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107-455: The name Brześć comes from the word Brzost, which is a species of elm that the area was originally covered in, while the name Kujawski is derived from the region of Kuyavia and was assigned to distinguish the town from Brześć Litewski , now capital of the Brest Region . The earliest traces of Brześć Kujawski date back to Neolithic settlements, but it wasn't until the thirteenth century that

214-647: A considerably more moderate policy. Upon Frederick William IV's death in 1861 he succeeded to the Prussian throne as William I . However, shortly after becoming king, he faced a dispute with his parliament over the size of the army. The parliament, dominated by the liberals, balked at William's desire to increase the number of regiments and withheld approval of the budget to pay for its cost. A deadlock ensued, and William seriously considered abdicating in favour of his son, Crown Prince Frederick . Ultimately, he decided to appoint as prime minister Otto von Bismarck , at that time

321-749: A much more peaceable ruler. Other additions to Prussia in the 18th century were the County of East Frisia (1744), the Principality of Bayreuth (1791) and Principality of Ansbach (1791), the latter two being acquired through purchase from branches of the Hohenzollern dynasty. To the east and south of Prussia, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had gradually weakened during the 18th century. Alarmed by increasing Russian influences in Polish affairs and by

428-665: A number of administrative reforms, among others reorganising the government by way of ministries, which remained formative for the following hundred years. As to religion, reformed Calvinist Frederick William III—as Supreme Governor of the Protestant Churches —asserted his long-cherished project (started in 1798) to unite the Lutheran and the Reformed Church in 1817, (see Prussian Union ). The Calvinist minority, strongly supported by its co-religionist Frederick William III, and

535-510: A possible expansion of the Russian Empire , Frederick was instrumental in initiating the first of the Partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1772 to maintain a balance of power . The Kingdom of Prussia annexed most of the Polish province of Royal Prussia , including Warmia , allowing Frederick to finally adopt the title King of Prussia; the annexed Royal Prussian land

642-588: A result of the First Partition of Poland in 1772 the Kingdom of Prussia took a considerable part of Inowrocław Voivodeship and the western part of Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship, and included it within its newly formed Netze District . After the Second Partition of 1793 the whole of Kuyavia was taken by Prussia and incorporated into the newly formed province of South Prussia . Upon the 1807 Treaties of Tilsit , it

749-489: A result, the grip of the landowning classes, the Junkers , remained unbroken, especially in the eastern provinces. The constitution nevertheless contained a number of liberal elements such as the introduction of jury courts and a catalog of fundamental rights that included freedom of religion, speech and the press. Frederick William suffered a stroke in 1857, and his younger brother, Prince William, became regent . William pursued

856-505: A series of treaties and compromises, culminating in the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle that restored peace and left Prussia in possession of most of Silesia. Humiliated by the cession of Silesia, Austria worked to secure an alliance with France and Russia (the " Diplomatic Revolution "), while Prussia drifted into Great Britain's camp forming the Anglo-Prussian Alliance . When Frederick preemptively invaded Saxony and Bohemia over

963-567: A serious invasion until October 1760, when the Russian army briefly occupied Berlin and Königsberg . The situation became progressively grimmer, however, until the death in 1762 of Empress Elizabeth of Russia ( Miracle of the House of Brandenburg ). The accession of the Prussophile Peter III relieved the pressure on the eastern front. Sweden also exited the war at about the same time. Defeating

1070-452: A street specifically for those of the Jewish religion. The city was annexed by Prussia in the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, followed by rule of the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw from 1807, and in 1815 it became part of so-called Congress Poland , soon forcibly integrated into the Russian Empire . It was restored to Poland after the country regained independence in 1918. During

1177-596: A unified Kleindeutschland nation, and on 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of the first Prussian king, Frederick I), the German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside of Paris , while the French capital was still under siege . King William became the first emperor ( Kaiser ) of a unified Germany. However, the titles of German Emperor and King of Prussia were to be borne by

