Kingdom of Prussia

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under its rule.

After the Napoleonic Wars led to the creation of the
German Confederation, the issue of more closely unifying the many German states caused revolution throughout the German states, with each wanting their own
constitution.[4] Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most
powerful member states, Prussia and Austria. The North
German Confederation which lasted from 18671871,
created a closer union between the Prussian-aligned states
while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained
independent.[4] The North German Confederation was
seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War but many of its laws
were later used in the German Empire. The German Empire lasted from 18711918 with the successful unication of all the German states under Prussian hegemony.[4]
This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the FrancoPrussian War of 187071. The war united all the German states against a common enemy, and with the victory
came an overwhelming wave of patriotism which changed
the opinions of some of those who had been against unication. In 1871, Germany unied into a single country,
minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power.[4]

The Kingdom of Prussia (German: Knigreich

Preuen) was a German kingdom that constituted the
state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918 and included
parts of present-day Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania,
Denmark, Belgium and the Czech Republic.[4] It was the
driving force behind the unication of Germany in 1871
and was the leading state of the German Empire until its
dissolution in 1918.[4] Although it took its name from
the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate
of Brandenburg, where its capital was Berlin.

Prussia is considered the legal predecessor of the unied German Reich (18711945) and as such a direct ancestor of todays Federal Republic of Germany.[4] The
formal abolition of Prussia, carried out on 25 February
1947 by the at of the Allied Control Council referred
to an alleged tradition of the kingdom as a bearer of
militarism and reaction, and made way for the current
setup of the German states. However, the Free State of
Prussia (Freistaat Preuen), which followed the abolition
of the Kingdom of Prussia in the aftermath of World War
I, was a major democratic force in Weimar Germany until
the nationalist coup of 1932 known as the Preuenschlag.
The Kingdom left a signicant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (Stiftung Preuischer Kulturbesitz (SPK)), which
has become one of the largest cultural organisations in
the world.[12]

The kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a great power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, BrandenburgPrussia, which became a military power under Frederick
William, known as The Great Elector.[5][6][7][8] Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of
Frederick II, more commonly known as Frederick the
Great, the third son of Frederick William I.[9] Frederick
the Great was instrumental in starting the Seven Years
War, holding his own against Austria, Russia, France
and Sweden and establishing Prussias role in the German states, as well as establishing the country as a European great power.[10] After the might of Prussia was
revealed it became a major power among the German
states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went
on to win many battles.[11] It was because of its power that
Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states

1 History

1.1

1 HISTORY

Establishment

1701. Frederick crowned himself "King in Prussia" as

Frederick I on 18 January. Legally, no kingdoms could
Main articles: Brandenburg-Prussia and King in Prussia exist in the Holy Roman Empire except for the Bohemia.
However, Frederick took the line that since Prussia had
never been part of the empire and the Hohenzollerns were
In 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to
fully sovereign over it, he could elevate Prussia to a kingthe March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as
dom.
[4]
elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector
[4]
of the Holy Roman Empire.
After the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns
of the German states including Prussia, suered many
economic setbacks.[13] Many of the Prussian towns could
not even aord to attend political meetings outside of
Prussia. The towns were poverty stricken, with even the
largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade.[13] Poverty in these towns was
partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established
and developed such a monopoly on trading that these
new towns simply could not compete. These issues led
to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions.[13] However, the fall of these towns gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west, and allowed the urban middle
class of Brandenburg to prosper.[13]

The Prussian Crown Jewels, Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin

The style King in Prussia was adopted to acknowledge

the legal ction that the Hohenzollerns were legally kings
only in their former duchy. In Brandenburg and the portions of their domains that were within the Empire, they
were still legally only electors under the overlordship of
the emperor. However, by this time the emperors authority was only nominal. The rulers of the empires various
territories acted largely as the rulers of sovereign states,
and only acknowledged the emperors suzerainty in a formal way. While the personal union between Brandenburg
and Prussia legally continued until the end of the empire
in 1806, from 1701 onward Brandenburg was de facto
treated as an integral part of the kingdom. Since the Hohenzollerns were nominally still subjects of the emperor
within the parts of their domains that were part of the empire, they continued to use the additional title of Elector
of Brandenburg until the empire was dissolved. It was not
until 1772 that the title was changed to King of Prussia.

It was clear in 1440 how dierent Brandenburg was from

the other German territories, as it faced two dangers
that the other German territories did not. Not only did
it face partition from within but also the threat of its
neighbors.[4] It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle
of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories.[4] The second issue was solved through
expansion. Brandenburg was surrounded on every side
by neighbors whose boundaries were merely political.[4]
Any neighbor could attack and consume Brandenburg at
any moment. The only way to defend herself was to absorb her neighbors before they absorbed her.[4] Through
negotiations and marriages Brandenburg slowly but surely
expanded her borders, absorbing her neighbors and eliminating the threat of attack.
1.2 The Great Northern War: 17001721
The Hohenzollerns were made rulers of the Margraviate
of Brandenburg in 1518. In 1529 the Hohenzollerns The Great Northern War was the rst major conict that
secured the reversion of the Duchy of Pomerania after a the new Kingdom of Prussia was involved in. Starting
series of conicts, and acquired its eastern part following in 1700, the Great Northern War involved a coalition led
by Tsarist Russia against the dominant European power at
the Peace of Westphalia.
the time, the Swedish Empire. Frederick William in 1705
In 1618 the Hohenzollerns inherited the Duchy of Prus- tried to get Prussia involved in the war, stating best Prussia, since 1511 ruled by Hohenzollern Albrecht of Bran- sia has her own army and make her own decisions.[14]
denburg Prussia, who in 1525 converted the Teutonic Or- However his views were not considered acceptable by
der ruled state to a Protestant Duchy by accepting efdom those in power. It was not until 1713 that Frederick
of the crown of Poland. It was ruled in a personal union William gained full royal powers.[14] Therefore, in 1715,
with Brandenburg, known as "Brandenburg-Prussia". In Prussia, led by Frederick William, joined the coalition
the course of the Second Northern War, the treaties of for various reasons,[14] including the danger of being atLabiau and Wehlau-Bromberg granted the Hohenzollerns tacked from both her rear and the sea, her claims on
full sovereignty over the Prussian duchy by September Pomerania and the fact that if she stood aside and Sweden
1657.
lost she would not get a share of the territory.[4][14] PrusIn return for an alliance against France in the War of sia only participated in one single battle during the war,
the Spanish Succession, the Great Electors son, Freder- the Battle of Stresow on the island of Rgen. The war
ick III, was allowed to elevate Prussia to a kingdom in had already been practically decided in the 1709 Battle

