Prussia
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Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 |
Prussia (;
Latin:
Borussia,
Prutenia; ; ;
Old Prussian:
Prūsa) was, most recently, an historic state originating in
East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on
German and European history. The last capital of Prussia was
Berlin.
The name Prussia derives from the
Old Prussians, a
Baltic people related to the
Lithuanians; Prussia was later conquered by the
Teutonic Knights and thereafter slowly
Germanized.
Prussia attained its greatest importance in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century, Prussia ascended to the position of third European great power under the reign of
Frederick II of Prussia (1740â€"1786). During the 19th century, Chancellor
Otto von Bismarck pursued a policy of uniting the German principalities into a "
Lesser Germany" which would exclude the
Austrian Empire.
The
Kingdom of Prussia dominated northern Germany politically, economically, and in terms of population, and was the core of the unified
North German Confederation formed in 1867, which became the
German Empire or
Deutsches Reich in 1871.
With the end of the
Hohenzollern monarchy in Germany following
World War I, Prussia became part of the
Weimar Republic in 1919. Prussia as a state was abolished
de facto by the
Nazis in 1934 and
de jure by the
Allied Powers in 1945.
Since then, the term's relevance has been limited to historical, geographical, or cultural usages.Even today, a certain kind of ethic is called "Prussian virtues", for instance: perfect organization, sacrifice, rule of law, obedience to authority and militarism, but also reliability, thriftiness, modesty, and diligence. Many Prussians believed that these virtues were part of the reasons for the rise of their country.
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Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1894-1918 |
The black and white national colours of Prussia stem from the
Teutonic Knights, who wore a white coat embroidered with a black cross. The combination of these colours with the white and red
Hanseatic colours of the free cities
Bremen,
Hamburg, and
Lübeck resulted in the black-white-red commercial flag of the North German Confederation, which became the flag of the German Empire in 1871.
From the
Protestant Reformation onward, the Prussian motto was
Suum cuique ("to each, his own"; ). Additionally, it was the motto of the
Order of the Black Eagle, created by King
Frederick I (see also
Iron Cross).
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Prussian provinces before 1905 |
Prussia began as a small territory in what was later called West and East Prussia, which is now
Warmia-Masuria of northern
Poland, the
Kaliningrad Oblast exclave of
Russia, and the
KlaipÄ—da Region of
Lithuania. The region was largely populated by
Old Prussians and was later subject to colonization by Germans, as well as by
Poles and
Lithuanians along border regions.
Before its abolition, the territory of Prussia included "Prussia proper" (
West Prussia and
East Prussia),
Pomerania, most of
Silesia,
Brandenburg,
Lusatia, the
Province of Saxony (now the state of
Saxony-Anhalt in Germany),
Hanover,
Schleswig-Holstein,
Westphalia,
Hesse-Nassau, the
Rhineland, and some small detached areas in the south such as parts of
Switzerland and
Hohenzollern, the ancestral home of the Prussian ruling family. However, there were some regions in northern Germany that never became a part of Prussia, such as
Oldenburg,
Mecklenburg, and the
city-states of the
Hanseatic League.
Although Prussia was predominantly a
Protestant German state, there were substantial
Roman Catholic populations in the Rhineland, while a number of districts in Posen, Silesia, West Prussia, and the
Warmia regions of East Prussia had predominantly Catholic populations. Some of these Catholic eastern districts had
German populations (such as Warmia and
Glatz), while most of them had populations of
Polish descent. East Prussia's southern region of
Masuria was largely made up of Germanized Protestant
Masurs. This explains in part why the Catholic South German states, especially Austria and
Bavaria, resisted Prussian hegemony for so long.
Despite its overwhelmingly German character, Prussia's annexations of Polish territory in the
Partitions of Poland brought a large Polish population that resisted the German government and in several areas constituted the majority of the population (i.e.
Province of Posen: 62% Polish, 38% German). As a result of the
Treaty of Versailles in
1919, the
Second Polish Republic received a large portion of the these areas, some of which had significant German minorities.
In May 1939 Prussia had an area of 297,007 km² and a population of 41,915,040 inhabitants.
