Provinces of Prussia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in the creation of the German Empire in 1871, produced a country that was constituted of several princely states and dominated by one of them, Prussia. The Provinces of Prussia covered some 60 percent of the territory that was the German Empire.
[edit] Prussia in the German Confederation
The German Confederation was created at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the Kingdom of Prussia was a member until its dissolution in 1866 following the Austro-Prussian War.
- Brandenburg
- Hohenzollern (Created from annexation of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in 1850)
- Pomerania
- Posen (Created from the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1848)
- Prussia (Created from East Prussia and West Prussia in 1824)
- Rhine Province (Created from the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg in 1822)
- Saxony
- Silesia
- Westphalia
[edit] Prussia in the German Empire
The outcome of the Austro-Prussian War put an end to the aspirations of a grand unified state consisting of the countries in both Germany and Austria. Instead the North German Confederation was created under Prussian leadership, and following the Franco-Prussian War the German Empire was proclaimed in 1871. The German Empire was dissolved in 1918 following World War I.
- Brandenburg
- East Prussia (Created by the dividing the province of Prussia in 1878)
- Hanover (Annexed in 1866)
- Hesse-Nassau (Annexed in 1866)
- Hohenzollern
- Pomerania
- Posen
- Rhine Province
- Saxony
- Schleswig-Holstein (Annexed in 1866)
- Silesia
- West Prussia (Created by the dividing the province of Prussia in 1878)
- Westphalia
[edit] Prussia in the Weimar Republic
After the fall of the German Empire the Kingdom of Prussia was reconstituted with a republican government as the Free State of Prussia. It had to cede virtually all territory belonging to the provinces of Posen and West Prussia to the newly created state of Poland. Prussia and its provinces formally continued to exist eventough political control was eventually taken over by the National Socialist German Workers Party following their rise to power in 1933. Both Prussia and Nazi Germany was finally dissolved following the end of World War II in 1945.
- Berlin (Separated from Brandenburg in 1920)
- Brandenburg
- East Prussia
- Hanover
- Hesse-Nassau
- Hohenzollern
- Lower Silesia (Part of Silesia between 1938 and 1941)
- Pomerania
- Posen-West Prussia (Created from parts of Posen and West Prussia in 1922 that had not been ceded to Poland)
- Rhine Province
- Saxony
- Schleswig-Holstein
- Upper Silesia (Part of Silesia between 1938 and 1941)
- Westphalia
Provinces of Prussia| Kingdom of Prussia | 1740: Silesia 1773: East Prussia | West Prussia | Netze District 1793: South Prussia 1795: New East Prussia | New Silesia 1815: Brandenburg | Jülich-Cleves-Berg | Lower Rhine | Pomerania | Posen | Saxony | Westphalia 1822: Rhine Province 1829: Prussia 1850: Hohenzollern 1867: Hanover | Hesse-Nassau | Schleswig-Holstein |
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| Free State of Prussia | 1919: Lower Silesia | Upper Silesia 1920: Berlin 1922: Posen-West Prussia |
