500 Jahre Preußen – der Aufstieg Preußens

Five hundred years ago, in April 1525, the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, Albrecht of Brandenburg-Ansbach, swore fealty to the Polish King Sigismund. After more than 100 years of conflict and war between the Teutonic Order state and Poland-Lithuania, the Duchy of Prussia was established as a Polish fief – the heartland of what would later become East Prussia. For the first time, an ecclesiastical territory was secularized. And also for the first time, there was a Protestant principality. In three videos, we present the background and history of this significant anniversary, which, surprisingly, has received little attention in Germany, unlike in Poland. Part 1: The Rise and Fall of the Teutonic Order Part 2: The Order State Becomes a Duchy Part 3: The Rise of Prussia Image Credits: Cover image: Jan Matejko, Prussian Homage, 1882 (monumental painting in the National Museum in Krakow) © CC BY-SA 4.0 Chris Olszewski. Unknown, Portrait of Duke Albrecht Friedrich, 17th century © public domain. Unknown, Portrait of Anna of Prussia (1576–1625), Electress of Brandenburg, 17th century © public domain. The “Great” Elector Frederick William, after Pieter Nason, 1666 © East Prussian State Museum. Rudolf Eichstaedt, Queen Louise of Prussia Meets Napoleon Bonaparte on July 6, 1807, in Tilsit, c. 1895 © East Prussian State Museum. Christian Bernhard Rode, The Anointing of King Frederick I. In Prussia on January 18, 1701, in the castle church at Königsberg, around 1760 © East Prussian State Museum. Anton von Werner, Proclamation of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles on January 18, 1871, 1885 © public domain. Wilhelm II with his sons on the Palace Bridge in front of Berlin Palace on January 1, 1913 © public domain. Reich President von Hindenburg and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler on the Day of Potsdam (March 21, 1933) © German Federal Archives, Image 183-S38324 / CC-BY-SA 3.0. Music by RikardFrizz – History of a Castle from Pixabay