Lübeck

Lübeck was an imperial free city on the Trave near the Baltic. It became the cradle and de facto capital of the Hanseatic League.

Lübeck's merchants led Hanseatic wars against Denmark, and the Peace of Stralsund in 1370 marked its height of power. Lübeck's intervention in the Count's Feud failed in 1534 to 1536, and the last Hanseatic diet met in 1669. Napoleon occupied the city in 1806 and annexed it in 1811; Vienna restored its freedom in 1815.