Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was created in 1701, when the Duchy of Mecklenburg was divided between Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II, giving the former the western territory around Schwerin and the latter the new Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Ruled by the Nikloting dynasty, it remained a state of the Holy Roman Empire on the Baltic coast between Holstein and Pomerania. The duchy was occupied by Wallenstein's forces during the Thirty Years' War, and in the eighteenth century conflicts between duke and nobility produced constitutional struggles; the Convention of Rostock in 1755 concentrated power in the duke, the nobility and the upper classes. In 1806 French troops occupied the duchy, and in 1808 it joined the Confederation of the Rhine. After Napoleon's defeat it left the Confederation, and the Congress of Vienna raised its ruler to grand duke in 1815, creating the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The grand duchy survived until the abdication of its last ruler in 1918. Schwerin was its capital.