Jahrhundert, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation website, Foundation for Prussian Palaces and Gardens Berlin-Brandenburg, Constitutional deed for the Prussian state ("Imposed Constitution" – December 5, 1848), Constitutional deed for the Prussian state ("Revised Constitution" – January 31, 1850), Administrative Subdivision of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1900/10, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prussia&oldid=999776064, States and territories established in 1525, States and territories disestablished in 1947, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Articles containing Prussian-language text, Pages using infobox country or infobox former country with the flag caption or type parameters, Pages using infobox country or infobox former country with the symbol caption or type parameters, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2008, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2011, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from April 2019, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from April 2019, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from July 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2015, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from March 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2009, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2015, Articles with German-language sources (de), Europe articles missing geocoordinate data, Wikipedia articles with TDVİA identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 11 January 2021, at 22:20. Thereafter until 1701 this territory (i.e., East Prussia) was known as Ducal Prussia. Official Languages: German. [43] 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. Teutonic Prussia became known as the "bread basket of Western Europe" (in German, Kornkammer, or granary). Hitler himself became formally the governor of Prussia. The Prussian state grew in splendour during the reign of Frederick I, who sponsored the arts at the expense of the treasury. The kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern, a German royal dynasty that arose in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. Updates? The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, a state of Germany from 1918 until 1933.From 1932, Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup , which was taken further in the next few years when the Nazi regime successfully established its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state . In 1925, 64.9% of the Prussian population was Protestant, 31.3% was Roman Catholic, 1.1% was Jewish, 2.7% was placed in other religious categories. It therefore had to recourse on police methods. The most significant achievement of the Great Elector’s son Frederick (reigned 1688–1713) was to secure the royal dignity for himself as Frederick I, king in Prussia, crowning himself at Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia) on January 18, 1701. Women and those who paid no taxes had no vote. The 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.[40]. During this period, he also opened Prussia's borders to immigrants fleeing from religious persecution in other parts of Europe, such as the Huguenots. Most[quantify] historians regard the Prussian government during the 1920s as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole. [43] This was due to concessions made by Elector Joachim II in 1541 in return for financial aid by the estates; however, the Kreditwerk went bankrupt between 1618 and 1625. The Kingdom of Prussia is a German survivor nation located in northern Germany along the coast of the Baltic Sea. [46] Also in 1680, the Kreditwerk came under the aegis of the elector. Having this government ensures: 1. [10] This meant that Poland and Lithuania would be traditional enemies of Prussia, which was still called the Teutonic Knights.[11]. In 1211 King Andrew II of Hungary granted Burzenland in Transylvania as a fiefdom to the Teutonic Knights, a German military order of crusading knights, headquartered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem at Acre. In January 1656, during the first phase of the Second Northern War (1654–1660), he received the duchy as a fief from the Swedish king who later granted him full sovereignty in the Treaty of Labiau (November 1656). The Rise of the Junkers in Brandenburg-Prussia, 1410-1653: Part 1. Frederick William I endowed the Prussian state with its military and bureaucratic character. Lutherans and Reformed congregations all over the kingdom were merged in 1817 by the Prussian Union of churches, which came under tight royal control. But Catholics and Jews did not have equal status with Protestants.[56]. Bismarck knew that his new German Reich was now a colossus out of all proportion to the rest of the continent. What is clear is that Bismarck curried support from large sections of the people by promising to lead the fight for greater German unification. 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. [46] Instead, the elector continued to appoint a governor (Kurfürstlicher Rat) for each territory, who in most cases was a member of the Geheimer Rat. Feel free to send us your own wallpaper and we will consider adding it to appropriate category. [43] While the council was permanently established in 1613, it failed to gain any influence until 1651, due to the Thirty Years' War[43] (1618–1648), Until after the Thirty Years' War, the various territories of Brandenburg-Prussia remained politically independent from each other,[42][44] connected only by the common feudal superior. Because of the German Revolution of 1918, Wilhelm II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia. [54] Communities in Poland were often ethnically Polish, although this is not the case of eastern Silesia as the majority of Catholics there were German. We've got 48+ great wallpaper images hand-picked by our users. It continues to operate from its headquarters in Berlin