Starting in 1700, the Great Northern War involved a coalition led by Tsarist Russia against the dominant North European power at the time, the Swedish Empire. Frederick William in 1705 tried to get Prussia involved in the war, stating it "best Prussia has her own army and make her own decisions." His views, however, were not considered acceptable by those in power. It was not until 1713 that Frederick William gained full royal powers. Therefore, in 1715, Prussia, led by Frederick William, joined the coalition for various reasons, including the danger of being attacked from both her rear and the sea; her claims on Pomerania; and the fact that if she stood aside and Sweden lost she would not get a share of the territory.
1701–1721: Plague and the Great Northern War
Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia | 1701–1721: Plague and the Great Northern War
Thirty Years' War, the Great Northern War and others. Yes, the Great Northern War. Yes, many wars. Yes, The Silesian wars
the mitochrondria is the powerhouse of the cell
user
Yes.
assistant
who was the first to discover it?
user
Richard Altmann.
assistant
what exactly is it?
user
It is a semi autonomous double-membrane-bound organelle found in most eukaryotic organisms.
assistant
who is the above-mentioned person?
user
A German pathologist and histologist.
assistant
when did he discover this organelle mentioned above?
user
1890.
assistant
where is he from?
user
Deutsch Eylau in the Province of Prussia.
assistant
where is this province located?
user
Kingdom of Prussia.
assistant
who are the natives of this kingdom?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
which year did it experience a plague?
user
1708.
assistant
has it experienced any wars?
user
The Kingdom of Prussia was still recovering from the devastation of the Thirty Years' War and poor in natural resources. Its territory was disjointed, stretching from the lands of the Duchy of Prussia on the south-east coast of the Baltic Sea to the Hohenzollern heartland of Brandenburg, with the exclaves of Cleves, Mark and Ravensberg in the Rhineland. In 1708 about one third of the population of the Duchy of Prussia died of bubonic plague. The plague reached Prenzlau in August 1710 but receded before it could reach the capital Berlin, which was only away. The Great Northern War was the first major conflict that the Kingdom of Prussia was involved in.
Kingdom of Prussia | 1701–1721: Plague and the Great Northern War
Starting in 1700, the Great Northern War involved a coalition led by Tsarist Russia against the dominant North European power at the time, the Swedish Empire. Frederick William in 1705 tried to get Prussia involved in the war, stating it "best Prussia has her own army and make her own decisions." His views, however, were not considered acceptable by those in power. It was not until 1713 that Frederick William gained full royal powers. Therefore, in 1715, Prussia, led by Frederick William, joined the coalition for various reasons, including the danger of being attacked from both her rear and the sea; her claims on Pomerania; and the fact that if she stood aside and Sweden lost she would not get a share of the territory.
Kingdom of Prussia | 1701–1721: Plague and the Great Northern War
Prussia only participated in one battle, the Battle of Stresow on the island of Rügen, as the war had already been practically decided in the 1709 Battle of Poltava. In the Treaty of Stockholm Prussia gained all of Swedish Pomerania east of the river Oder. Sweden would however keep Vorpommern until 1815. The Great Northern War not only marked the end of the Swedish Empire but also elevated Prussia and Russia as new powers in Europe. The Great Elector had incorporated the Junkers, the landed aristocracy, into the empire's bureaucracy and military machine, giving them a vested interest in the Prussian Army and compulsory education.
Kingdom of Prussia | 1701–1721: Plague and the Great Northern War
King Frederick William I inaugurated the Prussian compulsory system in 1717.
Kingdom of Prussia | 1701–1721: Plague and the Great Northern War
By December, 400 people had died in Hohenstein. While the plague faded out during the hard winter, food became scarce due to war contributions and conscription, and the cordon sanitaire and the respective restrictions were lifted by edict on 12 July 1709. In January 1709, the plague reached Pillupönen (now in Kaliningrad Oblast) in the rural Prussian east, and by the end of the winter it reached Danzig (Gdansk). Danzig, at that time a largely autonomous, Protestant and German-speaking town in Polish Royal Prussia, had become one of the greatest towns in the area around the Baltic sea due to its position as a hub between Polish trade (via the Vistula) and international trade (via the Baltic Sea).
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Prussia
While at first the city authorities downplayed the plague, which had reached a peak in early October and then declined, this approach was abandoned when the death toll again started to rise significantly in November. Without prior public announcement, a cordon sanitaire was implemented around the city, sealing it off completely from the surrounding countryside from 14/15 November until 21 December 1709. When the plague had fully retreated from Königsberg by mid-1710, more than 9,500 townspeople had died, about a quarter of its population.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Prussia
The year 1760 brought yet more Prussian disasters. The general Fouqué was defeated by the Austrians in the Battle of Landshut. The French captured Marburg in Hesse and the Swedes part of Pomerania. The Hanoverians were victorious over the French at the Battle of Warburg, their continued success preventing France from sending troops to aid the Austrians against Prussia in the east.
Seven Years' War | 1759–60
Until the end of May, it seemed that the plague would not be as severe, and the health commission's reports were openly accessible. However, the plague was not contained and spread from the plague houses to the poorer suburbs and surrounding countryside, and starting in early June the death toll rose significantly. The health commission's reports were then declared secret. When the plague faded out by December 1709 never to return to Danzig, the town had lost about half of its inhabitants. The next large town to the east of Danzig was Königsberg in the Prussian kingdom, which had so far profited from the war by taking over some of the Swedish and Polish Livonian trade.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Prussia
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it took a specific intensity in the European theater based on the recently concluded War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, the prosperous province of Silesia. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the treaty to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances; she was intent upon regaining ascendancy in the Holy Roman Empire as well as the Silesian province. In 1754, escalating tensions between Britain and France in North America offered France an opportunity to break the British dominance of Atlantic trade.
Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf | Seven Years' War
While it had so far avoided participation in the war, the conflict had affected it indirectly by a reduction of its trade volume, rising taxes and food shortages. The city council adopted a dual strategy of actively downplaying the plague to the outside world, especially Danzig's trading partners, thus keeping the city open and allowing international and local trade to continue with few restrictions, while at the same time the restrictions on burials were eased due to a coffin shortage and the deaths of many grave diggers, plague (pest) houses and new graveyards were designated, and a "health commission" to organize the anti-plague measures was implemented to, for example, collect weekly reports from the physicians and provide the plague victims with food.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Prussia
A few days after a Prussian official in Soldau forwarded the information that on 18 August 1708 the plague had reached the village of Piekielko on the Polish side of the border, the epidemic had crossed into the village of Bialutten on the Prussian side, killing most of its inhabitants within a month. The Prussian authorities reacted by containing the village with a palisade; however, the survivors, led by the local reverend, had already taken refuge in the nearby woods. On 13 September 1708, a Prussian official from Hohenstein reported that the plague had been brought to this small border town by the son of the local hatter returning from Polish service.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Prussia
In preparation for the plague, a "Collegium Sanitatis" (health commission) was set up, including physicians from the university and leading civilian and military officials of the town. The plague arrived in August 1709, most probably carried by a Danzig sailor. The provincial government was exiled to Wehlau while the chancellor, von Kreytzen, remained in Königsberg and continued to work as the chairman of the Collegium Sanitatis, which met daily. The city walls were manned by the military, the burghers were conscripted into neighborhood watches, medical and other personnel was hired, dressed in black waxed clothes and housed in separate buildings.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Prussia
During the Great Northern War (1700–1721), many towns and areas around the Baltic Sea and East-Central Europe had a severe outbreak of the plague with a peak from 1708 to 1712. This epidemic was probably part of a pandemic affecting an area from Central Asia to the Mediterranean. Most probably via Constantinople, it spread to Pińczów in southern Poland, where it was first recorded in a Swedish military hospital in 1702. The plague then followed trade, travel and army routes, reached the Baltic coast at Prussia in 1709, affected areas all around the Baltic Sea by 1711 and reached Hamburg by 1712.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Introduction
In November 1709, when the Prussian king Frederick I returned to Berlin from a meeting with Russian tsar Peter the Great, the king had a strange encounter with his mentally deranged wife Sophia Louise, who in a white dress and with bloody hands pointed at him saying that the plague would devour the king of Babylon. As there was a legend of a White Lady foretelling the deaths of the Hohenzollern, Frederick took his wife's outburst seriously and ordered that precautions be taken for his residence city. Among other measures, he ordered the construction of a pest house outside the city walls, the Berlin Charité.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Brandenburg
After the death of his father, King Frederick William I joined the coalition against the Swedish king, Charles XII, with the aim of capturing the Swedish territories in Pomerania. As a result, the Prussian occupied Stettin in 1713. In November 1714, when Charles XII took personal command of Swedish Pomerania, the Prussian Army, together with the Saxons and Danes, was able to force him back to Stralsund in 1715–16 during the Pomeranian campaign and besiege him there. After the end of the war Prussia gained Stettin, Usedom and all territories south of the Peene.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | Great Northern War (1700–1721)
The Great Northern War (1700 to 1721) was fought between Russia, Denmark-Norway, Saxony-Poland and between Sweden and the Ottoman Empire ending in Russian victory with the end of the Swedish empire and the use of Sweden as a power satellite in the region. The Seven Years' War (1754 and 1756–1763] that enveloped both European and colonial theaters involved all the major European powers. France was at the center of attention with the Napoleonic Wars starting from the French Revolution, the combined conflicts lasting from 1792 and ending in 1815 with the defeat of Napoleon. The German states, headed by Prussia, taking a century of recovery from the devastation of the 30 Years' War, started a series of victorious wars first starting with the Danish-Prussian War (1864), Austro-Prussian War (1866), and ending in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) that resulted in the reunification of Germany forming the German Empire.
Military history of Europe | Gunpowder age
After the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, Prussia lost about half of its territory, including the land gained from the Second and Third Partitions of Poland (which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw) and all land west of the Elbe River. France recaptured Prussian-occupied Hanover, including Bremen-Verden. The remainder of the kingdom was occupied by French troops (at Prussia's expense) and the king was obliged to make an alliance with France and join the Continental System.
Kingdom of Prussia | 1801–1815: Napoleonic Wars
From Poland, there had been three incursions of the plague into Silesia (then belonging to the Bohemian Crown within the Habsburg Monarchy) in 1708: first into Georgenberg (Miasteczko), transmitted by a Cracow wagoner but successfully contained; then into Rosenberg (Olesno), where it killed 860 inhabitants out of 1,700; and also into two villages near Militsch (Milicz), from where it spread into the nearby lands of Wartenberg (Syców). After the Swedish defeat at Poltava in 1709, refugees from Poland including part of the Swedish-Polish corps of Joseph Potocki crossed into the Silesian borderlands, but also their Russian pursuers. This resulted in the infection of 25 villages in the Oels (Oleśnica) and Militsch area, and while the plague seemed to have faded out by February 1710, it struck again and even more severe from spring 1710 to winter 1711, killing more than 3,000 inhabitants of Oels and many villagers.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Habsburg Monarchy and Bavaria
Prussia, a rising power, struggled with Austria for dominance within and outside the Holy Roman Empire in central Europe. In 1756, the four greatest powers "switched partners" so that Great Britain and Prussia were allied against France and Austria. Realizing that war was imminent, Prussia pre-emptively struck Saxony and quickly overran it. The result caused uproar across Europe. Because of Austria's alliance with France to recapture Silesia, which had been lost in the War of the Austrian Succession, Prussia formed an alliance with Britain. Reluctantly, by following the Imperial diet of the Holy Roman Empire (Empire), which declared war on Prussia on 17 January 1757, most of the states of the empire joined Austria's cause.
Seven Years' War | Summary
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it acquired a specific intensity in the European theater based on the recently concluded War of the Austrian Succession (1741–1748). The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle concluded the earlier war with Austria. Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, acquired the prosperous province of Silesia. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the treaty to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances; she intended to regain ascendancy in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1754, escalating tensions between Britain and France in North America offered the Empress the opportunity to regain her lost territories and to limit Prussia's ever growing power.
Battle of Breslau (1757) | Seven Years' War
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it took a specific intensity in the European theater based on the recently concluded War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, the prosperous province of Silesia. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the treaty to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances; she was intent upon regaining ascendancy in the Holy Roman Empire as well as recovering the Silesian province. In 1754, escalating tensions between Britain and France in North America offered France an opportunity to break the British dominance of Atlantic trade.
Battle of Hochkirch | Seven Years' War
In 1712, the plague crossed into Silesia for a last time from Polish Zduny, infecting the village of Luzin near Oels and killing 14 people before it vanished in the beginning of 1713. Contemporary to the plague, there was also a cattle plague in Silesia. The plague also spread to other territories of the Habsburg monarchy, though it was not involved in the Great Northern War. Territories severely affected in 1713 were Bohemia (where 37,000 died only in Prague), and Austria, and the plague also struck Moravia and Hungary. From the Habsburg territories, the plague crossed into the Electorate of Bavaria, infecting in 1713 also the Free Imperial Cities of Free Imperial City of Nuremberg and Ratisbon (Regensburg, then seat of the Perpetual Diet).
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Habsburg Monarchy and Bavaria
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it was particularly intense in the European theater based on the recently concluded War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, the prosperous province of Silesia as a consequence of the First and Second Silesian Wars. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the treaty to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances; she was intent upon regaining ascendancy in the Holy Roman Empire as well as the Silesian province. In 1754, escalating tensions with Britain in North America offered France an opportunity to break the British dominance of Atlantic trade.