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1284-472: A unified Germany more than they wanted to break the grip of the traditional forces over society. He thus embarked on a drive to form a united Germany under Prussian leadership, and guided Prussia through three wars which ultimately achieved this goal. The first of these wars was the Second War of Schleswig (1864), which Prussia initiated and succeeded in, and in which it gained the assistance of Austria. Denmark

1391-412: Is also mentioned in the chronicles of Wincenty Kadłubek . In the north, Kuyavia borders with the historic regions of Gdańsk Pomerania ( Pomerelia ) and Chełmno Land , in the west with proper (exact) Greater Poland , in the south with Łęczyca Land and in the east with Masovia and Dobrzyń Land . The borders of Kuyavia stretch out on the left bank of Vistula River: from the mouth of Skrwa Lewa in

1498-401: Is based in the town, with football , athletics , volleyball and boxing sections. Kuyavia Kuyavia ( Polish : Kujawy ; Latin : Cuiavia ), also referred to as Cuyavia , is a historical region in north-central Poland , situated on the left bank of Vistula , as well as east from Noteć River and Lake Gopło . It is divided into three traditional parts: north-western (with

1605-514: Is called "the granary of Poland". The episcopal see of Kuyavia was probably Kruszwica , and later Włocławek (after the episcopal see in the early 12th century): the Diocese of Włocławek became the "Diocese of Cuiavia-Kalisz" from 1818 to 1925. The capital of this Duchy, and - from the late 14th century - the residences of the Voivode governors were Inowrocław , Brześć Kujawski , and Radziejów as

1712-417: Is post-glacial landscape, slightly undulating, in some places there are moraine hills and sandy gravel embankments. In deep dykes and depressions there are approximately 600 lakes larger than 1 km . Under the glacial formations there are layers of rock-salt and potassium, and under Tertiary Period sediments there is lignite and ceramic clay. In Kuyavia there are black fertile soils, thanks to which Kuyavia

1819-618: The Battle of Stresow on the island of Rügen , as the war had already been practically decided in the 1709 Battle of Poltava . In the Treaty of Stockholm Prussia gained all of Swedish Pomerania east of the River Oder . Sweden would however keep a portion of Pomerania until 1815. The Great Northern War not only marked the end of the Swedish Empire but also elevated Prussia and Russia at the expense of

1926-635: The Congress of Vienna . It regained most of its pre-1806 territory. Notable exceptions included part of the territory annexed in the Second and Third Partitions of Poland, which became Congress Poland under Russian rule (though it did retain Danzig, acquired in the Second Partition). It also did not regain several of its former towns in the south. However, as compensation it picked up some new territory, including 40% of

2033-717: The Duchy of Masovia under Bolesław IV the Curly and his son Leszek ; it was claimed by the Polish High Duke Casimir II the Just in 1186, contested by his elder brother Mieszko III the Old and his son Bolesław . Casimir's son Duke Konrad I of Masovia in 1233 created the Duchy of Kuyavia for his second son Casimir I . When Casimir's elder brother Duke Bolesław I of Masovia died in 1248, he took

2140-581: The Dybów Castle . However, the relationship quickly deteriorated, leaving a significant impact on the people of Brześć as well as the surrounding lands. On 10 February 1321, a Papal verdict was announced in Brześć, which ordered the Teutonic Knights to return the coastal region of Gdańsk Pomerania to Poland, which they annexed and occupied since 1308. The Teutonic Knights rejected the verdict and in 1332, during

2247-645: The First French Empire , was defeated in the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt (14 October 1806), Frederick William III was forced to temporarily flee to remote Memel . After the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, Prussia lost about half of its territory, including the land gained from the Second and Third Partitions of Poland (which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw ) and all land west of the Elbe river. France recaptured Prussian-occupied Hanover, including Bremen-Verden. The remainder of

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2354-766: The General Government . Local Polish parish priest Stefan Kuliński was arrested by the Germans in 1941, deported to the Dachau concentration camp , and then murdered in a gas chamber in the Hartheim Euthanasia Centre in 1942. Nevertheless, the Polish underground resistance movement was active in the town. Łokietek Brześć Kujawski sports club, named after King Władysław I the Elbow-high ( Polish : Władysław I Łokietek ),

