PHYSICAL FEATURES. Mountains.—The greater part of Prussia, more than two-thirds of its total area, belongs to the north European plain, while less than a third, chiefly in the south-west, can be described as hilly or mountainous. The division line between the two districts is roughly indicated by an irregular series of heights beginning with the Teutoburgerwald, to the east of the upper Ems, and the Weser Hills, on both sides of the upper Weser, and thence running towards the south-east in the Harz Mountains (q.v.), with the Brocken (3740 feet), and in the northern outliers of the Thüringerwald (Finsterberg, 3100 feet; Inselberg, 3000 feet). Farther to the south-east this line of heights is continued by the Riesengebirge (q.v.), separating Prussian Silesia from Bohemia, and forming the northern ranges of the Sudetic system. None of these ranges rise above about 5000 feet; the Schneekoppe (5250 feet) in the Riesengebirge is the loftiest summit on Prussian territory. The western and south-western parts of the country, comprising Rhenish Prussia, Westphalia, and Hesse-Nassau, thus cut off from the sandy and heathy wastes of the north, are quite distinct in their physical character from the rest of Prussia. They are divided by the Rhine into two portions. On the west side of the river, between Aix-la-Chapelle and the Moselle, is the elevated plain known as the Hohe Veen and the Eifel, which has a mean elevation of 1600 feet, with a few higher hills (Hohe Acht, 2490 feet). South of the Moselle, and parallel with that river, stretches the Hunsruck, with an average height of 1200 to 1500 feet, and farther south is the Hardt, the name here given to the northern extremity of the Vosges. On the east side of the Rhine the Sauerland, between the Ruhr and the Sieg, with the Rothaar or Rotlagergebirge, is succeeded farther south by the Westerwald (Fuchskauten, 2155 feet), between the Sieg and the Lahn, and by the Taunus (Feldberg, 2885 feet), between the Lahn and the Main. To the south of the Taunus, famous for its mineral springs, lies the fertile valley of the Main, while to the east the Vogelsberg, chiefly, however, in Hesse, forms a link with the Hohe Rhön (Wasserkuppe, 3115 feet), which may be regarded as an outlier of the Thüringerwald. The soil is generally poor in these districts, though they possess special sources of wealth in their iron and coal mines. The level country between the Rhone and the Maas, bordering the Eifel, is, however, extremely fertile; and Hesse-Cassel is particularly fruitful, cereals of all kinds growing abundantly. The great northern plain, which occupies the rest of the kingdom, is varied by two terrace-like elevations already described under GERMANY (Vol. V. p. 172). The surface is diversified with numerous lakes, especially in the east, on what are known as the Pomeranian and East Prussian Lake-plateaus, but none of them is more than 20 sq. m. in area, though altogether they are estimated to cover more than 300 sq. m. The soil, consisting chiefly of loose sand interspersed with a large number of erratic blocks of granite, is sterile, covered in many places with heaths and belts of stunted pines. On the northern slope, terminating on the shores of the Baltic, there are several fertile districts, more especially along those rivers which have been carefully embanked, as the Niemen and the Vistula. The southern elevation of the Prussian plain, running between the Polish mountains of Sandomir in the south-east and the
Elbe between Magdeburg and Burg in the north-west, attains a height of about 1000 feet near Breslau on the Oder, where it is known as the Trebnitz Heights. Its general character is more fertile than the northern elevation; while the country between the two is, for the most part, extremely sterile. It includes the sandy waste in which Berlin, the capital, is situated. South of this tract, and in Silesia and Prussian Saxony, the country is fertile, including some of the most productive grain-growing districts of Prussia. Hanover has much the same character. Great marshes or peat-moors cover the north and north-west districts; but the valleys that lie among the Harz Mountains in the south are often fertile, and well adapted for agriculture. The coasts are low, and require to be protected from the overflowing of the sea by embankments and dykes. Sleswick-Holstein, to the north of the Elbe, is in part sandy and heathy, like the plain of Hanover, but it has also numerous marshes.