1.4

17401760: Silesian Wars

of Poltava. In the Treaty of Stockholm Prussia gained

all of Swedish Pomerania east of the river Oder. Sweden
would however keep Vorpommern until 1815. The Great
Northern War not only marked the end of the Swedish
Empire but also elevated Prussia and Russia as new powers in Europe.[15]

1.3

Emperor Ferdinand I) by which parts of Silesia were to

pass to Brandenburg after the extinction of its ruling Piast
dynasty, Frederick invaded Silesia, thereby beginning the
War of the Austrian Succession. After rapidly occupying
Silesia, Frederick oered to protect Archduchess Maria
Theresa of Austria if the province were turned over to
him. The oer was rejected, but Austria faced several
other opponents, and Frederick was eventually able to
Results of the Thirty- gain formal cession with the Treaty of Berlin in 1742.

17011721:
Years War and The Great Northern
To the surprise of many, Austria managed to renew the
War
war successfully. In 1744 Frederick invaded again to

The Kingdom of Prussia was poor in natural resources

and devastated from the Thirty Years War. Its territory was disjointed. It stretched 1,200 km (750 mi):
from the lands of the Duchy of Prussia on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea to the Hohenzollern heartland
of Brandenburg, and the exclaves of Cleves, Mark and
Ravensberg in the Rhineland. In 1708 about one third of
the population of the Duchy of Prussia died of bubonic
plague.[16] The plague reached Prenzlau in August 1710,
but receded before it could reach the capital Berlin, which
was only 80 km (50 mi) away.

forestall reprisals and to claim, this time, the province of

Bohemia. He failed, but French pressure on Austrias ally
Great Britain led to a series of treaties and compromises,
culminating in the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle that
restored peace and left Prussia in possession of most of
Silesia.

Humiliated by the cession of Silesia, Austria worked

to secure an alliance with France and Russia (the
"Diplomatic Revolution"), while Prussia drifted into
Great Britains camp forming the Anglo-Prussian Alliance. When Frederick preemptively invaded Saxony
and Bohemia over the course of a few months in 1756
Sweden's defeat by Russia, Saxony, Poland, Denmark 1757, he initiated the Seven Years War which might also
Norway, Hanover, and Prussia in the Great Northern be considered the rst world war since it was fought in the
War (17001721) marked the end of signicant Swedish three continents (France and Great Britains colonies).
power on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. In
the course of the Pomeranian campaign and by the
Prusso-Swedish Treaty of Stockholm (January 1720),
Prussia gained southern Swedish Pomerania with Stettin
(Szczecin).
The Great Elector incorporated the Junkers, the landed
aristocracy, into his empires bureaucracy and military
machine. A vested interest in the Prussian Army and
compulsory education.[17] King Frederick William I inaugurated the Prussian compulsory system in 1717.[17]

1.4

17401760: Silesian Wars

Attack of the Prussian Infantry at the battle of Hohenfriedberg in

1745

This war was a desperate struggle for the Prussian Army,

Main article: Silesian Wars
and the fact that it managed to ght much of Europe to a
In 1740 King Frederick II (Frederick the Great) came to
draw bears witness to Fredericks military skills. Facing
Austria, Russia, France, and Sweden simultaneously, and
with only Hanover (and the non-continental British) as
notable allies, Frederick managed to prevent serious invasion until October 1760, when the Russian army briey
occupied Berlin and Knigsberg. The situation became
progressively grimmer, however, until the death of Empress Elizabeth of Russia (Miracle of the House of Brandenburg). The accession of the Prussophile Peter III relieved the pressure on the eastern front. Sweden also exited the war at about the same time.
Defeating the Austrian army at the Battle of Burkersdorf
and relying on continuing British success against France
in the wars colonial theatres, Prussia was nally able to
Prussian territorial acquisitions in the 18th century
force a status quo ante bellum on the continent. This result
the throne. Using the pretext of a 1537 treaty (vetoed by conrmed Prussias major role within the German states

1 HISTORY

and established the country as a European great power.

Frederick, appalled by the near-defeat of Prussia, lived
out his days as a much more peaceable ruler.

1.5

1772, 1793, and 1795: Partitions of

PolishLithuanian Commonwealth

Main articles: Partitions of Poland and Kociuszko

Uprising
To the east and south of Prussia, the PolishLithuanian
Commonwealth had gradually weakened during the 18th
century. Alarmed by increasing Russian inuences in
Polish aairs and by a possible expansion of the Russian
Empire, Frederick was instrumental in initiating the rst
of the Partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and
Austria in 1772 to maintain a balance of power. The
Kingdom of Prussia annexed most of the Polish province
of Royal Prussia, including Warmia; the annexed land
was organised the following year into the Province of
West Prussia. The new territory connected the Province
of East Prussia (the territory previously known as the
Duchy of Prussia) with the Province of Pomerania, uniting the kingdoms eastern territories.

Prussia (orange) and its territories lost after the War of the Fourth
Coalition (other colours).

ity.