Battle of Zorndorf | Seven Years' War
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, the situation in the Neumark began to improve. King Frederick I initiated new waves of colonization. Many French Huguenots, forced to flee from religious persecution in France, arrived as settlers. The textile industry also began to develop in the Neumark. The Seven Years' War caused the region to regress in its development, as high contributions were exacted from the population for the war effort and the Neumark was the setting for battles such as at Kunersdorf. Under Frederick II, increased land reclamation and economic consolidation resulted from the drainage of the Warta and Notec areas.
Neumark | Kingdom of Prussia
While the plague eventually spared Berlin, it raged in the northeastern regions of Brandenburg, affecting the New March (Neumark) in 1710 and the Uckermark, where Prenzlau was infected on 3 August 1710. There, the Prussian military enforced a quarantine and nailed up houses where infected people lived. By January 1711, 665 people had died of the plague in Prenzlau and were buried on the city walls, and the quarantine was lifted on 10 August 1711.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Brandenburg
In 1801 24,000 Prussian soldiers invaded, surprising Hanover, which surrendered without a fight. In April 1801 the Prussian troops arrived in Bremen-Verden's capital Stade and stayed there until October of the same year. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland first ignored Prussia's hostility, but when it joined the pro-French coalition of armed "neutral" powers such as Denmark–Norway and Russia, Britain started to capture Prussian sea vessels. After the battle of Copenhagen the coalition fell apart and Prussia again withdrew its troops. At Napoleon's instigation, Prussia recaptured British Hanover and Bremen-Verden in early 1806. On August 6 of the same year, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved as a result of Napoleon's victories over Austria.
Kingdom of Prussia | 1801–1815: Napoleonic Wars
Against the will of the Prussian king, whose troops were occupied in the War of the Spanish Succession, they crossed through the Prussian New March and Prussian Pomerania to reach Damm in Swedish Pomerania with the main army and the Swedish border near Wollin, Gollnow and Greiffenhagen with smaller units on 21 October. Krassow, who on his march was followed and monitored by Prussian officials, denied having infected soldiers in his corps when confronted with suspicions. In a meeting with Prussian official Scheden, he justified his choice to march through infected Damm and probably infected Gollnow by responding that Gollnow was not infected at all, and that the situation in Damm would be dealt with by setting up a military corridor through the town separating the army from the inhabitants; Horn from Krassow's corps added reports that in Damm, after the death of 500 people, none of the remaining 400 inhabitants had died for three weeks.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Pomerania
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it took on a specific intensity in the European theater based on the recently concluded War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle gave Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, the prosperous province of Silesia as a consequence of the First and Second Silesian Wars. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the treaty to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances; she was intent upon regaining ascendancy in the Holy Roman Empire as well as reacquiring Silesia. In 1754, escalating tensions between Great Britain and France in North America offered France an opportunity to break the British dominance of Atlantic trade.
Battle of Kunersdorf | Seven Years' War
Especially on the eastern coast from Prussia to Estonia, the average death toll for wide areas was up to two thirds or three quarters of the population, and many farms and villages were left completely desolated. It is, however, hard to distinguish between deaths due to a genuine plague infection and deaths due to starvation and other diseases that spread along with the plague. While buboes are recorded among the symptoms, contemporary means of diagnosis were poorly developed, and death records are often unspecific, incomplete or lost. Some towns and areas were affected only for one year, while in other places the plague recurred annually throughout several subsequent years.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Introduction
The First Northern War (also Second or Little Northern War) was a conflict that took place from 1655 to 1661 between Poland, Sweden and Russia for supremacy in the Baltic states. Brandenburg fought initially on the side of Sweden against Poland, but changed sides, after Poland granted its prince-elector sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia in the Treaty of Wehlau on 19 September 1657. Brandenburg succeeded in gaining ultimate sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia and proved itself during the war as an important military and political power.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | First Northern War (1656–1660)
The 1700–1721 Great Northern War is considered a connected conflict, for it impacted the involvement of states such as Sweden, Saxony, Denmark–Norway and Russia. During the 1688–1697 Nine Years' War, armies grew from an average of 25,000 in 1648 to over 100,000 by 1697, a level unsustainable for pre-industrial economies. The 1690s also marked the lowest point of the Little Ice Age, a period of colder and wetter weather that drastically reduced crop yields across Europe. It is estimated the Great Famine of 1695–1697 killed 15–25% of the population in present-day Scotland, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, and Sweden, plus another two million in France and Northern Italy.
War of the Spanish Succession | Background
By 1702, the armies of Charles XII of Sweden had repelled and taken up pursuit of the armies of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, defeating them in July at Klissow near Pińczów on the Nida in southern Poland. In their military hospital in Pińczów, the Swedish army suffered its first plague infections of soldiers, recorded on the basis of reports from "trustworthy people from that very land" by Danzig (Gdańsk) physician Johann Christoph Gottwald. In Poland, the plague recurred in various places until 1714. During the following two years, plague broke out in Ruthenia, Podolia and Volhynia, with Lviv (Lemberg, Lwów) suffering around 10,000 plague deaths in 1704 and 1705 (40% of all inhabitants).
Great Northern War plague outbreak | 1702–1706: Southern Poland
In the Crown Treaty signed on 16 November 1700, Elector Frederick III had undertaken to provide a body of 8,000 men for the impending Spanish War of Succession for Emperor Leopold I. In return, the emperor promised that Frederick's future self-coronation as "King in Prussia" would be recognised across Europe and the Holy Roman Empire. The coronation took place on 18 January 1701 in Königsberg and from April 1701 the now entitled "Royal Prussian Contingent" deployed to the Lower Rhine at Wesel. In April 1702 it took part in hostilities for the first time at the Siege of Kaiserswerth.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | Spanish War of Succession (1701–1714)
In Warsaw, 30,000 people died in annually recurring plague epidemics between 1707 and 1710. Poznań lost around 9,000 people, about two thirds of its 14,000 inhabitants, to the plague between 1707 and 1709. In 1708, the plague spread north to the war-torn town of Toruń (Thorn) in Royal Prussia, killing more than 4,000 people. When news of the plague in Poland arrived in the Kingdom of Prussia, then still neutral in the war, precautions were taken to prevent it spreading across the border. From 1704, health certificates were compulsory for travellers from Poland. From 1707, a broad cordon sanitaire extended around the border of the former Duchy of Prussia, and those crossing into the Prussian exclave were quarantined.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Spread in Poland–Lithuania after 1706
The Russian quartermasters department had not improved, so the same problems reoccurred in Prussia. Still, the Imperial Russian Army was a new threat to Prussia. Not only was Frederick forced to break off his invasion of Bohemia, he was now forced to withdraw further into Prussian-controlled territory. His defeats on the battlefield brought still more opportunistic nations into the war. Sweden declared war on Prussia and invaded Pomerania with 17,000 men. Sweden felt this small army was all that was needed to occupy Pomerania and felt the Swedish army would not need to engage with the Prussians because the Prussians were occupied on so many other fronts.
