Prussia

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Preußen
Prussia
1525–1947

Flag (1892–1918) Coat of arms (1701–1918)
Motto
Suum cuique  (Latin)
"To each his own"
Prussia (blue), at its peak, the leading state of the German Empire
Capital Königsberg, later Berlin
Language(s) German (official)
Religion Protestantism, Roman Catholicism
Government Monarchy, democracy
Duke¹
 - 1525–68 Albert I (first)
 - 1688–1701 Frederick III (last)
King¹
 - 1701–13 Frederick I (first)
 - 1888–1918 Wilhelm II (last)
Prime Minister^{1, 2}
 - 1918–20 Paul Hirsch (first)
 - 1933–45 Hermann Göring (last)
Historical era Early modern Europe to Contemporary
 - Duchy of Prussia 10 April 1525
 - Union with Brandenburg 27 August 1618
 - Kingdom of Prussia 18 January 1701
 - Free State of Prussia 9 November 1918
 - Abolition (de facto) 30 January 1934
 - Abolition (de jure) 25 February 1947
Area
 - 1939 297,007 km² (114,675 sq mi)
Population
 - 1939 est. 41,915,040 
     Density 141.1 /km²  (365.5 /sq mi)
Today part of Germany, Poland,
Russia, Lithuania,
Denmark, Belgium,
Czech Republic, The Netherlands
¹ 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).
² The position of Ministerpräsident was introduced in 1792 when Prussia was a Kingdom; the prime ministers shown here are the heads of the Prussian republic.

Prussia (German: Preußen (help·info); Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Latvian: Prūsija; Lithuanian: Prūsija; Polish: Prusy; Old Prussian: Prūsa) was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history. The last capital of the state of Prussia was Berlin.

The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, a Baltic people related to the Lithuanians and Latvians. In the 13th century, "Old Prussia" was conquered by the Teutonic Knights. In 1308 Teutonic Knights conquered the formerly Polish region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk (Danzig). Their monastic state was mostly Germanized through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south it was Polonized by settlers from Masovia. After the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) Prussia was split into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the eastern part, since 1525 called Duchy of Prussia, a fief of the Crown of Poland up to 1657. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701.

Prussia attained its greatest importance in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century, it became a great European power under the reign of Frederick the Great (1740–86). 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, in population, and was the core of the unified North German Confederation formed in 1867, which became part of 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 as a free state in 1919. It effectively lost this status in 1932 following the Preußenschlag decree of Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen; Prussia as a state was abolished de facto by the Nazis in 1934 and de jure by the Allies of World War II in 1947.[1]

Since then, the term's relevance has been limited to historical, geographical, or cultural usages.

Symbols

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 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 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.^{[citation needed]}

Suum cuique ("to each, his own"), the motto of the Order of the Black Eagle created by King Frederick I in 1701, was often associated with the whole of Prussia. The Iron Cross, a military decoration created by King Frederick William III in 1813, was also widely associated with the country.^{[citation needed]}

Geography and population

Prussia began as a territory, in what was later called East Prussia, which is now divided into the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship of Poland, the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave of Russia, and the Klaipėda Region of Lithuania. Originally the area was much larger, but was greatly reduced by newcomer countries Masovia and Poland. Much of Prussian Sudovia and Yotvingians territory was conquered and came to Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus.

The region, originally populated by Baltic Old Prussians who were Christianised, became a preferred location for immigration by (later mainly Protestant) Germans (see Ostsiedlung), as well as Poles and Lithuanians along the border regions.

Before its abolition, the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia included "Prussia proper" (West and East Prussia), Brandenburg, the Province of Saxony (including most of the present-day state of Saxony-Anhalt and parts of the state of Thuringia in Germany), Pomerania, Rhineland, Westphalia, Silesia (without Austrian Silesia), Lusatia, Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse-Nassau, and a small detached area in the south Hohenzollern, the ancestral home of the Prussian ruling family. The land that Teutonic Prussia occupied was flat and covered with rich soil. The land was prefectly suited to the large-scale raising of wheat.[2] The rise of early Prussia was based on the raising wheat and selling that wheat abroad. Teutonic Prussia became known as the "bread basket of Western Europe" (in German, Kornkammer, or granary). The port cities of the Stettin in Pomerania, Danzig in Prussia, Riga in Livonia and Koenigsberg and Memel all rose on the back of this wheat production.[3] Wheat production and trade brought Prussia into 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.[4]

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.[5] This meant that the Poland and Lithuania would be traditional enemies of Prussia--which was still called the Teutonic Knights.[6]