History Of Prussia: How Wars Made It A Great Power

June 1815, near the Belgian village of Waterloo, armies meet to decide the fate of Europe. On one side, Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor who only recently ruled half of the continent. 73,000 soldiers, 250 cannons, his final gamble. Against him, the Seventh Coalition, the Duke of Wellington leads the British, the Dutch, and the Hanoverians. From the north approaches the Prussian General Blücher, the one who had already stopped Napoleon at Leipzig. Together, more than 130,000 soldiers and almost 300 cannons. The night before the battle, the downpour does not stop. Wheels sink in mud. Napoleon is uneasy. The Prussian troops are already on the way. Time is almost gone. Noon. The first cannon shots. A maneuver meant to distract the enemy turns into a bloody fight for a farm. The cavalry counterattacks. Thunder of artillery rolls over the field. Marshal Ney orders another attack. The French cavalry charges forward. It is stopped by a storm of fire. The field is covered with the bodies of men and horses. Suddenly, Prussians on the horizon. Blücher's columns attack the flank and rear. Napoleon commits his last reserve, the Imperial Guard. With the cry, Vive l'Empereur, they attack and are met with a hail of bullets. The Guard retreats. The Allies advance. Prussian troops pursue the French, turning the retreat into a rout. Napoleon escapes capture by fleeing. Amid smoke and gunpowder on the field of the victorious battle, Wellington and Blücher shake hands. Waterloo. The Emperor's last battle. The end of the Napoleonic era. The Kingdom of Prussia had neither fame nor strength and was divided into two parts. One of them was the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries it had been an important part of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 15th century it was ruled by the German Hohenzollern dynasty. The other part of the Kingdom of Prussia was the historical region known simply as Prussia. Baltic tribes called the Prussians once lived here. The province itself took its name from them. Later, the State of the Teutonic Order arose in these lands, founded in the Middle Ages by the We work with a lot of historical material, and creating a solid script means digging through tons of sources. To avoid getting lost in the routine, we use chat.llm by abacus.ai. It's basically a single workspace where all the top AI models live together. ChachiPT, Claude, Gemini, Grock, and DeepSeek. All in one place. For us, the biggest win is convenience. We used to juggle multiple subscriptions. Now route.llm automatically picks the best model for our prompt, so we don't waste time switching tools. But history isn't just text. To visualize complex scenes that simply don't exist in the archives, we use their image and video gen feature. It gives us access to the best models in the world. Mid Journey, Nano Banana Pro, C-Dream, GPT Image, Sora, Kling, Luma, Flux, and others. 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He was the one who changed the fate of Prussia and reshaped the balance of power in Europe. The 28-year-old monarch inherited a small but excellently trained and disciplined army. Frederick II began the War of the Austrian Succession. He took advantage of the fact that the new ruler of Austria, Maria Theresa of the Habsburg dynasty, had just ascended the throne and did not yet have strong positions. The King invaded Silesia, a wealthy region of central Europe that had belonged to the Habsburgs since the mid-17th century. The ambitions of Frederick II were great. Already in 1742, after the First Silesian War, most of historical Silesia passed to the Kingdom of Prussia. Soon the Second Silesian War broke out, a continuation of the struggle for the Austrian Succession. In 1745, the Prussian commander, Prince Leopold I of Anhalts-de-Sau, crushed the Austrian troops of Field Marshal Frederick Augustus Rutovsky in the Battle of Kesselsdorf. After this, the parties concluded the Treaty of Dresden. Under it, Prussia finally secured for itself almost all of Silesia. In exchange, Frederick II recognized Maria Theresa as Empress of the Holy Roman Empire and her husband, Francis I Stephen, as Emperor. Peace in Central Europe lasted only ten years. Already in 1756, Frederick II occupied the Electorate of Saxony. This marked the beginning of the Seven Years' War, a large-scale military conflict involving almost all major European powers. At the beginning of the following year, the Prussian army advanced into Bohemia and laid siege to Prague. But soon Prussia found itself surrounded by enemies and was forced to fight on several fronts at once. Frederick II even suffered a devastating defeat by the combined Austrian-Russian army under the command of Ernst-Gideon von Lauden and Pyotr Saltykov in the Battle of Kunersdorf in 1759. It seemed that Prussia was on the brink of collapse. Nonetheless, something happened that was later