Seven Years' War | 1757
Approximately one-third of East Prussia's population died in the plague and famine of 1709–1711, including the last speakers of Old Prussian. The plague, probably brought by foreign troops during the Great Northern War, killed 250,000 East Prussians, especially in the province's eastern regions. Crown Prince Frederick William I led the rebuilding of East Prussia, founding numerous towns. Thousands of Protestants expelled from the Archbishopric of Salzburg were allowed to settle in depleted East Prussia. The province was overrun by Imperial Russian troops during the Seven Years' War. In the 1772 First Partition of Poland, the Prussian king Frederick the Great annexed neighboring Royal Prussia, i.e., the Polish voivodeships of Pomerania (Gdańsk Pomerania or Pomerelia), Malbork, Chełmno and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia, thereby connecting his Prussian and Farther Pomeranian lands and cutting the rest of Poland from the Baltic coast.
East Prussia | Kingdom of Prussia
In the treaty of Stockholm (1720), he acquired half of Swedish Pomerania. The king died in 1740 and was succeeded by his son, Frederick II, whose accomplishments led to his reputation as "Frederick the Great". As crown prince, Frederick had focused, primarily, on philosophy and the arts. He was an accomplished flute player. In 1740, Prussian troops crossed over the undefended border of Silesia and occupied Schweidnitz. Silesia was the richest province of Habsburg Austria. It signalled the beginning of three Silesian Wars (1740–1763). The First Silesian War (1740–1742) and the Second Silesian War (1744–1745) have, historically, been grouped together with the general European war called the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748).
Prussia | Kingdom of Prussia
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it acquired a specific intensity in the European theater based on the recently concluded War of the Austrian Succession (1741–1748). The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle concluded the earlier war with Austria. Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, acquired the prosperous province of Silesia. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the treaty to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances; she intended to regain ascendancy in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1754, escalating tensions between Britain and France in North America offered the Empress the opportunity to regain her lost territories and to limit Prussia's ever growing power.
Battle of Moys | Seven Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, based on religious conflict, had been marked by plundering and marauding armies. Order was reestablished by the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which formulated the rules of international relations which held force for centuries, in particular in respect to the laws of war ("jus ad bellum" and "jus in bello"). During the Age of Enlightenment and under the direction of the "enlightened despots," wars became more regulated. Civilian populations were still affected, but incidents such as the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day massacre became exceptional. Thus Berlin was not plundered during the Seven Years' War of 1756–1762, despite having fallen into enemy hands not once but twice.
Cabinet wars | Introduction
In Britain, it was speculated that a total Prussian collapse was now imminent.
Seven Years' War | 1761–62
The War of the Bavarian Succession was fought between Prussia, Saxony and Bavaria on one side and Austria on the other.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–1779)
In the War of the Austrian Succession, which lasted from 1740 to 1748, King Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, seized the prosperous province of Silesia from Austria. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 in order to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances. The War of the Austrian Succession had seen the belligerents aligned on a time-honoured basis. France's traditional enemies, Great Britain and Austria, had coalesced just as they had done against Louis XIV. Prussia, the leading anti-Austrian state in Germany, had been supported by France.
Seven Years' War | In Europe
Prussia and its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia, were involved in numerous conflicts during their existence as nation-states. During their military engagements they often fulfilled the role of a supporting power, especially in the 17th century. In the 18th century Prussia began to adopt an independent role in the conflicts of that time; at the latest by the time of the Silesian Wars. Prussia's Army won major victories, for example, in the Battle of Leuthen, Battle of Leipzig or Battle of Königgrätz, but suffered devastating defeats, for example, in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt. This article lists all the wars and battles in which Brandenburg-Prussia and the Kingdom of Prussia were militarily engaged in, covering the period from 1618 to 1871.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | Introduction
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it acquired a specific intensity in the European theater as a result of the competition between Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, and Maria Theresa of Austria. Their rivalry dated from 1740, when, upon her ascension, Frederick had attacked and annexed the prosperous province of Silesia. The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which concluded War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) between Prussia and Maria Theresa's allies, awarded Silesia to Prussia. Empress Maria Theresa had signed the treaty to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances.
Battle of Leuthen | Seven Years' War
Diplomatically and militarily, Napoleon III looked for support from Austria, Denmark, Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg, as all had recently lost wars against Prussia. However, Napoleon III failed to secure revanchist alliances from these states. Denmark had twice fought Prussia during the First and Second Wars of Schleswig (a stalemate in the 1848–50, and a defeat in 1864 against a confederation of North German states and Austria under the leadership of Prussia), and was unwilling to confront Prussia again. As part of the settlement of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, secret treaties of mutual defense were signed between Prussia and Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg.
Causes of the Franco-Prussian War | German states
The Seven Years' War, fought between Prussia and Great Britain on one side and Austria, France, Sweden and Russia on the other, involved all the great European powers of the time. In the Third Silesian War (the Austrian-Prussian theatre), Austria's goal was the reconquest of Silesia, but Frederick II pre-empted his enemies, and on 29 August 1756 crossed the border of Saxony without a prior declaration of war. Military success alternated and the Prussian army faced defeat in the end, in spite of major victories. On 15 February 1763 the Peace of Hubertusburg was signed between Prussia and its opponents.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | Third Silesian War (1756–1763)
The year was rounded out by the news of Wolfe's victory at Quebec, resulting in the capture of the capital of New France (see below). However while 1759 was acclaimed as Britain's 'Annus Mirabilis', for the Prussians the year had been as disastrous as it had been successful for the British. Prussia's armies had suffered a string of defeats and suffered large numbers of casualties. At times Prussia veered close to total collapse and was now heavily dependent on continued British financial assistance.
Great Britain in the Seven Years' War | Elsewhere
In 1740 King Frederick II (Frederick the Great) came to the throne. Using the pretext of a 1537 treaty (vetoed by Emperor Ferdinand I) by which parts of Silesia were to pass to Brandenburg after the extinction of its ruling Piast dynasty, Frederick invaded Silesia, thereby beginning the War of the Austrian Succession. After rapidly occupying Silesia, Frederick offered to protect Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria if the province were turned over to him. The offer was rejected, but Austria faced several other opponents, and Frederick was eventually able to gain formal cession with the Treaty of Berlin in 1742.
