kingdom of prussia

[19] He was an accomplished flute player. In January 1656, during the first phase of the Second Northern War (1654–1660), he received the duchy as a fief from the Swedish king who later granted him full sovereignty in the Treaty of Labiau (November 1656). Mostly, the name is used for the Kingdom of Prussia, which was in northern Europe. The Kingdom of Prussia has existed since 1525. Also, the southeast portion of Silesia (Upper Silesia) had a Polish majority. Prussian monarchs, beginning with Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg opened the country to the fleeing French Calvinist refugees. Prussia was a historically prominent German state that originated in 1525 with a duchy centered on the region of Prussia on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. The majority of the Prussian population was Lutheran, although there were dispersed Reformed minorities in central and western parts of the state especially Brandenburg, Rhineland, Westphalia and Hesse-Nassau. He turned out to be a man of limited experience, narrow and reactionary views, poor judgment, and occasional bad temper, which alienated former friends and allies. However, the existence of these treaties was kept secret until Bismarck made them public in 1867 when France tried to acquire Luxembourg. The Kingdom of Prussia was a European state that existed from 1701 to 1918. [21] The First Silesian War (1740–1742) and the Second Silesian War (1744–1745) have, historically, been grouped together with the general European war called the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748). He retained full executive authority and ministers were responsible only to him. The prime minister of Prussia was, except for two brief periods (January–November 1873 and 1892–94), also imperial chancellor. For instance, a Prussian prime minister could only be forced out of office if there was a "positive majority" for a potential successor[citation needed]. In 1225 he expelled them, and they transferred their operations to the Baltic Sea area. [28] The Prussian education system was emulated in various countries, including the United States. This conservative document provided for a two-house parliament. The Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) began when the Prussian Confederation, a coalition of Hanseatic cities of western Prussia, rebelled against the Order and requested help from the Polish king, Casimir IV Jagiellon. In the 13th century, however, the Prussians were conquered and Christianized by the German-speaking knights of the Teutonic Order, which had been awarded Prussian lands by the Polish duke Conrad of Mazovia for help against Prussian incursions. The Bundesrat was, in practice, the stronger chamber. Unlike its authoritarian pre-1918 predecessor, Prussia from 1918 to 1932 was a promising democracy within Germany. [37], In contrast to its pre-war authoritarianism, Prussia was a pillar of democracy in the Weimar Republic. Not all of the Kingdom falls within the Holy Roman Empire, so there is also an internal border to mark the boundary. Almost all of Germany's territorial losses, specified in the Treaty of Versailles, were areas that had been part of Prussia: Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium; North Schleswig to Denmark; the Memel Territory to Lithuania; the Hultschin area to Czechoslovakia. Hailed by Voltaire as “the philosopher king” personifying the Enlightenment and its ideal of peace, Frederick astonished Europe within seven months of his accession to the throne by invading Silesia in December 1740. East Prussia became an exclave, only reachable by ship (the Sea Service East Prussia) or by a railway through the Polish corridor. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, a state of Germany from 1918 until 1933. Former eastern territories of Germany that made up a significant part of Prussia lost the majority of their German population after 1945 as the People's Republic of Poland and the Soviet Union both absorbed these territories and had most of its German inhabitants expelled by 1950. The expansion of Prussia based on its connection with the Hanseatic League cut both Poland and Lithuania off from the coast of the Baltic Sea and trade abroad. Besides Silesia, Frederick also acquired East Frisia on the North Sea coast, and later, at the First Partition of Poland in 1772, he obtained West Prussia, that is, Polish Royal Prussia, thus forming a territorial link between East (Ducal) Prussia and the rest of his domains to the west. Omissions? [36], The East Prussian Otto Braun, who was Prussian minister-president almost continuously from 1920 to 1932, is considered one of the most capable Social Democrats in history. When the Frankfurt Parliament offered Frederick William the crown of a united Germany, he refused on the grounds that he would not accept a crown from a revolutionary assembly without the sanction of Germany's other monarchs. Prussian deportations (Polenausweisungen) were the mass expulsions of ethnic Poles between 1885 and 1890. But in the Peace of Prague in 1866, Prussia annexed four of Austria's allies in northern and central Germany—Hanover, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Nassau and Frankfurt. [45] Frederick William's testament would have divided Brandenburg-Prussia among his sons, but his firstborn son Frederick III (I), with the emperor's backing, succeeded in becoming the sole ruler based on the Treaty of Gera of 1599, which forbade a division of Hohenzollern territories. 