PRUSSIA 



6374 



PRUSSIAN GUARD 



German Confederation of 1866, 

 with Bavaria, Baden, and Wiiit- 

 tcmberg added. The imperial <-n > i\ 

 was made hereditary in the 1 1 oust- 

 of Hohenzollern, and the control of 

 the empire by Prussia in the army, 

 legislature, finance, and adminis- 

 tration was continued. The "new 

 empire " was simply " an ex- 

 tended Prussia," and the function 

 of Prussia to Prussianise Germany 

 with her efficiency, her institu- 

 tions, and her principles of policy 

 became a settled ambition. 



Prussian history after 1871 is the 

 record of a double movement, the 

 two parts of which are closely inter- 

 related the steady infiltration of 

 Germany with Prussian organiza- 

 tion, institutions, and political 

 spirit ; the determination of the 

 Prussian sovereign and the ruling 

 noble caste to preserve intact the 

 essential characteristics of the 

 historic Prussia government by a 

 personal monarch, the director as 

 well as the head of the Pnissian 

 state, the political monopoly of a 

 governing class, united by interest 

 with the crown, the supremacy in 

 the last resort of the army and its 

 military chief", and the refusal of 

 all reforms for liberalising the 

 constitution or leading to a con- 

 stitutional monarchy and parlia- 

 mentary government. 



Political Principles 



After 1866 Prussia made no 

 annexations. Her boundaries were 

 those determined by the settle- 

 ment after the war with Austria. 

 But the forcible Prussianisation of 

 Alsace-Lorraine and Schleswig, the 

 prolonged and bitter struggle with 

 the Prussian Poles in the province 

 of Posen and Upper Silesia, the 

 conflict with the Roman Catholic 

 centre (the Kulturkampf), 1872- 

 1887, and the struggle with the 

 socialist democrats, together with 

 the rejection of all proposals to 

 amend in a liberal sense the 

 Prussian constitution, which re- 

 mained the most conservative of all 

 the German states, were proofs of 

 the solidarity and strength of the 

 framework created by the Hohen- 

 zollern dynasty. The greatest 

 instrument of all the Prussian 

 army was never " imperialised." 

 It remained purely Prussian, and 

 through its great general staff was 

 the potent organ by which the 

 armies of the federated German 

 states were remodelled on the 

 Prussian type. 



No less potent was the Prussian- 

 isation of education and of the 

 universities. The university of 

 Berlin in the sphere of intellect 

 became what the Prussian staff 

 was in the sphere of military 

 organization. The emperor Wil- 



liam II (1888-1918) was as 

 Prussian as any of his prede- 

 cessors. His dismissal of Bis- 

 marck (1890) was a proof of his 

 determination to govern as well as 

 to reign, and of the power of the 

 Prussian monarchy. " The world- 

 policy," with its corollary the 

 creation of a great navy and 

 colonial possessions, was a product 

 of the Gennan empire, but its 

 realization rested on Prussian 

 power, methods, and principles 

 of action. Hence the ambitions 

 of the new Germany after 1890 

 became a great menace because 

 they were typical of the state which 

 had been made between 1640 and 

 1871, the characteristics of which 

 were a unique and original combi- 

 nation of dynastic autocracy with 

 oligarchic bureaucracy, fused to- 

 gether by reliance on an army 

 which was a nation in arms, con- 

 trolled by a single individual in 

 the person of the sovereign. 



Historic Prussia represented the 

 realization of the principle that 

 " the state is power," coupled with 

 the organization of force in its most 

 scientific and ruthless form. Critics 

 within and without, before 1914, 

 predicted that such a state could 

 not be mended, and could only be 

 ended. A revolution alone could 

 dissolve it, and a revolution could 

 only be created by military defeat, 

 i.e. by the failure of the state to 

 justify its claims and its character 

 by success. The revolution of 

 Nov. 13, 1918, seems to endorse 

 the accuracy of the prediction. 



Bibliography. Memoirs of the 

 House of Brandenburg and History 

 of Prussia, L. von Ranke, E. trans. 

 1849 ; History of Prussia, H. Tuttle, 

 1892; Frederick the Great and the 

 Rise of Prussia, W. F. Reddaway, 

 1904 ; Evolution of Prussia, J. A. R. 

 Marriott and C. G. Robertson, 1915. 



Prussia, EAST. Detached prov. 

 of Prussia, Germany. With part 

 of the border province, created in 

 1919, it is situated between Po- 

 land and Lithuania, with Poland 

 also to the S. The Niemen or Memel 

 area in the N.E. between that river 

 and Lithuania has been detached 

 and is administered by the League 

 of Nations. Most of the Baltic coast 

 is occupied by the Frisches and the 

 Kurisches Haff, and is bordered 

 with sand dunes. Inland is an area 

 of moraine-dammed lakes ; in the 

 S.E.,the Masurian Lake district, 

 most of the lakes lie on the gentle 

 plateau-like ridge, which is on the 

 average less than 1,000 ft. in eleva- 

 tion. Infertile sandy soil and peat 

 bogs further limit the cultivable 

 area, which comprises less than 

 half the province. Coniferous 

 forests cover a fifth of the area. 

 Rye, flax, and potatoes are pro- 

 duced in the valleys of the chief 



rivers, the Pregel and Passarge. 

 Lumbering centres on Allenstein, 

 horse-rearing on Gumbinnen. 

 Amber is obtained in Samland. the 

 coastal dist. between the Haffs. 

 Konigsberg is the chief town. Its 

 area is 14,286 sq. in. Pop. 2,229,000. 

 See Masurian Lakes. 



Prussia, WEST. Former prov. 

 of Prussia, Germany. By the 

 treaty of Versailles, the western 

 portion was divided between 

 Poland, to make the Polish cor- 

 ridor, and the free city of Danzig. 

 Formerly it comprised 9,863 sq. 

 m. with a pop. of 1,700,000. The 

 portions of Posen and West 

 Prussia still German now com- 

 prise the border province with an 

 area of 3,026 sq. m., and a pop. of 

 327,000. The German remnant 

 E. of the Vistula, is ti Baltic 

 lakeland sloping gently to the 

 Frisches Haff. It is a level district 

 in which rye, potatoes, flax, and 

 sugar-beet are grown. 



Prussian Blue. Dark blue 

 colouring matter. It was first 

 made accidentally early in the 

 18th century by a Berlin artist 

 named Diesbach. The compound 

 was investigated by Scheele, Ber- 

 thollet, and Gay-Lussac, and is 

 made by adding potassium ferrocy- 

 anide to a solution of ferric chloride 

 or ferric sulphate, and washing and 

 drying the precipitate. If potas- 

 sium ferricyanide is employed, 

 Turnbull's or Gmelin's blue is ob- 

 tained. Another variety is William- 

 son's blue. Varying mixtures of 

 these three blues produce the 

 different shades of Prussian blue. 



Prussian 

 Guard. Corps 

 of the German 

 army as it ex- 

 isted till 1918. 

 Its nucleus 

 was one of 

 the regiments 

 of guards 

 maintained by 

 the kings of 

 Prussia. When 

 the Prussian 

 army was or- 

 ganized in the 

 19th century, 

 these were 

 formed into a 

 corps of two 

 divisions of in- 

 fantry, each of 

 four regiments 

 and twelve 

 battalions, in 

 addition to 

 cavalry and 

 artillery, and 

 a battalion of 



riflemen. It 



j Prussian Guard, 



numbered Lie utenant in full 

 about 40,000. uniform 