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Ethnic map of Prussia during the Middle Ages |
In 1226 Duke
Konrad I of
Masovia invited the
Teutonic Knights, a German
military order of
crusading knights headquartered in
Acre, to conquer the Baltic
Prussian tribes on his borders. However, during sixty years of struggles against the Old Prussians, they created a
independent state which came to control Prussia plus most of what are now
Estonia,
Latvia, western
Lithuania, and northern
Poland. The Knights were subordinate only to the
Pope and the
Emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire.
The Knights were eventually defeated by an alliance between Poland and Lithuania, however, and were forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Polish king
Casimir IV Jagiellon in the
Peace of Toruń (Thorn) in 1466, losing western Prussia (
Royal Prussia) to Poland in the process. In 1525 Grand Master
Albert of Brandenburg became a
Lutheran Protestant and secularized the Order's remaining Prussian territories into
Ducal Prussia, the first formally
Protestant state.
The territory of the duchy was at this time confined to the area east of the mouth of the
Vistula river, near the present border between Poland and the post-1945 Russian exclave of Kaliningrad (former
Königsberg).
Anna, daughter of Duke
Albert Frederick (reigned 1568-1618), married
Elector John Sigismund of
Brandenburg, a German state centered on
Berlin and ruled since the 15th century by the
Hohenzollern dynasty. Upon the death of Albert Frederick in 1618, John Sigismund was granted the right of succession to the Polish fief of Ducal Prussia. From this time Ducal Prussia came under the reign of the Electors of Brandenburg. The acquisition of the duchy was advantageous for the Hohenzollerns, as it lay outside the borders of the
Holy Roman Empire. The resulting state became known as
Brandenburg-Prussia. The Hohenzollerns also acquired the territories of
Cleves and
Mark in the
Rhineland.
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Growth of Brandenburg-Prussia, 1600-1795 |
During the
Thirty Years' War, the disconnected Hohenzollern lands were repeatedly marched across by various armies, especially the occupying
Swedes. The ineffective and militarily weak Margrave
George William (1619-1640) fled from Berlin to Königsberg in 1637. His successor,
Frederick William (1640-1688), began hiring a mercenary army to provide the defenses which the scattered lands of Brandenburg-Prussia lacked.
Frederick William went to
Warsaw in 1641 to render homage to King
Władysław IV Vasa of Poland for the Duchy of Prussia, which he held in fief from the Polish crown. Taking advantage of the difficult position of Poland vis-á-vis Sweden in the
Northern Wars, and his friendly relations with
Russia during a series of Russo-Polish wars, Frederick William later managed to obtain a discharge from his obligations as a vassal to the Polish king; he was finally given independent control of Prussia in the
Treaty of Wehlau in 1657. However, the rights of the Polish crown to Ducal Prussia would still legally revert back if the Hohenzollern dynastic line died out.
For more on Prussia's early history see Origins of Prussia, Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights, Ducal Prussia, Brandenburg-Prussia, and Royal Prussia.In 1701 Frederick William's son, Elector Frederick III, proclaimed himself King
Frederick I of Prussia, and all links to the Kingdom of Poland were removed. Because he did not wish to offend Emperor
Leopold I, Frederick was only allowed to title himself "
King in Prussia", not "King
of Prussia". The first Prussian king was also the last Prussian ruler to speak fluent
Polish, while his successors spoke fluent
French and their native
German. However, the Hohenzollern monarchs until Kaiser
William II of the
German Empire were able to speak some Polish, as many of their Lutheran, partly Germanized subjects in
Masuria still spoke Polish.
Prussia grew in splendor during the reign of Frederick I, who sponsored the arts at the expense of the treasury. He was succeeded by his son,
Frederick William I (1713-1740) the austere "Soldier King", who did not care for the arts but was thrifty and practical. He is considered the creator of the vaunted Prussian bureaucracy and the
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. In view of the size of the army in relation to the total population
Voltaire said later:
"Prussia is not a country with an Army but an Army with a country!"
