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Preußen (Preussen)
Coat of arms (1866–1918)
Coat of arms (1866–1918)
Gott mit uns  (High German)
"God with us"
Prussia (blue), at its peak, the leading state of the German Empire
Capital Königsberg (1525–1701)
Berlin (1701–1947)
Languages German (official)
Religion Majority:
Protestant (Lutheran and Reformed; since 1817 Prussian United)
Demonym Prussian
Government Monarchy (until 1918), Republic
 •  1525–1568 Albert I (first)
 •  1688–1701 Frederick III (last)
 •  1701–1713 Frederick I (first)
 •  1888–1918 Wilhelm II (last)
Prime Minister1, 2
 •  1918 Friedrich Ebert (first)
 •  1933–1945 Hermann Göring (last)
Historical era Early modern Europe to Contemporary
 •  Duchy of Prussia 10 April 1525
 •  Union with Brandenburg 27 August 1618
 •  Kingdom of Prussia 18 January 1701
 •  Free State of Prussia 9 November 1918
 •  Abolition (loss of independence) 30 January 1934
 •  Abolition (de jure) 25 February 1947
 •  1907 348,702 km2 (134,635 sq mi)
 •  1939 297,007 km2 (114,675 sq mi)
 •  1816 est. 10,349,0003 
 •  1871 est. 24,689,000 
 •  1939 est. 41,915,040 
     Density 141/km2 (366/sq mi)
Currency Reichsthaler
German gold mark (1873–1914)
German Papiermark (1914–1923)
Reichsmark (since 1924)
Today part of Germany
Czech Republic
3 Population estimates:[1]

Prussia (German: About this sound Preußen ) was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and centred on the region of Prussia. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised and effective army. Prussia, with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin, shaped the history of Germany. In 1871, German states united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership. In November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918–19. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, a state of Germany from 1918 until 1933. From 1933, Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup, when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state. With the end of the Nazi regime, the division of Germany into allied-occupation zones and the separation of its territories east of the Oder–Neisse line, which were incorporated into Poland and the Soviet Union, the State of Prussia ceased to exist de facto in 1945.[2][3] Prussia existed de jure until its formal liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No. 46 of 25 February 1947.[4]



At the Congress of Vienna (1814–15), which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleon's defeat, Prussia acquired a large section of north western Germany, including the coal-rich Ruhr. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became 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. In the Weimar Republic, the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland and the Soviet Union absorbed its territory and expelled most of its inhabitants.

The term Prussian has often been used, especially outside of Germany, to emphasise the professionalism, aggressiveness, militarism and conservatism of the Junker class of landed aristocrats in the East who dominated first Prussia and then the German Empire.







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.[10] This meant that Poland and Lithuania would be traditional enemies of Prussia—which was still called the Teutonic Knights.[11]



In 1871, Prussia's population numbered 24.69 million, accounting for 60% of the German Empire's population.[12] In 1910, the population had increased to 40.17 million (62% of the Empire's population).[12] In 1914, Prussia had an area of 354,490 km². In May 1939 Prussia had an area of 297,007 km² and a population of 41,915,040 inhabitants. The Principality of Neuenburg, now the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, was a part of the Prussian kingdom from 1707 to 1848.


Berliner Dom circa 1900.

Prussia was dominated by two major Protestant confessions: Lutheranism and Calvinism. The majority of the Prussian population was Lutheran, although there were dispersed Reformed minorities in central and western parts of the state especially Brandenburg, Rhineland, Westphalia and Hesse-Nassau. In 1613, John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg and Grand Duke of Prussia, declared himself for the Reformed creed and transferred the Berlin Cathedral from the Lutheran to the Reformed church. Lutherans and Reformed congregations all over the kingdom were merged after 1817 by the Prussian Union of churches, which came under tight royal control.[13] In Protestant regions, writes Nipperdey:


Prussia received significant Huguenot population after dragonnades and issuing of the Edict of Fontainebleau by Louis XIV of France. In Berlin, they built and worshipped at their own church called the French Cathedral on Gendarmenmarkt. Time passed by, and Huguenots assimilated into the wider Protestant community in Prussia. East Prussia's southern region of Masuria was mostly made up of Germanised Lutheran Masurians.

After 1814, Prussia contained millions of Roman Catholics in the west and in the east. There were substantial populations in the Rhineland, parts of Westphalia, eastern parts of Silesia, West Prussia, Ermland and the Province of Posen.[15] Communities in Poland were often ethnically Polish, although this is not the case of eastern Silesia as the majority of Catholics there were German.



