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109-709: Water from the river Oder flows into the Szczecin Lagoon and from there through the Peene west of Usedom, Świna and Dziwna into the Bay of Pomerania in the Baltic Sea . Most of the island consists of forests and postglacial hills. In the middle is the Wolin National Park . The island is the main tourist attraction of northwestern Poland, and it is crossed by several marked tourist trails, such as

218-410: A 73-kilometer-long (45 mi) trail from Międzyzdroje to Dziwnówek. There is a main, electrified rail line, which connects Szczecin and Świnoujście, as well as the international road E65 ( national road 3 / S3 expressway ) crossing the island. Some etymologists believe that the name is related to the name of the ancient historical region of Volhynia . The origins of the name then would come from

327-590: A German-perpetrated death march of Allied prisoners-of-war from the Stalag XX-B POW camp passed through the island. After Nazi Germany 's defeat in the war, it became again part of Poland. In 1949–1950, a military hospital was based on the island, in which some 2,000 wounded or ill Greeks and Macedonians , partisans and refugees of the Greek Civil War , were treated by the Poles. In 2015,

436-652: A considerably more moderate policy. Upon Frederick William IV's death in 1861 he succeeded to the Prussian throne as William I . However, shortly after becoming king, he faced a dispute with his parliament over the size of the army. The parliament, dominated by the liberals, balked at William's desire to increase the number of regiments and withheld approval of the budget to pay for its cost. A deadlock ensued, and William seriously considered abdicating in favour of his son, Crown Prince Frederick . Ultimately, he decided to appoint as prime minister Otto von Bismarck , at that time

545-522: A military power under Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg , known as "The Great Elector". As a kingdom, Prussia continued its rise to power, especially during the reign of Frederick II "the Great" . Frederick the Great was instrumental in starting the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), holding his own against Austria , Russia , France and Sweden and establishing Prussia's dominant role among

654-769: A much more peaceable ruler. Other additions to Prussia in the 18th century were the County of East Frisia (1744), the Principality of Bayreuth (1791) and Principality of Ansbach (1791), the latter two being acquired through purchase from branches of the Hohenzollern dynasty. To the east and south of Prussia, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had gradually weakened during the 18th century. Alarmed by increasing Russian influences in Polish affairs and by

763-476: A new port was constructed and the main part of the town acquired new, stronger fortifications, including a wooden palisade made of halved 50-centimetre wide tree trunks, a rampart and a retaining wall. Archaeologists believe that in the Early Middle Ages Wolin was a great trade emporium, spreading along the shore for four kilometres and rivalling in importance Birka and Hedeby . In 967,

872-686: A number of administrative reforms, among others reorganising the government by way of ministries, which remained formative for the following hundred years. As to religion, reformed Calvinist Frederick William III—as Supreme Governor of the Protestant Churches —asserted his long-cherished project (started in 1798) to unite the Lutheran and the Reformed Church in 1817, (see Prussian Union ). The Calvinist minority, strongly supported by its co-religionist Frederick William III, and

981-670: A period of refusal, confirmed the inviolability of the border in 1970 in the Treaty of Warsaw . In 1990 newly reunified Germany and the Republic of Poland signed a treaty recognizing the Oder–Neisse line as their border. On 11 August 2022, it was discovered that the Oder river had been contaminated and at least 135 tonnes of dead fish washed up on its shores. Water samples taken on 28 July indicated possible mesitylene contamination, although

1090-523: A possible expansion of the Russian Empire , Frederick was instrumental in initiating the first of the Partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1772 to maintain a balance of power . The Kingdom of Prussia annexed most of the Polish province of Royal Prussia , including Warmia , allowing Frederick to finally adopt the title King of Prussia; the annexed Royal Prussian land

1199-468: A publication now in the public domain :  Chisholm, Hugh , ed. (1911). " Oder ". Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 2–3. Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia ( German : Königreich Preußen , pronounced [ˈkøːnɪkʁaɪç ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] ) constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. It

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1308-494: A result, the grip of the landowning classes, the Junkers , remained unbroken, especially in the eastern provinces. The constitution nevertheless contained a number of liberal elements such as the introduction of jury courts and a catalog of fundamental rights that included freedom of religion, speech and the press. Frederick William suffered a stroke in 1857, and his younger brother, Prince William, became regent . William pursued

1417-515: A series of treaties and compromises, culminating in the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle that restored peace and left Prussia in possession of most of Silesia. Humiliated by the cession of Silesia, Austria worked to secure an alliance with France and Russia (the " Diplomatic Revolution "), while Prussia drifted into Great Britain's camp forming the Anglo-Prussian Alliance . When Frederick preemptively invaded Saxony and Bohemia over

1526-585: A serious invasion until October 1760, when the Russian army briefly occupied Berlin and Königsberg . The situation became progressively grimmer, however, until the death in 1762 of Empress Elizabeth of Russia ( Miracle of the House of Brandenburg ). The accession of the Prussophile Peter III relieved the pressure on the eastern front. Sweden also exited the war at about the same time. Defeating

