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121-639: Erfurt has also been ruled by Sweden, Prussia , Napoleon , the German Empire , the Nazis , and post-World War II Soviet occupying forces , and it was part of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). All of these regimes used Petersberg Citadel and had an influence on its development. The baroque fortress was in military use until 1963. Since German reunification in 1990, the citadel has undergone significant restoration and it

242-729: 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

363-505: A battle in 1813. The citadel was built on the site of a medieval Benedictine Monastery and the earliest parts of the complex date from the 12th century. The former lower barracks (German: Untere Kaserne ) building is now used to house and administer archives of the Stasi Records Agency . The Cyriaksburg Citadel  [ de ] , is a smaller fortress to the south-west of Erfurt city centre, which dates from 1480. It

484-548: 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"),

605-664: 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

726-658: 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

847-455: 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

968-594: 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

1089-665: A dance school for traditional Thuringian folkdancing. The Peterskirche, the 75 metre-long monastery church, was built between 1103 and 1147. It originally had two towers at its east end, which along with the towers of the Erfurt cathedral and the Severikirche, dominated the city skyline. Until the end of the 13th century, emperors of the Holy Roman Empire and German kings often held court in the church. Church synods also took place there. In November 1181 an Imperial Diet

1210-469: 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

1331-520: A meeting of nobles from around the Holy Roman Empire fell through the floor into the latrine, with at least 60 drowning. The city gradually grew more independent during the 12th century, and in 1217 it became fully independent with the founding of its own city council. From 1066 until 1873 the old town of Erfurt was encircled by a fortified wall. About 1168 this was extended to run around the western side of Petersberg hill, enclosing it within

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1452-556: A military detention centre were built between 1912 and 1914. The fortress remained an important garrison position until the end of the war in 1918. After World War I, as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, there was a gradual abandonment of military facilities during the Weimar Republic period. Petersberg was used for garden allotments and by the civil police, who had a detention centre, garages, workshops and stores on

1573-468: A new roof was built and three storage levels were constructed inside. In spite of these alterations, the building still has traces of medieval and baroque architectural details, sculpture and paintwork, and the monumental size of the building can still be appreciated. Since 1993 the church has been used as an exhibition space for international concrete art , i.e. art which places a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. It has nothing to do with concrete,

1694-549: A police detention centre originally built to accommodate up to 60 prisoners, but at its peak 241 internees were crowded into the facility. Many of the internees were sent directly from Petersberg citadel to concentration camps . Some were murdered by the Nazis at the citadel itself. The Nazis also had a military court at the citadel for dealing with people such as deserters , which could pronounce death sentences on those being tried, and sometimes these people were immediately executed at

1815-468: 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

1936-599: 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

2057-485: 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

2178-472: Is now open to the public as a historic site. Its maze of underground passageways are also open to visitors and the fortress bakery (1832) is again in working order. The fortress is also known by its French name, Citadelle Petersberg , as French troops were stationed there from 1806 to 1814, when Erfurt was under Napoleonic occupation . Napoleon visited Erfurt several times and the citadel was further developed during his rule, although parts of it were damaged in

2299-677: Is now the home of the German Horticulture Museum. During the Napoleonic period a hidden trench connecting the two citadels was built. The remains of this connection can still be seen at the Cyriaksburg Citadel today. Petersberg Citadel is entwined with the history of Erfurt. The city was first mentioned in 742 in a letter from St Boniface to Pope Zachary , when the Catholic Diocese of Erfurt

2420-531: Is on going discussion about how it will ultimately be restored and used. Barracks A was built in 1675. The 94-meter-long building is a terrace of four houses with separate entrances and a central portal providing access to a back courtyard. It was used as a barracks until the end of World War I in 1918. After that it was used for civilian housing. From 1935 to 1945 it housed the Wehrbezirkskommando (District military command headquarters). From 1945 it

2541-568: 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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2662-568: 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

2783-570: 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

2904-639: 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

3025-537: 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

3146-478: 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

3267-542: 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

3388-614: 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

3509-463: 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

3630-973: The Principality of Erfurt , which he ruled directly himself. Napoleon visited Erfurt a number of times during the French occupation. He took a particular interest in Petersberg Citadel. He stayed in Erfurt from 27 September to 14 October 1808, when he meet with Tsar Alexander I of Russia for the Congress of Erfurt . The two leaders visited Petersberg Citadel together during the Congress. He also went to Erfurt on 15 December 1812 on his return from Russia to France, and from 25 to 28 April 1813. On 21 April 1813 he had ordered that Petersberg Citadel should be strengthened and equipped so that it could support 2000 men under siege for six months. Both French troops and civilian residents of Erfurt were put to work on

