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{{Short description|European country, existing from 1525 to 1947}}
{{Redirect|Prussian||Prussia (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|Russia}}
{{pp-move}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox former country
| native_name = {{native name|de|Preußen}}<br />{{native name|prg|Prūsija}}
| conventional_long_name = Prussia
| common_name = Prussia
| era = [[Early modern Europe]] to [[Contemporary history|Contemporary]]
| government_type = [[Feudal monarchy]] (1525–1701)<hr/>[[Absolute monarchy]] (1701–1848)<hr/>[[Federation|Federal]] [[parliamentary]]<br />semi-[[constitutional]] [[monarchy]] (1848–1918)<hr/>[[Federation|Federal]] [[semi-presidential]]<br />[[constitutional republic]] (1918–1932)<hr/>[[Presidential system|Presidential]] [[republic]] under [[authoritarian]] [[rule by decree]] (1932–1933)<hr/>[[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[Nazi]] [[single-party]] [[totalitarian]] [[dictatorship]] (1933–1945)<hr/>[[Allied-occupied Germany]] (1945–1947)
| year_start = 1525
| year_end = 1947{{efn|Monarchy abolished in 1918, abolished as a state of Germany in 1947}}
| event_start = [[Duchy of Prussia]]
| date_start = 10 April
| event1 = [[Brandenburg-Prussia|Union with Brandenburg]]
| date_event1 = 27 August 1618
| event2 = [[Kingdom of Prussia]]
| date_event2 = 18 January 1701
| event3 = [[Free State of Prussia]]
| date_event3 = 9 November 1918
| event4 = [[Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich|Abolition]] (''[[de facto]], loss of independence'')
| date_event4 = 30 January 1934
| event_end = [[Abolition of Prussia|Abolition]] ({{lang|la|[[de jure]]}})
| date_end = 25 February
| event_post =
| date_post = <!---Don't use flag navigation for this entry: it is too complicated. This is better covered by the individual Prussian entries--->
| image_flag = Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia (1803-1892).svg<!---Before changing please gain consensus at the talk page--->
| flag_type_article =
| flag_type = [[Flag of Prussia|State flag]]<br />(1803–1892)
| image_flag2 = <!---Before adding any extra flags please gain consensus at the talk page--->
| image_coat = Preußischer Adler.svg
| symbol_type_article =
| coa_size = 85px
| symbol_type = [[Coat of arms of Prussia|Coat of arms]]<br />(1701–1871)
| image_map = {{Switcher|[[File:Duchy of Prussia.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|As [[vassal state]] of [[Poland-Lithuania]] in 1525|[[File:Locator Brandenburg-Prussia within the Holy Roman Empire (1618).svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Within the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and in part as [[vassal state]] of [[Poland-Lithuania]] in 1618|[[File:Kingdom of Prussia 1714.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Within the [[Holy Roman Empire]] in 1714|[[File:Kingdom of Prussia 1797.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Within the [[Holy Roman Empire]] in 1797|[[File:Kingdom of Prussia 1815.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Within the [[German Confederation]] in 1815|[[File:Kingdom of Prussia 1870.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Within the [[North German Confederation]] in 1870|[[File:Kingdom of Prussia 1871.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Within the [[German Empire]] in 1914|default=5}}
| capital = {{lang|de|italics=no|[[Königsberg]]}} (1525–1701; 1806)
<br />[[Berlin]] (1701–1806; 1806–1947)
| national_motto = ''{{lang|de|[[Gott mit uns]]}}''<br />''{{lang|la|Nobiscum deus}}''<br />{{small|("God with us")}}
| national_anthem = <br />(1820–1830)<br />[[Borussia (anthem)|''Borussia'']]<br />"Prussia"<br />{{parabr}}{{center|}}<hr />(1830–1840)<br />''{{lang|de|[[Preußenlied]]}}''<br />"Song of Prussia"<br />{{parabr}}{{center|}}
| royal_anthem = <br />(1795–1918)<br />"{{lang|de|[[Heil dir im Siegerkranz]]}}"<br />{{small|("Hail to thee in the Victor's Crown")}}<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Fischer|first1=Michael|first2=Christian|last2=Senkel|editor=Klaus Tanner|title=Reichsgründung 1871: Ereignis, Beschreibung, Inszenierung|publisher=Waxmann Verlag|___location=Münster|year=2010}}</ref><br /> <div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">{{center|[[File:Heil Dir Im Siegerkranz (old recording).ogg]]}}</div>
| common_languages = '''Official:'''<br />[[German language|German]]
{{hidden |style=font-size:100%;padding:0.25em 0 0; |headerstyle=text-align:left;font-weight:normal;
|header = '''Minorities:'''
|content = {{unbulleted list|[[Old Prussian language|Baltic Prussian]] (until early 18th century) |[[Low German]] |[[Polish language|Polish]] |[[Danish language|Danish]]|[[Frisian languages|Frisian]] |
[[Swedish language|Swedish]] |
[[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] |[[Lower Sorbian language|Lower Sorbian]] | [[Kursenieki language|Kursenieki]] | [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]] | [[Wymysorys language|Wymysorys]] | [[Slovincian language|Slovincian]] (until 20th century)}}
}}
| demonym = Prussian
| religion = '''Religious confessions in<br />the Kingdom of Prussia 1880'''<br />'''Majority:'''<br />64.6% [[United Protestant]]<br />([[Lutheran]], [[Calvinist]])<br />'''Minorities:'''<br />33.8% [[Catholic]]<br /> 1.3% [[Judaism|Jewish]]<br /> 0.2% other [[Christians|Christian]]<br /> 0.1% other
| currency = {{lang|de|[[Reichsthaler]]}} (until 1750)<br />[[Prussian thaler]] (1750–1857)<br />{{lang|de|[[Vereinsthaler]]}} (1857–1873)<br />[[German gold mark]] (1873–1914)<br />[[German Papiermark|German {{lang|de|Papiermark|nocat=y}}]] (1914–1923)<br />{{lang|de|[[Reichsmark]]}} (1924–1947)
| title_leader = [[Duke of Prussia|Duke]]{{no bold|{{ref label|a|a}}}}
| leader1 = [[Albert I, Duke of Prussia|Albert I]] {{small|(first)}}
| year_leader1 = 1525–1568
| leader2 = [[Frederick I of Prussia|Frederick I]] {{small|(last)}}
| year_leader2 = 1688–1701
| title_representative = [[King of Prussia|King]]{{no bold|{{ref label|a|a}}}}
| representative1 = [[Frederick I of Prussia|Frederick I]] {{small|(first)}}
| year_representative1 = 1701–1713
| representative2 = [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] {{small|(last)}}
| year_representative2 = 1888–1918
| title_deputy = [[Minister-President of Prussia|Minister-President]]{{no bold|{{ref label|a|a}}{{ref label|b|b}}}}
| deputy1 = [[Friedrich Ebert]] {{small|(first)}}
| year_deputy1 = 1918
| deputy2 = [[Hermann Göring]] {{small|(last)}}
| year_deputy2 = 1933–1945
| stat_year1 = 1816
| stat_pop1 = 10,349,000
| ref_pop1 = <ref name="pop estimates">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tacitus.nu/historical-atlas/population/germany.htm |title=Population of Germany |website=tacitus.nu}}</ref>
| stat_year2 = 1871
| stat_pop2 = 24,689,000
| ref_pop2 = <ref name="pop estimates" />
| stat_year3 = 1939
| stat_pop3 = 41,915,040
| ref_pop3 = <ref name="pop estimates" />
| footnote_a = {{Note|a}} The heads of state listed here are the first and last to hold each title over time. For more information, see individual Prussian state articles (links in above History section).
| footnote_b = {{Note|b}} The position of ''{{lang|de|Ministerpräsident}}'' was introduced in 1792 when Prussia was a Kingdom; the Minister-Presidents shown here are the heads of the Prussian republic.
}}
'''Prussia''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|r|ʌ|ʃ|ə}}; {{langx|de|Preußen}} {{IPA|de|ˈpʁɔʏsn̩||De-Preußen.ogg}}; [[Old Prussian]]: ''Prūsija'') was a [[Germans|German]] state centred on the [[North European Plain]] that originated from the 1525 [[secularization]] of the [[Prussia (region)|Prussian]] part of the [[State of the Teutonic Order]]. For centuries, the [[House of Hohenzollern]] ruled Prussia, expanding its size with the [[Prussian Army]]. Prussia, with its capital at [[Königsberg]] and then, when it became the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] in 1701, [[History of Berlin|Berlin]], decisively shaped the [[history of Germany]]. Prussia formed the [[German Empire]] when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''[[de facto]]'' dissolved by [[1932 Prussian coup d'état|an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government]] to [[German Chancellor]] [[Franz von Papen]] in 1932 and ''[[de jure]]'' by [[Abolition of Prussia|an Allied decree]] in 1947.
The name ''Prussia'' derives from the [[Old Prussians]] who were conquered by the [[Teutonic Knights]]{{snd}}an organized [[Catholic]] medieval [[Military order (religious society)|military order]] of [[Prussian Crusade|German crusaders]]{{snd}} in the 13th century. In 1308, the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of [[Pomerelia]] with [[Danzig]]. Their [[State of the Teutonic Order|monastic state]] was mostly [[Germanisation|Germanised]] through [[Ostsiedlung|immigration from central and western Germany]], and, in the south, it was [[Polonisation|Polonised]] by settlers from [[Masovia]]. The imposed [[Second Peace of Thorn (1466)]] split Prussia into the western [[Royal Prussia]], a province of Poland, and the eastern [[Duchy of Prussia]], a feudal fief of the [[Crown of Poland]] until 1657. After 1525, the [[Teutonic Order]] relocated their headquarters to [[Mergentheim]], but managed to keep land in [[Livonia]] until 1561. The [[Brandenburg-Prussia|union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia]] in 1618 led to the proclamation of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] in 1701.
Prussia entered the ranks of the [[great power]]s shortly after becoming a kingdom.<ref>Vesna Danilovic, ''When the Stakes Are High{{snd}}Deterrence and Conflict among Major Powers'', (University of Michigan Press, 2002), pp 27, 225–228.</ref><ref>H. M. Scott, "Aping the Great Powers: Frederick the Great and the Defence of Prussia's International Position 1763–86", ''German History'' 12#3 (1994) pp. 286–307 [https://doi.org/10.1093/gh/12.3.286 online]</ref> It became increasingly large and powerful in the 18th and 19th centuries. It had a major voice in European affairs under the reign of [[Frederick the Great]] (1740–1786). At the [[Congress of Vienna]] (1814–15), which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleon's defeat, Prussia acquired rich new territories, including the coal-rich [[Ruhr]]. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became the core of the [[North German Confederation]] in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that {{lang|de|[[Junker (Prussia)|Junkers]]}} and other Prussian elites identified more and more as [[Germans]] and less as Prussians.
