Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt ( listen (help•info); September 14, 1769 – May 6, 1859) was a Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). Lenovo 04W0872 Laptop Keyboard
Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography.
Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in Latin America, exploring and describing it for the first time from a modern scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. HP 405963-001 Laptop Keyboard
He was one of the first to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined (South America and Africa in particular). Later, his five-volume work, Kosmos (1845), attempted to unify the various branches of scientific knowledge. Humboldt supported and worked with other scientists, including Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, HP 405963-001 Laptop Keyboard
Justus von Liebig, Louis Agassiz, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Georg von Neumayer, and most notably, Aimé Bonpland, with whom he conducted much of his scientific exploration.
Humboldt was born in Berlin in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. His father, Alexander Georg von Humboldt, belonged to a prominent Pomeranian family; a major in the Prussian Army, HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
he was rewarded for his services in the Seven Years' War with the post of Royal Chamberlain. He married the daughter of the Prussian general adjutant, von Schweder.[1] In 1766, he married Maria Elizabeth Colomb, SONY VAIO VGN-FS315H Laptop Keyboard
the widow of Baron von Hollwede, and they had two sons. The money of Baron von Holwede, left to his former wife, was instrumental in funding Alexander's explorations, contributing more than 70% of Alexander's income.[citation needed] SONY VAIO VGN-AW11S/B Laptop Keyboard
Due to his juvenile penchant for collecting and labelling plants, shells and insects, Alexander received the playful title of "the little apothecary". His father died in 1779, after which his mother saw to his education. Marked for a political career, he studied finance for six months at the University of Frankfurt (Oder); a year later, on April 25, 1789, SONY Vaio PCG-K215S Laptop Keyboard
he matriculated at Göttingen, then known for the lectures of C. G. Heyne and J. F. Blumenbach. His vast and varied interests were by this time fully developed, and during a vacation in 1789, he made a scientific excursion up the Rhine and produced the treatise Mineralogische Beobachtungen über einige Basalte am Rhein (Brunswick, 1790) (Mineralogic Observations on Several Basalts on the River Rhine). Lenovo 63Y0047 Laptop Keyboard
Humboldt's passion for travel was confirmed by a friendship formed at Göttingen with Georg Forster, Heyne's son-in-law and the companion of Captain James Cook on Cook's second voyage. Thereafter, IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
his talents were devoted to the purpose of preparing himself as a scientific explorer. With this emphasis, he studied commerce and foreign languages at Hamburg, geology at Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg under A. G. SONY VAIO VGN-N11M Laptop Keyboard
Werner, anatomy at Jena under J. C. Loder and astronomy and the use of scientific instruments under F. X. von Zach and J. G. Köhler. His researches into the vegetation of the mines ofFreiberg led to the publication, in 1793, of his Florae Fribergensis Specimen. Long experimentation on muscular irritability, then recently discovered byLuigi Galvani, HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
were contained in his Versuche über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser (Berlin, 1797) (Experiments on the Frayed Muscle and Nerve Fibres), enriched in the French translation with notes by Blumenbach. COMPAQ Presario C700 Laptop Keyboard
In 1794 Humboldt was admitted to the famous Weimar coterie and contributed (June 7, 1795) to Schiller's new periodical, Die Horen, a philosophical allegory entitled Die Lebenskraft, oder der rhodische Genius. In the summer of 1790 he paid a short visit to England in the company of Forster. In 1792 and 1797 he was in Vienna; in 1795 he made a geological and botanical tour through Switzerland and Italy. HP 636376-001 Laptop Keyboard
He had obtained in the meantime official employment by appointment as assessor of mines at Berlin, February 29, 1792. Although this service to the state was regarded by him as only an apprenticeship to the service of science, he fulfilled its duties with such conspicuous ability that not only did he rise rapidly to the highest post in his department, but he was also entrusted with several important diplomatic missions. The death of his mother, on November 19, HP G72-b62US Laptop Keyboard
1796, set him free to follow the bent of his genius, and severing his official connections, he waited for an opportunity to fulfil his long-cherished dream of travel. On the postponement of Captain Nicolas Baudin's proposed voyage of circumnavigation, HP 484748-001 Laptop Keyboard
which he had been officially invited to accompany, Humboldt left Paris for Marseille with Aimé Bonpland, the designated botanist of the frustrated expedition, hoping to join Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt. Means of transport, however, DELL Precision M4500 Laptop Keyboard
were not forthcoming, and the two travellers eventually found their way to Madrid, where the unexpected patronage of the minister Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo convinced them to make Spanish America the scene of their explorations. HP 597635-001 Laptop Keyboard
Armed with powerful recommendations from the King of Spain, they sailed in the Pizarro from A Coruña, on June 5, 1799, stopped six days on the island ofTenerife to climb the volcano Teide, and landed at Cumaná, Venezuela, on July 16. HP 519265-001 Laptop Keyboard
Returning to Cumaná, Humboldt observed, on the night of November 11–12, a remarkable meteor shower (the Leonids). He proceeded with Bonpland to Caracas where he would climb the Avila mount with Andrés Bello. In February 1800, Humboldt and Bonpland left the coast with the purpose of exploring the course of the Orinoco River and its tributaries. HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
This trip, which lasted four months and covered 1,725 miles (2,776 km) of wild and largely uninhabited country, had the important result of establishing the existence of the Casiquiare canal (a communication between the water-systems of the rivers Orinoco and Amazon), HP Pavilion DV6-1030ca Laptop Keyboard
and of determining the exact position of the bifurcation, as well as documenting the life of several native tribes such as the Maipures and their extinct rivals the Atures (several words of the latter tribe were transferred to Humboldt by one parrot[2]). Around March 19, 1800, von Humboldt and Bonpland discovered and captured someelectric eels. DELL Inspiron 1720 laptop keyboard
They both received potentially dangerous electric shocks during their investigations. Two months later they explored the territory of the Maypures and that of the then recently extinct Aturès Indians. ACER Aspire 4935 laptop keyboard
On November 24, the two friends set sail for Cuba where they met fellow botanist and plant collector John Fraser,[3] and after a stay of some months they regained the mainland at Cartagena, Colombia. SONY VAIO PCG-FR215E Laptop Keyboard
Ascending the swollen stream of the Magdalena River and crossing the frozen ridges of the Cordillera Real, they reached Quito on January 6, 1802, after a tedious and difficult journey. Their stay there was marked by the ascent of Pichincha and an attempt onChimborazo. Humboldt and his party reached an altitude of 19,286 feet (5,878 m), TOSHIBA Satellite L300 Laptop Keyboard
a world record at the time. The journey concluded with an expedition to the sources of the Amazon en route for Lima, Peru.[4] At Callao, Humboldt observed the transit of Mercury on November 9, and studied the fertilizing properties of guano, HP Pavilion G6-1223TX Laptop Keyboard
the subsequent introduction of which into Europe was due mainly to his writings. A tempestuous sea-voyage brought them to Mexico, where they resided for a year, travelling to different cities.
Next, Humboldt made a short visit to the United States, staying in the White House as a guest of President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, a scientist himself, HP Pavilion DV6-1040ev Laptop Keyboard
was delighted to have Humboldt as a guest and the two held numerous intense discussions on scientific matters. After six weeks, Humboldt set sail for Europe from the mouth of the Delaware and landed at Bordeaux on August 3, 1804. HP Pavilion dv6-2020sa Laptop Keyboard
This memorable expedition may be regarded as having laid the foundation of the sciences of physical geography and meteorology. By his delineation (in 1817) of "isothermal lines", he at once suggested the idea and devised the means of comparing the climatic conditions of various countries. HP G62-a10EP Laptop Keyboard
He first investigated the rate of decrease in mean temperature with the increase in elevation above sea level, and afforded, by his inquiries regarding the origin of tropical storms, the earliest clue to the detection of the more complicated law governing atmospheric disturbances in higher latitudes; HP G42-461TU Laptop Keyboard
while his essay on the geography of plants was based on the then novel idea of studying the distribution of organic life as affected by varying physical conditions. His discovery of the decrease in intensity of Earth's magnetic field from the poles to the equator was communicated to the Paris Institute in a memoir read by him on December 7, DELL 0PVDG3 Laptop Keyboard
1804, and its importance was attested by the speedy emergence of rival claims. His services to geology were based mainly on his attentive study of the volcanoes of the New World. He showed that they fell naturally into linear groups, SONY VAIO VGN-NW240F Laptop Keyboard
presumably corresponding with vast subterranean fissures; and by his demonstration of the igneous origin of rocks previously held to be of aqueous formation, he contributed largely to the elimination of erroneous views, such as Neptunism. TOSHIBA Satellite 1800-921 Laptop Keyboard
Humboldt is considered to be the "second discoverer of Cuba" due to all the scientific and social research he conducted on this Spanish colony. During an initial three-month stay at Havana, his first tasks were to properly survey that city and the nearby towns of Guanabacoa, IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
Regla and Bejucal. He befriended Cuban landowner and thinkerFrancisco Arango y Parreño; together they visited the Guines area in south Havana, the valleys of Matanzas Province and the Valley of the Sugar Mills in Trinidad. Those three areas were, at the time, the first frontier of sugar production in the island. HP COMPAQ NX6325 Laptop Keyboard
During those trips, Humboldt collected statistical information on Cuba's population, production, technology and trade, and with Arango, made suggestions for enhancing them. He predicted that the agricultural and commercial potential of Cuba was huge and could be vastly improved with proper leadership in the future. After traveling to the United States, HP 519004-001 Laptop Keyboard
Humboldt returned to Cuba for a second, shorter stay in April 1804. During this time he socialized with his scientific and landowner friends, conducted mineralogical surveys and finished his vast collection of the island's flora and fauna. HP G62-225NR Laptop Keyboard
Finally, Humboldt conducted a rudimentary census of the indigenous and European inhabitants in New Spain, and on May 5, 1804, he estimated the population to be six million individuals.[5][6]
The editing and publication of the encyclopedic mass of scientific, political and archaeological material that had been collected by him during his absence from Europe was now Humboldt's most urgent desire. HP 519004-001 Laptop Keyboard
After a short trip to Italy with Gay-Lussac for the purpose of investigating the law of magnetic declination and a sojourn of two and a half years in his native city, he finally, in the spring of 1808, settled in Paris with the purpose of securing the scientific cooperation required for bringing his great work through the press. SONY VAIO VGN-AW31ZJ laptop keyboard
This colossal task, which he at first hoped would occupy but two years, eventually cost him twenty-one, and even then it remained incomplete. In these early years in Paris, he shared accommodation and a laboratory with his former rival, and now friend, Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, both working together on the analysis of gases and the composition of the atmosphere. HP Pavilion dv6-3106sl laptop keyboard
Alexander von Humboldt thought an approach to science was needed that could account for the harmony of nature among the diversity of the physical world. For Humboldt, "the unity of nature" meant that it was the interrelation of all physical sciences—such as the conjoining between biology, meteorology and geology—that determined where specific plants grew. He found these relationships by unravelling myriad, painstakingly collected data,[7] TOSHIBA Satellite U300-ST3091 laptop keyboard
data extensive enough that it became an enduring foundation upon which others could base their work. Humboldt viewed nature holistically, and tried to explain natural phenomena without the appeal to religious dogma. Packard Bell NEW90 laptop keyboard
He believed in the central importance of observation, and as a consequence had amassed a vast array of the most sophisticated scientific instruments then available. Each had its own velvet lined box and was the most accurate and portable of its time; nothing quantifiable escaped measurement. DELL NSK-D8001 laptop keyboard
According to Humboldt, everything should be measured with the finest and most modern instruments and sophisticated techniques available, for that collected data was the basis of all scientific understanding. HP Mini 110-3103sl laptop keyboard
This quantitative methodology would become known as "Humboldtian science." Humboldt wrote "Nature herself is sublimely eloquent. The stars as they sparkle in firmament fill us with delight and ecstasy, and yet they all move in orbit marked out with mathematical precision."[8] HP 405963-001 laptop keyboard
His critics say his writings contain fantastical descriptions of America, while leaving out its inhabitants. They claim Humboldt, coming from the Romantic school of thought, believed '... nature is perfect till man deforms it with care.'[9] SONY VAIO VGN-AW21Z laptop keyboard
In this line of thinking, they think he largely neglected the human societies amidst this nature. The writing style that describes the 'new world' without people is a trend among explorers both of the past and present. Views of indigenous peoples as 'savage' or 'unimportant' leaves them out of the historical picture.[9] TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5163 laptop keyboard
In reality Humboldt dedicated large parts of his work to describing the conditions of slaves, indigenous peoples and society in general. He often showed his disgust for the slavery[10] and inhumane conditions in which indigenous peoples and others were treated and he often criticized the colonial policies.[11] HP Pavilion DV7-3164cl laptop keyboard
Some of Humboldt's descriptions or assumptions were not accurate.[10] Humboldt was now one of the most famous men in Europe.[12] The acclaimed American painter Rembrandt Peale painted him during his European stay, between 1808 and 1810, as one of the most prominent figures in Europe at the time. Packard Bell Easynote TK81 laptop keyboard
A chorus of applause greeted him from every side. Academies, both native and foreign, were eager to enrol him among their members. He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1810. King Frederick William III of Prussia conferred upon him the honour, DELL Inspiron 1525 laptop keyboard
without exacting the duties, attached to the post of royal chamberlain, together with a pension of 2,500 thalers, afterwards doubled. He refused the appointment of Prussian minister of public instruction in 1810. In 1814 he accompanied the allied sovereigns to London. Three years later he was summoned by the king of Prussia to attend him at the congress of Aachen. HP G62-b36EE laptop keyboard
Humboldt was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1822.[13] Again in the autumn of 1822 he accompanied the same monarch to the Congress of Verona, proceeded thence with the royal party to Rome and Naples and returned to Paris in the spring of 1823. HP G62-b36EE laptop keyboard
Humboldt had long regarded the French capital as his true home. There he found not only scientific sympathy, but the social stimulus which his vigorous and healthy mind eagerly craved. He was equally in his element as the lion of the salons and as the savant of theInstitut de France and the observatory. HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard
During that time he met in 1818, the young and brilliant Peruvian student of the Royal Mining School of Paris, Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz. They became good friends. Subsequently von Humboldt acted as a mentor of the career of this promising Peruvian scientist. HP G61-400SP laptop keyboard
Thus, when at last he received from his sovereign a summons to join his court at Berlin, he obeyed indeed, but with deep and lasting regret. The provincialism of his native city was odious to him. He never ceased to rail against the bigotry without religion[clarification needed], aestheticism without culture, SAMSUNG Q320 laptop keyboard
and philosophy without common sense, which he found dominant on the banks of the Spree. The unremitting benefits and sincere attachment of two well-meaning princes secured his gratitude but could not appease his discontent. At first he sought relief from the "nebulous atmosphere" of his new abode by frequent visits to Paris; but as years advanced, Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
his excursions were reduced to accompanying the monotonous "oscillations" of the court betweenPotsdam and Berlin. On May 12, 1827, he settled permanently in the Prussian capital, where his first efforts were directed towards the furtherance of the science of terrestrial magnetism. For many years, FUJITSU CP228900-01 Laptop Keyboard
it had been one of his favourite schemes to secure, by means of simultaneous observations at distant points, a thorough investigation of the nature and law of "magnetic storms" (a term invented by him to designate abnormal disturbances of Earth's magnetism). The meeting at Berlin, on September 18, 1828, TOSHIBA Satellite U305-S5077 laptop keyboard
of a newly formed scientific association, of which he was elected president, gave him the opportunity of setting on foot an extensive system of research in combination with his diligent personal observations. ACER TravelMate 6252 laptop keyboard
His appeal to the Russian government, in 1829, led to the establishment of a line of magnetic and meteorological stations across northern Asia. Meanwhile his letter to the Duke of Sussex, then (April 1836) president of the Royal Society, secured for the undertaking, the wide basis of the British dominions. ASUS V020462CS1 laptop keyboard
The Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, observes, "Thus that scientific conspiracy of nations which is one of the noblest fruits of modern civilization was by his exertions first successfully organized." However, earlier examples of international scientific cooperation exist, notably the 18th-century observations of the transits of Venus. SONY VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q laptop keyboard
Then President of Mexico, Benito Juárez, gave him honorary Mexican citizenship.
