Brandenburg-Prussia

A state formed in 1660 from the freshly independent Ducal Prussia and pat of the Holy Roman Empire - the Electorate of Brandenburg. With the exception of Prussia, all of Brandenburg's lands were a part of the Holy Roman Empire, by this time under the all but hereditary nominal rule of the House of Habsburg. Since there was only one King of the Germans within the Empire, Frederick gained the assent of the Emperor Leopold I (in return for alliance against France) to his adoption (January 1701) of the title of "King in Prussia", based on his non-Imperial territories, and the title came into general acceptance with the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). Though Brandenburg was far richer and more important than Prussia proper, it was gradually subsumed into the Kingdom of Prussia. The change was understood by all to be a shell game with titles, and the new nation was commonly called Brandenburg-Prussia.

Sweden's defeat by Russia, Saxony-Poland, Denmark-Norway, Hannover and Prussia in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) marked the end of Swedish power on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. In the Prusso-Swedish peace treaty of Stockholm (January 1720), Brandenburg-Prussia regained Stettin and Sweden's holdings in Pomerania, most of which had been a part of Hohenzollern Brandenburg since 1472 (Outer Pomerania was annexed to Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia).

During this time the trends set in motion by the Great Elector reached their culmination, as the Junkers[?] -- the landed aristocracy -- were welded to the army which had gained so much influence in the previous fifty years. Also see :

Brandenburg

List of Kings of Prussia

Royal Prussia

Ducal Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

Warmia

Masuria

Kaliningrad

Hohenzollern

History of Germany

Franco-Prussian War

West Prussia

East Prussia