In the course of the War of the Second Coalition against

France (17991802) Napoleon Bonaparte urged Prussia
to occupy the continental British dominions. In 1801
24,000 Prussian soldiers invaded, surprising Hanover,
which surrendered without a ght. In April 1801 the
Prussian troops arrived in Bremen-Verdens capital Stade
and stayed there until October of the same year. The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland rst ignored
Prussias hostility, but when it joined the pro-French
coalition of armed neutral powers such as Denmark
Norway and Russia, Britain started to capture Prussian
After Frederick died in 1786, his nephew Fredrick sea vessels. After the battle of Copenhagen the coalition
William II continued the partitions, gaining a large part fell apart and Prussia again withdrew its troops.
of western Poland in 1793.
At Napoleons instigation, Prussia recaptured British
In 1795 the Kingdom of Poland ceased to exist and a large Hanover and Bremen-Verden in early 1806. On August
area (including Warsaw) to the south of East Prussia be- 6 of the same year, the Holy Roman Empire was discame part of Prussia. These new territories were organ- solved as a result of Napoleons victories over Austria.
ised into the Provinces of New Silesia, South Prussia, and The title of Kurfrst (Prince-elector) of Brandenburg
New East Prussia.
became meaningless, and was dropped. Nonetheless,
In 1787 Prussia invaded Holland to restore the Orangist Frederick William III was now de jure as well as de facto
[18]
stadtholderate against the increasingly rebellious Patriots, sovereign of all of the Hohenzollern domains. Before
who sought to overthrow House of Orange-Nassau and this time, the Hohenzollern sovereign had held many titles
establish a democratic republic. The direct cause of the and crowns, from Supreme Governor of the Protestant
invasion was the Arrest at Goejanverwellesluis, where Churches (summus episcopus) to King, Elector, Grand
Frederick William IIs sister Wilhelmina of Prussia, also Duke, Duke for the various regions and realms under his
stadtholder William V of Orange's wife, was stopped by rule. After 1806 he was simply King of Prussia and suma band of Patriots who denied her passage to The Hague mus episcopus.
to reclaim her husbands position.

1.6

18011815: Napoleonic Wars

Main article: Napoleonic Wars

The Treaty of Basel (1795) ended the War of the First
Coalition against France. In it, the First French Republic and Prussia had stipulated that the latter would
ensure the Holy Roman Empire's neutrality in all the
latters territories north of the demarcation line of the
river Main, including the British continental dominions
of the Electorate of Hanover and the Duchies of BremenVerden. To this end, Hanover (including BremenVerden) also had to provide troops for the so-called de- Frederick III of Prussia, Alexander I of Russia and Francis II of
marcation army maintaining this state of armed neutral- Austria after the battle of Leipzig, 1813

1.8

18481871: German wars of unication

But when Prussia, after it turned against the French Empire, was defeated in the Battle of JenaAuerstedt (October 14, 1806), Frederick William III was forced to temporarily ee to remote Memel. After the Treaties of Tilsit
in 1807, Prussia lost about half of its territory, including
the land gained from the Second and Third Partitions of
Poland (which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw) and all
land west of the Elbe River. France recaptured Prussianoccupied Hanover, including Bremen-Verden. The remainder of the kingdom was occupied by French troops
(at Prussias expense) and the king was obliged to make
an alliance with France and join the Continental System.
The Prussian reforms were a reaction to the Prussian defeat in 1806 and the Treaties of Tilsit. It describes a series
of constitutional, administrative, social and economic reforms of the kingdom of Prussia. They are sometimes
known as the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms after Karl Freiherr vom Stein and Karl August Frst von Hardenberg,
their main instigators.
After the defeat of Napoleon in Russia in 1812, 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 Blcher contributed crucially in
the Battle of Waterloo of 1815 to the nal victory over
Napoleon.

1.7

1815: After Napoleon

Expansion of Prussia 18071871

Prussias reward for its part in Frances defeat came at the

Congress of Vienna. It regained most of its pre-1806 territory. Notable exceptions included much of the territory
annexed in the Second and Third Partitions of Poland,
which became Congress Poland under Russian rule. It
also didn't regain several of its former towns in the south.
However, as compensation it picked up some new territory, including 40% of the Kingdom of Saxony and much
of Westphalia and the Rhineland. Prussia now stretched
uninterrupted from the Niemen in the east to the Elbe in
the west, and possessed a chain of disconnected territories west of the Elbe.

5
from the Provinces of East Prussia, West Prussia, and
Posen, became part of the new German Confederation, a
confederacy of 39 sovereign states replacing the defunct
Holy Roman Empire.
Frederick William III submitted Prussia to a number of
administrative reforms, among others reorganising the
government by way of ministries, which remained formative for the following hundred years.
As to religion, reformed Calvinist Frederick William
IIIas Supreme Governor of the Protestant Churches
asserted his long-cherished project (started in 1798) to
unite the Lutheran and the Reformed Church in 1817,
(see Prussian Union). The Calvinist minority, strongly
supported by its co-religionist Frederick William III,
and the partially reluctant Lutheran majority formed the
united Protestant Evangelical Church in Prussia. However, ensuing quarrels causing a permanent schism among
the Lutherans into united and Old Lutherans by 1830.
As a consequence of the Revolutions of 1848, the Principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and HohenzollernHechingen (ruled by a Catholic cadet branch of the House
of Hohenzollern) were annexed by Prussia in 1850, later
united as Province of Hohenzollern.

1.8 18481871: German wars of unication

For the half-century that followed the Congress of Vienna, there was a conict of ideals within the German
Confederation between the formation of a single German
nation and the conservation of the current collection of
smaller German states and kingdoms. The creation of
the German Customs Union (Zollverein) in 1834, which
excluded the Austrian Empire, increased Prussian inuence over the member states. As a consequence of the
Revolutions of 1848, King Frederick William IV was offered the crown of a united Germany by the Frankfurt
Parliament. Frederick William refused the oer on the
grounds that revolutionary assemblies could not grant
royal titles. But there were two other reasons why he refused: to do so would have done little to end the internal
power struggle between Austria and Prussia, and all Prussian kings (up to and including William I) feared that the
formation of a German Empire would mean the end of
Prussias independence within the German states.
In 1848 actions taken by Denmark towards the Duchies of
Schleswig and Holstein led to the First War of Schleswig
(184851) between Denmark and the German Confederation. Denmark won.

Frederick William issued Prussias rst constitution by

his own authority in 1848. This documentmoderate
by the standards of the time but conservative by todays
standardsprovided for a two-house parliament. The
With these gains in territory, the kingdom was reorgan- lower house, or Landtag was elected by all taxpayers,
ised into 10 provinces. Most of the kingdom, aside who were divided into three classes whose votes were

1 HISTORY

weighted according to the amount of taxes paid. Women

and those who paid no taxes had no vote. This allowed
just over one-third of the voters to choose 85% of the legislature, all but assuring dominance by the more well-todo men of the population. The upper house, which was
later renamed the Herrenhaus (House of Lords), was
appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority and ministers were responsible only to him (indeed,
as late as 1910, Prussian kings believed that they ruled
by divine right). As a result, the grip of the landowning
classes, the Junkers, remained unbroken, especially in the
eastern provinces.

