The Obituary
Prussia began in 1701 as a modest north German kingdom and grew, through the disciplined drill of its army and the ambitions of rulers like Frederick the Great, into one of Europe’s great powers. In the 19th century, under Bismarck, it defeated Austria and France and forged the German Empire in 1871, with the Prussian king as kaiser. The monarchy fell with Germany’s defeat in 1918, but the Prussian state survived as a republic within the Weimar system. After the Second World War the Allies blamed Prussian militarism for German aggression and abolished the state outright in 1947, partitioning its lands.
Worth remembering
- It was said Prussia was not a state that had an army, but an army that had a state.
- Under Otto von Bismarck, Prussia engineered the unification of Germany in 1871, with its king becoming German emperor.
Sources
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.