The History of Prussia
Prussia as a Political Unit Stretches Back to the Middle Ages
Prussia rose to great importance through its association with the Elector of Brandenburg, and became a huge power during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Originally a duchy within the Kingdom of Poland, Prussia was the largest state at the time of German Unification, and played an important role in shaping the national identity of Germany.
The Elector of Brandenburg
The duke of Prussia was a member of the Hohenzollern Family. In 1618, the duchy passed to another branch of the Hohenzollern family, the Electors of Brandenburg. Brandenburg was a small state located around present day Berlin. Between 1323 and 1415 Brandenburg was under the control of the Wittelsbach Family, the ruling house of LuxembourgIn 1415 the title of Elector passed to the Hohenzollern family, who remained in power until World War I.
The Elector of Brandenburg was one of seven rulers who elected the Holy Roman Emperor. From the 15th Century through the mid 17th Century, the Elector of Brandenburg had very little political power, which was held by the ruling noble class of landowners. The province of Brandenburg was the victim of poor geography. Along with being landlocked, it had no natural barriers, such as mountains, to protect it from invaders. As a result, the province faced continual harassment during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), causing dramatic declines in population and a weakening of the ruling aristocracy and local governments. At the same time, the Hohenzollern family began gaining political power, laying the foundation for Absolutism. Through its association with the Electors of Brandenburg, Prussia would rise to great political importance.
Frederick William the “Great Elector”
The first member of the Hohenzollern family to take advantage of their political status was Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg from 1640-1688. To combat the devastation of the Thirty Years War, Frederick William overrode the local government, forcing them to pay for a standing army. The reasoning for this action was defense against foreign armies. Threats to Brandenburg and Prussia were coming from King Louis XIV in France and from Poland and Sweden, who were fighting over the Baltic region. During the winter of 1656-1657, the Tartars carried out destructive raids, killing or enslaving over 50,000 people. All this political turmoil made it easy for Frederick William to gain support for an army and increased taxes.
Once he had his army in place, Frederick William put the soldiers in charge of tax collection and local authority. Now that he had a huge army at his command and financial independence, Frederick William set about uniting the three separate provinces that were under his control: Brandenburg, the dukedom of Prussia and scattered holdings in the Rhine Valley in what is present-day western Germany.
Junkers
Each of these provinces had their own local governments and in Brandenburg and Prussia the noble class, called Junkers, dominated the government. Frederick William ruthlessly cut down any opponents to his policies, imprisoning adversaries for life, without a trial. To gain the support of the Junkers, he let them keep control over their estates, which included peasant serfs. Taxation, a major concern for the ruling class, was aimed at towns rather than landowner, keeping the Junkers content with Frederick William’s rule.
By the time of his death in 1688, Frederick William, the Great Elector, had made one political state out of several scattered principalities. He had laid the foundation for Absolutism in Prussia and helped establish the military identity that would later shape the German Empire.
Sources:
Barraclough, Geoffrey. Atlas of World History. Ann Arbor: Harper Collins, 2001.
Mckay, Hill, Buckler. A History of World Societies: Volume II Since 1500. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1992