Rivers.—The northern plain is watered by five large rivers—the Niemen, Vistula, Oder, Elbe, and Weser—all of which rise beyond the borders of the kingdom, and the Pregel, Eider, and Ems, which are exclusively Prussian. In the west the chief river is the Rhine, which enters Prussia at Mainz, and thence flows north through a narrow valley noted as one of the most picturesque parts of Germany. The Rhine, which is navigable throughout its entire course in Prussian territory, receives numerous tributaries—as the Lahn, Wied, Sieg, Wupper, Ruhr, Lippe, Berkel, and Vechte, on the right, and on the left the Alr and the Moselle or Mosel, the latter of which is navigable for more than 150 miles within the Prussian dominions. The Weser, Elbe, Oder, and Vistula, as also the Spree and Havel, affluents of the Elbe, are of high importance for the inland navigation of Prussia, and are each discussed in special articles. Altogether Prussia is said to possess 119 navigable rivers, besides nearly fifty others that may be used by rafts, and ninety navigable canals. Of the last named, which form a network connecting the chief rivers of north Germany, the most important are the Bromberger, the Finow, the Friedrich-Wilhelms, and the Eider Canals.
Climate.—The climate of Prussia presents great differences in the eastern and western provinces, the former being exposed to heavy snowstorms in winter and great drought in summer, while the latter have milder winters and a greater rainfall. At Berlin the annual mean temperature is 48° F.; on the Rhine it is 49° (summer, 63°; winter, 34°); in the east provinces and among the mountains it is below 43° (summer, 61°; winter, 25°).
Productions.—Agriculture and the rearing of cattle constitute the principal sources of employment and wealth of the rural population of the entire monarchy, and the state has hitherto directed its unremitting attention to the furtherance of the one and the improvement of the other; abrogating onerous land-taxes, advancing money to landowners, encouraging agricultural institutions, introducing approved breeds of animals and improved farm instruments, &c. Rather less than one-half, or 12,000,000, of the population of the kingdom are engaged in agriculture as their sole or chief occupation. Of the total area 50 per cent. is occupied by arable land, 9½ per cent. by meadows, and 11 per cent. by pasturage. Large estates, as a rule, are only to be found in the eastern and least populated provinces of the monarchy. Rye, wheat, oats, barley, peas, millet, rape-seed, maize, linseed, beet-root, potatoes, tobacco, flax, hemp, hops, chicory are extensively cultivated. The finest grain districts are the Börde, near Magdeburg, the low lands on the Wartha and Netze, and on the Plöne and Madüe lakes, the north-eastern parts of Pomerania, the island of Rügen, the valleys of the Oder in Silesia, of the Saale, Moselle, Saar, and parts of Hesse-Nassau. Magdeburg is the centre of the beet-root sugar industry. Western Prussia is noted for its excellent fruits and vegetables, and its provinces stand pre-eminent for their wines. Nassau is specially famous for its Rhine wines. The forest-lands, which are chiefly in East Prussia, Posen, Upper Silesia, Westphalia, Southern Hanover, and Hesse-Nassau, are of great value and considerable extent, occupying an area of 10,000,000 English acres. The mineral products of Prussia include coal, iron, lead, zinc, copper, cobalt, antimony, manganese, arsenic, sulphur, alum, nickel, black lead, baryta, gypsum, slate, lime, freestone, salt, amber, agate, jasper, onyx, &c. Prussia yields about one-half of the annual zinc production of the world; and of the total output of coal in Germany, about three-eighths of that of the United Kingdom, Prussia produces 93 per cent. The chief coalfields are in Silesia, Westphalia, and Rhenish Prussia, which are at the same time the chief industrial provinces of the kingdom. The region of the Harz in Hanover is also famous for its mining industries. All metals, salt, precious stones, and amber found along the Prussian coast from Danzig to Memel belong to the crown. Prussia has upwards of 100 mineral springs, of which the most noted and efficient are the sulphur baths of Aix-la-Chapelle and Ems, the iron springs of Schwalbach, Wilhelmsbad, Driburg, and the hot and saline baths of Reinerz, Landeck, Flinsberg, Freienwalde, Lauchstedt, Wiesbaden, Schlangebad, and Selters. East Prussia is noted for its royal stands, and the excellent breed of horses which it now raises, and of which large numbers are annually exported. Westphalia enjoys a special reputation for the excellence of its hams and pork, Pomerania for its smoked geese, and Brandenburg and Hanover for honey and wax. Fish of all sorts are abundant in the rivers and numerous lakes; seals are taken in the Baltic. The wooded districts abound in game of every kind, pheasants, partridges, and wild geese being often found in enormous quantities. Besides stags, fallow-deer, wild boars, foxes, otters, weasels, polecats, martens, badgers, hares and rabbits, the lynx, bear, eagle, and beaver are occasionally met with.