to this very day. Polska: Mapa administracyjna prowincji Śląsk w Królestwie Prus, stan na rok 1905 (Administrative map of Province of Silesia in the Kingdom of Prussia as of 1905) Date 29 juin 2010 Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI had died on 20 October 1740. He also promoted an advanced secondary education, the forerunner of today's German gymnasium (grammar school) system, which prepares the brightest pupils for university studies. In 1701, the Holy Roman Emperor and Polish King allowed Brandenburg-Prussia to call itself "Kingdom of Prussia" with Frederick I ("the Great") as its king. John Sigismund’s grandson Frederick William of Brandenburg, the Great Elector (reigned 1640–88), obtained by military intervention in the Swedish-Polish War of 1655–60 and by diplomacy at the Peace of Oliva (1660) the ending of Poland’s suzerainty over Ducal Prussia. The original core regions of the Kingdom of Prussia were the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia which together formed Brandenburg-Prussia. [16] This was the area east of the mouth of the Vistula River, later sometimes called "Prussia proper". Prussian gains in the Silesian Wars led to the formation of the Province of Silesiain 1740. East Prussia's southern region of Masuria was mostly made up of Germanised Lutheran Masurians. Yet this act of toughness to everybody else was more of a Realpolitik way to protect his adopted children, the Germanyballs, from further abuse and bullying by their neighbours. This allowed just over one-third of the voters to choose 85% of the legislature, all but assuring dominance by the more well-to-do men of the population. With this in mind, he declared Germany a satisfied power, using his talents to preserve peace, for example at the Congress of Berlin. He retained full executive authority and ministers were responsible only to him. Prussia[a] was a historically prominent German state that originated in 1525 with a duchy centered on the region of Prussia on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. Noté /5: Achetez Kingdom of Prussia de Russell Jesse: ISBN: 9785509280726 sur amazon.fr, des millions de livres livrés chez vous en 1 jour Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. 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. Similar to other German states both now and at the time, executive power remained vested in a Minister-President of Prussia and in laws established by a Landtag elected by the people. Stalin was initially content to retain the name, Russians having a different historical view of their neighbour and sometime former ally. Kingdom of Prussia. This led to conflict with the German Confederation, which authorised the occupation of Holstein by the Confederation, from which Danish forces withdrew. 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. Ducal Prussia and the Kingdom of Prussia, to 1786 The Teutonic Order’s last grand master in Prussia, Albert of Hohenzollern, became a Lutheran and, in 1525, secularized his fief, which he transformed into a duchy for himself. The Kingdom of Denmark was at the time in personal union with the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, both of which had close ties with each other, although only Holstein was part of the German Confederation. But in the Peace of Prague in 1866, Prussia annexed four of Austria's allies in northern and central Germany—Hanover, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Nassau and Frankfurt. The upper house, or Bundesrat (Federal Council) was appointed by the state governments. His autocratic temperament and his fanatical addiction to work found expression in complete absolutism. The prime minister of Prussia was, except for two brief periods (January–November 1873 and 1892–94), also imperial chancellor. The Knights of the Teutonic Order were subordinate to the papacy and to the emperor. Also, the Saargebiet was created mainly from formerly Prussian territories. [19] He was an accomplished flute player. The Hohenzollern kingdom included three-fifths of the German territory and two-thirds of its population. To search an expression, simply put quotation marks around it. Frederick William I, detail from a portrait by Antoine Pesne, c. 1733; in Sanssouci Palace, Potsdam, Germany. ], bringing changes in the ethnic composition as well as in language, culture, and law of the eastern borders of the German lands. The term Prussian has often been used, especially outside Germany, to emphasise professionalism, aggressiveness, militarism and conservatism of the Junker class of landed aristocrats in the East who dominated first Prussia and then the German Empire. For instance, a Prussian minister-president could be forced out of office only if there was a "positive majority" for a potential successor. Jump to navigation Jump to search. Prussian deportations (Polenausweisungen) were the mass expulsions of ethnic Poles between 1885 and 1890. This conservative document provided for a two-house parliament. He retained full executive authority and ministers were responsible only to him. After the Livonian Brothers of the Sword joined the Teutonic Order in 1237, the Order also controlled Livonia (now Latvia and Estonia). [20] It signalled the beginning of three Silesian Wars (1740–1763). In November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918–19. +10 Maximum absolutism 5. Omissions? Frederick’s wars not only established his personal reputation as a military genius but also won recognition for Prussia as one of the Great Powers. Frederick William also settled more than 20,000 Protestant refugees from Salzburg in thinly populated eastern Prussia, which was eventually extended to the west bank of the River Memel, and other regions. Bismarck realised that the dual administration of Schleswig and Holstein was only a temporary solution, and tensions rose between Prussia and Austria. A Further Pomeranian province had been held by Prussia since 1653. as Prussia's first prime minister (Ministerpräsident). In the 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. Other Names: Prussia. [citation needed] He is considered the creator of the vaunted Prussian bureaucracy and the professionalised standing army, which he developed into one of the most powerful in Europe, although his troops only briefly saw action during the Great Northern War. 1701–1918: Flag (1803–1892) Coat of arms. 