The Kingdom ended in 1918 along with other German monarchies that were terminated by the [[German Revolution]]. In the [[Weimar Republic]], the [[Free State of Prussia]] lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. Subsequently, it was effectively dismantled into Nazi German ''[[Gaue]]'' in 1935. 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]]. [[Former eastern territories of Germany]] that made up a significant part of Prussia lost the majority of their German population after 1945 as the [[Polish People's Republic]] and the [[Soviet Union]] both absorbed these territories and had most of its German inhabitants [[flight and expulsion of Germans|expelled]] by 1950. Prussia, deemed "a bearer of militarism and reaction" by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], was officially abolished by an Allied declaration in 1947. The international status of the former eastern territories of the Kingdom of Prussia was disputed until the [[Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany]] in 1990, but its return to Germany remains a cause among [[far-right]] politicians, the [[Federation of Expellees]] and various political [[revanchists]] and [[irredentists]].
The terms "Prussian" and "[[Prussianism]]" have often been used, especially outside Germany, to denote the militarism, military professionalism, aggressiveness, and conservatism of the {{lang|de|Junker}} class of landed aristocrats in the East who dominated first Prussia and then the German Empire.
==
{{History of Brandenburg and Prussia}}
The main [[coat of arms of Prussia]], as well as the [[flag of Prussia]], depicted a [[black eagle]] on a white background.
The black and white [[national colours]] were already used by the [[Teutonic Knights]] and by the [[Hohenzollern dynasty]]. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat [[embroidery|embroidered]] with a black cross with gold insert and black imperial eagle. The combination of the black and white colours with the white and red [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic]] colours of the free cities [[Bremen]], [[Hamburg]] and [[Free City of Lübeck|Lübeck]], as well as of [[Brandenburg]], resulted in the black-white-red commercial flag of the [[North German Confederation]], which became the flag of the German Empire in 1871.{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}}
{{lang|la|[[Suum cuique]]}} ('to each, his own'), the motto of the [[Order of the Black Eagle]] created by King [[Frederick I of Prussia|Frederick I]] in 1701, was often associated with the whole of Prussia. The [[Iron Cross]], a military decoration created by King [[Frederick William III of Prussia|Frederick William III]] in 1813, was also commonly associated with the country.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} The region, originally populated by Baltic [[Old Prussians]] who were Christianised, became a favoured ___location for immigration by (later mainly Protestant) [[Germans]] (''see {{Lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}}''), as well as [[Polish people|Poles]] and [[Lithuanians]] along the border regions.
==Territory==
Before its abolition, the territory of the [[Free State of Prussia]] included the provinces of [[East Prussia Province|East Prussia]]; [[Brandenburg Province|Brandenburg]]; [[Province of Saxony|Saxony]] (including much of the present-day state of [[Saxony-Anhalt]] and parts of the state of [[Thuringia]] in Germany); [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]]; [[Rhineland Province|Rhineland]]; [[Westphalia Province|Westphalia]]; [[Silesia Province|Silesia]] (without [[Czech Silesia|Austrian Silesia]]); [[Province of Schleswig-Holstein|Schleswig-Holstein]]; [[Hanover Province|Hanover]]; [[Hesse-Nassau Province|Hesse-Nassau]]; and a small detached area in the south called [[Hohenzollern Province|Hohenzollern]], the ancestral home of the Prussian ruling family. The land that the Teutonic Knights occupied was flat and covered with fertile soil. The area was perfectly suited to the large-scale raising of wheat.<ref>H. W. Koch, ''A History of Prussia'' (1978) p. 35.</ref> The rise of early Prussia was based on the raising and selling of wheat. Teutonic Prussia became known as the "bread basket of Western Europe" (in German, ''Kornkammer'', or granary). The port cities which rose on the back of this wheat production included: Stettin in Pomerania (now [[Szczecin]], Poland); Danzig in Prussia (now [[Gdańsk]], Poland); [[Riga]] in Livonia (now Riga, Latvia); [[Königsberg]] in Prussia (now [[Kaliningrad]], Russia); and Memel in Prussia (now [[Klaipėda]], Lithuania). Wheat production and trade brought Prussia into a close relationship with the [[Hanseatic League]] during the period of time from 1356 (official founding of the Hanseatic League) until the decline of the League in about 1500.
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.<ref>Robert S. Hoyt & Stanley Chodorow, ''Europe in Middle Ages'' (1976) p. 629.</ref> This meant that Poland and Lithuania would be traditional enemies of Prussia, which was still called the Teutonic Knights.<ref>Norman Davies, ''God's Playground: A History of Poland Vol. l'' (1982) p. 81.</ref>
==History==
{{Further|Duchy of Prussia|Kingdom of Prussia|Free State of Prussia}}
===Teutonic Order===
{{Main|Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights}}
[[File:Ordensstaat-kirchlich.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Situation after the conquest in the late 13th century. Areas in purple under control of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights.]]
[[File:Teutonic state 1466.png|thumb|upright=1.25|The Teutonic Order (orange) following the [[Second Peace of Thorn (1466)]]]]
In 1211, King [[Andrew II of Hungary]] granted [[Burzenland]] in [[Transylvania]] as a [[fiefdom]] to the [[Teutonic Knights]], a German [[Military order (society)|military order]] of [[Crusades|crusading]] knights, headquartered in the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]] at [[Acre, Israel|Acre]]. In 1225, he expelled them, and they transferred their operations to the [[Baltic Sea]] area. [[Konrad I of Masovia|Konrad I]], the Polish [[Duke of Masovia]], had unsuccessfully attempted to conquer [[Prussia (region)|pagan Prussia]] in [[Northern Crusades|crusades]] in 1219 and 1222.<ref>[[Edward Henry Lewinski Corwin]] {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/politicalhistor00corwgoog |quote=lizard union. |title=A History of Prussia |last=Lewinski-Corwin |first=Edward Henry |publisher=The Polish Book Importing Company |year=1917 |___location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/politicalhistor00corwgoog/page/n648 628]}}</ref> In 1226, Duke Konrad invited the Teutonic Knights to conquer the Baltic [[Old Prussians|Prussian tribes]] on his borders.
During 60 years of [[Prussian uprisings|struggles against the Old Prussians]], the Order established an independent state that came to control Prūsa. After the [[Livonian Brothers of the Sword]] joined the Teutonic Order in 1237, the Order also controlled [[Livonia]] (now [[Latvia]] and [[Estonia]]). Around 1252 they finished the conquest of the northernmost Prussian tribe of the [[Skalvians]] as well as of the western Baltic [[Curonians]], and erected [[Memel Castle]], which developed into the major port city of [[Klaipėda|Memel]]. The [[Treaty of Melno]] defined the final border between Prussia and the adjoining [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] in 1422.
The [[Hanseatic League]] officially formed in northern Europe in 1356 as a group of trading cities. This League came to hold a monopoly on all trade leaving the interior of Europe and Scandinavia and on all sailing trade in the Baltic Sea for foreign countries.<ref>Robert S. Hoyt and Stanley Chodorow (1976) ''Europe in the Middle Ages''. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. {{ISBN|0-15-524712-3}} p. 629.</ref>
In the course of the {{Lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}} (German eastward expansion) process, settlers were invited by German-speaking episcopal and secular authorities, bringing changes in the ethnic composition as well as in language, culture, and law of the eastern borders of the German lands. As a majority of these settlers were Germans, [[Low German]] became the dominant language.
The Knights of the Teutonic Order were subordinate to the [[papacy]] and to the [[Holy Roman Emperor]]. Their initially close relationship with the Polish Crown deteriorated after they conquered Polish-controlled [[Pomerelia]] and [[Gdańsk|Danzig]] in 1308. Eventually, Poland and Lithuania, allied through the [[Union of Krewo]] (1385), defeated the Knights in the [[Battle of Grunwald]] (Tannenberg) in 1410.
The [[Thirteen Years' War (1454–66)|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]]. The Teutonic Knights were forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of, and to pay tribute to Casimir IV in the [[Second Peace of Thorn (1466)]], losing western Prussia ([[Royal Prussia]]) to Poland in the process. Pursuant to the Second Peace of Thorn, two Prussian states were established.<ref>
Daniel Stone, ''A History of East Central Europe'', (2001), p. 30.
</ref>{{request quotation|date=April 2019}}
During the period of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, mercenaries from the Holy Roman Empire were granted lands by the Order and gradually formed a new landed Prussian nobility, from which the [[Junker (Prussia)|Junkers]] would evolve to take a major role in the militarization of Prussia and, later, Germany.<ref>Rosenberg, H. (1943). The Rise of the Junkers in Brandenburg-Prussia, 1410–1653: Part 1. The American Historical Review, 49(1), 1–22.</ref>
===Duchy of Prussia===
{{main|Prussian Homage|Duchy of Prussia|Crown of the Kingdom of Poland}}
[[File:Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art in the Sukiennice, 2022, 07.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|''[[Prussian Homage (painting)|Prussian Homage]]'' by [[Jan Matejko]]. After admitting the dependence of Prussia to the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Polish Crown]], [[Albert of Prussia]] receives [[Ducal Prussia]] as a [[fief]] from King [[Sigismund I the Old]] of [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)|Poland]] in 1525.]]
On 10 April 1525, after signing of the [[Treaty of Kraków]], which officially ended the [[Polish–Teutonic War (1519–21)]], in the [[Main Square, Kraków|main square]] of the Polish capital [[Kraków]], [[Albert, Duke of Prussia|Albert I]] resigned his position as [[Grand Master of the Teutonic Order]] and received the title "Duke of Prussia" from King [[Zygmunt I the Old]] of Poland. As a symbol of vassalage, Albert received a standard with the Prussian coat of arms from the Polish king. The black Prussian eagle on the flag was augmented with a letter "S" (for Sigismundus) and had a crown placed around its neck as a symbol of submission to Poland. Albert I, a member of a cadet branch of the [[House of Hohenzollern]] became a [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] Protestant and secularized the Order's Prussian territories.<ref>H. W. Koch, ''A History of Prussia'' p. 33.</ref> This was the area east of the mouth of the [[Vistula]] river, later sometimes called "Prussia proper". For the first time, these lands came into the hands of a branch of the Hohenzollern family, who already ruled the [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]], since the 15th century. Furthermore, with his renunciation of the Order, Albert could now marry and produce legitimate heirs.
===Brandenburg-Prussia===
{{Main|Brandenburg-Prussia|Holy Roman Empire}}
Brandenburg and Prussia united two generations later. In 1594 [[Duchess Anna of Prussia]], granddaughter of Albert I and daughter of [[Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia]] (reigned 1568–1618), married her cousin [[Prince-Elector|Elector]] [[John Sigismund, Margrave of Brandenburg|John Sigismund]] of Brandenburg. When Albert Frederick died in 1618 without male heirs, John Sigismund was granted the right of succession to the Duchy of Prussia, then still a Polish fief. From this time the Duchy of Prussia was in [[personal union]] with the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The resulting state, known as [[Brandenburg-Prussia]], consisted of geographically disconnected territories in Prussia, Brandenburg, and the [[Rhineland]] lands of [[Duchy of Cleves|Cleves]] and [[County of Mark|Mark]].
