2025-10-24 20:25 Tags:History

The Rise of Prussia: From Duchy to Kingdom

Prussia’s story is one of dramatic rise to power.

• Humble Beginnings: It started not as a kingdom, but as the relatively minor Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The two were united under the Hohenzollern dynasty in the 17th century.
• The “Soldier King” and Frederick the Great: Prussia’s transformation into a major power is largely credited to two rulers:
  • Frederick William I (r. 1713-1740), known as the “Soldier King,” dedicated his reign to building a massive and supremely disciplined army. He famously created the Potsdam Giants regiment and instilled a culture of militarism in the state bureaucracy.
  • Frederick II (r. 1740-1786), known as Frederick the Great, used that army to make Prussia a major European power. Through brilliant military strategy in the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years’ War, he expanded Prussian territory and defended it against a coalition of France, Austria, and Russia. He was also an “enlightened absolutist,” reforming laws and promoting religious tolerance and the arts, while maintaining absolute royal power.

Key Characteristics of Prussia

Prussia was defined by several core ideals:

1. Militarism: The army was the core of the state. The Prussian officer corps, dominated by the land-owning aristocracy (the Junkers), was the most prestigious class in society. The famous phrase “Prussia is not a state which possesses an army, but an army which possesses a state” captures this ethos perfectly.
2. Efficiency and Bureaucracy: Prussia developed a highly professional, honest, and efficient civil service. This bureaucracy was a key tool of the state, ensuring order and collecting taxes effectively.
3. Ethos of Duty, Obedience, and Discipline: This was ingrained not just in the military, but in the entire culture. The Prussian values of Pflicht (duty) and Gehorsam (obedience) were paramount.
4. Protestant Work Ethic: As a predominantly Lutheran state, hard work, thrift, and order were highly valued, contributing to its economic and administrative efficiency.

Prussia’s Role in German Unification

After the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia emerged as the only German state powerful enough to rival the Austrian Empire for leadership of the German-speaking world.

• The Zollverein, a German customs union created by Prussia, economically unified most of Germany under Prussian leadership, excluding Austria.
• Under the strategic leadership of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Prussia fought three short, decisive wars to achieve German unification:
  1. The Danish War (1864)
  2. The Austro-Prussian War (1866), which expelled Austria from German affairs.
  3. The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871)
• In 1871, after defeating France, the German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, with the King of Prussia declared German Emperor (Kaiser). Prussia was by far the largest and most dominant state in this new empire.

The End of Prussia

Prussia’s legacy became deeply tarnished in the 20th century.

• It was seen as the source of the German militarism and authoritarianism that led to World War I.
• After Germany’s defeat in World War I, Prussia became a state within the democratic Weimar Republic.
• The Nazis later used Prussia’s militaristic traditions for their own propaganda, though they also undermined its traditional, conservative structures.
• After World War II, the Allied powers (specifically Allied Control Council Law No. 46 of 1947) formally abolished the state of Prussia. They stated that Prussia had “been a bearer of militarism and reaction in Germany” and was therefore to be dissolved. Its territories were divided between Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union (now Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast).

Summary

In essence, Prussia was the driving force behind the creation of a unified German nation-state. Its legacy is complex: it bequeathed to Germany a tradition of efficiency, a strong state, and high-quality education, but also a problematic history of authoritarianism, militarism, and obedience to state authority, which had profound consequences for the 20th century.