Preußen

Preußen (Prussia)comprised until 1701 the future East Prussia (see Ostpreussen). In that year the Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg (see Friedrich I, König) succeeded in obtaining royal status and described himself as König in Preußen, so extending the name to his own electorate of Brandenburg and other territories. Under Friedrich II Silesia and a portion of Poland (1772) were annexed, and further Polish lands in 1793 and 1795 (see Poland, Partitions of). This greatly enlarged Prussia became a serious rival of Austria within the Holy Roman Empire (see Deutsches Reich, Altes). In the Napoleonic Wars Prussia was reduced by the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) virtually to its extent at the beginning of the 18th c. The Congress of Vienna (1815, see Wiener Kongress) made ample amends by restoring lost territories (except for New East Prussia) and adding extensive lands in the west, including the Rhineland and parts of Westphalia. After the war of 1866 between Prussia and Austria (see Deutscher Krieg), those states north of the Main which had taken the Austrian side (Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, Frankfurt) were annexed to Prussia, together with Schleswig-Holstein.

In the German Empire of 1871 Prussia was the most powerful state, the king of Prussia being hereditary German Emperor. Prussia's dominance in the late 19th c. and early 20th c. is shown by her population and area. In 1900 it had 60 per cent of both land and inhabitants. The remaining 40 per cent was made up of twenty-four sovereign states and the Reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine. The next largest state after Prussia was Bavaria with about 14 per cent. The same predominance continued in the Weimar Republic.

Prussia was declared dissolved in the Potsdam decrees of 1945, after which parts of its territory were included in the Federal Republic (see Bundesrepublik Deutschland): in West Berlin (until 1990), Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, and Schleswig-Holstein. For East Germany (until 1990) see Deutsche Demokratische Republik. Most of Pomerania, Silesia, eastern Brandenburg, the pre-1918 provinces of West Prussia and Posen were ceded to Poland; East Prussia was divided between Poland and the Soviet Union.