1635-611: A unified Kleindeutschland nation, and on 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of the first Prussian king, Frederick I), the German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside of Paris , while the French capital was still under siege . King William became the first emperor ( Kaiser ) of a unified Germany. However, the titles of German Emperor and King of Prussia were to be borne by

1744-478: A unified Germany more than they wanted to break the grip of the traditional forces over society. He thus embarked on a drive to form a united Germany under Prussian leadership, and guided Prussia through three wars which ultimately achieved this goal. The first of these wars was the Second War of Schleswig (1864), which Prussia initiated and succeeded in, and in which it gained the assistance of Austria. Denmark

1853-651: Is a river in Central Europe . It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta . The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows 742 kilometres (461 mi) through western Poland, later forming 187 kilometres (116 mi) of the border between Poland and Germany as part of the Oder–Neisse line . The river ultimately flows into

1962-455: Is assumed that the disc was a part of a Viking hoard found in 1840 in the Polish village Wiejkowo near the town of Wolin by Heinrich Boldt, the maternal great-great-grandfather of Hollywood actors and producers Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck . The disc was rediscovered in 2014 by an eleven year old schoolgirl who found it in an old casket and then brought it to school. Among the natural, historic and tourist sights of Wolin are: Annually,

2071-562: Is located approximately 60 km from the island. In 2023, the underwater Świnoujście Tunnel connecting the islands of Wolin and Usedom was officially opened. The project cost EUR 191 million constitutes the only fixed link between two parts of the city and between the rest of country. The Świnoujście LNG terminal is located on the island. Oder The Oder ( / ˈ oʊ d ər / OH -dər , German: [ˈoːdɐ] ; Czech , Lower Sorbian and Polish : Odra ; Upper Sorbian : Wódra [ˈwʊtʁa] )

2180-618: Is only a narrow channel (Świna) going to the Bay of Pomerania , which forms a part of the Baltic Sea. The largest city on the Oder is Wrocław , in Lower Silesia . The Oder is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as the town of Koźle , where the river connects to the Gliwice Canal . The upstream part of the river is canalized and permits larger barges (up to CEMT Class IV ) to navigate between

2289-593: Is the second longest river overall taking into account its total length, including parts in neighbouring countries. The Oder drains a basin of 119,074 square kilometres (45,975 sq mi), 106,043 km (40,943 sq mi) of which are in Poland (89%), 7,246 km (2,798 sq mi) in the Czech Republic (6%), and 5,587 km (2,157 sq mi) in Germany (5%). Channels connect it to

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2398-768: The Allies decided that the new eastern border of Germany would run along the Oder. After World War II, the former German areas east of the Oder and the Lusatian Neisse passed to Poland by decision of the victorious Allies at the Potsdam Conference (at the insistence of the Soviets). As a result, the so-called Oder–Neisse line formed the border between the Soviet occupation zone (from 1949 East Germany ) and Poland. The final border between Germany and Poland

2507-587: The Battle of Stresow on the island of Rügen , as the war had already been practically decided in the 1709 Battle of Poltava . In the Treaty of Stockholm Prussia gained all of Swedish Pomerania east of the River Oder . Sweden would however keep a portion of Pomerania until 1815. The Great Northern War not only marked the end of the Swedish Empire but also elevated Prussia and Russia at the expense of

2616-656: The Congress of Vienna . It regained most of its pre-1806 territory. Notable exceptions included part of the territory annexed in the Second and Third Partitions of Poland, which became Congress Poland under Russian rule (though it did retain Danzig, acquired in the Second Partition). It also did not regain several of its former towns in the south. However, as compensation it picked up some new territory, including 40% of

2725-714: The First French Empire , was defeated in the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt (14 October 1806), Frederick William III was forced to temporarily flee to remote Memel . After the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, Prussia lost about half of its territory, including the land gained from the Second and Third Partitions of Poland (which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw ) and all land west of the Elbe river. France recaptured Prussian-occupied Hanover, including Bremen-Verden. The remainder of

2834-677: The German Confederation , the issue of unifying the German states caused the German revolutions of 1848–1849 , with representatives from all states attempting to unify under their own constitution. Attempts to create a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when the Austro-Prussian War ensued between its two most powerful member states. Prussia was subsequently

2943-785: The German Revolution of 1918–1919 , the Kingdom of Prussia was transformed into the Free State of Prussia . Prussia as a whole was abolished in 1947 . The Hohenzollerns were made rulers of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1518. In 1529, the Hohenzollerns secured the reversion of the Duchy of Pomerania after a series of conflicts , and acquired its eastern part following the Peace of Westphalia . In 1618,

3052-611: The Havel , Spree , Vistula system and Kłodnica . It flows through Silesian , Opole , Lower Silesian , Lubusz , and West Pomeranian voivodeships of Poland and the states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany. The main branch empties into the Szczecin Lagoon near Police, Poland . The Szczecin Lagoon is bordered on the north by the islands of Usedom (west) and Wolin (east). Between these two islands, there

