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The distinctive military history of Prussia was developed early on it its history from the origins of the Teutonic knights and brought to a level of perfection throughout the reigns of Frederick William the Great Elector, Frederick William I and Frederick II. These gifted strategists due to their individual history and the accomplishments of the previous generation achieved military innovations. The Teutonic knights were the German order of knights who were sent by Pope Gregory IX in 1225 to convert the Prussians after the failure of their attempt to conquer the Holy land. At that point in time Prussians were a people related to Lithuanians and Latvians, who were among the last remaining pagans in Europe. The Poles were pleased by the presence of the Teutonic knights, especially the Duke of Mazovia, to whom the Prussians were not only heathens, but also a constant militaristic nuisance. In a long war the Teutonic knights finally conquered Prussia by 1285, killing some, converting some and creating a feudal state. Two centuries later the order of knight succumbed to the growing power of Poland and Lithuania. Under the terms of the second Peace of Torun in 1466, the order cedes their territories west of the Vistula River to the Poles. In 1511 the knights elected Margrave Albert of Brandenburg from the Franconian line of the house of Hohenzollern as their grand master. In the time of the reformation, he introduced Lutheranism into his territory and dissolved the Teutonic Order. He headed Luther’s advice to marry and secularize Prussia in order to save it from absorption by Poland. He married the daughter of the king of Denmark and was successful in his secularization of Prussia. His actions lead to Poland recognizing Margrave as the first duke of Prussia in 1525, thereby creating the Duchy of East Prussia. The house of Hohenzollern was now established in Prussia. Relatives in Brandenburg were quick to see their opportunity in Prussia and act on it. Elector Joachim II secured his and his son John Sigismund’s place in Ducal Prussia. In 1611 when the last male heir of the Prussian Duke’s die, it is passed to the Brandenburg elector of the House of Hohenzollern, John Sigismund. John’s grandson, Frederick William the Great Elector gained complete sovereignty over Ducal Prussia in 1660. Frederick William was a strong man with an intellectual strength and an iron will. He was educated at the electorate until the age of fourteen and then sent to live with his relatives in Holland, which was a center for European diplomacy at the time. Frederick William managed to keep his territories out of the thirty years war and away from Polish hands. He chose to marry Louisa Henrietta, the eldest daughter of Frederick Henry of Orange. This marriage solidified the relationship between his electorate and the powerful Protestant state. (Feuchtwanger, 82) Frederick William managed to secure the whole of Pomerania and the eastern half of Cammin from the Treaties of Westphalia in 1648. Frederick used the successful army he created as an advantage towards creating an independent Prussian Duchy. Frederick created the standing army and the four to five thousand men he enlisted in 1641 grew to a permanent standing army of twenty-five the thirty thousand men by 1688. The magnitude of the army required special administrative systems for its finance, maintenance and efficiency. The army served as in instrument of unification, localized enlistment led to the direction of a centralized government. The army made its own reputation was sharply distinguished from public life. The militarization of the state meant that the ruler as well as his dominion was militarized, therefore interpreting life in military categories and regarding their military authority as the highest of all duties. Militaristic ideals such as duty, obedience, system, control, management and the presence of a higher authority became a part of all civil and political thought. Frederick William used his system for the gain of Prussia in foreign relations; he used his army as a powerful tool in efforts to gain independence from Poland. He became an ally to the Swedish side until they had military difficulties; he then joined the Polish side and finally accomplished his goal in 1660 from the Peace of Oliva Treaty. Frederick was a scrupulous ruler who worked for the interest of Prussia and only Prussia. “ Frederick William was the founder of Prussian absolutism, the originator of the machinery that it required, and the obstinate champion of the social structure that the system demanded.” (Jarmarriot, 91) Frederick William left it up to his son to create an even stronger Prussia when he died in 1668. His son Frederick came to power and continued the vision his father had began into the baroque era. Frederick has a palace built for the Duchy of Prussia in Berlin. Frederick adhered to the system of the House of Austria and was an active member of the League of Augsburg. Prussian troops took part in the campaigns on the Rhine and the operations that led to the fall of Namur in 1695. The Peace of Ryswick did not bring the elector what he wanted; he wanted the guarantee of a royal crown from his allies. He desired to raise is status from Elector to King as Hanover elector Georg had done to become King of Great Britain. Frederick worked out a deal with Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I to become King of Prussia while within Prussia in exchange for Hohenzollern support in the War of the Spanish Succession. Frederick took the crown, deciding that to use it outside of the Prussian borders. He crowned himself Frederick I in 1701. The crown imposed a stronger bond of unity under the sovereignty of the monarch, swallowing up the electorate