Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia Königreich von Preußen  (German)
1525–1947
Top: Flag (1803-1892) Bottom: (1892-1918) Top: Prussian eagle (1871–1918) Bottom: full achievement (1873–1918)
Motto: Gott mit uns  (High German) Nobiscum deus  (Latin) "God with us"
Anthem: Preußenlied Song of Prussia Royal anthem: Heil dir im Siegerkranz Hail to thee in the Victor's Crown
Prussia (in blue) at its height as the leading state of the German Empire
Capital	Königsberg (1525–1701) Berlin (1701–1947)
Common languages	German (official)
Demonym(s)	Prussian
Government	Monarchy (until 1918), Republic
Duke1
• 1525–1568	Albert I (first)
• 1688–1701	Frederick III (last)
King1
• 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 (de facto, loss of independence)	30 January 1934
• Abolition (de jure)	25 February 1947
Currency	Reichsthaler German gold mark (1873–1914) German Papiermark (1914–1923) Reichsmark (1924 to the Abolition of Prussia)
Today part of	Germany Poland Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) Lithuania Denmark Belgium Czech Republic Switzerland
1 The heads of state listed here are the first and last to hold each title over time. For more information, see individual Prussian state articles (links in above History section). 2 The position of Ministerpräsident was introduced in 1792 when Prussia was a Kingdom; the prime ministers shown here are the heads of the Prussian republic.

Prussia (/ˈprʌʃə/; German: Preußen, pronounced [ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] (listen), Old Prussian: Prūsa or Prūsija) was a series of countries. Originally it was a historically prominent German state that originated in 1525. Mostly, the name is used for the Kingdom of Prussia, which was in northern Europe. It was part of Germany for a while, and it included land in Poland, France, and Lithuania. The name "Prussian" has had a lot of different meanings in the past and now:

• The land of the Baltic Prussians (today parts of southern Lithuania, Kaliningrad, and north-eastern Poland);
• The lands of the Teutonic Knights (a group of religious soldiers in the 12th century);
• Part of the lands of the Polish Crown, Royal Prussia;
• A fief of the Polish Crown, Ducal Prussia, later under control of the Hohenzollern family of Brandenburg;
• All Hohenzollern land, inside or outside Germany;
• An independent Kingdom, from the 17th century until 1871;
• The largest part of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, and Nazi Germany from 1871 to 1945.

In 1934, Germany stopped using the name Prussia for that area, and in 1947 the Allies abolished the state of Prussia and divided its territory among themselves and the new States of Germany. Today, the name is only for historical, geographical, or cultural use.

The name Prussia comes from the Borussi or Prussi people who lived in the Baltic region and spoke the Old Prussian language. Ducal Prussia was a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Poland until 1660, and Royal Prussia was part of Poland until 1772. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, most German-speaking Prussians started thinking of themselves as part of the German nation. They thought the Prussian way of life was very important:

• Perfect organization
• Sacrifice (giving other people something you need)
• Obeying the law

From the late 18th century, Prussia had a lot of power in northern Germany and throughout central Europe; it was the strongest in politics and economics, and it had the most people. After Chancellor Otto von Bismarck dissolved the German Confederation, Prussia annexed almost all of northern Germany. In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War, von Bismarck created the German Empire, and Prussia was the center of the empire, with the Kings of Prussia being the Emperors of Germany.