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. The joint authority, feudal and bureaucratic, on which Prussian absolute monarchy was based, saw its interests laid in suppression of the drive for personal freedom and democratic rights. Download, share and comment wallpapers you like. [47], 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. Prussia, with its capital first in Königsberg and then, when it became the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, in Berlin, decisively shaped the history of Germany. 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). 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. The government of Napoleon III, expecting another civil war among the German states, declared war against Prussia, continuing Franco-German enmity. [3] Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. In response to this defeat, reformers such as Stein and Hardenberg set about modernising the Prussian state. The American Historical Review, 49(1), 1-22. These western lands were of vital importance because they included the Ruhr Area, the centre of Germany's fledgling industrialisation, especially in the arms industry. The wars ended in 1763; Prussia was then the most powerful state in eastern Germany. 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). The resulting state, known as Brandenburg-Prussia, consisted of geographically disconnected territories in Prussia, Brandenburg, and the Rhineland lands of Cleves and Mark. 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 going to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Gesellschaftsstatistik by Wilhelm Winkler, p. 36, an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government, immigration from central and western Germany, union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia, officially abolished by an Allied declaration, Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, War of the Sixth Coalition § War in Germany, John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg and Grand Duke of Prussia, Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, Aping the Great Powers: Frederick the Great and the Defence of Prussia's International Position 1763–86, Kultur, Bildung und Wissenschaft im 19. Their initially close relationship with the Polish Crown deteriorated after they conquered Polish-controlled Pomerelia and Danzig (Gdańsk) in 1308. The Kingdom of Prussia (German: Königreich Preußen) was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. The area was perfectly suited to the large-scale raising of wheat. Thereafter, the other Hohenzollern possessions, though theoretically remaining within the German Reich and under the ultimate overlordship of the Holy Roman emperor, soon came to be treated in practice rather as belonging to the Prussian kingdom than as distinct from it. The century-long struggle between Berlin and Vienna for the dominance of Germany was now over. [51] In 1914, Prussia had an area of 354,490 km2. [2][3] Prussia existed de jure until its formal abolition by the Allied Control Council Enactment No. [13] The merchants of the interiors of Sweden, Denmark, and Poland came to feel oppressed by the Hanseatic League. Prussian monarchs, beginning with Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg opened the country to the fleeing French Calvinist refugees. The Kingdom of Prussia functioned as an absolute monarchy until the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, after which Prussia became a constitutional monarchy and Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg was elected[by whom?] This allowed just over 25% of the voters to choose 85% of the legislature, all but assuring dominance by the more well-to-do elements of the population. Albert, statue by Rudolf Siemering in Malbork, Poland. From the 1871 unification of Germany to its defeat in World War I, Prussia comprised almost two-thirds of the territory of the German Empire.It took its name from the territory of Prussia… The king died in 1740 and was succeeded by his son, Frederick II, whose accomplishments led to his reputation as "Frederick the Great". Prussia’s reward for its part in France's defeat came at the Congress of Vienna, where Prussia was granted most of its lost territories and considerably more, including 40% of the Kingdom of Saxony and much of the Rhineland. The Imperial German Army was, in practice, an enlarged Prussian army, although the other kingdoms (Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg) retained their own armies. [49] In 1689, a new central chamber for all Brandenburg-Prussian territories was established, called Geheime Hofkammer (from 1713: Generalfinanzdirektorium). [46] As in Brandenburg, Frederick William ignored the privilege of the Prussian Estates to confirm or veto taxes raised by the elector: while in 1656, an Akzise was raised with the Estates' consent, the elector by force collected taxes not approved by the Prussian Estates for the first time in 1674. This included important Prussian cities like Danzig, Königsberg, Breslau, and Stettin. Thereafter until 1701 … Achetez neuf ou d'occasion traduction Kingdom of Prussia dans le dictionnaire Anglais - Francais de Reverso, voir aussi 'United Kingdom',United Kingdom',king',kind', conjugaison, expressions idiomatiques In 1613, John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg and Grand Duke of Prussia declared himself for the Reformed creed and transferred the Berlin Cathedral from the Lutheran to the Reformed church. These early Prussians were related to the Latvians and Lithuanians and lived in tribes in the then heavily forested region between