Prussias

Prussias is not a standard term in most references, but in a historical and geographic sense it can be used to refer to the various political entities and territories associated with Prussia over time. Historians sometimes employ the plural form to discuss the different jurisdictions, regions, and stages of the Prussian state from its medieval origins to its dissolution in the mid-20th century.

Origins and early formation. The name derives from Prussia, the land inhabited by the Baltic Old Prussians. In the 13th century the region was conquered and organized by the Teutonic Order as a knightly state. In 1525 the secular Duchy of Prussia was created, a fief of Poland, later joined through dynastic unions with Brandenburg to form Brandenburg-Prussia. The rise of the Hohenzollern dynasty culminated in the crowning of Frederick I as King in Prussia in 1701, establishing the Kingdom of Prussia and beginning a centralized, bureaucratic state that played a decisive role in German affairs.

20th century and dissolution. In the German Empire (1871–1918) Prussia was the largest constituent state. After World War I, it became the Free State of Prussia within the Weimar Republic. The Nazi era curtailed Prussian autonomy, and after World War II the Allied authorities formally dissolved Prussia in 1947. Its former territories were divided among Poland, the Soviet Union (notably the Kaliningrad Oblast), and redefined German states. East and West Prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Silesia were reorganized or reassigned accordingly.

Legacy. The Prussian tradition survives mainly in historical scholarship, discussions of state administration and education systems, and in the cultural memory of the German and Central European regions that once formed the Prussian domains.