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142-579: The locality was first mentioned in 1375, named Lichtenrode . Autonomous Prussian municipality of the former Teltow district, Lichtenrade was incorporated into Berlin in 1920, with the " Greater Berlin Act ". During World War II, a branch of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp was located in this locality. After 1941, prisoners of war from Ukraine were interned in the camp. During the Cold War it

284-729: 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

426-548: 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 the flag of the German Empire in 1871. Suum cuique ("to each, his own"),

568-664: 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

710-591: A complex history, having had periods of Polish, German and self rule. An important shipbuilding and trade port since the Middle Ages , in 1361 it became a member of the Hanseatic League which influenced its economic, demographic and urban landscape . It also served as Poland's principal seaport, and was the largest city of Poland in the 15th-17th centuries. In 1793, within the Partitions of Poland ,

852-658: 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

994-811: A court verdict. On the request of the organisation King Casimir IV of Poland reincorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. This led to the Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the State of the Teutonic Order (1454–1466). Since 1454, the city was authorized by the King to mint Polish coins. The local mayor pledged allegiance to the King during the incorporation in March 1454 in Kraków , and

1136-455: 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

1278-594: 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

1420-469: 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

1562-461: A free and secure access to the sea"), the Poles hoped the city's harbour would also become part of Poland. However, in the end – since Germans formed a majority in the city, with Poles being a minority (in the 1923 census 7,896 people out of 335,921 gave Polish, Kashubian, or Masurian as their native language) – the city was not placed under Polish sovereignty. Instead, in accordance with the terms of

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1704-590: A non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. The German attack began in Danzig, with a bombardment of Polish positions at Westerplatte by the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein , and the landing of German infantry on the peninsula. Outnumbered Polish defenders at Westerplatte resisted for seven days before running out of ammunition. Meanwhile, after a fierce day-long fight (1 September 1939), defenders of

1846-468: 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

1988-523: A series of Polish-Teutonic Wars , in the Treaty of Kalisz (1343) the Order had to acknowledge that it would hold Pomerelia as a fief from the Polish Crown . Although it left the legal basis of the Order's possession of the province in some doubt, the city thrived as a result of increased exports of grain (especially wheat), timber, potash , tar, and other goods of forestry from Prussia and Poland via

2130-599: 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 the Allies , was officially abolished by an Allied declaration in 1947. The international status of the former eastern territories of

2272-575: A stronghold on the site in the 980s, thereby connecting the Polish state ruled by the Piast dynasty with the trade routes of the Baltic Sea . Traces of buildings and housing from the 10th century have been found in archaeological excavations of the city. The site was ruled as a duchy of Poland by the Samborides . It consisted of a settlement at the modern Long Market, settlements of craftsmen along

2414-485: 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

2556-470: Is a matter of expanding our Lebensraum in the east", adding that there will be no repeat of the Czech situation, and Germany will attack Poland at first opportunity, after isolating the country from its Western Allies. After the German proposals to solve the three main issues peacefully were refused, German-Polish relations rapidly deteriorated. Germany attacked Poland on 1 September after having signed

2698-569: Is among the most visited cities in Poland, having received 3.4 million tourists according to data collected in 2019. The city also hosts St. Dominic's Fair , which dates back to 1260, and is regarded as one of the biggest trade and cultural events in Europe. Gdańsk has also topped rankings for the quality of life, safety and living standards worldwide, and its historic city centre has been listed as one of Poland's national monuments . The name of

2840-509: Is usually pronounced [ˈdantsɪç] , or alternatively [ˈdantsɪk] in more Southern German-speaking areas. The city's Latin name may be given as either Gedania , Gedanum , or Dantiscum ; the variety of Latin and German names typically reflects the difficulty of pronunciation of the Polish/Slavonic city's name, all German- and Latin/Romance-speaking populations always encounter in trying to pronounce

2982-568: 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 the Hohenzollern dynasty . The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with

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3124-568: 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

