When a parent object with children is deleted, Hibernate normally generates many as SQL DELETE statements as children there are, (+1 for the parent).
This article discusses ways to avoid generating so many SQL statements.

Creating a bidirectional association on a list is a little different than using other bidirectional associations on collections.
This article explains why and gives a complete code and configuration example.

This shows an example log4j configuration file, which allows us to log the SQL statements generated by Hibernate.

Here I create the smallest possible web application using both Spring and Hibernate, and dissect what part is used for what.

Confused about the myriad of methods Hibernate uses to write things to the database?
I am too.
This article helps you understand when to use each one, and which ones to avoid.