Joachim Frederick (27 January 1546 – 18 July 1608), of the House of Hohenzollern , was Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1598 until his death.
128-410: [REDACTED] King Frederick II [REDACTED] Archduchess Maria Theresa The First Silesian War (German: Erster Schlesischer Krieg ) was a war between Prussia and Austria that lasted from 1740 to 1742 and resulted in Prussia's seizing most of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland ) from Austria. The war was fought mainly in Silesia, Moravia and Bohemia (the lands of
256-462: A casus belli , but Realpolitik and geostrategic factors also played a role in provoking the conflict. Maria Theresa's contested succession to the Habsburg monarchy provided an opportunity for Prussia to strengthen itself relative to regional rivals such as Saxony and Bavaria . The war began with a Prussian invasion of Habsburg Silesia in late 1740, and it ended in a Prussian victory with
384-512: A status quo ante bellum on the continent. This result confirmed Prussia's major role within the German states and established the country as a European great power . Frederick, appalled by the near-defeat of Prussia and the economic devastation of his kingdom, lived out his days as a much more peaceable ruler. Other additions to Prussia in the 18th century were the County of East Frisia (1744),
512-651: A common enemy, and with the victory came an overwhelming wave of nationalism which changed the opinions of some of those who had been against unification. With the German Revolution of 1918–1919 , the Kingdom of Prussia was transformed into the Free State of Prussia . Prussia as a whole was abolished in 1947 . The Hohenzollerns were made rulers of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1518. In 1529,
640-652: A considerably more moderate policy. Upon Frederick William IV's death in 1861 he succeeded to the Prussian throne as William I . However, shortly after becoming king, he faced a dispute with his parliament over the size of the army. The parliament, dominated by the liberals, balked at William's desire to increase the number of regiments and withheld approval of the budget to pay for its cost. A deadlock ensued, and William seriously considered abdicating in favour of his son, Crown Prince Frederick . Ultimately, he decided to appoint as prime minister Otto von Bismarck , at that time
768-458: A decisive move on Vienna, wishing to see Austria reduced rather than destroyed. So, on 24 October their forces turned north to march instead on Prague . The Bavarian, French and Saxon armies converged in November, besieging it and ultimately storming it on 26 November; Charles Albert went on to proclaim himself King of Bohemia on 7 December. Meanwhile, in early November Frederick negotiated
896-584: A duchy. It was ruled in a personal union with Brandenburg, known as " Brandenburg-Prussia ". A full union was not possible, since Brandenburg was still legally part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Duchy of Prussia was a fief of Poland . The Teutonic Order had paid homage to Poland since 1466, and the Hohenzollerns continued to pay homage after secularizing Ducal Prussia. In the course of
1024-677: A federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when the Austro-Prussian War ensued between its two most powerful member states. Prussia was subsequently the driving force behind establishing in 1866 the North German Confederation , transformed in 1871 into the unified German Empire and considered the earliest continual legal predecessor of today's Federal Republic of Germany . The North German Confederation
1152-570: A few fortresses ; the Prussians swept through the province, taking control of the capital at Breslau without a fight on 2 January 1741. The fortress at Ohlau was also taken without resistance on 9 January, after which the Prussians used it for their winter quarters. By the end of January 1741, almost the entirety of Silesia had come under Prussian control, and the remaining Austrian strongholds of Glogau , Brieg and Neisse were besieged. After leaving winter quarters in early 1741,
1280-523: A final peace to be negotiated before the end of the year. Neipperg's Austrian forces were then recalled from Silesia to defend Austria against the western invaders, abandoning Neisse after a sham siege in early November and leaving the whole of Silesia under Prussian control. In mid-October, Charles Albert of Bavaria and his French allies were encamped near Vienna, ready to besiege it, but he became concerned that Saxony and Prussia would seize parts of Bohemia, which he had also claimed. The French also deprecated
1408-525: A kingdom, Prussia continued its rise to power, especially during the reign of Frederick II "the Great" . Frederick the Great was instrumental in starting the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), holding his own against Austria , Russia , France and Sweden and establishing Prussia's dominant role among the German states, as well as establishing the country as a European great power through the victories of
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#17327652793961536-770: A lesser German prince significantly dented the Habsburg Monarchy's prestige. The House of Habsburg was also defeated in the Imperial election, calling into question its pre-eminence within Germany. The Austrian army had found itself outmatched by the more disciplined Prussians, and in late 1741 the Nymphenburg alliance had threatened the Habsburg monarchy with disaster. However, peace in the Silesian theatre gave
1664-686: A number of administrative reforms, among others reorganising the government by way of ministries, which remained formative for the following hundred years. As to religion, reformed Calvinist Frederick William III—as Supreme Governor of the Protestant Churches —asserted his long-cherished project (started in 1798) to unite the Lutheran and the Reformed Church in 1817, (see Prussian Union ). The Calvinist minority, strongly supported by its co-religionist Frederick William III, and
1792-668: A response, he and his troops advanced into Silesia. European warfare in the early modern period was characterised by the widespread adoption of firearms in combination with more traditional bladed weapons . 18th-century European armies were built around units of massed infantry armed with smoothbore flintlock muskets and bayonets . Cavalrymen were equipped with sabres and pistols or carbines ; light cavalry were used principally for reconnaissance , screening and tactical communications , while heavy cavalry were used as tactical reserves and deployed for shock attacks . Smoothbore artillery provided fire support and played
1920-494: 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 the press. Frederick William suffered a stroke in 1857, and his younger brother, Prince William, became regent . William pursued
2048-521: A senior branch of the House of Habsburg, and they used these connections to justify claims to Habsburg territory in the absence of a male heir. Frederick Augustus, who ruled Poland-Lithuania in personal union , was especially interested in gaining control of Silesia to connect his two realms into one contiguous territory (which would nearly surround Brandenburg); Frederick's concern to prevent this outcome contributed to his haste in moving against Austria when