3266-570: 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

3408-639: 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

3550-544: The Danzig gulden . With the growth of Nazism among Germans, anti-Polish sentiment increased and both Germanisation and segregation policies intensified, in the 1930s the rights of local Poles were commonly violated and limited by the local administration. Polish children were refused admission to public Polish-language schools, premises were not allowed to be rented to Polish schools and preschools. Due to such policies, only eight Polish-language public schools existed in

3692-537: 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

3834-478: The Free State of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. Subsequently, it was effectively dismantled into Nazi German Gaue in 1935. 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

3976-609: 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

4118-592: The Kingdom of Prussia in 1793, in the Second Partition of Poland . Both the Polish and the German-speaking population largely opposed the Prussian annexation and wished the city to remain part of Poland. The mayor of the city stepped down from his office due to the annexation. The notable city councilor Jan (Johann) Uphagen, historian and art collector, also resigned as a sign of protest against

4260-582: The Kristallnacht riots in November 1938, the community decided to organize its emigration and in March 1939 a first transport to Palestine started. By September 1939 barely 1,700 mostly elderly Jews remained. In early 1941, just 600 Jews were still living in Danzig, most of whom were later murdered in the Holocaust . Out of the 2,938 Jewish community in the city, 1,227 were able to escape from

4402-614: 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

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4544-795: The November and January uprisings and refugees from the Russian Partition of Poland fleeing conscription into the Russian Army, and insurgents of the November Uprising were also imprisoned in Biskupia Górka ( Bischofsberg ). In May–June 1832 and November 1833, more than 1,000 Polish insurgents departed partitioned Poland through the city's port, boarding ships bound for France , the United Kingdom and

4686-463: The Old Prussians ; in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights  – an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders  – conquered 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

4828-688: The Polish Space Agency and the European Solidarity Centre . Among Gdańsk's most notable historical landmarks are the Town Hall , the Green Gate , Artus Court , Neptune's Fountain , and St. Mary's Church , one of the largest brick churches in the world. The city is served by Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport , the country's third busiest airport and the most important international airport in northern Poland. Gdańsk

4970-603: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , the city inhabitants largely became bi-cultural sharing both Polish and German culture and were strongly attached to the traditions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The city suffered a last great plague and a slow economic decline due to the wars of the 18th century. After peace was restored in 1721, Danzig experienced steady economic recovery. As a stronghold of Stanisław Leszczyński 's supporters during

5112-595: The Sicherheitsdienst camp Stutthof some 50 km (30 mi) from Danzig, and murdered. Many Poles living in Danzig were deported to Stutthof or executed in the Piaśnica forest . During the war, Germany operated a prison in the city, an Einsatzgruppen -operated penal camp, a camp for Romani people , two subcamps of the Stalag XX-B prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs, and several subcamps of

5254-781: The Stutthof concentration camp within the present-day city limits. In 1941, Hitler ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union , eventually causing the fortunes of war to turn against Germany. As the Soviet Army advanced in 1944, German populations in Central and Eastern Europe took flight, resulting in the beginning of a great population shift. After the final Soviet offensives began in January 1945, hundreds of thousands of German refugees converged on Danzig, many of whom had fled on foot from East Prussia , some tried to escape through

5396-633: The United States (see Great Emigration ). The city's longest serving mayor was Robert von Blumenthal, who held office from 1841, through the revolutions of 1848 , until 1863. With the unification of Germany in 1871 under Prussian hegemony , the city became part of the German Empire and remained so until 1919, after Germany's defeat in World War I . Starting from the 1850s, long-established Danzig families often felt marginalized by

5538-732: The Versailles Treaty , it became the Free City of Danzig , an independent quasi-state under the auspices of the League of Nations with its external affairs largely under Polish control. Poland's rights also included free use of the harbour, a Polish post office, a Polish garrison in Westerplatte district, and customs union with Poland. The Free City had its own constitution, national anthem , parliament , and government ( Senat ). It issued its own stamps as well as its currency,

