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129-601: In 1867 the Prussian administration established twenty districts in its province of Schleswig-Holstein, among them the districts of Rendsburg and Eckernförde. The present district was established in 1970 by merging the former districts. The district is situated at the coast of the Baltic Sea , roughly between the cities of Schleswig and Kiel . A large portion of the Kiel Canal passes through Rendsburg-Eckernförde. It

258-671: A fiefdom to the Teutonic Knights , a German military order of crusading knights, headquartered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem at Acre . In 1225 he expelled them, and they transferred their operations to the Baltic Sea area. Konrad I , the Polish Duke of Masovia , had unsuccessfully attempted to conquer pagan Prussia in crusades in 1219 and 1222. In 1226 Duke Konrad invited the Teutonic Knights to conquer

387-664: A coalition of Hanseatic cities of western Prussia, rebelled against the Order and requested help from the Polish king, Casimir IV Jagiellon . The Teutonic Knights were forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of, and to pay tribute to Casimir IV in the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) , losing western Prussia ( Royal Prussia ) to Poland in the process. Pursuant to the Second Peace of Thorn, two Prussian states were established. During

516-658: 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. But in the Peace of Prague in 1866, Prussia annexed four of Austria's allies in northern and central Germany – Hanover, Hesse-Kassel , Nassau and Frankfurt . Prussia also won full control of Schleswig-Holstein . As

645-455: A crown from a revolutionary assembly without the sanction of Germany's other monarchs. The Frankfurt Parliament was forced to dissolve in 1849, and Frederick William issued a constitution by his own authority in 1850. This conservative document provided for a two-house parliament, the Landtag of Prussia . The lower house, or Prussian House of Representatives was elected by all males over

774-594: A crown placed around its neck as a symbol of submission to Poland. Albert I, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern became a Lutheran Protestant and secularized the Order's Prussian territories. This was the area east of the mouth of the Vistula river, later sometimes called "Prussia proper". For the first time, these lands came into the hands of a branch of the Hohenzollern family, who already ruled

903-509: A decisive role in the development of coal mining in the Ruhr. According to the Regionalverband Ruhr (RVR, Ruhr Regional Association), 37.6% of the region's area is built up. A total of 40.7% of the region's land remains in agricultural use. Forests account for 17.6%, and bodies of water and other types of land use occupy the rest. The inclusion of four mainly rural districts in the otherwise mainly industrial Ruhr helps to explain

1032-469: A desire for German unification in this period was the Burschenschaft student movement, by students who encouraged the use of the black-red-gold flag, discussions of a unified German nation, and a progressive, liberal political system. Because of Prussia's size and economic importance, smaller states began to join its free trade area in the 1820s. Prussia benefited greatly from the creation in 1834 of

1161-657: A favoured location for immigration by (later mainly Protestant) Germans ( see Ostsiedlung ), as well as Poles and Lithuanians along the border regions. Before its abolition, the territory of the Free State of Prussia included the provinces of East Prussia ; Brandenburg ; Saxony (including much of the present-day state of Saxony-Anhalt and parts of the state of Thuringia in Germany); Pomerania ; Rhineland ; Westphalia ; Silesia (without Austrian Silesia ); Schleswig-Holstein ; Hanover ; Hesse-Nassau ; and

1290-478: A lesser extent between either club and/or VfL Bochum , MSV Duisburg or Rot-Weiss Essen ( kleines Revierderby ). With 22 universities and colleges and more than 250,000 students, the Ruhr region has the highest density of further education establishments anywhere in Germany. These include five universities alone in the cities of Bochum, Duisburg, Dortmund, Essen and Witten . In addition, Folkwang University of

1419-420: A non-aggression pact with Germany. During World War II, the bombing of the Ruhr in 1940–1944 caused a loss of 30% of plant and equipment (compared to 15–20% for German industry as a whole). A second battle of the Ruhr (6/7 October 1944 – end of 1944) began with an attack on Dortmund . The devastating bombing raids of Dortmund on 12 March 1945 with 1,108 aircraft – 748 Lancasters, 292 Halifaxes, 68 Mosquitos –

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1548-547: 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. The German Confederation was dissolved, and Prussia impelled the 21 states north of the Main river into forming the North German Confederation . Prussia was the dominant state in the new confederation, as the kingdom comprised almost four-fifths of

1677-580: A small detached area in the south called Hohenzollern , the ancestral home of the Prussian ruling family. The land that the Teutonic Knights occupied was flat and covered with fertile soil. The area was perfectly suited to the large-scale raising of wheat. The rise of early Prussia was based on the raising and selling of wheat. Teutonic Prussia became known as the "bread basket of Western Europe" (in German, Kornkammer , or granary). The port cities which rose on

1806-485: A territory free of any feudal obligations, which constituted the basis for their later elevation to kings. Frederick William I succeeded in organizing the electorate by establishing an absolute monarchy in Brandenburg-Prussia, an achievement for which he became known as the "Great Elector". Above all, he emphasised the importance of a powerful military to protect the state's disconnected territories, while

1935-480: Is one of the largest districts in the whole of Germany. The coat of arms displays: 54°15′N 9°45′E  /  54.25°N 9.75°E  / 54.25; 9.75 Prussia Prussia ( / ˈ p r ʌ ʃ ə / , German : Preußen [ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] ; Old Prussian : Prūsija, Prūsa ) was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from

2064-445: Is really no uniform regiolect that justifies designation as a single regiolect. It is rather a working-class sociolect with influences from the various dialects found in the area and changing even with the professions of the workers. A major common influence stems from the coal mining tradition of the area. For example, quite a few locals prefer to call the Ruhr either "Pott", which is a derivate of "Pütt" (pitmen's term for mine ; cp.