The liberals violently denounced Bismarck for what they

saw as his disregard for the fundamental law of the kingdom. However, Bismarcks real plan was an accommodation with liberalism. Although he had opposed German
unication earlier in his career, he had now come to believe that it was inevitable. To his mind, the conservative
forces had to take the lead in the drive toward creating a
unied nation in order to keep from being eclipsed. He
also believed that the middle-class liberals wanted a unied Germany more than they wanted to break the grip of
the traditional forces over society. He thus embarked on
a drive to create a united Germany under Prussian leadership, and guided Prussia through three wars which ultiFrederick William suered a stroke in 1857, and
his younger brother, Prince William, became regent. mately achieved this goal.
William pursued a considerably more moderate policy. The rst of these wars was the Second War of Schleswig
Upon Frederick William IVs death in 1861, he suc- (1864), which Prussia initiated and succeeded in gaining
ceeded to the throne as William I. However, shortly after the assistance of Austria. Denmark was soundly defeated
gaining the throne, he faced a dispute with his parliament and surrendered both Schleswig and Holstein, to Prussia
over the size of the army. The parliament, dominated and Austria respectively.
by the liberals, balked at Williams desire to increase the
number of regiments and withheld approval of the budget
to pay for its cost. A deadlock ensued, and William seriously considered abdicating in favour of his son, Crown
Prince Frederick William. He was, however, persuaded
to appoint as prime minister Otto von Bismarck, his ambassador to France. Bismarck took oce on September
23, 1862.

King Wilhelm I on a black horse with his suite, Bismarck, Moltke,

and others, watching the battle of Kniggrtz

Although Bismarck had a reputation as an unyielding conservative, he was initially inclined to seek a compromise
over the budget issue. However, William refused to consider it; he viewed defence issues as the crowns personal
province. Forced into a policy of confrontation, Bismarck
came up with a novel theory. Under the constitution, the
king and the parliament were responsible for agreeing on
the budget. Bismarck argued that since they had failed to
come to an agreement, there was a hole in the constitution, and the government had to continue to collect taxes
and disburse funds in accordance with the old budget in
order to keep functioning. The government thus operated without a new budget from 1862 to 1866, allowing
Bismarck to implement Williams military reforms.

Aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War (1866) ---Prussia

Prussian allies: Italy and 14 German states[19]
Austria
Austrian allies: 11 German states[20]
Neutral states: Liechtenstein, Limburg, Luxembourg, ReussSchleiz, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Prussian acquisitions: Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, Hessian
Hinterland, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau and Frankfurt

The divided administration of Schleswig and Holstein

then became the trigger for the Austro-Prussian War
(1866also known as the Seven Weeks War), where
Prussia, allied with the Kingdom of Italy and various
northern German states, declared war on the Austrian
Empire. The Austrian-led coalition was crushed, and
Prussia annexed four of its smaller alliesthe Kingdom
of Hanover, the Electorate of Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt. Prussia also annexed Schleswig and Holstein, and also eectively annexed Saxe-Lauenburg by forcing it into a personal union

1.9

18711918: Peak and fall

with Prussia (which was turned into a full union in 1876).

King William initially wanted to take territory from Austria itself, but Bismarck persuaded him to abandon the
idea. While Bismarck wanted Austria to play no future
role in German aairs, he still saw that Austria could be
a valuable future ally.

fervour aroused by the war with France overwhelmed the

remaining opponents of a unied nation, and on 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of the
rst Prussian king, Frederick I), the German Empire was
proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside of
Paris, while the French capital was still under siege. King
With these gains in territory, the Prussian possessions in William became the rst emperor of a unied Germany.
the Rhineland and Westphalia were connected to the rest
of the kingdom for the rst time. Counting the de facto
1.9 18711918: Peak and fall
annexation of Saxe-Lauenburg, Prussia now stretched uninterrupted across the northern two-thirds of Germany.
Main article: German Empire
It would remain at this size until the overthrow of the
Bismarcks new empire was the most powerful state on
monarchy in 1918.
Bismarck used this opportunity to end the budget dispute
with parliament. He proposed a bill of indemnity granting him retroactive approval for governing without a legal budget. He guessed, correctly as it turned out, that
this would lead to a split between his liberal adversaries.
While some of them argued that there could be no compromise with the principle of constitutional government,
most of the liberals decided to support the bill in hopes
of winning more freedom in the future.
The German Confederation was dissolved as part of the
war. In its place, Prussia cajoled the 21 states north of the
Main into forming the North German Confederation in
1867. Prussia was the dominant state in this new grouping, with four-fths of its territory and population Prussia in the German Empire 18711918
more than the other members of the confederation combined. Its near-total control was cemented in a constitution written by Bismarck. Executive power was vested in
a presidenta hereditary oce of the rulers of Prussia.
He was assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him.
There was also a two-house parliament. The lower house,
or Reichstag (Diet), was elected by universal male suffrage. The upper house, or Bundesrat (Federal Council)
was appointed by the state governments. The Bundesrat
was, in practice, the stronger chamber. Prussia had 17 of
43 votes and could easily control proceedings through alliances with the other states. For all intents and purposes,
the new grouping was dominated by Bismarck. He served
as his own foreign minister for virtually his entire tenure
as prime minister of Prussia, and in that capacity was able
to instruct the Prussian delegates to the Bundesrat.
The southern German states (except Austria) were forced
to accept military alliances with Prussia, and Prussia began steps to merge them with the North German Confederation. Bismarcks planned Kleindeutschland unication
of Germany had come considerably closer to realisation.
The nal act was the Franco-Prussian War (1870), where
Bismarck maneuvered Emperor Napoleon III of France
into declaring war on Prussia. Activating the German alliances put in place after the Austro-Prussian War, the
German states came together and swiftly defeated France,
even managing to take Napoleon prisoner. Even before
the Continent. In 18701914, the four leading powers in
then, Bismarck was able to complete the work of uniEurope were Russia, Prussia, Austria and France. Prusfying Germany under Prussian leadership. The patriotic
sias dominance over the new empire was almost as ab-