2461-695: The German Confederation , the issue of unifying the German states caused the German revolutions of 1848–1849 , with representatives from all states attempting to unify under their own constitution. Attempts to create a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when the Austro-Prussian War ensued between its two most powerful member states. Prussia was subsequently

2568-749: The German Revolution of 1918–1919 , the Kingdom of Prussia was transformed into the Free State of Prussia . Prussia as a whole was abolished in 1947 . The Hohenzollerns were made rulers of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1518. In 1529, the Hohenzollerns secured the reversion of the Duchy of Pomerania after a series of conflicts , and acquired its eastern part following the Peace of Westphalia . In 1618,

2675-551: The Kingdom of Saxony and much of Westphalia and the Rhineland. Prussia now stretched uninterrupted from the Niemen in the east to the Elbe in the west, and possessed a chain of disconnected territories west of the Elbe. This left Prussia as the only great power with a predominantly German-speaking population. With these gains in territory, the kingdom was reorganized into 10 provinces. Most of

2782-784: The Lands of the Polish Crown under his rule. The duchy was devastated during the Polish–Teutonic War of 1326–32, culminating in the 1331 Battle of Płowce , but was finally restored to Poland by the Teutonic Knights in the 1343 Treaty of Kalisz . With the death of Casimir's son Władysław the White in 1388, the Kuyavian line of the Piast dynasty became extinct. After the reunification of Polish lands in

2889-666: The Masovia Governorate of Congress Poland in Russian Empire, Inowrocław ( Hohensalza ) and Bydgoszcz ( Bromberg ) was incorporated into the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen . The Polish population resisted anti-Polish policies, which included forced Germanisation and Russification , and took part in several uprisings incl. the Greater Poland uprising of 1848 and January Uprising of 1863–1864. That division outlasted

2996-568: The Orangist stadtholderate against the increasingly rebellious Patriots , who sought to overthrow the House of Orange-Nassau and establish a democratic republic . The direct cause of the invasion was the arrest at Goejanverwellesluis , where Frederick William II's sister Wilhelmina of Prussia , also stadtholder William V of Orange 's wife, was stopped by a band of Patriots who denied her passage to The Hague to reclaim her husband's position. In 1795,

3103-503: The Potulice and Stutthof concentration camps in Bydgoszcz, and the large Stalag XX-A prisoner-of-war camp for Polish, British, French, Australian and Soviet POWs in southern Toruń . In 1945, the German occupation ended and the region was restored to Poland. In the years 1945-1975 Kuyavia was in the borders of Bydgoszcz Voivodeship . The Włocławek Voivodeship was created in 1975, and

3210-693: The Province of Hohenzollern . During the half-century that followed the Congress of Vienna, a conflict of ideals took place within the German Confederation between the formation of a single German nation and the conservation of the current collection of smaller German states and kingdoms. The main debate centered around whether Prussia or the Austrian Empire should be the leading member of any unified Germany. Those advocating for Prussian leadership contended that Austria had far too many non-German interests to work for

3317-457: The Province of Pomerania , uniting the kingdom's eastern territories. After Frederick died in 1786, his nephew Fredrick William II continued the partitions, gaining a large part of western Poland in 1793; Thorn (Toruń) and Danzig (Gdańsk), which had remained part of Poland after the first partition, were incorporated into West Prussia, while the remainder became the province of South Prussia . In 1787, Prussia invaded Holland to restore

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3424-739: The War of the Spanish Succession , the Great Elector's son, Frederick III, was allowed to elevate Prussia to a kingdom in the Crown Treaty of 16 November 1700. Frederick crowned himself " King in Prussia " as Frederick I on 18 January 1701. Legally, no kingdoms could exist in the Holy Roman Empire except for Bohemia and Italy . However, Frederick took the line that since Prussia had never been part of

3531-565: The defeat of Napoleon in Russia in 1812, Prussia quit the alliance and took part in the Sixth Coalition during the "Wars of Liberation" ( Befreiungskriege ) against the French occupation. Prussian troops under Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher contributed crucially in the Battle of Waterloo of 1815 to the final victory over Napoleon. Prussia's reward for its part in France's defeat came at