2193-814: Is the Klavier-Festival Ruhr in the Ruhr area with 50 to 80 events of classical and jazz music. With more than 50 museums, Ruhr has one of the largest variety of museums in Europe. Industrial Museum The city of Essen (representing the Ruhr) was selected as European Capital of Culture for 2010 by the Council of the European Union . In association football , the Revierderby is the rivalry between Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04 , and to

2322-568: 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. The constitution nevertheless contained a number of liberal elements such as the introduction of jury courts and a catalog of fundamental rights that included freedom of religion, speech and

2451-792: The Allies , was officially abolished by an Allied declaration in 1947. The international status of the former eastern territories of the Kingdom of Prussia was disputed until the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany in 1990, but its return to Germany remains a cause among far-right politicians, the Federation of Expellees and various political revanchists and irredentists . The terms "Prussian" and " Prussianism " have often been used, especially outside Germany, to denote

2580-570: The Battle of Jena-Auerstedt , leading Frederick William III and his family to flee temporarily to Memel . Under the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, the state lost about one-third of its area, including the areas gained from the second and third Partitions of Poland , which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw . Beyond that, the king was obliged to pay a large indemnity, to cap his army at 42,000 men, and to let

2709-639: The Congress of Vienna was the recovery of her lost territories, as well as the whole of the Rhineland , Westphalia , 40% of Saxony and some other territories. These western lands were of vital importance because they included the Ruhr region, the centre of Germany's fledgling industrialisation, especially in the arms industry. These territorial gains also meant the doubling of Prussia's population. In exchange, Prussia withdrew from areas of central Poland to allow

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2838-610: The Dawes Plan , which led to the withdrawal of the French and Belgian troops from the Ruhr in 1925. However, the occupation of the Ruhr caused several direct and indirect consequences to the German economy and government, including accelerating the growth of right wing parties due to the Weimar government's inability to successfully resolve the problem. On 7 March 1936, Adolf Hitler took a massive gamble by sending 30,000 troops into

2967-537: The Edict of Potsdam (1685) opened Brandenburg-Prussia for the immigration of Protestant refugees (especially Huguenots ), and he established a bureaucracy to carry out state administration efficiently. On 18 January 1701, Frederick William's son, Elector Frederick III, elevated Prussia from a duchy to a kingdom and crowned himself King Frederick I . In the Crown Treaty of 16 November 1700, Leopold I , emperor of

3096-704: The Encyclopædia Britannica . Even after World War II, the term "Ruhr" may not have been in general use for the region: it was defined in Documents on American Foreign Relations (1948): "For the purposes of the present Agreement: (i) the expression 'Ruhr' means the areas, as presently constituted, in Land North Rhine–Westphalia, listed in the Annex to this Agreement." However, Lawrence K. Cecil and Philip Hauge Abelson still write in 1967: "In

3225-773: The European Route of Industrial Heritage in the Ruhr area. Ruhr is known for its numerous cultural institutions, many of which enjoy international reputation. Ruhr has three major opera houses and more than 10 theaters and stages. There are special classical music halls like the Bochumer Symphoniker, the Duisburg Mercatorhalle, the Saalbau Essen or the Dortmunder Philharmoniker . Each year in spring time, there

3354-470: The Hohenzollern dynasty . The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a black cross with gold insert and black imperial eagle. The combination of the black and white colours with the white and red Hanseatic colours of the free cities Bremen , Hamburg and Lübeck , as well as of Brandenburg , resulted in the black-white-red commercial flag of the North German Confederation , which became

3483-609: The Holy Roman Empire , allowed Frederick only to title himself " King in Prussia ", not " King of Prussia ". The state of Brandenburg-Prussia became commonly known as "Prussia", although most of its territory, in Brandenburg, Pomerania, and western Germany, lay outside Prussia proper. The Prussian state grew in splendour during the reign of Frederick I, who sponsored the arts at the expense of the treasury. Frederick I

3612-581: The House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, expanding its size with the Prussian Army . Prussia, with its capital at Königsberg and then, when it became the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Berlin , decisively shaped the history of Germany . The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians ; in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights  – an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders  – conquered

3741-614: The Margraviate of Brandenburg , since the 15th century. Furthermore, with his renunciation of the Order, Albert could now marry and produce legitimate heirs. Brandenburg and Prussia united two generations later. In 1594 Duchess Anna of Prussia , granddaughter of Albert I and daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia (reigned 1568–1618), married her cousin Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg. When Albert Frederick died in 1618 without male heirs, John Sigismund

3870-543: The Ruhr area , sometimes Ruhr district , Ruhr region , or Ruhr valley , is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany . With a population density of 2,800/km and a population of over 5 million (2017), it is the largest urban area in Germany and the third of the European Union . It consists of several large cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to

3999-499: The United Kingdom . It has been claimed that immigrants came to the Ruhr from over 140 countries. Almost all their descendants today speak German as a first language, and for various reasons, they do not identify with their Polish roots and traditions, often their Polish family names only remain as a sign of their past. The Industrial Heritage Trail ( German : Route der Industriekultur ) links tourist attractions related to

