Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg

The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg was a northern German duchy in the Holy Roman Empire. Today the duchy is still active as a district (German: Keis) in the modern-day federal state of Schleswig-Holstein under the name Duchy of Lauenburg (German: Herzogtum Lauenburg).

Wars

 * The duchy was most notably involved in the Napoleonic Wars where it was annexed by the French Empire between 1803 and 1814, after which it regained it's independence.
 * Hamburg attacked the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg in 1393 to conquer the Ritzebüttel castle from the knights Lappe who had previously been the feudal lords ruling over parts of the Land Hadeln exclave of Saxe-Lauenburg. The war was won by Hamburg, which then seized the city and forced the lords to leave the territory. The rest of the exclave then fell into the de facto control of Hamburg until the peasants' revolted in 1456 and reestablished the de facto Peasants' republic of Land Hadeln as fully independent. The territory was finally annexed by the Kingdom of Hannover in 1763 while their royal family ruled over Saxe-Lauenburg.