History of Prussia

Frederick William I (The Great Elector) ruled Prussia from 1640 to 1688.
He was the real creator of modern Prussia; he built up his country on the foundation of a strong army.
World History, Part Two, Arco Publishing, Inc., New York, 1980

1701 - The Kingdom of Prussia formed in 1701.

Frederick William II (1713-40) made the Prussian army even stronger and more defensive.

World History, Part Two, Arco Publishing, Inc., New York, 1980

1717 - January 5 - Prussian King Frederik Willem I buys conscript for nobles

onthisday.com

1717 - June 28 - Prussian king Frederik Willhelm I gives compulsory education to 5-12 yrs

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1720 - February 1 - Sweden and Prussia sign peace treaty

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1730 - August 4 - Crown prince Frederick of Prussia escapes to England

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1740 - Frederick the Great crowned King of Prussia
"Frederick the Great was the most important of all the Prussian rulers. The great-grandson of the Great Elector was a dominant figure in European history, one of the so-called "Enlightened Despots". Frederick was chiefly a balancer of powers in Europe, working between a weakened Austria and France."
World History, Part Two, Arco Publishing, Inc., New York, 1980

(1740-42) The Silesian War

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1740 - June 22 - King Frederik II of Prussia ends torture & guarantees religion & freedom of the press

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(1756-63) The Seven Years' War
"Frederick the Great allied Prussia with England against France and Austria. The war hit Prussia hard but Frederick managed to survive due to the loyalty and skill of his troops. Prussia drove back, in turn, the French, Austrian and Russian armies. Even without the aid of England in the end, he completed the war by the PEACE OF HUBERTUSBERG (1763) which guaranteed him permanent possession of Silesia. The whole war was settled by the PEACE OF PARIS (1763)."
World History, Part Two, Arco Publishing, Inc., New York, 1980

1763 - February 15 - Austria, Prussia & Saxony sign Treaty of Hubertusburg, marking the end of the French and Indian War and of the Seven Years War

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(1803) Territorial reform of the German states

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1814 to 1815 - Congress of Vienna
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 elites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians.

en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Prussia

1869 - Prussia has lent a number of farmers near Insterburg from $1,500 to $3,500 each, to enable them to improve their farms.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
January 30, 1869

1869 - Healthy Soldiers
According to the recent sanitary report of the medical staff of the Prussian army, there are daily 45 soldiers sick out of 1,000 men. Out of every 1,000 military patients, 985 are cured.
St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
June 19, 1869

1869 - Abolished
Imprisonment for debt has been abolished in Prussia.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
June 19, 1869

(1870-71) Franco-Prussian War

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1870 - Prussia is extending and enlarging the fortifications of Cologne, the cost being estimated at $8,000,000.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
June 4, 1870

1871 - Wilhelm I crowned Prussian King

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1871 - Canned Meat
A single factory in Prussia sends to the army 80,000 cans of preserved meats daily.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
January 21, 1871

1871 - It is stated that ninety-six out of every hundred Prussian soldiers, upon the average, are able to read and write.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
March 4, 1871

1885 - March 26 - The Prussian government, motivated by Otto von Bismarck, expels all ethnic Poles and Jews without German citizenship from Prussia in the Prussian deportations.

wikipedia.org
March 26, 1885

1895 - Prussia
"Prussia, prüsh'ya or proo'she-8 (Ger. Preussen, prois' son; Dutch, Pruissen, prois'sen; Fr. Prusse, prüss; £. Prus' sia), a kingdom of Central Europe, and the chief state of the German Empire, comprising the greater part of North Germany. It was formerly composed of two distinct and very unequal portions, separated by Brunswick, Hesse, Waldeck, Lippe, and Nassau; but since the annexation of Lauenburg, Hanover, Electoral Hesse, the territories of Frankfurt and Nassau, and the duchies of Holstein and Sleswick, with portions of Bavaria, and the grand duchy of Hesse, in 1866, it forms one compact territory from 6° to 22° 55' E. and 40° 6' to 55° 55' N. It is bounded S. by France, Bavaria, Saxony, Bohemia, and Silesia; W. by the Netherlands and Belgium; N. by Denmark and the Baltic; N.E. and E. by Russia. Its length, E. to W., is about 700 miles; breadth, N. to S., 470 miles. The following are the provinces into which Prussia is divided:"

East Prussia, West Prussia, Berlin (city),... Read MORE...

1903 - September 29 – Prussia becomes the first locality to require mandatory driver's licenses for operators of motor vehicles.

wikipedia.org
September 29, 1903

1906
Prussia, prush'a (Ger. Pretuten, prois'sen), a kingdom of Europe, the chief state of the German Empire, com prising the greater part of northern Germany. It extends (not reckoning the detached little province of Hohenzol- lern) from lat. 49° V to 55° 54' N. and from Ion. 5° 52' to 22° 54' E. The main body of the monarchy is bounded S. by German Lorraine, Bavaria, Hesse, the Thuringian states, the kingdom of Saxony, and Austria-Hungary (mainly Bohemia and Austrian Silesia) ; W. by the Netherlands, Bel gium, and Luxemburg ; N. by the North Sea, Oldenburg, Denmark, Mecklenburg, and the Baltic : and E. by Russia (mainly Poland). In addition, it borders on a number of German states, whose territories are partially or wholly en closed by the Prussian dominions, or which enclose detached fragments of Prussian territory. The greatest extension of the country is from NE. to SW., a line drawn from the town of Memel, on the Baltic, to Saarbrilcken, on the borders of Lorraine, measuring about 750 ... Read MORE...

1918 - The Kingdom of Prussia ended in 1918.

1932 - In the Weimar Republic the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance by 1932. The old Prussian élites played a passive role in the Nazi regime

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1945 - East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland and the Soviet Union absorbed its territory.

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1947 - February 25 - The German state of Prussia is officially abolished by the Allied Control Council.

wikipedia.org
February 25, 1947