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4128-572: The bow echo that hit the cities on June 9, 2014, and caused tens of thousands of trees to fall which was publicly dubbed the "Pfingststurm" (German for "Whitsun storm"). Winters have become more mild which poses a risk for crops such as apples whose blooms are vulnerable to late freezes if bud break happens too early. The ten largest cities of the Ruhr: The local regiolect of German is commonly called Ruhrdeutsch ( Ruhrgebietsdeutsch, Ruhrpottdeutsch, Ruhrpottisch, Ruhrpöttisch ) although there

4257-591: The defeat of Napoleon in Russia , Prussia quit its alliance with France and took part in the Sixth Coalition during the "Wars of Liberation" ( Befreiungskriege ) against the French occupation. Prussian troops under Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher contributed crucially (alongside the British and Dutch) to the final victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo of June 1815. Prussia's reward in 1815 at

4386-481: The imperial city of Dortmund were concentrated along the Hellweg from the Rhineland to Westphalia . Since the 19th century, these cities have grown together into a large complex with a vast industrial landscape, inhabited by some 7.3 million people (including Düsseldorf and Wuppertal , large cities that are nearby but officially not part of the Ruhr area). The Ruhr area has no administrative centre; each city in

4515-518: The main square of the Polish capital Kraków , Albert I resigned his position as Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and received the title "Duke of Prussia" from King Zygmunt I the Old of Poland. As a symbol of vassalage, Albert received a standard with the Prussian coat of arms from the Polish king. The black Prussian eagle on the flag was augmented with a letter "S" (for Sigismundus) and had

4644-727: The papacy and to the Holy Roman Emperor . Their initially close relationship with the Polish Crown deteriorated after they conquered Polish-controlled Pomerelia and Danzig in 1308. Eventually, Poland and Lithuania, allied through the Union of Krewo (1385), defeated the Knights in the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410. The Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) began when the Prussian Confederation ,

4773-603: 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 1867 when France tried to acquire Luxembourg . The controversy with the Second French Empire over the candidacy of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne was escalated both by France and Bismarck. With his Ems Dispatch , Bismarck took advantage of an incident in which

4902-662: The 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order . The Knights had to relocate their headquarters to Mergentheim , but managed to keep land in Livonia until 1561. Prussia formed the German Empire when it united the German states in 1871. It was de facto dissolved by an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government to German Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932 and de jure by an Allied decree in 1947. For centuries,

5031-414: The 1950s and 1960s, as very rapid economic growth (9% a year) created a heavy demand for coal and steel. After 1973, Germany was hard hit by a worldwide economic crisis, soaring oil prices, and increasing unemployment, which jumped from 300,000 in 1973 to 1.1 million in 1975. The Ruhr region was hardest hit, as the easy-to-reach coal mines became exhausted, and German coal was no longer competitive. Likewise

5160-541: The 19th century. Frederick the Great (reigned 1740–1786) practised enlightened absolutism . He built the world's best army, and usually won his many wars. He introduced a general civil code, abolished torture and established the principle that the Crown would not interfere in matters of justice. He also promoted an advanced secondary education, the forerunner of today's German gymnasium (grammar school) system, which prepares

5289-662: The Arts is an internationally acclaimed art college with its base in the Ruhr region. Furthermore, the universities are not the only places in the Ruhr region where academic qualifications can be obtained. There are 17 different universities of applied sciences which offer students to have the opportunity to undertake practice-relevant and qualified studies in various subjects, such as economics, logistics, administration or management. The Ruhr area has 5 major universities in 6 cities with about 120,000 students. The three largest universities (Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, and

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5418-656: The Austrian Army at the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741, Frederick succeeded in conquering Lower Silesia (the northwestern half of Silesia). In the next year, 1742, he conquered Upper Silesia (the southeastern half). Furthermore, in the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War ) Frederick won a victory over Austria at the Battle of Lobositz on 1 October 1756. In spite of some victories afterward, his situation became far less comfortable

5547-729: The Baltic Prussian tribes on his borders. During 60 years of struggles against the Old Prussians , the Order established an independent state that came to control Prūsa. After the Livonian Brothers of the Sword joined the Teutonic Order in 1237, the Order also controlled Livonia (now Latvia and Estonia ). Around 1252 they finished the conquest of the northernmost Prussian tribe of the Skalvians as well as of

5676-414: The Baltic Sea for foreign countries. In the course of the Ostsiedlung (German eastward expansion) process, settlers were invited , bringing changes in the ethnic composition as well as in language, culture, and law of the eastern borders of the German lands. As a majority of these settlers were Germans, Low German became the dominant language. The Knights of the Teutonic Order were subordinate to

5805-443: The Brandenburg territories with those of Prussia proper. The partition also added Polish Royal Prussia to the kingdom, allowing Frederick to re-style himself King of Prussia. During this period, he also opened Prussia's borders to immigrants fleeing from religious persecution in other parts of Europe, such as the Huguenots . Prussia became a safe haven in much the same way that the United States welcomed immigrants seeking freedom in

5934-431: The Danes, who surrendered both territories. In the resulting Gastein Convention of 1865 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 (1866), triggered by

6063-423: The Duchies of Cleves and Berg and the territories of the bishop of Münster and the archbishop of Cologne . The region included some villages and castles, and was mainly agrarian: its loess soil made it one of the richer parts of western Germany. The free imperial city of Dortmund was the trading and cultural centre, lying on the Hellweg , an important east–west trading route, that also brought prosperity to