In 1811, and again in 1818, projects of Asiatic exploration were proposed to Humboldt, first by the Russian government, and afterwards by the Prussian government; but on each occasion, untoward circumstances interposed, SONY Vaio VGN-AW120J laptop keyboard
and it was not until he had begun his sixtieth year that he resumed his early role of traveller in the interests of science. Between May and November 1829, he, together with his chosen associates, Gustav Rose and C. G. Ehrenberg, traversed the wide expanse of the Russian empire from the Neva to the Yenesei, HP Pavilion DV7-2213tx laptop keyboard
accomplishing in twenty-five weeks a distance of 9,614 miles (15,472 km). The journey, however, though carried out with all the advantages afforded by the immediate patronage of the Russian government, was too rapid to be profitable. SONY VAIO PCG-FR215E laptop keyboard
The correction of the prevalent exaggerated estimate of the height of the Central Asian plateau, and the discovery of diamonds in the gold-washings of the Ural, a result which Humboldt's Brazilian experiences enabled him to predict, and by predicting to secure. SONY Vaio PCG-K23 laptop keyboard
The first two volumes of the Kosmos were published between the years 1845 and 1847. Humboldt had long intended to write a comprehensive work about geography and the natural sciences. The writing took shape in lectures he delivered before theUniversity of Berlin in the winter of 1827–28. HP G72-b60SF laptop keyboard
These lectures would form "thecartoon for the great fresco of the [K]osmos".[14] The work attempted to unify the sciences then known in a Kantian framework. With inspiration from German Romanticism, Humboldt sought to create a compendium of the world's environment. TOSHIBA Satellite L755-S5282 laptop keyboard
He spent the last decade of his long life — as he called them, his "improbable" years — continuing this work. The third and fourth volumes were published in 1850–58; a fragment of a fifth appeared posthumously in 1862. HP G42-461TU laptop keyboard
Kosmos was very popular in Britain and America. In 1849 a German newspaper commented that in England two of the three different translations were made by women, "while in Germany most of the men do not understand it."[15] HP Mini 210-1080CA laptop keyboard
The first translation by Augustin Pritchard — published anonymously by Mr. Baillière (volume I in 1845 and volume II in 1848) — suffered from being hurriedly made. In a letter Humboldt said of it: "It will damage my reputation. All the charm of my description is destroyed by an English sounding like Sanskrit." HP 530580-001 laptop keyboard
The other two translations were made by Mrs. Sabine under the superintendence of her husband Col. Edward Sabine (4 volumes 1846–1858), and by Miss E.C. Otté (5 volumes 1849–1858, the only complete translation of the 4 German volumes). These three translations were also published in America. Compaq Presario CQ71-403SA laptop keyboard
The numbering of the volumes differs between the German and the English editions. Volume 3 of the German edition corresponds to the volumes 3 and 4 of the English translation, as the German volume appeared in 2 parts in 1850 and 1851. Volume 5 of the German edition was not translated until 1981, again by a woman.[16] Compaq Presario CQ71-235SA laptop keyboard
Miss Otté's translation benefited from a detailed table of contents, and an index for every volume; of the German edition only volumes 4 and 5 had a (extremely short) tables of contents, and the index to the whole work only appeared with volume 5 in 1862. DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
Not so well known in Germany is the atlas belonging to the German edition of the Cosmos "Berghaus' Physikalischer Atlas", better known as the pirated version by Traugott Bromme under the title "Atlas zu Alexander von Humboldt's Kosmos" (Stuttgart 1861). Lenovo 63Y0047 Laptop Keyboard
In Britain Heinrich Berghaus planned to publish together with Alexander Keith Johnston a"Physical Atlas". But later Johnston published it alone under the title "The Physical Atlas of Natural Phenomena". In Britain its connection to the Cosmos seems not have been recognized.[17] DELL NSK-D8001 Laptop Keyboard
On February 24, 1857, Humboldt suffered a minor stroke, which passed without perceptible symptoms. It was not until the winter of 1858–1859 that his strength began to decline, and that spring, on May 6, SONY VGN-FE21M Laptop Keyboard
he died quietly in Berlin at the age of 89. The honours which had been showered on him during life continued after his death. His remains, prior to being interred in the family resting-place at Tegel, were conveyed in state through the streets of Berlin, and received by the prince-regent at the door of the cathedral. ACER TravelMate 2501LC Laptop Keyboard
The first centenary of Humboldt's birth was celebrated on September 14, 1869, with great enthusiasm in both the New and Old Worlds. Numerous monuments were constructed in his honour, such as Humboldt Park, Chicago, SONY 148084122 Laptop Keyboard
planned that year and constructed shortly after the Chicago fire. Newly explored regions and species named after Humboldt, as discussed below, also bear witness to his wide fame and popularity. ASUS F6VE Laptop Keyboard
Much of Humboldt's private life remains a mystery because he destroyed his private letters.
In 1908 the sexual researcher Paul Näcke, who worked with outspoken gay activist Magnus Hirschfeld, gathered reminiscences of him from people who recalled his participation in the homosexual subculture of Berlin.[18] HP Mini 210-1014TU Laptop Keyboard
A travelling companion, the pious Francisco José de Caldas, accused him of frequenting houses where 'impure love reigned', of making friends with 'obscene dissolute youths', and giving vent to 'shameful passions of his heart'.[19]But author Robert F. Aldrich concludes hesitantly: "As for so many men of his age, a definite answer is impossible."[20] DELL Precision M4500 Laptop Keyboard
Throughout his life Humboldt formed strong emotional attachments to men.[citation needed] In a letter to Reinhard von Haeften, a soldier, he wrote: "I know that I live only through you, my good precious Reinhard, and that I can only be happy in your presence."[21] ACER Aspire 7741G Laptop Keyboard
He never married, yet there were at least two notable occasions where he seemed to have been drawn to the opposite sex. The first was an adolescent infatuation with Henriette Herz, the beautiful wife ofMarcus Herz, his mentor, and the second was a short lived but intimate relationship with a woman named Pauline Wiesel in 1808 Paris.[22] HP AELX6U00210 Laptop Keyboard
He was strongly attached to his brother's family. Four years before his death, he executed a deed of gift transferring the absolute possession of his entire property to an old family servant named Seifert.[citation needed] COMPAQ Presario C700 Laptop Keyboard
Humboldt made many friends and had a reputation for widespread benevolence.[citation needed] He showed zeal for the improvement of the condition of the miners in Galicia and Franconia, detestation of slavery,[23] and patronage of rising men of science.[citation needed] DELL Vostro 1014 Laptop Keyboard
Edgar Allan Poe dedicated his last major work, Eureka: A Prose Poem, to von Humboldt. Humboldt's attempt to unify the sciences in his Kosmos was a big inspiration for Poe's project.
Charles Darwin made frequent reference to Humboldt's work in his Voyage of the Beagle, where Darwin described his own scientific exploration of the Americas. In one note, he placed Humboldt first on the "list of American travellers".[28] SONY 148084122 Laptop Keyboard
When this Journal was published, Darwin sent a copy to Humboldt, who responded "You told me in your kind letter that, when you were young, the manner in which I studied and depicted nature in the torrid zones contributed toward exciting in you the ardour and desire to travel in distant lands. Considering the importance of your work, Sir, this may be the greatest success that my humble work could bring."[29] DELL Vostro 3450 Laptop Keyboard
In his autobiography, Darwin recalled reading "with care and profound interest Humboldt's Personal Narrative" and finding it one of the two most influential books on his work, which had "stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science."[30] ACER V104730BS1 Laptop Keyboard
Prussia (German: Preußen (help•info); Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Latvian: Prūsija; Lithuanian: Prūsija;Polish: Prusy; Old Prussian: Prūsa; Danish: Prøjsen; Russian: Пру́ссия) was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg and centered on the region of Prussia. HP CT1A Laptop Keyboard
For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised and effective army. Prussia shaped the history of Germany, with its capital in Berlinafter 1451. HP Pavilion dv3-2106tu Laptop Keyboard
In 1871, German states united in creating the German Empire under Prussian leadership. In November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power. Prussia was effectively abolished in 1932, and officially abolished in 1947.[2]
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The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians. In the 13th century, German crusaders, the Teutonic Knights, conquered "Old Prussia". In 1308 the Teutonic Knights conquered the formerly Polish region of Pomerelia withGdańsk (Danzig). SONY 148084122 laptop keyboard
Their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The Second Peace of Thorn (1466) split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, HP Pavilion DV7-3188cl laptop keyboard
a province of Poland, and the eastern part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia, a fief of the Crown of Poland up to 1657. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. ASUS F6VE laptop keyboard
Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom,[3][4][5][6] and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century it had a major say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great. During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a "Lesser Germany" which excluded the Austrian Empire. SONY Vaio VGN-AW310J laptop keyboard
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, Lenovo ThinkPad T400S-2815 laptop keyboard
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. HP AELX6U00210 laptop keyboard
The Kingdom ended in 1918. 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; Prussia was legally abolished in the 1940s. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland and theSoviet Union absorbed its territory. TOSHIBA Satellite L40-17U laptop keyboard
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 before 1918.