5680-404: The Vistula River trading routes , although after its capture, the Teutonic Knights tried to actively reduce the economic significance of the town. While under the control of the Teutonic Order German migration increased. The Order's religious networks helped to develop Danzig's literary culture. A new war broke out in 1409, culminating in the Battle of Grunwald (1410), and the city came under

5822-414: The War of the Polish Succession , it was taken by the Russians after the Siege of Danzig in 1734. In the 1740s and 1750s Danzig was restored and Danzig port was again the most significant grain exporting ports in the Baltic region . The Danzig Research Society , which became defunct in 1936, was founded in 1743. In 1772, the First Partition of Poland took place and Prussia annexed almost all of

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5964-419: 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

6106-405: 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

6248-418: 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 ,

6390-477: 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

6532-411: The 1980s, Gdańsk was the birthplace of the Solidarity movement, which helped precipitate the collapse of the Eastern Bloc , the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact . Gdańsk is home to the University of Gdańsk , Gdańsk University of Technology , the National Museum , the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre , the Museum of the Second World War , the Polish Baltic Philharmonic ,

6674-437: 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

6816-466: 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

6958-426: 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

7100-414: 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

7242-517: The Berliner localities of Marienfelde , Mariendorf and Buckow (this one in the district of Neukölln ). Lichtenrade is served by the S-Bahn line S2 at the stations of Schichauweg and Lichtenrade . The locality is also crossed, from north to south, by the federal highway B96 . [REDACTED] Media related to Lichtenrade at Wikimedia Commons Prussia Prussia ( / ˈ p r ʌ ʃ ə / , German : Preußen [ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] ; Old Prussian : Prūsija, Prūsa )

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7384-443: 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

7526-431: 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

7668-444: 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

7810-452: 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

7952-399: 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

8094-429: 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

8236-513: 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

8378-434: The German influx on the general outlook of the city. Boosted by heavy investment in the development of its port and three major shipyards for Soviet ambitions in the Baltic region , Gdańsk became the major shipping and industrial centre of the People's Republic of Poland . In December 1970, Gdańsk was the scene of anti-regime demonstrations , which led to the downfall of Poland's communist leader Władysław Gomułka . During

8520-444: 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

8662-451: 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 the militarism, military professionalism, aggressiveness, and conservatism of

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8804-518: The Nazis before the outbreak of war. Nazi secret police had been observing Polish minority communities in the city since 1936, compiling information, which in 1939 served to prepare lists of Poles to be captured in Operation Tannenberg . On the first day of the war, approximately 1,500 ethnic Poles were arrested, some because of their participation in social and economic life, others because they were activists and members of various Polish organisations. On 2 September 1939, 150 of them were deported to

8946-405: 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

9088-414: The Old Ditch, German merchant settlements around St Nicholas' Church and the old Piast stronghold. In 1215, the ducal stronghold became the centre of a Pomerelian splinter duchy . At that time the area of the later city included various villages. In 1224/25, merchants from Lübeck were invited as hospites (immigrants with specific privileges) but were soon (in 1238) forced to leave by Swietopelk II of

9230-424: The Polish Post office were tried and executed then buried on the spot in the Danzig quarter of Zaspa in October 1939. In 1998 a German court overturned their conviction and sentence. The city was officially annexed by Nazi Germany and incorporated into the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia . About 50 percent of members of the Jewish community had left the city within a year after a pogrom in October 1937. After

9372-405: The Polish crown to condemn the Teutonic Knights in a subsequent papal lawsuit. The knights colonized the area, replacing local Kashubians and Poles with German settlers. In 1308, they founded Osiek Hakelwerk near the town, initially as a Slavic fishing settlement. In 1340, the Teutonic Knights constructed a large fortress, which became the seat of the knights' Komtur . In 1346 they changed

9514-446: The Polish press. German students attacked and expelled Polish students from the technical university. Dozens of Polish surnames were forcibly Germanized, while Polish symbols that reminded that for centuries Gdańsk was part of Poland were removed from the city's landmarks, such as the Artus Court and the Neptune's Fountain . From 1937, the employment of Poles by German companies was prohibited, and already employed Poles were fired,

