Brandenburg and Prussia

Bismarck & military tradition

>>416732

Brandenburg already was a Electorate.
So fairly relevant.

The Saxons, who had lead the Protestant movement into the empire, ruined their position as leaders of the Protestantism when decided to converto to Catholicism when trying to get the Polish Crown, paving the road for the new Protestant champion.

>>416732
two words
lucky opportunists

>>416732
Because Germans are perfect people

File: bismarck.png (408KB, 1024x574px) Image search: [Google]

408KB, 1024x574px

>>416732
Because of this stunning breakthrough in Germanic philosophy.

>>416732
Silesia

>>416732
First of all they created an enormous emphasis on their military during the first half of the 18th century. Then they attacked and conquered a lot of polish territories. After 1814, those polish territories were seceded to russia in return for compensation in the west (Saxony and other crumbles), then they could easily become the dominant force in Northern Germany, and after the Austro-Prussian War they were the dominant force in ALL of Germany

>>416890
This
>sweden reks poland
>side with sweden
>poland got gud and reks sweden
>switch sides
Repeat until world power

>>416732

Prince of Brandenburg was made King in Prussia by helping the Poles against the Swedes. Prussian wealth made Brandenburg great.

What we call Kingdom of Prussia was actually Greater Brandenburg

File: 95865334_134681951758.png (408KB, 1513x1166px) Image search: [Google]

408KB, 1513x1166px

>>416732
swamp Germans confirmed for master race.

Prussia's rise to power is basically "Great Men history". They didn't have many natural advantages and were surrounded by more powerful neighbors.

The Great Elector was a great man, his son was OK, Frederick William I was a great man, Frederick the Great was Frederick the Great.
Frederick William II was pretty bad, but after that, Prussia recovered.

There was also that Protestant guy that created those amazing schools.

And then, they had that Bismarck, Roon and Moltke generation.

30 years war and a bunch of good leaders

File: Frans_Luycx_011.jpg (19KB, 381x500px) Image search: [Google]

19KB, 381x500px

>>416732
This mother fucker: Frederick William the Great Elector.

He laid the groundwork that Brandenburg-Prussia would use to become as great as it was, created the standing army that would be refined and lead Prussia to greatness, engaged in shrewd diplomacy during and after the Thirty Years War alogn with the Edict of Potsdam which allowed skilled French (and later other European) Protestants to come to Brandenburg-Prussia and enjoy protection from persecution and build up a good labor force. He was also a great military commander and in addition to all that had great advisors like von Blumenthal and even his wife who was the one who negotiated Brandenburg getting Prussia.

After that it's a series of either highly competent or overall good leaders with the real exceptions being Frederick the Great (for obvious reasons) and Frederick William II who allowed the army to stagnate although Prussian CULTURE flourished during his reign so it's a bit of a tradeoff. Then coming out of the Napoleonic Wars you have more generally good (or at least not bad) rulers until Bismarck comes along and does Bismarckian things.

But really it all comes down to Frederick William laying the groundwork that would be expanded on by his successors. Truly one of the most underappreciated rulers in history.

>>416732
They idolized their Tuetonic forebearers. The Prussian state was literally created as a result of militarism. They took advantage of the opertunity when everyone else around them was weak and made. The Commonwealth was no more, neither was the Swedish Empire. The two things that had kept Prussian contained were gone.

File: Germany.jpg (153KB, 1188x524px) Image search: [Google]

153KB, 1188x524px

>Germany

>be small Brandenburg
>fight from time to time against TO and Poland
>TO secularises and changes into Prussia
>under Hohenzollern rule
>kick Austrian ass in 30yrs war
>Prussian branch dies
>so you get their land
>rek Austria once again
>rek Poland
>rek Poland
>rek Poland for last time
>rek Denmark
>rek Austria
>rek France
>create Germany

>>416732
Read Iron Kingdom?

>>419207

damn get a load of that chin

you just knew that guy was going to be a force to be reckoned with

>>419421
>create Germany
>reck poland again in WW2 for old times sake

File: 74e80ced6922d48a833dafaf9b231b10.gif (1000KB, 368x208px) Image search: [Google]

1000KB, 368x208px

>>419207
>lead Prussia to greatness
erm... sorry to inform you, but prussia was never great. the best they were was just "regular"

>>419434
that book is amazing

File: 1440606527338.png (3MB, 768x1324px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 768x1324px

>>419207
>highly competent or overall good leaders with the real exceptions being Frederick the Great
Wasn't he an enlightened monarch? Why wasn't he good?

>>420417
Yes, hence why he was an exception. Prussia generally had good rulers bu Frederick the Great is Frederick the Great and completely incomparable, thus an exception. A good exception.

>>420430
I see. I did misunderstand, but you certainly could have worded it better.

>>416732
You've almost answered you're own question
Because of it's very nature, and the fact that it was surrounded by much larger states it had to be very militaristic and vigilant.
In a way it did get a bit lucky as the HRE began to fracture. Being at the centre of the idea of (gross/kleine) Deutschland also massively helped.

>>416823
>The Saxons, who had lead the Protestant movement into the empire, ruined their position as leaders of the Protestantism when decided to converto to Catholicism when trying to get the Polish Crown, paving the road for the new Protestant champion.

Can't believe no one else pointed the role of protestantism out. Do you even Max Weber?

They also had the first modern bureaucracy and military organization (partly as a result of their specific values which were influenced by Calvinists).

>>417146
>Great Men history"
You do realize that this sort of history is shit and was traditionalized by Prussian historians who glorified their nation don't you?

Because it was just Russia with a P

>>420510
OR is it Russia who is Prussia without the P?

>>420526

The first.

>>416732
1815 Treaty of Vienna sought to restore harmony in Europe through checks. However it positioned Prussia in a way to gain influence over all other German states with the advent of the railroad.

>>416732
Wasn't Prussia actually the Teutonic Order after the Great Master decided to convert to protestantism and become a normal ruler?

>>420588

Thats how it was born.

File: Russia-bold.svg.png (3KB, 205x50px) Image search: [Google]

3KB, 205x50px

>>420526
But Russia has a P.

Napoleon and luck, really.
After Napoleon was beaten, Prussia was given a lot of lands so that if the french wanted to invade Europe once again, Prussia could stop them.
Luck, because Prussia was a mistake. It should have been defeated in the 7 years war, but the death Elizabeth prevented it.

>>420484
The Saxons were disgusting, perfidious turncoat cowards. The Thirty Years War just shows how garbage they were.

>>420484
>Can't believe no one else
It's literally the second post in the thread you autist.

>>420484
There is no other way to explain Prussia's rise other than Great Men and luck.

Daily reminder that Prussia was and should rightfully be Baltic.

>>421440
Daily reminder Poland, Lithuania, and Russia own rightful German clay.

File: 1443743062549.jpg (70KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

70KB, 500x500px

>>421615
>>421440
You mean Syrian and Turk clay?