Saxony

Basic data:

Universities:

Chemnitz: Chemnitz University of Technology
Dresden: Technical University of Dresden
Freiberg: Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg
Leipzig: University of Leipzig

Geography:

Saxony lies in the transition area from glacially formed lowlands in the north to low mountain ranges in the south. The federal state belongs (except for the extreme east) to the catchment area of ​​the Elbe, which crosses Saxony in a southeast-northwest direction. To the west of the Elbe, the Leipzig lowlands stretch far to the south in the north-west, between the Mulde and the Elbe stretches the south-eastern part of the Düben Heath and the North Saxon lowlands. In the south, Saxony is part of the low mountain range, across which the border with the Czech Republic runs.

In front of the low mountain range is the central Saxon hill country (divided by the Zwickauer Mulde, Zschopau and Freiberger Mulde with partly deep valleys) with the shallow depression of the Ore Mountain Basin, in the center of which is Chemnitz. Upper Lusatia and a small part of Lower Lusatia form the eastern part of Saxony around the upper Spree. 28% of Saxony\'s area is covered by forest, 80% of which are coniferous forests.

Climate:

Rough climatic conditions prevail in the Ore Mountains and Vogtland, while the Dresden Elbe basin and the Leipzig lowlands have a favorable climate.

Average annual temperatures are highest in July at 18 °C and lowest in January at -0.7 °C. Dresden is one of the warmest cities in Germany with an annual mean temperature of 9.9 °C. The temperature difference between the very warm Lusatia and the cooler Ore Mountains is particularly noticeable in summer

history:

The tribal duchy of the Saxons led by the Liudolfinger formed at the end of the 9th and beginning of the 15th century. These provided the German (Roman) kings from 919 to 1024. The ducal authority of the Billungers only extended to the border mark on the lower Elbe; in 1137 the dukedom was transferred to the Guelphs. After Henry the Lion received the title of duke in 1142, the tribal duchy reached its greatest extent. After the fall of Henry the Lion in 1180, Saxony was reduced to an eastern (located on the Elbe) residual duchy. The rest of Saxony came partly to the Archbishopric of Cologne, and later formed the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The remaining duchy of Saxony fell to the Ascanians, who divided it into the duchies of Saxony-Lauenburg and Saxony-Wittenburg in 1260. In 1356 only Saxony-Wittenberg was granted the electoral status, which has been Kurland ever since.

With Frederick I, the Wettin Margraves of Meissen received electoral dignity and ducal titles in 1423, and the heartland of their later state was the Margraviate of Meissen. From 982 this included the margraviates of Merseburg, Zeitz and Meissen and passed to the House of Wettin in 1089/1125. From the middle of the 13th century, the margraviate stretched from the Oder to the Werra and from the Ore Mountains to the Harz Mountains. The name of the Electorate of Saxony was transferred to this area in 1423.

In 1485 the House of Wettin in Leipzig was divided into two lines. The Ernestine line came into possession of the bulk of Thuringia, the Vogtland and the Kurland of Saxony. During the Reformation, the Ernestine line became the focus of European and German history as a promoter of Martin Luther and leader of the Schmalkaldic League.The Albertine line received the Margraviate of Meissen, the Leipzig area, northern Thuringia, the Kurland of Saxony with the electorate, and Upper and Lower Lusatia.

Under the absolutist rule of August II, the Electorate of Saxony was united with Poland in a personal union until 1763. Great cultural achievements contrasted with dwindling political influence, including the 7-year war from 1756 to 1763. At the end of the 18th century, textile manufactories emerged and in the 19th century Saxony developed into a distinct industrial state.