3161-618: The Kingdom of Saxony and much of Westphalia and the Rhineland. Prussia now stretched uninterrupted from the Niemen in the east to the Elbe in the west, and possessed a chain of disconnected territories west of the Elbe. This left Prussia as the only great power with a predominantly German-speaking population. With these gains in territory, the kingdom was reorganized into 10 provinces. Most of

3270-577: The Orangist stadtholderate against the increasingly rebellious Patriots , who sought to overthrow the House of Orange-Nassau and establish a democratic republic . The direct cause of the invasion was the arrest at Goejanverwellesluis , where Frederick William II's sister Wilhelmina of Prussia , also stadtholder William V of Orange 's wife, was stopped by a band of Patriots who denied her passage to The Hague to reclaim her husband's position. In 1795,

3379-710: The Province of Hohenzollern . During the half-century that followed the Congress of Vienna, a conflict of ideals took place within the German Confederation between the formation of a single German nation and the conservation of the current collection of smaller German states and kingdoms. The main debate centered around whether Prussia or the Austrian Empire should be the leading member of any unified Germany. Those advocating for Prussian leadership contended that Austria had far too many non-German interests to work for

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3488-457: The Province of Pomerania , uniting the kingdom's eastern territories. After Frederick died in 1786, his nephew Fredrick William II continued the partitions, gaining a large part of western Poland in 1793; Thorn (Toruń) and Danzig (Gdańsk), which had remained part of Poland after the first partition, were incorporated into West Prussia, while the remainder became the province of South Prussia . In 1787, Prussia invaded Holland to restore

3597-580: The Szczecin Lagoon north of Szczecin and then into three branches (the Dziwna , Świna and Peene ) that empty into the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea . The Oder is known by several names in different languages, but the modern ones are very similar: English and German: Oder ; Czech, Polish, and Lower Sorbian : Odra , Upper Sorbian : Wódra ; Kashubian : Òdra ( pronounced [ˈwɛdra] ); Medieval Latin : Od(d)era ; Renaissance Latin : Viadrus (invented in 1534). Ptolemy knew

3706-776: The War of the Spanish Succession , the Great Elector's son, Frederick III, was allowed to elevate Prussia to a kingdom in the Crown Treaty of 16 November 1700. Frederick crowned himself " King in Prussia " as Frederick I on 18 January 1701. Legally, no kingdoms could exist in the Holy Roman Empire except for Bohemia and Italy . However, Frederick took the line that since Prussia had never been part of

3815-580: The defeat of Napoleon in Russia in 1812, Prussia quit the alliance and took part in the Sixth Coalition during the "Wars of Liberation" ( Befreiungskriege ) against the French occupation. Prussian troops under Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher contributed crucially in the Battle of Waterloo of 1815 to the final victory over Napoleon. Prussia's reward for its part in France's defeat came at

3924-457: The Świnoujście LNG terminal was opened. Archaeological finds on the island are not very rich but they dot an area of 20 hectares, making it the second largest Baltic marketplace of the Viking Age after Hedeby. Some scholars have speculated that Wolin may have been the basis for the semi-legendary settlements Jomsborg and Vineta . However, others have rejected the identification, or even

4033-479: The 10th century, almost the entire course of the Oder River found itself within the borders of the newly formed Polish state, with the exception of the area around the source of the river, which was under Bohemian rule. Several important cities of medieval Poland developed along the Oder, including Opole which became the capital of Upper Silesia , Wrocław which became the capital of Lower Silesia and one of

4142-427: The 8th or the beginning of the 9th century, the area was levelled and a new settlement constructed. The earliest evidence of fortifications dates to the first half of the 9th century. In the second half of the 9th century, there was a central fortified area and two suburbs, to the north and south of the center. These became enclosed and fortified between the end of the 9th and the 10th centuries. A medieval document from

4251-516: The Austrian army at the Battle of Burkersdorf and relying on continuing British success against France in the war's colonial theatres, Prussia was finally able to force a status quo ante bellum on the continent. This result confirmed Prussia's major role within the German states and established the country as a European great power . Frederick, appalled by the near-defeat of Prussia and the economic devastation of his kingdom, lived out his days as

4360-723: The Baltic. As a reprisal, in 1043 it was attacked by the Norwegian king Magnus the Good . In the early 12th century, the island, as part of the Pomeranian duchy, was captured by the Polish monarch Boleslaw III Wrymouth . Shortly after, the inhabitants of Wolin accepted Christianity, and in 1140 pope Innocent II created a diocese there, with its capital in the town of Wolin. In 1170, the battle at Julin Bridge took place there. In 1185

4469-456: The Berlin waterways again. Near its mouth the Oder reaches the city of Szczecin , a major maritime port. The river finally reaches the Baltic Sea through the Szczecin Lagoon and the river mouth at Świnoujście . Under Germania Magna , the river was known to the Romans as the Viadrus or Viadua in Classical Latin , as it was a branch of the Amber Road from the Baltic Sea to the Roman Empire . In Germanic languages, including English, it

