Established October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, restoring George III (as King) to his Hanoverian lands after the Napoleonic era; succeeded the Electorate of Hanover and joined the German Confederation in 1815. Ruled in personal union with Great Britain until 1837, when Salic law forced separate succession (Victoria could not inherit Hanover).
Annexed by Prussia in 1866 after backing Austria in the Austro-Prussian War (Hanover was on the losing side and its king, George V, refused Prussian ultimatums); absorbed as the Prussian Province of Hanover.
The standard modern account of the 1866 war whose Prussian victory ended Hanover's independence.