Kingdom of Prussia | 1740–1762: Silesian Wars
the Great Plague of London 1666–68) and, in the 18th century final recurrences in the rest of Europe (e.g. the plague during the Great Northern War in the area around the Baltic sea, the Great Plague of Marseille 1720–22 in southern Europe, and the Russian plague of 1770–1772 in eastern Europe), being thereafter confined to less severe outbreaks in ports of the Ottoman Empire until the 1830s.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Background
Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, died in 1804, leading to a collapse of the French Empire into civil war. The Prussian Empire was strong enough at this point to launch an aggressive campaign of expansion, analogous to the Napoleonic Wars, that ended in defeat at the hands of the British Army at Waterloo in 1815. Despite this defeat, where the first landships (massive tanks) were used in battle, the Prussian Empire remained strong and forged a united Germany sooner than occurred in our timeline (including Austria). Italy, whilst not unified, is a similarly powerful League dominated by the 'Tetrarchy of Princes': the Doge of the Republic of Venice, and the Kings of the three Kingdoms, Sardinia, Lombardy and Sicily.
Dystopian Wars | Background
After 1763, armies around the world sent their officers to Prussia to learn the secrets of the state's outsize military power, making Prussia one of the most imitated states in Europe. Though sometimes depicted as a key moment in Prussia's rise to greatness, the war nonetheless left the kingdom's economy and population devastated, and much of the remainder of Frederick's reign was spent repairing the damage. To mitigate population losses, the King continued his father's policy of encouraging Protestant refugees from Catholic realms to resettle in Prussia. The repeated currency devaluations imposed to finance the conflict had led to rapid inflation and great economic disruption in Prussia (and in Saxony).
Third Silesian War | Prussia
While Hirschhorn was not involved in the German Peasants' War, major changes were brought about by the Thirty Years' War. After the Lords of Hirschhorn had died out with the demise of Frederic III in September 1632 - he had fled to Heilbronn in order to escape the turmoil of the war - the castle and the town passed to the archdiocese of Mainz. The Plague of 1635 decimated the population. After the end of Swedish occupation in 1636, Hirschhorn was mortgaged to an official at the court of the Elector of Cologne, Rudolf Raitz von Frentz. The population, which had already been afflicted by the war, had to suffer exploitation and impoverishment.
Hirschhorn (Neckar) | Decline in the Thirty Years' War
Except for its overseas colonies, Alsace-Lorraine and the Bavarian portion of the Saargebiet, all German territorial losses as a result of World War I were Prussian losses. As specified in the Treaty of Versailles, the former kingdom lost territory to Belgium (Eupen and Malmedy), Denmark (North Schleswig), Lithuania (Memel Territory) and Czechoslovakia (the Hultschin area). The Saargebiet was administered by the League of Nations until 1935. The Rhine Province became a demilitarised zone, although it remained under Prussian civil administration. The bulk of Prussia's losses were to Poland, including most of the provinces of Posen and West Prussia, and an eastern section of Silesia.
Free State of Prussia | 1918: Aftermath of World War I
The War of the Sixth Coalition saw a re-vitalized Prussia join the allies against the French in 1813, resulting in France’s defeat in 1814. The German campaign covers all the military engagements that took place from 1813 to 1815 between the troops of Napoleonic France and the allies, consisting of Prussia, Austria, Russia, Sweden and Great Britain. After the liberation of the German nations, the winter campaign of 1814 ended with the abdication of Napoleon and the First Treaty of Paris.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | War of the Sixth Coalition (1813–1814)
In 1740, in the first year of his reign and shortly after his coronation Frederick II sent the Prussian Army to invade Austrian-ruled Silesia and so precipitated the First Silesian War and, in its broader sense, the Austrian War of Succession. Because Prussia allied itself with Bavaria, France, Saxony, the Electorate of Cologne, Spain, Sweden and Naples, whilst Prussia's main enemy, Austria allied itself with Great Britain, Sardinia, the Netherlands and Russia. For Prussia, the war was restricted to Silesia, and was able to capture the province after several victories.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | First Silesian War (1740–1742)
The Thirty Years' War was primarily fought in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. Estimates of the total number of military and civilian deaths which resulted range from 4.5 to 8 million, the vast majority from disease or starvation. In some areas of Germany, it has been suggested up to 60% of the population died. Until 1938, the war was usually presented as a German conflict; this changed when historian CV Wedgwood argued it formed part of a wider, ongoing European struggle, with the Habsburg-Bourbon conflict at its centre. This is now the generally accepted view, with related conflicts such as the 1568–1648 Eighty Years War, the 1635-59 Franco-Spanish War, and the 1629–31 War of the Mantuan Succession.
Thirty Years' War | Introduction
Prussia suffered several defeats in 1759. At the Battle of Kay, or Paltzig, the Russian Count Saltykov with 47,000 Russians defeated 26,000 Prussians commanded by General Carl Heinrich von Wedel. Though the Hanoverians defeated an army of 60,000 French at Minden, Austrian general Daun forced the surrender of an entire Prussian corps of 13,000 in the Battle of Maxen. Frederick himself lost half his army in the Battle of Kunersdorf (now Kunowice Poland), the worst defeat in his military career and one that drove him to the brink of abdication and thoughts of suicide. The disaster resulted partly from his misjudgment of the Russians, who had already demonstrated their strength at Zorndorf and at Gross-Jägersdorf (now Motornoye, Russia), and partly from good cooperation between the Russian and Austrian forces.
Seven Years' War | 1759–60
The War of the First Coalition saw the monarchies of Europe, led by Austria, opposed to revolutionary France. It lasted from 1793 to 1797, though Prussia made peace in 1795.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | War of the First Coalition (1792-1795)
Naples-Sicily, and Savoy, although sided with the Franco-Spanish alliance, declined to join the coalition under fear of British naval power. The taxation needed for war caused the Russian people considerable hardship, being added to the taxation of salt and alcohol begun by Empress Elizabeth in 1759 to complete her addition to the Winter Palace. Like Sweden, Russia concluded a separate peace with Prussia.