6192-444: The Duchy of Prussia, which was still held in fief from the Polish crown. In January 1656, during the first phase of the Second Northern War (1654–1660), he received the duchy as a fief from the Swedish king who later granted him full sovereignty in the Treaty of Labiau (November 1656). In 1657 the Polish king renewed this grant in the treaties of Wehlau and Bromberg . With Prussia, the Brandenburg Hohenzollern dynasty now held

6321-405: The English "pit"), or "Revier". During the nineteenth century, the Ruhr attracted up to 500,000 ethnic Poles , Masurians and Silesians from East Prussia and Silesia in a migration known as Ostflucht (flight from the east). By 1925, the Ruhrgebiet had around 3,800,000 inhabitants. Most of the new inhabitants came from Eastern Europe, but immigrants also came from France , Ireland , and

6450-452: The French ambassador had approached William. The government of Napoleon III , expecting another civil war among the German states, declared war against Prussia, continuing Franco-German enmity . However, honouring their treaties, the German states joined forces and quickly defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. Following victory under Bismarck's and Prussia's leadership, Baden , Württemberg and Bavaria, which had remained outside

6579-399: The French garrison troops throughout Prussia, effectively making the kingdom a French satellite. In response to this defeat, reformers such as Stein and Hardenberg set about modernising the Prussian state. Among their reforms were the liberation of peasants from serfdom , the Emancipation of Jews and making full citizens of them. The school system was rearranged, and in 1818 free trade

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6708-429: The German Customs Union ( Zollverein ), which included most German states but excluded Austria. In 1848, the liberals saw an opportunity when revolutions broke out across Europe . Alarmed, King Frederick William IV agreed to convene a National Assembly and grant a constitution . When the Frankfurt Parliament offered Frederick William the crown of a united Germany, he refused on the grounds that he would not accept

6837-513: The German Empire was a version of the North German Confederation's constitution. Officially, the German Empire was a federal state. In practice, Prussia overshadowed the rest of the empire. Prussia included three-fifths of the German territory and two-thirds of its population. The Imperial German Army was, in practice, an enlarged Prussian army, although the other kingdoms ( Bavaria , Saxony and Württemberg ) retained their own small armies, coming under Imperial control in wartime. The imperial crown

6966-444: The Hanseatic League) until the decline of the League in about 1500. The expansion of Prussia based on its connection with the Hanseatic League cut both Poland and Lithuania off from the coast of the Baltic Sea and trade abroad. This meant that Poland and Lithuania would be traditional enemies of Prussia, which was still called the Teutonic Knights. In 1211, King Andrew II of Hungary granted Burzenland in Transylvania as

7095-405: The North German Confederation, accepted incorporation into a united German Empire . The empire was a "Lesser German" solution (in German, " kleindeutsche Lösung ") to the question of uniting all German-speaking peoples into one state, because it excluded Austria, which remained connected to Hungary and whose territories included non-German populations. On 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of

7224-426: The Rhineland . As Hitler and other Nazis admitted, the French army alone could have destroyed the Wehrmacht . The French passed the problem to the British, who found that the Germans had the right to "enter their own backyard", and no action was taken. In the League of Nations , the Soviet delegate Maxim Litvinov was the only one who proposed economic sanctions against Germany. All restraint on German rearmament

7353-409: The Ruhr is structured differently from monocentric urban regions such as Munich , which developed through the rapid absorption of smaller towns and villages by the most significant city among them. Instead in the Ruhr, the individual city boroughs and urban districts of the Ruhr grew in a rapid and parallel fashion independently of one another during the Industrial Revolution . The population density of

7482-583: The Ruhr steel industry went into sharp decline, as its prices were undercut by lower-cost suppliers such as Japan. The welfare system provided a safety net for the large number of unemployed workers, and many factories reduced their labor force and began to concentrate on high-profit specialty items. As demand for coal decreased after 1958, the area went through phases of structural crisis (see steel crisis ) and industrial diversification, first developing traditional heavy industry, then moving into service industries and high technology. The air and water pollution of

7611-419: The Ruhr" was published in Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States . The 1926 Encyclopædia Britannica , in addition to its article on the river Ruhr, has a further article on "RUHR, the name given to a district of Westphalia, Germany". Thus the name "Ruhr" was given to the region (as a short form of "Ruhr District" or "Ruhr Valley") only a few years before the publication of this edition of

7740-537: The Ruhr's coal and steel industries, was created as a condition for the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany . During the Cold War , the Western allies anticipated that any Red Army thrust into Western Europe would begin in the Fulda Gap and have the Ruhr as a primary target. Increased German control of the area was limited by the pooling of German coal and steel into the multinational European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. The nearby Saar region , containing much of Germany's remaining coal deposits,

7869-461: The Ruhr, who were known as Ruhrpolen since. The Poles were treated as second class citizens. In 1899 this led to a revolt in Herne of young Polish workers, who later established a Workers' Union. Skilled workers in the mines were often housed in "miners' colonies", built by the mining firms. By 1870, over 3 million people lived in the Ruhrgebiet and the new coal-mining district had become the largest industrial region of Europe. During World War I

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7998-427: The Ruhr. By 1950, after the virtual completion of the by-then much watered-down "level of industry" plans, equipment had been removed from 706 manufacturing plants in the west, and steel production capacity had been reduced by 6.7 million tons. Dismantling finally ended in 1951. In all, less than 5% of the industrial base was dismantled. The Ruhr was at the centre of the German economic miracle Wirtschaftswunder of

