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| Prussia |
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Prussia was the largely militaristic state of North Central Europe that dominated Germany until the post-Great War rise of Nazism. At one point it stretched from west of the Rhine to Poland and Russia. The Baltic territory known as East Prussia was Germanized by the Teutonic Knights in the 1200s, later becoming the Duchy of Prussia. In 1618 it came under the rule of the Hohenzollerns (the Electors of Brandenburg), with Friedrich I declaring himself King of Prussia in 1701. Under his successors, such as Friedrich II, Prussia expanded to become one of the strongest military powers in Europe, receiving a setback during the Napoleonic Wars, but later recovering. In 1862 Bismarck became premier, and as a result of a planned series of wars and skillful diplomacy conducted under his direction, Wilhelm I was declared Germany's emperor (Kaiser) in 1871 at Versailles. Prussia was the largest and most powerful of the
states of the united Germany and continued so until 1934, when by a
decree of Hitler, the separate German states ceased to exist as
political entities. Following World War 2, former
Prussian territory was divided among East Germany, Poland and the USSR. |
| Prussian Timeline | |
| Germanic conquest of the Wends | 6-12th c. |
| Battle of Tannenburg | 1410 |
| Brandenburg given to Count Friedrich | 1415 |
| Prussia made a Polish duchy | 1525 |
| Prussia inherited by Johann Sigismund | 1618 |
| Thirty Years' War | 1618-48 |
| Prussia ceded to Brandenburg | 1660 |
| Kingdom of Prussia named under Hohenzollerns | 1701 |
| Pomerania won from Sweden | 1715 |
| War of Polish Succession | 1734-35 |
| War of Austrian Succession | 1740-48 |
| Seven Years' War (Saxony) | 1756-63 |
| Partition of Poland | 1772 |
| Battle of Jena-Auerstadt | 1806 |
| Battle of Friedland | 1807 |
| Treaties of Tilsit | |
| Scharnhorst begins reorganization of military | |
| Re-establishment of War Ministry | 1808 |
| Treaty of Paris | |
| Battle of Wagram | 1809 |
| Battle of Borodino | 1812 |
| Napoleon retreats from Moscow | |
| Convention of Tauroggen | |
| Scharnhorst named Quartermaster General | 1813 |
| Battle of Luetzen (Gross Goerschen) | |
| Battle of Leipzig | |
| 1st abdication of Napoleon | 1814 |
| Congress of Vienna | |
| Battle of Waterloo (Belgium) | 1815 |
| 2nd abdication of Napoleon | |
| Peace of Paris | |
| Zollverein (Customs Union) | 1834 |
| 2-year compulsory military service established | 1836 |
| First Prussian-Danish War | 1848 |
| Austro-French War | 1859 |
| Bismarck named Prime Minister | 1862 |
| Second Prussian-Danish War | 1864 |
| Seven Weeks War (Prussia/Italy vs Austria) | 1866 |
| Battle of Koeniggraetz/Sadowa (Hradec Kralove) | |
| Franco-Prussian "Luxemburg Crisis" | 1867 |
| Franco-Prussian War | 1870 |
| Battles of Mar la Tour & Gravelotte | |
| Battle of Sedan | |
| Surrender of Paris | 1871 |
| German Empire declared under Wilhelm I | |
| Bismarck resigns | 1890 |
| General Staff plans 2-front war | 1894 |
| von Schlieffen Plan developed | 1905 |
| Army expands from 136,000 to 760,000 | 1913 |
| World War One | 1914-18 |
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