2176-811: A separate peace while the War of the Austrian Succession raged on, Frederick abandoned his erstwhile allies in the League of Nymphenburg and earned a reputation for diplomatic unreliability and double-dealing. With Prussia removed from the wider war, Austria launched a major counter-attack and began regaining lost ground on other fronts, and the diplomatic situation shifted in Austria's favour. Prussia's seizure of Silesia also ensured continuing conflict with Austria and Saxony. Maria Theresa's determination to recover Silesia would lead to renewed conflict with Prussia in
2304-611: A unified Kleindeutschland nation, and on 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of the first Prussian king, Frederick I), the German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside of Paris , while the French capital was still under siege . King William became the first emperor ( Kaiser ) of a unified Germany. However, the titles of German Emperor and King of Prussia were to be borne by
2432-478: A unified Germany more than they wanted to break the grip of the traditional forces over society. He thus embarked on a drive to form a united Germany under Prussian leadership, and guided Prussia through three wars which ultimately achieved this goal. The first of these wars was the Second War of Schleswig (1864), which Prussia initiated and succeeded in, and in which it gained the assistance of Austria. Denmark
2560-466: A young prince, Frederick III had secretly agreed to this repossession in return for Leopold's payment of some of his debts, but as monarch he repudiated the agreement and reasserted the old Hohenzollern claims to Jägerndorf and the Silesian Piast heritage. Two generations later, the newly crowned Hohenzollern King Frederick II of Prussia formed designs on Silesia soon after succeeding to
2688-495: The Archbishopric of Magdeburg from 1566 to 1598, then succeeded his father as Elector of Brandenburg in 1598. Joachim Frederick was succeeded at his death by his son John Sigismund . Joachim Frederick's first marriage on 7 March 1570 was to Catherine of Brandenburg-Küstrin , daughter of John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Küstrin , and Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel . Joachim Frederick's second marriage, on 23 October 1603,
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#17327652793962816-573: The Austria–Prussia rivalry that would shape German politics for more than a century. In the early 18th century, Prussia 's ruling House of Hohenzollern held dynastic claims to various duchies within the Habsburg province of Silesia , a populous and prosperous region contiguous with Prussia's core territory in the Margraviate of Brandenburg . Besides its value as a source of tax revenue, industrial output (particularly minerals) and military recruits, Silesia held great geostrategic importance to
2944-656: The Congress of Vienna . It regained most of its pre-1806 territory. Notable exceptions included part of the territory annexed in the Second and Third Partitions of Poland, which became Congress Poland under Russian rule (though it did retain Danzig, acquired in the Second Partition). It also did not regain several of its former towns in the south. However, as compensation it picked up some new territory, including 40% of
3072-721: The Dutch Republic ; the Russian Empire under Empress Elizabeth also indirectly took Austria's side in the wider conflict by making war against Sweden (a French ally at the time). Maria Theresa's aims in the conflict were, first, to preserve her hereditary lands and titles and, second, to win or compel support for the election of her husband, Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine , as Holy Roman Emperor, defending her house's traditional pre-eminence within Germany. After Emperor Charles's death on 20 October, Frederick quickly resolved to strike first; on 8 November he ordered
3200-766: The First French Empire , was defeated in the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt (14 October 1806), Frederick William III was forced to temporarily flee to remote Memel . After the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, Prussia lost about half of its territory, including the land gained from the Second and Third Partitions of Poland (which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw ) and all land west of the Elbe river. France recaptured Prussian-occupied Hanover, including Bremen-Verden. The remainder of
3328-658: The First Partition of Poland . The Kingdom of Prussia was still recovering from the devastation of the Thirty Years' War and poor in natural resources. Its territory was disjointed, stretching 1,200 km (750 mi) from the lands of the Duchy of Prussia on the south-east coast of the Baltic Sea to the Hohenzollern heartland of Brandenburg , with the exclaves of Cleves , Mark and Ravensberg in
3456-509: The Habsburg monarchy . During Emperor Charles's lifetime the Pragmatic Sanction had been generally acknowledged by the imperial states , but when he died it was promptly contested by Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony. Frederick saw in Austria's female succession an opportune moment for the seizure of Silesia, calling it "the signal for the complete transformation of the old political system" in a 1740 letter to Voltaire . He argued that
3584-584: The Junkers , the landed aristocracy, into the kingdom's bureaucracy and military machine, giving them a vested interest in the Prussian Army and compulsory education . King Frederick William I inaugurated the Prussian compulsory conscription system in 1717. In 1740, King Frederick II (Frederick the Great) came to the throne. Using the pretext of a 1537 treaty (vetoed by Emperor Ferdinand I ) by which parts of Silesia were to pass to Brandenburg after
3712-618: The Kingdom of Saxony and much of Westphalia and the Rhineland. Prussia now stretched uninterrupted from the Niemen in the east to the Elbe in the west, and possessed a chain of disconnected territories west of the Elbe. This left Prussia as the only great power with a predominantly German-speaking population. With these gains in territory, the kingdom was reorganized into 10 provinces. Most of
3840-736: The Low Countries and a cash payment if Prussia would evacuate Silesia, though she was immediately rebuffed. Meanwhile, fresh enemies attacked Austria on multiple fronts: the Franco-Bavarian force seized Linz on 14 September and advanced through Upper Austria, reaching the vicinity of Vienna by October, while Bohemia was simultaneously invaded by the Saxons. Seeing Austria's distress, Frederick opened secret peace negotiations with Neipperg in Breslau, even as he continued to publicly support
3968-577: The Orangist stadtholderate against the increasingly rebellious Patriots , who sought to overthrow the House of Orange-Nassau and establish a democratic republic . The direct cause of the invasion was the arrest at Goejanverwellesluis , where Frederick William II's sister Wilhelmina of Prussia , also stadtholder William V of Orange 's wife, was stopped by a band of Patriots who denied her passage to The Hague to reclaim her husband's position. In 1795,
