how were they so powerful?

Literally who?

>>1439483
German efficiency meme comes from them.

A fine goostep and German work ethic.

>>1439483
>gay kings who had a fetish for soldiers
>being lucky enough to receive Rhineland and Westphalia, the future industrial heartland of Western Europe.

While most states posses an army, the Prussian army posseses a state.

>>1439483
By being Sparta in the morning and Athens in the afternoon

>>1439489
you've brought shame to your family.

>>1439696
I've already committed suppository

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CATHOLICS OUT

RÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ

>>1439483
>"Prussia was not a country with an army, but an army with a country"

Someone once remarked.

>>1439483
Strong Virtues
Strong Army
Ambitious Dreams
Non-stop expedtion

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>Prussia
>powerful
russians_in_berlin.jpg
napoleon_in_berlin.jpg

If your preussen could be as gross as you want
No limits, as gross as you can imagine
How gross would your grosspreussen be?

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>>1439782

>>1439782
Well in all honesty you could pull that shit with any country in the world

>Mongols in Moscow
>Napoleon in Moscow
>Brits in Washington
>Germans in Paris vol1&2
>Russians in Paris
>Vikings in London
>Normans in London
>Goths in Rome
>Americans in Rome

>>1439483

They were not.

>>1439808
Vikings in Paris too.

>>1439483

Because they were the only german state not bound by the HRE. Along with Austria ofc, but they dominated the HRE anyway.

Not being cucks in chains helps a lot in the business of getting grosser und grosser.

>>1439808
That's my point, Prussia wasn't "so" powerful, just a regular second-tier major power.

>>1439863
when people talk great about Prussia, it is not always about their military, but the militarist culture that was highly efficient and lived on a the spirit of Germany.

There is a lot of debate on whether it still exists today or died after the second world war, but that is the jewel of German history.

>>1439863
So Russia, France and the UK are also just regular second-tier major powers?

They had a lot of blood and iron laying around

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>>1439877
Russia - yes, France and UK were the top tier major powers.
>>1439874
>the militarist culture that was highly efficient
But their war record is mixed and the results are quite limited. Considering Seven Years War was a close tie, most of Prussian military successes were against Austrians, Polish and likes, Franco-Prussian war being the only exception. And don't forget afterwards they started and lost two world wars despite their "militarist culture".
In other words, "Prussian militarism" is a meme.

>>1439788
A few villages somewhere in the asscrack of western Poland.

>>1439483
Britain's proxy state in the heart of Europe which has only risen to prominence because the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was severely weakened by a century of ongoing destabilization.

>Russia - yes, France and UK were the top tier major powers
Except Russia was a mayor power until the Russo-Japanese war.

>>1439483
Good military, good to great leadership from most of the heads of state and having competent, shrewd higher level government officials.

>>1439483
>>1439684
>>1439758

This.

Similarly, Napoleon III also remarked "Prussia was born out of a cannonball."


90% of the budget was spent on military. Of course, they also managed to win a war versus pretty much all of Europe. For the early stages of the Seven Years War, they managed to defend themselves against 6 other countries, until Great Britain joined the war.


To say they were just a military state is underwhelming. Their entire existence was based around the military.

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>>1439684
This boy gets it.

>>1439483
Because they got breech loaded rifles before the Austrians

So much army/military culture we take for granted today was invented by the Prussians.