Non-German population


In 1871, approximately 2.4 million Poles lived in Prussia, constituting the largest minority.[12] Other minorities were Jews, Danes, Frisians, Dutchmen, Kashubians (72,500 in 1905), Masurians (248,000 in 1905), Lithuanians (101,500 in 1905), Walloons, Czechs, Kursenieki, and Sorbs.[12]



Administrative and constitutional frameworks

In the mid-16th century the margraves of Brandenburg had become highly dependent on the Estates (representing counts, lords, knights and towns – but not prelates, due to the Protestant Reformation in 1538).[18] The margraviate's liabilities and tax income as well as the margrave's finances were in the hands of the Kreditwerk, an institution not controlled by the elector, and of the Großer Ausschuß ("Great Committee") of the Estates.[19] This was due to concessions made by Elector Joachim II in 1541 in return for financial aid by the estates; however, the Kreditwerk went bankrupt between 1618 and 1625.[19] The margraves further had to yield to the veto of the Estates in all issues concerning the "better or worse of the country", in all legal commitments, and in all issues concerning pawn or sale of the elector's real property.[19]

... during the Renaissance period
... according to the design of 1702

To reduce the influence of the Estates, Joachim Frederick in 1604 created a council called Geheimer Rat für die Kurmark ("Privy Council for the Electorate"), which instead of the Estates was to function as the supreme advisory council for the elector.[19] While the council was permanently established in 1613, it failed to gain any influence until 1651 due to the Thirty Years' War[19] (1618–1648)

Until after the Thirty Years' War, the various territories of Brandenburg-Prussia remained politically independent from each other,[18][20] connected only by the common feudal superior.[20][21] Frederick William (ruled 1640–1688), who envisioned the transformation of the personal union into a real union,[21] started to centralise the Brandenburg-Prussian government with an attempt to establish the Geheimer Rat as a central authority for all territories in 1651, but this project proved infeasible.[22] Instead, the elector continued to appoint a governor (Kurfürstlicher Rat) for each territory, who in most cases was a member of the Geheimer Rat.[22] The most powerful institution in the territories remained the governments of the estates (Landständische Regierung, named Oberratsstube in Prussia and Geheime Landesregierung in Mark and Cleves), which were the highest government agencies regarding jurisdiction, finances and administration.[22] The elector attempted to balance the Estates' governments by creating Amtskammer chambers to administer and coordinate the elector's domains, tax income and privileges.[22] Such chambers were introduced in Brandenburg in 1652, in Cleves and Mark in 1653, in Pomerania in 1654, in Prussia in 1661 and in Magdeburg in 1680.[22] Also in 1680, the Kreditwerk came under the aegis of the elector.[23]

Frederick William I's excise tax (Akzise), which from 1667 replaced the property tax raised in Brandenburg for Brandenburg-Prussia's standing army with the Estates' consent, was raised by the elector without consultation with the Estates.[23] The conclusion of the Second Northern War of 1655–1660 had strengthened the elector politically, enabling him to reform the constitution of Cleves and Mark in 1660 and 1661 to introduce officials loyal to him and independent of the local estates.[23] In the Duchy of Prussia he confirmed the traditional privileges of the Estates in 1663,[23] but the latter accepted the caveat that these privileges were not to be used to interfere with the exertion of the elector's sovereignty.[22] As in Brandenburg, Frederick William ignored the privilege of the Prussian Estates to confirm or veto taxes raised by the elector: while in 1656, an Akzise was raised with the Estates' consent, the elector by force collected taxes not approved by the Prussian Estates for the first time in 1674.[22] From 1704 the Prussian estates de facto relinquished their right to approve the elector's taxes while formally still entitled to do so.[22] In 1682 the elector introduced an Akzise to Pomerania and in 1688 to Magdeburg,[22] while in Cleves and Mark an Akzise was introduced only between 1716 and 1720.[23] Due to Frederick William I's reforms, the state income increased threefold during his reign,[20] and the tax burden per subject reached a level twice as high as in France.[24]