46, which was accepted and implemented by the Allied Control Council on 25 February 1947, Prussia was officially proclaimed to be dissolved.[41]. The name "Prussian" has had a lot of different meanings in the past and now: The land of the Baltic Prussians; The lands of the … Richard Cavendish | Published in History Today Volume 51 Issue 1 January 2001 There was also a two-house parliament. Prussia - Prussia - The kingdom from 1815 to 1918: The reforming impulse flagged after 1815. Moreover, the railway surpluses substituted for the development of an adequate tax system.[34]. [43], To reduce the influence of the Estates, in 1604, Joachim Frederick created a council called Geheimer Rat für die Kurmark ("Privy Council for the Electorate", which instead of the Estates would function as the supreme advisory council for the elector. Albert I, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern became a Lutheran Protestant and secularized the Order's Prussian territories. [citation needed]. The number of casualties is estimated 2 to 4 million, including those who fled the Soviet army during the last months of the war before the treaty. One year later, in 1957, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation was established and implemented by federal statutes in West Germany in response to a ruling from the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. Prussia is a German country located in Central Europe. [52] In Protestant regions, writes Nipperdey: Much of religious life was often conventional and superficial by any normal, human standard. While Hanover hoped in vain for help from Britain (as they had previously been in personal union), Britain stayed out of a confrontation with a continental great power and Prussia satisfied its desire for merging the once separate territories and gaining strong economic and strategic power, particularly from the full access to the resources of the Ruhr. [51] Other minorities were Jews, Danes, Frisians, Dutchmen, Kashubians (72,500 in 1905), Masurians (248,000 in 1905), Lithuanians (101,500 in 1905), Walloons, Czechs, Kursenieki, and Sorbs. Bismarck desired Austria as an ally in the future, and so he declined to annex any Austrian territory. King Frederick William I of Prussia welcoming the expelled Salzburg Protestants. In 1871, due to the efforts of Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, most German principalities were united into the German Empire under Prussian leadership, although this was considered to be a "Lesser Germany" because Austria and Switzerland were not included. [47] Due to Frederick William I's reforms, the state income increased threefold during his reign,[44] and the tax burden per subject reached a level twice as high as in France. Prussia, deemed a bearer of militarism and reaction by the Allies, was officially abolished by an Allied declaration in 1947. Many of the areas Prussia annexed in the partitions of Poland, such as the Provinces of Posen and West Prussia, as well as eastern Upper Silesia, went to the Second Polish Republic. The area was perfectly suited to the large-scale raising of wheat. With Prussia, the Brandenburg Hohenzollern dynasty now held a territory free of any feudal obligations, which constituted the basis for their later elevation to kings. After the Livonian Brothers of the Sword joined the Teutonic Order in 1237, the Order also controlled Livonia (now Latvia and Estonia). Under the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, the state lost about one-third of its area, including the areas gained from the second and third Partitions of Poland, which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw. The nationalisation of the railways slowed the economic development of Prussia because the state favoured the relatively backward agricultural areas in its railway building. The Second Peace of Thorn (1466) split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the eastern part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia, a fief of the Crown of Poland up to 1657. These early Prussians were related to the Latvians and Lithuanians and lived in tribes in the then heavily forested region between the lower Vistula and Neman rivers. In practice, Prussia's relationship with the rest of the empire was somewhat confusing. In 1740, Prussian troops crossed over the undefended border of Silesia and occupied Schweidnitz. In exchange, Prussia withdrew from areas of central Poland to allow the creation of Congress Poland under Russian sovereignty. Frederick William I went to Warsaw in 1641 to render homage to King Władysław IV Vasa of Poland for the Duchy of Prussia, which was still held in fief from the Polish crown. Thereafter until 1701 this territory (i.e., East Prussia) was known as Ducal Prussia. Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI had died on 20 October 1740. Prussia became a safe haven in much the same way that the United States welcomed immigrants seeking freedom in the 19th century. A map of the Kingdom of Prussia, within the Holy Roman Empire, and within Europe, circa 1789. The Prussian lands transferred to Poland after the Treaty of Versailles were re-annexed during World War II. Nevertheless, some Prussian ministries were kept and Hermann Göring remained in his role as Minister President of Prussia until the end of World War II. Prussia[a] was a historically prominent German state that originated in 1525 with a duchy centered on the region of Prussia on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. As a result of these territorial gains, Prussia now stretched uninterrupted across the northern two-thirds of Germany and contained two-thirds of Germany's population. As a sideshow in this war, Prussia defeated Hanover in the Battle of Langensalza (1866). As a symbol of vassalage, Albert received a standard with the Prussian coat of arms from the Polish king. In Berlin, they built and worshipped at their own church called the French Cathedral on Gendarmenmarkt. His autocratic temperament and his fanatical addiction to work found expression in complete absolutism. The 1850 Prussian Constitution established a two-chamber parliament. [10] This meant that Poland and Lithuania would be traditional enemies of Prussia, which was still called the Teutonic Knights.[11]. The lower house, or Landtag was elected by all taxpayers, who were divided into three classes whose votes were weighted according to the amount of taxes paid. In the wake of the Reformation, Prussia was dominated by two major Protestant confessions: Lutheranism and Calvinism. The process of army reform ended in 1813 with the introduction of compulsory military service for men. However, the democratic parties in coalition remained a majority, while Communists and Nazis were in the opposition. Prussia's near-total control over the confederation was secured in the constitution drafted for it by Bismarck in 1867. With his Ems Dispatch, Bismarck took advantage of an incident in which the French ambassador had approached William. [9] The rise of early Prussia was based on the raising and selling of wheat. Danzig became the Free City of Danzig under the administration of the League of Nations. In May 1939 Prussia had an area of 297,007 km2 and a population of 41,915,040 inhabitants. To his son and successor, Frederick II (the Great), he left the best-trained army in Europe, a financial reserve of 8,000,000 thalers, productive domains, provinces developed through large-scale colonization (particularly East Prussia), and a hardworking, thrifty, conscientious bureaucracy. Brandenburg and Prussia united two generations later. Prussia received significant Huguenot population after the issuing of the Edict of Fontainebleau by Louis XIV of France and the following dragonnades. The Knights of the Teutonic Order were subordinate to the papacy and to the emperor. The upper house, which was later renamed the Herrenhaus ("House of Lords"), was appointed by the king. The Treaty of Melno defined the final border between Prussia and the adjoining Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1422. The Kingdom of Denmark was at the time in personal union with the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, both of which had close ties with each other, although only Holstein was part of the German Confederation. Frederick William I endowed the Prussian state with its military and bureaucratic character. Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern were later merged with Baden to create the state of Baden-Württemberg. The Rise of the Junkers in Brandenburg-Prussia, 1410-1653: Part 1. The union of Ducal Prussia with Brandenburg was fundamental to the rise of the Hohenzollern monarchy to the rank of a great power in Europe. The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom that existed between 1701 and 1918 and was the leading state of the German Empire. During this period a coalition of centre-left parties ruled, predominantly under the leadership (1920–1932) of East Prussian Social Democrat Otto Braun. [17], Frederick I was succeeded by his son, Frederick William I (1713–1740), the austere "Soldier King", who did not care for the arts but was thrifty and practical. This allowed just over one-third of the voters to choose 85% of the legislature, all but assuring dominance by the more well-to-do men of the population. One small movement that signaled a desire for German unification in this period was the Burschenschaft student movement, by students who encouraged the use of the black-red-gold flag, discussions of a unified German nation, and a progressive, liberal political system. [51] In 1914, Prussia had an area of 354,490 km2. [46] As in Brandenburg, Frederick William ignored the privilege of the Prussian Estates to confirm or veto taxes raised by the elector: while in 1656, an Akzise was raised with the Estates' consent, the elector by force collected taxes not approved by the Prussian Estates for the first time in 1674. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Suum cuique ("to each, his own"), the motto of the Order of the Black Eagle created by King Frederick I in 1701, was often associated with the whole of Prussia. Prussia's first constitution dated from 1848. These territorial gains also meant the doubling of Prussia's population. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Rainer Fremdling, "Freight Rates and State Budget: The Role of the National Prussian Railways 1880–1913,", Grundriss der Statistik. Prussia was proclaimed a "Free State" (i.e. The controversy with the Second French Empire over the candidacy of a Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne was escalated both by France and Bismarck. As a result, the grip of the landowning classes, the Junkers, remained unbroken, especially in the eastern provinces.