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4096-656: The Principality of Bayreuth (1791) and Principality of Ansbach (1791), the latter two being acquired through purchase from branches of the Hohenzollern dynasty. To the east and south of Prussia, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had gradually weakened during the 18th century. Alarmed by increasing Russian influences in Polish affairs and by a possible expansion of the Russian Empire , Frederick
4224-710: The Province of Hohenzollern . During the half-century that followed the Congress of Vienna, a conflict of ideals took place within the German Confederation between the formation of a single German nation and the conservation of the current collection of smaller German states and kingdoms. The main debate centered around whether Prussia or the Austrian Empire should be the leading member of any unified Germany. Those advocating for Prussian leadership contended that Austria had far too many non-German interests to work for
4352-457: The Province of Pomerania , uniting the kingdom's eastern territories. After Frederick died in 1786, his nephew Fredrick William II continued the partitions, gaining a large part of western Poland in 1793; Thorn (Toruń) and Danzig (Gdańsk), which had remained part of Poland after the first partition, were incorporated into West Prussia, while the remainder became the province of South Prussia . In 1787, Prussia invaded Holland to restore
4480-584: The Rhineland . In 1708 about one third of the population of East Prussia died during the Great Northern War plague outbreak . The bubonic plague reached Prenzlau in August 1710 but receded before it could reach the capital Berlin , which was only 80 km (50 mi) away. The Great Northern War was the first major conflict in which the Kingdom of Prussia was involved. Starting in 1700,
4608-785: The Russian Empire within Germany. Prussia's claims in Silesia were based, in part, on a 1537 inheritance treaty between the Silesian Piast Duke Frederick II of Legnica and the Hohenzollern Prince-Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg , whereby the Silesian Duchies of Liegnitz , Wohlau and Brieg were to pass to the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg should the Piast dynasty in Silesia become extinct. At
4736-853: The Second Northern War , the treaties of Labiau and Wehlau-Bromberg granted the Hohenzollerns full sovereignty over the Prussian duchy by September 1657. In return for an alliance against France in the War of the Spanish Succession , the Great Elector's son, Frederick III, was allowed to elevate Prussia to a kingdom in the Crown Treaty of 16 November 1700. Frederick crowned himself " King in Prussia " as Frederick I on 18 January 1701. Legally, no kingdoms could exist in
4864-573: The Second Silesian War only two years later, with a Third Silesian War to follow after another decade; Saxony would take Austria's side in both future conflicts. In the territorial settlement that ended the war, Prussia gained control of extensive new lands in Glatz and Silesia, a populous and densely industrialised region that would contribute substantial manpower and taxes to the Prussian state. The small kingdom's unexpected victory over
4992-514: The Treaty of Berlin in 1742. To the surprise of many, Austria managed to renew the war successfully. In 1744 Frederick invaded again to forestall reprisals and to claim, this time, the Kingdom of Bohemia . He failed, but French pressure on Austria's ally Great Britain led to a series of treaties and compromises, culminating in the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle that restored peace and left Prussia in possession of most of Silesia. Humiliated by
5120-580: The defeat of Napoleon in Russia in 1812, Prussia quit the alliance 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 in the Battle of Waterloo of 1815 to the final victory over Napoleon. Prussia's reward for its part in France's defeat came at
5248-481: The legal fiction that the Hohenzollerns were legally kings only in their former duchy. In Brandenburg and the portions of their domains that were within the Empire, they were still legally only electors under the overlordship of the emperor. However, by this time the emperor's authority was only nominal. The rulers of the empire's various territories acted largely as the rulers of sovereign states , and only acknowledged
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5376-624: The 1618 Bohemian Revolt and the ensuing Thirty Years' War , Johann Georg joined the Silesian estates in revolt against the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II . After the Catholic victory in the 1621 Battle of White Mountain , the Emperor confiscated Johann Georg's duchy and refused to return it to his heirs after his death, but the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg continued to assert themselves as
5504-399: The 1742 Treaty of Berlin , which recognised Prussia's seizure of most of Silesia and parts of Bohemia. Meanwhile, the wider War of the Austrian Succession continued, and conflict over Silesia would draw Austria and Prussia into a renewed Second Silesian War only two years later. The First Silesian War marked the unexpected defeat of the Habsburg monarchy by a lesser German power and initiated
5632-401: The 18th century, were fought as so-called cabinet wars in which disciplined regular armies were equipped and supplied by the state to conduct warfare on behalf of the sovereign's interests. Occupied enemy territories were regularly taxed and extorted for funds, but large-scale atrocities against civilian populations were rare compared with conflicts in the previous century. Military logistics
5760-650: The 5 June Treaty of Breslau , and in July it joined in the Treaty of Nymphenburg , by which France and Spain committed to support Bavaria's territorial claims against Austria. French forces began crossing the Rhine on 15 August, joining the Bavarian forces on the Danube and advancing toward Vienna , while a Spanish–Neapolitan army attacked Austria's holdings in northern Italy. Saxony, formerly an Austrian ally, now joined
5888-478: The Austrian forces a free hand to reverse the gains made by the French and Bavarians the previous year. The western invaders were driven back up the Danube Valley in early 1742, and Saxony withdrew its forces from Bohemia after the Treaty of Berlin, making peace with Austria near the end of the year. The Franco-Bavarian forces occupying Prague were isolated and besieged, eventually giving up the city in December. By mid-1743, Austria would recover control of Bohemia, drive
6016-552: The Bohemian County of Glatz, territories which would later be consolidated to form the Prussian Province of Silesia . Austria retained the remainder of Bohemia and two small portions of the extreme southern end of Silesia, including the Duchy of Teschen and parts of the Duchies of Jägerndorf, Troppau , and Neisse ; these lands would later be combined to form the crown land of Austrian Silesia . Prussia also agreed to take on some of Austria's debts that had been secured against assets in Silesia, as well as committing to remain neutral for