The main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. SONY VAIO VGN-FS760/W laptop keyboard
The black and white national colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights and by the Hohenzollern dynasty. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a black cross with gold insert and black imperial eagle. The combination of the black and white colours with the white and red Hanseatic colours of the free citiesBremen, ACER V104730BS1 laptop keyboard
Hamburg and Lübeck, as well as of Brandenburg, resulted in the black-white-red commercial flag of theNorth German Confederation, which became the flag of the German Empire in 1871.[citation needed] ACER Aspire 7751G laptop keyboard
Suum cuique ("to each, his own"), the motto of the Order of the Black Eagle created by King Frederick I in 1701, was often associated with the whole of Prussia. The Iron Cross, a military decoration created by KingFrederick William III in 1813, Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
was also commonly associated with the country.[citation needed] The region, originally populated by Baltic Old Prussians who were Christianised, became a favoured location for immigration by (later mainly Protestant) Germans (see Ostsiedlung), as well as Poles and Lithuanians along the border regions. TOSHIBA PK130BH2A00 laptop keyboard
Before its abolition, the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia included the provinces of West Prussia; East Prussia; Brandenburg; Saxony (including much of the present-day state of Saxony-Anhalt and parts of the state of Thuringia in Germany); Pomerania; Rhineland; Westphalia; Silesia (without Austrian Silesia); Lusatia;Schleswig-Holstein; TOSHIBA MP-09K53US6698 laptop keyboard
Hanover; Hesse-Nassau; and a small detached area in the south called Hohenzollern, the ancestral home of the Prussian ruling family. The land that the Teutonic Knights occupied was flat and covered with rich soil. The land was perfectly suited to the large-scale raising of wheat.[7] The rise of early Prussia was based on the raising and selling of wheat. Teutonic Prussia became known as the "bread basket of Western Europe"Compaq Presario CQ35 laptop keyboard
(in German, Kornkammer, or granary). The port cities of Stettin (Szczecin) in Pomerania, Danzig (Gdansk) in Prussia, Riga in Livonia, Königsberg (Kaliningrad) and Memel (Klaipėda) rose on the back of this wheat production. ACER Aspire 4810TZ-4011 Laptop Keyboard
Wheat production and trade brought Prussia into close relationship with the Hanseatic League during the period of time from 1356 (official founding of the Hanseatic League) until the decline of the League in about 1500. HP G62-361TX Laptop Keyboard
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.[8] This meant that Poland and Lithuania would be traditional enemies of Prussia—which was still called the Teutonic Knights.[9]
In 1871, Prussia's population numbered 24.69 million, accounting for 60% of the German Empire's population.[10] DELL Vostro 3550 Laptop Keyboard
In 1910, the population had increased to 40.17 million (62% of the Empire's population).[10] 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. ACER TravelMate 290 Laptop Keyboard
Although Prussia was dominated by Protestant Lutherans (along with some Reformed), it contained millions of Catholics in the west and in Poland. East Prussia's southern region of Masuria was mostly made up of Germanised Protestant Masurs. DELL NSK-D8001 laptop keyboard
There were numerous Catholic populations in the Rhineland and parts of Westphalia. In addition, West Prussia, Warmia, Silesia, and the Province of Posen had predominantly Catholic Polish-speaking populations. TOSHIBA V114302CS1 US laptop keyboard
In 1871, approximately 2.4 million Poles lived in Prussia, constituting the largest minority.[10] Other minorities were Jews, Danes, Frisians, Kashubians(72,500 in 1905), Masurians (248,000 in 1905), Lithuanians (101,500 in 1905), Walloons, Czechs and Sorbs.[10] IBM Lenovo ThinkPad X301 laptop keyboard
The area of Greater Poland, where the Polish nation had originated, became the Province of Posen after the Partitions of Poland. Poles in this Polish-majority province (62% Polish, 38% German) resisted German rule. SONY VAIO VGN-FZ21Z laptop keyboard
Also, the southeast portion of Silesia (Upper Silesia) had a Polish majority. But Catholics, ethnic Poles and other Slavs and Jews did not have equal status with Protestants[11]
As a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the Second Polish Republic was granted not only these two areas, but also areas with a German majority in the Province of West Prussia. SONY VAIO VGN-NR21S/S laptop keyboard
After World War II, East Prussia, Silesia, most of Pomerania and the eastern part of Brandenburg were annexed by either the Soviet Union or Poland, and the German-speaking populations expelled. SONY VGN-FE31B laptop keyboard
In 1211 Andrew II of Hungary granted Burzenland in Transylvania as a fiefdomto the Teutonic Knights. In 1225, Andrew II expelled the Teutonic Knights from Transylvania, and they had to transfer to the Baltic Sea. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
Konrad I, the Polish Duke of Masovia, unsuccessfully attempted to conquer pagan Prussia in crusades in 1219 and 1222.[12] In 1226, Duke Konrad invited the Teutonic Knights, a German military order of crusading knights, headquartered in theKingdom of Jerusalem at Acre, to conquer the Baltic Prussian tribes on his borders. SONY VAIO VGN-CR41S laptop keyboard
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). HP Mini 210-2002er laptop keyboard
Around 1252, they finished the conquest of the northernmost Prussian tribe of the Skalvians as well as the western BalticCuronians, and erected the Memel Castle, which developed into the major port city of Memel (Klaipėda). The final border between Prussia and the adjoiningGrand Duchy of Lithuania was determined in the Treaty of Melno in 1422. DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
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.[13] The businessmen of the interior Sweden, SONY VAIO VGN-FW11S laptop keyboard
Denmark and Poland came to feel oppressed by the Hanseatic League.[citation needed]
In the course of the Ostsiedlung process, settlers were invited in, a majority of them Germans, bringing about changes in the ethnic composition as well as in language, culture and law. Low German became the dominant language. HP Pavilion dv6-3134nr laptop keyboard
The Knights were subordinate to the pope and the emperor. Their initially close relationship with the Polish Crown deteriorated after they conquered Polish-controlled Pomerelia and Danzig (Gdańsk) in 1308. Eventually Poland and Lithuania, allied through the Union of Krewo (1385), defeated the Knights in the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410.
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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 (1466), losing western Prussia (Royal Prussia) to Poland in the process. Pursuant to the Second Peace of Thorn, two Prussian states were established[14] HP Mini 110-1197TU laptop keyboard
In 1525, Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern, became a Lutheran Protestant and secularised the Order's remaining Prussian territories into the Duchy of Prussia.[15] TOSHIBA G83C0003G110 laptop keyboard
This was the area east of the mouth of the Vistula River, later sometimes called "Prussia proper." For the first time, HP Pavilion dv6-3230us laptop keyboard
these lands came into the hands of a branch of the Hohenzollern family. (The Hohenzollern dynasty had ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg to the west, a German state centred on Berlin, since the 15th century.) Furthermore, with his renunciation of the Order, Albert could now marry and produce legitimate heirs. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
Brandenburg-Prussia[edit]
Main article: Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg and Prussia were unified two generations later. Anna, granddaughter of Albert I and daughter of DukeAlbert 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, DELL NSK-D8001 laptop keyboard
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. DELL XPS M1530 Laptop Keyboard
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, COMPAQ Presario C700 Laptop Keyboard
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, DELL PVDG3 Laptop Keyboard
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. SONY VAIO VGN-NR11M/S Laptop Keyboard
In 1657, this grant was renewed by the Polish king in the treaties of Wehlau and Bromberg. DELL Inspiron N5030 Laptop Keyboard
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. ASUS F3H Laptop Keyboard
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. Lenovo Thinkpad T520 Laptop Keyboard
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.[16] DELL Inspiron 6400 Laptop Keyboard
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, HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
which he developed into one of the most powerful in Europe, although his troops only briefly saw actionduring 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.[17] Also, GATEWAY NX570X Laptop Keyboard
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 HP G42-164LA Laptop Keyboard
The king died in 1740 and was succeeded by his son, Frederick II, whose accomplishments led to his reputation as "Frederick the Great".[18] As crown prince, Frederick had focused, primarily, on philosophy and the arts.[19] He was an accomplished flute player. FUJITSU CP228900-01 Laptop Keyboard
In 1740, Prussian troops crossed over the undefended border of Silesia and occupied Schweidnitz. Silesia was the richest province of Habsburg Austria.[20] It signalled the beginning of three Silesian Wars (1740–1763).[21] The First Silesian War (1740–1742) and the Second Silesian War (1744–1745) have, historically, TOSHIBA A000014900 laptop keyboard
been grouped together with the general European war called the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748). Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI had died on October 20, 1740. He was succeeded to the throne by his daughter, Maria Theresa. SONY VAIO VGN-FS760/W laptop keyboard
By defeating the Austrian Army at the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741, Frederick succeeded in conquering Lower Silesia(the northwestern half of Silesia).[22] In the next year, 1742, he conquered Upper Silesia (the southeastern half). Furthermore, in the third Silesian War (usually grouped with the Seven Years War) SONY VAIO VGN-N38Z/W laptop keyboard
Frederick won a victory over Austria at theBattle of Lobositz on 1 October 1756. On 3 November 1760 Frederick won another battle—the decisive battle—the Battle of Torgau. With this victory and the overall victory in the Seven Years War, Frederick, allied with Great Britain, Hanover andHesse-Kassel, DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard
was able to hold the whole of Silesia against a coalition of Saxony, Austria, France and Russia.[23] Voltaire, a close friend of the king, once described Frederick the Great's Prussia by saying "...it was Sparta in the morning, Athens in the afternoon." From these wars onwards the Austria–Prussia rivalry dominated German politics until 1866. HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
Silesia, full of rich soils and prosperous manufacturing towns, became a vital region to Prussia, greatly increasing the nation's area, population, and wealth.[24] Success on the battleground against Austria and other powers proved Prussia's status as one of the great powers of Europe. HP G42-265LA laptop keyboard
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).[25] In 1744 the County of East Frisia fell to Prussia following the extinction of its ruling Cirksena dynasty. TOSHIBA Satellite L755D-SP5172LM laptop keyboard
In the last 23 years of his reign until 1786, Frederick II, who understood himself as the "first servant of the state", promoted the development of Prussian areas such as the Oderbruch. At the same time he built up Prussia's military power and participated in the First Partition of Poland with Austria and Russia (1772), HP Pavilion dv6-3133nr laptop keyboard
an act that geographically connected the Brandenburg territories with those of Prussia proper. During this period, he also opened Prussia's borders to immigrants fleeing from religious persecution in other parts of Europe, such as the Huguenots. Prussia became a safe haven in much the same way that the United States welcomed immigrants seeking freedom in the 19th century.[26] SONY VAIO VGN-NR11M/S laptop keyboard
Frederick the Great, the first "King of Prussia", practised enlightened absolutism. He introduced a general civil code, abolished torture and established the principle that the Crown would not interfere in matters of justice. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
He also promoted an advanced secondary education, the forerunner of today's German gymnasium (grammar school) system, which prepares the brightest pupils for university studies.[27] The Prussian education system was emulated in various countries, including the United States.[26] TOSHIBA Satellite M645-S4070 laptop keyboard
During the reign of King Frederick William II (1786–1797), Prussia annexed additional Polish territory through furtherPartitions of Poland. His successor, Frederick William III (1797–1840), announced the union of the Prussian Lutheran andReformed churches into one church.[28] HP Pavilion dv5-1002au laptop keyboard
Prussia took a leading part in the French Revolutionary Wars, but remained quiet for more than a decade due to the Peace of Basel of 1795, only to go once more to war with France in 1806 as negotiations with that country over the allocation of the spheres of influence in Germany failed. Prussia suffered a devastating defeat against Napoleon Bonaparte's troops in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, GATEWAY NX570X laptop keyboard
leading Frederick William III and his family to flee temporarily to Memel. Under the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, the state lost about one third of its area, including the areas gained from the second and thirdPartitions of Poland, which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw. HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
Beyond that, the king was obliged to pay a large indemnity, to cap his army at 42,000 men, and to allow French troops to be garrisoned throughout Prussia, effectively making the Kingdom a French satellite.[29] HP Pavilion dv3z-1000 Laptop Keyboard
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.[30] IBM Lenovo ThinkPad R51 1833 Laptop Keyboard
After the defeat of Napoleon in Russia, Prussia quit its alliance with France and took part in the Sixth Coalition during the "Wars of Liberation" (Befreiungskriege) against the French occupation. Prussian troops under Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher contributed crucially (with the British) in the Battle of Waterloo of June 1815 to the final victory over Napoleon. HP HDX18-1000EO Laptop Keyboard
Prussia's reward in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna was the recovery of her lost territories, as well as the whole of the Rhineland, Westphalia, and some other territories. These western lands were to be of vital importance because they included the Ruhr Area, the centre of Germany's fledgling industrialisation, Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
especially in the arms industry. These territorial gains also meant the doubling of Prussia's population. In exchange, Prussia withdrew from areas of central Poland to allow the creation of Congress Poland under Russian sovereignty.[29] HP G71-448CL Laptop Keyboard
Prussia emerged from the Napoleonic Wars as the dominant power in Germany, overshadowing long-time rival Austria, which had abdicated the imperial crown in 1806.[citation needed] In 1815 Prussia became part of the German Confederation. SAMSUNG Q330-JS02 Laptop Keyboard
The first half of the 19th century saw a prolonged struggle in Germany between liberals, who wanted a united, HP G62-361TX Laptop Keyboard
federal Germany under a democratic constitution, and conservatives, who wanted to maintain Germany as a patchwork of independent, monarchical states with Prussia and Austria competing for influence. One small movement that signaled a desire for German unification in this period was the Burschenschaft student movement, by students who encouraged the use of the black-red-gold flag, discussions of a unified German nation, HP Pavilion dv6-2157sb Laptop Keyboard
and a progressive, liberal political system. Because of Prussia's size and economic importance, smaller states began to join its free trade area in the 1820s. Prussia benefited greatly from the creation in 1834 of the German Customs Union (Zollverein), which included most German states but excluded Austria.[28] GATEWAY V021646BS1 Laptop Keyboard
In 1848 the liberals saw an opportunity when revolutions broke out across Europe. Alarmed, King Frederick William IV agreed to convene a National Assembly and grant a constitution. When the Frankfurt Parliament offered Frederick William the crown of a united Germany, he refused on the grounds that he would not accept a crown from a revolutionary assembly without the sanction of Germany's other monarchs.[31] DELL Vostro 1014 Laptop Keyboard
The Frankfurt Parliament was forced to dissolve in 1849, and Frederick William issued Prussia's first constitution by his own authority in 1850. This conservative document provided for a two-house parliament. The lower house, HP Mini 210-1064TU Laptop Keyboard
or Landtag was elected by all taxpayers, who were divided into three classes whose votes were weighted according to the amount of taxes paid. Women and those who paid no taxes had no vote. This allowed just over one-third of the voters to choose 85% of the legislature, all but assuring dominance by the more well-to-do men of the population. HP Mini 210-1109TU Laptop Keyboard
The upper house, which was later renamed the Herrenhaus ("House of Lords"), was appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority and ministers were responsible only to him. As a result, the grip of the landowning classes, the Junkers, remained unbroken, especially in the eastern provinces.[32] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
In 1862 King Wilhelm I appointed Otto von Bismarck as Prime Minister of Prussia. Bismarck was determined to defeat both the liberals and conservatives and increase Prussian supremacy and influence among the German states. IBM Lenovo ThinkPad R50e-1870 laptop keyboard
