Of Prussian Heritage

The first true archive of the Electors of Brandenburg, however, dates only to the late sixteenth century. Frederick the Great made important decisions that formed the royal art collections in the eighteenth century. The collections have been accessible to the public since the opening of the Altes Museum in The crucial impetus for its founding came in with the donation of an important Argentine library to the Prussian state.

Its collection of historical instruments, which is now exhibited in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum, had been started in the late nineteenth century. The collecting activity strove for encyclopedic breadth from the outset. It was continually supported by the Prussian royal house and influenced by flourishing education and research in Prussia. Especially in the nineteenth century, the collections were systematically expanded.

This process of expansion had a great effect on their structures. Even today they reflect the policy Prussia pursued when collecting. This primarily corresponded to scholarly interests. The collections acquired their encyclopedic and organic character in part due to the influence of Wilhelm von Humboldt — By contrast, the influence of the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt — represents the gaze outwards. He is considered the spiritual father of collecting activity directed at the non-European realm. Interest in non-European cultures, ideas and traditions increased from the mid-nineteenth century onwards and decisively shaped the collecting activity.

In the resulting Gastein Convention of Prussia took over the administration of Schleswig while Austria assumed that of Holstein. Bismarck realised that the dual administration of Schleswig and Holstein was only a temporary solution, and tensions rose between Prussia and Austria. The struggle for supremacy in Germany then led to the Austro-Prussian War , triggered by the dispute over Schleswig and Holstein. On the side of Prussia were Italy, most north German states, and some smaller central German states.

The century-long struggle between Berlin and Vienna for dominance of Germany was now over. As a side show in this war, Prussia defeated Hanover in the Battle of Langensalza While Hanover hoped in vain for help from Britain as they had previously been in personal union , Britain stayed out of a confrontation with a continental great power and Prussia satisfied its desire for merging the once separate territories and gaining strong economic and strategic power, particularly from the full access to the resources of the Ruhr.

Bismarck desired Austria as an ally in the future, and so he declined to annex any Austrian territory. Prussia also won full control of Schleswig-Holstein. As a result of these territorial gains, Prussia now stretched uninterrupted across the northern two-thirds of Germany and contained two-thirds of Germany's population. Prussia was the dominant state in the new confederation, as the kingdom comprised almost four-fifths of the new state's territory and population.

Prussia's near-total control over the confederation was secured in the constitution drafted for it by Bismarck in Executive power was held by a president, assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him. The presidency was a hereditary office of the Hohenzollern rulers of Prussia. 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.

As a result of the peace negotiations, the states south of the Main remained theoretically independent, but received the compulsory protection of Prussia. Additionally, mutual defence treaties were concluded. However, the existence of these treaties was kept secret until Bismarck made them public in , when France tried to acquire Luxembourg.

The controversy with the Second French Empire over the candidacy of a Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne was escalated both by France and Bismarck. With his Ems Dispatch , Bismarck took advantage of an incident in which the French ambassador had approached William. However, honouring their treaties, the German states joined forces and quickly defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War in The two decades after the unification of Germany were the peak of Prussia's fortunes, but the seeds for potential strife were built into the Prusso-German political system.

The constitution of the German Empire was a slightly amended version of the North German Confederation's constitution. Officially, the German Empire was a federal state. In practice, Prussia's relationship with the rest of the empire was somewhat confusing. The Hohenzollern kingdom included three-fifths of the German territory and two-thirds of its population. The imperial crown was a hereditary office of the House of Hohenzollern , the royal house of Prussia. The prime minister of Prussia was, except for two brief periods January—November and —94 , also imperial chancellor.

But the empire itself had no right to collect taxes directly from its subjects; the only incomes fully under federal control were the customs duties, common excise duties, and the revenue from postal and telegraph services. While all men above age 25 were eligible to vote in imperial elections, Prussia retained its restrictive three-class voting system. In both the kingdom and the empire, the original constituencies were never redrawn to reflect changes in population, meaning that rural areas were grossly overrepresented by the turn of the 20th century.

As a result, Prussia and the German Empire were something of a paradox. Bismarck knew that his new German Reich was now a colossus out of all proportion to the rest of the continent. With this in mind, he declared Germany a satisfied power, using his talents to preserve peace, for example at the Congress of Berlin. Bismarck had barely any success in some of his domestic policies, such as the anti-Catholic Kulturkampf , but he also had mixed success on ones like Germanisation or expulsion of Poles of foreign nationality Russian or Austro-Hungarian. Frederick III , became emperor in March , after the death of his father, but he died of cancer only 99 days later.