Manufactures.—The principal manufactures are linens, for which certain districts of Silesia, Prussian Saxony, and Brandenburg enjoy a European celebrity; while of late years the cotton manufactures, worked by steam, have maintained a successful rivalry with the older linens, worked by hand-loom. Besides these there are numerous manufactories of silk, wool, mixed cotton and linen fabrics; including fine shawls and carpets in Brandenburg, stockings and ribbons in the Rhenish provinces, where, as well as in Westphalia and Hesse-Nassau, the flax, hemp, and silk and cotton thread is mainly prepared for the manufacturers. These districts, moreover, stand foremost in regard to the preparation and manufacture of iron, steel (the steel and gun works of Krupp, at Essen, being world-famous), and other metallic wares, paper, leather, soap, oil, cigars, and tobacco, and for the number of their distilleries and breweries; while Saxony and Silesia have the largest number of chicory, starch, beet-root, gunpowder, and glass works. Berlin and Elberfeld rank as the two most important centres of manufacture on the Continent. In 1895-96 there were 307 beet-root sugar factories in Prussia, which produced 1,212,578 metric tons of raw sugar. In that year the total value of the minerals produced in the kingdom was £23,700,000 (of which nearly two-thirds came from the Rhine- land and Westphalia); while the mineral produce of the German empire was £37,600,000.
Commerce.—The commerce of Prussia is materially facilitated by her central European position, and the network of river and canal navigation, which makes her territories the connecting medium between several of the great European states, and which, with 15,000 miles of railway, 40,500 miles of public roads (all, or nearly all, formed since the time of Frederick the Great), and a coast-line of 1000 miles, gives her a free outlet to the rest of the world. The Prussian mercantile marine in 1889 numbered 2255 vessels of 354,213 tons. The chief ports are Memel, Pillau, Königsberg, Danzig, Colberg, Swinemünde, Stettin, Wolgast, Stralsund, Kiel, Flensburg, Altona, Harburg, Geestemünde, Leer, and Emden. The principal commercial towns are Berlin, Königsberg, Breslau, Barmen, Elberfeld, Danzig, Posen, Stettin, Cologne, Magdeburg, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Frankfort-on-the-Main. Annual fairs are still held at Breslau, Magdeburg, and Frankfort-on-the-Oder.
The money, measures, and weights of Prussia are those in use throughout the German empire. In accordance with the law of 1872 the mark is the unit of reckoning, and has gradually displaced Thalers (q.v.) and silbergroschen. The Prussian or Berlin Bank, founded in 1765, with numerous branches in the provinces, is the most important of those banks which possess the right of issuing notes.
Religion, &c.—The dominant religion is Protestantism, and since 1817 the Lutheran and Reformed Churches have been united under the head of one common evangelical church. Everything connected with the external administration of church matters is under the control of the minister of public instruction and ecclesiastical affairs, but every religious community manages its own internal concerns; the Protestant churches acting in conjunction with consistories or boards appointed by the government, one of which exists in each province, under the direction of the upper president, or provincial governor, and a clerical superintendent-general, who in Posen and Pomerania bears the title of bishop; while the Roman Catholic Church is directed by the two archbishops of Posen and Gnesen, and Cologne, under whom stand the four bishoprics of Culm, Münster, Paderborn, and Treves. The four episcopal sees of Breslau, Ermland, Osnabrück, and Hildesheim are directly under the jurisdiction of the pope, while the district of Glatz, in Silesia, belongs to the archbishopric of Prague; Katscher, in Upper Silesia, to that of Olmütz; and Fulda and Limburg to that of Freiburg. The results of the census of 1885, as regards the numbers of the religious bodies, are as follows: the Protestants of Prussia numbered 18,244,405 (64.4 per cent. of the pop.); Roman Catholics, 9,621,763 (33.9 per cent.); Jews, 366,575 (1.29 per cent.). Roman Catholics are most numerous in Hohenzollern (95 per cent.), Rhenish Prussia (71 per cent.), Posen, Silesia, Westphalia, and West Prussia. The higher Roman Catholic clergy are paid by the state, the parochial clergy chiefly by endowments. For the Kultur-kampf, see the article GERMANY, Vol. V. p. 185.