9656-418: The Polish province of Royal Prussia , and later also of the Greater Poland Province . The city was visited by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1504 and 1526, and Narratio Prima , the first printed abstract of his heliocentric theory , was published there in 1540. After the Union of Lublin between Poland and Lithuania in 1569 the city continued to enjoy a large degree of internal autonomy (cf. Danzig law ). Being

9798-412: The Prussian government to German Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932 and de jure by an Allied decree in 1947. For centuries, 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

9940-427: The Samborides during a war between Swietopelk and the Teutonic Knights , during which Lübeck supported the latter. Migration of merchants to the town resumed in 1257. Significant German influence did not reappear until the 14th century, after the takeover of the city by the Teutonic Knights. At latest in 1263 Pomerelian duke, Swietopelk II granted city rights under Lübeck law to the emerging market settlement. It

10082-403: The Soviet Army, which captured the heavily damaged city on 30 March 1945 , followed by large-scale rape and looting. In line with the decisions made by the Allies at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, the city became again part of Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. The remaining German residents of

10224-644: The Town Law of the city, which then consisted only of the Rechtstadt , to Kulm law . In 1358, Danzig joined the Hanseatic League , and became an active member in 1361. It maintained relations with the trade centres Bruges , Novgorod , Lisboa , and Sevilla . Around 1377, the Old Town was equipped with city rights as well. In 1380, the New Town was founded as the third, independent settlement. After

10366-429: 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,

10508-532: The annexation. His house exemplifies Baroque in Poland and is now a museum, known as Uphagen's House . An attempted student uprising against Prussia led by Gottfried Benjamin Bartholdi was crushed quickly by the authorities in 1797. During the Napoleonic Wars , in 1807, the city was besieged and captured by a coalition of French , Polish , Italian , Saxon , and Baden forces. Afterwards, it

10650-510: 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

10792-540: 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

10934-524: 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

11076-473: The beginning of the 10th century, it began becoming an important centre for trade (especially between the Pomeranians ) until its annexation in c. 975 by Mieszko I . The first written record thought to refer to Gdańsk is the vita of Saint Adalbert . Written in 999, it describes how in 997 Saint Adalbert of Prague baptised the inhabitants of urbs Gyddannyzc , "which separated the great realm of

11218-592: 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

11360-478: 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 a small detached area in

11502-531: 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

11644-624: The capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship . With a population of 486,492, it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport . Gdańsk lies at the mouth of the Motława River and is situated at the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , close to the city of Gdynia and the resort town of Sopot ; these form a metropolitan area called the Tricity ( Trójmiasto ), with a population of approximately 1.5 million. The city has

11786-522: 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

11928-579: The city again solemnly pledged allegiance to the King in June 1454 in Elbląg , recognizing the prior Teutonic annexation and rule as unlawful. On 25 May 1457 the city gained its rights as an autonomous city. On 15 May 1457, Casimir IV of Poland granted the town the Great Privilege , after he had been invited by the town's council and had already stayed in town for five weeks. With the Great Privilege ,

12070-471: The city became part of Prussia , and thus a part of the German Empire from 1871 after the unification of Germany . Following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles , it was a Free City under the protection of the League of Nations from 1920 to 1939. On 1 September 1939 it was the scene of the first clash of World War II at Westerplatte . The contemporary city was shaped by extensive border changes , expulsions and new settlement after 1945. In

12212-496: The city was home to a large number of Polish-speaking Poles, Jewish Poles, Latvian-speaking Kursenieki , Flemings , and Dutch . In addition, a number of Scots took refuge or migrated to and received citizenship in the city, with first Scots arriving in 1380. During the Protestant Reformation , most German-speaking inhabitants adopted Lutheranism . Due to the special status of the city and significance within