called the Miracle of the House of Brandenburg. Because of uncoordinated actions, the Allies, Austria and Russia, were unable to take advantage of their victory. And already in 1762, the situation changed sharply. The Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, a fierce opponent of Frederick, died. Her successor, Peter III, broke the alliance with Austria and made peace with Prussia. Despite all the losses, in the end, Prussia managed to retain the previously conquered Silesia, a wealthy region that almost doubled its population and resources. The world saw a new power, the Prussian military machine with iron discipline and innovative tactics. One of them was Frederick's famous Oblique Order, when battalions attacked in echelon, at an angle, to strike one flank of the enemy with full force. It was after the Seven Years' War that Frederick II received the epithet, The Great. In 1772, Frederick the Great became one of the architects of the first partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He feared the excessive strengthening of the Russian Empire. Therefore, together with the Habsburg monarchy, he agreed to this step, seeking to preserve the balance of power in Europe and at the same time satisfy his own ambitions. The Kingdom of Prussia ultimately received a key territory that made it possible to unite the historical lands of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Soon, Frederick II intervened in the War of the Bavarian Succession, protecting the electorate of Bavaria from attempts by the Habsburgs to annex it to their possessions. At the same time, Frederick was a complex and contradictory person, a passionate flautist, a philosopher-skeptic, and at the same time, a ruthless strategist. His personal life, including rumors about his non-traditional orientation, often became the subject of gossip. But this in no way prevented him from entering history as Frederick the Great. In 1786, Frederick II Hohenzollern died. He left behind a state that had doubled in size, with one of the most combat-ready armies in the world. Yet this military machine, like the entire Prussian state system, depended far too heavily on the genius of a single ruler. Therefore, it was unprepared for the trials of a new era. Frederick the Great died childless. His nephew, Frederick William II, took his place on the throne. He possessed neither the charisma nor the strategic intuition of his legendary uncle. His reign brought Prussia new territories, but at the same time accelerated its military and political weakening. Frederick William II took part in the second and third partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After them, the Polish-Lithuanian state disappeared from the map of Europe entirely. Prussia received significant territories, but these gains exhausted its resources. In the pursuit of new lands, the state failed to notice the real danger – revolutionary France, which at that moment was changing the face of Europe and the rules of the game. Prussia joined the anti-French coalition. Yet, its indecisiveness and its desire to obtain more Polish lands led to the Peace of Basel. From that moment, Prussia effectively withdrew from European politics by leaving the war. It had fatally miscalculated, underestimating the ambitions of the young Napoleon. Unlike his predecessor, Frederick William II preferred luxury and pleasures over matters of state. Under his leadership, the country weakened on the eve of a new storm – the Napoleonic Wars. After his death in 1797, the throne passed to his son, Frederick William III. The new king inherited a state where the once formidable army and the cumbersome bureaucracy were hopelessly stuck in the past. In 1806, Emperor Francis of Habsburg, under pressure from Napoleon, proclaimed the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Prussia formally left the old decentralized political union, and Frederick William III lost the title of Elector of Brandenburg. But by then, this changed nothing. That same year, Prussia entered the War of the Fourth Coalition. In alliance with Great Britain and the Russian Empire, it opposed Napoleonic France. The decisive moment was the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, in which Napoleon's Grand Armée utterly defeated the Prussian forces under the command of General Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen. The Prussian linear tactics, once a model for all of Europe, could not withstand the blow of the mobile and fanatically motivated army of the French Emperor. This was not just a defeat, but a complete rout and rapid capitulation in front of Napoleon. Less than a month after the battle, the French entered Berlin. Thus the myth of the During the Treaties of Tilsit of 1807, concluded by Napoleon Bonaparte and the Russian Emperor Alexander I, the fate of Prussia was effectively decided without the participation of its delegation. During the negotiations, Frederick William