Education.—Education is compulsory in Prussia between the ages of six and fourteen, and its management and direction are under the control of the state. In no country are better or ampler means supplied for the diffusion of knowledge among all classes of the community. Prussia has ten universities—viz. Königsberg, Berlin, Greifswald, Breslau, Halle, Göttingen, Münster, Bonn, Kiel, and Marburg, which in 1889-90 numbered above 1240 professors and teachers and 15,770 students. The educational system has already been described under GERMANY, Vol. V. p. 176. In 1896 there were in Prussia 36,000 elementary schools, with 82,200 teachers and 5,236,820 pupils. The management of the elementary national schools is in the hands of the local communities; but the state appoints the teachers, and in part pays their salaries, the remainder being supplied by the public. In addition to the libraries of the several universities there is the Royal Library at Berlin, with 800,000 volumes and about 15,000 MSS. Among the numerous scientific, artistic, and literary schools and societies of Prussia the following are some of the more distinguished: the Academy of Arts, founded in 1700; the Royal Museum of Arts; the Academy of Sciences; the Natural History, Geographical, and Polytechnic Societies of Berlin; the Antiquarian Society of Stettin; the Breslau Natural History and Historical Societies; &c.
Justice.—Till lately the Code Napoléon was in force in the Rhenish provinces, and in Hither-Pomerania the common German law; but in other parts of the kingdom the Prussian code, compiled under Frederick the Great's direction, was followed. A new penal code was promulgated in 1850, by which all pre-existing seigniorial, municipal, or ecclesiastical rights of decreeing punishments were unconditionally abrogated. A partial codification was brought about in 1862, and in 1869 a code of commercial law valid for the North German Confederation. Since the establishment of the empire imperial law has precedence of that peculiar to the various states in a large number of subjects. Universal criminal and commercial codes are now in force for the whole empire, and a universal civil code has been prepared. A common judicature bill for the empire was passed in 1879. Prussia has sixteen Oberlandes-gerichte or provincial courts, one or more in each province. Connected with that sitting at Berlin is the Privy-council of Justice, which has jurisdiction over the royal family and the princely houses of Hohenzollern. The supreme tribunal of the empire has been established, not at Berlin, but at Leipzig, in Saxony.
Army, Navy, &c.—In 1899 the strength of the Prussian army on a peace footing, according to official returns, numbered 453,000, of whom 53,000 were cavalry and 64,000 artillery. The army consists of the regular troops and the Landwehr (q.v.), and in time of war an extra force can be called up under the title of the landsturm. Every able-bodied male Prussian is liable to be called upon to serve between twenty and thirty-nine years of age (see GERMANY). Clergymen of the Roman Catholic and Evangelical churches and indispensable supporters of families are exempt. Great care is bestowed on the education and military training of officers and men; and, besides numerous admirable academies, there are several good schools of operative and veterinary surgery, &c. connected with the educational department of the army. The navy of the new German empire is the navy of Prussia. See GERMANY.
Constitution, &c.—Prussia was an absolute monarchy till the crisis of 1848, when the decided movement in favour of liberal views compelled the king to convoke a national assembly, and submit to the establishment of a constitutional form of government, which has been repeatedly modified. The national representative body consists of two bodies: (1) an upper chamber (Herrenhaus, or 'House of Lords'), which is now composed of the princes of the royal family who are of age, the chiefs of the mediatised princely houses recognised by the Congress of Vienna, numbering sixteen in Prussia, the heads of the territorial nobility (about fifty), life-peers chosen by the king from the class of rich landowners, manufacturers, and 'national celebrities,' a titled representative chosen by all landowners in each of the Prussian provinces, representatives of the universities, the burgo-masters of all towns having more than 50,000 inhabitants, and an indefinite number of members appointed by the