There has been much debate as to whether Bismarck actually planned to create a united Germany when he set out on this journey, or whether he simply took advantage of the circumstances that fell into place. Certainly his memoirs paint a rosy picture of an idealist, but these were written with the benefit of hindsight. TOSHIBA 9J.N7482.901 laptop keyboard
What is clear is that Bismarck curried support from large sections of the people by promising to lead the fight for greater German unification. He eventually guided Prussia through three wars which together brought William the position of German Emperor. HP Pavilion DV6z-1200 CTO laptop keyboard
Bismarck realised that the dual administration of Schleswig and Holstein was only a temporary solution, and tensions rose between Prussia and Austria. The struggle for supremacy in Germany then led to the Austro-Prussian War (1866), triggered by the dispute over Schleswig and Holstein. SONY VAIO VGN-CS21S/W laptop keyboard
On the Austrian side stood the south German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg), some central German states (including Saxony), and Hanover in the north. On the side of Prussia were Italy, DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
most north German states, and some smaller central German states. Eventually, the better-armed Prussian troops won the crucial victory at the Battle of Königgrätz under Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. The century-long struggle between Berlin and Vienna for dominance of Germany was now over. As a side show in this war, HP Pavilion dv6-2155dx laptop keyboard
Prussia defeated Hanover in the Battle of Langensalza (1866). While Hanover hoped in vain for help from Britain (as they had previously been in personal union), Britain stayed out of a confrontation with a continental superpower and Prussia satisfied its desire for merging the once separate territories and gaining strong economic and strategic power, particularly from the full access to the resources of the Ruhr. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
Bismarck desired Austria as an ally in the future, and so he declined to annex any Austrian territory. But in the Peace of Prague in 1866, Prussia annexed four of Austria's allies in northern and central Germany—Hanover, HP Pavilion dv4-1240tx laptop keyboard
Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Nassau and Frankfurt. Prussia also won full control ofSchleswig-Holstein. As a result of these territorial gains, Prussia now stretched uninterrupted across the northern two-thirds of Germany and contained two-thirds of Germany's population. The German Confederation was dissolved, and Prussia impelled the 21 states north of the Main River into forming theNorth German Confederation. SONY VGN-FE21B laptop keyboard
Prussia was the dominant state in the new confederation, as the kingdom comprised almost four-fifths of the new state's territory and population. Prussia's near-total control over the confederation was secured in the constitution drafted for it by Bismarck in 1867. Executive power was held by a president, assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him. The presidency was a hereditary office of the Hohenzollern rulers of Prussia. SONY VGN-FE21B laptop keyboard
There was also a two-house parliament. The lower house, or Reichstag (Diet), was elected by universal male suffrage. The upper house, or Bundesrat (Federal Council) was appointed by the state governments. The Bundesrat was, in practice, the stronger chamber. Prussia had 17 of 43 votes, and could easily control proceedings through alliances with the other states. HP Pavilion DV7-3085dx laptop keyboard
As a result of the peace negotiations, the states south of the Main remained theoretically independent, but received the (compulsory) protection of Prussia. Additionally, mutual defence treaties were concluded. However, the existence of these treaties was kept secret until Bismarck made them public in 1867, when France tried to acquire Luxembourg. SONY VAIO VGN-SZ640 laptop keyboard
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, TOSHIBA Satellite A135-S4447 laptop keyboard
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. HP G42-475TU laptop keyboard
The empire was a "Lesser German" solution (in German, "kleindeutsche Lösung") to the question of uniting all German-speaking peoples into one state, because it excluded Austria, which remained connected to Hungary and whose territories included non-German populations. HP 441541-001 laptop keyboard
On 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of King Frederick I), William was proclaimed "German Emperor" (not "Emperor of Germany") in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside Paris, while the French capital was still under siege. HP Pavilion dv3-2157cl laptop keyboard
The Kingdom of Denmark was at the time in personal union with the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, both of which had close ties with each other, although only Holstein was part of the German Confederation. Lenovo 45N2071 laptop keyboard
When the Danish government tried to integrate Schleswig, but not Holstein, into the Danish state, Prussia led the German Confederation against Denmark in the First War of Schleswig (1848–1851). Because Russia supported Austria, Prussia also conceded predominance in the German Confederation to Austria in the Punctation of Olmütz in 1850. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
In 1863, Denmark introduced a shared constitution for Denmark and Schleswig. This led to conflict with the German Confederation, which authorised the occupation of Holstein by the Confederation, from which Danish forces withdrew. In 1864, Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border between Holstein and Schleswig initiating the Second War of Schleswig. DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
The Austro-Prussian forces defeated the Danes, who surrendered both territories. In the resulting Gastein Convention of 1865 Prussia took over the administration of Schleswig while Austria assumed that of Holstein. ACER Aspire One D150-1920 Laptop Keyboard
The two decades after the unification of Germany were the peak of Prussia's fortunes, but the seeds for potential strife were built into the Prusso-German political system.
The constitution of the German Empire was a slightly amended version of the North German Confederation's constitution. DELL PVDG3 Laptop Keyboard
Officially, the German Empire was a federal state. In practice, Prussia's relationship with the rest of the empire was somewhat confusing. The Hohenzollern kingdom included three-fifths of the German territory and two-thirds of its population. HP Business Notebook nx9000 Laptop Keyboard
The Imperial German Army was, in practice, an enlarged Prussian army, although the other kingdoms (Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg) retained their own armies. The imperial crown was a hereditary office of the House of Hohenzollern, the royal house of Prussia. The prime minister of Prussia was, except for two brief periods (January–November 1873 and 1892–94), HP Mini 110-3135dx Laptop Keyboard
also imperial chancellor.[citation needed] But the empire itself had no right to collect taxes directly from its subjects; the only incomes fully under federal control were the customs duties, common excise duties, and the revenue from postal and telegraph services. While all men above age 25 were eligible to vote in imperial elections, ASUS F80Q Laptop Keyboard
Prussia retained its restrictive three-class voting system. This effectively required the king/emperor and prime minister/chancellor to seek majorities from legislatures elected by two different franchises. In both the kingdom and the empire, the original constituencies were never redrawn to reflect changes in population, meaning that rural areas were grossly overrepresented by the turn of the 20th century. DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard
Because of the German Revolution of 1918, Wilhelm II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia. Prussia was proclaimed a "Free State" (i.e. a republic, German: Freistaat) within the new Weimar Republicand in 1920 received a democratic constitution. SONY VAIO VGN-NW240F Laptop Keyboard
Almost all of Germany's territorial losses, specified in the Treaty of Versailles, were areas that had been part of Prussia: Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium; North Schleswig to Denmark; the Memel Territory to Lithuania; the Hultschin area to Czechoslovakia. Many of the areas which Prussia had annexed in thepartitions of Poland, such as the Provinces of Posen and West Prussia, as well as eastern Upper Silesia, went to the Second Polish Republic. ACER TravelMate 2800 Series Laptop Keyboard
Danzig became the Free City of Danzig under the administration of theLeague of Nations. Also, the Saargebiet was created mainly from formerly Prussian territories. East Prussiabecame an exclave, only reachable by ship (the Sea Service East Prussia) or by a railway through the Polish corridor. DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard
· 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.[34] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420 Keyboard
From 1919 to 1932, Prussia was governed by a coalition of the Social Democrats, Catholic Centre and German Democrats; from 1921 to 1925, coalition governments included the German People's Party. Unlike in other states of the German Reich, majority rule by democratic parties in Prussia was never endangered. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge S420 Keyboard
Nevertheless, in East Prussia and some industrial areas, the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler gained more and more influence and popular support, especially from the lower middle class starting in 1930. Except for Catholic Upper Silesia, the Nazi Party in 1932 became the largest party in most parts of the Free State of Prussia. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420S Keyboard
However, the democratic parties in coalition remained a majority, while Communists and Nazis were in the opposition.[35]
The East Prussian Otto Braun, who was Prussian minister-president almost continuously from 1920 to 1932, is considered one of the most capable Social Democrats in history. He implemented several trend-setting reforms together with his minister of the interior, Carl Severing, which were also models for the later Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). Lenovo Thinkpad T420 Keyboard
For instance, a Prussian minister-president could be forced out of office only if there was a "positive majority" for a potential successor. This concept, known as the constructive vote of no confidence, was carried over into the Basic Law of the FRG. Most historians regard the Prussian government during this time as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole.[36]
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This system was destroyed by the Preußenschlag("Prussian coup") of Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen. In this coup d'état, the government of the Reich deposed the Prussian government on 20 July 1932, under the pretext that the latter had lost control of public order in Prussia (during the Bloody Sunday of Altona, Lenovo Thinkpad T420S Keyboard
Hamburg, which was still part of Prussia at that time) and by using fabricated evidence that the Social Democrats and the Communists were planning a joint putsch. The Defence Minister General Kurt von Schleicher, HP 381068-001 Laptop Keyboard
who was the prime mover behind the coup manufactured evidence that the Prussian police under Braun's orders were favouring the Communist Rotfrontkämpferbund in street clashes with the SA as part of an alleged plan to foment a Marxist revolution, which he used to get an emergency decree from President Paul von Hindenburg imposing Reich control on Prussia.[37] FUJITSU CP228900-01 Laptop Keyboard
Papen appointed himself Reich commissioner for Prussia and took control of the government. The Preußenschlag made it easier, only half a year later, for Hitler to take power decisively in Germany, since he had the whole apparatus of the Prussian government, including the police, at his disposal.[38] HP G61-400SP laptop keyboard
The Reichstag building had been set on fire a few weeks earlier, the new Reichstag was opened in the Garrison Church ofPotsdam on 21 March 1933 in the presence of President Paul von Hindenburg. In a propaganda-filled meeting between Hitler and the Nazi Party, the "marriage of old Prussia with young Germany" was celebrated, to win over the Prussian monarchists, conservatives and nationalists and induce them to vote for the Enabling Act of 1933. HP Pavilion dv6-2187la laptop keyboard
In the centralised state created by the Nazis in the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich" ("Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reiches", 30 January 1934) and the "Law on Reich Governors" ("Reichsstatthaltergesetz",SONY VAIO VGN-CR363 laptop keyboard
30 January 1935) the states were dissolved, in fact if not in law. The federal state governments were now controlled by governors for the Reich who were appointed by the chancellor. Parallel to that, the organisation of the party into districts (Gaue) gained increasing importance, as the official in charge of a Gau (the head of which was called a Gauleiter) was again appointed by the chancellor who was at the same time chief of the Nazi Party.
In Prussia, this centralistic policy went even further. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
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. HP Mini 210-1084TU laptop keyboard
The Prussian lands transferred to Poland after the Treaty of Versailles were re-annexed during World War II. However, most of this territory was not reintegrated back into Prussia but assigned to separate Gaue of Danzig-West Prussia and Wartheland. HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
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.[40] HP 496878-001 Laptop Keyboard
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 toMecklenburg-Vorpommern. These states were abolished in 1952 in favour of districts, but were recreated after the fall of the Eastern Bloc in 1990. HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
In the Western Zones of occupation, which became West Germany in 1949, the former Prussian territories were divided up among North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein. Württemberg-Baden andWürttemberg-Hohenzollern were later merged with Baden to create the state of Baden-Württemberg. HP Probook 4510S Laptop Keyboard
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.[42] While the council was permanently established in 1613, it failed to gain any influence until 1651 due to the Thirty Years' War.[42] FUJITSU Lifebook E8110 Laptop Keyboard
Until after the Thirty Years' War, the territories of Brandenburg-Prussia were politically independent from each other,[41][43] connected only by the common feudal superior.[43][44] Frederick William, who envisioned the transformation of the personal union into a real union,[44] ACER Aspire One D150-1920 Laptop Keyboard
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 to be unfeasible.[45] Instead, the elector continued to appoint a governor (Kurfürstlicher Rat) for each territory, who in most cases was a member of the Geheimer Rat.[45] DELL Vostro 3550 Laptop Keyboard
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.[45] SONY 147915321 Laptop Keyboard
The elector attempted to balance the estates' governments by creating Amtskammer chambers to administer and coordinate the elector's domains, tax income and privileges.[45] 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.[45] Also in 1680, the Kreditwerk came under the aegis of the elector.[46] IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
Frederick William's excise tax (Akzise), which since 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 of the estates.[46] HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
The conclusion of the Second Northern War 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.[46] In the Duchy of Prussia, he confirmed the traditional privileges of the estates in 1663,[46] HP G62t-350 CTO Laptop Keyboard
but the latter accepted the caveat that these privileges were not to be used to interfere with the exertion of the elector's sovereignty.[45] 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, HP 496878-001 Laptop Keyboard
the elector by force collected taxes not approved by the Prussian estates for the first time in 1674.[45] Since 1704, the Prussian estates had de facto relinquished their right to approve the elector's taxes while formally still entitled to do so.[45] In 1682, the elector introduced an Akzise to Pomerania and in 1688 to Magdeburg,[45] Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
while in Cleves and Mark an Akzise was introduced only between 1716 and 1720.[46] Due to Frederick William's reforms, the state income increased threefold during his reign,[43] and the tax burden per subject reached a level twice as high as in France.[47] HP 636376-001 Laptop Keyboard
Under the rule of Frederick III (I), the Brandenburg Prussian territories were de facto reduced to provinces of the monarchy.[44] Frederick William's testament would have divided Brandenburg-Prussia among his sons, yet firstborn Frederick III with the emperor's backing succeeded in becoming the sole ruler based on the Treaty of Gera, ACER NSK-H361D Laptop Keyboard
which forbade a division of Hohenzollern territories.[48] In 1689, a new central chamber for all Brandenburg-Prussian territories was created, called Geheime Hofkammer (since 1713: Generalfinanzdirektorium).[49] This chamber functioned as a superior agency of the territories' Amtskammer chambers.[49] SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard
The General War Commissariat (Generalkriegskommissariat) emerged as a second central agency, superior to the localKriegskommissariat agencies initially concerned with the administration of the army, but until 1712 transformed into an agency also concerned with general tax and police tasks.[49] TOSHIBA Satellite A300 Laptop Keyboard
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt ( listen (help•info); September 14, 1769 – May 6, 1859) was a Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). Lenovo 04W0872 Laptop Keyboard
Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography.
Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in Latin America, exploring and describing it for the first time from a modern scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. HP 405963-001 Laptop Keyboard
He was one of the first to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined (South America and Africa in particular). Later, his five-volume work, Kosmos (1845), attempted to unify the various branches of scientific knowledge. Humboldt supported and worked with other scientists, including Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, HP 405963-001 Laptop Keyboard
Justus von Liebig, Louis Agassiz, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Georg von Neumayer, and most notably, Aimé Bonpland, with whom he conducted much of his scientific exploration.
Humboldt was born in Berlin in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. His father, Alexander Georg von Humboldt, belonged to a prominent Pomeranian family; a major in the Prussian Army, HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
he was rewarded for his services in the Seven Years' War with the post of Royal Chamberlain. He married the daughter of the Prussian general adjutant, von Schweder.[1] In 1766, he married Maria Elizabeth Colomb, SONY VAIO VGN-FS315H Laptop Keyboard
the widow of Baron von Hollwede, and they had two sons. The money of Baron von Holwede, left to his former wife, was instrumental in funding Alexander's explorations, contributing more than 70% of Alexander's income.[citation needed] SONY VAIO VGN-AW11S/B Laptop Keyboard
Due to his juvenile penchant for collecting and labelling plants, shells and insects, Alexander received the playful title of "the little apothecary". His father died in 1779, after which his mother saw to his education. Marked for a political career, he studied finance for six months at the University of Frankfurt (Oder); a year later, on April 25, 1789, SONY Vaio PCG-K215S Laptop Keyboard
he matriculated at Göttingen, then known for the lectures of C. G. Heyne and J. F. Blumenbach. His vast and varied interests were by this time fully developed, and during a vacation in 1789, he made a scientific excursion up the Rhine and produced the treatise Mineralogische Beobachtungen über einige Basalte am Rhein (Brunswick, 1790) (Mineralogic Observations on Several Basalts on the River Rhine). Lenovo 63Y0047 Laptop Keyboard
Humboldt's passion for travel was confirmed by a friendship formed at Göttingen with Georg Forster, Heyne's son-in-law and the companion of Captain James Cook on Cook's second voyage. Thereafter, IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
his talents were devoted to the purpose of preparing himself as a scientific explorer. With this emphasis, he studied commerce and foreign languages at Hamburg, geology at Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg under A. G. SONY VAIO VGN-N11M Laptop Keyboard
Werner, anatomy at Jena under J. C. Loder and astronomy and the use of scientific instruments under F. X. von Zach and J. G. Köhler. His researches into the vegetation of the mines ofFreiberg led to the publication, in 1793, of his Florae Fribergensis Specimen. Long experimentation on muscular irritability, then recently discovered byLuigi Galvani, HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
were contained in his Versuche über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser (Berlin, 1797) (Experiments on the Frayed Muscle and Nerve Fibres), enriched in the French translation with notes by Blumenbach. COMPAQ Presario C700 Laptop Keyboard
In 1794 Humboldt was admitted to the famous Weimar coterie and contributed (June 7, 1795) to Schiller's new periodical, Die Horen, a philosophical allegory entitled Die Lebenskraft, oder der rhodische Genius. In the summer of 1790 he paid a short visit to England in the company of Forster. In 1792 and 1797 he was in Vienna; in 1795 he made a geological and botanical tour through Switzerland and Italy. HP 636376-001 Laptop Keyboard
He had obtained in the meantime official employment by appointment as assessor of mines at Berlin, February 29, 1792. Although this service to the state was regarded by him as only an apprenticeship to the service of science, he fulfilled its duties with such conspicuous ability that not only did he rise rapidly to the highest post in his department, but he was also entrusted with several important diplomatic missions. The death of his mother, on November 19, HP G72-b62US Laptop Keyboard
1796, set him free to follow the bent of his genius, and severing his official connections, he waited for an opportunity to fulfil his long-cherished dream of travel. On the postponement of Captain Nicolas Baudin's proposed voyage of circumnavigation, HP 484748-001 Laptop Keyboard
which he had been officially invited to accompany, Humboldt left Paris for Marseille with Aimé Bonpland, the designated botanist of the frustrated expedition, hoping to join Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt. Means of transport, however, DELL Precision M4500 Laptop Keyboard
were not forthcoming, and the two travellers eventually found their way to Madrid, where the unexpected patronage of the minister Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo convinced them to make Spanish America the scene of their explorations. HP 597635-001 Laptop Keyboard
Armed with powerful recommendations from the King of Spain, they sailed in the Pizarro from A Coruña, on June 5, 1799, stopped six days on the island ofTenerife to climb the volcano Teide, and landed at Cumaná, Venezuela, on July 16. HP 519265-001 Laptop Keyboard
Returning to Cumaná, Humboldt observed, on the night of November 11–12, a remarkable meteor shower (the Leonids). He proceeded with Bonpland to Caracas where he would climb the Avila mount with Andrés Bello. In February 1800, Humboldt and Bonpland left the coast with the purpose of exploring the course of the Orinoco River and its tributaries. HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
This trip, which lasted four months and covered 1,725 miles (2,776 km) of wild and largely uninhabited country, had the important result of establishing the existence of the Casiquiare canal (a communication between the water-systems of the rivers Orinoco and Amazon), HP Pavilion DV6-1030ca Laptop Keyboard
and of determining the exact position of the bifurcation, as well as documenting the life of several native tribes such as the Maipures and their extinct rivals the Atures (several words of the latter tribe were transferred to Humboldt by one parrot[2]). Around March 19, 1800, von Humboldt and Bonpland discovered and captured someelectric eels. DELL Inspiron 1720 laptop keyboard
They both received potentially dangerous electric shocks during their investigations. Two months later they explored the territory of the Maypures and that of the then recently extinct Aturès Indians. ACER Aspire 4935 laptop keyboard
On November 24, the two friends set sail for Cuba where they met fellow botanist and plant collector John Fraser,[3] and after a stay of some months they regained the mainland at Cartagena, Colombia. SONY VAIO PCG-FR215E Laptop Keyboard
Ascending the swollen stream of the Magdalena River and crossing the frozen ridges of the Cordillera Real, they reached Quito on January 6, 1802, after a tedious and difficult journey. Their stay there was marked by the ascent of Pichincha and an attempt onChimborazo. Humboldt and his party reached an altitude of 19,286 feet (5,878 m), TOSHIBA Satellite L300 Laptop Keyboard
a world record at the time. The journey concluded with an expedition to the sources of the Amazon en route for Lima, Peru.[4] At Callao, Humboldt observed the transit of Mercury on November 9, and studied the fertilizing properties of guano, HP Pavilion G6-1223TX Laptop Keyboard
the subsequent introduction of which into Europe was due mainly to his writings. A tempestuous sea-voyage brought them to Mexico, where they resided for a year, travelling to different cities.
Next, Humboldt made a short visit to the United States, staying in the White House as a guest of President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, a scientist himself, HP Pavilion DV6-1040ev Laptop Keyboard
was delighted to have Humboldt as a guest and the two held numerous intense discussions on scientific matters. After six weeks, Humboldt set sail for Europe from the mouth of the Delaware and landed at Bordeaux on August 3, 1804. HP Pavilion dv6-2020sa Laptop Keyboard
This memorable expedition may be regarded as having laid the foundation of the sciences of physical geography and meteorology. By his delineation (in 1817) of "isothermal lines", he at once suggested the idea and devised the means of comparing the climatic conditions of various countries. HP G62-a10EP Laptop Keyboard
He first investigated the rate of decrease in mean temperature with the increase in elevation above sea level, and afforded, by his inquiries regarding the origin of tropical storms, the earliest clue to the detection of the more complicated law governing atmospheric disturbances in higher latitudes; HP G42-461TU Laptop Keyboard
while his essay on the geography of plants was based on the then novel idea of studying the distribution of organic life as affected by varying physical conditions. His discovery of the decrease in intensity of Earth's magnetic field from the poles to the equator was communicated to the Paris Institute in a memoir read by him on December 7, DELL 0PVDG3 Laptop Keyboard
1804, and its importance was attested by the speedy emergence of rival claims. His services to geology were based mainly on his attentive study of the volcanoes of the New World. He showed that they fell naturally into linear groups, SONY VAIO VGN-NW240F Laptop Keyboard
presumably corresponding with vast subterranean fissures; and by his demonstration of the igneous origin of rocks previously held to be of aqueous formation, he contributed largely to the elimination of erroneous views, such as Neptunism. TOSHIBA Satellite 1800-921 Laptop Keyboard
Humboldt is considered to be the "second discoverer of Cuba" due to all the scientific and social research he conducted on this Spanish colony. During an initial three-month stay at Havana, his first tasks were to properly survey that city and the nearby towns of Guanabacoa, IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
Regla and Bejucal. He befriended Cuban landowner and thinkerFrancisco Arango y Parreño; together they visited the Guines area in south Havana, the valleys of Matanzas Province and the Valley of the Sugar Mills in Trinidad. Those three areas were, at the time, the first frontier of sugar production in the island. HP COMPAQ NX6325 Laptop Keyboard
During those trips, Humboldt collected statistical information on Cuba's population, production, technology and trade, and with Arango, made suggestions for enhancing them. He predicted that the agricultural and commercial potential of Cuba was huge and could be vastly improved with proper leadership in the future. After traveling to the United States, HP 519004-001 Laptop Keyboard
Humboldt returned to Cuba for a second, shorter stay in April 1804. During this time he socialized with his scientific and landowner friends, conducted mineralogical surveys and finished his vast collection of the island's flora and fauna. HP G62-225NR Laptop Keyboard
Finally, Humboldt conducted a rudimentary census of the indigenous and European inhabitants in New Spain, and on May 5, 1804, he estimated the population to be six million individuals.[5][6]
The editing and publication of the encyclopedic mass of scientific, political and archaeological material that had been collected by him during his absence from Europe was now Humboldt's most urgent desire. HP 519004-001 Laptop Keyboard
After a short trip to Italy with Gay-Lussac for the purpose of investigating the law of magnetic declination and a sojourn of two and a half years in his native city, he finally, in the spring of 1808, settled in Paris with the purpose of securing the scientific cooperation required for bringing his great work through the press. SONY VAIO VGN-AW31ZJ laptop keyboard
This colossal task, which he at first hoped would occupy but two years, eventually cost him twenty-one, and even then it remained incomplete. In these early years in Paris, he shared accommodation and a laboratory with his former rival, and now friend, Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, both working together on the analysis of gases and the composition of the atmosphere. HP Pavilion dv6-3106sl laptop keyboard
Alexander von Humboldt thought an approach to science was needed that could account for the harmony of nature among the diversity of the physical world. For Humboldt, "the unity of nature" meant that it was the interrelation of all physical sciences—such as the conjoining between biology, meteorology and geology—that determined where specific plants grew. He found these relationships by unravelling myriad, painstakingly collected data,[7] TOSHIBA Satellite U300-ST3091 laptop keyboard
data extensive enough that it became an enduring foundation upon which others could base their work. Humboldt viewed nature holistically, and tried to explain natural phenomena without the appeal to religious dogma. Packard Bell NEW90 laptop keyboard
He believed in the central importance of observation, and as a consequence had amassed a vast array of the most sophisticated scientific instruments then available. Each had its own velvet lined box and was the most accurate and portable of its time; nothing quantifiable escaped measurement. DELL NSK-D8001 laptop keyboard
According to Humboldt, everything should be measured with the finest and most modern instruments and sophisticated techniques available, for that collected data was the basis of all scientific understanding. HP Mini 110-3103sl laptop keyboard
This quantitative methodology would become known as "Humboldtian science." Humboldt wrote "Nature herself is sublimely eloquent. The stars as they sparkle in firmament fill us with delight and ecstasy, and yet they all move in orbit marked out with mathematical precision."[8] HP 405963-001 laptop keyboard
His critics say his writings contain fantastical descriptions of America, while leaving out its inhabitants. They claim Humboldt, coming from the Romantic school of thought, believed '... nature is perfect till man deforms it with care.'[9] SONY VAIO VGN-AW21Z laptop keyboard
In this line of thinking, they think he largely neglected the human societies amidst this nature. The writing style that describes the 'new world' without people is a trend among explorers both of the past and present. Views of indigenous peoples as 'savage' or 'unimportant' leaves them out of the historical picture.[9] TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5163 laptop keyboard
In reality Humboldt dedicated large parts of his work to describing the conditions of slaves, indigenous peoples and society in general. He often showed his disgust for the slavery[10] and inhumane conditions in which indigenous peoples and others were treated and he often criticized the colonial policies.[11] HP Pavilion DV7-3164cl laptop keyboard
Some of Humboldt's descriptions or assumptions were not accurate.[10] Humboldt was now one of the most famous men in Europe.[12] The acclaimed American painter Rembrandt Peale painted him during his European stay, between 1808 and 1810, as one of the most prominent figures in Europe at the time. Packard Bell Easynote TK81 laptop keyboard
A chorus of applause greeted him from every side. Academies, both native and foreign, were eager to enrol him among their members. He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1810. King Frederick William III of Prussia conferred upon him the honour, DELL Inspiron 1525 laptop keyboard
without exacting the duties, attached to the post of royal chamberlain, together with a pension of 2,500 thalers, afterwards doubled. He refused the appointment of Prussian minister of public instruction in 1810. In 1814 he accompanied the allied sovereigns to London. Three years later he was summoned by the king of Prussia to attend him at the congress of Aachen. HP G62-b36EE laptop keyboard
Humboldt was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1822.[13] Again in the autumn of 1822 he accompanied the same monarch to the Congress of Verona, proceeded thence with the royal party to Rome and Naples and returned to Paris in the spring of 1823. HP G62-b36EE laptop keyboard
Humboldt had long regarded the French capital as his true home. There he found not only scientific sympathy, but the social stimulus which his vigorous and healthy mind eagerly craved. He was equally in his element as the lion of the salons and as the savant of theInstitut de France and the observatory. HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard
During that time he met in 1818, the young and brilliant Peruvian student of the Royal Mining School of Paris, Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz. They became good friends. Subsequently von Humboldt acted as a mentor of the career of this promising Peruvian scientist. HP G61-400SP laptop keyboard
Thus, when at last he received from his sovereign a summons to join his court at Berlin, he obeyed indeed, but with deep and lasting regret. The provincialism of his native city was odious to him. He never ceased to rail against the bigotry without religion[clarification needed], aestheticism without culture, SAMSUNG Q320 laptop keyboard
and philosophy without common sense, which he found dominant on the banks of the Spree. The unremitting benefits and sincere attachment of two well-meaning princes secured his gratitude but could not appease his discontent. At first he sought relief from the "nebulous atmosphere" of his new abode by frequent visits to Paris; but as years advanced, Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
his excursions were reduced to accompanying the monotonous "oscillations" of the court betweenPotsdam and Berlin. On May 12, 1827, he settled permanently in the Prussian capital, where his first efforts were directed towards the furtherance of the science of terrestrial magnetism. For many years, FUJITSU CP228900-01 Laptop Keyboard
it had been one of his favourite schemes to secure, by means of simultaneous observations at distant points, a thorough investigation of the nature and law of "magnetic storms" (a term invented by him to designate abnormal disturbances of Earth's magnetism). The meeting at Berlin, on September 18, 1828, TOSHIBA Satellite U305-S5077 laptop keyboard
of a newly formed scientific association, of which he was elected president, gave him the opportunity of setting on foot an extensive system of research in combination with his diligent personal observations. ACER TravelMate 6252 laptop keyboard
His appeal to the Russian government, in 1829, led to the establishment of a line of magnetic and meteorological stations across northern Asia. Meanwhile his letter to the Duke of Sussex, then (April 1836) president of the Royal Society, secured for the undertaking, the wide basis of the British dominions. ASUS V020462CS1 laptop keyboard
The Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, observes, "Thus that scientific conspiracy of nations which is one of the noblest fruits of modern civilization was by his exertions first successfully organized." However, earlier examples of international scientific cooperation exist, notably the 18th-century observations of the transits of Venus. SONY VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q laptop keyboard
Then President of Mexico, Benito Juárez, gave him honorary Mexican citizenship.