III was a secondary figure. The Kingdom of Prussia, recently a great power, was now dependent on Napoleon. This was a time of defeat and national humiliation. Queen Louise became a symbol of Prussia's moral resistance. In a personal conversation with Napoleon, she tried to obtain leniency for her country. When the Emperor asked why Prussia had dared to attack France, the Prussian Queen replied, The glory of Frederick the Great misled us about our capabilities. She knew that Napoleon greatly admired Frederick II's military genius, but even the mention of his idol did not improve Prussia's fate. Prussia lost about half of its territory, in particular all lands west of the Elbe and the Polish provinces, which, under Napoleon's protection, became the Duchy of Warsaw. In addition, Prussia was forced to pay a huge indemnity, came under direct French control, and participated in the continental blockade of Great Britain. Part of the Prussian Kingdom was occupied by French troops. For a time, the Prussian authorities even had to move the capital to Königsberg. Soon, however, Berlin regained its status. To survive, Prussia had to change. The state needed radical modernization in order not to disappear from the map of Europe. It faced truly significant reforms. After the Peace of Tilsit, Prussian Prime Ministers were, in turn, Baron Heinrich von Stein and Count Karl August von Hardenburg. They carried out a series of civil reforms. They abolished serfdom, introduced municipal self-government, and established freedom of trade. These were not only socioeconomic changes, but also an attempt to awaken national consciousness and strengthen the foundations of Prussian statehood. At the same time, military reform began. Generals Gerhard von Scharnhorst and August Neidhardt von Neusenau understood that defeat of 1806 happened because the military system was outdated. Scharnhorst became the first Minister of War and Chief of the Prussian General Staff. Prussia introduced universal military conscription, merit-based promotion, and restricted corporal punishment. The officer corps became accessible to talented individuals regardless of their origin. Moreover, Prussia bypassed French restrictions on army size by creating an effective system for training reservists. After Napoleon's invasion of the Russian Empire in 1812 and the catastrophic retreat of the Grand Armée, Prussia received a second chance. It broke its humiliating alliance with France and proclaimed the War of Liberation. Volunteers, inspired by a wave of national revival, joined the army en masse. In the War of the Sixth Coalition, Prussia, together with Great Britain and the Austrian and Russian Empires, fought against Napoleonic France. Its climax was the famous Battle of Leipzig in 1813, the largest confrontation in Europe before the First World War. More than half a million soldiers clashed, and total losses reached nearly 150,000 people. The United Army, commanded by Austrian Field Marshal Karl Schwarzenberg, Prussian General Gephardt Liberecht von Blücher, and Russian Emperor Alexander I, delivered a devastating defeat to Napoleon Bonaparte. Blücher stood out especially in this battle. Having returned to service at 71 years old, he became a national hero in the struggle against French domination of Prussian lands. After his final defeat, Napoleon returned to France. The armies of the Sixth Coalition did not lose momentum and, early in 1814, invaded its territory. The French Emperor was forced to abdicate and was exiled to the island of Elba. Thus Prussia restored its honor and strength. Prussia was invited to the Congress of Vienna as one of the victorious sides. At this conference, chaired by Austrian Foreign Minister Clemens von Metternich, the Kingdom of Prussia was represented by diplomat Wilhelm von Humboldt and General Karl August von Hardenberg. Their main achievement was the acquisition of the Rhineland, a territory rich in coal and iron. It would later become the industrial heart of Germany and the foundation of its economic and military rise. In addition, Prussia succeeded in annexing part of the Kingdom of Saxony. But this is not yet the end of our story. Napoleon did not accept defeat and made one last desperate attempt to return to the game. This period, known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon and the War of the Seventh Coalition, was when the world witnessed the decisive Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon I Bonaparte commanded nearly 73,000 soldiers, 50,000 infantry, 15,000 cavalry, 8,000 artillerymen and engineers, as well as 250 cannons. Opposing him were the coalition forces under the command of the British military leader Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, and the Prussian general Gephardt Leberecht von Blücher, the very same who had distinguished himself at the Battle of Leipzig. The Duke of Wellington commanded the combined British, Dutch, and Hanoverian forces, about 