8
solute as it was with the North German Confederation.
It included two-thirds of the empires territory and threefths of its population. The imperial crown was a hereditary oce of the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia also
had a large plurality of seats in the Bundesrat, and as before could control the proceedings with the support of its
allies in the secondary states. The Imperial Army was
essentially an enlarged Prussian army, and the embassies
of the new empire were mostly old Prussian embassies.
The constitution of the German Empire was essentially
an amended version of the constitution of the North German Confederation.
However, the seeds for future problems lay in a gross disparity between the imperial and Prussian systems. The
empire granted the vote to all men over 25. However, Prussia retained its restrictive three-class voting system, in which the well-to-do had 17 times the voting power of the rest of the population. Since the imperial chancellor was, except for two periods (January
November 1873 and 189294) also prime minister of
Prussia, this meant that for most of the empires existence, the king/emperor and prime minister/chancellor
had to seek majorities from legislatures elected by two
completely dierent franchises.

STATE

and sailors in the German military, and Prussian Junkers

dominated the higher ranks. In addition, portions of the
Eastern Front were fought on Prussian soil. Prussia
along with Germany as a whole experienced increasing
troubles with revolutionaries during the war. The Great
War ended by armistice on 11 November 1918.
Uprisings in Berlin and other centres began the civil
conict of the German Revolution of 191819 (German: Novemberrevolution). By late 1918, the Prussian
House of Representatives was controlled by the Social
Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), which advocated
Marxism. Wilhelm hoped to retain the Prussian kingship, even if he had to give up the imperial crown. However, this was impossible under the national constitution, and he had lost support of the military who might
have fought for him. Wilhelms abdication as king of
Prussia in addition to emperor of Germany was announced on 9 November 1918, and he went into exile in
the Netherlands the next day. With armed revolts, mass
strikes, and street ghting in Berlin, the Prussian state
government declared a state of siege and appealed for
imperial military aid. The Garde-Kavallerie-SchtzenDivision, commanded by Waldemar Pabst, moved against
the strikers in Berlin. By the end of the ghting on
16 March, they had killed approximately 1,200 people,
many of them unarmed and uninvolved. The revolutionary period lasted from November 1918 until the establishment in August 1919 of a republic that later became
known as the Weimar Republic.

At the time of the empires creation, both Prussia and

Germany were roughly two-thirds rural. Within 20 years,
the situation was reversed; the cities and towns accounted
for two-thirds of the population. However, in both the
kingdom and the empire, the constituencies were never
redrawn to reect the growing population and inuence Prussia was incorporated as a state in the Weimar Reof the cities and towns. This meant that rural areas were public. Under the republic, undemocratic public institugrossly overrepresented from the 1890s onward.
tions were abolished, including the disappearance of the
Bismarck realised that the rest of Europe was sceptical of Prussian Upper House, [and] the former Prussian Lower
been elected in accordance with the threehis powerful new Reich, and turned his attention to pre- House that had [21]
class
surage.
serving peace with such acts as the Congress of Berlin.

The new German Empire improved its already-strong relations with Britain. The ties between London and Berlin
had already been sealed with a golden braid in 1858, 2 State
when Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia married Princess Victoria of Britain.
2.1 Government
William I died in 1888, and the Crown Prince succeeded
to the throne as Frederick III. The new emperor, a de- The joint authority, feudal and bureaucratic, on which
cided Anglophile, planned to transform Prussia and the Prussian absolute monarchy was based, saw its interests
empire into a more liberal and democratic monarchy laid in suppression of the drive for personal freedom and
based on the British model. However, Frederick was al- democratic rights. It therefore had to recourse on police
ready ill with inoperable throat cancer, and died after methods.[22] The police state, as Otto Hintze described
only 99 days on the throne. He was succeeded by his it, replaced the older system with its feudal squirearchy
29-year-old son, William II. As a boy, William had re- run in the interests of the ruling class, but which in its
belled against his parents eorts to mould him as a lib- rudimentary form was a constitutional state.[23]
eral, and had become thoroughly Prussianised under Bismarcks tutelage.

2.2 Politics

The new Kaiser Wilhelm rapidly soured relations with the

British and Russian royal families (despite being closely
The Kingdom of Prussia was an absolute monarchy unrelated to them), becoming their rival and ultimately
til the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, aftheir enemy. Before and during World War I (1914ter which Prussia became a constitutional monarchy and
1918), Prussia supplied signicant numbers of soldiers
Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg was appointed as

Prussian Kings Crown (Hohenzollern Castle Collection)

Prussias rst prime minister. Following Prussias rst

constitution, a two-house parliament was formed. The
lower house, or Landtag was elected by all taxpayers, who
were divided into three classes according to the amount
of taxes paid. 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. The
upper house, which was later renamed the Prussian House
of Lords, was appointed by the king. He retained full
executive authority and ministers were responsible only
to him. As a result, the grip of the landowning classes,
the Junkers, remained unbroken, especially in the eastern
provinces. Prussian Secret Police, formed in response to
the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, aided the
conservative government.

2.3

Constitutions

There were three constitutions that had been adopted during the rule of the Prussian State: the Constitution of
Prussia (1848), the Constitution of Prussia (1850) and the
Constitution of Prussia (1920). The constitution of 1848
was enacted and set into eect on December 5, 1848,
by Frederick William IV. This was set out in response to
the revolutions of 1848. The second constitution was enacted on January 31, 1850, and was continually amended
in the following years. The third and nal constitution of
the Prussian government was enacted on November 30,
1920, and was the constitution for the Free State of Prussia.