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4578-408: The Bundesrat, with 17 votes out of 58 (17 out of 61 after 1911); no other state had more than six votes. As before, it could effectively control the proceedings with the support of its allies in the secondary states. As mentioned above, Bismarck served as foreign minister of Prussia for almost his entire career, and in that role instructed the Prussian deputies to the Bundesrat. The Imperial German Army

4687-426: The Empire, they were still legally only electors under the overlordship of the emperor. However, by this time the emperor's authority was only nominal. The rulers of the empire's various territories acted largely as the rulers of sovereign states , and only acknowledged the emperor's suzerainty in a formal way. In addition, the duchy was only the eastern bulk of the region of Prussia; the westernmost fragment constituted

4796-470: The First French Republic and Prussia had stipulated that the latter would ensure the Holy Roman Empire's neutrality in all the latter's territories north of the demarcation line of the River Main , including the British continental dominions of the Electorate of Hanover and the Duchies of Bremen-Verden . To this end, Hanover (including Bremen-Verden) also had to provide troops for the so-called demarcation army maintaining this state of armed neutrality . In

4905-429: The German Empire. The German Empire successfully unified all of the German states aside from Austria and Switzerland under Prussian hegemony due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. The war united all the German states against a common enemy, and with the victory came an overwhelming wave of nationalism which changed the opinions of some of those who had been against unification. With

5014-410: The German alliances put in place after the Austro-Prussian War, the German states, aside from Austria, came together and swiftly defeated France, even managing to take Napoleon III prisoner (2 September 1870). Even before then, Bismarck was able to complete the work of unifying Germany under Prussian leadership. The patriotic fervour aroused by the war against France overwhelmed the remaining opponents of

5123-407: The German states, as well as establishing the country as a European great power through the victories of the powerful Prussian Army . Prussia made attempts to unify all the German states (excluding the German cantons in Switzerland ) under its rule, and whether Austria would be included in such a unified German domain became an ongoing question . After the Napoleonic Wars led to the creation of

5232-405: The German states. In 1848, actions taken by Denmark towards the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein led to the First War of Schleswig (1848–51) between Denmark and the German Confederation, resulting in a Danish victory. Frederick William issued Prussia's first constitution by his own authority in 1848, modifying it in the Constitution of 1850 . These documents—moderate by the standards of

5341-427: The Great) came to the throne. Using the pretext of a 1537 treaty (vetoed by Emperor Ferdinand I ) by which parts of Silesia were to pass to Brandenburg after the extinction of its ruling Piast dynasty , Frederick invaded Silesia, thereby beginning the War of the Austrian Succession . After rapidly occupying Silesia, Frederick offered to protect Queen Maria Theresa if the province were turned over to him. The offer

5450-409: The Oder and Havel. After completion of the more straight Oder–Havel Canal in 1914, its economic relevance decreased. The earliest important undertaking to modify the river to improve navigation was initiated by Frederick the Great , who recommended diverting the river into a new and straight channel in the swampy tract known as Oderbruch near Küstrin ( Kostrzyn nad Odrą ). The work was carried out in

5559-406: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist and a large area (including Warsaw ) to the south and east of East Prussia became part of Prussia. Most of the new territories (and the part of South Prussia north of the Vistula ) were organised into the province of New East Prussia ; South Prussia gained the area immediately south of the Vistula, Narew and Bug , including Warsaw; a small area to

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5668-412: The Prussian ambassador to France. Bismarck took office on 23 September 1862. Although Bismarck had a reputation as an unyielding conservative, he initially inclined to seek a compromise over the budget issue. However, William refused to consider it; he viewed defence issues as the crown's personal province. Forced into a policy of confrontation, Bismarck came up with a novel theory. Under the constitution,

5777-406: The Prussian state, ultimately boosting their national self-awareness and eliciting their national resistance against Prussian rule. Following the French Revolution and the Execution of Louis XVI , Prussia declared war on the French First Republic . When Prussian troops attempted to invade France, they were beaten back and the Treaty of Basel (1795) ended the War of the First Coalition . In it,

5886-539: The capital Berlin , which was only 80 km (50 mi) away. The Great Northern War was the first major conflict in which the Kingdom of Prussia was involved. Starting in 1700, the war involved a coalition led by Tsarist Russia against the dominant North European power at the time, the Swedish Empire . Crown Prince Frederick William tried in 1705 to get Prussia involved in the war, stating "best Prussia has her own army and makes her own decisions." His views, however, were not considered acceptable by his father, and

5995-445: The course of a few months in 1756–1757, he began a Third Silesian War and initiated the Seven Years' War . This war was a desperate struggle for the Prussian Army, and the fact that it managed to fight much of Europe to a draw bears witness to Frederick's military skills. Facing Austria, Russia , France, and Sweden simultaneously, and with only Hanover (and the non-continental British) as notable allies, Frederick managed to prevent

6104-450: The course of the War of the Second Coalition against France (1799–1802), Napoleon Bonaparte urged Prussia to occupy Hanover. In 1801, 24,000 Prussian soldiers invaded, surprising Hanover, which surrendered without a fight. In April 1801 the Prussian troops arrived in Bremen-Verden's capital Stade and stayed there until October that year. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland first ignored Prussia's hostility, but when it joined

