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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.
It became a free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War I and the abdication of King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony. Its capital was the city of Dresden , and its modern successor state is the Free State of Saxony .
The Kingdom of Saxony was the fifth state of the German Empire in area and third in population; in 1905 the average population per square mile was 778.8. Saxony was the most densely peopled state of the empire, and indeed of all Europe; the reason was the very large immigration on account of the development of manufactures.
The duchy became part of the Prussian-led North German Confederation in 1867 and finally the German Empire in 1871. Following Germany's defeat in World War I, Anhalt became the Free State of Anhalt while the Province of Saxony continued as a constituent of the Free State of Prussia (both within the Weimar Republic).
The Electorate of Saxony then became the Kingdom of Saxony. The Electorate of Saxony had a diversified economy and a high level of prosperity, although it suffered major setbacks during and following both the Thirty Years' War of 1618–1648 and the Seven Years' War of 1756–1763.
In mid-January 772, the sacking and burning of the church of Deventer by a Saxon expedition was the casus belli for the first war waged by Charlemagne against the Saxons. It began with a Frankish invasion of Saxon territory and the subjugation of the Engrians and destruction of their sacred symbol Irminsul near Paderborn in 772 or 773 at Eresburg.
The old Saxon coats of arms today lives on in the coats of arms of Lower Saxony and Westphalia.. The original Duchy of Saxony comprised the lands of the Saxons in the north-western part of present-day Germany, namely, the contemporary German state of Lower Saxony as well as Westphalia and Western Saxony-Anhalt, not corresponding to the modern German state of Saxony.
The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories: the Prussian lands which lay immediately to the (south-)west of the Havel river; those which lay beyond the Elbe – the Altmark, Principality of Halberstadt and County of Wernigerode and the western part of the Duchy of Magdeburg – had been part of the Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813 but had since been regained