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The 'Grand Duchy of Hesse' () was a former state that existed in modern-day Germany. It was formed in 1806 after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire as a result of the actions of Napoleon, who then elevated the former Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt to the level of grand duchy. For this reason, this state was occasionally known simply as 'Hesse-Darmstadt'.

Contents

History

Subdivisions of Hesse

See also

External links

References

History

Due to Hesse-Darmstadt's membership of Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine, it was forced to cede a considerable amount of territory at the 1815 Congress of Vienna. The territory of the Duchy of Westphalia, which Hesse-Darmstadt received from the 1803 ''Reichsdeputationshauptschluss'', was ceded to the Kingdom of Prussia. However, it received some territory on the western bank of the Rhine, including the important federal fortress at Mainz.
The Grand Duchy changed its name to the 'Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine' () in 1816.
In 1867, the northern half of the Grand Duchy (Upper Hesse) became a part of the North German Confederation, while the half of the Grand Duchy south of the Main (Starkenburg and Rhenish Hesse) remained outside. In 1871, it became a constituent state of the German Empire. The last Grand Duke, Ernst Ludwig (a grandson of Queen Victoria and brother to Empress Alexandra of Russia), was forced from his throne at the end of World War I, and the state was renamed the 'Volksstaat Hessen' (People's State of Hesse).
The majority of the state combined with Frankfurt am Main, the Waldeck area (Rhine-Province) and the former Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau to form the new state of Hesse following the Second World War. Excepted was the Montabaur district from Hessen-Nassau and that part of Hessen-Darmstadt on the left bank of the Rhine (Rhenish Hesse) became part of the Rhineland-Palatinate state. (Bad) Wimpfen - an exclave of Hessen-Darmstadt - became part of Baden-Württemberg, district of Sinsheim.

Subdivisions of Hesse

The Grand Duchy of Hesse was divided into three provinces:

★ Starkenburg: (Capital: Darmstadt) Right bank of the Rhine, south of the Main

★ Rhenish Hesse, (Capital: Mainz) Left bank of the Rhine, territory gained from the Congress of Vienna

★ Upper Hesse (Capital: Giessen) North of the Main, separated from Starkenburg by the Free City of Frankfurt, which was later annexed by Prussia in 1866.

See also

★ Rulers of Hesse

★ Line of succession to the Hesse Throne

External links

★ Das Großherzogtum Hessen 1806–1918

★ Großherzogtum Hessen (Kreise und Gemeinden) 1910

References

1. http://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/gem1900/gem1900.htm?hessen1900.htm