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The Kingdom of Prussia [a] (German: Königreich Preußen, pronounced [ˈkøːnɪkʁaɪç ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] ⓘ) constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. [5] It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1866 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. [5]
After the Franco-Prussian War, Germany was unified under Prussia to become the German Empire in 1871, and the rivalry is often seen as subsiding after the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Germany, led by Prussia, had become the superior power to Austria-Hungary. [10]
Prussia (/ ˈ p r ʌ ʃ ə /, German: Preußen [ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] ⓘ; Old Prussian: Prūsija, Prūsa [b]) was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order.
Without him the temporal power would never have been reconstituted, nor, being reconstituted, would have endured. [46] Another reason that Beust's supposedly desired revanche against Prussia did not materialize is seen in the fact that, in 1870, the Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Andrássy was "vigorously opposed". [47]
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. 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.
However, in the aftermath of the Seven Years' War, various nations all sent officers to Prussia to learn the secrets of Prussia's military power. [137] Prussia become one of the most imitated powers in Europe. [137] Russia, on the other hand, made one great invisible gain from the war: the elimination of French influence in Poland.
Prussia was the twelfth largest country in Europe in terms of population, but its army was the fourth largest, after France, Russia and Austria. [49] Prussia had one soldier for every 28 citizens, whereas Britain only had one for every 310, and the military absorbed 86% of Prussia's state budget. [50]
Boundaries of the German Confederation. Prussia is blue, Austria-Hungary yellow, and the rest grey. Problematically, the built-in Austrian dominance failed to take into account Prussia's 18th-century emergence in Imperial politics. This impractical solution did not reflect the new status of Prussia in the overall scheme.