3638-553: The 10th century, their territory was conquered by another West Slavic tribe, the Polans settling in the adjacent Greater Polish land around Poznań and Gniezno and upon the death of Duke Mieszko I of Poland in 992, the Kuyavia lands were part of the early Duchy of Poland , mentioned as Civitas Schinesghe as circumscribed in the Dagome iudex papal regesta. According to Andrzej Bańkowski,

3745-467: The 14th century, the division into provinces and counties was introduced. That division finalized in the 15th century, existed until the dissolution of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. Kuyavia was divided into the two administrative divisions of Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship and Inowrocław Voivodeship . The Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship was further divided into five powiats (counties): Brześć, Kowal , Kruszwica , Przedecz and Radziejów , while

3852-673: The 1871 unification of Germany until the end of World War I . Following World War I , Poland regained independence and control of the region. Within the Second Polish Republic , from 1918, the western part of Kuyavia belonged to Poznań Voivodeship , and the eastern part belonged to the Warsaw Voivodeship . In 1938 almost all Kuyavia became a part of Pomeranian Voivodeship . In 1934 the Muzeum Nadgoplańskie in Kruszwica

3959-460: The Austrian army at the Battle of Burkersdorf and relying on continuing British success against France in the war's colonial theatres, Prussia was finally able to force a status quo ante bellum on the continent. This result confirmed Prussia's major role within the German states and established the country as a European great power . Frederick, appalled by the near-defeat of Prussia and the economic devastation of his kingdom, lived out his days as

4066-408: The Bundesrat, with 17 votes out of 58 (17 out of 61 after 1911); no other state had more than six votes. As before, it could effectively control the proceedings with the support of its allies in the secondary states. As mentioned above, Bismarck served as foreign minister of Prussia for almost his entire career, and in that role instructed the Prussian deputies to the Bundesrat. The Imperial German Army

4173-426: The Empire, they were still legally only electors under the overlordship of the emperor. However, by this time the emperor's authority was only nominal. The rulers of the empire's various territories acted largely as the rulers of sovereign states , and only acknowledged the emperor's suzerainty in a formal way. In addition, the duchy was only the eastern bulk of the region of Prussia; the westernmost fragment constituted

4280-470: The First French Republic and Prussia had stipulated that the latter would ensure the Holy Roman Empire's neutrality in all the latter's territories north of the demarcation line of the River Main , including the British continental dominions of the Electorate of Hanover and the Duchies of Bremen-Verden . To this end, Hanover (including Bremen-Verden) also had to provide troops for the so-called demarcation army maintaining this state of armed neutrality . In

4387-437: The German invasion of Poland , which started World War II , in September 1939, the town was quickly overrun by the Wehrmacht , and then under German occupation it was renamed Brest-Kujawien (1939–1942). In February 1940, the Germans expelled 300 Poles , owners of bigger and better houses, which then were handed over to German colonists as part of the Lebensraum policy, while Poles were deported in freight trains to

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4494-429: The German Empire. The German Empire successfully unified all of the German states aside from Austria and Switzerland under Prussian hegemony due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. The war united all the German states against a common enemy, and with the victory came an overwhelming wave of nationalism which changed the opinions of some of those who had been against unification. With

4601-410: The German alliances put in place after the Austro-Prussian War, the German states, aside from Austria, came together and swiftly defeated France, even managing to take Napoleon III prisoner (2 September 1870). Even before then, Bismarck was able to complete the work of unifying Germany under Prussian leadership. The patriotic fervour aroused by the war against France overwhelmed the remaining opponents of

4708-444: The German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1866 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918 . Although it took its name from the region called Prussia , it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg . Its capital was Berlin . The kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern . Brandenburg-Prussia , predecessor of

4815-407: The German states, as well as establishing the country as a European great power through the victories of the powerful Prussian Army . Prussia made attempts to unify all the German states (excluding the German cantons in Switzerland ) under its rule, and whether Austria would be included in such a unified German domain became an ongoing question . After the Napoleonic Wars led to the creation of

