Hesse

• D Darmstadt
• F Frankfurt (Main)
• K Kassel
• O Offenbach
• W Wiesbaden

The 21 districts and five independent cities are grouped in three administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke): Kassel, Gießen and Darmstadt.

History

In the early Middle Ages, Hesse was a part of Thuringia, but in the War of the Thuringian Succession (1247-64) Hesse gained its independence and became an Landgraviate within the Holy Roman Empire. It shortly rose to primary importance under Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous, who was one of the leaders of German Protestantism. After Philip's death in 1567, the territory was divided up among his four sons from his first marriage (Philipp was a bigamist) into four lines: Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Rheinfels and the also previously existing Hesse-Marburg. As the latter two lines died out quite soon (1583 and 1605, respectively), Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt were the two core states within the Hessian lands. Several collateral lines split off during the centuries, such as in 1622, when Hesse-Homburg split off from Hesse-Darmstadt. In the late 16th century, Kassel adopted Calvinism, while Darmstadt remained Lutheran and subsequently the two lines often found themselves on different sides of a conflict, most notably in the disputes over Hesse-Marburg and in the Thirty Years' War, when Darmstadt fought on the side of the Emperor, while Kassel sided with Sweden and France.

Hesse-Kassel was elevated to the dignity of an Electorate in 1803, but this remained without effect as the Holy Roman Empire was disbanded in 1806. The territory was annexed by the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1806, but restored to the Elector in 1813. While other Electors had gained other titles, becoming either Kings or Grand-dukes, the Elector of Hesse-Kassel alone retained the anachronistic dignity. The name survived in the term Kurhessen, denoting the region around Kassel. In 1866 it was annexed by Prussia, together with the Free City of Frankfurt, Hesse-Homburg and the duchy of Nassau, which established the province of Hesse-Nassau.

Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to the dignity of a Grand Duchy in 1806. In the War of 1866, it fought on the side of Austria against Prussia, but retained its autonomy in defeat, because a greater part of the country was situated south of the Main river and Prussia did not dare to expand beyond the Main line as this might have provoked France. But the parts of Hesse-Darmstadt north of the Main river (the region around the town of Gießen, commonly called Oberhessen) were incorporated in the Norddeutscher Bund, a tight federation of German states, established by Prussia in 1867. In 1871 the rest of the Grand Duchy joined the German Empire. Around the turn of the century, Darmstadt was one of the centres of the Jugendstil.

With the revolution of 1918 Hesse-Darmstadt became a republic, calling itself officially the "Volksstaat Hessen" (People's state Hesse). The parts of Hesse-Darmstadt on the left bank of the Rhine (province Rheinhessen) were occupied by French troops until 1930 under the terms of the Versailles peace treaty that officially ended WWI in 1919.

After World War II the Hessian territory left of the Rhine was again occupied by France, whereas the rest of the country was part of the US occupation zone. The French separated their part of Hesse from the rest of the country and incorporated it into the newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz). The US on the other side formed the state of Groß-Hessen (Greater Hesse) already in 1945, out of Hesse-Darmstadt and most of former Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. On the 4th of December 1946 Groß-Hessen was officially renamed Hessen.

See also Rulers of Hesse.

Name

The state is called Hessen in German and Hesse in English; the English name for the state was taken from French. An inhabitant of the state is a Hesse (masculine) or Hessin (feminine) in German and a Hessian in English (see Hessian troops). Occasionally the German term Hessen is also used in English. Hessia is another variant, although rarely used.

List of Hesse's Prime Ministers

1. 1945: Ludwig Bergstraesser
2. 1945 - 1946: Karl Geiler
3. 1946 - 1951: Christian Stock (SPD)
4. 1951 - 1969: Georg-August Zinn (SPD)
5. 1969 - 1976: Albert Osswald (SPD)
6. 1976 - 1987: Holger Börner (SPD)
7. 1987 - 1991: Walter Wallmann (CDU)
8. 1991 - 1999: Hans Eichel (SPD)
9. since 1999: Roland Koch (CDU)

February 2, 2003 state election

See also: Hessen state election, 2003

Roland Koch remained Minister-president of a CDU government. His former partner in coalition, the FDP, was not needed any more and went into opposition.

Image:2003 hessen landtag result.png

Death penalty

The death penalty is still mentioned under the constitution of Hesse, as the Hessian constitution was passed in 1946, when the death penalty still was part of the German penal code (and carried out as well). Because the 1949 federal constitution provides the abolition of the death penalty and because of the supremacy of the federal constitution, the Hessian constitutional articles still mentioning the death penalty are de facto obsolete, although no politician have yet proposed to formally abolish the death penalty in Hesse because that require a plebicite, and it has not been considered sure that Hessian voters will vote to abolish the death penalty.

External links

• official government portal
• Sixty years of modern Hessen (also an official site)
• portal about east part of hessen
• 360 degree virtual trip through the Rhön - part of eastern hessen

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