In addition, Frederick William settled more than 20,000 Protestant refugees from
Salzburg in thinly populated eastern Prussia and other regions. From Sweden he acquired
Western Pomerania as far as the
Peene in 1720.
His son
Frederick II, later nicknamed "Frederick the Great", succeeded Frederick William in 1740. As Crown Prince he was attached to philosophy and the arts; nevertheless, in the first year of his reign he ordered the Prussian army to march into
Silesia, on which the Hohenzollerns laid disputed claims. In the three
Silesian Wars (1740-1763) he succeeded in holding this conquest against Austria. In the last, the
Seven Years' War, he held it against a coalition of Austria, France, and Russia.
This was the beginning of Prussia's position as a
great power in Europe, and of tension between Prussia and Austria as the two most powerful states in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1744 the County of
East Frisia fell to Prussia following the extinction of its ruling Cirksene dynasty.
In the last 23 years of his rule until 1786, Frederick II, who understood himself as the "first servant of the state", promoted the development and further settling of Prussian areas, such as the
Oderbruch. At the same time as he built up Prussia's military power and participated in the
First Partition of Poland with Austria and Russia (1772) which connected Brandenburg with eastern Prussia, 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.
Frederick the Great, the first "King of Prussia", practiced
enlightened absolutism. He introduced a general civil code, abolished torture, and established the principle that the Crown would not interfere with matters of justice. He also furthered an advanced "high school" education, the forerunner of today's German
Gymnasium (Grammar School) system, which prepares the brightest students for university studies.
During the reign of King
Frederick William II (1786-1797), Prussia annexed additional Polish territory through further
Partitions of Poland. Prussia took a leading part in the
French Revolutionary Wars, but remained quiet for more than a decade as a result 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. In the
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Prussia suffered a devastating defeat against
Napoleon Bonaparte's troops and King
Frederick William III (1797-1840) and his family were forced to flee temporarily to
Memel. In 1807 by the
Treaties of Tilsit, the state lost about half of its area, in particular 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 make an alliance with France and join the
Continental System.
In response to this defeat, reformers such as
Stein and
Hardenberg set about modernizing the Prussian state, including the liberation of peasants from
serfdom, the emancipation of
Jews and making full citizens of them, and the institution of self-administration in
municipalities. The school system was rearranged and in 1810 free trade was introduced. The process of army reform ended in 1813 with the introduction of compulsory military service.
After the
defeat of Napoleon in Russia, Prussia quit the alliance 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 in the
Battle of Waterloo of 1815 to the final victory over Napoleon. 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, and some other territories. These western lands were to be of vital importance because they included the
Ruhr Area, 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. Prussia emerged from the
Napoleonic Wars as the dominant power in Germany, overshadowing her long-time rival Austria, which had given up the imperial crown in 1806.
The first half of the 19th century saw a prolonged struggle in Germany between the forces of
Liberalism, which wanted a united, federal Germany under a democratic constitution, and the forces of
Conservatism, which wanted to maintain Germany as a patchwork collection of independent, weak monarchical states, with Prussia and Austria competing for influence. Prussia benefited greatly from the creation in 1834 of the German Customs Union (
Zollverein) which excluded Austria.
In 1848 the Liberals got their chance when
revolutions broke out across Europe. An alarmed King
Frederick William IV agreed to convene a National Assembly and grant a constitution. When the
Frankfurt Parliament offered Frederick William the crown of a united Germany he refused on the grounds that revolutionary assemblies could not grant royal titles.
Prussia obtained a semi-democratic "
Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia", but the grip of the landowning classes, the
Junkers, remained unbroken, especially in the eastern provinces.
In 1862 King
William I appointed
Otto von Bismarck as
Prime Minister of Prussia. Bismarck was determined to defeat both the Liberals and the Conservatives by creating a strong united Germany but under the domination of the Prussian ruling class and bureaucracy, not the western German Liberals. As he realized that the Prussian crown could only win the support of the people if she herself took the lead in the fight for the German unification, Bismarck guided Prussia through three wars which together brought William the position of
German Emperor.
