Prussia

Lore & Background

The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians who were conquered by the Teutonic Knights, an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders, in the 13th century. In 1308, the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of Pomerelia with Danzig. Their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany, and, in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The imposed Second Peace of Thorn (1466) split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the eastern Duchy of Prussia, a feudal fief of the Crown of Poland until 1657. After 1525, the Teutonic Order relocated their headquarters to Mergentheim, but managed to keep land in Livonia until 1561. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom. It became increasingly large and powerful in the 18th and 19th centuries. It had a major voice in European affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great (1740–1786). At the Congress of Vienna (1814–15), Prussia acquired rich new territories, including the coal-rich Ruhr. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became the core of the North German Confederation in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom ended in 1918 along with other German monarchies that were terminated by the German Revolution. In the Weimar Republic, the Free State of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. Subsequently, it was effectively dismantled into Nazi German Gaue in 1935. Prussia was officially abolished by an Allied declaration in 1947.

In Their Own Story

In the war room of the Hohenzollern palace, a young king traces the outline of Silesia on a worn map, his finger lingering on the Oder. His ministers murmur about the Emperor's rights, about the cost of another campaign. The king simply turns the map toward the fire and watches the edges curl. "We do not ask permission to be strong," he says, though his voice is quiet. Outside, the drummers of the first regiment march through the snow, their boots striking the cobblestones in a rhythm that sounds, to the few who hear it, less like a march and more like a clock counting down.

Reader's Guide

Prussia begins as a duchy in 1525 after the secularization of the Teutonic Order's Prussian territory. Its capital is Königsberg until 1701, when it becomes the Kingdom of Prussia and moves its capital to Berlin. The source does not specify a religion for the Duchy of Prussia at its founding, but historically Albert I became a Lutheran Protestant; the source does not describe a game start.

Did You Know?

• The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, conquered by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century.
• The Second Peace of Thorn (1466) split Prussia into western Royal Prussia (a province of Poland) and eastern Duchy of Prussia (a feudal fief of Poland until 1657).
• The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701.
• Prussia formed the German Empire when it united the German states in 1871.
• Prussia was de facto dissolved by an emergency decree in 1932 and de jure by an Allied decree in 1947.