king for life or for a limited period; (2) a lower chamber (Abgeordnetenhaus, or 'Chamber of Deputies'), composed of 432 members, 352 for the old kingdom and 80 for the provinces annexed in 1867. Every Prussian who has attained his twenty-fifth year, and who has a municipal vote, has also a parliamentary vote, but not a direct one. Out of every 250 Urwähler, or electors in the first instance, is chosen a Wahlmann, or direct elector. This is the man who, strictly speaking, votes for a member of parliament. Representatives are elected for five years, and each receives twenty marks per diem, the refusal of which is illegal. In addition to this general house of assembly there are representative bodies for the provinces, communes, and circles, which debate and legislate in regard to local matters within their several departments. The executive council of state is composed of eleven ministers appointed by the king, and holding office without reference to the comparative strength of political parties. The president of the council has a salary of £2700, each of the other ministers receives £1800. By the modified constitution of 1850 all exclusive privileges arising from titles or station are abrogated, and perfect equality in the eye of the law fully recognised; liberty of the subject guaranteed in regard to religious persuasion, the right to hold meetings unarmed within closed doors, and become members of societies; immunity from domiciliary visits, and inviolability of letters, &c. The monarchy is hereditary in the male line. The sovereign and royal family must profess the evangelical confession of faith. The king, who is not responsible for the measures of his government, and whose decrees require the counter-signatures of his ministers, exercises the executive power, nominates and dismisses the ministry, summons and dissolves the chambers, orders the promulgation of the laws, is commander-in-chief of the forces, has the right of proclaiming peace and war, granting reprieves, &c. He bears the titles of King of Prussia, Markgraf of Brandenburg, Sovereign-duke of Silesia, Prince of Orange, Grand-duke of Pomerania and the Lower Rhine, besides a host of lesser titles. The title 'German Emperor,' by which he is now best known, is not, of course, a Prussian dignity. The eldest son of the king bears the title of Crown-prince. The ordinary royal residences are the palaces at Berlin, Potsdam, and Charlottenburg. The royal domains were ceded to the state by Frederick-William III. in 1820, on condition of a rental of 2½ million thalers being paid first from them for the king and his family, which, however, has been increased in 1859, 1868, and 1889 by means of a Krondotation ('crown-allowance') to £770,550.
In the year 1898-99 the budget-estimate of the receipts was 2,187,527,384 marks (£109,376,370), just balanced by the expenditure. The total national debt bearing interest was 6,485,222,000 marks (£324,261,100), or about £10, 3s. per head of the population. The direct taxes are an income-tax, land-tax, house-tax, class-tax, and trading-tax, and amount to about 5s. 6d. per head. The income-tax yields about 1s. 5d. per head of the population.
Population, Races.—About seven-eighths of the population of Prussia are Germans. Of the Slavonic tribes the most numerous are Poles, numbering 2½ millions. In Brandenburg and Silesia there are about 85,000 Wends; in East Prussia, upwards of 150,000 Lithuanians; Western Prussia has rather more than 10,000 Walloons, using the French language; intermixed in its generally German population Silesia has 55,000 Czechs or Bohemians; Sleswick-Holstein, 140,000 Danes—making in all about 3 millions who do not use the German language, or who employ it only as secondary to their native tongues.
Ranks, Classes.—Three distinct hereditary classes are recognised in Prussia—viz. nobles, burghers, and peasants. To the first belong nearly 200,000 persons, including the higher officials of the state, although that number does not comprise the various mediatised houses, of which sixteen are Prussian, and others belonging to different states, but connected with Prussia by still existing, or former territorial possessions. The burgher class includes, in its higher branches, all public office-bearers, professional men, artists, and merchants; while the peasantry—to which belong all persons engaged in agricultural pursuits—are divided into classes, depending on the number of horses employed on the land, &c.