6213-436: The crown of a united Germany. Frederick William refused the offer on the grounds that revolutionary assemblies could not grant royal titles. But he also refused for two other reasons: to do so would have done little to end the internal power-struggle between Austria and Prussia, and all Prussian kings (up to and including William I ) feared that the formation of a German Empire would mean the end of Prussia's independence within

6322-416: The declining Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as new powers in Europe. The Great Elector had incorporated the Junkers , the landed aristocracy, into the kingdom's bureaucracy and military machine, giving them a vested interest in the Prussian Army and compulsory education . King Frederick William I inaugurated the Prussian compulsory conscription system in 1717. In 1740, King Frederick II (Frederick

6431-459: The dominant state in this new entity, with four-fifths of its territory and population—more than the other members of the confederation combined. Its near-total control was cemented in a constitution written by Bismarck. Executive power was vested in a president —a hereditary office of the rulers of Prussia. He was assisted by a chancellor responsible only to the president. There was also a bicameral parliament. The lower house, or Reichstag (Diet),

6540-401: The driving force behind establishing in 1866 the North German Confederation , transformed in 1871 into the unified German Empire and considered the earliest continual legal predecessor of today's Federal Republic of Germany . The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War but many of its laws were later used in

6649-433: The dukes of Pomerania became vassals of Denmark , and in 1227, they fell under suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire . In 1535, Wolin accepted Protestant Lutheranism . In 1630, during the Thirty Years' War , the island was captured by Sweden . It passed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1720 as a result of the Treaty of Stockholm . From 1871, the island was part of the German Empire . During World War II , in February 1945,

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6758-409: The electors of Brandenburg also inherited the Duchy of Prussia , since 1511 ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hohenzollern. In 1525, Albrecht of Brandenburg , the last grand master of the Teutonic Order , secularized his territory and converted it into a duchy. It was ruled in a personal union with Brandenburg, known as " Brandenburg-Prussia ". A full union was not possible, since Brandenburg

6867-434: The empire and the Hohenzollerns were fully sovereign over it, he could elevate Prussia to a kingdom. Emperor Leopold I , keen to secure Frederick's support in the impending War of the Spanish Succession , acquiesced. The style "King in Prussia" was adopted to acknowledge the legal fiction that the Hohenzollerns were legally kings only in their former duchy. In Brandenburg and the portions of their domains that were within

6976-400: The empire, they continued to use the additional title of Elector of Brandenburg until the empire was dissolved. It was not until 1772 that the title "King of Prussia" was adopted, following the acquisition of Royal Prussia in the First Partition of Poland . The Kingdom of Prussia was still recovering from the devastation of the Thirty Years' War and poor in natural resources. Its territory

7085-408: The fundamental law of the kingdom. However, Bismarck's real plan was an accommodation with liberalism. Although he had opposed German unification earlier in his career, he had now come to believe it inevitable. To his mind, the conservative forces had to take the lead in the drive toward creating a unified nation in order to keep from being eclipsed. He also believed that the middle-class liberals wanted

7194-441: The greater good of Germany. They argued that Prussia, as by far the most powerful state with a majority of German-speakers, was best suited to lead the new nation. The establishment of the German Customs Union ( Zollverein ) in 1834, which excluded Austria, increased Prussian influence over the member states. In the wake of the Revolutions of 1848 , the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849 offered King Frederick William IV of Prussia

7303-412: The historical existence of Jomsborg and Vineta (for example, Gerard Labuda ). Gwyn Jones notes that the size of the town was exaggerated in contemporary sources, for example by Adam of Bremen who claimed Wolin/Jomsborg was "the largest town in Europe". Archaeological excavations, however, have found no evidence of a harbor big enough for 360 warships (as claimed by Adam) or of a major citadel. The town

7412-402: The idea. While Bismarck wanted Austria to play no future role in German affairs, he foresaw that Austria could be a valuable future ally. With these gains in territory, the Prussian possessions in the Rhineland and Westphalia became geographically connected to the rest of the kingdom for the first time. Counting the de facto annexation of Saxe-Lauenburg, Prussia now stretched uninterrupted across

7521-413: The industrial sites around the Wrocław area. Further downstream the river is free-flowing, passing the towns of Eisenhüttenstadt (where the Oder–Spree Canal connects the river to the Spree in Berlin) and Frankfurt upon the Oder . Downstream of Frankfurt the river Warta forms a navigable connection with Poznań and Bydgoszcz for smaller vessels. At Hohensaaten the Oder–Havel Canal connects with

7630-421: The island became controlled by Poland , under the country's first historic ruler, Duke Mieszko I . However, it has not been established if Wolin became directly part of Poland, or if it was a fief . Mieszko I encompassed the town of Wolin with defensive ramparts. Polish influences were not firm and they ended around 1007. In the following years, Wolin became famous for its pirates, who would plunder ships cruising