6144-414: The Bohemian Crown ) and formed one theatre of the wider War of the Austrian Succession . It was the first of three Silesian Wars fought between Frederick the Great 's Prussia and Maria Theresa 's Austria in the mid-18th century, all three of which ended in Prussian control of Silesia. No particular triggering event started the war. Prussia cited its centuries-old dynastic claims on parts of Silesia as
6272-408: The Bundesrat, with 17 votes out of 58 (17 out of 61 after 1911); no other state had more than six votes. As before, it could effectively control the proceedings with the support of its allies in the secondary states. As mentioned above, Bismarck served as foreign minister of Prussia for almost his entire career, and in that role instructed the Prussian deputies to the Bundesrat. The Imperial German Army
6400-399: The Convention of Klein Schnellendorf, accusing the Austrians of violating its secrecy, and joined the general advance southward into Bohemia and Moravia. In December Schwerin's army advanced through the Sudetes into Moravia, occupying the capital at Olmütz on 27 December, while Prince Leopold's army besieged the fortress at Glatz on the edge of Bohemia. In January 1742 the Imperial election
6528-470: The First French Republic and Prussia had stipulated that the latter would ensure the Holy Roman Empire's neutrality in all the latter's territories north of the demarcation line of the River Main , including the British continental dominions of the Electorate of Hanover and the Duchies of Bremen-Verden . To this end, Hanover (including Bremen-Verden) also had to provide troops for the so-called demarcation army maintaining this state of armed neutrality . In
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#17327652793966656-453: The French alliance, and Britain declared itself neutral to prevent French or Prussian attacks on Hanover. Faced with the prospect of a total partition of her realm, Maria Theresa worked through the following months to regroup and prepare a counter-attack. On 25 June she received her formal coronation as Queen of Hungary in Pressburg and began trying to recruit a new army from her eastern lands. In August she offered Frederick concessions in
6784-403: The French back across the Rhine into Alsace , and occupy Bavaria, exiling Emperor Charles VII to Frankfurt. Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia ( German : Königreich Preußen , pronounced [ˈkøːnɪkʁaɪç ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] ) constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1866 and
6912-437: The French. The British treasury had financed much of Austria's war effort through cash subsidies meant to weaken France, and Hyndford threatened to withdraw Britain's support if Maria Theresa refused to concede Silesia. The two belligerents eventually reached an agreement in the 11 June Treaty of Breslau , which ended the First Silesian War. Under this treaty, Austria conceded to Prussia the large majority of Silesia along with
7040-410: The German alliances put in place after the Austro-Prussian War, the German states, aside from Austria, came together and swiftly defeated France, even managing to take Napoleon III prisoner (2 September 1870). Even before then, Bismarck was able to complete the work of unifying Germany under Prussian leadership. The patriotic fervour aroused by the war against France overwhelmed the remaining opponents of
7168-405: The German states. In 1848, actions taken by Denmark towards the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein led to the First War of Schleswig (1848–51) between Denmark and the German Confederation, resulting in a Danish victory. Frederick William issued Prussia's first constitution by his own authority in 1848, modifying it in the Constitution of 1850 . These documents—moderate by the standards of
7296-556: The Habsburg monarchy set it apart from German rivals such as Bavaria and Saxony, marking the beginning of Prussia's rise toward the status of a European great power . The seizure of Silesia made Prussia and Austria into lasting and determined enemies, beginning the Austria–Prussia rivalry that would come to dominate German politics over the next century. Saxony, envious of Prussia's ascendancy and threatened by Prussian Silesia's geostrategic position, also turned its foreign policy firmly against Prussia. Frederick's unilateral withdrawal from
7424-458: The Habsburgs as traditional rivals , sought control of the Austrian Netherlands . The Electorates of Cologne and the Palatinate joined these to form an alliance known as the League of Nymphenburg , which aimed at the diminution or destruction of the Habsburg monarchy and its dominant position among the German states. Austria was supported by Great Britain (in personal union with the Electorate of Hanover ) and, eventually, Savoy–Sardinia and
7552-447: The Hohenzollerns secured the reversion of the Duchy of Pomerania after a series of conflicts , and acquired its eastern part following the Peace of Westphalia . In 1618, the electors of Brandenburg also inherited the Duchy of Prussia , since 1511 ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hohenzollern. In 1525, Albrecht of Brandenburg , the last grand master of the Teutonic Order , secularized his territory and converted it into
7680-409: The Holy Roman Empire except for Bohemia and Italy . However, Frederick took the line that since Prussia had never been part of the empire and the Hohenzollerns were fully sovereign over it, he could elevate Prussia to a kingdom. Emperor Leopold I , keen to secure Frederick's support in the impending War of the Spanish Succession , acquiesced. The style "King in Prussia" was adopted to acknowledge
7808-528: The League of Nymphenburg. Although Prussia was allied with the French, the idea of France or Bavaria becoming the dominant power in Germany through Austria's destruction did not appeal to Frederick. With British urging and mediation, on 9 October Austria and Prussia agreed to a secret armistice known as the Convention of Klein Schnellendorf , under which both belligerents would cease hostilities in Silesia (though maintaining their appearance), and Austria would eventually concede Lower Silesia in return for
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#17327652793967936-490: The Moravian advance collapsed, Charles Alexander of Lorraine (Maria Theresa's brother-in-law) led a reinforced Austro-Hungarian army of 30,000 through Moravia toward Bohemia, hoping to disperse the Prussians and liberate Prague. In early May, a Prussian army of 28,000 led by Frederick and Prince Leopold marched into the plains of the Elbe south-east of Prague, manoeuvring to block the Austrian advance. The two armies met when Charles's Austrians attacked Prince Leopold's camp near
8064-433: The Nymphenburg alliance (and its repetition at the end of the Second Silesian War) angered the French court, and his next perceived "betrayal" (a defensive alliance with Britain under the 1756 Convention of Westminster ) accelerated France's eventual realignment toward Austria in the Diplomatic Revolution of the 1750s. The Treaties of Breslau and Berlin cost the Habsburg monarchy its wealthiest province, and capitulating to