the lower Vistula and Neman rivers. East Prussia became an exclave, only reachable by ship (the Sea Service East Prussia) or by a railway through the Polish corridor. Bismarck desired Austria as an ally in the future, and so he declined to annex any Austrian territory. Its incorporation of "Red Berlin" and the industrialised Ruhr Area, both with working-class majorities, ensured left-wing dominance. The combination of the black and white colours with the white and red Hanseatic colours of the free cities Bremen, Hamburg and 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. Looking for the best Kingdom of Prussia Wallpaper? Cartoon depicting the monarchs of Europe—notably Catherine II of Russia, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, and Prussian King Frederick William II—at the First Partition of Poland. Subsequently, it was effectively dismantled into Nazi German Gaue in 1935. 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. by Lefty on Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:54 am. Brandenburg and Prussia united two generations later. [citation needed] The region, originally populated by Baltic Old Prussians who were Christianised, became a favoured location for immigration by (later mainly Protestant) Germans (see Ostsiedlung), as well as Poles and Lithuanians along the border regions. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, a state of Germany from 1918 until 1933. Search tips. [12] In 1226 Duke Konrad invited the Teutonic Knights to conquer the Baltic Prussian tribes on his borders. Many of the areas Prussia annexed in the partitions of Poland, such as the Provinces of Posen and West Prussia, as well as eastern Upper Silesia, went to the Second Polish Republic. The Kingdom of Prussia was devastated from the Thirty Years' War and poor in natural resources. 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. The constitution of the German Empire was a slightly amended version of the North German Confederation's constitution. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised and effective army. Prussian troops under Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher contributed crucially (alongside the British and Dutch) to the final victory over Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo of June 1815. [4] In 1594 Anna, granddaughter of Albert I and daughter of Duke Albert Frederick (reigned 1568–1618), married her cousin Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg. The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Kingdom of Prussia Wallpaper. Frederick II (reigned 1740–86) put the newly realized strength of the Prussian state at the service of an ambitious but risky foreign policy. File:Wappen Deutsches Reich - Königreich Preussen (Grosses).png. The presidency was a hereditary office of the Hohenzollern rulers of Prussia. Their social organization was loose—although some elements of stratified society can be traced—and they were pagans. The lands along the Vistula, under Polish sovereignty, became known as Royal Prussia; thus a wedge of predominantly Polish-speaking territory came to be consolidated between German-speaking East Prussia and the German Reich to the west. In the Crown Treaty of 16 November 1700, Leopold I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, allowed Frederick only to title himself "King in Prussia", not "King of Prussia". [24] Success on the battleground against Austria and other powers proved Prussia's status as one of the great powers of Europe. This made the Hohenzollerns sovereign over Ducal Prussia, whereas Brandenburg and their other German territories were still nominally parts of the Reich under the theoretical suzerainty of the Holy Roman emperor. This centralistic 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. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. [22] In the next year, 1742, he conquered Upper Silesia (the southeastern half). [14][need quotation to verify], 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 Junkers would evolve to take a major role in the militarization of Prussia and, later, Germany.[15]. In 1863, Denmark introduced a shared constitution for Denmark and Schleswig. Prussia also won full control of Schleswig-Holstein. [47] 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. Before its abolition, the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia included the provinces of West Prussia; East Prussia; Brandenburg; Saxony (including much of the present-day state of Saxony-Anhalt and parts of the state of Thuringia in Germany); Pomerania; Rhineland; Westphalia; Silesia (without Austrian Silesia); Schleswig-Holstein; Hanover; Hesse-Nassau; and a small detached area in the south called Hohenzollern, the ancestral home of the Prussian ruling family. His successor, Frederick William I (1640–1688), reformed the army to defend the lands. Kingdom of Prussia. Silesia, full of rich soils and prosperous manufacturing towns, became a vital region to Prussia, greatly increasing the nation's area, population, and wealth. While all men above age 25 were eligible to vote in imperial elections, Prussia retained its restrictive three-class voting system. Following victory under Bismarck's and Prussia's leadership, Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria, which had remained outside the North German Confederation, accepted incorporation into a united German Empire. Frederick I’s son Frederick William I began his reign in 1713 shortly before the conclusion of the Treaty of Utrecht, which assigned to him not only the so-called Upper Quarter of Geldern on the Meuse River but also the principality of Neuchâtel and Valengin on the border of France and Switzerland. [30] In 1815 Prussia became part of the German Confederation. 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. Poland and Lithuania formed their first dynastic union in 1386 and, in the 15th century, defeated the Teutonic Knights in a series of wars. 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