He turned out to be a man of limited experience, narrow and reactionary views, poor judgment, and occasional bad temper, which alienated former friends and allies. Prussia nationalised its railways in the s in an effort both to lower rates on freight service and to equalise those rates among shippers. Instead of lowering rates as far as possible, the government ran the railways as a profitmaking endeavour, and the railway profits became a major source of revenue for the state.

The nationalisation of the railways slowed the economic development of Prussia because the state favoured the relatively backward agricultural areas in its railway building. Moreover, the railway surpluses substituted for the development of an adequate tax system. Prussia was proclaimed a "Free State" i. Freistaat within the new Weimar Republic and in received a democratic constitution. Almost all of Germany's territorial losses, specified in the Treaty of Versailles , were areas that had been part of Prussia: Also, the Saargebiet was created mainly from formerly Prussian territories.

East Prussia became an exclave, only reachable by ship the Sea Service East Prussia or by a railway through the Polish corridor.

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With the abolition of the older Prussian franchise, it became a stronghold of the left. Its incorporation of "Red Berlin" and the industrialised Ruhr Area, both with working class majorities, ensured left-wing dominance. From to , Prussia was governed by a coalition of the Social Democrats , Catholic Centre and German Democrats ; from to , coalition governments included the German People's Party. Unlike in other states of the German Reich, majority rule by democratic parties in Prussia was never endangered.

Nevertheless, in East Prussia and some industrial areas, the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler gained more and more influence and popular support, especially from the lower middle class starting in However, the democratic parties in coalition remained a majority, while Communists and Nazis were in the opposition.

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The East Prussian Otto Braun , who was Prussian minister-president almost continuously from to , is considered one of the most capable Social Democrats in history. He implemented several trend-setting reforms together with his minister of the interior, Carl Severing , which were also models for the later Federal Republic of Germany FRG. For instance, a Prussian minister-president could be forced out of office only if there was a "positive majority" for a potential successor.

This concept, known as the constructive vote of no confidence , was carried over into the Basic Law of the FRG. Most historians regard the Prussian government during this time as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole. In contrast to its pre-war authoritarianism, Prussia was a pillar of democracy in the Weimar Republic. The Reichstag building having been set on fire a few weeks earlier on 27 February, a new Reichstag was opened in the Garrison Church of Potsdam on 21 March in the presence of President Paul von Hindenburg. In a propaganda-filled meeting between Hitler and the Nazi Party, the "marriage of old Prussia with young Germany" was celebrated, to win over the Prussian monarchists, conservatives and nationalists and induce them into supporting and subsequently voting in favor of the Enabling Act of The federal state governments were now controlled by governors for the Reich who were appointed by the chancellor.

Parallel to that, the organisation of the party into districts Gaue gained increasing importance, as the official in charge of a Gau the head of which was called a Gauleiter was again appointed by the chancellor who was at the same time chief of the Nazi Party. This centralistic policy went even further in Prussia. From to , almost all ministries were merged and only a few departments were able to maintain their independence. Hitler himself became formally the governor of Prussia. However, most of this territory was not reintegrated back into Prussia but assigned to separate Gaue of Danzig-West Prussia and Wartheland during much of the duration of the war.

As part of their wartime goals, the Western allies sought the abolition of Prussia. Stalin was initially content to retain the name, Russia having a different historical view of its neighbour and sometime former ally. In the Soviet occupation zone , which became East Germany officially, the German Democratic Republic in , the former Prussian territories were reorganised into the states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt , with the remaining parts of the Province of Pomerania going to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

These states were de facto abolished in in favour of Bezirke districts , but were recreated after German reunification in The areas east of the Soviet occupation zone, mainly Eastern Prussia, Western Prussia, and Silesia, were ceded over to Poland in due to the Treaty of Potsdam between three of the Allies: The population fled , mostly to the Western zones, or was driven out. The number of casualties is estimated 2 to 4 million, including those who fled the Soviet army during the last months of the war before the treaty from.

The Saar region, which had been administered by the French as a protectorate separate from the rest of Western Germany, was admitted to the Federal Republic of Germany as a separate state in following a plebiscite. One year later, in , the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation was established and implemented by federal statutes in West Germany in response to a ruling from the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.

The fundamental goal of this institution is protecting the cultural legacy of Prussia. It continues to operate from its headquarters in Berlin to this very day. In the midth century the margraves of Brandenburg had become highly dependent on the Estates representing counts, lords, knights, and towns, but not prelates, due to the Protestant Reformation in Until after the Thirty Years' War , the various territories of Brandenburg-Prussia remained politically independent from each other, [40] [42] connected only by the common feudal superior.