8192-406: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist and a large area (including Warsaw ) to the south and east of East Prussia became part of Prussia. Most of the new territories (and the part of South Prussia north of the Vistula ) were organised into the province of New East Prussia ; South Prussia gained the area immediately south of the Vistula, Narew and Bug , including Warsaw; a small area to
8320-548: The Pragmatic Sanction did not apply to Silesia, which was held by the Habsburgs as a part of the imperial demesne rather than as a hereditary possession. Frederick also argued that his father had assented to the Sanction in return for assurances of Austrian support for Hohenzollern claims on the Rhenish Duchies of Jülich and Berg , which had not yet materialised. Meanwhile, Prince-Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria and Prince-Elector Frederick Augustus II of Saxony had each married one of Maria Theresa's older cousins from
8448-456: The Prussian Army, and the fact that it managed to fight much of Europe to a draw bears witness to Frederick's military skills. Facing Austria, Russia , France, and Sweden simultaneously, and with only Hanover (and the non-continental British) as notable allies, Frederick managed to prevent a serious invasion until October 1760, when the Russian army briefly occupied Berlin and Königsberg . The situation became progressively grimmer, however, until
8576-412: The Prussian ambassador to France. Bismarck took office on 23 September 1862. Although Bismarck had a reputation as an unyielding conservative, he initially inclined to seek a compromise over the budget issue. However, William refused to consider it; he viewed defence issues as the crown's personal province. Forced into a policy of confrontation, Bismarck came up with a novel theory. Under the constitution,
8704-438: The Prussian forces began a spring campaign, and on 9 March Prince Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau took Glogau by storm. In late March, an Austrian force of around 20,000 under the command of Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg crossed the Sudetes mountains from Moravia and broke the siege of Neisse on 5 April, after which the main Prussian force manoeuvred to oppose its advance. The two armies engaged each other near
8832-406: The Prussian state, ultimately boosting their national self-awareness and eliciting their national resistance against Prussian rule. Following the French Revolution and the Execution of Louis XVI , Prussia declared war on the French First Republic . When Prussian troops attempted to invade France, they were beaten back and the Treaty of Basel (1795) ended the War of the First Coalition . In it,
8960-404: The Silesian exclave of Schwiebus in return for military support against the Turks and the surrender of the outstanding Hohenzollern claims in Silesia. After the accession of the Great Elector's son and successor, Frederick III of Brandenburg , the Emperor took back control of Schwiebus in 1694, claiming the territory had only been personally assigned to the late Great Elector for life. As
9088-429: The aftermath of Chotusitz, Prussia intensified its efforts to reach a separate peace with Austria, and negotiators from the two belligerents met again in Breslau in late May. Frederick now demanded almost the whole of Silesia, as well as the County of Glatz; Maria Theresa was reluctant to make such concessions, but the British envoy, Lord Hyndford , pressed her to make peace with Prussia and concentrate her forces against
9216-530: The belligerents. The valley of the Upper Oder formed a natural military conduit between Brandenburg, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margraviate of Moravia , and whichever power held the territory could threaten its neighbours. Silesia also lay along the north-eastern frontier of the Holy Roman Empire , allowing its controller to limit the influence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and of
9344-471: The border between putative territories of Prussian Silesia and Saxon Moravia with Frederick Augustus of Saxony, also securing French and Bavarian support for his seizure of the entirety of Silesia, along with the Bohemian County of Glatz . As the Franco-Bavarian allies made territorial gains, Frederick became concerned that Prussia might be sidelined in the eventual peace agreement, so he repudiated
9472-489: The cession of Silesia, Austria worked to secure an alliance with France and Russia (the " Diplomatic Revolution "), while Prussia drifted into Great Britain's camp forming the Anglo-Prussian Alliance . When Frederick preemptively invaded Saxony and Bohemia over the course of a few months in 1756–1757, he began a Third Silesian War and initiated the Seven Years' War . This war was a desperate struggle for
9600-522: The contested succession provided an opportunity. As Prussia reactivated its Silesian claims and prepared for war against Austria, several other European powers made similar moves. Charles Albert of Bavaria launched a claim to the imperial throne along with the Habsburg territories of Bohemia, Upper Austria and Tyrol , while Frederick Augustus of Saxony laid claim to Moravia and Upper Silesia . The Kingdoms of Spain and Naples hoped to seize Habsburg possessions in northern Italy, while France, which viewed
9728-580: The course of the War of the Second Coalition against France (1799–1802), Napoleon Bonaparte urged Prussia to occupy Hanover. In 1801, 24,000 Prussian soldiers invaded, surprising Hanover, which surrendered without a fight. In April 1801 the Prussian troops arrived in Bremen-Verden's capital Stade and stayed there until October that year. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland first ignored Prussia's hostility, but when it joined
9856-436: The crown of a united Germany. Frederick William refused the offer on the grounds that revolutionary assemblies could not grant royal titles. But he also refused for two other reasons: to do so would have done little to end the internal power-struggle between Austria and Prussia, and all Prussian kings (up to and including William I ) feared that the formation of a German Empire would mean the end of Prussia's independence within
9984-544: The death in 1762 of Empress Elizabeth of Russia ( Miracle of the House of Brandenburg ). The accession of the Prussophile Peter III relieved the pressure on the eastern front. Sweden also exited the war at about the same time. Defeating the Austrian army at the Battle of Burkersdorf and relying on continuing British success against France in the war's colonial theatres, Prussia was finally able to force
10112-459: The dominant state in this new entity, with four-fifths of its territory and population—more than the other members of the confederation combined. Its near-total control was cemented in a constitution written by Bismarck. Executive power was vested in a president —a hereditary office of the rulers of Prussia. He was assisted by a chancellor responsible only to the president. There was also a bicameral parliament. The lower house, or Reichstag (Diet),