12354-489: The city was most likely derived from Gdania , a river presently known as Motława on which the city is situated. Other linguists also argue that the name stems from the Proto-Slavic adjective / prefix gъd- , which meant ' wet ' or ' moist ' with the addition of the morpheme ń / ni and the suffix -sk . The name of the settlement was recorded after St. Adalbert's death in 997 CE as urbs Gyddanyzc and it

12496-474: The city who had survived the war fled or were expelled to postwar Germany. The city was repopulated by ethnic Poles ; up to 18 percent (1948) of them had been deported by the Soviets in two major waves from pre-war eastern Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union . In 1946, the communists executed 17-year-old Danuta Siedzikówna and 42-year-old Feliks Selmanowicz , known Polish resistance members, in

12638-474: The city's port in a large-scale evacuation involving hundreds of German cargo and passenger ships. Some of the ships were sunk by the Soviets, including the Wilhelm Gustloff after an evacuation was attempted at neighbouring Gdynia . In the process, tens of thousands of refugees were killed. The city also endured heavy Allied and Soviet air raids. Those who survived and could not escape had to face

12780-852: The city, and Poles managed to organize seven more private Polish schools. In the early 1930s, the local Nazi Party capitalised on pro-German sentiments and in 1933 garnered 50% of vote in the parliament. Thereafter, the Nazis under Gauleiter Albert Forster achieved dominance in the city government, which was still nominally overseen by the League of Nations' High Commissioner . In 1937, Poles who sent their children to private Polish schools were required to transfer children to German schools, under threat of police intervention, and attacks were carried out on Polish schools and Polish youth. German militias carried out numerous beatings of Polish activists, scouts and even postal workers, as "punishment" for distributing

12922-580: The city, encouraged by the secret support of Denmark and Emperor Maximilian , shut its gates against Stephen. After the Siege of Danzig , lasting six months, the city's army of 5,000 mercenaries was utterly defeated in a field battle on 16 December 1577. However, since Stephen's armies were unable to take the city by force, a compromise was reached: Stephen Báthory confirmed the city's special status and her Danzig law privileges granted by earlier Polish kings . The city recognised him as ruler of Poland and paid

13064-424: The combination "ns" became "nts" ( Danczk from 1311)., and finally an epenthetical "i" broke up the final cluster ( Danczik from 1399). In Polish, the modern name of the city is pronounced [ɡdaj̃sk] . In English (where the diacritic over the "n" is frequently omitted) the usual pronunciation is / ɡ ə ˈ d æ n s k / or / ɡ ə ˈ d ɑː n s k / . The German name, Danzig ,

13206-565: The control of the Kingdom of Poland . A year later, with the First Peace of Thorn , it returned to the Teutonic Order. In 1440, the city participated in the foundation of the Prussian Confederation which was an organisation opposed to the rule of the Teutonic Knights. The organisation in its complaint of 1453 mentioned repeated cases in which the Teutonic Knights imprisoned or murdered local patricians and mayors without

13348-543: The core of the North German Confederation in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom of Prussia 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 ,

13490-581: 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

13632-595: 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

13774-467: 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

13916-532: The cultural and historical connections between the city and the region of Kashubia are debatable and use of such names raises controversy among Kashubians. The oldest evidence found for the existence of a settlement on the lands of what is now Gdańsk comes from the Bronze Age (which is estimated to be from 2500–1700 BCE). The settlement that is now known as Gdańsk began in the 9th century, being mostly an agriculture and fishing -dependent village. In

14058-418: The demolition of New Town , which had sided with the Teutonic Knights . By 1457, New Town was demolished completely, no buildings remained. Gaining free and privileged access to Polish markets, the seaport prospered while simultaneously trading with the other Hanseatic cities. After the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) between Poland and the Teutonic Order the warfare ended permanently; Gdańsk became part of