7739-451: The island is home to Europe's biggest Germanic-Slavic Viking festival. The officially protected traditional alcoholic beverage of Wolin is Trójniak woliński leśny (as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland ). It is a type of local Polish mead of 12-14% alcohol by volume . Polish National roads 3 and 93, and Voivodeship road 102 , pass through the island. The Solidarity Szczecin–Goleniów Airport

7848-526: The king and the parliament were responsible for agreeing on the budget. Bismarck argued that since they had failed to come to an agreement, there was a "hole" in the constitution, and the government had to continue to collect taxes and disburse funds in accordance with the old budget in order to keep functioning. The government thus operated without a new budget from 1862 to 1866, allowing Bismarck to implement William's military reforms. The liberals violently denounced Bismarck for what they saw as his disregard for

7957-732: The kingdom was occupied by French troops (at Prussia's expense) and the king was obliged to make an alliance with France and join the Continental System . The Prussian reforms were a reaction to the Prussian defeat in 1806 and the Treaties of Tilsit. It describes a series of constitutional, administrative, social and economic reforms of the kingdom of Prussia. They are sometimes known as the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms after Karl Freiherr vom Stein and Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg , their main instigators. After

8066-462: The kingdom, aside from the provinces of East Prussia , West Prussia , and the autonomous Grand Duchy of Posen but including the formerly Polish Lauenburg and Bütow Land and the Draheim territory , became part of the new German Confederation , a confederacy of 39 sovereign states (including Austria and Bohemia) replacing the defunct Holy Roman Empire. Frederick William III submitted Prussia to

8175-587: The main cities and ports of the Pomerania region and the entire southern coast of the Baltic Sea. From the 13th century on, the Oder valley was central to German Ostsiedlung , making the towns on its banks German-speaking over the following centuries. Over time, control over parts of the river was taken from Poland by other countries, including the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Kingdom of Bohemia , and later also by Hungary , Sweden , Prussia and Germany . The Finow Canal , first built in 1605, connects

8284-477: The main cities of the entire Kingdom of Poland (Latin: sedes regni principales ), and Lubusz (now Lebus) which became the capital of the Lubusz Land , nicknamed "the key to the Kingdom of Poland" in medieval chronicles. Wrocław and Lubusz became seats of some of the oldest Catholic bishoprics of Poland, founded in 1000 ( Wrocław ) and 1125 ( Lubusz ). Located near the mouth of the river, Szczecin became one of

8393-544: The mid-9th century, called the Bavarian Geographer after its anonymous creator, mentions the Slavic tribe of Wolinians who had 70 strongholds at that time ( Uelunzani civitates LXX ). The town of Wolin was first mentioned in 965, by Ibrahim ibn Jakub , who referred to the place as Weltaba . The period of greatest development during the medieval period was between the 9th and the 11th centuries. Around 896 AD

8502-619: The modern Oder as the Συήβος ( Suebos ; Latin Suevus ), a name apparently derived from the Suebi , a Germanic people. While he also refers to an outlet in the area as the Οὐιαδούα Ouiadoua (or Οὐιλδούα Ouildoua ; Latin Viadua or Vildua ), this was apparently the modern Wieprza , as it was said to be a third of the distance between the Suebos and Vistula . The name Suebos may be preserved in

8611-461: The modern name of the Świna river (German Swine ), an outlet from the Szczecin Lagoon to the Baltic. The Oder is 840 kilometres (522 miles) long: 112 km (70 miles) in the Czech Republic, 726 km (451 miles) in Poland (including 187 km (116 miles) on the border between Germany and Poland). It is the third longest river located within Poland (after the Vistula and Warta); however, it

8720-475: The most in taxes) included 4% of voters and the third class (with those who paid the least) had 82%, yet each group chose the same number of electors. The system all but assured dominance by the more well-to-do men of the population. The upper house, later renamed the Herrenhaus ("House of Lords"), was appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority, and ministers were responsible only to him. As

8829-459: The northern two-thirds of Germany. It would remain at this size until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1918. Bismarck used this opportunity to end the budget dispute with parliament. He proposed a bill of indemnity granting him retroactive approval for governing without a legal budget. He guessed, correctly as it turned out, that this would lead to a split between his liberal adversaries. While some of them argued that there could be no compromise with

8938-485: The part of Royal Prussia east of Vistula, held along with the title King of Prussia by the King of Poland . While the personal union between Brandenburg and Prussia legally continued until the end of the empire in 1806, from 1701 onward, Brandenburg was de facto treated as an integral part of the kingdom. Since the Hohenzollerns were nominally still subjects of the emperor within the parts of their domains that were part of

9047-643: The partially reluctant Lutheran majority formed the united Protestant Evangelical Church in Prussia . However, ensuing quarrels causing a permanent schism among the Lutherans into united and Old Lutherans by 1830. As a consequence of the Revolutions of 1848 , the Principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen (ruled by a Catholic cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern) were annexed by Prussia in 1850, later united as