8127-409: The Ruhrgebiet functioned as Germany's central weapon factory. At a big Essen company, F. Krupp A.G., the number of employees rose from 40,000 to 120,000 or more, in four years. They were partly women, partly forced labourers. In the March 1920 Kapp Putsch , nationalist and monarchist elements with the armed support of Freikorps units attempted to overthrow the government of the Weimar Republic . It

8256-410: The Transport and General Workers Union (London 1923). Yet "The report of a deputation from the Transport and General Workers' Union which spent a fortnight examining the problems in the Ruhr Valley", published in The Economic Review , Volume 8, 1923, is still using the traditional term. In the same year, "Objections by the United States to discriminatory regulations on exports from the occupied region of

8385-449: The University of Duisburg-Essen) opened an alliance called " UA Ruhr ". Students enrolled at one of the UA Ruhr universities can attend lectures and seminars at all three institutions without having to pay a visiting student fee. Consequently, they have many options to specialize in and to explore their chosen disciplines in depth. The UA Ruhr has three liaison offices for interested students in New York City , Moscow and São Paulo . With

8514-408: The Versailles Treaty. The German government responded with a policy of passive resistance, letting workers and civil servants refuse orders and instructions by the occupation forces. Production and transport came to a standstill and the financial consequences contributed to German hyperinflation . After passive resistance was called off in late 1923, Germany implemented a currency reform and negotiated

8643-429: The age of 25. They were divided into three classes whose votes were weighted according to the amount of taxes paid. In one typical election, the first class (with those who paid the most in taxes) included 4% of voters and the third class (with those who paid the least) had 82%, yet each group chose the same number of electors. The system but assured dominance by the more well-to-do men of the population. The upper house,

8772-465: The area are largely a thing of the past although some issues take a long time to solve. In 2005 Essen was the official candidate for nomination as European Capital of Culture for 2010. The Ruhr has an oceanic climate in spite of its inland position, with winds from the Atlantic travelling over the lowlands to moderate temperature extremes, in spite of its relatively northerly latitude that sees significant variety in daylight hours. A consequence of

8901-410: The area has its own administration, although there is a supracommunal Ruhr Regional Association  [ de ] institution in Essen. For 2010, the Ruhr region was one of the European Capitals of Culture . The 1911 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica has only one definition of "Ruhr": "a river of Germany, an important right-bank tributary of the lower Rhine". The use of the term "Ruhr" for

9030-459: The army in relation to the total population, Mirabeau said later: "Prussia, is not a state with an army, but an army with a state." Frederick William also settled more than 20,000 Protestant refugees from Salzburg in thinly populated East Prussia, which was eventually extended to the west bank of the Neman river, and other regions. In the Treaty of Stockholm (1720), he acquired half of Swedish Pomerania . Frederick William I died in 1740 and

9159-414: The article, "Exports from the Ruhr district of Germany". In 1924 the English and American press was still talking of the "French occupation of the Ruhr Valley" or "Ruhr District". A 62-page publication seems to be responsible for the use of "Ruhr" as a short form of the then more common "Ruhr District" or "Ruhr Valley": Ben Tillett, A. Creech-Jones and Samuel Warren's The Ruhr: The Report of a Deputation from

9288-606: The back of this wheat production included: Stettin in Pomerania (now Szczecin , Poland); Danzig in Prussia (now Gdańsk , Poland); Riga in Livonia (now Riga, Latvia); Königsberg in Prussia (now Kaliningrad , Russia); and Memel in Prussia (now Klaipėda , Lithuania). Wheat production and trade brought Prussia into a close relationship with the Hanseatic League during the period of time from 1356 (official founding of

9417-524: The battleground against Austria and other powers proved Prussia's status as one of the great powers of Europe. The Silesian Wars began more than a century of rivalry and conflict between Prussia and Austria as the two most powerful states operating within the Holy Roman Empire (although both had extensive territory outside the empire). In 1744, the County of East Frisia fell to Prussia following

9546-592: The beginning of three Silesian Wars (1740–1763). The First Silesian War (1740–1742) and the Second Silesian War (1744–1745) have, historically, been grouped together with the general European war called the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI had died on 20 October 1740. He was succeeded to the throne by his daughter, Maria Theresa . By defeating

9675-482: The bigger European cities as Amsterdam , Brussels , Paris , Vienna or Zürich . The Ruhr area also contains the longest tram system in the world, with tram and Stadtbahn services from Witten to Krefeld as well as the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn network. Originally the system was even bigger, it was possible to travel from Unna to Bad Honnef without using railway or bus services. The Ruhr has one of

9804-410: The borders of the present-day city of Oberhausen . Moreover, the urbanization also boosted the expansion of railroad connections. At the beginning of the 1880s, agricultural regions did not benefit from the newly built transport facilities as much as non-agricultural regions did. This in its turn increased inequality, and made anthropometric measurements, e.g. height, more dependent on wages . In

9933-597: The brightest pupils for university studies. The Prussian education system was emulated in various countries, including the United States. During the reign of King Frederick William II (1786–1797), Prussia annexed additional Polish territory through the Second Partition of Poland in 1793 and the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. His successor, Frederick William III (1797–1840), announced

10062-588: The central Ruhr is about 2,100 inhabitants per square kilometre (about 5,400 per square mile)—not too high compared to other German cities. Between the constituent urban areas are relatively open suburbs and even some open land with agricultural fields. In many places however, the borders between cities in the central Ruhr are unrecognizable, blending into one urban landscape due to continuous development across them. The replanting of brownfield land has created new parks and recreation areas in recent decades. The Emscher Landschaftspark (Emscher Landscape Park) lies along

