PRUSSIA 



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PRUSSIA 



Prussia's coast extends over 1,100 miles on 

 the North and Baltic seas, the smaller states of 

 Oldenburg and Mecklenburg and the free cities 

 of Bremen, Hamburg and Liibeck being the 

 only other divisions of Germany bordering the 

 sea. Consequently, it occupies the most con- 

 spicuous position in Germany's commerce and 

 fisheries. 



The eastern plain bordering the Baltic is a 

 region of extremes of temperature, and it has 

 few resources and a scanty population. Its main 

 crop is potatoes, which constitute one of the 

 chief foods of the peasants and are used also in 

 the manufacture of alcohol for fuel, motive 

 power and light. The low, sandy coast is bor- 

 dered by numerous hafis or shallow lagoons, 

 and is separated from the inland by a belt of 

 forested and lake-studded hills. At the mouths 

 of the Oder and the Vistula, the two great riv- 

 ers of this eastern section, are situated Stettin 

 and Danzig, the chief ports on the Baltic. 



The central section of the plain is a region 

 of lakes and waterways and is the site of Ber- 

 lin and others among Germany's great indus- 

 trial cities. The valley of the Oder is the most 

 fertile region of Prussia and produces great 

 quantities of cereals, especially rye; three- 



. fourths of Germany's total product comes from 

 the fields of Prussia. 



The prosperous farmer of the great rye fields 

 of Prussia builds his house of brick or stone. 

 It is a wide, rambling structure a hundred feet 

 in length, having a steep roof of tile or thatch 

 beneath which are stored forty or fifty tons of 

 rye or hay. The floors are paved with cement 

 or round stones, and the ceiling is beamed with 

 heavy, smoke-darkened rafters, from which hang 

 hams and sides of bacon which are cured by the 

 smoke from the hearth. 



The Rhine provinces, where the birds sing 

 in the blossoming fruit trees when the snow 

 still whitens the fields of Eastern Prussia, is the 

 vineyard of Germany. Along the banks of the 

 Lower Rhine there are important manufactur- 

 ing cities, such as Essen, the home of the great 

 Krupp Works, Dortmund and Elberfeld. In 

 the highlands to the south are the greatest coal 

 mines of Germany, and other metals, including 

 iron, silver, copper, nickel and lead, are mined 

 there, Prussia leading all the German states in 

 the production of minerals. 



The geography, separate industries, transpor- 

 tation and commerce are further described in 

 the article on GERMANY. 



Government and History 



Prussia was the all-powerful state in the Ger- 

 man Empire, because it was the largest, the 

 richest, the most aggressive. Also it was domi- 

 nant because the king of Prussia was the heredi- 

 tary emperor of the country as it existed until 

 November, 1919. The new government of 

 Prussia, under the republic established after the 

 overthrow of the monarchy, had not announced 

 a definite program as late as September, 1919. 

 There were indications that the old legislative 

 order would be but little disturbed, except that 

 all evidences of royalty would disappear. 



The old law-making body was the landtag, 

 composed of two chambers of equal power. The 

 upper house comprised members of the nobility, 

 peers, university professors, Protestant church 

 representatives and representatives of cities. 

 The members of the lower house were citizen 

 taxpayers who were elected by popular vote. 



A distinctive feature of Prussian provincial 

 government was the separation of local affairs 

 into two classes; the general activities, such as 

 schools, police, and worship, were administered 

 by government officials, and purely local activi- 

 ties, such as highways and local institutions, 

 by local officials. 



The Foundations of the Kingdom. The his- 

 tory of Prussia is a story of the great House of 

 Hohenzollern, which has ruled it from its earli- 

 est beginnings. In the fifteenth century, Fred- 

 erick of Hohenzollern, an ancestor of William II, 

 was made the Elector of Brandenburg, a vassal 

 state of the Holy Roman Empire. The duchy 

 of East Prussia, which had been a subject state 

 of Poland, was added to the possessions of the 

 Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg in 1618, and 

 other territories were acquired by the Great 

 Elector Frederick William (1640-1688); under 

 him the scattered possessions were united, and 

 Brandenburg became the leader of the Protes- 

 tant states of North Germany. He was the first 

 of the three great rulers who laid the founda- 

 tion of the great military power of modern 

 Prussia. 



The Establishment of the Kingdom of Prus- 

 sia and Its Rise in Power. In 1701 the Holy 

 Roman Emperor Leopold I, anxious to secure 

 the aid of his vassal princes in the War of the 

 Spanish Succession, established a kingdom in 

 Brandenburg and Prussia, and Frederick III, 

 the son of the Great Elector, was crowned 

 Frederick I, "king of Prussia." The second 



