(East Elbia): Brandenburg (Potsdam, Berlin [1827-1843]); regions: [till 1821], Frankfurt and East Prussia (Königsberg in Prussia); regions: Gumbinnen and Königsberg Pomerania (Stettin); regions: Köslin, Stettin and Stralsund Posen (Posen), Grand Duchy of Posen until 1848; regions: Bromberg and Posen Silesia (Breslau); regions: , Liegnitz, Oppeln and [till 1820] West Prussia (Danzig); regions: Danzig and Marienwerder In 1829 the Province of Prussia was created by the merger of East Prussia and West Prussia, lasting until 1878 when they were again separated. Congruent with the Kingdom of Prussia proper (i.e. former Ducal and Royal Prussia), its territory, like the province of Posen, was not part of the German Confederation. Province of Prussia (Königsberg in Prussia); regions: Danzig, Gumbinnen, Königsberg and Marienwerder In 1850 the Province of Hohenzollern in Southern Germany, was created from the annexed principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Hohenzollern (Sigmaringen); region: Sigmaringen In 1866, following the Austro-Prussian War, Prussia annexed several German States that had been allied with Austria and, together with previously occupied Danish territory, organized them into three new provinces: Hanover (Hanover; constituted from the Kingdom of Hanover); regions: , Hanover, , Lüneburg, and Stade Hesse-Nassau (Kassel; constituted from the Free City of Frankfurt upon Main, Electorate of Hesse, Hesse-Homburg and the Duchy of Nassau); regions: Kassel and Wiesbaden Schleswig-Holstein (Kiel; constituted from the Duchy of Holstein and the Duchy of Schleswig); regions: Holstein (till 1868) and Schleswig; in 1876 Saxe-Lauenburg, a separate German state, was merged in. German Empire The outcome of the Austro-Prussian War put an end to the aspirations of a grand unified state consisting of all German-speaking states. Instead the North German Confederation was created under Prussian leadership. Following the Franco-Prussian War and the incorporation of the southern states of Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg into the confederation, the German Empire was proclaimed in 1871. From 1875 the provinces were bodies combining regional home rule through representatives delegated from each rural and urban district ( and ), forming the provincial diet () with a 6-year term, which elected from its midst a head of this self-administration, the Landesdirektor (with a 6 to 12-year term), and a provincial government (, ) as well as part of the superordinated overall Prussian royal administration, supervising - on a provincial range - the self-governing municipalities and counties as well as each governorate (, mere supervising bodies of the Prussian government). For this purpose, the respective Prussian minister of interior