History.—The lands bounded by the Baltic, which now form part of Prussia, were early occupied by Slavonic tribes, nearly allied to the Letts and Lithuanians. It is conjectured that they were visited by Phœnician navigators in the 4th century B.C.; but, beyond the fact of their having come into temporary conflict with the Goths and other Teutonic hordes prior to the great exodus of the latter from their northern homes, little is known of the people till the 10th century, when they first appear in history under the name of Borussi, or Prussians. In 997 Bishop Adalbert of Prague suffered martyrdom at their hands while endeavouring to convert the people to Christianity. Boleslas, Duke of Poland, succeeded, however, about 1018, in compelling them to submit to baptism and subjection. After many futile attempts on the part of the people to throw off the yoke of Christianity and foreign domination, they finally made a successful stand against Boleslas IV. of Poland in 1161, and for a time maintained a rude and savage kind of independence, which the disturbed condition of Poland prevented its rulers from breaking down. The fear of losing their freedom if they adopted Christianity made the Prussians obstinately resist every effort for their conversion; and it was not till the middle of the 13th century, when the knights of the Teutonic order began their 'famous' crusade against them (see TEUTONIC KNIGHTS), that the Christian faith was established among them. The inroads of the pagan Prussians on the territories of their Christian neighbours, and their advance into Pomerania, were the exciting causes of this important movement. The knights of the order, when appealed to by Conrad, Duke of Masovia, to aid in the subjection of the heathen, gladly promised their services on condition of being permitted to retain possession of the lands which they might conquer; and, having entered the Prussian territories in considerable numbers, they entrenched themselves in Vogelsang and Nessau in 1230, and at once entered upon the conquest of Prussia. For half a century the belligerent brotherhood were engaged in war with the people—winning lands and souls by hard fighting—until at length in 1283 they found themselves undisputed masters of the country, which they had both civilised and Christianised after a fashion—that is to say, by almost exterminating the pagan population. During this period of struggle the knights founded the cities of Thorn, Kulm, Marienwerder, Memel, and Königsberg, repeopled the country with German colonists, encouraged agriculture and trade, and laid the foundation of a well-ordered, prosperous state. The unhappy wars between the knights and the Poles and Lithuanians, together with the moral degeneracy of the order, led, in the 14th and 15th centuries, to the gradual decline of their supremacy. In 1454 the municipal and noble classes, with the co-operation of Poland, rose in open rebellion against the knights, who were finally compelled to seek peace at any cost, and obliged in 1466 to accept the terms offered to them by the treaty of Thorn, by which West Prussia and Ermland were ceded by them unconditionally to Poland, and the remainder of their territories declared to be fiefs of that kingdom. In 1511 the knights elected as their grand-master the Markgraf Albert of Anspach and Baireuth, a kinsman of the king of Poland, and a scion of the Frankish line of the Hohenzollern family. Although his election did not immediately result, as the knights had hoped, in securing them allies powerful enough to aid them in emancipating themselves from Polish domination, it was fraught with important consequences to Germany at large, no less than to the order itself. In 1525 the grand-master was acknowledged Duke of Prussia, which was converted into a secular duchy (afterwards known as East Prussia), and renounced the Roman Catholic religion for Lutheranism, his example being followed by many of the knights. The country made rapid advances under the rule of Albert, who improved the mode of administering the law, restored some order to the finances of the state, established schools, founded the university of Königsberg (1544), and caused the Bible to be translated into Polish, and several books of instruction to be printed in German, Polish, and Lithuanian. His son and successor, Albert Frederick, having become insane, a regency was appointed. Several of his kinsmen in turn enjoyed the dignity of regent, and finally his son-in-law, Johann Sigismund, elector of Brandenburg, after having held the administration of affairs in his hands for some years, was, on the death of the duke in 1618, recognised as his successor, both by the people and by the king of Poland, from whom he received the investiture of the duchy of Prussia, which, since that period, has been governed by the Hohenzollern-Brandenburg House.
Here it will be necessary to retrace our steps in order briefly to consider the political and dynastic relations of the other parts of the Prussian state. In 1134 the North Mark, afterwards called the Altmark, a district in the west of the Elbe and north-east of the Harz, was bestowed upon Albert the Bear of Luxembourg, who extended his dominion over the marshy region near Brandenburg and Berlin (the Mittelmark), and assumed the title of Markgraf of Brandenburg. During the next two or three centuries his immediate descendants advanced still farther eastward, beyond the Oder into Farther Pomerania. On the extinction of this line, known as the Ascanian House, in 1319, a century of strife and disorder followed, until finally Frederick VI., count of Hohenzollern, and markgraf of Nuremberg, became possessed, partly by purchase and partly by investiture from the Emperor Sigismund, of the Brandenburg lands, which, in his favour, were constituted into an electorate. This prince, known as the Elector Frederick I., received his investiture in 1417. He united under his rule, in addition to his hereditary Franconian lands of Anspach and Baireuth, a territory of more than 11,000 sq. m. His reign was disturbed by the insubordination of the nobles, and the constant incursions of his Prussian and Polish neighbours, but by his firmness and resolution he restored order at home and enlarged his boundaries. Under Frederick's successors the Brandenburg territory was augmented by the addition of many new acquisitions, although the system of granting appanages to the younger members of the reigning house, common at that time, deprived the electorate of some of its original domains. The Dispositio Achillea, however, which came into operation on the death of the Elector Albert Achilles (1470-86), while it separated Anspach and Brandenburg, legally established the principle of primogeniture in both. The most considerable addition to the electorate was the one to which reference has already been made, and which fell to the Elector John Sigismund through his marriage in 1609 with Anne, daughter and heiress of Albert Frederick the Insane, Duke of Prussia. In consequence of this alliance the duchy of Cleves, the countships of Ravensberg, the Mark, and Limburg, and the extensive duchy of Prussia, now known as East Prussia, became incorporated with the Brandenburg territories, which were thus more than doubled in area.