Under the rule of Frederick III (I) (in office: 1688–1713), the Brandenburg Prussian territories were de facto reduced to provinces of the monarchy.[21] Frederick William's testament would have divided Brandenburg-Prussia among his sons, but his firstborn son Frederick III (I), with the emperor's backing, succeeded in becoming the sole ruler based on the Treaty of Gera of 1599, which forbade a division of Hohenzollern territories.[25] In 1689, a new central chamber for all Brandenburg-Prussian territories was established, called Geheime Hofkammer (from 1713: Generalfinanzdirektorium).[26] This chamber functioned as a superior agency of the territories' Amtskammer chambers.[26] The General War Commissariat (Generalkriegskommissariat) emerged as a second central agency, superior to the local Kriegskommissariat agencies initially concerned with the administration of the army, but before 1712 transformed into an agency also concerned with general tax and police tasks.[26]





Teutonic Order

Wappen Mark Brandenburg.png
Wappen Preußen.png

History of Brandenburg and Prussia
Northern March
pre–12th century
Old Prussians
pre–13th century
Margraviate of Brandenburg
1157–1618 (1806)
Teutonic Order
Duchy of Prussia
Royal (Polish) Prussia
Kingdom in Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
Free State of Prussia
Klaipėda Region
1920–1939 / 1945–present
1947–1952 / 1990–present
Recovered Territories
Kaliningrad Oblast
After the Second Peace of Thorn. Teutonic Order state: orange

In 1211, Andrew II of Hungary granted Burzenland in Transylvania as a fiefdom to the Teutonic Knights. In 1225, he expelled them again, and they had to transfer to the Baltic Sea. Konrad I, the Polish duke of Masovia, unsuccessfully attempted to conquer pagan Prussia in crusades in 1219 and 1222.[27] In 1226, Duke Konrad invited the Teutonic Knights, a German military order of crusading knights, headquartered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem at Acre, to conquer the Baltic Prussian tribes on his borders.

During 60 years of struggles against the Old Prussians, the order created an independent state which came to control Prūsa. After the Livonian Brothers of the Sword joined the Teutonic Order in 1237, they also controlled Livonia (now Latvia and Estonia). Around 1252, they finished the conquest of the northernmost Prussian tribe of the Skalvians as well as the western Baltic Curonians, and erected the Memel Castle, which developed into the major port city of Memel (Klaipėda). The final border between Prussia and the adjoining Grand Duchy of Lithuania was determined in the Treaty of Melno in 1422.

The Hanseatic League was officially formed in northern Europe in 1356 as a group of trading cities which came to have a monopoly on all trade leaving the interior of Europe and Scandinavia and on all sailing trade in the Baltic Sea for foreign countries.[28] The businessmen of the interior Sweden, Denmark and Poland came to feel oppressed by the Hanseatic League.[citation needed]

In the course of the Ostsiedlung process settlers were invited, bringing changes in the ethnic composition as well as in language, culture and law. As a majority of these settlers were Germans, Low German became the dominant language.


The Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) began when the Prussian Confederation, a coalition of Hanseatic cities of western Prussia, rebelled against the Order and requested help from the Polish king. The Teutonic Knights were forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of and to pay tribute to King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland in the Second Peace of Thorn, losing western Prussia (Royal Prussia) to Poland in the process. Pursuant to the Second Peace of Thorn, two Prussian states were established[29]

Duchy of Prussia




Brandenburg and Prussia were unified two generations later. Anna, granddaughter of Albert I and daughter of Duke Albert Frederick (reigned 1568–1618), married her cousin Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg. Upon the death of Albert Frederick in 1618, who died without male heirs, John Sigismund was granted the right of succession to the Duchy of Prussia, which was 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, the disconnected Hohenzollern lands were repeatedly marched across by various armies, especially the occupying Swedes. The ineffective and militarily weak Margrave 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 the Duchy of Prussia, which was still held in fief from the Polish crown. In the first phase of the Second Northern War (1654–1660), he took the duchy as a fief from the Swedish king who later granted him full sovereignty in the Treaty of Labiau. In 1657, this grant was renewed by the Polish king in the treaties of Wehlau and Bromberg. With Prussia, the Brandenburg Hohenzollern dynasty now held a territory free of any feudal obligations, which constituted the basis for their later elevation to kings.

Frederick William I became known as the "Great Elector" for his achievements in organizing the electorate, which he accomplished by establishing an absolute monarchy (see absolutism) in Brandenburg-Prussia. Above all, he emphasised the importance of a powerful military to protect the state's disconnected territories, while the Edict of Potsdam opened Brandenburg-Prussia for immigration of Protestant refugees, and he established a bureaucracy to carry out state business efficiently.