10191-522: The circumstances that fell into place. Bismarck curried support from large sections of the people by promising to lead the fight for greater German unification. He successfully guided Prussia through three wars, which unified Germany and brought William the position of German Emperor . The Kingdom of Denmark was at the time in personal union with the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein , both of which had close ties with each other, although only Holstein

10320-528: The coronation of King Frederick I ), William was proclaimed "German Emperor " (not "Emperor of Germany") in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside Paris, while the French capital was still under siege . 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

10449-540: The creation of Congress Poland under Russian sovereignty. In 1815 Prussia became part of the German Confederation . The first half of the 19th century saw a prolonged struggle in Germany between liberals, who wanted a united, federal Germany under a democratic constitution, and conservatives , who wanted to maintain Germany as a patchwork of independent, monarchical states with Prussia and Austria competing for influence. One small movement that signalled

10578-467: The crucial victory at the Battle of Königgrätz under Helmuth von Moltke the Elder . The century-long struggle between Berlin and Vienna for the dominance of Germany was now over. As a sideshow in this war, Prussia defeated Hanover in the Battle of Langensalza (1866) . While Hanover hoped in vain for help from Britain (as they had previously been in personal union), Britain stayed out of a confrontation with

10707-429: The densest motorway networks in all of Europe, with dozens of Autobahns and similar Schnellstraßen (expressways) crossing the region. The Autobahn network is built in a grid network, with four east–west ( A2 , A40 , A42 , A44 ) and seven north–south ( A1 , A3 , A43 , A45 , A52 , A57 , A59 ) routes. The A1, A2 and A3 are mostly used by through traffic, while the other autobahns have a more regional function. Both

10836-484: The disconnected Hohenzollern lands, especially the occupying Swedes . The ineffective and militarily weak Elector George William (1619–1640) fled from Berlin to Königsberg , the historic capital of the Duchy of Prussia, in 1637. His successor, Frederick William I (1640–1688), reformed the army to defend the lands. Frederick William I went to Warsaw in 1641 to render homage to King Władysław IV Vasa of Poland for

10965-484: The dispute over Schleswig and Holstein, with Bismarck using proposed injustices as the reason for war . On the Austrian side stood the south German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg ), some central German states (including Saxony ), and Hanover in the north. On the side of Prussia were Italy , most north German states, and some smaller central German states. Eventually, the better-armed Prussian troops won

11094-652: The districts of Wesel , Recklinghausen , Unna and Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis . The most populous cities are Dortmund (with a population of approximately 612,065), Essen (about 583,000) and Duisburg (about 497,000). In the Middle Ages, the Hellweg was an important trade route from the region of the Lower Rhine to the mountains of the Teutoburg Forest . The most important towns of the region from Duisburg to

11223-544: The eastern part, called the Duchy of Prussia from 1525, a feudal fief of the Crown of Poland up to 1657. 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

11352-630: The exception of public transport companies serving Hamm and Kreis Unna , all such companies in the Ruhr region are run under the umbrella of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr , which provides a uniform ticket system valid for the entire area. The Ruhr region is well-integrated into the national rail system, the Deutsche Bahn , for both passenger and goods services, each city in the region has at least one train stations. The bigger central stations have hourly direct connections to

11481-534: The extinction of its ruling Cirksena dynasty. In the last 23 years of his reign until 1786, Frederick II, who understood himself as the "first servant of the state", promoted the development of Prussian areas such as the Oderbruch . At the same time he built up Prussia's military power and participated in the First Partition of Poland with Austria and Russia in 1772, an act that geographically connected

11610-518: The first place, the average person uses the term 'Ruhr' indiscriminately as the Ruhr River or the Ruhr district, two entirely different things. The Ruhr River is only one of half a dozen rivers in the Ruhr district, in addition to the Rhine. The Rhine itself runs through the heart of the Ruhr district." According to Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary , a standard reference on place names around

11739-611: The flag of the German Empire in 1871. Suum cuique ("to each, his own"), the motto of the Order of the Black Eagle created by King Frederick I in 1701, was often associated with the whole of Prussia. The Iron Cross , a military decoration created by King Frederick William III in 1813, was also commonly associated with the country. The region, originally populated by Baltic Old Prussians who were Christianised, became

11868-408: The following years, as he failed in his attempts to knock Austria out of the war and was gradually reduced to a desperate defensive war. However, he never gave up and on 3 November 1760 the Prussian king won another battle, the hard-fought Battle of Torgau . Despite being several times on the verge of defeat Frederick, allied with Great Britain , Hanover and Hesse-Kassel , was finally able to hold

11997-432: The hills, highly skilled workers manufactured knives, tools, weapons and harnesses, using water, coal and charcoal. As the machines became bigger and moved from water power to steam power, locally mined coal and charcoal became expensive and there was not enough of it. The Bergische industry ordered more and more coal from the new coal mining area along the Ruhr . Impressive and expensive railways were constructed through

12126-403: The hilly Wupper region, to bring coal, and later steel, in from the Ruhr, and for outward transport of finished products. By 1850, there were almost 300 coal mines in operation in the Ruhr area, in and around the central cities of Duisburg, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund. The coal was exported or processed in coking ovens into coke , used in blast furnaces , producing iron and steel. In this period

12255-702: The industrial region started in Britain only after World War I, when French and Belgian troops had occupied the Ruhr district and seized its prime industrial assets in lieu of unpaid reparations in 1923. In 1920, the International Labour Office published a report entitled Coal Production in the Ruhr District . In 1923, the Canadian Commercial Intelligence Journal , Volume 28, Issue 1013, includes