3751-667: The Yalta Conference , held in February 1945. In 1944 a transit camp for displaced people had been established in the Defense Barracks, and this continued operating under the occupying Soviet administration after the war. In 1949 the Soviet Occupied Zone became the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). From 1947 Peterberg Citadel was used mainly for civil purposes, with barracks being used by

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3872-524: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Caspar Vogel " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try the purge function . Titles on Misplaced Pages are case sensitive except for

3993-591: The defeat of Napoleon in Russia , Prussia quit its alliance with France and took part in the Sixth Coalition during the "Wars of Liberation" ( Befreiungskriege ) against the French occupation. Prussian troops under Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher contributed crucially (alongside the British and Dutch) to the final victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo of June 1815. Prussia's reward in 1815 at

4114-574: 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

4235-727: The papacy and to the Holy Roman Emperor . Their initially close relationship with the Polish Crown deteriorated after they conquered Polish-controlled Pomerelia and Danzig in 1308. Eventually, Poland and Lithuania, allied through the Union of Krewo (1385), defeated the Knights in the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410. The Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) began when the Prussian Confederation ,

4356-603: The (compulsory) protection of Prussia. Additionally, mutual defence treaties were concluded. However, the existence of these treaties was kept secret until Bismarck made them public in 1867 when France tried to acquire Luxembourg . The controversy with the Second French Empire over the candidacy of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne was escalated both by France and Bismarck. With his Ems Dispatch , Bismarck took advantage of an incident in which

4477-444: The 12th century St Peter's Church, were restored or stabilised, ditches were cleared and walls and bastions were repaired, the horchgänge (listening passages) were cleared, and the 1832 wood-fired fortress bakery was brought back into working order. As at January 2018, the restoration is still on-going. The citadel is surrounded by 2,180 metres of stone walls, which were erected in the first building phase, beginning in 1665. They form

4598-541: The 19th century. Frederick the Great (reigned 1740–1786) practised enlightened absolutism . He built the world's best army, and usually won his many wars. He introduced a general civil code, abolished torture and established the principle that the Crown would not interfere in matters of justice. He also promoted an advanced secondary education, the forerunner of today's German gymnasium (grammar school) system, which prepares

4719-486: The Archbishop-Elector of Mainz. In 1993 the two wooden portcullis were reconstructed within the double archway entrance. The script above the gateway which reads "Citadelle Petersberg", was installed in 1861. The Commandant Building was built in 1669 by an Italian construction team. From 1939 to 1945 it was used as a military court by the Nazis. It was restored in 1998 and is now used by Tanztenne Petersberg,

4840-656: The Austrian Army at the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741, Frederick succeeded in conquering Lower Silesia (the northwestern half of Silesia). In the next year, 1742, he conquered Upper Silesia (the southeastern half). Furthermore, in the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War ) Frederick won a victory over Austria at the Battle of Lobositz on 1 October 1756. In spite of some victories afterward, his situation became far less comfortable

4961-729: The Baltic Prussian tribes on his borders. During 60 years of struggles against the Old Prussians , the Order established an independent state that came to control Prūsa. After the Livonian Brothers of the Sword joined the Teutonic Order in 1237, the Order also controlled Livonia (now Latvia and Estonia ). Around 1252 they finished the conquest of the northernmost Prussian tribe of the Skalvians as well as of

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5082-582: 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

5203-562: 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

5324-667: 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

5445-444: 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

5566-452: 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

5687-399: 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

5808-409: The French to surrender and leave Petersberg Citadel. There was no surrender and fire was opened on the citadel on 6 November, at six o'clock in the morning. A number of buildings caught fire, including the main guardhouse, monastery building, and parts of St. Peter's Church. One hundred and twenty-one houses in the town centre below the citadel were also destroyed. The French didn't surrender, but there

