Editing Hanover (section)

==History==
{{For timeline}}
{{see also|History of Hanover (region)}}

=== Early history ===
[[File:Leine at Hannover City.JPG|thumb|[[Leine]] river in Hanover, seen right of (1) the Beguine Tower and remnants of the city's medieval city wall that have been integrated into the [[Historisches Museum Hannover|Hanover Historical Museum]] and (2) the [[Leineschloss|Leine Palace]]]]
[[File:1641 erstmals veröffentlichter Kupferstich Hannover vom Nordosten, Matthäus Merian.jpg|thumb|right|upright=2|Illustration of Hanover by [[Matthäus Merian]],<ref>{{cite Q |Q127276178 |pages=1297–1298 |mode=cs1}}</ref> first issued 1641]]
Hanover was founded in medieval times on the east bank of the [[Leine]] River. Its original name ''Honovere'' may mean 'high river bank', but that is debated.{{cn |date=July 2024}} Hanover was a small village of ferrymen and fishermen that became a comparatively large town in the 13th century and received [[town privileges]] in 1241 because of its position at a natural crossroads. As overland travel was relatively difficult, its position on the upper navigable reaches of the river helped it grow from increasing trade. It was connected to the [[Hanseatic League]] city of [[Bremen]] by the Leine River and was situated near the southern edge of the wide [[North German Plain]] and northwest of the [[Harz]] mountains, so east–west traffic such as mule trains passed through it. Hanover was thus a gateway to the [[Rhine]], [[Ruhr (river)|Ruhr]] and [[Saar (river)|Saar]] river valleys, and their industrial areas which grew up to the southwest and the plains regions to the east and north for overland traffic skirting the Harz between the [[Low Countries]] and [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]] or [[Thuringia]].

In the 14th century, the main [[church (building)|churches]] of Hanover were built, as well as a [[defensive wall|city wall]] with three city gates. The beginning of industrialization in Germany led to trade in iron and silver from the northern [[Harz Mountains]], which increased the city's importance.

In 1636 [[George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg]], ruler of the [[Brunswick-Lüneburg]] [[principality of Calenberg]], moved his residence to Hanover. The Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg were elevated by the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] to the rank of [[Prince-Elector]] in 1692, which was confirmed by the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] in 1708. Thus, the principality was upgraded to the [[Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg]], colloquially known as the [[Electorate of Hanover]] after Calenberg's capital (see also [[House of Hanover]]). Its electors later became monarchs of [[Great Britain]] (and from 1801 of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]). The first of them was [[George I of Great Britain|George I Louis]], who acceded to the British throne in 1714. The last British monarch who reigned in Hanover was [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]]. [[Semi-Salic law]], which required succession by the male line if possible, forbade the accession of [[Queen Victoria]] in Hanover. As a male-line descendant of George I, Queen Victoria was herself a member of the House of Hanover. Her descendants, however, bore her husband's titular name of [[Saxe-Coburg-Gotha]]. Three kings of Great Britain, or the United Kingdom, were concurrently also [[prince-elector|Electoral Princes]] of Hanover.

During the time of the personal union of the crowns of the United Kingdom and Hanover (1714–1837), the monarchs rarely visited the city. In fact during the reigns of the last three joint rulers (1760–1837), there was only one short visit, by [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]] in 1821. From 1816 to 1837, [[Viceroy]] [[Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge|Adolphus]] represented the monarch in Hanover.

During the [[Seven Years' War]], the [[Battle of Hastenbeck]] was fought near the city on 26 July 1757. The French army defeated the [[Hanoverian Army of Observation]], which led to the city's occupation as part of the [[Invasion of Hanover (1757)|Invasion of Hanover]]. It was recaptured by Anglo-German forces, led by [[Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick|Ferdinand of Brunswick]], the following year.

===19th century===
[[File:Hannover Georgstraße mit Theater (um 1895).jpg|thumb|Am [[Kröpcke]], 1895]]
[[File:Hannover Schloss zu Herrenhausen (um 1895).jpg|thumb|right|Schloss [[Herrenhausen Gardens|Herrenhausen]], 1895]]
After [[Napoleon I|Napoleon]] imposed the [[Convention of Artlenburg]] (treaty of the Elbe) on 5 July 1803, about 35,000 French soldiers occupied Hanover. The convention also required disbanding the [[Hanoverian Army]]. However, [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] did not recognise the Convention of the Elbe, which resulted in a great number of soldiers from Hanover eventually emigrating to Great Britain, where the [[King's German Legion]] was formed. It was only troops from Hanover and [[Black Brunswickers|Brunswick]] who consistently opposed France throughout the Napoleonic Wars. The Legion later played an important role in the [[Peninsular War]] and the [[Battle of Waterloo]] in 1815. In 1814 the electorate became the [[Kingdom of Hanover]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/countries/hanover|title=A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Hanover|publisher=Office of the Historian: US Government|access-date=10 January 2022|archive-date=14 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114211056/https://history.state.gov/countries/hanover|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1837, the [[personal union]] of the United Kingdom and Hanover ended because [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]]'s heir in the United Kingdom was female ([[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]]). Hanover could be inherited only by male heirs. Thus, Hanover passed to William IV's brother, [[Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover|Ernest Augustus]], and remained a kingdom until 1866, when it was annexed by the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] during the [[Austro-Prussian War|Austro-Prussian war]]. Though Hanover was expected to defeat Prussia at the [[Battle of Langensalza (1866)|Battle of Langensalza]] in 1866, Prussia employed [[Prussian Army#Moltke the Elder|Moltke the Elder's Kesselschlacht order of battle]] to and destroyed the Hanoverian Army. Thereafter the city of Hanover became the capital of the Prussian [[Province of Hanover]].<ref>[[Heinrich Friedjung]], ''The Struggle for Supremacy in Germany 1859-1866'' (New York: Russell & Russell, 1897), p. 207</ref>

