Prussia: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:42, 5 June 2004

Revision as of 21:49, 8 June 2004

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[[Image:ac.prussiaflag.jpg|thumb|300px|The flag of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918]]

Prussia began its existence as a small territory in what is now northern [[Poland]] and the [[Kaliningrad]] [[exclave]] of [[Russia]]. The region was sparsely populated by the Prussi. It was an area which soon became subject to German colonization. By the time of its abolition it stretched across the [[North German Plain]] from the [[France|French]], [[Belgium|Belgian]] and [[Netherlands|Dutch]] borders on the west to the [[Lithuania|Lithuanian]] border and to territories which are now in eastern [[Poland]]. At its greatest extendextent before [[1918]] it included much of western Poland as well. For a period between [[1795]] and [[1807]] Prussia also controlled most of central Poland, including [[Warsaw]].

Before its abolition Prussia included, as well as what might be called "Prussia proper" (the regions of [[West Prussia]] and [[East Prussia]], which now lie in Poland and [[Russia]]), the regions of [[Pomerania]], [[Silesia]], [[Brandenburg]], [[Lusatia]], [[Province of Saxony]] (now state of [[Saxony-Anhalt]] in Germany) [[Hanover]], [[Schleswig-Holstein]], [[Westphalia]], [[Hesse]], and some small detached areas in the south such as [[Hohenzollern]], the home of the Prussian ruling family.