Seven Years' War | Summary
At the time of the Great Northern War, the northwest of the Holy Roman Empire was a patchwork with the Swedish dominion of Bremen-Verden located between the largely autonomous cities of Bremen and Hamburg, bordered to the south by the Electorate of Hanover, whose prince-elector George Louis became king of Great Britain in 1714, and to the north by the Duchy of Holstein, divided into Holstein-Glückstadt, ruled by the Danish king, and Holstein-Gottorp, whose duke Charles Frederick, a cousin and ally of Charles XII of Sweden, resided in Stockholm while Danish forces had occupied his share of the duchy only disturbed by Stenbock's march from Wakenstädt to Tønning in 1713.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Bremen, Bremen-Verden, Hamburg and Holstein
Therefore, the course of the war and the course of the plague mutually affected each other: while soldiers and refugees were often agents of the plague, the death toll in the military as well as the depopulation of towns and rural areas sometimes severely impacted the ability to resist enemy forces or to supply troops. This plague was the last to affect the area around the Baltic, which had experienced several waves of the plague since the Black Death of the 14th century. However, for some areas, it was the most severe. People died within a few days of first showing symptoms.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Introduction
During the war, Margrave Karsten formed an alliance with Sweden, although the Swedes sacked Hof on 29 May 1640. Emperor Ferdinand II tried to depose him as ruler of Bayreuth in 1635; however, he continued in office. All of Europe was deeply affected by these wars. Disease, starvation, and warfare took a terrible toll on infrastructure, livestock, farmlands, and human dignity. After the 30 Years War it is estimated that one half of the population of Brandenburg was lost and in some areas as many as two-thirds. One can only imagine the joy when the wars ended and Margrave Karsten called a general festival of thanksgiving for peace which was celebrated throughout his Principality in February 1639.
Hof, Bavaria | Margrave karsten in the War and Aftermath
The Thirteen Years' War ended in the victory of the Prussian Confederation and Poland and in the Second Peace of Thorn (1466). This was soon followed by the War of the Priests (1467–1479), a drawn-out dispute over the independence of the Prussian Prince-Bishopric of Warmia (Ermland), in which the Knights also sought revision of the Peace of Thorn.
Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) | Introduction
Prussia suffered a devastating defeat against Napoleon Bonaparte's troops in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, 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 third Partitions of Poland, which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw. Beyond that, the king was obliged to pay a large indemnity, to cap his army at 42,000 men, and to let the French garrison troops throughout Prussia, effectively making the Kingdom a French satellite. In response to this defeat, reformers such as Stein and Hardenberg set about modernising the Prussian state.
Prussia | Napoleonic Wars
In January 1454, the year that Casimir IV was married to Elisabeth Habsburg, the Prussian faction asked Casimir IV and protection by the Kingdom of Poland. Casimir asked the Prussian Confederation for a more formal petition. On 4 February 1454, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sent a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master. Two days later the confederacy started its rebellion and soon almost all Prussia, except for Marienburg, Stuhm (Sztum), and Konitz (Chojnice), were free from Teutonic rule. Most of the captured "Ordensburg" castles were immediately destroyed.
Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) | 1452-1454 negotiations
The status quo ante was restored. The war established Prussia as the fifth major power in Europe, but Prussia lost 180,000 soldiers during the war.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | Third Silesian War (1756–1763)
By the end of 1757, the course of the war had gone well for Prussia, and poorly for Austria. Prussia had achieve spectacular victories at Rossbach and Leuthen and reconquered parts of Silesia that had fallen back to Austria. The Prussians then pressed south into Austrian Moravia. In April 1758, Prussia and Britain concluded the Anglo-Prussian Convention in which the British committed to pay Frederick an annual subsidy of £670,000. Britain also dispatched 7,000–9,000 troops to reinforce Frederick's brother-in-law, the Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel's army. Ferdinand evicted the French from Hanover and Westphalia and re-captured the port of Emden in March 1758; he crossed the Rhine, causing general alarm in France.
Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf | Seven Years' War
After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the North German states had joined the North German Confederation under the leadership of Prussia. In 1870, France under Napoleon III declared war on Prussia and thus triggered the Franco-Prussian War. France was surprised by the fact that Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse had joined Prussia, although there had been mutual covenants of protection and trusts since 1867. During the war, in which the Prussians won, a near-reaching agreement emerged and the road to founding the empire was opened. Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of the North German Confederation, pressed for diplomatic access to the remaining sovereign states, the Grand Duchy of Baden, the Grand Duchy of Hesse, the Kingdom of Württemberg and the Kingdom of Bavaria, in the sens of the Lesser German solution.
November Treaties | Franco-Prussian War
On August 6, 1806, Habsburg Emperor Francis II had abdicated the throne of the Holy Roman Empire in the course of the Napoleonic Wars with France, thereby ending the loose Empire. Despite its later name affix "of the German Nation", the Holy Roman Empire had never been a nation state. Instead its rulers over the centuries had to cope with a continuous loss of authority to its constituent Imperial States. The disastrous Thirty Years' War proved especially fatal to the Holy Roman Emperor's authority, as the mightiest entities, the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy and Brandenburg-Prussia, evolved into rivaling European absolute powers with territory reaching far beyond Imperial borders.
German Question | Background
Hohenzollern sovereignty in the Prussian duchy was confirmed in the Peace of Oliva, which ended the war in 1660. Brandenburg-Prussian campaigns in Swedish Pomerania did not result in permanent gains.
Brandenburg-Prussia | Second Northern War
In some areas, a disproportionally high death toll is recorded for children and women, which may be due to famine and the men being drafted. As the cause of the plague was unknown to contemporaries, with speculations reaching from religious causes over "bad air" to contaminated clothes, the only means of fighting the disease was containment, to separate the ill from the healthy. Cordons sanitaire were established around infected towns like Stralsund and Königsberg; one was also established around the whole Duchy of Prussia and another one between Scania and the Danish isles along the Sound, with Saltholm as the central quarantine station.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Introduction
After thirty more years, the war's wounds began to heal. The population had once again grown. Nevertheless, there came more wars, more horrors, more bloodshed. In the last century of Waldgravial governance, too, the 18th century, the Kyrburg "Ämter", and thereby Löllbach too, had to bear great distress. Once more, wars – the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) and the War of the Polish Succession (1733-1738) – brought hardship. Each time, the French overran the land, exacted contributions, swept through the country and ate the locals out of house and home. In June and July 1734 came a most significant event for the county when the French managed to destroy the Kyrburg.
Löllbach | Wars in early modern times
Although the Seven Years' War was a global conflict, it took a specific intensity in the European theater based on the recently concluded War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle concluded the earlier war in which Prussia and Austria were a part; its influence among the European powers was little better than a truce. Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, acquired the prosperous province of Silesia, but had wanted much of the Saxon territories as well. Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the treaty to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances; she was intent upon regaining ascendancy in the Holy Roman Empire.
Battle of Rossbach | Seven Years' War
The everyday people suffered unspeakably under the lords’ countless feuds. Then there were the hardships brought on by the great wars. Particularly dreadful was the devastation brought about by the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). Waldgravial territory was invaded and villages set afire by General Marquis Ambrogio Spinola's (1569–1630) Imperial-Spanish troops, then by the Swedes, then by the Imperial Croats, and next by the French armies and last of all once again by the Spaniards. The people were left destitute by these armies’ neverending demands for contributions. More dreadful yet was the toll in lives, with the ordeal leaving many dead.
