Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of 18,450 square kilometres (7,124 sq mi), and the seventh most populous, with more than 4 million inhabitants. Together with Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, Saxony is one of the three states commonly associated with Central Germany.
The present-day state takes its name from the historic Electorate of Saxony and Kingdom of Saxony, though its territory represents only part of their former extent. Ruled for centuries by the House of Wettin, Saxony was among the most influential states of the Holy Roman Empire. It played a prominent role during the Protestant Reformation, particularly under Frederick the Wise, and later emerged as a major political and cultural centre within the German-speaking lands. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the kingdom ceded much of its territory to Prussia, establishing boundaries that broadly shaped the modern state.
During the 19th century, Saxony became one of the most densely industrialised regions in Europe, with major textile, engineering, and manufacturing industries. Following the Second World War, it formed part of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany and later the German Democratic Republic. The state was abolished in 1952 during administrative reforms in East Germany and re-established upon German reunification in 1990.
Saxony is noted for its historic towns and cities, long industrial tradition, and cultural institutions. Dresden's Baroque cityscape and art collections, Leipzig's musical traditions, and the Ore Mountains' mining heritage are among its most prominent cultural features. The state's economy is centred on manufacturing, particularly in the automotive, microelectronics, and mechanical engineering sectors. It is also home to several universities and research institutes.
History
Saxony has a long history as a duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire (the Electorate of Saxony), and finally as a kingdom (the Kingdom of Saxony). In 1918, after Germany's defeat in World War I, its monarchy was overthrown and a republican form of government was established under the current name. The state was broken up into smaller units during communist rule (1949–1989), but was re-established on 3 October 1990 on the reunification of East and West Germany.
Prehistory
In prehistoric times, the territory of present-day Saxony was the site of some of the largest of the ancient central European monumental temples, dating from the fifth millennium BC. Notable archaeological sites have been discovered in Dresden and the villages of Eythra and Zwenkau near Leipzig. The Germanic presence in the territory of today's Saxony is thought to have begun in the first century BC.
Parts of Saxony were possibly under the control of the Germanic King Marobod during the Roman empire era. By the late Roman period, several tribes known as the Saxons emerged, from which the subsequent state(s) draw their name.
Stem Duchy of Saxony
Since the late 6th century, the territory of modern-day Saxony and parts of Thuringia was populated by Polabian Slavs, most prominently the Sorbs. It was conquered by Francia and subsequently organized as the Sorbian March. A legacy of this period is the modern ethnic group of Sorbs in Saxony. Eastern and western parts of present Saxony were ruled by Bohemia at various times between 1075 and 1635 (with some intermissions), and Schirgiswalde (Upper Sorbian: Šěrachów; Czech: Šerachov) remained a Bohemian exclave until 1809. Eastern parts were also ruled by Poland between 1002 and 1032, by the Duchy of Jawor, the southwesternmost duchy of fragmented Piast-ruled Poland, from 1319 to 1346, and by Hungary from 1469 to 1490, and Pechern (Upper Sorbian: Pěchč) was part of the Duchy of Żagań, one of the Lower Silesian duchies formed in the course of the medieval fragmentation of Poland, remaining under the Piast dynasty until 1472.
The first medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy", which emerged around the start of the 8th century AD and grew to include the greater part of Northern Germany, what are now the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt. Saxons converted to Christianity during this period, with Charlemagne outlawing pagan practices. This geographical region is unrelated to present-day Saxony but the name moved southwards due to certain historical events (see below).
Holy Roman Empire
The territory of the Free State of Saxony became part of the Holy Roman Empire by the 10th century, when the dukes of Saxony were also kings (or emperors) of the Holy Roman Empire, comprising the Ottonian, or Saxon, dynasty. The Margravate of Meissen was founded in 985 as a frontier march, that soon extended to the Kwisa (Queis) river to the east and as far as the Ore Mountains. In the process of Ostsiedlung, settlement of German farmers in the sparsely populated area was promoted. Around this time, the Billungs, a Saxon noble family, received extensive lands in Saxony. The emperor eventually gave them the title of dukes of Saxony. After Duke Magnus died in 1106, causing the extinction of the male line of Billungs, oversight of the duchy was given to Lothar of Supplinburg, who also became emperor for a short time.