9156-787: The principle of constitutional government, most of the liberals decided to support the bill in hopes of winning more freedom in the future. The German Confederation was dissolved as part of the war. In its place, Prussia cajoled the 21 states north of the Main into forming the North German Confederation in 1866. Prussia entered the Confederation as a whole (including the East Prussian cradle of its statehood, as well as its share of dismembered Poland consisting of Province of Posen and West Prussia ), thus becoming

9265-529: The pro-French Second League of Armed Neutrality alongside Denmark–Norway and Russia, Britain started to capture Prussian sea vessels. After the Battle of Copenhagen the coalition fell apart and Prussia again withdrew its troops. At Napoleon's instigation, Prussia recaptured British Hanover and Bremen-Verden in early 1806. On 6 August that year the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved as a result of Napoleon's victories over Austria . The title of Kurfürst ( Prince-elector ) of Brandenburg became meaningless, and

9374-520: The resettled Volynians who named the island Volyn. The ford across the river Dziwna on which Wolin is located has been used as far back as the Stone Age . Archaeological excavations of soil layers indicate that there was a settlement in the area during the Migration period , at the turn of the 5th and 6th centuries. The place was then abandoned for approximately one hundred years. At the end of

9483-719: The rivers Albis (Elbe) , Oder, and Vistula . Centuries later, after Germanic tribes, the Bavarian Geographer (ca. 845) specified the following West Slavic peoples: Sleenzane , Dadosesani, Opolanie , Lupiglaa, and Golensizi in Silesia and Wolinians with Pyrzycans in Western Pomerania . A document of the Bishopric of Prague (1086) mentions Zlasane, Trebovyane, Poborane, and Dedositze in Silesia. In

9592-565: The same man until the end of the monarchy. Bismarck's new empire was the most powerful state on the Continent. Prussia's dominance over the new empire was almost as absolute as it was with the North German Confederation. It included two-thirds of the empire's territory and three-fifths of its population. The imperial crown was a hereditary office of the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia also had a large plurality of seats in

9701-638: The south of South Prussia became New Silesia . With the Polish-Lithuanian state gone Prussia now shared its eastern borders with the Habsburg monarchy ( West Galicia ) and Russia ( Russian partition ). The Partitions were facilitated by the fact that they occurred just before the 19th-century rise of nationalism in Europe, and the national self-awareness was yet to be developed in most European peoples, especially among commoners. The Kingdom of Prussia

9810-580: The time but conservative by today's—provided for a two-chamber parliament, the Landtag . The lower house, later known as the Abgeordnetenhaus , was elected by all males over the age of 25 using the Prussian three-class franchise . Voters were divided into three classes whose votes were weighted according to the amount of taxes paid. In one typical election, the first class (with those who paid

9919-489: The toxin was not present in samples taken after 1 August. Main section: Szczecin Lagoon : east: Dziwna (German: Dievenow ) branch (between Wolin Island and mainland Poland): middle: Świna (German: Swine ) branch (between Wolin and Usedom islands): west: Peenestrom ( Peene ) (Polish: Piana ) branch (between Usedom Island and mainland Germany): [REDACTED]   This article incorporates text from

10028-496: The years 1746–53, a large tract of marshland being brought under cultivation, a considerable detour cut off and the mainstream successfully confined to a canal. In the late 19th century, three additional alterations were made to the waterway: By the Treaty of Versailles , navigation on the Oder became subject to International Commission of the Oder. Following the articles 363 and 364 of the Treaty Czechoslovakia

10137-644: Was able to instruct the Prussian delegates to the Bundesrat. The southern German states (except Austria) were forced to accept military alliances with Prussia, and Prussia began steps to merge them with the North German Confederation. Bismarck's planned Kleindeutschland unification of Germany had come considerably closer to realisation. The final act came with the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), where Bismarck maneuvered Emperor Napoleon III of France into declaring war on Prussia. Activating

10246-651: Was and still is called the Oder , written in medieval Latin documents as Odera or Oddera . Most notably, it was mentioned in the Dagome iudex , which described territory of the Duchy of Poland under Duke Mieszko I in A.D. 990, as a part of Poland's western frontier, however, in most sections the border ran west of the river. Before Slavs settled along its banks, the Oder was an important trade route, and towns in Germania were documented along with many tribes living between

10355-594: Was crushed, and Prussia annexed four of its smaller allies—the Kingdom of Hanover , the Electorate of Hesse , the Duchy of Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt . Prussia also annexed Schleswig and Holstein, and also effectively annexed Saxe-Lauenburg by forcing it into a personal union with Prussia (which was turned into a full union in 1876). King William initially wanted to take territory from Austria itself and annex Saxony, but Bismarck persuaded him to abandon

10464-693: Was disjointed, stretching 1,200 km (750 mi) from the lands of the Duchy of Prussia on the south-east coast of the Baltic Sea to the Hohenzollern heartland of Brandenburg , with the exclaves of Cleves , Mark and Ravensberg in the Rhineland . In 1708 about one third of the population of East Prussia died during the Great Northern War plague outbreak . The bubonic plague reached Prenzlau in August 1710 but receded before it could reach

10573-486: Was dropped. Nonetheless, King Frederick William III was now de jure as well as de facto sovereign of all of the Hohenzollern domains. Before this time, the Hohenzollern sovereign had held many titles and crowns, from Supreme Governor of the Protestant Churches ( summus episcopus ) to King, Elector, Grand Duke, Duke for the various regions and realms under his rule. After 1806 he was simply King of Prussia and summus episcopus . But when Prussia, after it turned against

10682-476: Was elected by universal male suffrage. The upper house, or Bundesrat (Federal Council) was appointed by the state governments. The Bundesrat was, in practice, the stronger chamber. Prussia had 17 of 43 votes and could easily control proceedings through alliances with the other states. For all intents and purposes, Bismarck dominated the new grouping. He served as his own foreign minister for virtually his entire tenure as prime minister of Prussia, and in that capacity

10791-544: Was entitled to lease in Stettin (now Szczecin) its own section in the harbor, then called Tschechoslowakische Zone im Hafen Stettin . The contract of lease between Czechoslovakia and Germany , and supervised by the United Kingdom , was signed on 16 February 1929, and would end in 2028, however, after 1945 Czechoslovakia did not regain this legal position, de facto abolished in 1938–39. At the 1943 Tehran Conference

10900-570: Was essentially an enlarged Prussian army, and the embassies of the new empire were mostly old Prussian embassies. The Constitution of the German Empire was essentially an amended version of the constitution of the North German Confederation. However, the seeds for future problems lay in a gross disparity between the imperial and Prussian systems. The empire granted the vote to all men over 25, although Prussia retained its three-class franchise , in which votes were weighted by taxes paid. Since

11009-668: Was inhabited by both Slavs and Scandinavians. A golden disc bearing the name of Harald Bluetooth and Jomsborg appeared in Sweden in autumn 2014. The disc, also called the Curmsun Disc , is made of high gold content and has a weight of 25,23 gram. On the obverse there is a Latin inscription and on the reverse there is a Latin cross with four dots surrounded by an octagonal ridge. The inscription reads: "+ARALD CVRMSVN+REX AD TANER+SCON+JVMN+CIV ALDIN+" and translates as "Harald Gormsson king of Danes , Scania , Jomsborg, town Aldinburg". It

11118-403: Was not until 1713 that Frederick William ascended to the throne. Therefore, in 1715, Prussia, led by Frederick William, joined the coalition for various reasons, including the danger of being attacked from both her rear and the sea; her claims on Pomerania ; and the fact that if she stood aside and Sweden lost, she would not get a share of the territory. Prussia only participated in one battle,

11227-599: Was organised the following year into the Province of West Prussia ; most of the rest became the originally separate Netze District , which was attached to West Prussia in 1775. The boundary between West Prussia and the territory previously known as the Duchy of Prussia, now the Province of East Prussia was also adjusted, transferring Marienwerder to West Prussia (which became its capital) and Warmia (the Heilsberg and Braunsberg  [ de ] districts) to East Prussia. The annexed territory connected East Prussia with

11336-473: Was perceived in Poland more as a nationality-neutral personal holding of the ruling House of Hohenzollern , rather than a German nation-state, and any anxiety concerned predominantly freedom to practice religion rather than rights to maintain national identity. The onset of Germanisation in the following decades, later joined by the Kulturkampf , quickly changed this benign picture and alienated Poles from

11445-441: Was rejected, but Austria faced several other opponents in a desperate struggle for survival, and Frederick was eventually able to gain formal cession with the Treaty of Berlin in 1742. To the surprise of many, Austria managed to renew the war successfully. In 1744 Frederick invaded again to forestall reprisals and to claim, this time, the Kingdom of Bohemia . He failed, but French pressure on Austria's ally Great Britain led to

11554-524: Was soundly defeated and surrendered both Schleswig and Holstein, to Prussia and Austria respectively. The divided administration of Schleswig and Holstein then became the trigger for the Austro-Prussian War of 1866—also known as the Seven Weeks' War. Prussia, allied with the Kingdom of Italy and various northern German states, declared war on the Austrian Empire. The Austrian-led coalition

11663-532: Was still legally part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Duchy of Prussia was a fief of Poland . The Teutonic Order had paid homage to Poland since 1466, and the Hohenzollerns continued to pay homage after secularizing Ducal Prussia. In the course of the Second Northern War , the treaties of Labiau and Wehlau-Bromberg granted the Hohenzollerns full sovereignty over the Prussian duchy by September 1657. In return for an alliance against France in

11772-407: Was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1866 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918 . Although it took its name from the region called Prussia , it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg . Its capital was Berlin . The kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern . Brandenburg-Prussia , predecessor of the kingdom, became

11881-500: Was to be determined at a future peace conference. A part of the German population east of these two rivers was evacuated by the Nazis during the war or fled from the approaching Red Army . After the war, the remaining 8 million Germans were expelled from these territories by the Polish and Soviet administrations. East Germany confirmed the border with Poland under Soviet pressure in the Treaty of Zgorzelec in 1950. West Germany , after

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