10240-459: The emperor's suzerainty in a formal way. In addition, the duchy was only the eastern bulk of the region of Prussia; the westernmost fragment constituted the part of Royal Prussia east of Vistula, held along with the title King of Prussia by the King of Poland . While the personal union between Brandenburg and Prussia legally continued until the end of the empire in 1806, from 1701 onward, Brandenburg
10368-419: The extinction of its ruling Piast dynasty , Frederick invaded Silesia, thereby beginning the War of the Austrian Succession . After rapidly occupying Silesia, Frederick offered to protect Queen Maria Theresa if the province were turned over to him. The offer was rejected, but Austria faced several other opponents in a desperate struggle for survival, and Frederick was eventually able to gain formal cession with
10496-408: The fundamental law of the kingdom. However, Bismarck's real plan was an accommodation with liberalism. Although he had opposed German unification earlier in his career, he had now come to believe it inevitable. To his mind, the conservative forces had to take the lead in the drive toward creating a unified nation in order to keep from being eclipsed. He also believed that the middle-class liberals wanted
10624-643: The greater good of Germany. They argued that Prussia, as by far the most powerful state with a majority of German-speakers, was best suited to lead the new nation. The establishment of the German Customs Union ( Zollverein ) in 1834, which excluded Austria, increased Prussian influence over the member states. In the wake of the Revolutions of 1848 , the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849 offered King Frederick William IV of Prussia
10752-402: The idea. While Bismarck wanted Austria to play no future role in German affairs, he foresaw that Austria could be a valuable future ally. With these gains in territory, the Prussian possessions in the Rhineland and Westphalia became geographically connected to the rest of the kingdom for the first time. Counting the de facto annexation of Saxe-Lauenburg, Prussia now stretched uninterrupted across
10880-550: The imperial chancellor was, except for two periods (January–November 1873 and 1892–94) also prime minister of Prussia, this meant that for most of the empire's existence, the king/emperor and prime minister/chancellor had to seek majorities from legislatures elected by two completely different franchises. Joachim III Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg Joachim Frederick was born in Cölln to John George, Elector of Brandenburg , and Sophie of Legnica . He served as administrator of
11008-526: The king and the parliament were responsible for agreeing on the budget. Bismarck argued that since they had failed to come to an agreement, there was a "hole" in the constitution, and the government had to continue to collect taxes and disburse funds in accordance with the old budget in order to keep functioning. The government thus operated without a new budget from 1862 to 1866, allowing Bismarck to implement William's military reforms. The liberals violently denounced Bismarck for what they saw as his disregard for
11136-732: The kingdom was occupied by French troops (at Prussia's expense) and the king was obliged to make an alliance with France and join the Continental System . The Prussian reforms were a reaction to the Prussian defeat in 1806 and the Treaties of Tilsit. It describes a series of constitutional, administrative, social and economic reforms of the kingdom of Prussia. They are sometimes known as the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms after Karl Freiherr vom Stein and Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg , their main instigators. After
11264-462: The kingdom, aside from the provinces of East Prussia , West Prussia , and the autonomous Grand Duchy of Posen but including the formerly Polish Lauenburg and Bütow Land and the Draheim territory , became part of the new German Confederation , a confederacy of 39 sovereign states (including Austria and Bohemia) replacing the defunct Holy Roman Empire. Frederick William III submitted Prussia to
11392-499: The leading role in siege warfare . Strategic warfare in this period centred around control of key fortifications positioned so as to command the surrounding regions and roads, with lengthy sieges a common feature of armed conflict. Decisive field battles were relatively rare, though they played a larger part in Frederick's theory of warfare than was typical among his contemporary rivals. The Silesian Wars, like most European wars of
11520-619: The leading role in provoking the war. An opportunity arose for Prussia to press its claims when Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died in October 1740 without a male heir. With the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 , Charles had established his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa , as the successor to his hereditary titles. Upon his death she duly became ruler of Austria , as well as of the Bohemian and Hungarian lands within
11648-677: The legitimate rulers of Jägerndorf. In 1675 the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg laid claim to Liegnitz, Wohlau and Brieg when the Silesian Piast line ended with the death of Duke George William of Liegnitz , but the Habsburg Emperor disregarded the Hohenzollern claims and the lands escheated to the Bohemian crown. In 1685, when Austria was engaged in the Great Turkish War , Emperor Leopold I gave Great Elector Frederick William immediate control of
11776-484: The main Austrian stronghold remaining in Moravia, but they made little progress due to the substantial Austrian garrison and a shortage of supplies. The Saxons abandoned the effort on 30 March and returned to Bohemia, where they would remain until withdrawing completely from the war in July. The Moravian campaign achieved no significant gains, and on 5 April the Prussians retreated into Bohemia and Upper Silesia. As
11904-418: The main Prussian force encamped through the succeeding months near Neisse, facing off against Neipperg's Austrians but fighting little. After Austria's failure at Mollwitz to repel the Prussian invasion, other powers were emboldened to attack the beleaguered monarchy, widening the conflict into what would become the War of the Austrian Succession . France declared its support for Prussia's seizure of Silesia in
12032-402: The mobilisation of the Prussian army, and on 11 December he issued an ultimatum to Maria Theresa demanding the cession of Silesia. In return, he offered to guarantee all other Habsburg possessions against any attack, pay a large cash indemnity , acknowledge the Pragmatic Sanction, and give his vote as elector of Brandenburg in the imperial election to Maria Theresa's husband. Not waiting for
12160-475: 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 all but assured dominance by the more well-to-do men of the population. The upper house, later renamed the Herrenhaus ("House of Lords"), was appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority, and ministers were responsible only to him. As