14200-574: The difficult and complex Polish/Slavonic words. On special occasions, the city is also referred to as "The Royal Polish City of Gdańsk" (Polish: Królewskie Polskie Miasto Gdańsk , Latin: Regia Civitas Polonica Gedanensis , Kashubian: Królewsczi Pòlsczi Gard Gduńsk ). In the Kashubian language the city is called Gduńsk . Although some Kashubians may also use the name "Our Capital City Gduńsk" ( Nasz Stoleczny Gard Gduńsk ) or "Our (regional) Capital City Gduńsk" ( Stoleczny Kaszëbsczi Gard Gduńsk ),

14342-484: 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

14484-484: 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

14626-616: The duke [i.e., Bolesław the Brave of Poland] from the sea." No further written sources exist for the 10th and 11th centuries. Based on the date in Adalbert's vita , the city celebrated its millennial anniversary in 1997. Archaeological evidence for the origins of the town was retrieved mostly after World War II had laid 90   percent of the city centre in ruins, enabling excavations. The oldest seventeen settlement levels were dated to between 980 and 1308. Mieszko I of Poland erected

14768-399: The end of the 18th century, Gdańsk was still one of the most economically integrated cities in Poland. It was well-connected and traded actively with German cities , while other Polish cities became less well-integrated towards the end of the century, mostly due to greater risks for long-distance trade , given the number of violent conflicts along the trade routes. Danzig was annexed by

14910-626: The enormous sum of 200,000 guldens in gold as payoff ("apology"). During the Polish–Swedish War of 1626–1629 , in 1627, the naval Battle of Oliwa was fought near the city, and it is one of the greatest victories in the history of the Polish Navy . During the Swedish invasion of Poland of 1655–1660, commonly known as the Deluge , the city was unsuccessfully besieged by Sweden . In 1660,

15052-534: 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

15194-408: 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

15336-463: The former Royal Prussia, which became the Province of West Prussia . However, Gdańsk remained a part of Poland as an exclave separated from the rest of the country. The Prussian king cut off Danzig with a military controlled barrier, also blocking shipping links to foreign ports, on the pretense that a cattle plague may otherwise break out. Danzig declined in its economic significance. However, by

15478-465: 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. Danzig Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic coast of northern Poland , and

15620-421: The largest and one of the most influential cities of Poland, it enjoyed voting rights during the royal election period in Poland. In the 1560s and 1570s, a large Mennonite community started growing in the city, gaining significant popularity. In the 1575 election to the Polish throne, Danzig supported Maximilian II in his struggle against Stephen Báthory . It was the latter who eventually became monarch but

15762-474: The local prison. The port of Gdańsk was one of the three Polish ports through which Greeks and Macedonians , refugees of the Greek Civil War , reached Poland. In 1949, four transports of Greek and Macedonian refugees arrived at the port of Gdańsk, from where they were transported to new homes in Poland. Parts of the historic old city of Gdańsk, which had suffered large-scale destruction during

15904-614: 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 a favoured location for immigration by (later mainly Protestant) Germans ( see Ostsiedlung ), as well as Poles and Lithuanians along

16046-417: 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),

16188-494: The new town elite originating from mainland Germany. This situation caused the Polish to allege that the Danzig people were oppressed by German rule and for this reason allegedly failed to articulate their natural desire for strong ties with Poland. When Poland regained its independence after World War I with access to the sea as promised by the Allies on the basis of Woodrow Wilson 's " Fourteen Points " (point 13 called for "an independent Polish state", "which should be assured

16330-534: 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

16472-412: 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

16614-598: The ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom. It became increasingly large and powerful in the 18th and 19th centuries. It had a major voice in European affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great (1740–1786). At the Congress of Vienna (1814–15), 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

16756-532: The return of Danzig to Germany along with an extraterritorial (meaning under German jurisdiction ) highway through the area of the Polish Corridor for land-based access from the rest of Germany. Hitler used the issue of the status of the city as a pretext for attacking Poland and in May 1939, during a high-level meeting of German military officials explained to them: "It is not Danzig that is at stake. For us it

16898-446: 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

17040-483: 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 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