5929-429: 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

6050-440: The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was founded in 1949, the citadel again was used by the military. The Defense Barracks was used to accommodate a police school, the Kasernierte Volkspolizei (a precursor to the Nationale Volksarmee – NVA), and after 1956 newly formed NVA. After 1963 the citadel became the property of the city of Erfurt and the Defense Barracks were used for storage. It has been vacant since 2000 and there

6171-513: 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

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6292-444: 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

6413-451: 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

6534-405: 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

6655-412: 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

6776-416: The Prussians. When the Prussians took back the citadel in 1814, they began a new building phase which lasted until 1868. They wanted to make the fortress "bomb proof", and resilient to the strength of the latest weapons. During this period they built the Defence Barracks, the fortress bakery, wells, latrines, and caponiers . A caponier is part of a fortification built in a ditch to provided covered defence to

6897-421: The Swedes did strengthen the existing Bastion Gabriel in 1643. In 1664 the city and the surrounding area were conquered by the Electorate of Mainz . On 1 June 1665 the foundation stone of Petersberg Citadel was laid. The formal first construction phase lasted from 1665 to 1707, following an order from Johann Philipp von Schönborn (1605–1673), Archbishop-Elector of Mainz and Bishop of Würzburg and Worms, to build

7018-429: 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,

7139-399: The architect to the imperial court of Mainz. This included the building of the walls, bastions , the ravelins called Anselm and Lotha, the main gateway ( Peterstor ) and commandant building, three barracks, which are among the oldest surviving barracks in Germany, and the tunnels within the walls, called Horchgänge in German, meaning the 'listening passages'. The second construction phase

7260-459: The army in relation to the total population, Mirabeau said later: "Prussia, is not a state with an army, but an army with a state." Frederick William also settled more than 20,000 Protestant refugees from Salzburg in thinly populated East Prussia, which was eventually extended to the west bank of the Neman river, and other regions. In the Treaty of Stockholm (1720), he acquired half of Swedish Pomerania . Frederick William I died in 1740 and

7381-428: 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

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7502-404: 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

7623-403: 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

7744-423: 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

7865-404: 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

7986-415: The building material. The Defense Barracks, by far the largest building on Petersberg Citadel, was built from 1828 to 1831 by the Prussian administration, on the site of the former monastery building which had been damage by fire in 1813 and later demolished. The building is 167 metres long and 18.8 metres wide. The external walls are up to 2 metres thick. It could accommodate approximately 500 soldiers and

8107-467: 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

8228-440: The citadel. Today there is a memorial to those mistreated by the Nazis at the site. Some war damage was sustained, including the 12th century Leonhardskirche (St Leonard's Church) which was totally destroyed in an air raid. The church had been converted into an artillery store. At the end of World War II, Erfurt was liberated by American forces in April 1945, and handed over to the Soviet administration on 3 July 1945, as agreed at

8349-459: The citadel. Von Schönborn had recently conquered Erfurt and wanted to build the fortress to demonstrate his power to the local population, in order to suppress any ideas of rebellion. A plan that the Erfurt architect Caspar Vogel  [ de ] (c.1660–1663) had created for the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf served as a basic model for the citadel, and the work was substantially influenced by Antonio Petrini  [ de ] (c.1620–1701)

8470-441: The city boundaries. About 1625 the city council had the city wall at the Petersberg strengthened by building a large hornwork and two bastions . These are the bastions named Gabriel and Michael. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Erfurt was occupied by Swedish forces from 1631. The Swedish king, Gustav II Adolf , hoped to build a fortress on Petersberg hill, but he died in 1632 and the plans never came to fruition. However,

8591-429: The civil police. From 1956 until 1963 the East German Army (German: Nationale Volksarmee ) used the citadel and its barracks, but they then moved to new facilities on the outskirts of the city. After that the main users of site were the police, for storing equipment, and a garden allotment association. The Stasi , whose prison and district headquarters were immediately below the citadel, had warehouses and workshops on

8712-479: 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 ,

8833-528: The coronation of King Frederick I ), William was proclaimed "German Emperor " (not "Emperor of Germany") in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside Paris, while the French capital was still under siege . The two decades after the unification of Germany were the peak of Prussia's fortunes, but the seeds for potential strife were built into the Prusso-German political system. The Constitution of