12288-459: The northern two-thirds of Germany. It would remain at this size until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1918. Bismarck used this opportunity to end the budget dispute with parliament. He proposed a bill of indemnity granting him retroactive approval for governing without a legal budget. He guessed, correctly as it turned out, that this would lead to a split between his liberal adversaries. While some of them argued that there could be no compromise with
12416-584: The partially reluctant Lutheran majority formed the united Protestant Evangelical Church in Prussia . However, ensuing quarrels causing a permanent schism among the Lutherans into united and Old Lutherans by 1830. As a consequence of the Revolutions of 1848 , the Principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen (ruled by a Catholic cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern) were annexed by Prussia in 1850, later united as
12544-766: The powerful Prussian Army . Prussia made attempts to unify all the German states (excluding the German cantons in Switzerland ) under its rule, and whether Austria would be included in such a unified German domain became an ongoing question . After the Napoleonic Wars led to the creation of the German Confederation , the issue of unifying the German states caused the German revolutions of 1848–1849 , with representatives from all states attempting to unify under their own constitution. Attempts to create
12672-708: The principle of constitutional government, most of the liberals decided to support the bill in hopes of winning more freedom in the future. The German Confederation was dissolved as part of the war. In its place, Prussia cajoled the 21 states north of the Main into forming the North German Confederation in 1866. Prussia entered the Confederation as a whole (including the East Prussian cradle of its statehood, as well as its share of dismembered Poland consisting of Province of Posen and West Prussia ), thus becoming
12800-529: The pro-French Second League of Armed Neutrality alongside Denmark–Norway and Russia, Britain started to capture Prussian sea vessels. After the Battle of Copenhagen the coalition fell apart and Prussia again withdrew its troops. At Napoleon's instigation, Prussia recaptured British Hanover and Bremen-Verden in early 1806. On 6 August that year the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved as a result of Napoleon's victories over Austria . The title of Kurfürst ( Prince-elector ) of Brandenburg became meaningless, and
12928-409: The remainder of the ongoing War of the Austrian Succession. This arrangement was formalised and confirmed in the Treaty of Berlin , signed 28 July 1742. The First Silesian War ended in a clear victory for Prussia, which secured some 35,000 square kilometres (14,000 sq mi) of new territory and around a million new subjects, greatly enhancing its resources and prestige. However, by twice making
13056-521: The rest became the originally separate Netze District , which was attached to West Prussia in 1775. The boundary between West Prussia and the territory previously known as the Duchy of Prussia, now the Province of East Prussia was also adjusted, transferring Marienwerder to West Prussia (which became its capital) and Warmia (the Heilsberg and Braunsberg [ de ] districts) to East Prussia. The annexed territory connected East Prussia with
13184-476: The return of spring. The Prussian army had massed quietly along the Oder during early December 1740, and on 16 December, without a declaration of war, Frederick moved his troops across the frontier into Silesia. The Prussian force consisted of two corps totalling 27,000 soldiers, while Silesia was defended by an Austrian garrison of only 8,000 men. The Austrians were able to offer only light resistance and garrison
13312-565: The same man until the end of the monarchy. Bismarck's new empire was the most powerful state on the Continent. Prussia's dominance over the new empire was almost as absolute as it was with the North German Confederation. It included two-thirds of the empire's territory and three-fifths of its population. The imperial crown was a hereditary office of the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia also had a large plurality of seats in
13440-582: The south of South Prussia became New Silesia . With the Polish-Lithuanian state gone Prussia now shared its eastern borders with the Habsburg monarchy ( West Galicia ) and Russia ( Russian partition ). The Partitions were facilitated by the fact that they occurred just before the 19th-century rise of nationalism in Europe, and the national self-awareness was yet to be developed in most European peoples, especially among commoners. The Kingdom of Prussia
13568-463: The throne in May 1740. Frederick judged that his dynasty's claims were credible, and he had inherited from his father, King Frederick William I , a large and well-trained Prussian army and a healthy royal treasury. Austria was in financial distress, and its army had not been reinforced or reformed after an ignominious performance in the 1737–1739 Austro-Turkish War . The European strategic situation
13696-402: The throne. Therefore, in 1715, Prussia, led by Frederick William, joined the coalition for various reasons, including the danger of being attacked from both her rear and the sea; her claims on Pomerania ; and the fact that if she stood aside and Sweden lost, she would not get a share of the territory. Prussia only participated in one battle, the Battle of Stresow on the island of Rügen , as
13824-580: The time but conservative by today's—provided for a two-chamber parliament, the Landtag . The lower house, later known as the Abgeordnetenhaus , was elected by all males over the age of 25 using the Prussian three-class franchise . Voters 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
13952-560: The time, the Habsburg King Ferdinand I of Bohemia (Silesia's feudal overlord ) rejected the agreement and pressed the Hohenzollerns to repudiate it. In 1603, Hohenzollern Elector Joachim III Frederick of Brandenburg separately inherited the Silesian Duchy of Jägerndorf from his cousin, Margrave George Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach , and installed his second son, Johann Georg , as duke. In
14080-399: The village of Chotusitz on 17 May; the resulting Battle of Chotusitz ended in a narrow Prussian victory, with substantial casualties on both sides. Prince Charles's defeat at Chotusitz, followed shortly by the defeat of another Austrian army at the Battle of Sahay on 24 May, left Prague securely in the invaders' hands and Austria with no immediate means of driving them out of Bohemia. In
14208-433: The village of Mollwitz on 10 April, where the Prussians under Marshal Kurt von Schwerin successfully stopped the Austrian advance in the Battle of Mollwitz . Neither army acquitted itself well at Mollwitz, and Frederick at one point fled (on Schwerin's advice) to avoid capture, but the Prussians held the field and subsequently portrayed the battle as a victory. Brieg surrendered to the Prussians on 4 May, after which
14336-592: The war had already been practically decided in the 1709 Battle of Poltava . In the Treaty of Stockholm Prussia gained all of Swedish Pomerania east of the River Oder . Sweden would however keep a portion of Pomerania until 1815. The Great Northern War not only marked the end of the Swedish Empire but also elevated Prussia and Russia at the expense of the declining Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as new powers in Europe. The Great Elector had incorporated
