Prusia

Prusia, known in English as Prussia, was a historic German state whose influence stretched across large parts of Central and Eastern Europe from the 16th to the 20th century. The core of Prusia lay in the Margraviate of Brandenburg and in the lands of East Prussia, with Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) and Berlin among its key centers. The name Prusia derives from the Old Prussian prūsai, the Baltic language of the region’s indigenous peoples.

In 1525 Albert of Hohenzollern, the ruler of the Teutonic Order's former lands, established the Duchy of Prussia for himself and his heirs, becoming the first Duke of Prussia. The duchy later formed a personal union with the Margraviate of Brandenburg when the Hohenzollern line inherited both realms, creating Brandenburg-Prussia in the early 17th century. In 1618 the two territories entered a dynastic union under one ruler; in 1701 the electors crowned themselves Kings in Prussia, establishing the Kingdom of Prussia with its capital at Berlin.

As the leading state of the German Empire, Prusia played a central role in German politics and military affairs; it expanded to include West and East Prussia and parts of Pomerania and Silesia. After World War I, the state continued as the Free State of Prussia within the Weimar Republic; the Nazi regime reduced its powers in 1934, and after World War II, Allied authorities dissolved Prusia in 1947, with most of its eastern territories placed under Poland or the Soviet Union. The Prussian state institution persisted in various forms in German history, and the term Prusia remains used to refer to the historic region and to a long-standing bureaucratic and military tradition.