About Prussia

Written by GFS Susanne

Prussia began as a tribal settlement along the Baltic Sea and Vistual Valley. Dutch and German settlers conquered and colonized the land in the 13th century. By the 15th century the Poles took control of the area. They gave governing power to Albert of Brandenburg in 1525.

There were religious conflicts between Lutheran Saxony, Catholic Bavaria, and Calvinist Palatinate. Charles V tried to restore Catholicism to Bohemia, but the Bohemians revolted and started the Thirty Year War. It ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia, but the war kept the German states as separate principalities. Frederick William led the Brandenburg principality to become a greatest power in the region from 1640 to 1688. New territories joined with Brandenburg forming the region of Brandenburg-Prussia, later to be know as Prussia. Frederick I was crowned and was King of Prussia from 1701-1713. Frederick William I succeeded him from 1713-1740. Frederick II became King in 1740 and won victory over Austria and Silesia making Prussia into an important Protestant European power.

Tensions were growing between Austria and France by 1800 and the French Revolutionary Wars soon broke out. Napoleon defeated Austria in 1805 and, in 1807, invaded Prussia taking lands to the west of the Elbe River and in Brandenburg. Napoleon invaded Prussia and was able to conquer land to the west of the Elbe River and areas the Polish Empire had given Brandenburg. Prussia rebuilt its army and was later able to push Napoleon out with the help of the Austrian and Russian Empires. The Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815 ended the Napoleonic Wars. Prussia gained the lands of Pomerania, Westphalia, areas in Saxony, and some along the Rhine. A German Confederation was formed on June 8, 1815, under Austrian control establishing a union of 38 German states. But in 1834 Prussia formed the Zollverein union, an economic union, 23 of the 38 states joined under Prussia's rule. Austria did not join and forever lost it's opportunity to grow with the new German Union, although it still tried to implement political power.

In 1840 Frederick IV became King of Prussia. Religious and economic unrest spread throughout Europe in 1848. Revolutions broke out in all the German states and the Austrian Empire. Austria promised wider religious freedom to its people, including Prussians. The German principalities tried once again to unite Germany and asked Frederick William IV of Prussia to lead them, but he declined. National unification was lost. William I took over Prussia in 1861 and he ended all relations between Prussia and Austria. He named Otto von Bismarck as head of the ministry with all decision making powers for foreign affairs. In 1864 Bismarck called for war with Denmark who was trying to gain control of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg under the Danish state. Prussia joined with the Austrian army to take the area of Schleswig-Holstein. Denmark was defeated, but Prussia was unable to control Schleswig-Holstein because of its conflicts with Austria. In 1866 the Austro-Prussian War broke out over this area. Prussia easily won the war because of it's military superiority gaining the area of Schleswig-Holstein and Hanover. With new territory and power growing in Prussia, Bismarck created the North German Confederation, once again uniting the principalities of 22 German sates with leadership in Prussia.

In 1870, Bismarck took Prussia to war with France. Although William I was King of Prussia, Bismarck really ruled from 1866-1871. The other southern German states felt France was the aggressor and joined Prussia in this war. All German states were now unified. The Franco-Prussian War took the areas of Alsace and Lorraine from France. William I was named Emperor of all Germany on January 18, 1871, and the German Empire was formed.

German nationalism grew and so did its industry. In 1888 William II became emperor. Bismarck was forced from power. On June 28, 1914 the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of the Austria-Hungarian Empire was assassinated by a Serbian. Austria declared war on Serbia. Germany declared war on Russia and France in August. England came to the aid of France and declared war on Germany. World War I had begun. Germany lost the war to the Allied Alliance and was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles on February 6, 1919. Germany lost land, colonies, its army and navy, and economic strength. It was demoralized and weak. The Great Depression spread around the world, beginning in 1929.

The time was right for the emergence of Hilter and the Nazi Party by 1930. Hitler abolished all state constitutions and appointed Hermann Goering as head of Prussia. Prussia no longer had power over the other German states. Hitler wanted ultimate power and domination of the world. His powers grew and so did his military strength. In 1930 he marched into the Rhineland. In 1938 he formed an union with Austria and took Sudetenland. In 1939 he marched into Czechoslovakia and Poland. World War II erupted and raged on until May of 1945.

After the war, with Germany destroyed, the Prussian lands were taken by the Soviet Union and given to Poland. Prussia ceased to exist in February of 1947 by order of the Allied Control Council.

There were 13 Prussian provinces:

  1. Brandenburg
  2. OstpreuBen (East Prussia)
  3. Hannover
  4. Hessen-Nassau (Hesse- Nassau)
  5. Hohenzollern
  6. Pommern (Pomerania)
  7. Posen (Poznan)
  8. Provinz Sachsen (Province of Saxony)
  9. Rheinprovinz (Rhine Province)
  10. Schleswig-Holstein
  11. Schlesien (Silesia)
  12. Westfalen (West Phalia)
  13. WestpreuBen (West Prussia)
The Historical Province of Schleswig-Holstein, now a German State (Lander), was once part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Prussia and Austria went to war with Denmark in 1864 and as a result, Denmark lost the province to Germany. Prussia then took Holstein and Austria Schleswig. In 1866 Prussia and Austria went to war. Austria lost Holstein and the two areas became a single province in the Kingdom of Prussia.

Hesse had been one province in the Middle Ages. It was finally spilt into two provinces, Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt.

The Historical Province of Hesse-Nassau had been the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Kassel, the Duchy of Nassau, and the Independent City of Frankfurt am Main. During the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866 they were combined into one, the Provine of Hesse-Nassau.

The Historical Province of Hesse-Darmstadt, often called just Hesse, coexisted as a province with Hesse-Kassel. It became a state in 1871. During the American Revolution the ruler of Hesse-Kassel sent Hessian mercenaries to fight for the British.

The two were once again united in 1945 as just Hesse, now called Hessen, with the cities of Kassel and Darmstadt, and Wiesbaden as the state's capital.

The Historical Province of Hohenzollern....The Kingdom of Prussia had been ruled by the House of Hohenzollern with its seat of power in Brandenburg. The province had several parts, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Heckingen, as well as Brandenburg. The ruler of Brandenburg became King of Prussia with the other princes resigning control of the remaining areas in 1695. These provinces all became the one province of Hohenzollern in 1850.

The Historical Province of Hannover had been an independent state. In 1866 it became a Prussian province.

The Historical Province of Rhineland had been a number of small counties and church states, each with their own ruler. In 1792 the French occupied Rhineland and took control of all the states. In 1815 the French were defeated from the Rheinland and it was made a Province of Prussia.

13 Provinces of the Kingdom of PreuBen (Prussia) were:
  1. Brandenburg
  2. Hannover
  3. Hessen-Nassau
  4. Hohenzollern
  5. OstpreuBen
  6. Pommern
  7. Posen
  8. Rheinland
  9. Sachsen
  10. Schlesien
  11. Schleswig-Holstein
  12. Westfalen
  13. WestpreuBen
Today the Province of:
  1. OstpreuBen (East Prussia) is found in Poland, Lithuania and Russia.
  2. Pommern (Pomerania) is found in Germany and Poland.
  3. Posen is found in Poland.
  4. Schlesien (Silesia) is in Poland
  5. Schleswig is in Germany (and Part is in Denmark)
  6. WestpreuBen (West Prussia) is found in Poland.



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