The reign of John Sigismund's successor, George-William (1619-40), was distracted by the miseries of the Thirty Years' War, and the country was alternately the prey of Swedish and imperial armies; and on the accession of George-William's son, Frederick-William (q.v.), the 'Great Elector,' in 1640, the electorate was sunk in the lowest depths of social misery and financial embarrassment. But so wise, prudent, and vigorous was the government of this prince that at his death in 1688 he left a well-filled exchequer, and a fairly-equipped army of 38,000 men; while the electorate, which now possessed a population of one and a half million and an area of 43,000 sq. m., had been raised by his genius to the rank of a great European power. His successors Frederick I. (q.v.; 1688-1713) and Frederick-William I. (1713-40) each in his own way increased the power and credit of Prussia, which had been in 1701 raised to the rank of a kingdom. The latter monarch was distinguished for his rigid economy of the public money and an extraordinary penchant for tall soldiers, and left to his son Frederick II. (q.v.), Frederick the Great, a compact and prosperous state, a well-disciplined army, and a sum of nearly nine million thalers in his treasury. Frederick II. (1740-86) dexterously availed himself of the extraordinary advantages of his position to raise Prussia to the rank of one of the great political powers of Europe. In the intervals between his great wars he devoted all his energies to the improvement of the state, by encouraging agriculture, trade, and commerce, and reorganising the military, financial, and judicial departments of the state. By his liberal views in regard to religion, science, and government he inaugurated a system whose results reacted on the whole of Europe; and in Germany more especially he gave a new stimulus to thought, and roused the dormant patriotism of the people. Frederick was not over-scrupulous in his means of enlarging his dominions, as he proved by sharing in the first partition of Poland in 1772, when he obtained as his portion nearly all West Prussia and several other districts in East Prussia. His nephew and successor, Frederick-William II. (1786-97), aggrandised his kingdom by the second and third partitions of Poland in 1793 and 1795. Frederick-William III. (q.v.; 1797-1840), who had been educated under the direction of his grand-uncle, Frederick the Great, succeeded his father in 1797, at a time of extreme difficulty, when continental rulers had no choice beyond being the opponents, the tools, or the victims of French republican ambition. By endeavouring to maintain a neutral attitude Prussia lost her political importance, and gained no real friends, but many covert enemies. But the calamities which this line of policy brought upon Prussia roused Frederick-William from his apathy, and, with energy, perseverance, and self-denial worthy of all praise, he devoted himself, with his great minister Stein, seconded by Count Hardenberg, to the reorganisation of the state. In the years 1806-10 Prussia underwent a complete domestic reorganisation; and after the battle of Waterloo, which restored to Prussia much of the territory lost at the peace of Tilsit in 1807, the career of progress was continued. Trade received a new impulse through the various commercial treaties made with the maritime nations of the world, the formation of excellent roads, the establishment of steam and sailing packets on the great rivers, and at a later period through the organisation of the Zollverein (q.v.), and through the formation of railways. The most ample and liberal provision was made for the diffusion of education over every part of the kingdom, and to every class. In like manner, the established Protestant Church was enriched by the newly-inaugurated system of government subvention, churches were built, the emoluments of the clergy were raised, and their dwellings improved; but, not content with that, the king forcibly united the Lutheran and Reformed Churches in 1817, a high-handed act most fruitful in discontent and difficulties. This tendency to over-legislation has long been the predominating evil feature of Prussian administration; and the state, without regard to the incongruous elements of which it was composed, was divided and subdivided into governmental departments, which, in their turn, under some head or other, brought every individual act under governmental supervision, to the utter annihilation of political independence. The people soon perceived that this administrative machinery made no provision for political and civil liberty, and demanded of the king the fulfilment of the promise he had given in 1815 of establishing a representative constitution for the whole kingdom. This demand was not acceded to by the king, and its immediate fruits were strenuous efforts on his part to check the spirit of liberalism. Siding with the pietists of Germany, he introduced a sort of Jesuitical despotism, which was continued by his successor, Frederick-William IV. The Landstände or provincial estates, organised in accordance with the system of the middle ages, were the sole and inadequate mode of representation granted to Prussia in this reign, notwithstanding the pledge made to the nation