The Schleswig Wars
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. Only Holstein belonged to the
German Confederation, however. The nationalistic attempt by the Danish government in
Copenhagen to integrate Schleswig, but not Holstein, into the Danish state led to the
First War of Schleswig (1848-1851), in which Prussia led the German Confederation against Denmark. Although the Danes were defeated militarily, Prussia was pressured by the Great Powers into returning Schleswig and Holstein to Denmark, in return for Denmark's assurances that it would not try to integrate Schleswig. Prussia was also embarrassed by conceding to Austria predominance in the German Confederation in the
Punctation of Olmütz in 1850, due to Russian support for Austria.
In 1863 Denmark annexed Schleswig, leading to the
Second War of Schleswig in 1864 between Denmark and the German Confederation, led by Prussia and Austria. The confederate German forces crushed the Danes, and in the resulting
Gastein Convention of 1865 Prussia took over the administration of Schleswig while Austria administered Holstein.
Austro-Prussian War
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Expansion of Prussia 1807-1871 |
Bismarck realized that the dual administration of Schleswig and Holstein was only a temporary solution, and tensions escalated between Prussia and Austria. If the deeper cause of the ensuing
Austro-Prussian War (1866) was the struggle for supremacy in Germany, the actual trigger was the dispute over Schleswig and Holstein.
On the side of Austria stood the central and southern German states; on the side of Prussia, beside some northern German states, there was also
Italy. When Prussian troops, equipped with superior arms, achieved the crucial victory at
Königgrätz under
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Austria lost her fight for supremacy and left the German Confederation. Because Bismarck desired to have Austria as an ally in the future, he declined to annex any territory from the Austrian Empire. The
Peace of Prague in 1866 brought to Prussia land from Austria's allies, including the
Kingdom of Hanover,
Hesse-Kassel, the
Duchy of Nassau, the free city of
Frankfurt, and all of
Schleswig-Holstein, thus connecting nearly all Prussian territories. The German Confederation was dissolved after the war in 1866 and replaced the following year with the
North German Confederation.
At the beginning only a military alliance, the contracting parties to the North German Confederation adopted a constitution which made Prussia the dominant state of the federation. The new constitution, drafted by Bismarck, presaged many substantial points of the Constitution of the German Reich. The King and
Prime Minister of Prussia, respectively, were simultaneously President and
Chancellor of the North German Confederation.
As a result of the peace negotiations, the states in the South of Germany remained theoretically independent, but received the (compulsory) protection of Prussia. Additionally, mutual defensive alliances were signed, the "
Schutz- und Trutzbündnisse" (see also "
Das Lied der Deutschen" in which these terms are also used). However, the existence of these treaties was kept secret until Bismarck made them public in 1867, when France tried to
acquire Luxemburg.
Franco-Prussian War
The controversy with the
Second French Empire over the candidacy of a
Hohenzollern to the
Spanish throne was escalated both by France and Bismarck, who, with his
Ems Dispatch, 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 once more in a hostile manner. Honoring 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,
Baden,
Württemberg,
Bavaria,
Mecklenburg, and
Saxony accepted incorporation into a united
German Empire.
Austria, which remained connected to
Hungary, did not join, thus the
Kleindeutsche Lösung, a federated German Empire without Austria, was enacted. On
18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of King
Frederick I), William was proclaimed "German Emperor" (not "Emperor of Germany") in the
Hall of Mirrors at
Versailles outside of
Paris, while the French capital was still under
siege.
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Prussia in the German Empire 1871-1918 |
The two decades following the unification of Germany were the peak of Prussia's fortunes. Had the state continued to be blessed with wise leaders after Bismarck, Prussia's economic power and political status might have made her peacefully the centre of European civilization.
Emperor
Frederick III may have been such a man, but he was already terminally ill when he became Emperor for 99 days in 1888. He was married to
Victoria, the first daughter of
Queen Victoria of the
United Kingdom, but their first son William suffered physical and possibly mental damage during birth.
At the age of 29, William became Emperor
William II after a difficult youth and conflicts with his British mother. He turned out to be a man of limited experience, narrow and reactionary views, poor judgement, and occasional bad temper which alienated former friends and allies. Despite or perhaps due to being a close relative of the
British and
Russian royal families, William became their rival and ultimately their enemy.