Löllbach | Wars in early modern times
The War of the Seventh Coalition, also called the Hundred Days, occurred in the summer of 1815. Following the short-lived return of Napoleon, his reign was finally ended following his defeat against Great Britain and their Prussian allies in the Waterloo Campaign.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | War of the Seventh Coalition (1815)
From 1705 to 1706, occurrences of plague in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were also recorded in Kołomyję (Kolomyja, Kolomea), Stanisławów (Stanislaviv, Stanislau), Stryj (Stryi), Sambor (Sambir), Przemyśl, and Jarosław.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | 1702–1706: Southern Poland
A dispute between Poland and the Teutonic Order over control of Gdańsk Pomerania had lasted since the 1308 Teutonic takeover of Danzig (Gdańsk), when the territory was contested and annexed by the Teutonic Order. This event resulted in a series of Polish–Teutonic Wars throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 15th century, the towns of Prussia rapidly grew economically. However, this was not followed by an increase in their political influence. The rule of the Teutonic Knights was seen as more and more anachronistic — taxes (customs) and the system of grain licenses (every trader had to pay large fees for the privilege of trading grain) were hindering economic development in the province.
Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) | Reasons for war
Austria's resolve to repossess the rich province of Silesia, which had been lost to Prussia in 1748, was the major conflict leading to the Seven Years' War. Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, acquired the support of Russia, Sweden, Saxony, Spain, and France, with the specific aim of waging war against Prussia and its ally, Great Britain. It was King Frederick the Great of Prussia, however, who initiated the hostilities with his attack and capture of Saxony in 1756. The Seven Years' War started in 1756, with Prussia facing the allied forces of Austria, Russia, France, and Sweden.
Treaty of Hubertusburg | History
His debts to fortune (Russia's about-face after Elizabeth's death) and to British financial support were soon forgotten, while the memories of his energetic leadership and tactical genius were strenuously promoted. His small kingdom had defeated the Habsburg Monarchy and defended its prize against Austria, Britain, Saxony, Russia, Sweden, and France, an accomplishment that appeared miraculous to contemporary observers. Though sometimes depicted as a key moment in Prussia's rise to greatness, the wars nonetheless left the kingdom's economy and population devastated, and much of the remainder of Frederick's reign was spent repairing the damage. To mitigate population losses, the King continued his father's policy of encouraging Protestant refugees from Catholic realms to resettle in Prussia.
Silesian Wars | Prussia
In the succeeding War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–1779) the Prussians fought poorly, despite again being personally led by Frederick, and the Prussian army did not fare well against revolutionary France in 1792–1795. In 1806 the Prussians were shattered by Napoleon's French at the Battle of Jena; only after a series of reforms motivated by the disasters of 1806–1807 did Prussian military power again begin to grow.
Silesian Wars | Prussia
The plague remained in Scania until 1713, probably 1714. In Blekinge, the plague arrived in August 1710 by means of army movements from and to Karlskrona, the central Swedish naval base. By the beginning of 1712, about 15,000 soldiers and civilians had died not only in Karlskrona, but also in Karlshamn and other localities in Blekinge.
Great Northern War plague outbreak | Scania and Blekinge
King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (reigned 1751–1771) would have given even less trouble than his predecessor but for the ambitious promptings of his masterful consort Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, Frederick the Great's sister, and the tyranny of the estates, who seemed bent upon driving the meekest of princes into rebellion. An attempted monarchical revolution, planned by the queen and a few devoted young nobles in 1756, was easily and remorselessly crushed; and, though the unhappy king did not, as he anticipated, share the fate of Charles Stuart, he was humiliated as no monarch was humiliated before. The same years which beheld this great domestic triumph of the Hats saw also the utter collapse of their foreign "system".
Age of Liberty | Pomeranian War
The title of "Kurfürst" (Prince-elector) of Brandenburg became meaningless, and was dropped. Nonetheless, Frederick William III was now "de jure" as well as "de facto" sovereign of all of the Hohenzollern domains. Before this time, the Hohenzollern sovereign had held many titles and crowns, from Supreme Governor of the Protestant Churches ("summus episcopus") to King, Elector, Grand Duke, Duke for the various regions and realms under his rule. After 1806 he was simply King of Prussia and "summus episcopus". But when Prussia, after it turned against the French Empire, was defeated in the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt (October 14, 1806), Frederick William III was forced to temporarily flee to remote Memel.
Kingdom of Prussia | 1801–1815: Napoleonic Wars
By 1763, the war in central Europe was essentially a stalemate between Prussia and Austria. Prussia had retaken nearly all of Silesia from the Austrians after Frederick's narrow victory over Daun at the Battle of Burkersdorf. After his brother Henry's 1762 victory at the Battle of Freiberg, Frederick held most of Saxony but not its capital, Dresden. His financial situation was not dire, but his kingdom was devastated and his army severely weakened. His manpower had dramatically decreased, and he had lost so many effective officers and generals that an offensive against Dresden seemed impossible. British subsidies had been stopped by the new prime minister, Lord Bute, and the Russian emperor had been overthrown by his wife, Catherine, who ended Russia's alliance with Prussia and withdrew from the war.
Seven Years' War | 1763
The first land operations from February to August 1454 were carried out by Prussian state conscripts, supported by Czech mercenaries from Moravia and soldiers from Lesser Poland. This force, commanded by Scibor von Baysen (), brother of Johannes von Baysen, tried to besiege the Grand Master Ludwig von Erlichshausen in the city and castle of Marienburg, but without much success due to the professional command of Heinrich Reuß von Plauen the Elder, Komtur of Elbing. In the meantime there was some organised support for the Teutonic Order from the German principalities, mainly in Saxony. The reinforcements entered Prussia in the second half of March 1454, from the direction of the Neumark.
Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) | First phase
After a small incident concerning an anti-French pamphlet occurred, King Frederick William was finally pressured by his wife and family to break off his uneasy peace and enter the war against the French emperor. Prussian troops began mobilizing, culminating in the October 1806 Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, which was a disaster for Prussia, as the ability of its armed forces to continue the war were effectively wiped out. The king and queen had accompanied their troops into battle at Jena (with Louise apparently dressed "like an Amazon"), but had to flee from French troops. Napoleon himself occupied Berlin, causing the king, queen and the rest of the royal family to flee, despite Louise's illness, in the dead of winter to Memel in the easternmost part of the kingdom.
Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | War with France
The Convention of Tauroggen became the starting-point of Prussia's regeneration. As the news of the destruction of the "Grande Armée" spread, and the appearance of countless stragglers convinced the Prussian people of the reality of the disaster, the spirit generated by years of French domination burst out. For the moment the king and his ministers were placed in a position of the greatest anxiety, for they knew the resources of France and the boundless versatility of their arch-enemy far too well to imagine that the end of their sufferings was yet in sight. To disavow the acts and desires of the army and of the secret societies for defence with which all north Germany was honeycombed would be to imperil the very existence of the monarchy, whilst an attack on the wreck of the Grand Army meant the certainty of a terrible retribution from the new armies now rapidly forming on the Rhine.