Frederick William I's excise tax Akzise , which from replaced the property tax raised in Brandenburg for Brandenburg-Prussia's standing army with the Estates' consent, was raised by the elector without consultation with the Estates. The Kingdom of Prussia functioned as an absolute monarchy until the Revolutions of in the German states , after which Prussia became a constitutional monarchy and Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg was elected [ by whom? Prussia's first constitution dated from The Prussian Constitution established a two-chamber parliament.

The lower house, or Landtag represented all taxpayers, who were divided into three classes according to the amount of taxes paid. The Prussian Secret Police , formed in response to the Revolutions of in the German states , aided the conservative government.

Prussia - Wikipedia

Unlike its authoritarian pre predecessor, Prussia from to was a promising democracy within Germany. The abolition of the political power of the aristocracy transformed Prussia into a region strongly dominated by the left wing of the political spectrum, with "Red Berlin" and the industrial centre of the Ruhr Area exerting major influence.

During this period a coalition of centre-left parties ruled, predominantly under the leadership — of East Prussian Social Democrat Otto Braun. While in office Braun implemented several reforms together with his Minister of the Interior, Carl Severing that became models for the later Federal Republic of Germany. For instance, a Prussian prime minister could only be forced out of office if there was a "positive majority" for a potential successor [ citation needed ]. This concept, known as the constructive vote of no confidence , became part of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Most [ quantify ] historians regard the Prussian government during the s as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole. Similar to other German states both now and at the time , executive power remained vested in a Minister-President of Prussia and in laws established by a Landtag elected by the people. In , Prussia's population numbered The Duchy of Prussia was the first state to officially adopt Lutheranism in In the wake of the Reformation , Prussia was dominated by two major Protestant confessions: The majority of the Prussian population was Lutheran, although there were dispersed Reformed minorities in central and western parts of the state especially Brandenburg , Rhineland , Westphalia and Hesse-Nassau.

Lutherans and Reformed congregations all over the kingdom were merged in by the Prussian Union of churches , which came under tight royal control. Much of religious life was often conventional and superficial by any normal, human standard. The state and the bureaucracy kept their distance, preferring to spoon-feed the churches and treat them like children.

They saw the churches as channels for education, as a means of instilling morality and obedience, or for propagating useful things, just like bee-keeping or potato-farming. Prussian monarchs, beginning with Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg opened the country to the fleeing French Calvinist refugees. In Berlin, they built and worshipped at their own church called the French Cathedral on Gendarmenmarkt. Time passed by, and the French Reformed assimilated into the wider Protestant community in Prussia.

After , Prussia contained millions of Roman Catholics in the west and in the east. There were substantial populations in the Rhineland , parts of Westphalia , eastern parts of Silesia , West Prussia , Ermland and the Province of Posen. During the 19th-century Kulturkampf , Prussian Catholics were forbidden from fulfilling any official functions for the state and were largely distrusted.

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Prussia contained a relatively large Jewish community, which was mostly concentrated in large urban areas. According to the census, it was the biggest one in Germany with , individuals. In , approximately 2. Also, the southeast portion of Silesia Upper Silesia had a Polish majority. But Catholics and Jews did not have equal status with Protestants.

As a result of the Treaty of Versailles in , the Second Polish Republic was granted not only these two areas, but also areas with a German majority in the Province of West Prussia. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Prussia disambiguation. Not to be confused with Russia. For the extinct Baltic language, see Old Prussian language. For the extant inland Germanic language, see High Prussian dialect.

For the extant coastal Germanic language, see Low Prussian dialect. Prussian eagle — Right: Prussia in blue at its peak as the leading state of the German Empire. Roman Catholic , Jewish.

Prussian Cultural Heritage - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

For more information, see individual Prussian state articles links in above History section. Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. German revolutions of — Free State of Prussia. Territory lost after World War I. Territory lost after World War II. Hohenzollern residence in Berlin. The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, — is the standard history. Portrait einer politischen Kultur , Munich , p.

See also another perspective by Andreas Lawaty: United States of America: Harcourt, Brace and Company. Koch, A History of Prussia p. A History of Poland Vol.

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A History of Prussia. The Polish Book Importing Company. Koch, A History of Prussia pp. Asprey, Frederick the Great: The Magnificent Enigma pp. Kahn, A History of the Habsburg Empire — p. Volume 1 pp.