and the peasants. Although they had no real power and

the King did not consult them or allow them to veto or argue the legislatures that were being made, it was a step towards a constitutional state. Known as the March Days
radical changes began to occur. When the King refused
to add the United Diets into an actual representative institution, the people began to rebel. On the 18th of March
the King made the decision to agree to some concessions.
However, there was multiple stand os with soldiers as he
had not been able to stop them from attacking even peaceful crowds. In March the king agreed to demands issued
by the people and made a number of concessions. At the
May 22, 1848 convention he put out the sketch of the
new constitution. The people submitted a revised draft
on July 26, 1848. When all discussions were nished,
Frederick dissolved the convention and the constitution
was ocially put in place on December 5, 1848.[24][25]
The Constitution is separated into 105 dierent articles
headed under eight separate headings. The nine headings
are titled The Territory of the State, The Rights of the
Prussians, The King, The Ministers, The Chambers, The
Judicial Power, Public Ocials Not Belonging to the Judicial Class, The Finances and The Communes, Circuits,
Districts, and Provincial Bodies. Each of these groups
varies in numbers of articles with the seventh and ninth
sections have only one article each and the second section having forty separate articles. There have also been
fourteen provisions divided into General Provisions and
Temporary Provisions.[24]
The Constitution of 1920 was ocially accepted on
November 30, 1920. The document is only around four
thousand words long and only barely outlines the framework for the government that will follow. This document contains no bill of rights and is more business like
than others, such as the American Constitution. There
are 88 sections grouped into 11 separate groups titled the
State, the Public Powers, the Diet, the Council of State,
the Ministry, Legislation, Finances, Autonomous Administration (meaning the local administration), Religious
Communities, Public Functionaries, and Regulations regarding the Transition. As each title states, each section
focuses on a dierent area of the nation. As a way to
insure the constitution reects the people, there is a procedure known as the initiative. This ensures three things,
it is used to amend the constitution, to enact, amend and
repeal a statute, and it may be used to eect the dissolution the Diet. All nancial matters, such as taxation,
are not allowed to be changed through the popular vote.
This constitution also divides Prussia into 14 provinces
all represented in the Council of State.[26]

The Constitution of 1848 occurred under the rule of

Frederick William IV who took power from his father
after his death in the year 1840. After taking power,
William set an appointment of committees to confer on
points of various questions. With this the king believed
that he could give a sense of unity without revolution.
3 Religion
The government was than cautiously brought together all
members of the eight provincial assemblies and split into
two houses, a house of lords and a second house that en- Main article: Prussia Religion
veloped the three estates of the knights. The burgesses

10

SUBDIVISIONS

The Prussian constitution of 1850 allowed for the freedom of conscience, the freedom of public and private
worship and the freedom of association onto religious
bodies. It stated that all churches and other religious associations should administer everything independently and
privately from the state and that no part of the government
may aect the Church. The constitution also stated that
all children should be taught their religion from people of
their own religion and not by someone else.[27][28]
As a breakdown of the religion of the kingdom, according to a census taken in the early or mid 1800s, around
the 1830s there was a division of six religions based
on one million people. According to this census there
were 609,427.0 practising Protestants, 376,177.1 practising Roman Catholics, 13,348.8 practising Jews, 925.1
Mennonites, 121.4 Greek Orthodox and 0.6 Muslims.[29]
Although dominated by Protestant Lutherans (along with
some Reformed), it contained millions of Catholics in the
west and in Poland. There were numerous Catholic populations in the Rhineland and parts of Westphalia. In addition, West Prussia, Warmia, Silesia, and the Province of
Posen had predominantly Catholic Polish-speaking populations. East Prussias southern region of Masuria was
mostly made up of Germanised Protestant Masurs.

Subdivisions

Current states of Germany (shown in darker green) that are completely or mostly situated inside the old borders of Imperial Germany's Kingdom of Prussia

Province of Pomerania. Prussian gains in the Silesian

Main article: Provinces of Prussia
Wars led to the formation of the Province of Silesia in
The original core regions of the Kingdom of Prussia 1740.
After the First Partition of Poland in 1772, the newly annexed Royal Prussia and Warmia became the Province of
West Prussia, while the Duchy of Prussia (along with part
of Warmia) became the Province of East Prussia. Other
annexations along the Note (Netze) River became the
Netze District. Following the second and third partitions
(17931795), the new Prussian annexations became the
Provinces of New Silesia, South Prussia, and New East
Prussia, with the Netze District redivided between West
and South Prussia. These three provinces were ultimately
lost to Congress Poland after the Congress of Vienna in
1815, except for the western part of South Prussia, which
would form part of the Grand Duchy of Posen.
Following the major western gains made by Prussia after the Vienna Congress, a total of ten provinces were
established, each one subdivided further into smaller adThe ten provinces of the Kingdom of Prussia, after the Congress ministrative regions known as Regierungsbezirke. The
of Vienna (1815). The other member states of the German Con- provinces were:
federation are shown in beige. The Canton of Neuchtel in the
south-west was under Prussian administration until 1848

were the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of

Prussia which together formed Brandenburg-Prussia. A
Further Pomeranian province had been held by Prussia
since 1653. Combined with Swedish Pomerania, gained
from Sweden in 1720 and 1815, this region formed the

Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Province of Brandenburg
Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Province of East Prussia

Province of Jlich-Cleves-Berg
Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine

11

Province of Pomerania
Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Grand Duchy of Posen (autonomous, outside

of German Confederation)
Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Province of Saxony

[9] Horn, D. B. The Youth of Frederick the Great 171230.

In Frederick the Great and the Rise of Prussia, 910. 3rd
ed. London: English Universities Press, 1964.
[10] Horn, D. B. The Seven Years War. In Frederick the
Great and the Rise of Prussia, 81101. 3rd ed. London:
English Universities Press, 1964.

Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Province of Silesia
Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Province of West Prussia

Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Province of Westphalia

[11] Atkinson, C. T. A History of Germany, 17151815,. New

York: Barnes & Noble, 1969.
[12] Langels, Otto: Constitutional Reality: 50 years of
the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in German,
Deutschlandradio, 25 July 2007

In 1822 the provinces of Jlich-Cleves-Berg and the

Lower Rhine were merged to form the Rhine Province. [13] Carsten, F. L. The Origins of Prussia. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1954.
In 1829, the Provinces of East and West Prussia merged
to form the Province of Prussia, but the separate
[14] Feuchtwanger, E. J. Prussia: Myth and Reality: The Role
provinces were reformed in 1878. The principalities of
of Prussia in German History. Chicago: Henry Regnery
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen
Company, 1970.
were annexed in 1850 to form the Province of Hohen[15] Shennan, Margaret. The Rise of Brandenburg-Prussia.
zollern.
London: Routledge, 1995

After Prussias victory in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War,

territories annexed by Prussia were reorganised into three [16] Walker, Mack, The Salzburg transaction: expulsion and
new provinces:
redemption in eighteenth-century Germany, (Cornell University Press, 1992), 74.
Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Hanover
Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Hesse-Nassau

[17] Rothbard, Murray N. (1999). Education: Free & Compulsory. Auburn, Alabama: The Ludwig von Mises Institute.
pp. 2427. ISBN 0-945466-22-6.