4922-405: The German states. In 1848, actions taken by Denmark towards the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein led to the First War of Schleswig (1848–51) between Denmark and the German Confederation, resulting in a Danish victory. Frederick William issued Prussia's first constitution by his own authority in 1848, modifying it in the Constitution of 1850 . These documents—moderate by the standards of

5029-427: The Great) came to the throne. Using the pretext of a 1537 treaty (vetoed by Emperor Ferdinand I ) by which parts of Silesia were to pass to Brandenburg after the extinction of its ruling Piast dynasty , Frederick invaded Silesia, thereby beginning the War of the Austrian Succession . After rapidly occupying Silesia, Frederick offered to protect Queen Maria Theresa if the province were turned over to him. The offer

5136-402: The Inowrocław Voivodeship was divided into the Bydgoszcz and Inowrocław powiats and Dobrzyń Land east of the Vistula. Both voivodeships formed part of the larger Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The Battle of Koronowo of the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War was fought in the region on 10 October 1410, and ended in a Polish victory. As

5243-469: The Polans had moved into the region of Greater Poland after they had to leave together with the Morawianie, their former Pannonian territories, conquered by the Avars . According to some sources, during the war with the Goplans, the Polans were supported by a Great Moravian army. As a result of occupation of the Goplans' territory, the lands of Kuyavia were under the strong influence of the Pannonian culture and they lost their primary Masovian spirit. When

5350-406: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist and a large area (including Warsaw ) to the south and east of East Prussia became part of Prussia. Most of the new territories (and the part of South Prussia north of the Vistula ) were organised into the province of New East Prussia ; South Prussia gained the area immediately south of the Vistula, Narew and Bug , including Warsaw; a small area to

5457-412: The Prussian ambassador to France. Bismarck took office on 23 September 1862. Although Bismarck had a reputation as an unyielding conservative, he initially inclined to seek a compromise over the budget issue. However, William refused to consider it; he viewed defence issues as the crown's personal province. Forced into a policy of confrontation, Bismarck came up with a novel theory. Under the constitution,

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5564-406: The Prussian state, ultimately boosting their national self-awareness and eliciting their national resistance against Prussian rule. Following the French Revolution and the Execution of Louis XVI , Prussia declared war on the French First Republic . When Prussian troops attempted to invade France, they were beaten back and the Treaty of Basel (1795) ended the War of the First Coalition . In it,

5671-416: The area became of significant importance as it was the site of a stronghold that was the seat of the Dukes of Kuyavia. Brześć was a part of fragmented Piast -ruled Poland , initially located in the Duchy of Masovia , then the Duchy of Kuyavia from 1236, and from 1267 it was the capital of a small eponymous duchy and the seat of its duke, Władysław I the Elbow-high , who later reunited most Polish duchies and

5778-420: The area. The earliest solid evidence of cheese -making, dating to 5,500 BC , was found in Kuyavia. The beginnings of the state in Kuyavia are connected with the tribal state of the West Slavic Goplans . The Goplans, which some researchers identify with the Mazowszanie-Kłobianie or simply with the Kuyavians, had created a country with the main centers in Kruszwica on the northern shore of Lake Gopło . During

5885-539: The capital Berlin , which was only 80 km (50 mi) away. The Great Northern War was the first major conflict in which the Kingdom of Prussia was involved. Starting in 1700, the war involved a coalition led by Tsarist Russia against the dominant North European power at the time, the Swedish Empire . Crown Prince Frederick William tried in 1705 to get Prussia involved in the war, stating "best Prussia has her own army and makes her own decisions." His views, however, were not considered acceptable by his father, and

5992-442: The capital in Bydgoszcz , ethnographically regarded often as non-Kuyavian ), central (the capital in Inowrocław or Kruszwica ), and south-eastern (the capital in Włocławek or Brześć Kujawski ). The name Kuyavia first appeared in written sources in the 1136 Bull of Gniezno ( Polish : Bulla Gnieźnieńska , Latin: Ex commisso nobis ) issued by Pope Innocent II , and was then mentioned in many documents from medieval times. It