70,000 soldiers and 150 cannons. The Prussian army under Blücher numbered nearly 50,000 troops and 130 cannons. Overall, the forces of the Seventh Coalition far surpassed Napoleon's manpower and technical resources, 90,000 infantry, 22,000 cavalry, 8,000 engineers and artillerymen, and 280 cannons. On the day of the battle, the Prussian army had not yet joined the Allies, so Napoleon decided to act swiftly and crush Wellington's forces before reinforcements could arrive. However, the night's rain had turned the future battlefield into a swamp, preventing the French from launching their attack in the morning as planned. Their first attack began around noon. It was meant to distract the enemy, yet it turned into a fierce, prolonged struggle for a fortified farm. After that, the French forces, supported by artillery, launched a massive infantry assault on the center of the Allied positions. In response, the Allies counterattacked with cavalry, successfully driving back the attackers. Nevertheless, they pushed too far forward. The French cavalry struck back, inflicting enormous losses. After that, the Allied cavalry could no longer play a significant role in the battle. After regrouping, the French cavalry attacked the Allied infantry on the right flank, because Marshal Ney mistakenly interpreted the movement of the wounded as a general retreat. Without artillery or infantry support, the French found themselves under devastating fire and were forced to withdraw with heavy losses. Following unsuccessful cavalry maneuvers on both sides, the French infantry and artillery renewed their pressure on Wellington's center. It was at this moment that Blücher's Prussian forces arrived on the battlefield. Despite exhaustion, they immediately attacked the right flank and rear of the French. Napoleon Bonaparte had to redirect his reserves there. Though his army still held certain advantages, it now found itself semi-encircled. The French continued storming the Allied center, and even came close to breaking through for a moment. But the pressure of the Prussian troops on the right flank grew. Napoleon then committed his last reserve, the Imperial Guard, elite veterans of numerous campaigns. Even so, the Allies resisted fiercely and held their ground. The Guard failed to break the defense and retreated. This became the turning point. With the Guard's retreat, the French army's morale collapsed. The Allies launched a general offensive, the French army began to withdraw, and the Prussian troops pursued the fugitives, turning the retreat into a rout. Napoleon also withdrew, narrowly avoiding capture. On the battlefield, Wellington and Blücher met to congratulate each other on the victory. The French army lost far more men and cannons than the combined Allied forces, about 27,000 soldiers and more than 200 cannons. Another 15,000 deserted after the battle. Wellington's army lost about 15,000 troops and Blücher's about 7,000. Altogether, both sides lost nearly 7,000 horses. The Battle of Waterloo became the last military engagement of Napoleon I Bonaparte's career. It was the second bloodiest single-day battle of the Napoleonic Wars after Borodino. The French emperor abdicated for the second and final time, and the coalition forces entered Paris. The defeat at Waterloo marked the end of Napoleon's Hundred Days and the effective collapse of the First French Empire. The Battle of Waterloo ended the era of the Napoleonic Wars and opened a new chapter in European history, a decade of relative peace known as the Pax Britannica, when the British Empire became the world's hegemon for nearly a century, until the First World War. Today in popular culture, the phrase to meet one's Waterloo signifies a crushing defeat. Napoleon I Bonaparte was ultimately defeated. He was exiled to the British island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. Another outcome of the Congress of Vienna was the creation of the German Confederation. This union of German states was headed by the Austrian Emperor Francis II of Habsburg, and the territories of the Confederation almost coincided with the borders of the former Holy Roman Empire. The most influential members of the union were the Kingdom of Prussia and the Confederation. Prussia and Austria continued their rivalry, which had begun back in the days of Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa. Meanwhile, the German and German-speaking populations of Central Europe, divided for centuries, dreamed of a single state. Only one question remained, which dynasty, the Hohenzollerns or the Habsburgs, would be able to create the long-desired unified German state? The confrontation between Berlin and Vienna, Prussia and Austria, the Hohenzollerns and the Habsburgs, became the foundation of the German question. Prussia would ultimately have to enter a final struggle with Austria and the Habsburgs. Ahead lay a new conflict, one that would eventually lead to the unification of Germany.