Royal Prussian Army of the Napoleonic Wars | Wars of Liberation
The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts in the late 18th and early 19th centuries between Revolutionary France and later the French Empire and coalitions of various European states. Prussia was a member of three of the six anti-French coalitions.
Wars and battles involving Prussia | Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815)
In the historiography of some countries, the war is named after combatants in its respective theatres. In the present-day United States – at the time, the southern English-speaking British colonies in North America – the conflict is known as the French and Indian War (1754–1763). In English-speaking Canada – the balance of Britain's former North American colonies – it is called the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). In French-speaking Canada, it is known as "La guerre de la Conquête" (the War of the Conquest). Swedish historiography uses the name "Pommerska kriget" (The Pomeranian War), as the Sweden–Prussia conflict between 1757 and 1762 was limited to Pomerania in northern central Germany.
Seven Years' War | Nomenclature
The Seven Years' War between Prussia and Austria lasted from 1756 to 1763 and concluded in "status quo ante bellum." Austria tried to regain the region of Silesia, lost in the War of the Austrian Succession eight years previously, but the territory remained in the hands of the Prussians.
Status quo ante bellum | Seven Years' War
The income from their imperial possessions remained in Germany and did not benefit the kingdom of Sweden; although they retained Swedish Pomerania until 1815, much of it was ceded to Prussia in 1679 and 1720.
Thirty Years' War | Political consequences
By the end of 1757, the course of the war had gone well for Prussia, and poorly for Austria. Prussia had achieved spectacular victories at Rossbach and Leuthen and reconquered parts of Silesia that had fallen to Austria. The Prussians then pressed south into Austrian Moravia. In April 1758, Prussia and Britain concluded the Anglo-Prussian Convention in which the British committed an annual subsidy of £670,000. Britain also dispatched 7,000–9,000 troops to reinforce the army of Frederick's brother-in-law, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Ferdinand evicted the French from Hanover and Westphalia and re-captured the port of Emden in March 1758; he crossed the Rhine with his own forces, causing general alarm in France.
Battle of Kunersdorf | Seven Years' War
Charles managed to escape south to the Ottoman Empire, which gave him refuge for six years. Following Poltava, Poland and Denmark re-entered the war, along with other countries wanting parts of the Swedish provinces. In the following years, most of them would fall, and Russia occupied the eastern half of Sweden (present-day Finland). Sweden lost control of the eastern Baltic and never recovered its former greatness. Instead Russia gained Finland and access to the Baltic Sea, gaining recognition as a European power.
International relations, 1648–1814 | Great Northern War: 1700–1721
The Treaty of Basel (1795) ended the War of the First Coalition against France. In it, the First French Republic and Prussia had stipulated that the latter would ensure the Holy Roman Empire's neutrality in all the latter's territories north of the demarcation line of the river Main, including the British continental dominions of the Electorate of Hanover and the Duchies of Bremen-Verden. To this end, Hanover (including Bremen-Verden) also had to provide troops for the so-called "demarcation army" maintaining this state of "armed neutrality". In the course of the War of the Second Coalition against France (1799–1802) Napoleon Bonaparte urged Prussia to occupy the continental British dominions.
Kingdom of Prussia | 1801–1815: Napoleonic Wars
Some of the territories gained after the war were likewise devastated: in Pomerania, only one third of the population survived, and Magdeburg, once among the wealthiest cities of the empire, was burned down with most of the population slain. Least hit were the Duchy of Prussia, which was only peripherally involved in the war, and Minden. Despite efforts to resettle the devastated territories, it took some of them until the mid-18th century to reach the pre-war population density.
Brandenburg-Prussia | Devastation
Bell bore its share of hardship and woe in the wars that swept across Europe through the ages. It was particularly bad in the Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the "Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg", or War of the Palatine Succession) with King Louis XIV's policy of "Réunions". Beginning in 1794, Bell lay under French rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. Late in the Second World War Bell was spared destruction when the Americans marched in on 13 March 1945 thanks to several local inhabitants and their clergyman, who courageously seized the initiative and hoisted a white flag on the churchtower.
Bell, Rhein-Hunsrück | Modern times
To the surprise of many, Austria managed to renew the war successfully. In 1744 Frederick invaded again to forestall reprisals and to claim, this time, the province of Bohemia. He failed, but French pressure on Austria's ally Great Britain led to a series of treaties and compromises, culminating in the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle that restored peace and left Prussia in possession of most of Silesia. Humiliated by the cession of Silesia, Austria worked to secure an alliance with France and Russia (the "Diplomatic Revolution"), while Prussia drifted into Great Britain's camp forming the Anglo-Prussian Alliance. When Frederick preemptively invaded Saxony and Bohemia over the course of a few months in 1756–1757, he began a Third Silesian War and initiated the Seven Years' War.
Kingdom of Prussia | 1740–1762: Silesian Wars
In that same war, the Imperial forces along with Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and Ottavio Piccolomini moved into winter quarters in the Princely Bishopric of Paderborn, bringing about hunger, illness, pestilence and death to the whole area. Before the war ended, the "Warburger Land" was once again sacked by Hesse-Kassel troops, and occupied, in 1641-1647. There was also fighting in the area during the Seven Years' War. Furthermore, from 1 December 1758 until Easter 1759, four squadrons of Hessian dragoons were billeted in Eissen and neighbouring places. From autumn 1760 to early summer 1761, 42 people (12% of the population) died from the war's effects.
Willebadessen | Eissen
Prussia had survived the combined force of its neighbours, each larger than itself, and gained enormously in influence at the cost of the Holy Roman Empire. It became recognised as a great European power, starting a rivalry with Austria for the leadership of the German-speaking lands. During the Seven Years' War, Prussia fought on the side of Britain against Russia, Sweden, Austria, France, and Saxony. Frederick II of Prussia first invaded Saxony and defeated a Saxon army at Lobositz. Frederick would then invade Bohemia, the Prussians besieged Prague, but they were defeated at Kolin. Since Prussia looked vulnerable, the Austrians and French invaded Prussian lands.
Military history of Germany | Frederick the Great
Saxony, occupied by Prussia for most of the conflict, was bled dry to support the war effort. While Prussia lost no territory, her population and army were severely depleted by constant combat and invasions by Austria, Russia and Sweden. Many of Frederick's closest friends (as well as his sister Wilhelmine, his brother Augustus William and his mother) and the best of his officer corps were lost in the war. By 1772, with his economy largely recovered, Frederick had managed to bring his army up to 190,000 men (making it the third-largest army in Europe), but almost none of the officers were veterans of his generation, and the King's attitude towards them was extremely harsh.
Frederick the Great | Seven Years' War