In 1806, Saxony took part in the war against Napoleonic France on the side of Prussia, and around 22,000 Saxon soldiers also fought in the double battle of Jena and Auerstedt in October. This ended in a catastrophic defeat for Prussia and its allies. As a result, Saxony came under French occupation for a short time and was initially assigned 25 million francs in war contributions. Furthermore, aid deliveries had to be made to supply the French army. The Peace of Posen ended the state of war between Saxony and France. Saxony became a member of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Napoleon elevated Elector Friedrich August II to King Friedrich August I in December 1806. King Friedrich August I remained loyal to Napoleon until Napoleon\'s rule ended in 1813. Saxony provided him with a contingent of 20,000 soldiers and in return France waived the war contributions. In 1813 Saxony became the main theater of war for the anti-Napoleonic wars of liberation, which brought a lot of suffering to the Saxon civilian population.

At the Congress of Vienna, the Austrian Chancellor Metternich prevented the complete elimination of the Saxon state. Prussia was only able to occupy part of the Saxon territory. In 1815, 1.2 of the previous 2 million people were still living in the remaining state.

After the Peace of Vienna, a period of political restoration also set in in Saxony. King Friedrich August I was succeeded by his brother Anton after his death. The July Revolution of 1830 in France also brought unrest and uprisings to Germany. Moderate reforms took place in Saxony in 1831. The Kingdom of Saxony became a constitutional monarchy, civil liberties were constitutionally guaranteed, and state elections were to be held. The General City Code of 1832 gave the cities extensive self-government, and the judiciary and administration were also fundamentally redesigned in the following years.

In the spring of 1848, Leipzig was a center of revolution in the German states, and on March 13 a bourgeois government was installed. 60,000 unemployed and the displeasure of the population was no easy task. On May 1, 1848, the king dissolved parliament, which triggered the May Uprising. Fighting broke out in Dresden and the king fled to Königstein Fortress. As a result, the revolution was crushed without having achieved any political concessions. In the Austro-Prussian conflict, Saxony sided with Vienna on June 14, 1866. Saxony was occupied by Prussian troops, and the Saxon government had to recognize the political changes in the Berlin Peace Treaty. The state became a member of the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership, and in 1871 Saxony became part of the newly founded German Empire. After 1871, Saxony benefited particularly from the general upswing in Germany, but the political system remained backward. In the last third of the 19th century, Saxony was a center of the German labor movement led by August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht.

On August 2nd, 1914, King Friedrich August III. of Saxony the male population to arms and sent 750.000 soldiers in the 1st World War. In this war, Saxony had its own army for the last time. On November 8th, 1918, workers\' and soldiers\' councils took power in Saxony. the Republic of Saxony was proclaimed, 3 days later King Friedrich August III. away. On November 28, 1918, universal suffrage for men and women over the age of 21 was introduced, and on February 25, 1919, the \"Preliminary Basic Law for the Free State of Saxony\" came into force. In April 1919, the Reich government imposed a state of siege on Saxony and the Reichswehr marched in.

In March of the following year, the Reich government fled from the Kapp putschists to Dresden, where street fighting broke out. With their general strike, the workers brought the Kapp putsch to a standstill. On November 1st, 1920, the \"Constitution of the Free State of Saxony\" came into force. The deterioration of the economic situation and the strengthening of right-wing forces led to the formation of a left-wing government in Saxony under Erich Zeigner on October 10, 1923. On October 21, 1923, Generalleutnant Müller overthrew the Saxon government elected by the state parliament. In 1928 there was an exchange of territories and a border adjustment between the Free State of Saxony and the State of Thuringia.

In Saxony, the NSDAP was never able to achieve a position of power through democratic means. After the states had been brought into line, Martin Mutschmann (SPD) was appointed Reich governor of Saxony in 1933. In 1935 he was also put in charge of the state government. Prime Minister from 1933 to 1935 was Manfred von Killinger. With the law on the reconstruction of the Reich of January 30, 1934, the Free State of Saxony ceased to exist under constitutional law.

On February 13th and 14th, 1945, Dresden fell victim to one of the heaviest bomb attacks in World War II, after which Saxony was occupied by the Red Army and US forces. On July 3, 1945, all of Saxony became part of the Soviet occupation zone. In 1945 the state of Saxony was re-established within the Soviet occupation zone, and the areas east of the Neisse were lost to Poland. About an eighth of Saxony\'s agricultural land was expropriated, and major German companies and the property of the most active Nazis passed to the Allies. Important cultural assets also came under state administration and formed the basis of the Saxony museums founded in the post-war years.