12384-547: The king/emperor and prime minister/chancellor to seek majorities from legislatures elected by two different franchises. 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. Ruhr The Ruhr ( / ˈ r ʊər / ROOR ; German : Ruhrgebiet [ˈʁuːɐ̯ɡəˌbiːt] , also Ruhrpott German pronunciation: [ˈʁuːɐ̯pɔt] ), also referred to as

12513-404: The lands inhabited by them. 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 , becoming a province of Poland, and

12642-434: The large proportion of agricultural and forested land. In addition, the city boroughs of the Ruhr region have outlying districts with a rural character. Seen on a map, the Ruhr could be considered a single city, since there are no visible breaks between the individual city boroughs. Thus the Ruhr is described as a polycentric urban area, which shares a similar history of urban and economic development. Because of its history,

12771-489: The long run, however, effects of the railroad proximity diminished. Consequently, the population climbed rapidly. Towns with only 2,000 to 5,000 people in the early 19th century grew in the following 100 years to over 100,000. Skilled mineworkers were recruited from other regions to the Ruhr's mines and steel mills and unskilled people started to move in. From 1860 onwards there was large-scale migration of Polish speakers from Silesia , Pomerania , East Prussia and Posen to

12900-427: The marine influence is a cloudy and wet climate with low sunshine hours. Summers normally average in the low 20s, with winters being somewhat above the freezing point. From the onset of the 21st century, the effects of global warming have become more profound. The area has been affected by severe droughts (like 2018), heat waves with temperatures above 40.0 °C (104.0 °F) (2019) and severe weather events like

13029-502: The militarism, military professionalism, aggressiveness, and conservatism of the Junker class of landed aristocrats in the East who dominated first Prussia and then the German Empire. The main coat of arms of Prussia , as well as the flag of Prussia , depicted a black eagle on a white background. The black and white national colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights and by

13158-574: The name Ruhrgebiet became common. Before the coal deposits along the Ruhr were exhausted, the mining industry moved northward to the Emscher and finally to the Lippe, drilling ever deeper mines as it went. Locks built at Mülheim on the Ruhr led to the expansion of Mülheim as a port. With the construction of the Cologne-Minden railway in the late 19th century, several iron works were built within

13287-417: 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 1867. 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),

13416-534: The period of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, mercenaries from the Holy Roman Empire were granted lands by the Order and gradually formed a new landed Prussian nobility, from which the Junkers would evolve to take a major role in the militarization of Prussia and, later, Germany. On 10 April 1525, after signing of the Treaty of Kraków , which officially ended the Polish–Teutonic War (1519–21) , in

13545-412: The press. In 1862, King Wilhelm I appointed Otto von Bismarck as Minister President of Prussia . Bismarck was determined to defeat both the liberals and conservatives and increase Prussian supremacy and influence among the German states. There has been much debate as to whether Bismarck actually planned to create a united Germany when he set out on this journey, or whether he simply took advantage of

13674-552: The rebellion in early April 1920 and re-established the Weimar Republic's control of the district. An estimated 1,000 insurgents and 200 Reichswehr soldiers were killed in the battles. In March 1921, French and Belgian troops occupied Duisburg , which under the Treaty of Versailles formed part of the demilitarized Rhineland . In January 1923 the whole Ruhr district was occupied  after Germany failed to fulfill part of its World War I reparation payments as agreed in

13803-406: The region is defined by coal -bearing layers from the upper Carboniferous period. The coal seams reach the surface in a strip along the river Ruhr and dip downward from the river to the north. Beneath the Lippe, the coal seams lie at a depth of 600 to 800 metres (2,000 to 2,600 feet). The thickness of the coal layers ranges from one to three metres (three to ten feet). This geological feature played

13932-417: The reign of Frederick the Great (1740–1786). At the Congress of Vienna (1814–15), which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleon's defeat, 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 of Prussia

14061-477: The river Emscher , formerly virtually an open sewer, parts of which have undergone natural restoration. This park connects strips of parkland running from north to south, which were developed through regional planning in the 1920s, to form a green belt between the Ruhr cities from east to west. During the Middle Ages, much of the region that was later called the Ruhrgebiet was situated in the County of Mark ,

14190-607: The status quo. In 1863, Denmark introduced a shared constitution for Denmark and Schleswig. This led to conflict with the German Confederation, which authorised the occupation of Holstein by the Confederation, from which Danish forces withdrew. In 1864, Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border between Holstein and Schleswig initiating the Second War of Schleswig . The Austro-Prussian forces defeated

14319-484: The town of Duisburg . Both towns were members of the Hanseatic League . The development of the region into an urbanized industrial area started in the late 18th century with the early industrialisation in the nearby Wupper Valley in the Bergisches Land . By around 1820, hundreds of water-powered mills were producing textiles, lumber, shingles and iron in automated processes here. In additional workshops in

14448-593: The union of the Prussian Lutheran and Reformed churches into one church . Prussia took a leading part in the French Revolutionary Wars , but remained quiet for more than a decade because of the Peace of Basel of 1795, only to go once more to war with France in 1806 as negotiations with that country over the allocation of the spheres of influence in Germany failed. Prussia suffered a devastating defeat against Napoleon 's troops in