In 1872, the first [[Horsecar|horse railway]] was inaugurated, and in 1893, an electric [[tram]] was installed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historic B&W photos of Hanover, Germany (19th century) |url=https://monovisions.com/hanover-germany-circa-1890s-19th-century-vintage-historic-photos/ |website=monovisions.com |publisher=MonoVisions Black & White Photography Magazine |access-date=2024-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521235746/https://monovisions.com/hanover-germany-circa-1890s-19th-century-vintage-historic-photos/ |archive-date=2024-05-21 |date=2016-04-21 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Better source|date=August 2024}}

A local newspaper, the ''Hannoverscher Kurier'', was published in Hanover at this time.

===Nazi era===
[[File:Hannover Synagogenmahnmal.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Synagogue site]]
After 1937 the [[Oberbürgermeister|lord mayor]] and the state commissioners of Hanover were members of the [[Nazi Party|NSDAP]] (Nazi party). A large [[German Jews|Jewish population]] then existed in Hanover. In October 1938, 484 Hanoverian Jews of Polish origin were expelled to Poland, including the [[Herschel Grynszpan|Grynszpan family]]. However, Poland refused to accept them, leaving them stranded at the border with thousands of other Polish-Jewish deportees, fed only intermittently by the Polish [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|Red Cross]] and Jewish welfare organisations. The Grynszpans' son [[Herschel Grynszpan]] was in Paris at the time. When he learned of what was happening, he drove to the German embassy in Paris and shot the German diplomat Eduard [[Ernst vom Rath]], who died shortly afterwards.<ref name=book-on-grynszpan>{{cite book|last=Schwab|first=Gerald|title=The Day the Holocaust Began: The Odyssey of Herschel Grynszpan|year=1990|publisher=Praeger|page=14}}</ref>

The Nazis took this act as a pretext to stage a nationwide pogrom known as [[Kristallnacht]] (9 November 1938).<ref name="kristal">{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005201 | title=Kristallnacht: A Nationwide Pogrom, November 9–10, 1938 | publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia | access-date=30 June 2015 | archive-date=15 September 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915232439/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005201 | url-status=live }}</ref> On that day, the [[synagogue]] of Hanover, designed in 1870 by [[Edwin Oppler]] in [[Neo-romanticism|neo-romantic]] style, was burnt by the Nazis.

====World War II====
In September 1941, through the "Action Lauterbacher" plan, a [[ghetto]]isation of the remaining Hanoverian Jewish families began. Even before the [[Wannsee Conference]], on 15 December 1941, the first Jews from Hanover were deported to [[Riga]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Deutsch-jüdische Geschichte der Neuzeit. Band IV |publisher=C.H. Beck |author=Meyer, Michael |year=2000 |location=Munich |isbn=3-406-39705-0 |language=de}}</ref> A total of 2,400 people were deported, and very few survived. During the war seven [[concentration camps]] were constructed in Hanover, in which many Jews were confined,<ref>{{cite book |title=Konzentrationslager in Hannover - KZ-Arbeit und Rüstungsindustrie in der Spätphase des Zweiten Weltkriegs |publisher=August Lax |author=Fröbe, Rainer |year=1989 |location=Hildesheim |isbn=3-7848-2422-6}}</ref> but also [[Polish people|Polish]], [[French people|French]] and [[Russians|Russian]] women.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/en/history/satellite-camps/satellite-camps/hannover-langenhagen/|title=Hannover-Langenhagen|website=KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme|access-date=24 October 2023|archive-date=28 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028232120/https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/en/history/satellite-camps/satellite-camps/hannover-langenhagen/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/en/history/satellite-camps/satellite-camps/hannover-limmer/|title=Hannover-Limmer|website=KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme|access-date=24 October 2023|archive-date=3 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303142044/https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/en/history/satellite-camps/satellite-camps/hannover-limmer/|url-status=live}}</ref> Of the approximately 4,800 Jews who had lived in Hanover in 1938, fewer than 100 were still in the city when troops of the United States Army arrived on 10 April 1945 to occupy Hanover at the end of the war.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} Today, a memorial at the Opera Square is a reminder of the persecution of the Jews in Hanover. 
After the war a large group of [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] survivors of the nearby [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]] settled in Hanover.<ref name="lexikon">{{cite book |title='Stadtlexikon Hannover: Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart' |publisher=Schlütersche |author=Mlynek, Klaus |year=2009 |location=Hannover |pages=17 |language=de}}</ref>