In 1137, control of Saxony passed to the Guelph dynasty, descendants of Wulfhild Billung, eldest daughter of the last Billung duke, and the daughter of Lothar of Supplinburg. In 1180 large portions west of the Weser were ceded to the Bishops of Cologne, while some central parts between the Weser and the Elbe remained with the Guelphs, becoming later the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The remaining eastern lands, together with the title of Duke of Saxony, passed to an Ascanian dynasty (descended from Eilika Billung, Wulfhild's younger sister) and were divided in 1260 into the two small states of Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. The former state was also named Lower Saxony, the latter Upper Saxony, thence the later names of the two Imperial Circles Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. Both claimed the Saxon electoral privilege for themselves, but the Golden Bull of 1356 accepted only Wittenberg's claim, with Lauenburg nevertheless continuing to maintain its claim. In 1422, when the Saxon electoral line of the Ascanians became extinct, the Ascanian Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg tried to reunite the Saxon duchies.
However, Sigismund, King of the Romans, had already granted Margrave Frederick IV the Warlike of Meissen (House of Wettin) an expectancy of the Saxon electorate in order to remunerate his military support. On 1 August 1425 Sigismund enfeoffed the Wettinian Frederick as Prince-Elector of Saxony, despite the protests of Eric V. Thus the Saxon territories remained permanently separated.
The Electorate of Saxony was then merged with the much larger Wettinian Margraviate of Meissen; however, it used the higher-ranking title Electorate of Saxony and even the Ascanian coat-of-arms for the entire monarchy. Thus Saxony came to include Dresden and Meissen. Hence, the territory of the modern Free State of Saxony shares the name with the old Saxon stem duchy for historical and dynastic reasons rather than any significant ethnic, linguistic or cultural connection. In the 18th and 19th centuries Saxe-Lauenburg was colloquially called the Duchy of Lauenburg, which was held in a personal union by the Electorate of Hanover from the 18th century to the Napoleonic wars, and in a personal union with Denmark (along with neighbouring Holstein and Schleswig) for much the 19th century. In 1876 it was absorbed into Prussia as the Duchy of Lauenburg district of the Province of Schleswig-Holstein).
Foundation of the second Saxon state
Saxe-Wittenberg, mostly in modern Saxony-Anhalt, became subject to the margravate of Meissen, ruled by the Wettin dynasty in 1423. This established a new and powerful state, occupying large portions of the present Free State of Saxony, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria (Coburg and its environs). Although the centre of this state was far to the southeast of the former Saxony, it came to be referred to as Upper Saxony and then simply Saxony, while the former Saxon territories in the north were now known as Lower Saxony (the modern term Niedersachsen deriving from this).
In 1485, Saxony was split in the Treaty of Leipzig. Ernest kept the Saxon electoral title (attached to the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg) and several domains in southern parts of Thuringia. The territories in Thuringia later developed into the Ernestine duchies. Since these princes were allowed to use the Saxon coat of arms, in many towns of Thuringia, the coat of arms can still be found in historical buildings. Albert received the Saxon ducal title and rule over the old Margraviate of Meissen, together with various domains in northern parts of Thuringia. He established Dresden as the capital of the newly established Duchy of Saxony.
Following the Imperial reform of 1500, both the Electorate and the Duchy of Saxony became part of the Saxon Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, and after the division of that circle in 1512 formed part of the Upper Saxon Circle.
As a result of the Capitulation of Wittenberg, the Electorate of Saxony and its core territory (the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg) passed from the elder Ernestine branch of the Saxon ruling House of Wettin, to the cadet Albertine branch, headed by duke Maurice, Duke of Saxony, who became the first Saxon prince-elector from the Albertine line.
In the 17th century, the Electorate of Saxony grew even more powerful, receiving Upper and Lower Lusatia in the Peace of Prague (1635). It also became known in the 18th century for its cultural achievements, although it was politically weaker than Prussia and Austria, states which oppressed Saxony from the north and south, respectively.
Between 1697 and 1763, two successive Electors of Saxony were also elected Kings of Poland in personal union. Many landmarks in Saxony date from this period and contain remnants of the former close Polish-Saxon relation, such as the coat of arms of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on the facades and in the interiors of palaces, churches, edifices, etc. (e.g. Zwinger, Dresden Cathedral, Moritzburg Castle), and on numerous mileposts, and the close political and cultural relationship persisted well into the 19th century, with Saxony being the place of preparations for the Polish Kościuszko Uprising against the partitioning powers, and one of the chief destinations for Polish refugees from partitioned Poland, including the artistic and political elite, such as composer Frédéric Chopin, war hero Józef Bem and writer Adam Mickiewicz.
In 1756, Saxony joined a coalition of Austria, France and Russia against Prussia. Frederick II of Prussia chose to attack preemptively and invaded Saxony in August 1756, precipitating the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War). The Prussians quickly defeated Saxony and incorporated the Saxon army into the Prussian Army. At the end of the Seven Years' War, Saxony recovered its independence in the 1763 Treaty of Hubertusburg.
