Brunswick (historic region)

Brunswick (historic region) (German Braunschweig), historic region and former duchy of Germany, part of the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) since 1946.

Brunswick was originally part of the hereditary domain of Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, who was the most famous member of the Welf family. It became a political entity in 1235, when Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II recognized Henry's grandson, Otto the Child (1204-52), as rightful ruler and made him duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. During the ensuing centuries the various branches of the ruling family squabbled over the right of succession, and the duchy was frequently partitioned. Napoleon incorporated Brunswick into the kingdom of Westphalia in 1807, but it was reestablished as an independent duchy after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815; it became a member state of the newly created German Empire in 1871. At the end of World War I the reigning duke was deposed, and shortly afterward Brunswick was proclaimed a Land, or free state, under the Weimar constitution of 1919. As part of the reorganization of Germany under the Nazis, the region lost its autonomy. After World War II it became part of the British Zone of Occupation in Germany, and it was subsequently merged along with Hannover, Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe to form the state of Lower Saxony.