind of cooperative of equal level, the Frisian regions were not Christianized during the conquests of Durante After the Reformation, no denomination could clearly establish itself in East Frisia. At the same time, Christianization also took place on the territory of Friesland. There was never a unified state. Dozens of small states developed over the centuries, organizing themselves but prioritizing co-determination and civil liberties for all Frisians, regardless of property or wealth.

Relationships of dependency existed only in the form of leases or similar legally binding contracts. Regionally, the wealthy Frisians of the North Sea coast were able to develop independently for so long. This was mainly due to its geographically favorable location: the coasts were difficult to access by land due to the moors and swamps that facilitated development. At the same time, the Frisians had freedom and also good trade. Later they also benefited from the rise of the powerful Hanseatic League, which we analyzed in more detail in the article on Frisia or East Frisia, while in our case it was organized cooperatively.

The surrounding area was already organized and the reign of the nobility was and is an important symbol of Frisian freedom, as it was located a little west of the city of Aurich and here was a meeting place for representatives of the Frisian states . Between 1100 and 1300, 27 issues in Frisian Zealand were regulated and negotiated internally. Outside, the imposing stone pyramid has existed since 1833 and commemorates these meetings. It is supposed to be on a mound. It is a fruit album, that is, a tree is imaginable, but not 100 percent certain. It could also have been a crafted wooden post at which Frisian chiefs met under Nazism;

This type of equipment was to become a place, but the plans were there. It was never implemented. It was not until the 14th century that influential Frisian families attempted to force free Frisian farmers to pay taxes and restrict their freedoms. In 1420, there was an uprising in Wesermarsch and in 1430 an alliance for freedom was formed. ez16 against threats to freedom from within. This family, which rose to the rank of count thanks to the defense of the rights of freedom of Friesland, was elevated to the rank of imperial count by Emperor Frederick III in 1464 and East Frisia was created imperial.

However, this changed little in terms of the property rights of free farmers. The Frisian lands remained free and therefore a kind of corporate, self-governing state. In the 16th century, the free farmers became their own political state. clergy, that is, instead of the church, an absolute exception in the Holy Roman Empire. The Frisians were able to maintain their individual freedoms even within the East Frisian empire until 1744, but they disappeared in the male line. and the Prussians took command in East Frisia. Frederick II occupied the country without much resistance and the East Frisians accepted. Upon becoming aware of the new reality, which also had economic advantages for them, the strong development of the hards began at that time. -to reach areas of the North Sea coast and, above all, Prussia granted the East Frisians many rights of self-administration, so that East Frisia became Prussian, but again with a relatively large degree of historical autonomy.

This economic boom with the simultaneous preservation of many freedoms was an important core of the Frisian enthusiasm for the German language and for German state structures. This enthusiasm was further strengthened when East Frisia passed to Holland at the beginning of the 19th century and later to France at the Congress of Vienna. At the request of the British, East Frisia was not returned to Prussia, which was given land further east, but to the Kingdom of Hanover, since, from the British point of view, Prussia should not be established in the north. Sea coast In 1866, Prussia annexed Hanover and integrated it, including East Frisia, into the Prussian state and the Frisians, who never really received recognition of their own freedoms and liberties under non-Prussian rule, if this return to Prussia excited Frederick II. and Prussia already knew in 1744 how to inspire a minority for the idea of ​​a long-term German state, so let's take a look at that area of ​​Lower Saxony at the time of the German Empire 18 71 The patchwork quilt was no longer It was no longer as pronounced as some centuries before, but there were still at least four states in the areas of Lower Saxony, the largest part of which was the Prussian province of Hanover, which was previously its own kingdom, the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg.

Schaumburg-Lippe and Braunschweig still belonged to very small parts of Waldeck Pyrmont and in the north to Hamburg. This changed even after the First World War within the Weimar Republic. The Lower Saxony area still belonged to the states and provinces mentioned above. It was not until 1946 that this important federal state of Lower Saxony saw the light of day as part of the British occupation zone. It was founded in 1946 by regulation number 55 and in 1949 it became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. We have a federal state with islands and these East Frisian islands are really beautiful, the seven that can be seen here are the only ones that are inhabited.

Almost 16,500 people live here. The island of Juist is about 900 meters away. wide at its widest point and only about 500 meters wide at its thinnest point. I thought you should know. By the way, we have an error here because it is the most eastern. Strictly speaking, Wangerooge Island does not belong. the East Frisian Islands but to the East Frisian Islands, so with a hyphen it sounds like a skip, but in reality it is not difficult to understand that historical East Frisia did not include all the islands. Wangerooge belonged to Oldenburg, hence the unhyphenated East Frisian linguistic distinction. with emphasis on the second syllable, the historical political entity describes East Frisia with a hyphen and the emphasis on the first syllable roughly describes the settlement area of ​​Frisia.

That's something you learn when, like me, you see this map here and then wonder in surprise. why Wangerooge is not part of this. Learning is not fun, people. With this useless knowledge you are not an absolute motto king at the next party, then I can't help you anymore and while we are in East Frisia we are going to do it. Visit a small language island In the article about Bremen we learned that Low German is a specially protected language and is also spoken in Lower Saxony in various variants. East Frisian is also spoken in Lower Saxony.

According to Swiss belief, there is a small linguistic minority of between 30,000 and 40,000 Romansh speakers. Around two to two thousand five hundred inhabitants speak Saterland, a small linguistic island in the center of Lower Saxony. center of Germany and how this Sator Frisian sounds, that's what we hear here when you

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rnate islands on the right front of the federal state in different salary issues ovid airy lounge car group is in a good mood that not only remained calm and does not see the interior where, in front, lars like you, I know before the most important agreement how far from the mobile earth, high of just asked about the origins, profit zone, in advance, well-founded fleets, order from the dream, perhaps in León's true desire for his soon nutrient poverty.