19th century
In 1806, French Emperor Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire and established the Electorate of Saxony as a kingdom in exchange for military support. The Elector Frederick Augustus III accordingly became King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony. Frederick Augustus remained loyal to Napoleon during the wars that swept Europe in the following years; he was taken prisoner and his territories were declared forfeit by the allies in 1813, after the defeat of Napoleon. Prussia intended the annexation of Saxony but the opposition of Austria, France, and the United Kingdom to this plan resulted in the restoration of Frederick Augustus to his throne at the Congress of Vienna although he was forced to cede the northern part of the kingdom to Prussia, which led to the loss of nearly 60% of the Saxon territory, and 40% of its population. Most of these lands were merged with the Duchy of Magdeburg, the Altmark and some smaller territories to become the Prussian Province of Saxony, a predecessor of the modern state of Saxony-Anhalt. Lower Lusatia and part of the former Saxe-Wittenberg territory became part of the Province of Brandenburg and the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia became part of the Province of Silesia. The rump Kingdom of Saxony had roughly the same extent as the present state, albeit slightly smaller.
Meanwhile, in 1815, the Kingdom of Saxony joined the German Confederation. In the politics of the Confederation, Saxony was overshadowed by Prussia and Austria. King Anthony of Saxony came to the throne of Saxony in 1827. Shortly thereafter, liberal pressures in Saxony mounted and broke out in revolt during 1830—a year of revolution in Europe. The revolution in Saxony resulted in a constitution for the Kingdom of Saxony that served as the basis for its government until 1918.
During the 1848–49 constitutionalist revolutions in Germany, Saxony became a hotbed of revolutionaries, with anarchists such as Mikhail Bakunin and democrats including Richard Wagner and Gottfried Semper taking part in the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849. The May uprising in Dresden forced King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony to concede further reforms to the Saxon government.
In 1854 Frederick Augustus II's brother, King John of Saxony, succeeded to the throne. A scholar, King John translated Dante. King John followed a federalistic and pro-Austrian policy throughout the early 1860s until the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War. During that war, Prussian troops overran Saxony without resistance and then invaded Austrian Bohemia. After the war, Saxony was forced to pay an indemnity and to join the North German Confederation in 1867. Under the terms of the North German Confederation, Prussia took over control of the Saxon postal system, railroads, military and foreign affairs. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Saxon troops fought together with Prussian and other German troops against France. In 1871, Saxony joined the newly formed German Empire.
Saxony ranked as the most industrialised state in Europe by 1871, second only to Belgium. Census figures from that year recorded 52% of the population employed in industry and crafts and 10% in trade and transportation, with agriculture accounting for just 16%. The fifth largest state of the German Empire by area and third by population, it was the most densely populated state in Europe.
20th century
After King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony abdicated on 13 November 1918, Saxony, remaining a constituent state of Germany (Weimar Republic), became the Free State of Saxony under a new constitution enacted on 1 November 1920. In October 1923, when the Communist Party of Germany entered the Social Democratic-led government in Dresden with hidden revolutionary intentions, the Reich government under Chancellor Gustav Stresemann used a Reichsexekution to send troops into Saxony to remove the Communists from the government. The state retained its name and borders during the Nazi era as a Gau (Gau Saxony), but lost its quasi-autonomous status and its parliamentary democracy.
During World War II, under the secret Nazi programme Aktion T4, an estimated 15,000 people suffering from mental and physical disabilities, as well as a number of concentration camp inmates, were murdered at Sonnenstein killing centre near Pirna. Numerous subcamps of the Buchenwald, Flossenburg and Gross-Rosen concentration camps were operated in Saxony.
As the war drew to its end, U.S. troops under General George Patton occupied the western part of Saxony in April 1945, while Soviet troops occupied the eastern part. That summer, the entire state was handed over to Soviet forces as agreed in the London Protocol of September 1944. Britain, the US, and the USSR then negotiated Germany's future at the Potsdam Conference. Under the Potsdam Agreement, all German territory East of the Oder-Neisse line was annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union. During the following three years, Poland and Czechoslovakia expelled German-speaking people from their territories, and some of these expellees came to Saxony. Only a small area of Saxony lying east of the Neisse River and centred around the town of Reichenau (Bogatynia) was annexed by Poland.
Part of the former Prussian province of Lower Silesia lay west of the Oder-Neisse line and therefore was separated from the bulk of its former province; the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG) merged this territory into Saxony. This former Silesian territory broadly corresponded with the Upper Lusatian territory annexed by Prussia in 1815.
On 20 October 1946, SVAG organised elections for the Saxon state parliament (Landtag), but many people were arbitrarily excluded from candidacy and suffrage, and the Soviet Union openly supported the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The new minister-president Rudolf Friedrichs (SED), had been a member of the SPD until April 1946. He met his Bavarian counterparts in the U.S. zone of occupation in October 1946 and May 1947, but died suddenly in mysterious circumstances the following month. He was succeeded by Max Seydewitz, a loyal follower of Joseph Stalin.