At the beginning of May 1945, the KPD group responsible for Saxony began its political work in Dresden, and the state associations of the SPD and KPD completed the unification to form the SED. The first state elections took place on October 20, 1946, the Social Democrat Rudolf Friedrichs became prime minister, and the state constitution was passed on February 28, 1947. On July 23, 1952, Saxony was divided into the districts of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz and thus effectively dissolved.

Today\'s Saxony was formed as a federal state of the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3rd, 1990 and officially adopted the title \"Free State\". Since the district of Dresden had been expanded to include the southern part of the district of Senftenberg, which previously belonged to the state of Brandenburg, and the district of Leipzig to include the districts of Delitzsch, Eilenburg and Torgau, which previously belonged to Saxony-Anhalt, as well as the incorporation of parts of the former Lower Silesia in 1945 today\'s Free State is significantly larger than the kingdom was at its end.

The dissolution of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance on June 28, 1991, monetary union and reunification led to an economic decline. In order to counteract this, towns and municipalities have set up commercial areas for the settlement of companies and founded new productive companies with good economic development. Agriculture was also restructured from the agricultural production cooperatives to new societies with environmentally friendly and organic farming.

In East Germany there were significant Soviet military facilities and large contingents of troops in Saxony. The withdrawal of the Soviet troops began in January 1991, and on August 31, 1994 the last units were bid farewell. On June 6th, 1992, the constitution of the Free State of Saxony came into force, after which Saxony became a Free State again. On August 1st, 1994, the \"Saxon District Reform Law\" followed, since a reduction in the number of districts and a merger of municipalities into large municipalities was necessary. The law was changed in 1995.

For the second state election on September 11, 1994, the number of seats was reduced to 120. The CDU government under Kurt Biedenkopf was confirmed by the state elections on September 19, 1999. Kurt Biedenkopf handed over the office of Prime Minister of Saxony to the CDU politician Georg Milbradt in 2002. In the state elections of September 19, 2004, the B\'90/Greens, FDP and NPD were newly elected to parliament, the CDU lost its absolute majority and has since then formed a coalition with the SPD, which received only 0.6% more votes than the NPD received had. Georg Milbradt handed over the office of Prime Minister of Saxony to the CDU politician Stanislaw Tillich in 2008.

Economy:

Saxony has an important industrial tradition, mining in the Ore Mountains, hard coal and lignite deposits and the favorable geographical location gave decisive impetus to the emergence of handicraft and industrial production. Saxony still has an efficient agriculture.

The conversion to the social market economy after 1990 led to the existential crisis of non-competitive companies and sometimes entire branches of industry and agricultural companies, followed by a far-reaching economic structural change.

About a third of the economic potential of the new federal states is located in Saxony today, important sectors are the service sector and the manufacturing industry. Centers are the Elbe valley between Pirna and Meissen with the main location in Dresden. Furthermore, the Erzgebirge and the Vogtland. Special branches of industry and commerce are located in the Ore Mountains (toy manufacture, carving and watch manufacture).

The affected areas were ecologically damaged as a result of the largely discontinued mining of lignite and uranium ore mining. The rehabilitation of the uranium mining areas, which began in 1990, is one of the world\'s largest environmental projects, together with that of the lignite mines.

Saxony still has high-yield crops and fruit growing. The wine-growing region of Saxony extends mainly in the Elbe valley around Meissen and Radebeul. Cattle breeding dominates in the upper mountains of Saxony.

The most important recreation areas are the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, Ore Mountains, Vogtland and the Saxon castle and heathland in the central Saxon hill country. Saxony is criss-crossed by a dense transport network, the expansion and new construction of which has been and is significantly improved since 1990. The largest railway junctions are Leipzig, Chemnitz and Dresden. There is inland shipping on the Elbe with ports in Torgau, Dresden and Riesa. International airports are Leipzig-Halle and Dresden.