In 1811, and again in 1818, projects of Asiatic exploration were proposed to Humboldt, first by the Russian government, and afterwards by the Prussian government; but on each occasion, untoward circumstances interposed, SONY Vaio VGN-AW120J laptop keyboard
and it was not until he had begun his sixtieth year that he resumed his early role of traveller in the interests of science. Between May and November 1829, he, together with his chosen associates, Gustav Rose and C. G. Ehrenberg, traversed the wide expanse of the Russian empire from the Neva to the Yenesei, HP Pavilion DV7-2213tx laptop keyboard
accomplishing in twenty-five weeks a distance of 9,614 miles (15,472 km). The journey, however, though carried out with all the advantages afforded by the immediate patronage of the Russian government, was too rapid to be profitable. SONY VAIO PCG-FR215E laptop keyboard
The correction of the prevalent exaggerated estimate of the height of the Central Asian plateau, and the discovery of diamonds in the gold-washings of the Ural, a result which Humboldt's Brazilian experiences enabled him to predict, and by predicting to secure. SONY Vaio PCG-K23 laptop keyboard
The first two volumes of the Kosmos were published between the years 1845 and 1847. Humboldt had long intended to write a comprehensive work about geography and the natural sciences. The writing took shape in lectures he delivered before theUniversity of Berlin in the winter of 1827–28. HP G72-b60SF laptop keyboard
These lectures would form "thecartoon for the great fresco of the [K]osmos".[14] The work attempted to unify the sciences then known in a Kantian framework. With inspiration from German Romanticism, Humboldt sought to create a compendium of the world's environment. TOSHIBA Satellite L755-S5282 laptop keyboard
He spent the last decade of his long life — as he called them, his "improbable" years — continuing this work. The third and fourth volumes were published in 1850–58; a fragment of a fifth appeared posthumously in 1862. HP G42-461TU laptop keyboard
Kosmos was very popular in Britain and America. In 1849 a German newspaper commented that in England two of the three different translations were made by women, "while in Germany most of the men do not understand it."[15] HP Mini 210-1080CA laptop keyboard
The first translation by Augustin Pritchard — published anonymously by Mr. Baillière (volume I in 1845 and volume II in 1848) — suffered from being hurriedly made. In a letter Humboldt said of it: "It will damage my reputation. All the charm of my description is destroyed by an English sounding like Sanskrit." HP 530580-001 laptop keyboard
The other two translations were made by Mrs. Sabine under the superintendence of her husband Col. Edward Sabine (4 volumes 1846–1858), and by Miss E.C. Otté (5 volumes 1849–1858, the only complete translation of the 4 German volumes). These three translations were also published in America. Compaq Presario CQ71-403SA laptop keyboard
The numbering of the volumes differs between the German and the English editions. Volume 3 of the German edition corresponds to the volumes 3 and 4 of the English translation, as the German volume appeared in 2 parts in 1850 and 1851. Volume 5 of the German edition was not translated until 1981, again by a woman.[16] Compaq Presario CQ71-235SA laptop keyboard
Miss Otté's translation benefited from a detailed table of contents, and an index for every volume; of the German edition only volumes 4 and 5 had a (extremely short) tables of contents, and the index to the whole work only appeared with volume 5 in 1862. DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
Not so well known in Germany is the atlas belonging to the German edition of the Cosmos "Berghaus' Physikalischer Atlas", better known as the pirated version by Traugott Bromme under the title "Atlas zu Alexander von Humboldt's Kosmos" (Stuttgart 1861). Lenovo 63Y0047 Laptop Keyboard
In Britain Heinrich Berghaus planned to publish together with Alexander Keith Johnston a"Physical Atlas". But later Johnston published it alone under the title "The Physical Atlas of Natural Phenomena". In Britain its connection to the Cosmos seems not have been recognized.[17] DELL NSK-D8001 Laptop Keyboard
On February 24, 1857, Humboldt suffered a minor stroke, which passed without perceptible symptoms. It was not until the winter of 1858–1859 that his strength began to decline, and that spring, on May 6, SONY VGN-FE21M Laptop Keyboard
he died quietly in Berlin at the age of 89. The honours which had been showered on him during life continued after his death. His remains, prior to being interred in the family resting-place at Tegel, were conveyed in state through the streets of Berlin, and received by the prince-regent at the door of the cathedral. ACER TravelMate 2501LC Laptop Keyboard
The first centenary of Humboldt's birth was celebrated on September 14, 1869, with great enthusiasm in both the New and Old Worlds. Numerous monuments were constructed in his honour, such as Humboldt Park, Chicago, SONY 148084122 Laptop Keyboard
planned that year and constructed shortly after the Chicago fire. Newly explored regions and species named after Humboldt, as discussed below, also bear witness to his wide fame and popularity. ASUS F6VE Laptop Keyboard
Much of Humboldt's private life remains a mystery because he destroyed his private letters.
In 1908 the sexual researcher Paul Näcke, who worked with outspoken gay activist Magnus Hirschfeld, gathered reminiscences of him from people who recalled his participation in the homosexual subculture of Berlin.[18] HP Mini 210-1014TU Laptop Keyboard
A travelling companion, the pious Francisco José de Caldas, accused him of frequenting houses where 'impure love reigned', of making friends with 'obscene dissolute youths', and giving vent to 'shameful passions of his heart'.[19]But author Robert F. Aldrich concludes hesitantly: "As for so many men of his age, a definite answer is impossible."[20] DELL Precision M4500 Laptop Keyboard
Throughout his life Humboldt formed strong emotional attachments to men.[citation needed] In a letter to Reinhard von Haeften, a soldier, he wrote: "I know that I live only through you, my good precious Reinhard, and that I can only be happy in your presence."[21] ACER Aspire 7741G Laptop Keyboard
He never married, yet there were at least two notable occasions where he seemed to have been drawn to the opposite sex. The first was an adolescent infatuation with Henriette Herz, the beautiful wife ofMarcus Herz, his mentor, and the second was a short lived but intimate relationship with a woman named Pauline Wiesel in 1808 Paris.[22] HP AELX6U00210 Laptop Keyboard
He was strongly attached to his brother's family. Four years before his death, he executed a deed of gift transferring the absolute possession of his entire property to an old family servant named Seifert.[citation needed] COMPAQ Presario C700 Laptop Keyboard
Humboldt made many friends and had a reputation for widespread benevolence.[citation needed] He showed zeal for the improvement of the condition of the miners in Galicia and Franconia, detestation of slavery,[23] and patronage of rising men of science.[citation needed] DELL Vostro 1014 Laptop Keyboard
Edgar Allan Poe dedicated his last major work, Eureka: A Prose Poem, to von Humboldt. Humboldt's attempt to unify the sciences in his Kosmos was a big inspiration for Poe's project.
Charles Darwin made frequent reference to Humboldt's work in his Voyage of the Beagle, where Darwin described his own scientific exploration of the Americas. In one note, he placed Humboldt first on the "list of American travellers".[28] SONY 148084122 Laptop Keyboard
When this Journal was published, Darwin sent a copy to Humboldt, who responded "You told me in your kind letter that, when you were young, the manner in which I studied and depicted nature in the torrid zones contributed toward exciting in you the ardour and desire to travel in distant lands. Considering the importance of your work, Sir, this may be the greatest success that my humble work could bring."[29] DELL Vostro 3450 Laptop Keyboard
In his autobiography, Darwin recalled reading "with care and profound interest Humboldt's Personal Narrative" and finding it one of the two most influential books on his work, which had "stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science."[30] ACER V104730BS1 Laptop Keyboard
Prussia (German: Preußen (help•info); Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Latvian: Prūsija; Lithuanian: Prūsija;Polish: Prusy; Old Prussian: Prūsa; Danish: Prøjsen; Russian: Пру́ссия) was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg and centered on the region of Prussia. HP CT1A Laptop Keyboard
For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised and effective army. Prussia shaped the history of Germany, with its capital in Berlinafter 1451. HP Pavilion dv3-2106tu Laptop Keyboard
In 1871, German states united in creating the German Empire under Prussian leadership. In November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power. Prussia was effectively abolished in 1932, and officially abolished in 1947.[2]
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The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians. In the 13th century, German crusaders, the Teutonic Knights, conquered "Old Prussia". In 1308 the Teutonic Knights conquered the formerly Polish region of Pomerelia withGdańsk (Danzig). SONY 148084122 laptop keyboard
Their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The Second Peace of Thorn (1466) split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, HP Pavilion DV7-3188cl laptop keyboard
a province of Poland, and the eastern part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia, a fief of the Crown of Poland up to 1657. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. ASUS F6VE laptop keyboard
Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom,[3][4][5][6] and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century it had a major say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great. During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a "Lesser Germany" which excluded the Austrian Empire. SONY Vaio VGN-AW310J laptop keyboard
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, Lenovo ThinkPad T400S-2815 laptop keyboard
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. HP AELX6U00210 laptop keyboard
The Kingdom ended in 1918. 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; Prussia was legally abolished in the 1940s. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland and theSoviet Union absorbed its territory. TOSHIBA Satellite L40-17U laptop keyboard
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 before 1918.