These places we already have good places anyway and only Franke Vogue will renature or reconnect them, the records are now trap from OVI Music and since this Lower Saxony and these Frisian countries are so unique, I have another rarity for you. In the articles about Switzerland we learned that the state borders on Lake Constance are not clearly defined. We have never fixed in international law where Germany or Austria is located. The same is true of the border between Germany and the Netherlands. Both countries have a rough idea of ​​where the borders should be at sea, something that is not yet clear. associated with the name of Lower Saxony First of all, the historical reason As we learned a little earlier, the name of the Duchy of Lower Saxony was dissolved in 1180.

The title of Duke of Saxony began to migrate, especially to those areas. who today have Saxony in their name, that is, Saxony Anhalt and Saxony, first to the Askania and then to the Wettin with their possessions far to the east of historic Saxony, the name Saxony migrated eastwards through the familiesnobles, not only the people there say and from there we get the name Lower Saxony because over time there were several areas with the name Saxony, the term Lower Saxony was established to differentiate simply because the original settlement areas from Saxony and the core of the Duchy of Saxony were predominantly flat.

The term appeared 700 years ago, but why was it referred to when the new state was founded in 1946? Lower Saxony's impulses date back to the 19th century. The founding of the Lower Saxony Historical Association in 1834 aimed to investigate the history of the former Welf countries of Hanover and Braunschweig. This historical consciousness was taken up by local movements around 1900. To establish a new image of themselves in their regions, regardless of the borders that separated the Prussians, Oldenburg, Braunschweig, etc. After the First World War, these cultural and scientific roots became tangible political demands. A federal state should be founded in Lower Saxony. in research, on the one hand, and in political will, on the other.

This could be referenced in 1946, when the state of Lower Saxony was founded, so the name of the country is unclear, but the term Saxon probably dates back to the Saxon, the only cutting-edge weapon that was very popular among the Germanic tribes, we find it in very ancient literature. There are also indications that they received exactly this name, as in the Anno Lied of the late 11th century. It should be noted that this is not 100 percent and it is clearly clear that in the area of ​​present-day Lower Saxony, a little north of Osnabrück, this is said to be one of the most legendary battles that has ever taken place: the Battle of Varo. or the battle of the Teutoburg Forest.

First of all, the exact location is controversial. The number of troops, losses, etc. They are very difficult to quantify. The descriptions of the Roman historian Lucios Cassius Dio are considered relatively authentic and sober. He was referring to this Probably based on original reports and descriptions from his fragmentary books, the following is said about the battle of Varus because the mountains were full of gorges and slopes and the trees were so dense and large that the Romans fought when it was necessary even before the enemies attacked them to cut down the trees to pave roads and build dams and when there was also rain and storms they dispersed even more, but the ground became slippery around the roots and the stumps made them very unstable when walking and The tops of the trees broke and fell, which brought them into confusion, the Germans suddenly surrounded them from all sides at the same time through the church along the roadsides and fired first from afar and then, when no one was surprised, but many were surprised.

They attacked them it was impossible, firstly, anywhere to march in order and, secondly, it was difficult for them to move together and they were always less cunning than the attackers, so they easily surrounded the Romans and defeated them. Arminius, better known as Prince Hermann of Cheruscan, devastatingly defeated the Romans that day. It is estimated that up to 20,000 Romans died. This devastating defeat stopped Roman expansion in the areas on the right bank of the Rhine in Germania. great hero of Germania, became a great figure in the 19th century monument, just above the construction of more than 50 meters high stands a sword over the Teutoburg Forest, the forest in which the Roman Empire experienced a of its most devastating defeats, the coat of arms of today's Lower Saxony stands proudly on a red background on the state flag lights this wait in front of the German federal colors Black red gold black red gold I think it's self-explanatory that Saxony looks back on a long history 600 years ago the population of Lower Saxony believed that the Saxon horse was because it was the coat of arms of the preserved tribe of the Duchy of Saxony, although it still did not have a coat of arms as a reminder of The Dukes of Guelph.

The descendants of, among others, Henry the Lion led Saxony from the year 13 61 to assert their rights over the once enormous duchy. The heraldic animal was also considered the coat of arms of the famous Duke Widukind, of whom we already know other areas that they later occupied. By merging with Lower Saxony, this Saxony also began to be used as a heraldic animal, so it was quite obvious to adopt this already established coat of arms for the newly founded Lower Saxony, which happened in 1951 after a long discussion. More than eight million people live in the entire state of Lower Saxony.

The state capital, Hanover, has a population of just over 530,000. The city of Hanover was first mentioned in documents in the year 1150 and about 200 years earlier the first settlements developed on the high river bank. The River Leine also has its origins in the city's name: Hanover originally meant "on high." The shore is at least the most common explanation for the capital of Lower Saxony. The ancient world fish city has many beautiful and green gardens. At least that seemed positive to me. In 1816, a step west of Hanover, a man was born whose name you all know: Werner von Siemens, considered the founder of modern electrical energy technology, and with it this Hanoverian from Lower Saxony.

Thanks to him, the first electric locomotive appeared in Berlin in 1879 and the streets were illuminated for the first time with electric streetlights. Politically, the people of Lower Saxony have the opportunity. months To change the majority situation in their country there will still be an intense electoral campaign in the northwestern state of the Federal Republic of Germany. With this we have completed the original settlement area of ​​the Saxons in Lower Saxony. I will be there when we go to those federal states called Saxony. They received many honors for their wandering titles and we'll see you next time.