14577-513: The west, and Lippe to the north. In the southwest it borders the Bergisches Land . It is considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region of more than 10 million people, which is the third largest in Western Europe , behind only London and Paris . The Ruhr cities are, from west to east: Duisburg , Oberhausen , Bottrop , Mülheim an der Ruhr , Essen , Gelsenkirchen , Bochum , Herne , Hagen , Dortmund , Hamm and

14706-453: The western Baltic Curonians , and erected Memel Castle , which developed into the major port city of Memel . The Treaty of Melno defined the final border between Prussia and the adjoining Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1422. The Hanseatic League officially formed in northern Europe in 1356 as a group of trading cities. This League came to hold a monopoly on all trade leaving the interior of Europe and Scandinavia and on all sailing trade in

14835-489: The whole of Silesia against a coalition of Saxony , the Habsburg monarchy, France and Russia . Voltaire , a close friend of the king, once described Frederick the Great's Prussia by saying "...it was Sparta in the morning, Athens in the afternoon." Silesia, full of rich soils and prosperous manufacturing towns, became a vital region to Prussia, greatly increasing the nation's area, population, and wealth. Success on

14964-711: The world, the name "Ruhr" refers to the river. The name preferred for the region in this dictionary is "Ruhrgebiet", followed by "Ruhr Valley". The urban landscape of the Ruhr extends from the Lower Rhine Basin east to the Westphalian Plain and south to the hills of the Rhenish Massif . Through the centre of the Ruhr runs a segment of the loess belt that extends across Germany from west to east. Historically, this loess belt has underlain some of Germany's richest agricultural regions. Geologically,

15093-648: Was a hereditary office of the House of Hohenzollern, the royal house of Prussia. The Minister President of Prussia was, except for two brief periods (January–November 1873 and 1892–94), 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. This effectively required

15222-803: Was a record to a single target in the whole of World War II. More than 4,800 tons of bombs were dropped through the city centre and the south of the city. In addition to the strategic bombing of the Ruhr , in April 1945, the Allies trapped several hundred thousand Wehrmacht troops in the Ruhr Pocket . After the war, the region fell within the British occupation zone , and Level of Industry plans for Germany abolished all German munitions factories and civilian industries that could support them and severely restricted civilian industries of military potential. The Ruhr Authority , an international body to regulate

15351-570: Was able to defeat the putsch by advocating a general strike that all but shut down Berlin. The work action effectively ended the putsch, but in the Ruhr it was the instigation for an armed revolt whose aim was to replace the Weimar Republic with a soviet-style council republic . In the Ruhr Uprising , the Ruhr Red Army was able to take control of the Ruhr industrial area. The Reichswehr , with assistance from Freikorps units, put down

15480-686: Was effectively dismantled into Nazi German Gaue in 1935. Nevertheless, some Prussian ministries were kept and Hermann Göring remained in his role as Minister President of Prussia until the end of World War II . Former eastern territories of Germany that made up a significant part of Prussia lost the majority of their German population after 1945 as the Polish People's Republic and the Soviet Union both absorbed these territories and had most of its German inhabitants expelled by 1950. Prussia, deemed "a bearer of militarism and reaction" by

15609-463: 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

15738-571: Was granted the right of succession to the Duchy of Prussia, then still a Polish fief. From this time the Duchy of Prussia was in personal union with the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The resulting state, known as Brandenburg-Prussia , consisted of geographically disconnected territories in Prussia, Brandenburg, and the Rhineland lands of Cleves and Mark . During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), various armies repeatedly marched across

15867-457: Was handed over to economic administration by France as a protectorate in 1947 and did not politically return to Germany until January 1957, with economic reintegration occurring two years later. Parallel to the question of political control of the Ruhr, the Allies tried to decrease German industrial potential by limitations on production and dismantling of factories and steel plants, predominantly in

15996-459: Was introduced. The process of army reform ended in 1813 with the introduction of compulsory military service for men. By 1813, Prussia could mobilize almost 300,000 soldiers, more than half of which were conscripts of the Landwehr of variable quality. The rest consisted of regular soldiers that were deemed excellent by most observers, and very determined to repair the humiliation of 1806. After

16125-480: Was now removed. France's eastern allies (the Soviet Union , Poland , Czechoslovakia , Romania and Yugoslavia ) concluded that since the French refused to defend their own border, they certainly would not stand up for their allies in the East. Hitler could now continue eroding the alliance system that France had built since 1919. On 16 October 1936, Belgium repudiated the 1921 alliance with France and declared its absolute neutrality. In October 1937, Belgium signed

16254-574: Was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that Junkers and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians. 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

16383-574: Was part of the German Confederation . When the Danish government tried to integrate Schleswig, but not Holstein, into the Danish state, Prussia led the German Confederation against Denmark in the First War of Schleswig (1848–1851). Because Russia supported Austria, Prussia also conceded predominance in the German Confederation to Austria in the Punctation of Olmütz in 1850, resulting in a return to

16512-419: Was succeeded by his son, Frederick II , whose accomplishments led to his reputation as "Frederick the Great". As crown prince, Frederick had focused, primarily, on philosophy and the arts. He was an accomplished flute player and composer. In 1740, Prussian troops crossed over the undefended border of Silesia and rapidly conquered the region. Silesia was the richest province of Habsburg Austria . It signalled

16641-471: Was succeeded by his son, Frederick William I (1713–1740), the austere "Soldier King", who did not care for the arts but was thrifty and practical. He was the main creator of the vaunted Prussian bureaucracy and the professionalised standing army, which he developed into one of the most powerful in Europe. His troops only briefly saw action during the Great Northern War . In view of the size of

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