8954-540: The creation of Congress Poland under Russian sovereignty. In 1815 Prussia became part of the German Confederation . The first half of the 19th century saw a prolonged struggle in Germany between liberals, who wanted a united, federal Germany under a democratic constitution, and conservatives , who wanted to maintain Germany as a patchwork of independent, monarchical states with Prussia and Austria competing for influence. One small movement that signalled

9075-467: 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

9196-484: 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

9317-484: 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

9438-515: The ditch and/or access to outer parts of the fort. After German Unification in 1871, Erfurt became part of the newly created German Empire . The threat to the city from its Saxon neighbours and from Bavaria was no longer present, so it was decided to dismantle the city walls. Only a few remnants remain today. In June 1873 Emperor Wilhelm I gave orders for the Petersberg and Cyriaksburg citadels to be pulled down, but due to lack of funds this

9559-534: 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

9680-462: The first mention of it was in 1185. It was originally in the romanesque style, but after the site became a fortress the windows were altered and the building became an artillery store. It was destroyed in a World War II air raid. In the early 1990s the foundations were excavated and can be seen today. Prussia Prussia ( / ˈ p r ʌ ʃ ə / , German : Preußen [ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] ; Old Prussian : Prūsija, Prūsa )

9801-408: 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

9922-1265: 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. Caspar Vogel Look for Caspar Vogel on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Caspar Vogel in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

10043-517: The left bank of the Rhine that were lost to France. However, on 16 October 1806 Erfurt was handed over to French forces in what is known as the Capitulation of Erfurt , which followed the Prussian defeat in the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt . French troops were stationed at Erfurt from 1806 to 1814, when Erfurt was under Napoleonic occupation. Napoleon arrived in the city on 23 June 1807, and created

10164-404: The monastery and temporarily converted it into a Protestant monastery in 1633. After the occupation only three monks remained. The church was damaged and the treasures and stores of the monastery were plundered. The damage to the church was repaired in the first and second building phases of citadel, in 1672 and 1727. In 1765 its interior was baroqueized by Italian plasterers. In 1803 the monastery

10285-614: 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

10406-417: 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),

10527-534: 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

10648-412: 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

10769-423: The project, with over 3000 civilians working on building the ditches that surround the external walls. The work was carried both day and night, used flaming torches to see by. During this time a hidden trench connecting Petersburg and Cyriaksburg citadels was built, the remains of which can still be seen at Cyriaksburg today. On 4 November 1813 Prussian, Austrian and Russian forces drew in on Erfurt and sought to get

10890-546: 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

11011-557: The site for their motor pool until 1990. The rest of the citadel was unused and plants were allowed to naturally regrow. After German reunification in 1990, a massive project to restore the citadel was begun. It is the largest such project undertaken by the Erfurt city council and it is funded by the city council and the Thuringian state and German federal governments. Over 300 people were temporarily employed. Most buildings added since 1868 were removed, most earlier buildings, including

11132-413: The site. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they again brought the citadel into military use. They built gun casemates , and from 1935 divisional army units, reserve army units and the district army recruitment office were based there. Also from 1935, the Nazis used parts of the citadel as a prison for the internment of their political enemies, such as communists and trade unionists. They were kept in

11253-446: 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

11374-483: 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

11495-519: The star-shaped ground plan of the citadel, made with eight bastions and four ravelins and are between 1.2 and 6 metres thick, and from 8 to 26 metres high. There are small look-out towers built into the walls. There are now only three ravelins as Ravelin Wilhelm was removed in the 19th century. There are tunnels within the walls, called the Horchgänge in German, meaning the 'listening passages'. At

11616-607: 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

11737-409: The time the citadel was first built there were no trenches or moats beyond the wall, so the Horchgänge were constructed so that soldiers could walk through them to listen for anyone trying to tunnel into the fortress. The Peterstor, the main entrance to the citadel, was built from 1666 to 1668. It was designed by Antonio Petrini and bears the coat of arms of Johann Philipp von Schönborn (1605–1673),

11858-593: 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

11979-453: 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

12100-489: 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

12221-474: Was secularised . On 6 November 1813 Prussian troops bombarded the French occupied citadel and much of it caught fire, including the church and monastery buildings. The monastery buildings, other than the church, were later then completely removed by Prussian forces who took possession of citadel in May 1814. From 1820 the remaining church was used as a store for flour and military provisions. The towers were dismantled,