The main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. SONY VAIO VGN-FS760/W laptop keyboard
The black and white national colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights and by the Hohenzollern dynasty. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a black cross with gold insert and black imperial eagle. The combination of the black and white colours with the white and red Hanseatic colours of the free citiesBremen, ACER V104730BS1 laptop keyboard
Hamburg and Lübeck, as well as of Brandenburg, resulted in the black-white-red commercial flag of theNorth German Confederation, which became the flag of the German Empire in 1871.[citation needed] ACER Aspire 7751G laptop keyboard
Suum cuique ("to each, his own"), the motto of the Order of the Black Eagle created by King Frederick I in 1701, was often associated with the whole of Prussia. The Iron Cross, a military decoration created by KingFrederick William III in 1813, Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
was also commonly associated with the country.[citation needed] The region, originally populated by Baltic Old Prussians who were Christianised, became a favoured location for immigration by (later mainly Protestant) Germans (see Ostsiedlung), as well as Poles and Lithuanians along the border regions. TOSHIBA PK130BH2A00 laptop keyboard
Before its abolition, the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia included the provinces of West Prussia; East Prussia; Brandenburg; Saxony (including much of the present-day state of Saxony-Anhalt and parts of the state of Thuringia in Germany); Pomerania; Rhineland; Westphalia; Silesia (without Austrian Silesia); Lusatia;Schleswig-Holstein; TOSHIBA MP-09K53US6698 laptop keyboard
Hanover; Hesse-Nassau; and a small detached area in the south called Hohenzollern, the ancestral home of the Prussian ruling family. The land that the Teutonic Knights occupied was flat and covered with rich soil. The land was perfectly suited to the large-scale raising of wheat.[7] The rise of early Prussia was based on the raising and selling of wheat. Teutonic Prussia became known as the "bread basket of Western Europe"Compaq Presario CQ35 laptop keyboard
(in German, Kornkammer, or granary). The port cities of Stettin (Szczecin) in Pomerania, Danzig (Gdansk) in Prussia, Riga in Livonia, Königsberg (Kaliningrad) and Memel (Klaipėda) rose on the back of this wheat production. ACER Aspire 4810TZ-4011 Laptop Keyboard
Wheat production and trade brought Prussia into close relationship with the Hanseatic League during the period of time from 1356 (official founding of the Hanseatic League) until the decline of the League in about 1500. HP G62-361TX Laptop Keyboard
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.[8] This meant that Poland and Lithuania would be traditional enemies of Prussia—which was still called the Teutonic Knights.[9]
In 1871, Prussia's population numbered 24.69 million, accounting for 60% of the German Empire's population.[10] DELL Vostro 3550 Laptop Keyboard
In 1910, the population had increased to 40.17 million (62% of the Empire's population).[10] 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. ACER TravelMate 290 Laptop Keyboard
Although Prussia was dominated by Protestant Lutherans (along with some Reformed), it contained millions of Catholics in the west and in Poland. East Prussia's southern region of Masuria was mostly made up of Germanised Protestant Masurs. DELL NSK-D8001 laptop keyboard
There were numerous Catholic populations in the Rhineland and parts of Westphalia. In addition, West Prussia, Warmia, Silesia, and the Province of Posen had predominantly Catholic Polish-speaking populations. TOSHIBA V114302CS1 US laptop keyboard
In 1871, approximately 2.4 million Poles lived in Prussia, constituting the largest minority.[10] Other minorities were Jews, Danes, Frisians, Kashubians(72,500 in 1905), Masurians (248,000 in 1905), Lithuanians (101,500 in 1905), Walloons, Czechs and Sorbs.[10] IBM Lenovo ThinkPad X301 laptop keyboard
The area of Greater Poland, where the Polish nation had originated, became the Province of Posen after the Partitions of Poland. Poles in this Polish-majority province (62% Polish, 38% German) resisted German rule. SONY VAIO VGN-FZ21Z laptop keyboard
Also, the southeast portion of Silesia (Upper Silesia) had a Polish majority. But Catholics, ethnic Poles and other Slavs and Jews did not have equal status with Protestants[11]
As a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the Second Polish Republic was granted not only these two areas, but also areas with a German majority in the Province of West Prussia. SONY VAIO VGN-NR21S/S laptop keyboard
After World War II, East Prussia, Silesia, most of Pomerania and the eastern part of Brandenburg were annexed by either the Soviet Union or Poland, and the German-speaking populations expelled. SONY VGN-FE31B laptop keyboard
In 1211 Andrew II of Hungary granted Burzenland in Transylvania as a fiefdomto the Teutonic Knights. In 1225, Andrew II expelled the Teutonic Knights from Transylvania, and they had to transfer to the Baltic Sea. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
Konrad I, the Polish Duke of Masovia, unsuccessfully attempted to conquer pagan Prussia in crusades in 1219 and 1222.[12] In 1226, Duke Konrad invited the Teutonic Knights, a German military order of crusading knights, headquartered in theKingdom of Jerusalem at Acre, to conquer the Baltic Prussian tribes on his borders. SONY VAIO VGN-CR41S laptop keyboard
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). HP Mini 210-2002er laptop keyboard
Around 1252, they finished the conquest of the northernmost Prussian tribe of the Skalvians as well as the western BalticCuronians, and erected the Memel Castle, which developed into the major port city of Memel (Klaipėda). The final border between Prussia and the adjoiningGrand Duchy of Lithuania was determined in the Treaty of Melno in 1422. DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
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.[13] The businessmen of the interior Sweden, SONY VAIO VGN-FW11S laptop keyboard
Denmark and Poland came to feel oppressed by the Hanseatic League.[citation needed]
In the course of the Ostsiedlung process, settlers were invited in, a majority of them Germans, bringing about changes in the ethnic composition as well as in language, culture and law. Low German became the dominant language. HP Pavilion dv6-3134nr laptop keyboard
The Knights were subordinate to the pope and the emperor. Their initially close relationship with the Polish Crown deteriorated after they conquered Polish-controlled Pomerelia and Danzig (Gdańsk) in 1308. Eventually Poland and Lithuania, allied through the Union of Krewo (1385), defeated the Knights in the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410.
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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 (1466), losing western Prussia (Royal Prussia) to Poland in the process. Pursuant to the Second Peace of Thorn, two Prussian states were established[14] HP Mini 110-1197TU laptop keyboard
In 1525, Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern, became a Lutheran Protestant and secularised the Order's remaining Prussian territories into the Duchy of Prussia.[15] TOSHIBA G83C0003G110 laptop keyboard
This was the area east of the mouth of the Vistula River, later sometimes called "Prussia proper." For the first time, HP Pavilion dv6-3230us laptop keyboard
these lands came into the hands of a branch of the Hohenzollern family. (The Hohenzollern dynasty had ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg to the west, a German state centred on Berlin, since the 15th century.) Furthermore, with his renunciation of the Order, Albert could now marry and produce legitimate heirs. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
Brandenburg-Prussia[edit]
Main article: Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg and Prussia were unified two generations later. Anna, granddaughter of Albert I and daughter of DukeAlbert 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, DELL NSK-D8001 laptop keyboard
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. DELL XPS M1530 Laptop Keyboard
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, COMPAQ Presario C700 Laptop Keyboard
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, DELL PVDG3 Laptop Keyboard
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. SONY VAIO VGN-NR11M/S Laptop Keyboard
In 1657, this grant was renewed by the Polish king in the treaties of Wehlau and Bromberg. DELL Inspiron N5030 Laptop Keyboard
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. ASUS F3H Laptop Keyboard
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. Lenovo Thinkpad T520 Laptop Keyboard
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.[16] DELL Inspiron 6400 Laptop Keyboard
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, HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
which he developed into one of the most powerful in Europe, although his troops only briefly saw actionduring 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.[17] Also, GATEWAY NX570X Laptop Keyboard
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 HP G42-164LA Laptop Keyboard
The king died in 1740 and was succeeded by his son, Frederick II, whose accomplishments led to his reputation as "Frederick the Great".[18] As crown prince, Frederick had focused, primarily, on philosophy and the arts.[19] He was an accomplished flute player. FUJITSU CP228900-01 Laptop Keyboard
In 1740, Prussian troops crossed over the undefended border of Silesia and occupied Schweidnitz. Silesia was the richest province of Habsburg Austria.[20] It signalled the beginning of three Silesian Wars (1740–1763).[21] The First Silesian War (1740–1742) and the Second Silesian War (1744–1745) have, historically, TOSHIBA A000014900 laptop keyboard
been grouped together with the general European war called the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748). Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI had died on October 20, 1740. He was succeeded to the throne by his daughter, Maria Theresa. SONY VAIO VGN-FS760/W laptop keyboard
By defeating the Austrian Army at the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741, Frederick succeeded in conquering Lower Silesia(the northwestern half of Silesia).[22] In the next year, 1742, he conquered Upper Silesia (the southeastern half). Furthermore, in the third Silesian War (usually grouped with the Seven Years War) SONY VAIO VGN-N38Z/W laptop keyboard
Frederick won a victory over Austria at theBattle of Lobositz on 1 October 1756. On 3 November 1760 Frederick won another battle—the decisive battle—the Battle of Torgau. With this victory and the overall victory in the Seven Years War, Frederick, allied with Great Britain, Hanover andHesse-Kassel, DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard
was able to hold the whole of Silesia against a coalition of Saxony, Austria, France and Russia.[23] Voltaire, a close friend of the king, once described Frederick the Great's Prussia by saying "...it was Sparta in the morning, Athens in the afternoon." From these wars onwards the Austria–Prussia rivalry dominated German politics until 1866. HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
Silesia, full of rich soils and prosperous manufacturing towns, became a vital region to Prussia, greatly increasing the nation's area, population, and wealth.[24] Success on the battleground against Austria and other powers proved Prussia's status as one of the great powers of Europe. HP G42-265LA laptop keyboard
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).[25] In 1744 the County of East Frisia fell to Prussia following the extinction of its ruling Cirksena dynasty. TOSHIBA Satellite L755D-SP5172LM laptop keyboard
In the last 23 years of his reign until 1786, Frederick II, who understood himself as the "first servant of the state", promoted the development of Prussian areas such as the Oderbruch. At the same time he built up Prussia's military power and participated in the First Partition of Poland with Austria and Russia (1772), HP Pavilion dv6-3133nr laptop keyboard
an act that geographically connected the Brandenburg territories with those of Prussia proper. During this period, he also opened Prussia's borders to immigrants fleeing from religious persecution in other parts of Europe, such as the Huguenots. Prussia became a safe haven in much the same way that the United States welcomed immigrants seeking freedom in the 19th century.[26] SONY VAIO VGN-NR11M/S laptop keyboard
Frederick the Great, the first "King of Prussia", practised enlightened absolutism. He introduced a general civil code, abolished torture and established the principle that the Crown would not interfere in matters of justice. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
He also promoted an advanced secondary education, the forerunner of today's German gymnasium (grammar school) system, which prepares the brightest pupils for university studies.[27] The Prussian education system was emulated in various countries, including the United States.[26] TOSHIBA Satellite M645-S4070 laptop keyboard
During the reign of King Frederick William II (1786–1797), Prussia annexed additional Polish territory through furtherPartitions of Poland. His successor, Frederick William III (1797–1840), announced the union of the Prussian Lutheran andReformed churches into one church.[28] HP Pavilion dv5-1002au laptop keyboard
Prussia took a leading part in the French Revolutionary Wars, but remained quiet for more than a decade due to the Peace of Basel of 1795, only to go once more to war with France in 1806 as negotiations with that country over the allocation of the spheres of influence in Germany failed. Prussia suffered a devastating defeat against Napoleon Bonaparte's troops in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, GATEWAY NX570X laptop keyboard
leading Frederick William III and his family to flee temporarily to Memel. Under the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, the state lost about one third of its area, including the areas gained from the second and thirdPartitions of Poland, which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw. HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
Beyond that, the king was obliged to pay a large indemnity, to cap his army at 42,000 men, and to allow French troops to be garrisoned throughout Prussia, effectively making the Kingdom a French satellite.[29] HP Pavilion dv3z-1000 Laptop Keyboard
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.[30] IBM Lenovo ThinkPad R51 1833 Laptop Keyboard
After the defeat of Napoleon in Russia, Prussia quit its alliance with France and took part in the Sixth Coalition during the "Wars of Liberation" (Befreiungskriege) against the French occupation. Prussian troops under Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher contributed crucially (with the British) in the Battle of Waterloo of June 1815 to the final victory over Napoleon. HP HDX18-1000EO Laptop Keyboard
Prussia's reward in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna was the recovery of her lost territories, as well as the whole of the Rhineland, Westphalia, and some other territories. These western lands were to be of vital importance because they included the Ruhr Area, the centre of Germany's fledgling industrialisation, Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
especially in the arms industry. These territorial gains also meant the doubling of Prussia's population. In exchange, Prussia withdrew from areas of central Poland to allow the creation of Congress Poland under Russian sovereignty.[29] HP G71-448CL Laptop Keyboard
Prussia emerged from the Napoleonic Wars as the dominant power in Germany, overshadowing long-time rival Austria, which had abdicated the imperial crown in 1806.[citation needed] In 1815 Prussia became part of the German Confederation. SAMSUNG Q330-JS02 Laptop Keyboard
The first half of the 19th century saw a prolonged struggle in Germany between liberals, who wanted a united, HP G62-361TX Laptop Keyboard
federal Germany under a democratic constitution, and conservatives, who wanted to maintain Germany as a patchwork of independent, monarchical states with Prussia and Austria competing for influence. One small movement that signaled a desire for German unification in this period was the Burschenschaft student movement, by students who encouraged the use of the black-red-gold flag, discussions of a unified German nation, HP Pavilion dv6-2157sb Laptop Keyboard
and a progressive, liberal political system. Because of Prussia's size and economic importance, smaller states began to join its free trade area in the 1820s. Prussia benefited greatly from the creation in 1834 of the German Customs Union (Zollverein), which included most German states but excluded Austria.[28] GATEWAY V021646BS1 Laptop Keyboard
In 1848 the liberals saw an opportunity when revolutions broke out across Europe. Alarmed, King Frederick William IV agreed to convene a National Assembly and grant a constitution. When the Frankfurt Parliament offered Frederick William the crown of a united Germany, he refused on the grounds that he would not accept a crown from a revolutionary assembly without the sanction of Germany's other monarchs.[31] DELL Vostro 1014 Laptop Keyboard
The Frankfurt Parliament was forced to dissolve in 1849, and Frederick William issued Prussia's first constitution by his own authority in 1850. This conservative document provided for a two-house parliament. The lower house, HP Mini 210-1064TU Laptop Keyboard
or Landtag was elected by all taxpayers, who were divided into three classes whose votes were weighted according to the amount of taxes paid. Women and those who paid no taxes had no vote. This allowed just over one-third of the voters to choose 85% of the legislature, all but assuring dominance by the more well-to-do men of the population. HP Mini 210-1109TU Laptop Keyboard
The upper house, which was later renamed the Herrenhaus ("House of Lords"), was appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority and ministers were responsible only to him. As a result, the grip of the landowning classes, the Junkers, remained unbroken, especially in the eastern provinces.[32] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