There was also a camp for [[Sinti]] and [[Romani people]] (see ''[[Romani Holocaust]]''),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1776|title=Lager für Sinti und Roma Hannover|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=24 October 2023|language=de|archive-date=28 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028232116/https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1776|url-status=live}}</ref> and dozens of [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] subcamps of the [[Stalag XI-B]] [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camp]] for [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] POWs.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Megargee|first1=Geoffrey P.|last2=Overmans|first2=Rüdiger|last3=Vogt|first3=Wolfgang|year=2022|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|page=465|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref>

[[File:Aegidienkirche Hannover.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Aegidienkirche, Hanover|Aegidienkirche]] was not rebuilt and its ruins were kept as a WWII memorial.]]

{{Main|Bombing of Hanover in World War II}}
[[File:1943 WWII map of Hannover, Germany.jpg|thumb|right|WWII map of Hanover in 1943]]
As an important railway and [[Junction (road)|road junction]] and production centre, Hanover was a major target for [[strategic bombing during World War II]], including the [[Oil Campaign of World War II|Oil Campaign]]. Targets included the [[VARTA|AFA]] ([[Herrenhausen|Stöcken]]), the [[Oil Campaign of World War II|Deurag-Nerag]] refinery ([[Misburg]]), the [[Continental AG|Continental]] plants ([[Vahrenwald]] and [[Linden-Limmer|Limmer]]), the United light metal works (VLW) in [[Ricklingen]] and [[Laatzen]] (today [[Hanover fairground]]), [[Oil Campaign of World War II#References|the Hanover/Limmer rubber reclamation plant]], the [[Hanomag]] factory ([[Linden-Limmer|Linden]]) and the tank factory ''M.N.H. Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen'' (Badenstedt). Residential areas were also targeted, and more than 6,000 civilians were killed by the Allied bombing raids. More than 90% of the city centre was destroyed in a total of 88 bombing raids.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hannover.de/de/kultur_freizeit/geschichte/geschichte_/Stadt_Hannover/gesch_zah/gesch_za3.html |title=History of Hanover 1866-1945, official web site of the city |language=de |publisher=Hannover.de |access-date=7 April 2011 |archive-date=15 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615131140/http://www.hannover.de/de/kultur_freizeit/geschichte/geschichte_/Stadt_Hannover/gesch_zah/gesch_za3.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> After the war, the [[Aegidienkirche, Hanover|Aegidienkirche]] was not rebuilt and its ruins were left as a war memorial. Today around 25% of the city consists of buildings from before 1950.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://zensus2011.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Publikationen/Aufsaetze_Archiv/2015_12_NI_GWZ_endgueltig.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2024-06-05 |archive-date=2024-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329165923/https://zensus2011.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Publikationen/Aufsaetze_Archiv/2015_12_NI_GWZ_endgueltig.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Hanover in April 1945.<ref>{{cite video |year=1945|title=Video: Allies Overrun Germany Etc. (1945) |url=https://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.39165 |publisher=[[Universal Newsreel]] |access-date=21 February 2012}}</ref> The US [[84th Infantry Division (United States)|84th Infantry Division]] captured the city on 10 April 1945.<ref>Stanton, Shelby, ''World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939-1946'' (Revised Edition, 2006), [[Stackpole Books]], p. 156.</ref><ref>{{cite Q |Q131294498 |page=775 |mode=cs1}}</ref>

===Post-war===
Hanover was in the British zone of occupation of Germany and became part of the new [[States of Germany|state (Land)]] of [[Lower Saxony]] in 1946. In 1947, Hanover established its relationship with [[Bristol|Bristol, England]] in exchanges of goods, students and music. This would link the two cities as models for establishing programs and organizations like [[Sister Cities International]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cremer |first1=Rolf D. |last2=De Bruin |first2=Anne |last3=Dupuis |first3=Ann |date=January 2001 |title=International Sister-Cities: Bridging the Global-Local Divide |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1536-7150.00066 |journal=The American Journal of Economics and Sociology |language=en |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=377–401 |doi=10.1111/1536-7150.00066 |issn=0002-9246}}</ref> 

Today Hanover is a vice-president city of [[Mayors for Peace]], an international mayoral organisation mobilising cities and citizens worldwide to abolish and eliminate nuclear weapons by 2020.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.2020visioncampaign.org |title=Mayors for Peace |publisher=2020visioncampaign.org |access-date=7 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110418083236/http://www.2020visioncampaign.org/ |archive-date=18 April 2011 }}</ref>