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Abolition of Prussia

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The Pickelhaube, the symbol of Prusso-German militarism

The abolition of Prussia occurred on 25 February 1947 by decree of the Allied Control Council, the governing authority of post-World War II occupied Germany and Austria. The decision was grounded in the view that Prussia had long embodied the most reactionary and militaristic elements within German political life. As the engine of German militarism and a key promoter of authoritarianism and expansionist policies, Prussia was seen as fundamentally incompatible with efforts to rebuild Germany as a peaceful and democratic state, and its dominance in German affairs had contributed directly to the wars of aggression that devastated Europe. By dismantling Prussia, the Allies aimed to eradicate the institutional structures most responsible for German aggression. This abolition referred strictly to the political entity of Prussia, not to the expulsion of ethnic Germans from East Prussia between 1945 and 1950.

Historical background

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Prussia during the German Empire (top) and the Weimar Republic (bottom).

Prussia was for centuries a dominant power in north-central Europe, centred on the cities of Berlin and Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). Its rise during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was largely driven by an obsessive focus on military strength. Under the rule of Frederick William (r. 1640–1688), known as the Great Elector, Prussia expanded its army to 40,000 men and established a rigid military bureaucracy. His grandson, Frederick William I of Prussia (r. 1713–1740), entrenched this militaristic culture further by directing around 80 percent of state expenditure to the armed forces, cultivating a war-driven society. By his death in 1740, Prussia had assembled a standing army of 83,000 men. His son Frederick the Great (r. 1740–1786) continued this legacy by using military aggression to seize Silesia from the Habsburgs in the War of the Austrian Succession and again in the Seven Years' War, pushing Prussia into the ranks of Europe's great powers. Military dominance remained in the hands of the aristocratic Junker class, who maintained near-total control of the officer corps and entrenched class-based militarism throughout Prussian society.[1]

Prussia's defeats by Napoleon at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt in 1806 triggered military reforms that only deepened its warlike orientation. These reforms paved the way for a string of aggressive victories: over Denmark in the 1864 Second Schleswig War, Austria in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, and France in the Franco-Prussian War. These wars were instrumental in the unification of Germany, which took place under Prussian leadership and excluded Austria, cementing the kingdom's dominant position in the new German Empire. The Imperial German Army was shaped in Prussia's image, and the values of Prussian militarism were absorbed into broader German nationalism.[2] Under Otto von Bismarck, military ideals such as discipline, order and punctuality were elevated to national virtues, reinforcing authoritarian structures even in civilian life.[3] After the First World War, the Free State of Prussia retained its dominant size within the Weimar Republic, even as it suffered most of the territorial losses imposed on Germany. Prussia's authoritarian legacy persisted, with its democratic institutions undermined as early as the 1932 Prussian coup d'état, paving the way for Adolf Hitler's rise. After World War II, nearly all of Germany's territorial losses came from areas historically part of Prussia. The state was formally dissolved by Control Council Law No. 46 on 25 February 1947 by the Allied occupation authorities, and its revival was firmly opposed by influential German leaders such as Konrad Adenauer.[4]

Territories today

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Territory lost by Germany at the end of World War II

The territories of Prussia as of 1937 (mainly its twelve provinces) became the following entities after the Second World War:

Text of Law 46

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Control Council Law No. 46:

The Prussian State which from early days has been a bearer of militarism and reaction in Germany has de facto ceased to exist.
Guided by the interests of preservation of peace and security of peoples and with the desire to assure further reconstruction of the political life of Germany on a democratic basis, the Control Council enacts as follows:

Article I
The Prussian State together with its central government and all its agencies are abolished.
Article II
Territories which were a part of the Prussian State and which are at present under the supreme authority of the Control Council will receive the status of Länder or will be absorbed into Länder.
The provisions of this Article are subject to such revision and other provisions as may be agreed upon by the Control Council, or as may be laid down in the future Constitution of Germany.[a]
Article III
The State and administrative functions as well as the assets and liabilities of the former Prussian State will be transferred to appropriate Länder, subject to such agreements as may be necessary and made by the Allied Control Council.
Article IV
This law becomes effective on the day of its signature.
Signed in Berlin on February 25, 1947.

Control Council Law No. 46, signed on 25 February, liquidates the State of Prussia, its central government, and all its agencies. This law is in the nature of a confirming action; the eleven provinces and administrative districts of prewar Prussia have since the beginning of the occupation been split up among the Soviet, British, and American Zones and Poland.[5]

Later history

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The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) suspended the law by a decision of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union when the Soviet Control Commission in East Germany was dissolved on 20 September 1955. The reunited Germany formally repealed Law No. 46 on 23 November 2007 when it enacted the Second Law on the Settlement of Occupation Law (Zweites Gesetz zur Bereinigung des Besatzungsrechts).[6]

Prussia's abolition resulted in the Prussian Academy of Arts dropping 'Prussian' from its name in 1945 before finally being disbanded in 1955.[7] The Prussian Academy of Sciences was renamed in 1972. It was abolished and replaced by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1992 as part of the process of German reunification.

Notes

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  1. ^ eventually the Basic Law for West and reunified Germany, as well as the Constitution of East Germany

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Prussian Militarism". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  2. ^ Llewellyn, Jennifer; Thompson, Steve (21 September 2020). "Militarism as a cause of World War I". Alpha History. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Der preußisch-deutsche Militarismus" [Prussian-German Militarism]. Der Spiegel (in German). 12 February 2001. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  4. ^ Löttel, Holger. "Konrad Adenauer und Preußen" [Konrad Adenauer and Prussia]. Konrad Adenauer (in German). Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  5. ^ Control Council Law No 46 (25 February 1947) Abolition of Prussia  – via Wikisource.
  6. ^ "Zweites Gesetz über die Bereinigung von Bundesrecht" (PDF). Bundesgesetzblatt. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  7. ^ Parker, Stephen; Philpotts, Matthew (16 October 2009). "Sinn und Form": The Anatomy of a Literary Journal. Walter de Gruyter. p. 377. ISBN 9783110217865. Künste Berlin contains the archives that have been accumulated since 1696 in the various incarnations of the present Berlin Academy of Arts: from the Prussian Academy of Arts, which ceased to exist with the abolition of Prussia after 1945

Bibliography

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  • Ernst Rudolf Huber (1951), Sources of Constitutional Law of the modern era, Volume 2, Matthiesen & Co, p. 648, OCLC 45536654
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