Saxony, with an area of 18,400 sq. km. and a population of 4.6 million, Saxony (German Sachsen) is the tenth largest in area but sixth in population among Germany's sixteen federal states. Created upon Germany's reunification in 1990, it occupies the approximate area of the former kingdom (1806-1918) of the same name. The capital is Dresden.
Anglo-Saxons were originally pagan. We inherit the days of the week because of them. Satuday, Sunday and Monday are in honour of Saturn, our Sun and the Moon. The Gods Tiw, Woden and Thor are honoured in Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is for Frig, Woden’s wife. In the early Middle Ages “Saxony” referred to a different region, occupying today's states of Lower Saxony and Bremen and the northern (Westphalian) part of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Saxons (Lat., Saxones) were originally a small tribe living on the North Sea between the Elbe and Eider Rivers in present day Schleswig-Holstein. Their name, derived from their weapon the Sax, a stone knife, which was first mentioned by the Roman author Claudius Ptolemæus (circa 130 AD). In the 3rd and 4th centuries the Saxons fought their way victoriously towards the west, and their name was given to the great tribal confederation that stretched towards the west exactly to the former boundary of the Roman Empire, almost to the Rhine. Only a small strip of land remained on the right bank of the Rhine belonging to the Frankish tribe. Along with the German tribe of Angles, a group of Saxons settled on the Island of Britain from which the Romans had withdrawn. The two tribes, after having accepted Christianity about 600, laid the foundation of Anglo-Saxon civilisation and the present Great Britain. However their settlement pushed the older British and Celtic inhabitants into the highlands.
The Saxon Revolution occurred in 1849 when the people heeded the “Battle cry of freedom” against the oppression imposed by the ruling Federal Party. The King of Saxony was unable to subdue the revolt, thus Prussian troops restored order by imprisoning and killing those fighting for liberty. Despite the revolution, Saxony was a leading country in the field of mechanical engineering through the early 1800’s.
Dresden's origins extend to at least the early 1200s, when the Margrave of Meißen built a castle near a fishing village. In 1489 it became the residence and capital of the Albertine line of Wettin rulers. The city burned in 1491 and was heavily damaged in the Seven Years' War in the 18th century and again during the Napoléonic wars. Historically one of the cultural centres of Europe, Dresden was almost totally destroyed by Allied bombing raids of 13-14th February 1945, during World War Two. The heart of the old city, on the south side of a bend in the Elbe River, has been reconstructed since the war. Nearby coalfields led to the industrialisation of Dresden in the late 19th century. Manufactured products include precision and optical instruments, radio and electrical equipment, hydroelectric generators, and X-ray and photographic equipment. Flowers and shrubs are grown for export. The world-famous Dresden china is made at nearby Meißen. The Central Institute for Nuclear Physics and the German Museum of Hygiene are also in Dresden. Protest demonstrations in Dresden in 1989 influenced the rapid political liberalisation in East Germany that preceded the reunification. In 2005, the population of Dresden was 489,700.
Leipzig is the capital of Leipzig district and one of Germany's larger cities. Leipzig grew during the 11th century around a castle in Saxony named Libzi. A major European intellectual and cultural centre, Leipzig lies at the junction of the Weisse Elster, Parthe, and Pleisse rivers in the middle of a broad plain at the crossing of two ancient trade routes. Its location made it a natural trade centre, and Leipzig established a great medieval fair. Today the annual Leipzig Trade Fair, a major forum for international trade, attracts many visitors. The city became the heart of the German book trade and won world fame as a music centre. It was the birthplace of Richard Wagner and the home of Robert Schumann and Johann Sebastian Bach. The University of Leipzig, founded in 1409, became a great centre of German education. In 1519, in the Leipzig Disputation, Martin Luther and John Eck held a public debate on Christian doctrine. Since suffering major damage in the Thirty Years' War, its industries include heavy constructional engineering and electrical, textile, clothing, chemical, and machine-tool enterprises. Leipzig is the focus of railway lines and major roads, and there are two airports. Napoléon Bonaparte was defeated here in October 1814 at the battle of Leipzig. Prussia, Russia and Austria won when Saxony deserted Napoléon. The battle inaugurated the final phase of Germany’s liberation. After the devastation of World War Two, the restoration and reconstruction of Leipzig and its political and social institutions were carried out under the Communist policies of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Weekly marches protesting Communist party rule and encouraging democracy in 1989 were at the forefront of the largely peaceful revolution that swept across Germany.