6099-528: The city of Bydgoszcz that was annexed to the newly formed province of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia . The Polish population was subjected to various crimes , such as mass arrests, imprisonment, slave labor , expulsions , kidnapping of children , deportations to Nazi concentration camps and extermination, incl. the Intelligenzaktion . Major sites of massacres of Poles in the region included Gniewkowo , Fordon , Otorowo , Buszkowo , Tryszczyn , Odolion and Borówno . The Germans also operated subcamps of

6206-445: The course of a few months in 1756–1757, he began a Third Silesian War and initiated the Seven Years' War . This war was a desperate struggle for the Prussian Army, and the fact that it managed to fight much of Europe to a draw bears witness to Frederick's military skills. Facing Austria, Russia , France, and Sweden simultaneously, and with only Hanover (and the non-continental British) as notable allies, Frederick managed to prevent

6313-450: The course of the War of the Second Coalition against France (1799–1802), Napoleon Bonaparte urged Prussia to occupy Hanover. In 1801, 24,000 Prussian soldiers invaded, surprising Hanover, which surrendered without a fight. In April 1801 the Prussian troops arrived in Bremen-Verden's capital Stade and stayed there until October that year. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland first ignored Prussia's hostility, but when it joined

6420-436: The crown of a united Germany. Frederick William refused the offer on the grounds that revolutionary assemblies could not grant royal titles. But he also refused for two other reasons: to do so would have done little to end the internal power-struggle between Austria and Prussia, and all Prussian kings (up to and including William I ) feared that the formation of a German Empire would mean the end of Prussia's independence within

6527-416: The declining Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as new powers in Europe. The Great Elector had incorporated the Junkers , the landed aristocracy, into the kingdom's bureaucracy and military machine, giving them a vested interest in the Prussian Army and compulsory education . King Frederick William I inaugurated the Prussian compulsory conscription system in 1717. In 1740, King Frederick II (Frederick

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6634-459: The dominant state in this new entity, with four-fifths of its territory and population—more than the other members of the confederation combined. Its near-total control was cemented in a constitution written by Bismarck. Executive power was vested in a president —a hereditary office of the rulers of Prussia. He was assisted by a chancellor responsible only to the president. There was also a bicameral parliament. The lower house, or Reichstag (Diet),

6741-401: The driving force behind establishing in 1866 the North German Confederation , transformed in 1871 into the unified German Empire and considered the earliest continual legal predecessor of today's Federal Republic of Germany . The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War but many of its laws were later used in

6848-409: The electors of Brandenburg also inherited the Duchy of Prussia , since 1511 ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hohenzollern. In 1525, Albrecht of Brandenburg , the last grand master of the Teutonic Order , secularized his territory and converted it into a duchy. It was ruled in a personal union with Brandenburg, known as " Brandenburg-Prussia ". A full union was not possible, since Brandenburg

6955-434: The empire and the Hohenzollerns were fully sovereign over it, he could elevate Prussia to a kingdom. Emperor Leopold I , keen to secure Frederick's support in the impending War of the Spanish Succession , acquiesced. The style "King in Prussia" was adopted to acknowledge the legal fiction that the Hohenzollerns were legally kings only in their former duchy. In Brandenburg and the portions of their domains that were within

7062-400: The empire, they continued to use the additional title of Elector of Brandenburg until the empire was dissolved. It was not until 1772 that the title "King of Prussia" was adopted, following the acquisition of Royal Prussia in the First Partition of Poland . The Kingdom of Prussia was still recovering from the devastation of the Thirty Years' War and poor in natural resources. Its territory

7169-408: The fundamental law of the kingdom. However, Bismarck's real plan was an accommodation with liberalism. Although he had opposed German unification earlier in his career, he had now come to believe it inevitable. To his mind, the conservative forces had to take the lead in the drive toward creating a unified nation in order to keep from being eclipsed. He also believed that the middle-class liberals wanted

7276-441: The greater good of Germany. They argued that Prussia, as by far the most powerful state with a majority of German-speakers, was best suited to lead the new nation. The establishment of the German Customs Union ( Zollverein ) in 1834, which excluded Austria, increased Prussian influence over the member states. In the wake of the Revolutions of 1848 , the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849 offered King Frederick William IV of Prussia