After dismissing Bismarck, the forger of alliances, in 1890, William embarked on a program of militarisation and adventurism in foreign policy that eventually led Germany into isolation. A misjudgment of the conflict with
Serbia by the Emperor, who left for holiday, and hasty mobilisation plans of several nations led to the disaster of
World War I (1914-1918). As the price of their withdrawal from the war, the
Bolsheviks conceded large regions of the western
Russian Empire, some of which bordered Prussia, to German control in the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918). German control of these territories only lasted for a few months, however, because of the defeat of German military forces and the
German Revolution.
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Federal States of the Weimar Republic. Prussia is light blue. |
Due to the
German Revolution of 1918, William II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia. The state was proclaimed an independent "Free State" (German:
Freistaat, or Republic) within the new
Weimar Republic and in 1920 received a democratic constitution.
Germany's territorial losses were specified in the
Treaty of Versailles:
Eupen and
Malmedy to
Belgium;
North Schleswig to Denmark; the
Memel Territory to Lithuania; the
Hultschin area to
Czechoslovakia. Large parts of the areas which Prussia had 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.
Danzig became the
Free City of Danzig under the administration of the
League of Nations.
Before the Partitions of Poland, and now again due to its lost territory, there was no connection by land between East Prussia and the rest of the country; and the former could now only be reached by ship ("shipping service East Prussia") or by a railway through the
Polish corridor. Also, the
Saargebiet was predominantly formed from formerly Prussian territories.
The idea of breaking up Prussia into smaller states was considered by the German government, but eventually traditionalist sentiment prevailed and Prussia became the "Prussian Free State" (
Freistaat Preußen, sometimes also called Free State of Prussia), by far the largest state of the
Weimar Republic - comprising 60% of its territory. Since it included the industrial Ruhr Area and "Red Berlin", it became a stronghold of the left, being governed by a coalition of the
Social Democrats and the
Catholic Centre for most of the 1920s.
From 1919 to 1932 coalitions of the Social Democrats, Catholic Centre, and
German Democrats governed in Prussia; 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 industrial areas, the
National Socialist German Workers Party of
Adolf Hitler gained more and more influence and much popular support, especially from the lower
middle class and
lower class labourers. Except for
Roman Catholic Prussian
Upper Silesia, the NSDAP in 1932 became the largest party in most parts of the Free State of Prussia. However, the democratic parties remained a majority coalition together, while communists and fascists were in the opposition.
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
Federal Republic of Germany. For instance, he created the "constructive vote of no confidence" which only allows for the sacking of the Prime Minister if a successor is selected at the same time. In this way the government of the Prussian state could remain as long as no new "positive majority" formed which was powerful enough to challenge the government. Most historians regard the Prussian government during this time as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole.
A pillar of democracy in the Weimar Republic, Prussia was not destroyed by the voters but because of the
Preußenschlag ("Prussian coup") of
Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen. In this coup d'etat, the Government of the Reich unseated the Prussian government on
20 July 1932, under the pretext that the latter had lost control of public order in Prussia (the Bloody Sunday of
Altona, Hamburg). The majority of the state apparatus welcomed Papen when, as "Commissioner of the Reich", he took power in the Free State of Prussia. Thereby the most important democratic government in the Reich was now without power. The
Preußenschlag made it easier, only half a year later, for
Adolf Hitler to take power decisively in Germany, having now, as he did, the whole apparatus of the Prussian government, including the police, at his disposal.
After the appointment of Hitler as the new Chancellor, the
Nazis used the opportunity of absence of Franz von Papen to appoint
Hermann Göring federal commissioner for the Prussian Minister of the Interior. The
Reichstag election of
March 5 1933 strengthened the position of the
National Socialist Party, although they did not achieve an absolute majority.