During the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648), various armies repeatedly marched across the disconnected Hohenzollern lands, especially the occupying [[Swedish Empire|Swedes]]. The ineffective and militarily weak Elector [[George William, Elector of Brandenburg|George William]] (1619–1640) fled from Berlin to [[Königsberg]], the historic capital of the Duchy of Prussia, in 1637. His successor, [[Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick William I]] (1640–1688), reformed the [[Prussian Army|army]] to defend the lands.
Frederick William I went to [[Warsaw]] in 1641 to render [[homage (feudal)|homage]] to King [[Władysław IV Vasa]] of Poland for the Duchy of Prussia, which was still held in [[fief]] from the Polish crown. In January 1656, during the first phase of the [[Second Northern War]] (1654–1660), he received the duchy [[Treaty of Königsberg (1656)|as a fief from the Swedish king]] who later granted him full sovereignty in the [[Treaty of Labiau]] (November 1656). In 1657 the Polish king renewed this grant in the treaties of [[Treaty of Wehlau|Wehlau]] and [[Treaty of Bromberg|Bromberg]]. With Prussia, the Brandenburg [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern dynasty]] now held a territory free of any feudal obligations, which constituted the basis for their later elevation to kings.
[[File:Nason, Pieter - Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm und seine Gemahlin Luise Henriette - 1666 - SPSG 2.jpg|thumb|left| The "[[Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg|Great Elector]]" and [[Luise Henriette of Nassau|his wife]]]]
Frederick William I succeeded in organizing the electorate by establishing an [[absolute monarchy]] in Brandenburg-Prussia, an achievement for which he became known as the "Great Elector". Above all, he emphasised the importance of a powerful military to protect the state's disconnected territories, while the [[Edict of Potsdam]] (1685) opened Brandenburg-Prussia for the immigration of Protestant refugees (especially [[Huguenot]]s), and he established a bureaucracy to carry out state administration efficiently.<ref>Francis L. Carsten, "The Great Elector and the foundation of the Hohenzollern despotism." ''English Historical Review'' 65.255 (1950): 175–202 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/554933 online].</ref>
===Kingdom of Prussia===
[[File:Frederick I of Prussia.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Frederick I of Prussia|Frederick I]], [[King in Prussia]]]]
On 18 January 1701, Frederick William's son, Elector Frederick III, elevated Prussia from a duchy to a kingdom and crowned himself King [[Frederick I of Prussia|Frederick I]]. In the [[Crown Treaty]] of 16 November 1700, [[Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold I]], emperor of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], allowed Frederick only to title himself "[[King in Prussia]]", not "[[King of Prussia]]". The state of Brandenburg-Prussia became commonly known as "Prussia", although most of its territory, in Brandenburg, Pomerania, and western Germany, lay outside Prussia proper. The Prussian state grew in splendour during the reign of Frederick I, who sponsored the arts at the expense of the treasury.<ref>Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'' ch 4</ref>
Frederick I was succeeded by his son, [[Frederick William I of Prussia|Frederick William I]] (1713–1740), the austere "Soldier King", who did not care for the arts but was thrifty and practical.<ref>Reinhold A. Dorwart, ''The administrative reforms of Frederick William I of Prussia'' (Harvard University Press, 2013).</ref> He was the main creator of the vaunted Prussian bureaucracy and the professionalised standing army, which he developed into one of the most powerful in Europe. His troops [[Siege of Stralsund (1711–1715)|only briefly saw action]] during the [[Great Northern War]]. In view of the size of the army in relation to the total population, [[André Boniface Louis Riqueti de Mirabeau|Mirabeau]] said later: "Prussia, is not a state with an army, but an army with a state."{{Citation needed |date=September 2021 |reason=This quote has been attributed to Mirabeau, Voltaire, and others.}} Frederick William also settled more than 20,000 Protestant refugees from [[Salzburg]] in thinly populated East Prussia, which was eventually extended to the west bank of the [[Neman]] river, and other regions. In the [[Treaty of Stockholm (Great Northern War)|Treaty of Stockholm]] (1720), he acquired half of [[Swedish Pomerania]].<ref>Rodney Gothelf, "Frederick William I and the beginnings of Prussian absolutism, 1713–1740." in ''The Rise of Prussia 1700–1830'' (Routledge, 2014) pp. 47–67.</ref>
[[File:Friedrich Wilhelm I 1713.jpg|thumb|upright|left|King [[Frederick William I of Prussia|Frederick William I]], "the Soldier-King"]]
Frederick William I died in 1740 and was succeeded by his son, [[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederick II]], whose accomplishments led to his reputation as "Frederick the Great".<ref>H. W. Koch, ''A History of Prussia'' pp. 100–102.</ref> As crown prince, Frederick had focused, primarily, on philosophy and the arts.<ref>Robert B. Asprey, ''Frederick the Great: The Magnificent Enigma'' (1986) pp. 34–35.</ref> He was an accomplished flute player and composer. In 1740, Prussian troops crossed over the undefended border of [[Silesia]] and rapidly conquered the region. Silesia was the richest province of [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Austria]].<ref>Koch, ''A History of Prussia'', p. 105.</ref> It signalled the beginning of three [[Silesian Wars]] (1740–1763).<ref>Robert A. Kahn, A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526–1918 (1974) p. 96.</ref> 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 the Austrian Succession]] (1740–1748). [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles VI]] had died on 20 October 1740. He was succeeded to the throne by his daughter, [[Maria Theresa]].
By defeating the Austrian Army at the [[Battle of Mollwitz]] on 10 April 1741, Frederick succeeded in conquering [[Lower Silesia]] (the northwestern half of Silesia).<ref>Asprey, ''Frederick the Great: the Magnificent Enigma'', pp. 195–208.</ref> In the next year, 1742, he conquered [[Upper Silesia]] (the southeastern half). Furthermore, in the [[Third Silesian War]] (part of the [[Seven Years' War]]) Frederick won a victory over Austria at the [[Battle of Lobositz]] on 1 October 1756. In spite of some victories afterward, his situation became far less comfortable the following years, as he failed in his attempts to knock Austria out of the war and was gradually reduced to a desperate defensive war. However, he never gave up and on 3 November 1760 the Prussian king won another battle, the hard-fought [[Battle of Torgau]]. Despite being several times on the verge of defeat Frederick, [[Anglo-Prussian alliance (1756)|allied with]] [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]], [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]] and [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel|Hesse-Kassel]], was finally able to hold the whole of Silesia against a coalition of [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]], the Habsburg monarchy, [[Kingdom of France|France]] and [[Russian Empire|Russia]].<ref>Hermann Kinder & Werner Hilgermann, ''The Anchor Atlas of World History: Volume 1'' (1974) pp. 282–283.</ref> [[Voltaire]], a close friend of the king, once described Frederick the Great's Prussia by saying "...it was [[Sparta]] in the morning, [[Athens]] in the afternoon."
[[File:Friedrich der Große - Johann Georg Ziesenis - Google Cultural Institute (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|King [[Frederick the Great|Frederick II]], "the Great"]]
Silesia, full of rich soils and prosperous manufacturing towns, became a vital region to Prussia, greatly increasing the nation's area, population, and wealth.<ref>James K. Pollock & Homer Thomas, ''Germany: In Power and Eclipse'' (1952) pp. 297–302.</ref> Success on the battleground against Austria and other powers proved Prussia's status as one of the [[great power]]s of Europe. The Silesian Wars began more than a century of rivalry and conflict between Prussia and Austria as the two most powerful states operating within the Holy Roman Empire (although both had extensive territory outside the empire).<ref>Marshall Dill, Jr., ''Germany: A Modern History'' (1970) p. 39.</ref> In 1744, the [[County of East Frisia]] fell to Prussia following the extinction of its ruling [[Cirksena]] dynasty.
In the last 23 years of his reign until 1786, Frederick II, who understood himself as the "first servant of the state", promoted the development of Prussian areas such as the [[Oderbruch]]. At the same time he built up Prussia's military power and participated in the [[First Partition of Poland]] with Austria and Russia in 1772, an act that geographically connected the Brandenburg territories with those of Prussia proper. The partition also added Polish [[Royal Prussia]] to the kingdom, allowing Frederick to re-style himself King ''of'' Prussia. During this period, he also opened Prussia's borders to immigrants fleeing from religious persecution in other parts of Europe, such as the [[Huguenots]]. Prussia became a safe haven in much the same way that the United States welcomed immigrants seeking freedom in the 19th century.<ref name="Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 7">Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'' ch 7</ref>
Frederick the Great (reigned 1740–1786) practised [[enlightened absolutism]]. He built the world's best army, and usually won his many wars. He introduced a general civil code, abolished torture and established the principle that the Crown would not interfere in matters of justice.<ref>David Fraser, ''Frederick the Great: King of Prussia'' (2001) [https://archive.org/details/frederickgreatki00fras/page/n5/mode/2up online]</ref> He also promoted an advanced secondary education, the forerunner of today's German [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] (grammar school) system, which prepares the brightest pupils for university studies. The [[Prussian education system]] was emulated in various countries, including the United States.<ref name="Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 7" />
====Napoleonic Wars====
{{Main|Napoleonic Wars|Battle of Jena-Auerstedt|War of the Sixth Coalition#War in Germany}}
[[File:Acprussiamap2.gif|thumb|left|upright=1.35|Growth of [[Brandenburg-Prussia]], 1600–1795]]
During the reign of King [[Frederick William II of Prussia|Frederick William II]] (1786–1797), Prussia annexed additional Polish territory through the [[Second Partition of Poland]] in 1793 and the [[Third Partition of Poland]] in 1795. His successor, [[Frederick William III of Prussia|Frederick William III]] (1797–1840), announced the union of the Prussian [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] and [[Reformed churches]] into [[Prussian Union of Churches|one church]].<ref name="Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 12">Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'' ch 12</ref>
[[File:Friedrich Wilhelm III., König von Preußen (unbekannter Maler).jpg|thumb|upright|King [[Frederick William III of Prussia|Frederick William III]]]]
Prussia took a leading part in the [[French Revolutionary Wars]], but remained quiet for more than a decade because of 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. Prussia suffered a devastating defeat against [[Napoleon]]'s troops in the [[Battle of Jena-Auerstedt]], leading Frederick William III and his family to flee temporarily to [[Klaipėda|Memel]]. 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]]. Beyond that, the king was obliged to pay a large indemnity, to cap his army at 42,000 men, and to let the French garrison troops throughout Prussia, effectively making the kingdom a French satellite.<ref name="Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 11">Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'' ch 11</ref>
In response to this defeat, reformers such as [[Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein|Stein]] and [[Karl August von Hardenberg|Hardenberg]] set about modernising the Prussian state. Among their reforms were the liberation of peasants from [[serfdom]], the [[Jewish Emancipation|Emancipation of Jews]] and making full citizens of them. The school system was rearranged, and in 1818 free trade was introduced. The process of army reform ended in 1813 with the introduction of compulsory military service for men.<ref>Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'' ch 10</ref> By 1813, Prussia could mobilize almost 300,000 soldiers, more than half of which were conscripts of the ''[[Landwehr]]'' of variable quality. The rest consisted of regular soldiers that were deemed excellent by most observers, and very determined to repair the humiliation of 1806.
After the [[Napoleon's invasion of Russia|defeat of Napoleon in Russia]], Prussia quit its alliance with France and took part in the [[Sixth Coalition]] during the "Wars of Liberation" (''Befreiungskriege'') against the French occupation. Prussian troops under Marshal [[Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher]] contributed crucially (alongside the British and Dutch) to the final victory over Napoleon at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] of June 1815. Prussia's reward in 1815 at the [[Congress of Vienna]] was the recovery of her lost territories, as well as the whole of the [[Rhineland]], [[Westphalia]], 40% of [[Kingdom of Saxony|Saxony]] and some other territories. These western lands were of vital importance because they included the [[Ruhr]] region, the centre of Germany's fledgling industrialisation, especially in the arms industry. These territorial gains also meant the doubling of Prussia's population. In exchange, Prussia withdrew from areas of central Poland to allow the creation of [[Congress Poland]] under Russian sovereignty.<ref name="Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 11" /> In 1815 Prussia became part of the [[German Confederation]].
====Wars of liberation====
{{Main|German revolutions of 1848–49}}
[[File:Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia (1847).jpg|upright|thumb|King [[Frederick William IV of Prussia|Frederick William IV]]]]
The first half of the 19th century saw a prolonged struggle in Germany between liberals, who wanted a united, federal Germany under a democratic constitution, and [[Conservatism|conservatives]], who wanted to maintain Germany as a patchwork of independent, monarchical states with Prussia and [[Austrian Empire|Austria]] competing for influence. One small movement that signalled 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. Because of Prussia's size and economic importance, smaller states began to join its free trade area in the 1820s. Prussia benefited greatly from the creation in 1834 of the German Customs Union ([[Zollverein]]), which included most German states but excluded Austria.<ref name="Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 12" />
In 1848, the liberals saw an opportunity when [[Revolutions of 1848|revolutions broke out across Europe]]. Alarmed, King [[Frederick William IV of Prussia|Frederick William IV]] agreed to convene a [[Prussian National Assembly|National Assembly]] and grant a [[Constitution of Prussia (1848)|constitution]]. 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.<ref>Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'' ch 13–14</ref>
The Frankfurt Parliament was forced to dissolve in 1849, and Frederick William issued a [[Constitution of Prussia (1850)|constitution]] by his own authority in 1850. This conservative document provided for a two-house parliament, the [[Landtag of Prussia]]. The lower house, or ''[[Prussian House of Representatives]]'' was elected by all males over the age of 25. They were divided into [[Prussian three-class franchise|three classes]] whose votes were weighted according to the amount of taxes paid. In one typical election, the first class (with those who paid the most in taxes) included 4% of voters and the third class (with those who paid the least) had 82%, yet each group chose the same number of electors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peter |first=Jelena |date=1 February 2000 |title=Das Preußische Dreiklassenwahlrecht |trans-title=The Prussian Three-Class Franchise |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/kaiserreich/das-reich/dreiklassenwahlrecht.html |access-date=3 April 2023 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> The system but assured dominance by the more well-to-do men of the population. The upper house, the ''[[Prussian House of Lords]]'', was appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority, and ministers were responsible only to him. As a result, the grip of the landowning classes, the Junkers, remained unbroken, especially in the eastern provinces.<ref>Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'' ch 14</ref> The constitution nevertheless contained a number of liberal elements such as the introduction of jury courts and a catalog of fundamental rights that included freedom of religion, speech and the press.<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia}}</ref>
====Wars of unification====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2005-0057, Otto von Bismarck.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Otto von Bismarck]]]]
In 1862, King [[Wilhelm I, German Emperor|Wilhelm I]] appointed [[Otto von Bismarck]] as [[Minister President of Prussia]]. Bismarck was determined to defeat both the liberals and conservatives and increase Prussian supremacy and influence among the German states. There has been much debate as to whether Bismarck actually planned to create a united Germany when he set out on this journey, or whether he simply took advantage of the circumstances that fell into place. Bismarck curried support from large sections of the people by promising to lead the fight for greater German unification. He successfully guided Prussia through three wars, which unified Germany and brought William the position of [[German Emperor]].<ref>Henry A. Kissinger, "The white revolutionary: Reflections on Bismarck." ''Daedalus'' (1968): 888–924 [http://pds21.egloos.com/pds/201112/07/28/the_white_revolutionary_bismark.pdf online ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624220910/http://pds21.egloos.com/pds/201112/07/28/the_white_revolutionary_bismark.pdf |date=24 June 2021}}.</ref>
=====Schleswig Wars=====
The Kingdom of [[Denmark]] was at the time in personal union with the Duchies of [[Duchy of Schleswig|Schleswig]] and [[Duchy of Holstein|Holstein]], both of which had close ties with each other, although only Holstein was part of the [[German Confederation]]. When the Danish government tried to integrate Schleswig, but not Holstein, into the Danish state, Prussia led the German Confederation against Denmark in the [[First War of Schleswig]] (1848–1851). Because Russia supported Austria, Prussia also conceded predominance in the German Confederation to Austria in the [[Punctation of Olmütz]] in 1850, resulting in a return to the status quo.
In 1863, Denmark introduced a shared constitution for Denmark and Schleswig. This led to conflict with the German Confederation, which authorised the occupation of Holstein by the Confederation, from which Danish forces withdrew. <!-- not a direct annexation. A similar construction with DK, Schl, and Hol. had existed shortly c. 10 years before --> In 1864, Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border between Holstein and Schleswig initiating the [[Second War of Schleswig]].<!--Since Schleswig was not a member of the German Confederation, the Confederation could only authorise a Confederate intervention in Holstein, not in non-member Schleswig. That initiative came from Prussia. --> The Austro-Prussian forces defeated the Danes, who surrendered both territories. In the resulting [[Gastein Convention]] of 1865 Prussia took over the administration of Schleswig while Austria assumed that of Holstein.<ref>Michael Embree, ''Bismarck's first war: the campaign of Schleswig and Jutland 1864'' (2007).</ref>
=====Austro-Prussian War=====
{{Main|Austro-Prussian War}}
[[File:Ac.prussiamap3.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Expansion of Prussia, 1807–1871]]
Bismarck realised that the dual administration of Schleswig and Holstein was only a temporary solution, and tensions rose between Prussia and Austria. The struggle for supremacy in Germany then led to the [[Austro-Prussian War]] (1866), triggered by the dispute over Schleswig and Holstein, with Bismarck using proposed injustices as the [[Casus belli|reason for war]].
On the Austrian side stood the south German states (including [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]] and [[Kingdom of Württemberg|Württemberg]]), some central German states (including [[Kingdom of Saxony|Saxony]]), and [[Kingdom of Hanover|Hanover]] in the north. On the side of Prussia were [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], most north German states, and some smaller central German states. Eventually, the better-armed Prussian troops won the crucial victory at the [[Battle of Königgrätz]] under [[Helmuth von Moltke the Elder]]. The century-long struggle between Berlin and Vienna for the dominance of Germany was now over. As a sideshow in this war, Prussia defeated Hanover in the [[Battle of Langensalza (1866)]]. 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.<ref>A.J.P. Taylor, ''Bismarck'' (1955) pp. 70–91.</ref>
Bismarck desired Austria as an ally in the future, and so he declined to annex any Austrian territory. But in the [[Peace of Prague (1866)|Peace of Prague]] in 1866, Prussia annexed four of Austria's allies in northern and central Germany{{snd}}Hanover, [[Electorate of Hesse|Hesse-Kassel]], [[Duchy of Nassau|Nassau]] and [[Free City of Frankfurt|Frankfurt]]. Prussia also won full control of [[Schleswig-Holstein]]. 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. The German Confederation was dissolved, and Prussia impelled the 21 states north of the [[Main (river)|Main]] river into forming the [[North German Confederation]].
Prussia was the dominant state in the new confederation, as the kingdom comprised almost four-fifths of the new state's territory and population. Prussia's near-total control over the confederation was secured in the [[North German Constitution|constitution]] drafted for it by Bismarck in 1867. Executive power was held by a [[Bundespräsidium|president]], assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him. The presidency was a hereditary office of the [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]] rulers of Prussia. There was also a two-house parliament. The lower house, or ''[[Reichstag (North German Confederation)|Reichstag]]'' (Diet), was elected by universal male [[suffrage]]. The upper house, or ''[[Bundesrat (German Empire)|Bundesrat]]'' (Federal Council) was appointed by the state governments. The Bundesrat was, in practice, the stronger chamber. Prussia had 17 of 43 votes, and could easily control proceedings through alliances with the other states.
As a result of the peace negotiations, the states south of the Main remained theoretically independent, but received the (compulsory) protection of Prussia. Additionally, mutual defence treaties were concluded. However, the existence of these treaties was kept secret until Bismarck made them public in 1867 when France tried to [[Luxembourg Crisis|acquire Luxembourg]].
=====Franco-Prussian War=====
{{Main|Franco-Prussian War}}
[[File:Kaiser Wilhelm I. .JPG|thumb|upright|Kaiser [[William I, German Emperor|Wilhelm I]]]]
The controversy with the [[Second French Empire]] over the candidacy of [[Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern]] to the Spanish throne was escalated both by France and Bismarck. With his [[Ems Dispatch]], Bismarck took advantage of an incident in which the French ambassador had approached William. The government of [[Napoleon III]], expecting another civil war among the German states, declared war against Prussia, continuing [[Franco-German enmity]]. However, honouring their treaties, the German states joined forces and quickly defeated France in the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1870. Following victory under Bismarck's and Prussia's leadership, [[Grand Duchy of Baden|Baden]], Württemberg and Bavaria, which had remained outside the North German Confederation, accepted incorporation into a united [[German Empire]].
The empire was a "Lesser German" solution (in German, "[[kleindeutsche Lösung]]") to the question of uniting all German-speaking peoples into one state, because it excluded Austria, which remained connected to [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] and whose territories included non-German populations. On 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of King [[Frederick I of Prussia|Frederick I]]), William was [[Proclamation of the German Empire|proclaimed]] "German [[Kaiser|Emperor]]" (not "Emperor of Germany") in the [[Hall of Mirrors]] at [[Palace of Versailles|Versailles]] outside Paris, while [[Siege of Paris (1870–1871)|the French capital was still under siege]].
====German Empire====
{{Main|German Empire}}
[[File:prussiamap.gif|thumb|upright=1.5|Prussia in the German Empire from 1871 to 1918]]
The two decades after the [[unification of Germany]] were the peak of Prussia's fortunes, but the seeds for potential strife were built into the Prusso-German political system.
The [[Constitution of the German Empire]] was a version of the North German Confederation's constitution. Officially, the German Empire was a federal state. In practice, Prussia overshadowed the rest of the empire. Prussia included three-fifths of the German territory and two-thirds of its population. The [[Imperial German Army]] was, in practice, an enlarged Prussian army, although the other kingdoms ([[Bavarian Army|Bavaria]], [[Royal Saxon Army|Saxony]] and [[Army of Württemberg|Württemberg]]) retained their own small armies, coming under Imperial control in wartime. The imperial crown was a hereditary office of the House of Hohenzollern, the royal house of Prussia. The Minister President of Prussia was, except for two brief periods (January–November 1873 and 1892–94), also [[Chancellor of Germany|imperial chancellor]]. But the empire itself had no right to collect taxes directly from its subjects; the only incomes fully under federal control were the customs duties, common excise duties, and the revenue from postal and telegraph services. While all men above age 25 were eligible to vote in imperial elections, Prussia retained its restrictive three-class voting system. This effectively required the king/emperor and prime minister/chancellor to seek majorities from legislatures elected by two different franchises. 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.
As a result, Prussia and the German Empire were something of a paradox. Bismarck knew that his new German Empire was now a colossus and economically and militarily dominant in Europe; Britain was still dominant in finance, trade and at sea. He declared Germany a "satisfied" power, using his talents to preserve peace, for example at the [[Congress of Berlin]]. Bismarck did not set up his own party. He had mixed success in some of his domestic policies. His anti-Catholic ''[[Kulturkampf]]'' inside Prussia (and not the wider German state) was a failure. He ended his support for the anticlerical [[National Liberal Party (Germany)|Liberals]] and worked instead with the Catholic [[Centre Party (Germany)|Centre Party]]. He tried to destroy the socialist movement, with limited success. The large Polish population resisted [[Germanisation of Poles during Partitions|Germanisation]].<ref>David Graham Williamson, ''Bismarck and Germany: 1862–1890'' (Routledge, 2013).</ref>
[[Frederick III, German Emperor|Frederick III]] became emperor in March 1888, after the death of his father, but he died of cancer only 99 days later. [[File:Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany - 1902.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm II]]]] At age 29, Wilhelm became Kaiser [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] after a difficult youth and conflicts with his British mother [[Victoria, Princess Royal]]. 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.
===Railways===
{{Main|Prussian state railways}}
Prussia nationalised its railways in the 1880s in an effort both to lower rates on freight service and to equalise those rates among shippers. Instead of lowering rates as far as possible, the government ran the railways as a profit-making endeavour, and the railway profits became a major source of revenue for the state. The nationalisation of the railways slowed the economic development of Prussia because the state favoured the relatively backward agricultural areas in its railway building. Moreover, the railway surpluses substituted for the development of an adequate tax system.<ref>Rainer Fremdling, "Freight Rates and State Budget: The Role of the National Prussian Railways 1880–1913", ''Journal of European Economic History'', Spring 1980, Vol. 9#1 pp 21–40</ref>
===The Free State of Prussia in the Weimar Republic===
{{Main|Free State of Prussia}}
Because of the [[German Revolution]] of 1918, Wilhelm II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia. Prussia was proclaimed a "Free State" (i.e. a republic, German: ''Freistaat'') within the new [[Weimar Republic]] and in 1920 received a democratic [[Constitution of Prussia (1920)|constitution]].
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]]; [[South Jutland County|North Schleswig]] to Denmark; the [[Klaipėda Region|Memel Territory]] to [[Lithuania]]; the [[Hlučínsko|Hultschin area]] to [[Czechoslovakia]]. Many of the areas Prussia annexed in the [[partitions of Poland]], such as the provinces of [[Province of Posen|Posen]] and [[West Prussia]], as well as eastern [[Upper Silesia]], went to the [[Second Polish Republic]]. [[Gdańsk|Danzig]] became the [[Free City of Danzig]] under the administration of the [[League of Nations]]. Also, the [[Saargebiet]] was created mainly from formerly Prussian territories, except present [[Saarpfalz-Kreis|Saarpfalz]] district, which was part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. [[East Prussia]] became an exclave, only reachable by ship. (the [[Seedienst Ostpreußen|Sea Service East Prussia]]) or by a railway through the [[Polish corridor]].
[[File:Weimar Republic states map.svg|thumb|upright=1.65|left|Federal states of the Weimar Republic, with Prussia in light gray. After [[World War I]] the provinces of [[Province of Posen|Posen]] and [[West Prussia Province|West Prussia]] came largely to the [[Second Polish Republic|2nd Polish Republic]]; [[Posen-West Prussia]] and the [[Regierungsbezirk Westpreußen|West Prussia district]] were formed from the remaining parts.]]
The German government seriously considered breaking up Prussia into smaller states, but eventually traditionalist sentiment prevailed and Prussia became by far the largest state of the Weimar Republic, comprising 60% of its territory. With the abolition of the older Prussian franchise, it became a stronghold of the left. Its incorporation of "Red Berlin" and the industrialised Ruhr Area, both with working-class majorities, ensured left-wing dominance.<ref>Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'', pp 620–624</ref>
From 1919 to 1932, Prussia was governed by a coalition of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]], [[Centre Party (Germany)|Catholic Centre]] and [[German Democratic Party|German Democrats]]; from 1921 to 1925, coalition governments included the [[German People's Party]]. Unlike in other states of the German Reich, majority rule by democratic parties in Prussia was never endangered. Nevertheless, in East Prussia and some rural areas, the [[National Socialist German Workers Party|Nazi Party]] of [[Adolf Hitler]] gained more and more influence and popular support, especially from the lower middle class starting in 1930. Except for Catholic [[Upper Silesia]], the Nazi Party in 1932 became the largest party in most parts of the Free State of Prussia. However, the democratic parties in coalition remained a majority, while [[Communist Party of Germany|Communists]] and Nazis were in the opposition.<ref>Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'', pp. 630–639</ref>
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. He implemented several trend-setting reforms together with his minister of the interior, [[Carl Severing]], which were also models for the later [[Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]]. For instance, a Prussian minister-president could be forced out of office only if there was a "positive majority" for a potential successor. This concept, known as the [[constructive vote of no confidence]], was carried over into the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany]]. Most historians regard the Prussian government during this time as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole.<ref>Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'', p. 652</ref>
In contrast to its pre-war authoritarianism, Prussia was a pillar of democracy in the Weimar Republic. This system was destroyed by the ''[[Preußenschlag]]'' ("Prussian coup") of Reich Chancellor [[Franz von Papen]]. In this [[coup d'état]], the government of the Reich deposed the Prussian government on 20 July 1932, under the pretext that the latter had lost control of public order in Prussia (during the [[Altona Bloody Sunday|Bloody Sunday]] of [[Altona, Hamburg]], which was still part of Prussia at that time) and by using fabricated evidence that the Social Democrats and the Communists were planning a joint "putsch". The Defence Minister General [[Kurt von Schleicher]], who was the prime mover behind the coup, manufactured evidence that the Prussian police under Braun's orders were favouring the Communist ''[[Rotfrontkämpferbund]]'' in street clashes with the [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] as part of an alleged plan to foment a Marxist revolution, which he used to get an emergency decree from President [[Paul von Hindenburg]] imposing ''Reich'' control on Prussia.<ref>Wheeler-Bennett, John ''The Nemesis of Power'', London: Macmillan, 1967 p. 253.</ref> Papen appointed himself Reich commissioner for Prussia and took control of the government. The ''Preußenschlag'' made it easier, only half a year later, for Hitler to take power decisively in Germany, since he had the whole apparatus of the Prussian government, including the police, at his disposal.<ref>Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'', pp. 647–648</ref>
===Prussia and Nazi Germany===
[[File:Hitler portrait crop.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Adolf Hitler]]]]
[[File:Former eastern territories of Germany.png|thumb|{{legend|#676767|Territory lost after World War I}}
{{legend|#000000|Territory lost after World War II}}
{{legend|#FF0000|Present-day Germany}}]]
After the appointment of Hitler as the new chancellor, the Nazis used the absence of Franz von Papen as an opportunity to appoint [[Hermann Göring]] federal commissioner for the Prussian ministry of the interior. The [[March 1933 German federal election|Reichstag election]] of 5 March 1933 strengthened the position of the National Socialist German Workers' Party ([[NSDAP]] or "Nazi" Party), although they did not achieve an absolute majority.<ref>Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'', pp. 655–670</ref>
The [[Reichstag building]] having been [[Reichstag fire|set on fire]] a few weeks earlier on 27 February, a new [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] was opened in the [[Garrison Church (Potsdam)|Garrison Church]] of [[Potsdam]] on 21 March 1933 in the presence of President Paul von Hindenburg. In a propaganda-filled meeting between Hitler and the Nazi Party, the "marriage of old Prussia with young Germany" was celebrated, to win over the Prussian monarchists, conservatives and nationalists and induce them into supporting and subsequently voting in favor of the [[Enabling Act of 1933]].
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C06886, Paul v. Hindenburg.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Paul von Hindenburg]]]]
In the centralised state created by the Nazis in the "[[Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich]]" ("Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reichs", 30 January 1934) and the "[[Reichsstatthalter#Reich Governors Law (1935)|Law on Reich Governors]]" ("Reichsstatthaltergesetz", 30 January 1935) the states were dissolved, in fact if not in law. The state ''landtage'' were abolished and the state governments were now controlled by ''[[Reichsstatthalter]]n'' (Reich Governors) who were appointed by the chancellor. Parallel to that, the organisation of the party into districts (''[[Gau (German)|Gaue]]'') gained increasing importance, as the official in charge of a ''Gau'' (the head of which was called a ''[[Gauleiter]]'') was again appointed by the chancellor who was at the same time chief of the Nazi Party.
This centralising policy went even further in Prussia. From 1934 to 1945, almost all ministries were merged and only a few departments were able to maintain their independence. [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] himself became formally the governor of Prussia. However, his functions were exercised by Hermann Göring as Prussian prime minister.
As provided for in the "[[Greater Hamburg Act]]" ("Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz"), certain exchanges of territory took place. Prussia was extended on 1 April 1937, for instance, by the incorporation of the Free and Hanseatic City of [[Lübeck]].
The Prussian lands transferred to Poland after the Treaty of Versailles were re-annexed during [[World War II]]. 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.
===The end of Prussia===
[[File:Germany former prussian lander.png|left|upright|thumb|Map of the current [[states of Germany]] (in dark green) that are completely or mostly situated inside the old borders of [[Imperial Germany]]'s [[Kingdom of Prussia]]]]
[[File:Polish Prussia and Actual Poland (language neutral).png|right|upright=1.3|thumb|Map of current Poland with Polish Prussia highlighted (borders aligned to [[Powiat|counties of Poland]])]]
The areas east of the [[Oder–Neisse line]], mainly Eastern Prussia, Western Prussia, [[Pomerania]] and [[Silesia]], were annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union in 1945 owing to the [[Treaty of Potsdam]] between three of the Allies: the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. This included important Prussian cities like [[Danzig]], [[Königsberg]], [[Breslau]], and [[Stettin]]. The [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)|population fled, mostly to the Western zones, or was driven out.]]
As part of their wartime goals, the Western allies sought the [[abolition of Prussia]]. [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] was initially content to retain the name, Russians having a different historical view of their neighbour and sometime former ally. Nonetheless, by [[Abolition of Prussia|Law No. 46]], which was accepted and implemented by the [[Allied Control Council]] on 25 February 1947, Prussia was officially proclaimed to be dissolved.<ref>Clark, ''Iron Kingdom'', pp. 670–682</ref>
In the [[Soviet occupation zone]], which became [[East Germany]] (officially, the German Democratic Republic) in 1949, the former Prussian territories were reorganised into the states of [[Brandenburg]] and [[Saxony-Anhalt]], with the remaining parts of the [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Province of Pomerania]] going to [[Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania]]. These states were ''de facto'' abolished in 1952 in favour of ''[[Administrative divisions of East Germany#Division into Bezirke|Bezirke]]'' (districts), but were [[Administrative divisions of East Germany#Restoration of the Länder|recreated]] shortly before [[German reunification]] in 1990.
In the [[Allied-occupied Germany|Western Zones of occupation]], which became [[West Germany]] (officially, the Federal Republic of Germany) in 1949, the former Prussian territories were divided up among [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], [[Lower Saxony]], [[Hesse]], [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] and [[Schleswig-Holstein]]. [[Württemberg-Baden]] and [[Württemberg-Hohenzollern]] were later merged with [[Baden]] to create the state of [[Baden-Württemberg]]. The Saar region, which had been administered by the French as [[Saar Protectorate|a protectorate]] separate from the rest of Western Germany, was admitted to the Federal Republic of Germany as [[Saarland|a separate state]] following the [[1955 Saar Statute referendum]].
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|Federal Constitutional Court of Germany]]. The fundamental goal of this institution is protecting the cultural legacy of Prussia. As of 2021, it continues to operate from its headquarters in Berlin.
==Administrative and constitutional frameworks==
{{Main|Brandenburg-Prussia|Kingdom of Prussia}}
In the mid-16th century, the [[List of rulers of Brandenburg|margraves of Brandenburg]] had become highly dependent on the estates (representing counts, lords, knights, and towns, but not prelates, owing to the [[Protestant Reformation]] in 1538).<ref name="Kotulla262">Kotulla (2008), p. 262</ref> The margraviate's liabilities and tax income as well as the margrave's finances were in the hands of the ''Kreditwerk'', an institution not controlled by the elector, and of the ''Großer Ausschuß'' (Great Committee) of the estates.<ref name="Kotulla263">Kotulla (2008), p. 263</ref> This was because of concessions made by [[Joachim II, Elector of Brandenburg|Elector Joachim II]] in 1541 in return for financial aid by the estates; however, the ''Kreditwerk'' went bankrupt between 1618 and 1625.<ref name=Kotulla263/> The margraves further had to yield to the veto of the estates in all issues concerning the "better or worse of the country", in all legal commitments, and in all issues concerning pawn or sale of the elector's real property.<ref name=Kotulla263/>
{{multiple image|direction=vertical|align=left|width=200|image1=Berliner Schloss um 1690 von der langen Brücke Abraham Jansz. Begeyn.jpg|image2=Rosenberg Schloss 1781.jpg|image3=Berlin Nationaldenkmal Kaiser Wilhelm mit Schloss 1900.jpg|header=[[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]] [[Stadtschloss, Berlin|residence in Berlin]]|caption1=... during the [[Renaissance]] period|caption2=... according to the design of 1781|caption3=... according to the design of 1900}}
To reduce the influence of the estates, in 1604, [[Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg|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.<ref name=Kotulla263/> While the council was permanently established in 1613, it failed to gain any influence until 1651, owing to the [[Thirty Years' War]]<ref name=Kotulla263/> (1618–1648)
Until after the [[Thirty Years' War]], the various territories of Brandenburg-Prussia remained politically independent from each other,<ref name=Kotulla262/> connected only by the common feudal superior.<ref name="Kotulla265">Kotulla (2008), p. 265</ref> [[Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick William]] (ruled 1640–1688), who envisioned the transformation of the [[personal union]] into a [[real union]],<ref name=Kotulla265/> started to centralise the Brandenburg-Prussian government with an attempt to establish the ''Geheimer Rat'' as a central authority for all territories in 1651, but this project proved unfeasible.<ref name=Kotulla267/> Instead, the elector continued to appoint a governor (''Kurfürstlicher Rat'') for each territory, who in most cases was a member of the ''Geheimer Rat''.<ref name=Kotulla267/> The most powerful institution in the territories remained the governments of the estates (''Landständische Regierung'', named ''Oberratsstube'' in Prussia and ''Geheime Landesregierung'' in Mark and Cleves), which were the highest government agencies regarding jurisdiction, finances and administration.<ref name=Kotulla267/> The elector attempted to balance the estates' governments by creating ''Amtskammer'' chambers to administer and coordinate the elector's domains, tax income and privileges.<ref name=Kotulla267/> Such chambers were introduced in Brandenburg in 1652, in Cleves and Mark in 1653, in Pomerania in 1654, in Prussia in 1661 and in Magdeburg in 1680.<ref name="Kotulla267">Kotulla (2008), p. 267</ref> Also in 1680, the ''Kreditwerk'' came under the aegis of the elector.<ref name="Kotulla266">Kotulla (2008), p. 266</ref>
Frederick William I's excise tax (''Akzise''), which from 1667 replaced the property tax raised in Brandenburg for Brandenburg-Prussia's standing army with the estates' consent, was raised by the elector without consultation with the estates.<ref name=Kotulla266/> The conclusion of the [[Second Northern War]] of 1655–1660 had strengthened the elector politically, enabling him to reform the constitution of Cleves and Mark in 1660 and 1661 to introduce officials loyal to him and independent of the local estates.<ref name=Kotulla266/> In the Duchy of Prussia he confirmed the traditional privileges of the [[Prussian estates]] in 1663,<ref name=Kotulla266/> but the latter accepted the caveat that these privileges were not to be used to interfere with the exertion of the elector's sovereignty.<ref name=Kotulla267/> 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.<ref name=Kotulla267/> From 1704 the Prussian estates ''de facto'' relinquished their right to approve the elector's taxes while formally still entitled to do so.<ref name=Kotulla267/> In 1682 the elector introduced an ''Akzise'' to Pomerania and in 1688 to Magdeburg,<ref name=Kotulla267/> while in Cleves and Mark an ''Akzise'' was introduced only between 1716 and 1720. Owing to Frederick William I's reforms, the state income increased threefold during his reign, and the tax burden per subject reached a level twice as high as in France.<ref name=Kotulla266/>
[[File:Corona Prusia-mj2.jpg|thumb|[[Crown of William II|Prussian King's Crown]] ([[Hohenzollern Castle]] Collection)]]
Under the rule of [[Frederick I of Prussia|Frederick III (I)]] (reign: 1688–1713), the Brandenburg Prussian territories were ''de facto'' reduced to provinces of the monarchy.<ref name=Kotulla265/> Frederick William's testament would have divided Brandenburg-Prussia among his sons, but his firstborn son Frederick III (I), with the [[Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor|emperor]]'s backing, succeeded in becoming the sole ruler based on the [[House Treaty of Gera]] of 1599, which forbade a division of Hohenzollern territories.<ref name="Kotulla269">Kotulla (2008), p. 269</ref> In 1689, a new central chamber for all Brandenburg-Prussian territories was established, called ''Geheime Hofkammer'' (from 1713: ''Generalfinanzdirektorium''). This chamber functioned as a superior agency of the territories' ''Amtskammer'' chambers.<ref name="Kotulla270">Kotulla (2008), p. 270</ref> The [[General War Commissariat]] (''Generalkriegskommissariat'') emerged as a second central agency, superior to the local ''Kriegskommissariat'' agencies initially concerned with the administration of the army, but before 1712 transformed into an agency also concerned with general tax and police tasks.<ref name=Kotulla270/>
The Kingdom of Prussia functioned as an [[absolute monarchy]] until the [[German revolutions of 1848–1849]], after which Prussia became a [[constitutional monarchy]] and King [[Frederick William IV]] appointed [[Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg]] Prussia's first [[Prime Minister of Prussia|prime minister]] (''Ministerpräsident'').<ref>{{Cite web |title=Adolf Heinrich Graf von Arnim-Boitzenburg |url=http://prussianmachine.com/prussia/arnim.htm |access-date=27 March 2023 |website=The Prussian Machine}}</ref> [[Constitution of Prussia (1848)|Prussia's first constitution]] dated from 1848, but was only briefly in effect as it had been forced on the king. The [[Constitution of Prussia (1850)|1850 Prussian Constitution]] established a [[Bicameralism|two-chamber]] parliament. The lower house, the [[Prussian House of Representatives]] represented all taxpayers, who were [[Prussian three-class franchise|divided into three classes]] according to the amount of taxes paid. This assured dominance by the more well-to-do elements of the population. The upper house (First Chamber or ''Erste Kammer''), later renamed the [[Prussian House of Lords]] (''Herrenhaus''), was appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority and ministers were responsible only to him. As a result, the grip of the landowning classes, the Junkers, remained unbroken, especially in the eastern provinces. The [[Prussian Secret Police]], formed in response to the German revolutions of 1848–1849, aided the conservative government.
=== Prussia inside Weimar Republic ===
{{Main|Free State of Prussia}}
Unlike its authoritarian pre-1918 predecessor, Prussia from 1918 to 1932 was a promising democracy within Germany. The abolition of the political power of the aristocracy transformed Prussia into a region strongly dominated by the left wing of the political spectrum, with "Red Berlin" and the industrial centre of the [[Ruhr Area]] exerting major influence. During this period a coalition of centre-left parties ruled, predominantly under the leadership (1920–1932) of East Prussian [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrat]] [[Otto Braun]]. While in office Braun implemented several reforms (together with his Minister of the Interior, [[Carl Severing]]) that became models for the later Federal Republic of Germany. For instance, a Prussian prime minister could only be forced out of office if there was a "positive majority" for a potential successor. This concept, known as the [[constructive vote of no confidence]], became part of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. Historians regard the Prussian government during the 1920s as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole.<ref>Dietrich Orlow, ''Weimar Prussia, 1918-1925: The Unlikely Rock of Democracy'' (1986).</ref>
Similar to other German states both [[States of Germany|now]] and [[Weimar Republic#Constituent states|at the time]], executive power remained vested in a [[Minister-President|Minister-President of Prussia]] and in laws established by a [[Landtag]] elected by the people.
[[File:Curonians kursenieki in 1649.png|thumb|250px|In 1649, [[Kursenieki]] settlements along the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] coastline of [[East Prussia]] spanned from [[Klaipėda|Memel (Klaipėda)]] to [[Gdańsk|Danzig (Gdańsk)]].]]
==Social history==
===Population===
[[File:Ethnic structure of eastern regions of Prussia.png|thumb|Ethnic structure of the eastern regions of Prussia between 1817 and 1823]]
In 1871, Prussia's population numbered 24.69 million, accounting for 60% of the [[German Empire]]'s population.<ref name="Handbuch">{{Cite book |title=Handbuch der preussischen Geschichte |last1=Büsch |first1=Otto |last2=Ilja Mieck |last3=Wolfgang Neugebauer |publisher=de Gruyter |year=1992 |isbn=978-3-11-008322-4 |editor-last=Otto Büsch |volume=2 |___location=Berlin |pages=42 |language=de}}</ref> The population grew rapidly from 45 million in 1880 to 56 million in 1900, thanks to declining mortality, even as birth rates declined. About 6 million Germans, primarily young families, migrated to the United States, especially the mid-western farming regions. Their place in agriculture was often taken by young Polish farm workers. In addition, large numbers of Polish miners moved to Upper Silesia and many Germans and Poles moved to industrial jobs in the fast-growing cities especially in the Rhineland and Westphalia.<ref>Patrick R. Galloway, Eugene A. Hammel, and Ronald D. Lee, "Fertility decline in Prussia, 1875–1910: A pooled cross-section time series analysis." Population studies 48.1 (1994): 135-158 [http://patrickgalloway.com/galloway_1994_prussia_fertility_decline.pdf online].</ref><ref>Frank B. Tipton, ''Regional Variations in the Economic Development of Germany During the Nineteenth Century'' (1976).</ref> In 1910, the population had increased to 40.17 million (62% of the Empire's population).<ref name=Handbuch/> In 1914, Prussia had an area of 354,490 km<sup>2</sup>. In May 1939, Prussia had an area of 297,007 km<sup>2</sup> and a population of 41,915,040 inhabitants.
=== Ethnicity ===
Apart from ethnic Germans the country was inhabited also by [[Ethnolinguistic group|ethnolinguistic]] minorities such as [[Polish people|Poles]] (including [[Kashubians|Kashubs]] in West Prussia and [[Masurians|Mazurs]] in East Prussia), [[Prussian Lithuanians]] (in East Prussia), [[Sorbs]] (in Lusatia), [[Czechs]] and [[Moravians]] (in Silesia), [[Danes]] (in Schleswig), [[Jews]], [[Frisians]], [[Dutch people|Dutch]], [[Walloons]], Russians (in [[Wojnowo, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Wojnowo]]), [[French people|French]], [[Italians]], [[Hungarians]] and others.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Belzyt |first=Leszek |title=Sprachliche Minderheiten im preussischen Staat: 1815 - 1914; die preußische Sprachenstatistik in Bearbeitung und Kommentar |date=1998 |publisher=Herder-Inst. |isbn=978-3-87969-267-5 |___location=Marburg}}</ref>
===Religion===
{{Further|Prussian Union of Churches|Old Lutherans|Kulturkampf}}
The [[Duchy of Prussia]] was the first state to [[State religion|officially adopt]] Lutheranism in 1525. In the wake of the [[Reformation]], Prussia was dominated by two major [[Protestant]] confessions: [[Lutheranism]] and [[Calvinism]]. The majority of the Prussian population was Lutheran, although there were dispersed [[Calvinist]] minorities in central and western parts of the state especially [[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]], [[Rhine Province|Rhineland]], [[Province of Westphalia|Westphalia]] and [[Province of Hesse-Nassau|Hesse-Nassau]]. In 1613, [[John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg|John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg and Grand Duke of Prussia]] declared himself for the Calvinist creed and transferred the [[Berlin Cathedral]] from the Lutheran to the Calvinist church. Lutherans and Calvinist congregations all over the kingdom were merged in 1817 by the [[Prussian Union of churches]], which came under tight royal control.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clark |first=Christopher |year=1996 |title=Confessional Policy and the Limits of State Action: Frederick William III and the Prussian Church Union 1817-40 |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=985–1004 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00024730 |jstor=2639865|s2cid=159976974}}</ref> In Protestant regions, writes Nipperdey:
{{blockquote|Much of religious life was often conventional and superficial by any normal, human standard. The state and the bureaucracy kept their distance, preferring to spoon-feed the churches and treat them like children. They saw the churches as channels for education, as a means of instilling morality and obedience, or for propagating useful things, just like bee-keeping or potato-farming.<ref>Thomas Nipperdey, ''Germany from Napoleon to Bismarck: 1800–1866'' (Princeton University Press, 2014) p 356</ref>}}
Prussia received significant [[Huguenot]] population after the issuing of the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]] by [[Louis XIV of France]] and the following [[dragonnades]]. Prussian monarchs, beginning with [[Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg]] opened the country to the fleeing French Calvinist refugees. In Berlin, they built and worshipped at their own church called the [[French Cathedral, Berlin|French Cathedral]] on [[Gendarmenmarkt]]. Time passed by, and the French Reformed assimilated into the wider Protestant community in Prussia. East Prussia's southern region of [[Masuria]] was mostly made up of [[Germanisation|Germanised]] [[Lutheran]] [[Masurians]].
After 1814, Prussia contained millions of Catholics in the west and in the east. There were substantial populations in the [[Rhineland]], parts of [[Westphalia]], eastern parts of [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]], [[West Prussia]], [[Ermland]] and the [[Province of Posen]].<ref>Helmut Walser Smith, ed.. ''Protestants, Catholics and Jews in Germany, 1800–1914'' (Bloomsbury Academic, 2001)</ref> Communities in Poland were often ethnically [[Polish people|Polish]], although this is not the case of eastern Silesia as the majority of Catholics there were German. During the 19th-century [[Kulturkampf]], Prussian Catholics were forbidden from fulfilling any official functions for the state and were largely distrusted.
Prussia contained a relatively large Jewish community, which was mostly concentrated in large urban areas. According to the 1880 census, it was the biggest one in Germany with 363,790 individuals.
In 1925, 64.9% of the Prussian population was Protestant, 31.3% was Catholic, 1.1% was Jewish, 2.7% was placed in other religious categories.<ref>Grundriss der Statistik. II. Gesellschaftsstatistik by Wilhelm Winkler, p. 36</ref>
===Non-German population===
[[File:Polish language in 1910.png|thumb|Polish language distribution (light blue) in 1910]]
In 1871, approximately 2.4 million Poles lived in Prussia, constituting the largest minority.<ref name=Handbuch/> Other minorities were Jews, [[Danes]], [[Frisians]], [[Dutch people|Dutchmen]], [[Kashubians]] (72,500 in 1905), [[Masurians]] (248,000 in 1905), [[Lithuanians]] (101,500 in 1905), [[Walloons]], [[Czechs]], [[Kursenieki]], and [[Sorbs]].<ref name=Handbuch/>
The area of [[Greater Poland]], where the Polish nation had originated, became the [[Province of Posen]] after the [[Partitions of Poland]]. Poles in this Polish-majority province (62% Polish, 38% German) resisted German rule. Also, the southeast portion of Silesia ([[Upper Silesia]]) had a Polish majority. But Catholics and Jews did not have equal status with Protestants.<ref>Hajo Holborn, ''History of Modern Germany: 1648–1840'' 2:274</ref>
As a result of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919, the [[Second Polish Republic]] was granted not only these two areas, but also areas with a German majority in the province of West Prussia. After [[World War II]], East Prussia, most of Pomerania and Silesia, and the eastern part of Brandenburg were either annexed by the Soviet Union or given to Poland, and the [[German language|German-speaking]] populations [[Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II|forcibly expelled]].
<gallery class="center" widths="275px" heights="225px">
File:CretiusEmpfang.jpg|King [[Frederick William I of Prussia]] welcoming the expelled [[Salzburg Protestants]]
File:Dom, Berlin 1900.png|The [[Berlin Cathedral]] {{circa|1900}}
File:Prussian deportations.PNG|[[Prussian deportations]] (''Polenausweisungen'') were the mass expulsions of ethnic [[Polish people|Poles]] between 1885 and 1890.
</gallery>
===Education===
{{Main|Prussian education system}}
The German states in the 19th century were world leaders in prestigious education and Prussia set the pace.<ref>Karl A. Schleunes, "Enlightenment, reform, reaction: the schooling revolution in Prussia." ''Central European History'' 12.4 (1979): 315-342 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4545874 online].</ref><ref>Charles E. McClelland, ''State, society, and university in Germany: 1700-1914'' (1980).</ref> For boys free public education was widely available, and the gymnasium system for elite students was highly professionalized. The modern university system emerged from the 19th century German universities, especially Friedrich Wilhelm University (now named [[Humboldt University of Berlin]]). It pioneered the model of the research university with well-defined career tracks for professors.<ref>Ash, Mitchell G. (2006) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3700114 "Bachelor of What, Master of Whom? The Humboldt Myth and Historical Transformations of Higher Education in German‐Speaking Europe and the U.S." ]''European Journal of Education'' 41.2: 245-267</ref> The United States, for example, paid close attention to German models. Families focused on educating their sons. The traditional schooling for girls was generally provided by mothers and governesses. Elite families increasingly favoured Catholic convent boarding schools for their daughters. Prussia's Kulturkampf laws in the 1870s limited Catholic schools thus providing an opening for a large number of new private schools for girls.<ref>Aneta Niewęgłowska, "Secondary Schools for Girls in Western Prussia, 1807-1911." ''Acta Poloniae Historica'' 99 (2009): 137-160.</ref>
== Continuation of Prussian traditions ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=March 2024}}
The [[States of Germany|German states]] on the former territory of the Free State of Prussia are successor states to Prussia in legal terms, particularly in terms of constitutional and [[international law]]. For example, the state of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] is bound to the [[concordat]] that the Free State of Prussia concluded with the [[Holy See]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/analysen/2007/Aufloesung_des_Staates_Preussen___.pdf |title=Auflösung des Staates Preußen |access-date=23 October 2024 |archive-date=15 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815214533/https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/analysen/2007/Aufloesung_des_Staates_Preussen___.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }} (PDF)</ref><ref>BGH, Urteil 31 January 1955, Az. II ZR 234/53, [http://www.servat.unibe.ch/dfr/bz016184.html Volltext].</ref>
Despite its dissolution in 1947, many aspects of Prussia have been preserved to this day in everyday life, in [[culture]], in [[sport]] and even in names.