12342-670: 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

12463-648: 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

12584-537: Was an extended truce and at the beginning of January 1814, the city of Erfurt was handed over to the Prussians, although the French troops remained in the Petersberg and Cyriaksburg citadels. When Paris was captured by allied troops in April 1814, the Napoleonic troops still remained in Petersberg citadel. It was not until 5 May 1814 that French General Alexandre d'Alton surrendered and handed the citadel over peacefully to

12705-522: Was an old people's home. The building was restored between 2000 and 2001, and it now houses a mixture of private apartments and offices. The Lower Barracks was built c.1690. It now houses the Stasi Records Agency , officially the Bundesbeauftragt für die Stasi-Unterlagen (BStU) . It provides exhibitions and public guided tours, in German, every third Thursday of the month. The BStU has 15 such regional archives in Germany. The Artillery Barracks

12826-469: Was built between 1679 and 1681. Side wings were added to the building in 1825. It was in military use until 1964, when it housed the military headquarters. It was restored 1990–1993. Administrative offices of the Thuringian department for monument protection and archaeology (Thüringische Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie, TLDA) are now housed in the building. The Maintenance Sergeant's quarters

12947-641: Was built in 1530 as part of the Monastery of St Peter and Paul. From 1665, when the military took over the site, it was used as the Marketenderei , in English the 'sutler's building'. The sutler was a merchant who accompanied an army in order to sell provisions to soldiers. After 1820 it became a farm yard for the Prussian garrison. It is not known exactly when the Leonhardskirche was built, but

13068-400: Was built primarily as an artillery position to hinder enemy access to the upper plateau of the citadel from the north. After the unification of Germany in 1871, the building was mainly used for housing soldiers and for storage. In 1912–1913 it was remodelled and expanded with a neo-Baroque style mansard roof and the addition of large dormer windows on both sides of the building. After this it

13189-463: 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

13310-600: Was established. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire , and was brought into the Diocese of Mainz in 755. The earliest archaeological find from the Middle Ages on Petersberg hill is a coin dating from c.850, from the time of Lothair I , Holy Roman Emperor from 817 to 855. It was found in a grave, in the mouth of the deceased. The oldest surviving building in the citadel is the Peterskirche (St. Peters Church), which

13431-429: Was from 1707 to 1728, under the direction of the architect Maximilian von Welsch (1671–1745), who was made an imperial knight with the title Edler von Welsch for his services to architecture by Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor in 1714. Welsch put special emphasis on the reinforcement of the fortress and trench defenses. Erfurt became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1802, to compensate Prussia for its territories on

13552-571: 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

13673-563: Was held in the church, presided over by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I , known as Barbarossa . There Barbarossa's cousin Henry the Lion submitted to the emperor's authority after several years of opposition and war, and ceded most of his lands. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) Erfurt was occupied from 1631 by the troops of Gustav II Adolf of Sweden. In 1632, the Swedes briefly dissolved

13794-459: 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

13915-485: Was mostly not done. Two ravelins (Peter and Wilhelm) and the hornwork along the walls were removed. An access road was built and Lunette I was demolished and Lunette II and Ravelin Gabriel were reduced in height. The rubble was used to fill in the ditches. Prior to World War I there was a renewed interest in the strategic military location of Petersberg Citadel. New buildings, such as workshops, warehouses, barracks and

14036-563: Was part of the Benedictine Monastery of St Peter and Paul, after which the hill, and subsequently the citadel, was named. The first recorded evidence of the monastery is from 1060, but it may have existed a considerable time before that. The original building burned down in 1080, but was rebuilt from 1103 to 1147 and St Peter's Church is from this second period. In 1184, the Erfurt latrine disaster occurred in this building, where

14157-574: 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

14278-409: Was renewed military use of Petersberg citadel. From 1936 to 1938 part of the barracks was used to house the new established Motorized Infantry Regiment no. 71, and from 1938 to 1939 as the headquarters of the army's administrative offices. In 1944 a transit camp for displaced people was established in the Defense Barracks, and this was continued by the occupying Soviet administration after the war. When

14399-419: 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

14520-524: 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

14641-533: Was then able to accommodate 750 soldiers. After the end of World War I in 1918, as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, there was gradual decline in use of military facilities in Germany. The barracks was used as residential building and as quarters for the civil police and the Freikorps Thüringen, a civilian militia army unit. During the rearmament of the army during the Nazi period, there

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