Because the
Reichstag building had been
set on fire a few weeks earlier, the new
Reichstag was opened in the Garrison Church of
Potsdam on
March 21 1933 in the presence of President
Paul von Hindenburg. In a propaganda-filled meeting between Hitler and the NSDAP, the "marriage of old Prussia with young Germany" was celebrated, to win over the Prussian monarchists, conservatives, and nationalists and induce them to vote for the
Enabling Act.
In the centralized state created by the Nazis in the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich ("Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reiches",
30 January 1934) and the "Law on Reich Governors" ("Reichsstatthaltergesetz",
30 January 1935) the States were dissolved, in fact if not in law. The federal state governments were now controlled by governors for the Reich who were appointed by the Chancellor. Parallel to that, the organization of the party into districts (
Gau) gained increasing importance, as official in charge of a
Gau (the infamous
Gauleiter) was again appointed by the Chancellor who was at the same time chief of the
NSDAP.
In Prussia this anti-federalistic policy continued even further. From 1934 almost all ministries were merged together and only a few departments were able to maintain their independence. Hitler himself became formally the Governor of Prussia. His functions were exercised, however, by
Hermann Göring, as Prussian Prime Minister.
As provided for in the "Greater Hamburg Law" ("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 reannexed during
World War II. However, most of this territory was not reintegrated back into Prussia but assigned to separate
Gaue of the
Großdeutsches Reich.
With the end of National Socialist rule in 1945 came the division of Germany into Zones of Occupation, and the transfer of control of everything east of the
Oder-Neisse line, (including
Silesia,
Farther Pomerania,
Eastern Brandenburg, and southern
East Prussia), to Poland (with the northern third of East Prussia, including Königsberg, now
Kaliningrad, going to the
Soviet Union). Today the
Kaliningrad Oblast is a Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland. An estimated ten million Germans fled or were
expelled from these territories as part of the
German exodus from Eastern Europe.
In Law #46 of
25 February 1947 the
Allied Control Council formally proclaimed the dissolution of the remains of the Prussian state. In the Soviet Zone of Occupation, which became
East Germany 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-Western Pomerania. These states were abolished in 1952 in favor of districts, but were recreated after the fall of communism in 1990.
In the Western Zones of occupation, which became
West Germany in 1949, they 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.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a small number of
ethnic Germans from
Kazakhstan have begun to settle in the Kaliningrad exclave of the
Russian Federation, once northern East Prussia, as part of the migration influx into the area, which was previously a restricted area (closed city). As of 2005, about 6,000 (0.6% of population) ethnic Germans, mostly from other parts of Russia, live there.
After the
German reunification in 1990 a plan was developed to merge the States of Berlin and Brandenburg. Though some suggested calling the proposed new state "Prussia," the name that was eventually chosen for the state was "Berlin-Brandenburg". However this proposed merger was rejected in 1996 by popular vote, with the poor fiscal situation of Berlin being a large factor.
*
Origins of Prussia*
Prussian people*
Old Prussian language*
Brandenburg-Prussia*
Kingdom of Prussia*
Unification of Germany*
German Empire*
Provinces of Prussia*
List of rulers of Brandenburg and Prussia*
Preussen.de*
East and West Prussia Gazetteer*
1570 map of Germany and Prussia plus details*
Map of Pomerania and Prussia 1598*
1660 map of Prussia 1660*
map of Prussian Provinces*
Partial Map of Prussia by Gerard Mercator, Atlas sive cosmographica., Amsterdam 1594*
Partial Map of Prussia by Kasper Henneberger, Koenigsberg 1629*
Map of Old Prussia by K. Henneberger, 17th c.*
Map of Prussia by K. Henneberger in:
Christoph Hartknoch,
Alt- und neues Preussen..., Frankfurt 1684
*
Map of Prussia and Freie Stadt Danzig from 18th c.*
Map of East Prussia K. Flemming, F. Handtke, Głogów ca. 1920, after Treaty of Versailles removed Memel area from Germany.
*
Prussian Army*
Prussian language discussion forum*
Kingdom of Prussia: Constitutional charter for the "Prussian State" ("Revised Constitution" of 31th January 1850, in full text)*
Constitutional charter for the "Prussian State" ["Imposed Constitution of 5th December 1848, in full text)*
Picture archive Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz
