Prussland, Spruysland
Prussia was a historical state that emerged in the early modern period in the region of East-Central Europe.
According to the Alliterative Morte Arthure, heathens from Prussia fought against Arthur’s forces in the Roman War.
Prussia | History
The name “Prussia” originally referred to a Baltic tribe, the Old Prussians, who inhabited the area along the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea.
In the thirteenth century, the Teutonic Knights, a German military order, undertook a series of crusades against the pagan Old Prussians. The knights established the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights, which later became known as East Prussia.
The Duchy of Prussia was created in 1525 when the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Albert of Hohenzollern, secularized the order’s territories and converted to Protestantism. The Hohenzollern family, originally rulers of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, acquired the Duchy of Prussia. This union laid the foundation for the state of Brandenburg-Prussia.
In 1701, Frederick I of Prussia, the Elector of Brandenburg, crowned himself as Frederick I, King of Prussia. This marked the establishment of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Prussia played a significant role in the rise of the German Empire under Otto von Bismarck in the nineteenth century. The defeat of Austria in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) solidified Prussia’s dominance in a united Germany. In 1871, following the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire was officially founded, and King Wilhelm I of Prussia became the German Emperor. Prussia was the leading and largest state within the empire.
Prussia retained significant political influence within the German Empire. The Prussian king continued to be the German Emperor, and the Chancellor of the German Empire was often a Prussian.
After World War I, the German monarchy was abolished, and the German Empire collapsed. Prussia became a federal state within the Weimar Republic. In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. The Nazi regime abolished the federal structure of Germany, and Prussia lost its seperate status as a state.
After World War II, the Allied powers, particularly the Soviet Union, insisted on the formal dissolution of Prussa as a political entity. The eastern territories of Prussia were annexed by the Soviet Union and Poland.
Today, the historical legacy of Prussia is remembered in the context of German history, and many historical landmarks and institutions with Prussia still exist in modern Germany. The city of Königsberg, formerly the capital of East Prussia, is now Kaliningrad and part of Russia.
Source
Alliterative Morte Arthure | c. 1400