Flagge erstellt von: David S. Liuzzo 2006

Schleswig-Holstein

References

[1] German Empire: administrative subdivision and municipalities, 1900 to 1910 (in German). Retrieved 2007-0502.
[2] Knigreich Preuen (17011918)" (in German). Retrieved 2007-05-02.

[18] When the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806,

the function of prince-electors electing its emperors had
lapsed.
[19] Prussia allies in the Austro-Prussian War were:
Anhalt, Bremen, Brunswick, Lauenburg, Lippe-Detmold,
Lbeck, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Grand Duchy
of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Oldenburg, Saxe-Altenburg,
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen,
Waldeck-Pyrmont

[3] German Empire: administrative subdivision and municipalities, 1900 to 1910 (in German). Retrieved 2007-0502.

[20] Austrian allies in the Austro-Prussian War were: Baden,

Bavaria, Hanover, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Kassel (or
Hesse-Cassel), Nassau, Reuss-Greiz, Saxe-Meiningen,
Saxony, Schaumburg-Lippe, Wrttemberg

[4] Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. The

Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire,. Rev. ed.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946.

[21] Rosenberg, Arthur (1936), A History of the German Republic, translated from the German by Ian Morrow and
Marie Sieveking, London: Methuen & Co Ltd

[5] Fueter, Eduard (1922). World history, 18151920.

United States of America: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
pp. 2528, 3644. ISBN 1-58477-077-5.

[22] Jacoby 1973, p. 34.

[6] Danilovic, Vesna.

When the Stakes Are High
Deterrence and Conict among Major Powers, University of Michigan Press (2002), p 27, p225228

[24] Wilhelm, Friedrich and Robinson, James. Supplement:

Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia. Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol.
5 Supplement 8. pp 154. Publisher: Sage Publications
Inc. in association with the American Academy of Political and Social Science (1894). found at http://www.jstor.
org/stable/1009032

[7] Aping the Great Powers: Frederick the Great and the
Defence of Prussias International Position 176386, Pp.
286307.
[8]

The Rise of Prussia Archived June 10, 2010, at the

Wayback Machine.

[23] Hintze, Der Commissarius

[25] Chastain, James. Prussia (1998)(revised 2004) found at

http://www.ohio.edu/chastain/ip/prussia.htm

12

6 BIBLIOGRAPHY

[26] Sheoard, Walter. The New Prussian Constitution. The

American Political Science Review, Vol. 16, No. 4
pp. 661665. Publisher: American Political Association
(1922). found at http://www.jstor.org/stable/1009032
[27] Wilhelm, Friedrich and Robinson, James. Supplement:
Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia. Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 5
Supplement 8. pp 154. Publisher: Sage Publications
Inc. in association with the American Academy of Political and Social Science (1894). found at http://www.jstor.
org/stable/1009032
[28] Burgess, John. The Cultureconict in Prussia. Political
Science Quarterly Vol. 2 No. 2. pp 313340 Publisher:
The Academy of Political Science(1887). found at http:
//www.jstor.org/stable/2139282
[29] Hebeler, Bernard. Statistics of Prussia. Journal of the
Statistical Society of London Vol. 10 No. 2. pp 154186.
Publisher: Wiley for the Royal Statistical Society (1847).
found at http://www.jstor.org/stable/2337688

Bibliography
Hintze, Otto. Der Commissarius und seine Bedeutung in der allgemeinen Verwaltungsgeschichte. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
Jacoby, Henry (1973-01-01). The Bureaucratization
of the World. University of California Press. ISBN
978-0-520-02083-2. Retrieved 2015-06-15.

13

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7.1

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Burschenschafter, Schwartz und Weiss, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Pavel Vozenilek, Bender235, Jaques O. Carvalho, Zscout370,
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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Flag_of_Prussia_
%281466-1772%29_Lob.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist:
File:Flag_of_Prussia_(19181933).svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Flag_of_Prussia_%281918%
E2%80%931933%29.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: <a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Vexilloid_of_the_Roman_Empire.svg' class='image'><img alt='Vexilloid of the Roman Empire.svg' src='https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Vexilloid_of_the_Roman_Empire.svg/25px-Vexilloid_of_the_Roman_Empire.svg.png'
width='25'
height='35'
srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Vexilloid_of_the_Roman_Empire.
svg/38px-Vexilloid_of_the_Roman_Empire.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Vexilloid_
of_the_Roman_Empire.svg/50px-Vexilloid_of_the_Roman_Empire.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='245' data-le-height='343' /></a>
TRAJAN 117
File:Flag_of_Prussia_1892-1918.svg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Flag_of_Prussia_
%281892-1918%29.svg License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Own Work, Custom Creation according to the ag description Original artist: Drawing created by David Liuzzo
File:Flag_of_Russia.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Flag_of_Russia.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Flag_of_the_Czech_Republic.
svg License: Public domain Contributors:
-x-'s le
-x-'s code
Zirlands codes of colors
Original artist:
(of code): SVG version by cs:-x-.
File:Flag_of_the_Free_City_of_Frankfurt.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Flag_of_the_Free_
City_of_Frankfurt.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Image:Flagge der Freien Stadt Frankfurt.png and Image:Wappen Frankfurt
am Main.svg Original artist: Sir Iain
File:Flag_of_the_German_Empire.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Flag_of_the_German_Empire.
svg License: Public domain Contributors: Recoloured Image:Flag of Germany (2-3).svg Original artist: User:B1mbo and User:Madden
File:Flagge_Herzogtum_Nassau_(1806-1866).svg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Flagge_
Herzogtum_Nassau_%281806-1866%29.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Sebastian Walderich
File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Brandenburg.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Flagge_Preu%
C3%9Fen_-_Provinz_Brandenburg.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Hannover.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Flagge_Preu%C3%
9Fen_-_Provinz_Hannover.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Hessen-Nassau.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Flagge_Preu%
C3%9Fen_-_Provinz_Hessen-Nassau.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Ostpreuen.svg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Flagge_Preu%
C3%9Fen_-_Provinz_Ostpreu%C3%9Fen.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Posen.svg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Flagge_Preu%C3%
9Fen_-_Provinz_Posen.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Rheinland.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Flagge_Herzogtum_
Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha_%281826-1911%29.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Sachsen.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Flagge_Preu%C3%
9Fen_-_Provinz_Sachsen.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo

7.2

Images

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File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Schlesien.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Flagge_Preu%C3%

9Fen_-_Provinz_Schlesien.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Schleswig-Holstein.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Flagge_
Preu%C3%9Fen_-_Provinz_Schleswig-Holstein.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Westfalen.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Flagge_Preu%C3%
9Fen_-_Provinz_Westfalen.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Flagge_Preuen_-_Provinz_Westpreuen.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Flagge_Preu%
C3%9Fen_-_Provinz_Westpreu%C3%9Fen.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Gdansk_flag.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Gdansk_flag.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Georg_Bleibtreu_-_1868_-_Die_Schlacht_von_Koniggratz_(section).JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/a/a5/Georg_Bleibtreu_-_1868_-_Die_Schlacht_von_Koniggratz_%28section%29.JPG License: Public domain Contributors:
Own work Original artist: Illustratedjc
File:German_Empire_-_Prussia_(1871).svg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/German_Empire_-_
Prussia_%281871%29.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work based on: File:Deutsches Reich (Karte) Preuen.svg Original
artist: Shadowxfox
File:Germany_former_prussian_lander.png Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Germany_former_
prussian_lander.png License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: MaGioZal
File:Hohenfriedeberg_-_Attack_of_Prussian_Infantry_-_1745.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/
Hohenfriedeberg_-_Attack_of_Prussian_Infantry_-_1745.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Scan by AlexvonF, (Nach einem
Gemlde von Rchling, aus:Svensen, Konungarnas tidehvarf, Norrkping 1913) Original artist: Carl Rchling
File:Karte_Deutsches_Reich,_Verwaltungsgliederung_1900-01-01.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
1/17/Karte_Deutsches_Reich%2C_Verwaltungsgliederung_1900-01-01.png License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Contributors:
for the German Empire as whole: gemeindeverzeichnis.de with this excellent 1900 map, Das-Deutsches-Kaiserreich.de Original artist:
Maximilian Drrbecker (Chumwa)
File:Map-AustroPrussianWar-annexed.svg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/
Map-AustroPrussianWar-annexed.svg License: CC BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: Based on map data of the IEG-Maps project (Andreas Kunz, B. Johnen and Joachim Robert Moeschl: University of Mainz) - http://www.ieg-maps.uni-mainz.de Original artist: User:52
Pickup
File:Map-DB-PrussiaProvs-1818.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Map-DB-PrussiaProvs-1818.svg
License: CC BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: Based on map data of the IEG-Maps project (Andreas Kunz, B. Johnen and Joachim Robert Moeschl:
University of Mainz) - www.ieg-maps.uni-mainz.de. Original artist: User:52 Pickup
File:NB_1866-1871.99.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/NB_1866-1871.99.svg License: CC BY 2.5
Contributors: own drawing/Source of Information: Putzger Historischer Weltatlas, 89. Auage, 1965; Westermanns Groer Atlas zur
Weltgeschichte, 1969; Haacks geographischer Atlas. VEB Hermann Haack Geographisch-Kartographische Anstalt, Gotha/Leipzig, 1.
Auage, 1979; dtv-Atlas zur Weltgeschichte Band 1: Von den Anfngen bis zur Franzsischen Revolution; 23. Au. 1989, ISBN 3-42303002-X Original artist: Ziegelbrenner
File:Naval_Ensign_of_Sweden.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Naval_Ensign_of_Sweden.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:
Source: Renamed from Image:Swedish-War-Flag.svg Original artist: User: David Newton
File:Preussen-1806.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Preussen-1806.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: G. Droysens Historischer Handatlas Original artist: O. Meinke
File:Preussen-FdG.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Preussen-FdG.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: G. Droysens Historischer Handatlas. Von Nikephoros am 17. Juli 2006 in die deutschsprachige Wikipedia geladen. Original
artist: E. Berner
File:Preussische-Kroninsignien.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Preussische-Kroninsignien.JPG
License: GFDL Contributors: Museum Oranienburg Original artist: Overberg
File:Provinz_Pommern_flag.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Provinz_Pommern_flag.svg License:
Public domain Contributors:
Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1889, 13. Band, S. 65 Original artist: vectorization: JDavid
File:Prussiamap.gif Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Prussiamap.gif License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Wappen_Deutsches_Reich_-_Knigreich_Preussen_(Grosses).png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
a/aa/Wappen_Deutsches_Reich_-_K%C3%B6nigreich_Preussen_%28Grosses%29.png License: Public domain Contributors: http://
www.hot.ee/wappenrolle/ Original artist: Hugo Gerhard Strhl
File:Wappen_Mark_Brandenburg.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Wappen_Mark_Brandenburg.
png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Custom Creation according to blazon of the coats of arms. Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Wappen_Preuen.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Wappen_Preu%C3%9Fen.png License: Attribution Contributors: Custom Creation according to blazon of the coats of arms. Original artist: David Liuzzo
File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg License:
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This le was derived from Wiki letter w.svg: <a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Wiki_letter_w.svg' class='image'><img alt='Wiki letter w.svg' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Wiki_
letter_w.svg/50px-Wiki_letter_w.svg.png' width='50' height='50' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/
Wiki_letter_w.svg/75px-Wiki_letter_w.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Wiki_letter_w.svg/
100px-Wiki_letter_w.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='44' data-le-height='44' /></a>
Original artist: Derivative work by Thumperward

16

7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

7.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0