Kingdom of Prussia

On 18 January 1701, Frederick William's son, Elector Frederick III, upgraded Prussia from a duchy to a kingdom and crowned himself King Frederick I. To avoid offending Poland, where a part of the old Prussia lay, Leopold I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire where most of the lands of Prussia lay, allowed Frederick only to title himself "King in Prussia", not "King of Prussia".

Growth of Brandenburg-Prussia, 1600–1795

The state of Brandenburg-Prussia became commonly known as "Prussia", although most of its territory, in Brandenburg, Pomerania, and western Germany, lay outside of Prussia proper. The Prussian state grew in splendour during the reign of Frederick I, who sponsored the arts at the expense of the treasury.[31]

Frederick I 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.[citation needed] He is considered the creator of the vaunted Prussian bureaucracy and the professionalised standing army, which he developed into one of the most powerful in Europe, although his troops only briefly saw action during the Great Northern War. In view of the size of 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. Also, Frederick William settled more than 20,000 Protestant refugees from Salzburg in thinly populated eastern Prussia, which was eventually extended to the west bank of the River Memel, and other regions. In the treaty of Stockholm (1720), he acquired half of Swedish Pomerania.[citation needed]

King Frederick William I, "the Soldier-King"

The king died in 1740 and was succeeded by his son, Frederick II, whose accomplishments led to his reputation as "Frederick the Great".[32] As crown prince, Frederick had focused, primarily, on philosophy and the arts.[33] He was an accomplished flute player. In 1740, Prussian troops crossed over the undefended border of Silesia and occupied Schweidnitz. Silesia was the richest province of Habsburg Austria.[34] It signalled the beginning of three Silesian Wars (1740–1763).[35] 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 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.


Silesia, full of rich soils and prosperous manufacturing towns, became a vital region to Prussia, greatly increasing the nation's area, population, and wealth.[38] Success on 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, ironically, both had extensive territory outside the empire).[39] In 1744 the County of East Frisia fell to Prussia following the extinction of its ruling Cirksena dynasty.

King Frederick II, "the Great"



Napoleonic Wars



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 was introduced. The process of army reform ended in 1813 with the introduction of compulsory military service.[44] By 1813, Prussia could mobilize almost 300,000 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.


Wars of liberation




Wars of unification


Schleswig Wars



Austro-Prussian War
Expansion of Prussia 1807–1871






Franco-Prussian War
Emperor Wilhelm I

The controversy with the Second French Empire over the candidacy of a Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne was escalated both by France and Bismarck. With his Ems Dispatch, Bismarck took advantage of an incident in which 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. Honouring their treaties, however, 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 the North German Confederation – accepted incorporation into a united German Empire.


German Empire

Prussia in the German Empire 1871–1918




Frederick III was emperor for just 99 days in 1888 upon the death of his father, dying from cancer.

Emperor Wilhelm II




The Free State of Prussia in the Weimar Republic

Federal States of the Weimar Republic. Prussia is light blue. After World War I the Provinces of Posen and West Prussia came largely to the 2nd Polish Republic; Posen-West Prussia and the West Prussia district were formed from the remaining parts.



The German government seriously considered breaking up Prussia into smaller states, but eventually traditionalist sentiment prevailed and Prussia became by far the largest state of the Weimar Republic, comprising 60% of its territory. With the abolition of the older Prussian franchise, it became a stronghold of the left. Its incorporation of "Red Berlin" and the industrialised Ruhr Area – both with working class majorities – ensured left-wing dominance.[48]




End of Prussia

File:Former eastern territories of Germany.png
Former eastern territories of Germany lost in World War I and II are shown in grey and black, respectively. Present-day Germany is marked red on this 1914 map.
File:Germany former prussian lander.png
Map of current states of Germany that are completely or mostly situated inside the old borders of Imperial Germany's Kingdom of Prussia




In Prussia, this centralistic policy went even further. From 1934 almost all ministries were merged and only a few departments were able to maintain their independence. Hitler himself became formally the governor of Prussia. His functions were exercised, however, by Hermann Göring as Prussian prime minister.

As provided for in the "Greater Hamburg Law" ("Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz"), certain exchanges of territory took place. Prussia was extended on 1 April 1937, for instance, by the incorporation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck.


