Brandenburg-Prussia

Brandenburg-Prussia was a state formed in 1618 when the Duchy of Prussia came under the control of the House of Hohenzollern, who also were the rulers of Brandenburg. In 1701 it was transformed into the Kingdom of Prussia, which in 1871 would go on to become the most influential state of the newly founded German Empire.

Anna, daughter of Duke Albert Frederick of Prussia, married Margrave John Sigismund of Brandenburg, who was granted the right of succession to the Duchy of Prussia, on his father-in-law's death in 1618. By this the Duchy of Prussia came under the rule of the Electors of Brandenburg, but the duchy continued to be a fief under the Polish Crown till 1657.

During the reign of George William (1619-1640), the Hohenzollern lands were repeatedly marched across by various armies in the Thirty Years' War, spending much of the war being occupied by Sweden. Taking advantage of the difficult position of Poland against Sweden later during the Northern Wars, George William's successor Frederick William managed to obtain a discharge of his vassal obligations to king Ladislaus IV of Poland. By the Treaty of Wehlau in 1657 the duchy was granted full sovereignty, however the rights of the Polish Crown meant that it would still legally revert back if the Hohenzollern dynastic line became extinct.

The location of the Duchy of Prussia outside the Holy Roman Empire allowed Frederick of Brandenburg to become "king in Prussia" in 1701 without offending the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. This also sewered all links to Poland, and the first Prussian king was also the last who spoke fluent Polish. In 1773 the former duchy was reorganized into the province of East Prussia, while most of the Polish province of Royal Prussia became West Prussia.

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See also