=== Federal government ===
* In the federal government according to the prevailing view, the [[Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]] as a subject of international law is identical to the federal state initiated and dominated by Prussia, which was founded in 1867 under the name of the [[North German Confederation]] and expanded into the [[German Empire]] in 1871.
* Prussia's capital [[Berlin]] also became the capital of the newly founded empire in 1871. The capital city resolution of 1991, which designated Berlin as the federal capital of the reunified Germany, the "Berlin Republic", stands in this tradition. Several federal institutions use buildings from former Prussian institutions, for example the [[Federal Council (Germany)|Bundesrat]] uses the Prussian House of Lords building. The Federal President has his first official residence in Bellevue Palace, the first classical building in Prussia.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=2024-01-17 |language=de |title=Geschichte |url=https://www.bundespraesident.de/DE/amt-und-aufgaben/amtssitze/schloss-bellevue/geschichte/geschichte_node.html}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> As the central shield of the Reich coat of arms, the Prussian state coat of arms is depicted in the gable above the main entrance to the [[Reichstag building]].
* The [[constructive vote of no confidence]] anchored in the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany]], which only allows the head of government to be voted out if a new successor is simultaneously elected, is directly based on a constitutional regulation of the Free State of Prussia.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
* The Prussian war award of the [[Iron Cross]] is, in a modified form, the symbol of the [[Bundeswehr]].
* In the tradition of the 1st Guards Regiment on Foot, which was introduced in 1806 as the personal regiment of the King of Prussia, the guard battalion at the Federal Ministry of Defense has followed.
* As part of [[state visit]]s, the presentation march of Friedrich Wilhelm III is a regular part of the federal diplomatic protocol at the reception with military honors and the marching down the front of the [[Wachbataillon|guard battalion]]'s honor formation at the [[Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany)|Federal Ministry of Defense]] is played.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGHCsEswMJk&feature=related Präsentiermarsch Friedrich Wilhelms III. auf ''YouTube''], retrieved 12 November 2010.</ref>{{clarify|date=March 2024}}
* The Bundeswehr's Great Tattoo, played particularly when bidding farewell to [[President of Germany|Federal Presidents]], [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellors]], Federal Defense Ministers and senior military officers, is largely composed of traditional elements of Prussian military music.
* The police star, the emblem of the [[Federal Police (Germany)|Federal Police]] and the [[Feldjäger]] of the Bundeswehr, is derived from the Prussian Guard Star, which went back to the eight-pointed breast star of the [[Order of the Black Eagle|Black Eagle Order]]. The guard star can also be found on the bell trees of the Bundeswehr music corps.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
* In 2002, the then [[Brandenburg]] Social Minister Alwin Ziel suggested naming the planned new federal state of Berlin-Brandenburg "Prussia".
=== Within Germany ===
* The state coat of arms of [[Saxony-Anhalt]] shows, among other things the [[Prussian eagle]].
* The large coat of arms of [[Baden-Württemberg]] contains the house coat of arms of the [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollerns]].
*The Prussian government and administration model was decisive for a large number of political institutions at the state level and is still expressed today in terms such as [[Minister-president]], [[Regierungsbezirk]] and [[Landrat]]. Today's North Rhine-Westphalia regional associations go back to the Prussian provincial associations.
* The Rhineland Regional Association in North Rhine-Westphalia - in continuation of the tradition of the Rhine Province and its provincial association - also has the Prussian eagle in the upper part of its association coat of arms.
* The states on the former territory of the Free State of Prussia are successor states to Prussia in legal terms, particularly in terms of constitutional and international law. North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest successor state to Prussia,<ref>Markus Reiners: ''Verwaltungsstrukturreformen in den deutschen Bundesländern. Radikale Reformen auf der Ebene der staatlichen Mittelinstanz''. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-15774-0, S. 162 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=HNkkGPZOi8sC&dq=Nordrhein-Westfalen+Nachfolgestaat+Preu%C3%9Fens&pg=PA162 online])</ref> maintains its Prussian history and remembrance culture in the form of the Prussian Museums in [[Wesel]] and [[Minden]].
=== In churches ===
* The [[Union of Protestant Churches in the EKD|Union of Evangelical Churches]] emerged from the Evangelical Church of the Union, a church association of the Old Prussian Protestant regional churches, i.e. H. of the churches whose area already belonged to Prussia before 1866
* The Prussian state coat of arms is depicted in the niche above the main (west) door within [[Berlin Cathedral]], relating to the link between church and state.
==See also==
[[File:AlteNationalgalerie 1a.jpg|thumb|The Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin]]
* [[Alte Nationalgalerie]], Berlin
* [[Altes Museum]], Berlin
* [[Bode Museum]], Berlin
* [[East Prussian Regional Museum]]
* [[List of museums and galleries in Berlin]]
* [[List of museums in Germany]]
==References==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}
'''Citations'''
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* {{Cite journal |last=Avraham |first=Doron |date=Oct 2008 |title=The Social and Religious Meaning of Nationalism: The Case of Prussian Conservatism 1815–1871 |journal=European History Quarterly |volume=38 |issue=38#4 |pages=525–550|doi=10.1177/0265691408094531 |s2cid=145574435}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/originsofmoderng0000barr |title=The Origins of Modern Germany |last=Barraclough |first=Geoffrey |date=1947 |edition=2nd |url-access=registration}}, covers medieval period
* Carroll, E. Malcolm. ''Germany and the great powers, 1866–1914: A study in public opinion and foreign policy'' (1938) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015002369133;view=1up;seq=6 online]; 862pp.
* [[Christopher Clark|Clark, Christopher]]. ''Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947'' (2009), a standard scholarly history {{ISBN|978-0-7139-9466-7}}
* Craig, Gordon. ''The politics of the Prussian Army 1640–1945'' (1955) [https://archive.org/details/politicsofpruss00gord online]
* Fay, Sidney Bradshaw. ''The Rise of Brandenburg-Prussia To 1786'' (1937) [https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.14244 online]
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qsBco40rMPcC |title=The Other Prussia. Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569–1772 |last=Friedrich |first=Karin |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-521-58335-0 |author-link=Karin Friedrich}} [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=35762 online review]
* Friedrich, Karin. ''Brandenburg-Prussia, 1466–1806: The Rise of a Composite State'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011); 157pp. Emphasis on historiography.
* Glees, Anthony. "Albert C. Grzesinski and the politics of Prussia, 1926–1930." ''English Historical Review'' 89.353 (1974): 814–834. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/566400 online]
* {{Cite book |title=The Rise and Fall of Prussia |last=Haffner |first=Sebastian |date=1998}}
* Hamerow, Theodore S. ''Restoration, Revolution, Reaction: Economics and Politics in Germany, 1815–1871'' (1958) [https://archive.org/details/restorationrevol0000hame online]
* Hamerow, Theodore S. ''The social foundations of German unification, 1858–1871'' (1969) [https://archive.org/details/socialfoundation1871hame online]
* Henderson, William O. ''The state and the industrial revolution in Prussia, 1740–1870'' (1958) [https://archive.org/details/stateindustrialr0000hend online]
* {{Cite book |title=A History of Modern Germany (3 vol 1959–64); vol 1: The Reformation; vol 2: 1648–1840 |last=Holborn |first=Hajo |year=1982 |volume=3: 1840–1945 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0691007969}}
* Horn, David Bayne. ''Great Britain and Europe in the eighteenth century'' (1967) covers 1603–1702; pp. 144–177 for Prussia; pp. 178–200 for other Germany; pp. 111–143 for Austria
* Hornung, Erik. "Immigration and the diffusion of technology: The Huguenot diaspora in Prussia." ''American Economic Review'' 104.1 (2014): 84–122. [https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/73817/1/IfoWorkingPaper-114.pdf online]
* Koch, H. W. ''History of Prussia'' (1987) [https://archive.org/details/historyofprussia0000koch_e8h0 online]
* Kotulla, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mfjijA5t9bUC ''Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte: vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934)'' (Springer, 2008)] {{isbn|978-3-540-48705-0}}
* {{Cite book |title=Germany in Western Civilization |last=Maehl |first=William Harvey |date=1979}}
* Muncy, Lysbeth W. "The Junkers and the Prussian Administration from 1918 to 1939." ''Review of Politics'' 9.4 (1947): 482–501. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1404518 online]
* Nipperdey, Thomas. ''Germany from Napoleon to Bismarck: 1800–1866'' (1996). [https://books.google.com/books?id=FYMABAAAQBAJ excerpt]
* Orlow, Dietrich. ''Weimar Prussia, 1918–1925: The Unlikely Rock of Democracy'' (1986) [https://archive.org/details/weimarprussia19100orlo online].
* Orlow, Dietrich. ''Weimar Prussia, 1925–1933: The Illusion of Strength'' (1991). [https://archive.org/details/weimarprussia1920000orlo online]
* {{Cite book |title=Germany: 2000 Years |last=Reinhardt |first=Kurt F. |date=1961 |volume=2 vols}}, stress on cultural topics
* Sagarra, Eda. ''A Social History of Germany, 1648–1914'' (1977) [https://archive.org/details/socialhistoryofg0000saga online]
* Schulze, Hagen, and Philip G. Dwyer. "Democratic Prussia in Weimar Germany, 1919–33." in ''Modern Prussian History 1830–1947'' (Routledge, 2014) pp. 211–229.
* {{Cite book |title=The Rise of Brandenburg Prussia |last=Shennan |first=M. |date=1997 |isbn=0415129389}}
* Taylor, A. J. P. ''The Course of German History: A Survey of the Development of German History since 1815'' (1945) [https://archive.org/details/courseofgermanhi00tayl_0 online]
* Taylor, A. J. P. ''Bismarck'' (1955) [https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.543989 online]
* Treasure, Geoffrey. ''The Making of Modern Europe, 1648–1780'' (3rd ed. 2003). pp. 427–462.
* {{Cite journal |last=Wheeler |first=Nicholas C. |date=Oct 2011 |title=The Noble Enterprise of State Building Reconsidering the Rise and Fall of the Modem State in Prussia and Poland |journal=Comparative Politics |volume=44 |issue=44#1 |pages=21–38|doi=10.5129/001041510X13815229366480}}
==External links==
{{commons}}
{{Wikivoyage|Prussia}}
{{EB1911 poster|Prussia}}
* [http://www.tacitus.nu/historical-atlas/population/germany.htm population history]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070609110632/http://www.preussen-chronik.de/_/episoden/002020_jsp.html Preußen-Chronik.de] chronology and summaries
* [http://www.hv.spk-berlin.de/english/index.php Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100518205741/http://hv.spk-berlin.de/english/index.php |date=18 May 2010}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060613210630/http://bpkgate.picturemaxx.com/index.php?LANGUAGE=english Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz] (picture archive).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140112123230/http://www.spsg.de/ Foundation for Prussian Palaces and Gardens Berlin-Brandenburg]
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