As part of their war aims the Western allies sought the abolition of Prussia. Stalin was initially content to retain the name, Russia having a different historical view of its neighbour and sometime former ally. In Law No. 46 of 25 February 1947 the Allied Control Council formally proclaimed the dissolution of Prussia.[54]

In the Soviet Zone of Occupation, which became East Germany in 1949, the former Prussian territories were reorganised into the states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, with the remaining parts of the Province of Pomerania going to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. These states were de facto abolished in 1952 in favour of Bezirke (districts), but were recreated after the fall of the Eastern Bloc in 1990.

The areas east of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, mainly Eastern Prussia, Western Prussia, and Silesia were handed over to Poland due to the 1945 Treaty of Potsdam between three of the Allies, the U.S., the UK, and the USSR. This included Danzig, Königsberg, Breslau, and Stettin. The population fled, mostly to the Western zones, or was driven out. The number of casualties is estimated 2 to 4 million, including those who fled the Soviet army during the last months of the war before the 1945 Treaty.



  4. Allied Control Council Enactment No. 46 of 25 February 1947 (French)
  8. The Rise of Prussia
  9. H. W. Koch, A History of Prussia (1978) p. 35.
  10. Robert S. Hoyt & Stanley Chodorow, Europe in Middle Ages (1976) p. 629.
  11. Norman Davies, God's Playground: A History of Poland Vol. l (1982) p. 81.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Büsch, Otto; Ilja Mieck; Wolfgang Neugebauer (1992). Otto Büsch (ed.). Handbuch der preussischen Geschichte (in German). 2. Berlin: de Gruyter. p. 42. ISBN 978-3-11-008322-4.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  16. Grundriss der Statistik. II. Gesellschaftsstatistik by Wilhelm Winkler, p. 36
  17. Hajo Holborn, History of Modern Germany: 1648–1840 2:274
  18. 18.0 18.1 Kotulla (2008), p. 262
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 Kotulla (2008), p. 263
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 Duchhardt (2006), p. 101
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 Kotulla (2008), p. 265
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 22.8 Kotulla (2008), p. 267
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 Kotulla (2008), p. 266
  24. Duchhardt (2006), p. 108
  25. Kotulla (2008), p. 269
  26. 26.0 26.1 26.2 Kotulla (2008), p. 270
  27. Edward Henry Lewinski Corwin Lewinski-Corwin, Edward Henry (1917). A History of Prussia. New York: The Polish Book Importing Company. p. 628.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  29. Daniel Stone, A History of East Central Europe, (2001), p. 30
  30. H. W. Koch, A History of Prussia p. 33.
  31. Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 4
  32. H. W. Koch, A History of Prussia pp. 100–102.
  34. Koch, A History of Prussia, p. 105.
  36. Asprey, Frederick the Great: the Magnificent Enigma, pp. 195–208.
  39. Marshall Dill, Jr., Germany: A Modern History (1970) p. 39.
  40. 40.0 40.1 Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 7
  42. 42.0 42.1 Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 12
  43. 43.0 43.1 Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 11
  44. Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 10
  45. Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 13–14
  46. Clark, Iron Kingdom ch 14
  48. Clark, Iron Kingdom, pp 620–24
  49. Clark, Iron Kingdom, pp 630–39
  50. Clark, Iron Kingdom, p 652
  51. Wheeler-Bennett, John The Nemesis of Power, London: Macmillan, 1967 page 253.
  52. Clark, Iron Kingdom, pp 647–48
  53. Clark, Iron Kingdom, pp. 655–70
  54. Clark, Iron Kingdom, pp. 670–82


Further reading

  • Avraham, Doron (October 2008). "The Social and Religious Meaning of Nationalism: The Case of Prussian Conservatism 1815–1871". European History Quarterly (38#4): 525–550.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Barraclough, Geoffrey (1947). The Origins of Modern Germany (2d ed.).<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>, covers medieval period
  • Friedrich, Karin (2000). The Other Prussia. Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569–1772. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-58335-0.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles> online review
  • Haffner, Sebastian (1998). The Rise and Fall of Prussia.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Holborn, Hajo. A History of Modern Germany (3 vol 1959–64); col 1: The Reformation; vol 2: 1648–1840. 3.1840–1945.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Jeep, John M. (2001). Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Koch, H. W. (1987). History of Prussia.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles> – a short scholarly history.
  • Maehl, William Harvey (1979). Germany in Western Civilization.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Reinhardt, Kurt F. (1961). Germany: 2000 Years. 2 vols.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>, stress on cultural topics
  • Shennan, M. (1997). The Rise of Brandenburg Prussia.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Taylor, A. J. P. (2001). The Course of German History: A Survey of the Development of German History since 1815.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

External links