In 1862 King Wilhelm I appointed Otto von Bismarck as Prime Minister of Prussia. Bismarck was determined to defeat both the liberals and conservatives and increase Prussian supremacy and influence among the German states. IBM Lenovo ThinkPad R50e-1870 laptop keyboard
There has been much debate as to whether Bismarck actually planned to create a united Germany when he set out on this journey, or whether he simply took advantage of the circumstances that fell into place. Certainly his memoirs paint a rosy picture of an idealist, but these were written with the benefit of hindsight. TOSHIBA 9J.N7482.901 laptop keyboard
What is clear is that Bismarck curried support from large sections of the people by promising to lead the fight for greater German unification. He eventually guided Prussia through three wars which together brought William the position of German Emperor. HP Pavilion DV6z-1200 CTO laptop keyboard
Bismarck realised that the dual administration of Schleswig and Holstein was only a temporary solution, and tensions rose between Prussia and Austria. The struggle for supremacy in Germany then led to the Austro-Prussian War (1866), triggered by the dispute over Schleswig and Holstein. SONY VAIO VGN-CS21S/W laptop keyboard
On the Austrian side stood the south German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg), some central German states (including Saxony), and Hanover in the north. On the side of Prussia were Italy, DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
most north German states, and some smaller central German states. Eventually, the better-armed Prussian troops won the crucial victory at the Battle of Königgrätz under Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. The century-long struggle between Berlin and Vienna for dominance of Germany was now over. As a side show in this war, HP Pavilion dv6-2155dx laptop keyboard
Prussia defeated Hanover in the Battle of Langensalza (1866). While Hanover hoped in vain for help from Britain (as they had previously been in personal union), Britain stayed out of a confrontation with a continental superpower and Prussia satisfied its desire for merging the once separate territories and gaining strong economic and strategic power, particularly from the full access to the resources of the Ruhr. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
Bismarck desired Austria as an ally in the future, and so he declined to annex any Austrian territory. But in the Peace of Prague in 1866, Prussia annexed four of Austria's allies in northern and central Germany—Hanover, HP Pavilion dv4-1240tx laptop keyboard
Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Nassau and Frankfurt. Prussia also won full control ofSchleswig-Holstein. As a result of these territorial gains, Prussia now stretched uninterrupted across the northern two-thirds of Germany and contained two-thirds of Germany's population. The German Confederation was dissolved, and Prussia impelled the 21 states north of the Main River into forming theNorth German Confederation. SONY VGN-FE21B laptop keyboard
Prussia was the dominant state in the new confederation, as the kingdom comprised almost four-fifths of the new state's territory and population. Prussia's near-total control over the confederation was secured in the constitution drafted for it by Bismarck in 1867. Executive power was held by a president, assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him. The presidency was a hereditary office of the Hohenzollern rulers of Prussia. SONY VGN-FE21B laptop keyboard
There was also a two-house parliament. The lower house, or Reichstag (Diet), was elected by universal male suffrage. The upper house, or Bundesrat (Federal Council) was appointed by the state governments. The Bundesrat was, in practice, the stronger chamber. Prussia had 17 of 43 votes, and could easily control proceedings through alliances with the other states. HP Pavilion DV7-3085dx laptop keyboard
As a result of the peace negotiations, the states south of the Main remained theoretically independent, but received the (compulsory) protection of Prussia. Additionally, mutual defence treaties were concluded. However, the existence of these treaties was kept secret until Bismarck made them public in 1867, when France tried to acquire Luxembourg. SONY VAIO VGN-SZ640 laptop keyboard
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, TOSHIBA Satellite A135-S4447 laptop keyboard
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. HP G42-475TU laptop keyboard
The empire was a "Lesser German" solution (in German, "kleindeutsche Lösung") to the question of uniting all German-speaking peoples into one state, because it excluded Austria, which remained connected to Hungary and whose territories included non-German populations. HP 441541-001 laptop keyboard
On 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of King Frederick I), William was proclaimed "German Emperor" (not "Emperor of Germany") in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside Paris, while the French capital was still under siege. HP Pavilion dv3-2157cl laptop keyboard
The Kingdom of Denmark was at the time in personal union with the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, both of which had close ties with each other, although only Holstein was part of the German Confederation. Lenovo 45N2071 laptop keyboard
When the Danish government tried to integrate Schleswig, but not Holstein, into the Danish state, Prussia led the German Confederation against Denmark in the First War of Schleswig (1848–1851). Because Russia supported Austria, Prussia also conceded predominance in the German Confederation to Austria in the Punctation of Olmütz in 1850. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
In 1863, Denmark introduced a shared constitution for Denmark and Schleswig. This led to conflict with the German Confederation, which authorised the occupation of Holstein by the Confederation, from which Danish forces withdrew. In 1864, Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border between Holstein and Schleswig initiating the Second War of Schleswig. DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
The Austro-Prussian forces defeated the Danes, who surrendered both territories. In the resulting Gastein Convention of 1865 Prussia took over the administration of Schleswig while Austria assumed that of Holstein. ACER Aspire One D150-1920 Laptop Keyboard
The two decades after the unification of Germany were the peak of Prussia's fortunes, but the seeds for potential strife were built into the Prusso-German political system.
The constitution of the German Empire was a slightly amended version of the North German Confederation's constitution. DELL PVDG3 Laptop Keyboard
Officially, the German Empire was a federal state. In practice, Prussia's relationship with the rest of the empire was somewhat confusing. The Hohenzollern kingdom included three-fifths of the German territory and two-thirds of its population. HP Business Notebook nx9000 Laptop Keyboard
The Imperial German Army was, in practice, an enlarged Prussian army, although the other kingdoms (Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg) retained their own armies. The imperial crown was a hereditary office of the House of Hohenzollern, the royal house of Prussia. The prime minister of Prussia was, except for two brief periods (January–November 1873 and 1892–94), HP Mini 110-3135dx Laptop Keyboard
also imperial chancellor.[citation needed] But the empire itself had no right to collect taxes directly from its subjects; the only incomes fully under federal control were the customs duties, common excise duties, and the revenue from postal and telegraph services. While all men above age 25 were eligible to vote in imperial elections, ASUS F80Q Laptop Keyboard
Prussia retained its restrictive three-class voting system. This effectively required the king/emperor and prime minister/chancellor to seek majorities from legislatures elected by two different franchises. In both the kingdom and the empire, the original constituencies were never redrawn to reflect changes in population, meaning that rural areas were grossly overrepresented by the turn of the 20th century. DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard
Because of the German Revolution of 1918, Wilhelm II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia. Prussia was proclaimed a "Free State" (i.e. a republic, German: Freistaat) within the new Weimar Republicand in 1920 received a democratic constitution. SONY VAIO VGN-NW240F Laptop Keyboard
Almost all of Germany's territorial losses, specified in the Treaty of Versailles, were areas that had been part of Prussia: Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium; North Schleswig to Denmark; the Memel Territory to Lithuania; the Hultschin area to Czechoslovakia. Many of the areas which Prussia had annexed in thepartitions of Poland, such as the Provinces of Posen and West Prussia, as well as eastern Upper Silesia, went to the Second Polish Republic. ACER TravelMate 2800 Series Laptop Keyboard
Danzig became the Free City of Danzig under the administration of theLeague of Nations. Also, the Saargebiet was created mainly from formerly Prussian territories. East Prussiabecame an exclave, only reachable by ship (the Sea Service East Prussia) or by a railway through the Polish corridor. DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard
· 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.[34] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420 Keyboard
From 1919 to 1932, Prussia was governed by a coalition of the Social Democrats, Catholic Centre and German Democrats; from 1921 to 1925, coalition governments included the German People's Party. Unlike in other states of the German Reich, majority rule by democratic parties in Prussia was never endangered. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge S420 Keyboard
Nevertheless, in East Prussia and some industrial areas, the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler gained more and more influence and popular support, especially from the lower middle class starting in 1930. Except for Catholic Upper Silesia, the Nazi Party in 1932 became the largest party in most parts of the Free State of Prussia. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420S Keyboard
However, the democratic parties in coalition remained a majority, while Communists and Nazis were in the opposition.[35]
The East Prussian Otto Braun, who was Prussian minister-president almost continuously from 1920 to 1932, is considered one of the most capable Social Democrats in history. He implemented several trend-setting reforms together with his minister of the interior, Carl Severing, which were also models for the later Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). Lenovo Thinkpad T420 Keyboard
For instance, a Prussian minister-president could be forced out of office only if there was a "positive majority" for a potential successor. This concept, known as the constructive vote of no confidence, was carried over into the Basic Law of the FRG. Most historians regard the Prussian government during this time as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole.[36]
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This system was destroyed by the Preußenschlag("Prussian coup") of Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen. In this coup d'état, the government of the Reich deposed the Prussian government on 20 July 1932, under the pretext that the latter had lost control of public order in Prussia (during the Bloody Sunday of Altona, Lenovo Thinkpad T420S Keyboard
Hamburg, which was still part of Prussia at that time) and by using fabricated evidence that the Social Democrats and the Communists were planning a joint putsch. The Defence Minister General Kurt von Schleicher, HP 381068-001 Laptop Keyboard
who was the prime mover behind the coup manufactured evidence that the Prussian police under Braun's orders were favouring the Communist Rotfrontkämpferbund in street clashes with the SA as part of an alleged plan to foment a Marxist revolution, which he used to get an emergency decree from President Paul von Hindenburg imposing Reich control on Prussia.[37] FUJITSU CP228900-01 Laptop Keyboard
Papen appointed himself Reich commissioner for Prussia and took control of the government. The Preußenschlag made it easier, only half a year later, for Hitler to take power decisively in Germany, since he had the whole apparatus of the Prussian government, including the police, at his disposal.[38] HP G61-400SP laptop keyboard
The Reichstag building had been set on fire a few weeks earlier, the new Reichstag was opened in the Garrison Church ofPotsdam on 21 March 1933 in the presence of President Paul von Hindenburg. In a propaganda-filled meeting between Hitler and the Nazi Party, the "marriage of old Prussia with young Germany" was celebrated, to win over the Prussian monarchists, conservatives and nationalists and induce them to vote for the Enabling Act of 1933. HP Pavilion dv6-2187la laptop keyboard
In the centralised state created by the Nazis in the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich" ("Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reiches", 30 January 1934) and the "Law on Reich Governors" ("Reichsstatthaltergesetz",SONY VAIO VGN-CR363 laptop keyboard
30 January 1935) the states were dissolved, in fact if not in law. The federal state governments were now controlled by governors for the Reich who were appointed by the chancellor. Parallel to that, the organisation of the party into districts (Gaue) gained increasing importance, as the official in charge of a Gau (the head of which was called a Gauleiter) was again appointed by the chancellor who was at the same time chief of the Nazi Party.
In Prussia, this centralistic policy went even further. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
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. HP Mini 210-1084TU laptop keyboard
The Prussian lands transferred to Poland after the Treaty of Versailles were re-annexed during World War II. However, most of this territory was not reintegrated back into Prussia but assigned to separate Gaue of Danzig-West Prussia and Wartheland. HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
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.[40] HP 496878-001 Laptop Keyboard
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 toMecklenburg-Vorpommern. These states were abolished in 1952 in favour of districts, but were recreated after the fall of the Eastern Bloc in 1990. HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
In the Western Zones of occupation, which became West Germany in 1949, the former Prussian territories were divided up among North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein. Württemberg-Baden andWürttemberg-Hohenzollern were later merged with Baden to create the state of Baden-Württemberg. HP Probook 4510S Laptop Keyboard
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.[42] While the council was permanently established in 1613, it failed to gain any influence until 1651 due to the Thirty Years' War.[42] FUJITSU Lifebook E8110 Laptop Keyboard
Until after the Thirty Years' War, the territories of Brandenburg-Prussia were politically independent from each other,[41][43] connected only by the common feudal superior.[43][44] Frederick William, who envisioned the transformation of the personal union into a real union,[44] ACER Aspire One D150-1920 Laptop Keyboard
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 to be unfeasible.[45] Instead, the elector continued to appoint a governor (Kurfürstlicher Rat) for each territory, who in most cases was a member of the Geheimer Rat.[45] DELL Vostro 3550 Laptop Keyboard
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.[45] SONY 147915321 Laptop Keyboard
The elector attempted to balance the estates' governments by creating Amtskammer chambers to administer and coordinate the elector's domains, tax income and privileges.[45] 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.[45] Also in 1680, the Kreditwerk came under the aegis of the elector.[46] IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
Frederick William's excise tax (Akzise), which since 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 of the estates.[46] HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
The conclusion of the Second Northern War 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.[46] In the Duchy of Prussia, he confirmed the traditional privileges of the estates in 1663,[46] HP G62t-350 CTO Laptop Keyboard
but the latter accepted the caveat that these privileges were not to be used to interfere with the exertion of the elector's sovereignty.[45] 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, HP 496878-001 Laptop Keyboard
the elector by force collected taxes not approved by the Prussian estates for the first time in 1674.[45] Since 1704, the Prussian estates had de facto relinquished their right to approve the elector's taxes while formally still entitled to do so.[45] In 1682, the elector introduced an Akzise to Pomerania and in 1688 to Magdeburg,[45] Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
while in Cleves and Mark an Akzise was introduced only between 1716 and 1720.[46] Due to Frederick William's reforms, the state income increased threefold during his reign,[43] and the tax burden per subject reached a level twice as high as in France.[47] HP 636376-001 Laptop Keyboard
Under the rule of Frederick III (I), the Brandenburg Prussian territories were de facto reduced to provinces of the monarchy.[44] Frederick William's testament would have divided Brandenburg-Prussia among his sons, yet firstborn Frederick III with the emperor's backing succeeded in becoming the sole ruler based on the Treaty of Gera, ACER NSK-H361D Laptop Keyboard
which forbade a division of Hohenzollern territories.[48] In 1689, a new central chamber for all Brandenburg-Prussian territories was created, called Geheime Hofkammer (since 1713: Generalfinanzdirektorium).[49] This chamber functioned as a superior agency of the territories' Amtskammer chambers.[49] SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard
The General War Commissariat (Generalkriegskommissariat) emerged as a second central agency, superior to the localKriegskommissariat agencies initially concerned with the administration of the army, but until 1712 transformed into an agency also concerned with general tax and police tasks.[49] TOSHIBA Satellite A300 Laptop Keyboard