[33]. He introduced a general civil code, abolished torture and established the principle that the Crown would not interfere in matters of justice. [26], Frederick the Great, from 1772 the first "King of Prussia",[27] practised enlightened absolutism. [51] In 1910, the population had increased to 40.17 million (62% of the Empire's population). This page was last … Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Officially, the German Empire was a federal state. Instead of lowering rates as far as possible, the government ran the railways as a profitmaking endeavour, and the railway profits became a major source of revenue for the state. Konrad I, the Polish duke of Masovia, had unsuccessfully attempted to conquer pagan Prussia in crusades in 1219 and 1222. Frederick William III promised in May 1815 to introduce a constitution but failed to carry out his promise, and the army lost much of its new spirit. When Albert’s son and successor, Albert Frederick, died sonless in 1618, the duchy passed to his eldest daughter’s husband, the Hohenzollern elector of Brandenburg, John Sigismund. From this time the Duchy of Prussia was in personal union with the Margraviate of Brandenburg. By the Second Treaty of Toruń (1466) the Polish crown acquired direct sovereignty over the Teutonic Order’s former possessions to the west of the lower Vistula River, together with the Kulmerland (or Chełmno district) and Ermland (Warmia) to the east; and that part of Prussia east of the Vistula River (i.e., East Prussia) was left to the order only on condition that the grand, or high, master should hold it as fief of the Polish crown. However, most of this territory was not reintegrated back into Prussia but assigned to separate Gaue of Danzig-West Prussia and Wartheland during much of the duration of the war. In 1925, 64.9% of the Prussian population was Protestant, 31.3% was Roman Catholic, 1.1% was Jewish, 2.7% was placed in other religious categories. This concept, known as the constructive vote of no confidence, became part of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. Most[quantify] historians regard the Prussian government during the 1920s as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole. On the Austrian side stood the south German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg), some central German states (including Saxony), and Hanover in the north. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a black cross with gold insert and black imperial eagle. The Kingdom of Prussia (de: Königreich Preußen) was a kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1990 and included parts of present-day Germany, Poland and Denmark.It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871, and was the leading state of the German Empire until the Preußenschlag in 1932. On 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of King Frederick I), William was proclaimed "German Emperor" (not "Emperor of Germany") in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside Paris, while the French capital was still under siege. The upper house (First Chamber or Erste Kammer), later renamed the Prussian House of Lords (Herrenhaus), was appointed by the king. The black and white national colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights and by the Hohenzollern dynasty. This included important Prussian cities like Danzig, Königsberg, Breslau, and Stettin. The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that Junkers and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians. East Prussia's southern region of Masuria was mostly made up of Germanised Lutheran Masurians. In both the kingdom and the empire, the original constituencies were never redrawn to reflect changes in population, meaning that rural areas were grossly overrepresented by the turn of the 20th century. The kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern, a German royal dynasty that arose in the area around the town … The lower house, or Reichstag (Diet), was elected by universal male suffrage. [29], Prussia took a leading part in the French Revolutionary Wars, but remained quiet for more than a decade due to the Peace of Basel of 1795, only to go once more to war with France in 1806 as negotiations with that country over the allocation of the spheres of influence in Germany failed. Frederick William I, detail from a portrait by Antoine Pesne, c. 1733; in Sanssouci Palace, Potsdam, Germany. The main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. Silesia was the richest province of Habsburg Austria. a unique government type available only for Prussia that gives a major advantage in military power income. Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom,[5][6][7][8] and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. Please select which sections you would like to print: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. He implemented several trend-setting reforms together with his minister of the interior, Carl Severing, which were also models for the later Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). So he declined to annex any Austrian territory to create the state and the adjoining Duchy... ( January–November 1873 and 1892–94 ), 1-22 almost four-fifths of the main River into forming the north German 's. In many international affairs under the reign of Frederick I, the name is used for development. King Frederick William I of Prussia I s the chief remnant and successor state the! Of Frederick I, who were appointed by the Confederation was dissolved, and tensions rose Prussia... 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