The German Democratic Republic (East Germany), including Saxony, was established in 1949 out of the Soviet zone of Occupied Germany, becoming a constitutionally socialist state, part of COMECON and the Warsaw Pact, under the leadership of the SED. In 1952 the government abolished the Free State of Saxony, and divided its territory into three Bezirke: Leipzig, Dresden, and Karl-Marx-Stadt (formerly and currently Chemnitz). Areas around Hoyerswerda were also part of the Cottbus Bezirk.
The Free State of Saxony was reconstituted with slightly altered borders in 1990, following German reunification. Besides the formerly Silesian area of Saxony, which was mostly included in the territory of the new Saxony, the free state gained further areas north of Leipzig that had belonged to Saxony-Anhalt until 1952.
Geography
Saxony has a total area of 18,449.89 km², making it the 10th-largest of Germany's 16 states by land area. It is bordered by the German states of Brandenburg to the north, Saxony-Anhalt to the northwest, Thuringia to the west, and Bavaria to the southwest, while its southern and eastern boundaries form part of Germany's international borders with the Czech Republic and Poland. Its eastern frontier follows sections of the Neisse and Oder–Neisse line, which also constitutes the modern German–Polish border established after the Second World War.
Topography
Saxony spans a broad transition from the lowlands of the North German Plain in the north to upland and mountainous terrain along its southern border with the Czech Republic. This north–south gradient in relief is one of the defining features of the state's physical geography.
The northern part of Saxony lies within the glacially influenced lowlands of the southern edge of the North German Plain. It comprises the Leipzig Bay and much of the Lusatian region, where sandy soils, moraine deposits, and post-glacial landscape forms predominate. These areas were shaped primarily during the Pleistocene glaciations.
Northern Saxony is among the most fertile agricultural regions of eastern Germany, where loess-rich lowlands support intensive arable farming of crops such as wheat, barley, rapeseed, sugar beet, peas, and apples, while cattle farming and dairy farming are more prominent in the less fertile upland areas approaching the Ore Mountains, with forestry also contributing in parts of the region.
The region is traversed by the Elbe and its tributaries, which have shaped broad valley landscapes and floodplains. The Elbe enters Saxony from the south-east, passes through the Elbe Sandstone Mountains and the Dresden Basin, and continues north-westwards into Saxony-Anhalt. Major tributaries include the Mulde, White Elster, Spree, and Neisse rivers.
Southern Saxony is dominated by upland and low mountain ranges forming part of the Central Uplands. These include the Ore Mountains, the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, the Lusatian Mountains, and the Zittau Mountains. The Ore Mountains form much of the border with the Czech Republic and contain the highest elevations in the state. Saxony's highest point is the Fichtelberg at 1,215 metres (3,985 ft).
The Elbe Sandstone Mountains, commonly referred to as Saxon Switzerland, are noted for their deeply incised sandstone gorges, mesas, and isolated rock towers. Much of this landscape is protected within the Saxon Switzerland National Park.
Former and ongoing lignite mining in Lusatia (eastern Saxony) has significantly altered the regional landscape, with decommissioned open-cast mines increasingly being flooded and recultivated into artificial lake districts. In the Ore Mountains, centuries of mining activity have likewise produced a heavily modified cultural landscape.
Largest cities and towns
The largest cities and towns in Saxony according to the 31 July 2022 estimate are listed below. Leipzig forms a conurbation with Halle, known as Ballungsraum Leipzig/Halle. The latter city is located just across the border of Saxony-Anhalt. Leipzig shares, for instance, an S-train system (known as S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland) and an airport with Halle.
Politics
Saxony is a parliamentary democracy. The Minister President of Saxony heads the government of Saxony. Michael Kretschmer has been Minister President since 13 December 2017.
2024 state election
Members of the state government
2024 European Parliament election
In the 2024 European Parliament election, AfD received the highest percentage of votes in Saxony, winning 31.8% of the ballots. The other states where AfD has become the strongest party are Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Brandenburg. These four states were part of East Germany like Saxony. Compared to the last election, AfD increased their votes in Saxony which was 25.3% in the 2019 European Parliament election.
CDU/CSU received 21.8% of the votes in Saxony and became the second strongest party in the 2024 EP election. BSW was in the third place by receiving 12.6% of the votes. The Left lost a significant proportion of their votes compared to the 2019 election. Their votes regressed from 11.7% to 4.9%.
Federal politics
Saxony has 16 constituencies for the Bundestag.