III.

History

Lower Saxony began to form as a separate region in the Middle Ages, when various German tribes settled here and were converted to Christianity. A number of small states emerged, of which Hannover, Brunswick, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe were the most important. The region became largely Protestant during the Reformation.

Through dynastic marriages, Hannover and Britain were joined between 1714 and 1837. The activities of the British Hanoverian kings made the area vulnerable to attacks by foreign powers, and the Lower Saxony area suffered invasions during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the French Revolution (1789-1799), and the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). Hannover was made a kingdom in 1814, and when King William IV of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland died in 1837 without legitimate heirs, the kingdom reverted to German control.

During the Seven Weeks' War of 1866 Hannover supported Austria and was annexed by Prussia. Oldenburg, which had supported Prussia, became a member of the North German Confederation. Brunswick was able to retain its own ruling house until 1884. Between 1885 and 1918 Brunswick was ruled by nobles appointed by the German government. Following World War I (1914-1918), the various ruling noble families were replaced by elected officials. In 1946 the state of Lower Saxony was formed by the British military government out of the former Prussian province of Hannover and the former states of Brunswick, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe.