Editing History of Hesse (section)

== 20th century ==
[[File:Hessen1930.png|thumb|upright|[[People's State of Hesse]] and part of [[Hesse-Nassau]] in 1930]]
In 1918, [[Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse]], younger brother of the head of the house and a brother-in-law of Emperor [[William II, German Emperor|William II]], was elected by the pro-German [[Finland|Finnish]] government to be [[King of Finland]], but he never reigned.

In 1918, following the German defeat in [[World War I]] and [[German Revolution]], Hesse-Nassau became part of the [[Free State of Prussia]]. The last Grand Duke, Ernst Ludwig (a grandson of [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] and brother to Empress [[Alexandra of Hesse|Alexandra]] of Russia), was forced from his throne and the Grand Duchy of Hesse became the [[People's State of Hesse]] ({{lang|de|Volksstaat Hessen}}).

In 1929 [[Free State of Waldeck|Waldeck]] was incorporated into Hesse-Nassau ({{lang|de|[[Regierungsbezirk Kassel]]}}). The [[Rhine Province|Rhenish]] exclave of {{ill|Landkreis Wetzlar|lt=Wetzlar|de}}, which lay between Hesse-Nassau and [[Upper Hesse]], was also incorporated in 1932 (to {{lang|de|[[Regierungsbezirk Wiesbaden]]}}); at the same time the Hessian {{ill|Landkreis Grafschaft Schaumburg|lt=Schaumburg exclave|de}} passed to [[Province of Hanover|Hanover]].

Within [[Nazi Germany]] a parallel system of "{{lang|de|[[Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany|Gau]]e}}" was established; in Hesse there were two: {{lang|de|[[Gau Kurhessen]]}} (initially {{lang|de|Gau Hessen-Nassau-Nord}}) corresponded with {{lang|de|Regierungsbezirk Kassel}}, while {{lang|de|[[Gau Hessen-Nassau]]}} (initially {{lang|de|Gau Hessen-Nassau-Süd}}) covered both {{lang|de|Regierungsbezirk Wiesbaden}} and the People's State of Hesse. In 1944, the Province of Hesse-Nassau was divided into the Prussian provinces of [[Province of Kurhessen|Kurhessen]] and [[Province of Nassau|Nassau]], corresponding with the {{lang|de|Regierungsbezirke}} of Wiesbaden and Kassel respectively; Kassel's {{ill|Landkreis Herrschaft Schmalkalden|lt=Schmalkalden exclave|de}} (the former {{ill|Lordship of Schmalkalden|de|Herrschaft Schmalkalden}} which had been part of Hesse-Kassel since 1583 and before that a [[Condominium (international law)|condominium]] with [[House of Henneberg|Henneberg]] since 1360) passed to [[Thuringia]].

[[File:Map-GreaterHesse.svg|thumb|upright|[[Greater Hesse]] (dark orange) in [[Allied-occupied Germany]], 1945–1946]]
After [[World War II]] Kurhessen and most of Nassau and the People's State fell within the [[US occupation zone in Germany]], and were merged to form the state of [[Greater Hesse]] ({{langx|de|Großhessen}}). In 1946 Greater Hesse was reorganized into the modern [[State of Hesse]]. The People's State's [[Rhenish Hesse]] ({{lang|de|Rheinhessen}}) and the westernmost part of Nassau/Wiesbaden (which became {{lang|de|[[Regierungsbezirk Montabaur]]}}) on the other hand fell within the [[French occupation zone in Germany|French occupation zone]], where they became part of [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] from 1946.  [[Bad Wimpfen|(Bad) Wimpfen]] — an exclave of the People's State — became part of [[Württemberg-Baden]] (absorbed into [[Baden-Württemberg]] in 1952), {{ill|district of Sinsheim|de|Landkreis Sinsheim}}. The States of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg became federal states of [[West Germany]] in 1949.

In 1968, the head of the [[House of Hesse-Kassel]] became the head of the entire [[House of Hesse]] due to the extinction of the [[House of Hesse-Darmstadt]].