of Brandenburg in the process. Prussia was a member of the Grand Alliance, formed against Louis XIV, and took part in important battles including the battle of Oudenarde and Malplaquet at which the crown prince Frederick William was present. Frederick William I came to power in 1713 and would go down in history as the soldier King. He inherited a standing army of some forty thousand people and would increase it to ninety thousand by the end of his reign. Prussia ranked twelfth in population of European states, but ranked fourth in the number of its army. Out of a revenue of seven million thalers, five million thalers were spent on the army. Once again, the magnitude of the army required the working of whole financial and civil administration of the state, apart from the special military machinery, to provide the necessary resources. The economy was immediately stimulated by the needs of the ever-growing economy, and Prussia operated as a machine. A machine serving the function of furnishing soldiers, officers, and their equipment. King Frederick William I personally supervised the organization, finance, administration, and training of troops from the broadest to the pettiest details. With the aid of a French man, Leopold of Dessau, he perfected a drill book as well as technical improvements. Creating and enforcing brutal and degrading punishments accomplished perfection in maneuvers and drills. Up until 1733 rank and file were obtained by partly voluntary and partly compulsory service. In 1773 a rigorous system of conscription was created requiring districts to fulfill a quota based on population. This system was completed in 1814 when service became obligatory. Under Frederick William certain classes remained exempt from service. The army was mostly drawn from the peasant class and officered by members of the noble class. The class divisions of the army maintained the feudal agrarian economic structure. However everyone was a citizen of the state, including the King: “ I am first a servant of the state.” However, everyone was under the King. Frederick William’s contribution to Prussian History was making the machine work at maximum efficiency. Equipped with a military embodying a well-oiled machine, Frederick II, or Frederick the Great came to power in 1740 with the goal of increasing Prussia’s power in Europe. Frederick was very different from his Hohenzollern ancestors in his love for the refined and interest in higher education. Frederick William thought that his son lacked the leadership qualities necessary, but Frederick II exhibited excellent leadership skills upon his accession to the throne in 1740. Frederick invaded Silesia without warning during the Austrian Succession while offering his aid to Maria Theresa if she ceded a portion of Silesia to him at the same time. He was brilliant in his military campaigns and maintained the attitude is predecessors had of acting only for the good of Prussia; this trait made him a rather unreliable ally. Silesia was in dispute during the Seven Years War while Maria Theresa attempted to recover her lost territory. Austrian and Russian forces occupied Berlin in 1760, however the accession of his admirer Peter III of Russia took Russia out of the war and cleared the path to Frederick’s victory. The peace of Hubertus burg allowed Frederick to retain his previous conquests and made Prussia the foremost military power in Prussia. The military tactics he employed were studied and admired by Napoleon and have wielded a great influence on the art of warfare. During the first half of the nineteenth century Prussia contended with Austria for influence in the German Confederation with Prussia emerging victorious in the 1860s. Otto von Bismarck became chief minister in 1862, provoking and winning wars with Denmark, Austria, France and completing the unification of Germany under Prussian leadership on January 18,1871. The bond formed between Prussia and Germany lead to the building of the German army based on the Prussian militaristic traditions. Prussia continued to rule over Germany through King William I who was proclaimed German Kaiser during his reign in which Prussia comprised two-thirds of the population and land area and dominated German policy until the end of World War I. The last Prussian monarch, German Emperor William II was forced to abdicate in 1918 after the German defeat in WWI. Prussia was incorporated into the Weimar Republic, retaining its size but losing its powerful influence in political affairs. What remained of the Prussian autonomy disappeared when Hitler eliminated the governments of the German states. Despite the fact that the country of Prussia became nonexistent after WWII, it’s militaristic legacy lives on in the German army. The forced conscriptions of the House of Hohenzollern is evident in the two years of military service required of young German males. The first soldier was the Hohenzollern ruler; the army was a creation of the dynasty and a symbol of its’ strength. The dynasty may not have survived but the military innovations and concepts it achieved live on in modern armies as the legacy of the Prussian kingdom. Bibliography: Bibliography Carlyle, Thomas. “ The History of Frederick II.” Chicago, Illinois, University of Chicago Press, 1969. Feuchtwanger, E.J. “ Prussia: Myth and Mystery.” Chicago, Illinois, Henry Regnery Company, 1970. Gooch, G.P. Frederick the Great; The Ruler, the Writer, the man. New York, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1947. Marriot, Sir J.A.R. and Sir Charles Roberston. “ The Evolution of Prussia.” Oxford University Press, Amen House, London, 1965. Simon, Edith. “ The Making of Frederick the Great.” Boston, Mass, Little Brown and Company, 1963. Word Count: 1822
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