14464-469: The war involved a coalition led by Tsarist Russia against the dominant North European power at the time, the Swedish Empire . Crown Prince Frederick William tried in 1705 to get Prussia involved in the war, stating "best Prussia has her own army and makes her own decisions." His views, however, were not considered acceptable by his father, and was not until 1713 that Frederick William ascended to
14592-408: Was de facto treated as an integral part of the kingdom. Since the Hohenzollerns were nominally still subjects of the emperor within the parts of their domains that were part of the empire, they continued to use the additional title of Elector of Brandenburg until the empire was dissolved. It was not until 1772 that the title "King of Prussia" was adopted, following the acquisition of Royal Prussia in
14720-644: Was able to instruct the Prussian delegates to the Bundesrat. The southern German states (except Austria) were forced to accept military alliances with Prussia, and Prussia began steps to merge them with the North German Confederation. Bismarck's planned Kleindeutschland unification of Germany had come considerably closer to realisation. The final act came with the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), where Bismarck maneuvered Emperor Napoleon III of France into declaring war on Prussia. Activating
14848-594: Was crushed, and Prussia annexed four of its smaller allies—the Kingdom of Hanover , the Electorate of Hesse , the Duchy of Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt . Prussia also annexed Schleswig and Holstein, and also effectively annexed Saxe-Lauenburg by forcing it into a personal union with Prussia (which was turned into a full union in 1876). King William initially wanted to take territory from Austria itself and annex Saxony, but Bismarck persuaded him to abandon
14976-486: Was dropped. Nonetheless, King Frederick William III was now de jure as well as de facto sovereign of all of the Hohenzollern domains. Before this time, the Hohenzollern sovereign had held many titles and crowns, from Supreme Governor of the Protestant Churches ( summus episcopus ) to King, Elector, Grand Duke, Duke for the various regions and realms under his rule. After 1806 he was simply King of Prussia and summus episcopus . But when Prussia, after it turned against
15104-476: 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. For all intents and purposes, Bismarck dominated the new grouping. He served as his own foreign minister for virtually his entire tenure as prime minister of Prussia, and in that capacity
15232-570: Was essentially an enlarged Prussian army, and the embassies of the new empire were mostly old Prussian embassies. The Constitution of the German Empire was essentially an amended version of the constitution of the North German Confederation. However, the seeds for future problems lay in a gross disparity between the imperial and Prussian systems. The empire granted the vote to all men over 25, although Prussia retained its three-class franchise , in which votes were weighted by taxes paid. Since
15360-481: Was favourable for an attack on Austria, with Britain and France occupying each other's attentions in the War of Jenkins' Ear and Sweden moving toward war with Russia; the Electors of Bavaria and Saxony also had claims against Austria and seemed likely to join in the attack. Though the Hohenzollerns' dynastic claims provided a legalistic casus belli , considerations of Realpolitik and geostrategy played
15488-479: Was held at Frankfurt , where Bavarian Elector Charles Albert was chosen as the next Holy Roman Emperor. In early 1742 Frederick organised a joint advance through Moravia toward Vienna with the Saxons and French, which began after their forces met on 5 February at Wischau . The French, however, proved reluctant and uncooperative allies, and, after the seizure of Iglau on 15 February, they withdrew into Bohemia. The Prussians and Saxons marched on toward Brünn ,
15616-482: Was instrumental in initiating the first of the Partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1772 to maintain a balance of power . The Kingdom of Prussia annexed most of the Polish province of Royal Prussia , including Warmia , allowing Frederick to finally adopt the title King of Prussia; the annexed Royal Prussian land was organised the following year into the Province of West Prussia ; most of
15744-526: Was perceived in Poland more as a nationality-neutral personal holding of the ruling House of Hohenzollern , rather than a German nation-state, and any anxiety concerned predominantly freedom to practice religion rather than rights to maintain national identity. The onset of Germanisation in the following decades, later joined by the Kulturkampf , quickly changed this benign picture and alienated Poles from
15872-474: Was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War but many of its laws were later used in the German Empire. The German Empire successfully unified all of the German states aside from Austria and Switzerland under Prussian hegemony due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. The war united all the German states against
16000-524: Was soundly defeated and surrendered both Schleswig and Holstein, to Prussia and Austria respectively. The divided administration of Schleswig and Holstein then became the trigger for the Austro-Prussian War of 1866—also known as the Seven Weeks' War. Prussia, allied with the Kingdom of Italy and various northern German states, declared war on the Austrian Empire. The Austrian-led coalition
16128-445: Was the decisive factor in many wars, as armies had grown too large to support themselves on prolonged campaigns by foraging and plunder alone. Military supplies were stored in centralised magazines and distributed by baggage trains that were highly vulnerable to enemy raids. Armies were generally unable to sustain combat operations during winter and normally established winter quarters in the cold season, resuming their campaigns with
16256-442: Was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918 . Although it took its name from the region called Prussia , it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg . Its capital was Berlin . The kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern . Brandenburg-Prussia , predecessor of the kingdom, became a military power under Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg , known as "The Great Elector". As
16384-667: Was to Eleanor of Prussia , born 21 August 1583, daughter of Albert Frederick and Marie Eleonore of Cleves . He became regent of the Duchy of Prussia in 1605. His titles also included "duke (Dux) of Stettin , Pomerania , Cassubia , Vandalorum and Crossen ", according to the terms of the Treaty of Grimnitz , although the Pomeranian titles were only nominal. Joachim Frederick and Catherine of Brandenburg-Küstrin had these children: Joachim Frederick and Eleanor of Prussia had only one child: Joachim-Friedrich Strasse in Berlin
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