17182-607: 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

17324-482: The town was granted full autonomy and protection by the King of Poland. The privilege removed tariffs and taxes on trade within Poland, Lithuania, and Ruthenia (present day Belarus and Ukraine ), and conferred on the town independent jurisdiction, legislation and administration of her territory, as well as the right to mint its own coin. Furthermore, the privilege united Old Town , Osiek , and Main Town , and legalised

17466-445: The town. Primary sources record a massacre carried out by the Teutonic Knights against the local population, of 10,000 people, but the exact number killed is subject of dispute in modern scholarship. Multiple authors accept the number given in the original sources, while others consider 10,000 to have been a medieval exaggeration, although scholarly consensus is that a massacre of some magnitude did take place. The events were used by

17608-610: The trade with Eastern Europe . Low on funds, the Samborides lent the settlement to Brandenburg, although they planned to take the city back and give it to Poland. Poland threatened to intervene, and the Brandenburgians left the town. Subsequently, the city was taken by Danish princes in 1301. In 1308, the town was taken by Brandenburg and the Teutonic Knights restored order. Subsequently, the Knights took over control of

17750-593: 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

17892-407: The use of Polish in public places was banned and Poles were not allowed to enter several restaurants, in particular those owned by Germans. In 1939, before the German invasion of Poland and outbreak of World War II , local Polish railwaymen were victims of beatings, and after the invasion, they were also imprisoned and murdered in concentration camps . The German government officially demanded

18034-440: The war was ended with the Treaty of Oliwa , signed in the present-day district of Oliwa . In 1677, a Polish-Swedish alliance was signed in the city. Around 1640, Johannes Hevelius established his astronomical observatory in the Old Town . Polish King John III Sobieski regularly visited Hevelius numerous times. Beside a majority of German-speakers, whose elites sometimes distinguished their German dialect as Pomerelian ,

18176-473: The war, were rebuilt during the 1950s and 1960s. The reconstruction sought to dilute the "German character" of the city, and set it back to how it supposedly looked like before the annexation to Prussia in 1793. Nineteenth-century transformations were ignored as "ideologically malignant" by post-war administrations, or regarded as "Prussian barbarism" worthy of demolition, while Flemish/Dutch, Italian and French influences were emphasized in order to "neutralize"

18318-453: 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

18460-489: 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

18602-619: Was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from 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

18744-506: Was a free city from 1807 to 1814, when it was captured by combined Prussian-Russian forces. In 1815, after France's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars , it again became part of Prussia and became the capital of Regierungsbezirk Danzig within the province of West Prussia . Since the 1820s, the Wisłoujście Fortress served as a prison, mainly for Polish political prisoners, including resistance members , protesters, insurgents of

18886-648: 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

19028-617: Was a part of West Berlin bordering with East Germany . Its long boundary with Brandenburg was surrounded by the Berlin Wall from 1961 to 1989. Located in the southern suburb of Berlin, it is one of the southernmost areas of the city, largely bounded by the Brandenburger municipalities of Schönefeld ( Dahme-Spreewald district), Blankenfelde-Mahlow and Großbeeren (both in Teltow-Fläming district). It borders with

19170-569: Was an autonomy charter similar to that of Lübeck, which was also the primary origin of many settlers. In a document of 1271 the Pomerelian duke Mestwin II addressed the Lübeck merchants settled in the city as his loyal citizens from Germany. In 1300, the town had an estimated population of 2,000. While overall the town was far from an important trade centre at that time, it had some relevance in

19312-463: 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

19454-571: 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

19596-459: 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

19738-428: Was later written as Kdanzk in 1148, Gdanzc in 1188, Danceke in 1228, Gdańsk in 1236, Danzc in 1263, Danczk in 1311, Danczik in 1399, Danczig in 1414, and Gdąnsk in 1656. In Polish documents, the form Gdańsk was always used. The German form Danzig developed later, simplifying the consonant clusters to something easier for German speakers to pronounce. The cluster "gd" became "d" ( Danzc from 1263),

19880-574: 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

20022-419: 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

20164-471: 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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