for a full and general representative government. The accession of Frederick-William IV. (1840-61) seemed to open a better prospect to the friends of constitutional freedom. A political amnesty was proclaimed, religious toleration was announced, and a contest betwixt the crown and the pope, in which the first signs of the coming Kulturkampf may be traced, was brought to a close by concessions on the part of the king. Frederick-William, however, was an enthusiastic upholder of the divine right of kings, and it soon became apparent that he was in no way prepared to follow up his vague promises of political liberty by sharing political power with the people. The bureaucratic spirit of over-governing became daily more and more irksome to the nation, and it was evident that a constitutional struggle was inevitable. The king and his advisers, under-rating the importance of the movement of 1848 in Germany, thought they had satisfied the requirements of the hour by granting a few unimportant reforms and by making equivocal promises of future concessions. A collision betwixt the troops and the citizens of Berlin, in which blood was shed, awoke the king to the full gravity of the crisis, and he hastened to allay the general discontent by the nomination of a liberal ministry, the recognition of a civic guard, and the summoning of a representative chamber to discuss the proposed constitution. The conversion of the monarch to liberalism was but temporary; and although, after much obstruction, a constitution, superseding the old Prussian estates by a representative parliament, was promulgated in January 1850, it was repeatedly modified in the following years, until few of its democratic features were left. Frederick William had early distinguished himself and delighted many Germans, both within and without Prussia, by his patriotic utterances in favour of a new united Germany. He was deeply chagrined when in 1848 the national assembly at Frankfurt, influenced by Austrian jealousy of the military strength of Prussia, declined to accept him as the national leader, and elected instead the Archduke John of Austria as lieutenant-general of Germany. Yet, when in the following year he was offered the imperial crown, he found himself unable to face the responsibility of accepting it. He hesitated to make so important a move in the contest with Austria for the hegemony of Germany. The later years of this reign were characterised by great advances in the material prosperity and internal improvement of the country. Extensive lines of railway and post-roads were opened, the river navigation greatly facilitated, treaties of commerce formed with foreign countries, and great expansion given to the Prussian and North German Zollverein (q.v.), the army put upon a footing of hitherto unprecedented efficiency of arms and artillery, and the educational system of the country still further developed. William I. (1861-88), who became German emperor in 1871, had been regent of the kingdom since 1858, owing to the insanity of his brother, the late king. William was no more a lover of constitutional, or at least of popular, liberty than any of his predecessors; and in his opposition to the progress of the popular movement, in so far as it aimed at interference with the regal power, he was powerfully aided by his great adviser Bismarck (q.v.), who became prime-minister in 1862 and imperial chancellor in 1871. The successful wars with Austria (1866) and France (1870-71), which so enhanced the prestige of Prussia and which resulted in the united Germany of today, are described at GERMANY. Since the king of Prussia became German Emperor the history of Prussia has been practically merged in the history of Germany. After the brief reign of Frederick III. (March 9 to June 15, 1888), his son, William II. (q.v.), ascended the throne. While still adhering to the military policy of his grandfather, and still cherishing a more or less exalted belief in the divine right of kings, the young monarch has shown himself able to realise the importance of the great social questions of modern times, and ready to deal with them in a decided yet sympathetic manner. The advanced, and in some respects socialistic 'labour-policy' of the emperor, unfolded at a labour-conference of representatives of the great powers in Berlin 1890, and the abolition of the anti-socialist laws led to the resignation by Prince Bismarck of all his ministerial functions in March 1890, as well in the kingdom as in the empire; and no subsequent Prussian minister has since exercised his predominant powers. Various minor reforms, including a new scheme of local government and of communal taxation occupied the attention of the Prussian diet. A bill of 1891, giving compensation for the suspension of salaries of Roman Catholic clergy in Prussia during the Kulturkampf was the formal close of that long contest. A primary education bill and some anti-socialist legislation provoked controversy. The history of Prussia is now in the main but part of the history of the Empire of Germany (q.v.).
See, besides works cited at GERMANY, BERLIN, FREDERICK II., BISMARCK, &c., H. Tuttle, History of Prussia (Boston, 1884-88); Godefroy de Cavaignac, Les Origines de la Prusse Contemporaine (1890).