Hanover

Hanover (: Hannover), officially the Kingdom of Hanover (: Königreich Hannover), is a sovereign state located in. It borders the to the north, south, and east, the  to the north, and the  to the west. As a, it is comprised of six  Landdrosten (high-bailiwicks; provinces), including the city-province of Hanover.

The state originated in 1692, with the establishment of the after the  by Emperor  of the. The name of its capital, Hanover, became synonymous with the electorate but it continued to use its official name of Brunswick-Lüneburg. When its prince-elector became king of  in 1714, the electorate gained the status of a  with the United Kingdom. The Electorate of Hanover initially remained neutral during the, as with the rest of the Holy Roman Empire, but was occupied by Brandenburg-Prussia following the in 1795, leaving in 1801. Troughout the next several years of the the Hanover region changed hands between the Prussians and.

In 1807 the established the, controlling much of Hanover, as a  of France, ruled by a relative of Napoleon,. It existed until 1813, providing troops to French campaigns, most notably. The Westphalian kingdom was occupied by forces and dissolved in 1813, and the  the following year restored the rule of the. In 1814, the Congress of Vienna not only reestablished the electorate but upgraded it to an independent. The new state was also greatly expanded, becoming the fourth-largest member of the German Confederation (after, , and ). King of Great Britain was made the King of Hanover, putting the country in a personal union again until the coronation of Queen  in 1837.

The kingdom continued to exist until the of 1866. Hanover first attempted to remain neutral, rejecting Prussian offers of annexing the nearby and. However when it supported the mobilization of Confederation troops against Prussia, the country declared war on Hanover and annexed it.