7383-402: The idea. While Bismarck wanted Austria to play no future role in German affairs, he foresaw that Austria could be a valuable future ally. With these gains in territory, the Prussian possessions in the Rhineland and Westphalia became geographically connected to the rest of the kingdom for the first time. Counting the de facto annexation of Saxe-Lauenburg, Prussia now stretched uninterrupted across

7490-526: The king and the parliament were responsible for agreeing on the budget. Bismarck argued that since they had failed to come to an agreement, there was a "hole" in the constitution, and the government had to continue to collect taxes and disburse funds in accordance with the old budget in order to keep functioning. The government thus operated without a new budget from 1862 to 1866, allowing Bismarck to implement William's military reforms. The liberals violently denounced Bismarck for what they saw as his disregard for

7597-533: The kingdom was occupied by French troops (at Prussia's expense) and the king was obliged to make an alliance with France and join the Continental System . The Prussian reforms were a reaction to the Prussian defeat in 1806 and the Treaties of Tilsit. It describes a series of constitutional, administrative, social and economic reforms of the kingdom of Prussia. They are sometimes known as the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms after Karl Freiherr vom Stein and Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg , their main instigators. After

7704-457: The kingdom, aside from the provinces of East Prussia , West Prussia , and the autonomous Grand Duchy of Posen but including the formerly Polish Lauenburg and Bütow Land and the Draheim territory , became part of the new German Confederation , a confederacy of 39 sovereign states (including Austria and Bohemia) replacing the defunct Holy Roman Empire. Frederick William III submitted Prussia to

7811-532: The kingdom, became a military power under Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg , known as "The Great Elector". As a kingdom, Prussia continued its rise to power, especially during the reign of Frederick II "the Great" . Frederick the Great was instrumental in starting the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), holding his own against Austria , Russia , France and Sweden and establishing Prussia's dominant role among

7918-469: The most in taxes) included 4% of voters and the third class (with those who paid the least) had 82%, yet each group chose the same number of electors. The system all but assured dominance by the more well-to-do men of the population. The upper house, later renamed the Herrenhaus ("House of Lords"), was appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority, and ministers were responsible only to him. As

8025-602: The name Cuiavia arose for the first time in the 1136 Bull of Gniezno, it referred to the lands east of Greater Poland around Kruszwica and Włocławek, bordering with the Vistula river. The bull confirmed the position of the Bishopric of Kuyavia at Włocławek as a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Gniezno . In the times of the Polish fragmentation upon the 1138 Testament of Bolesław III Krzywousty , Kuyavia at first became part of

8132-459: The next Polish–Teutonic War , also invaded and occupied Brześć, which was restored to Poland in the Treaty of Kalisz (1343) . Despite this, Brześć remained under the threat of raids for nearly 100 years, which occurred several times, even after the Polish victory at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. The last time the Crusaders laid siege to Brześć was in 1431 without winning it this time. Throughout

8239-459: The northern two-thirds of Germany. It would remain at this size until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1918. Bismarck used this opportunity to end the budget dispute with parliament. He proposed a bill of indemnity granting him retroactive approval for governing without a legal budget. He guessed, correctly as it turned out, that this would lead to a split between his liberal adversaries. While some of them argued that there could be no compromise with

8346-549: The occasion and took Dobrzyń Land east of the Vistula River from the heritage of his younger brother Siemowit I . Upon Casimir's death 1267, the Duchy of Kuyavia was divided by his sons Leszek II the Black (d. 1288), Ziemomysł (d. 1287) and Władysław I the Elbow-high into the two separate duchies of Inowrocław and Brześć Kujawski. In 1306 Ziemomysł's son Casimir II swore allegiance to his uncle Władysław I, who began to re-unite

8453-481: The part of Royal Prussia east of Vistula, held along with the title King of Prussia by the King of Poland . While the personal union between Brandenburg and Prussia legally continued until the end of the empire in 1806, from 1701 onward, Brandenburg was de facto treated as an integral part of the kingdom. Since the Hohenzollerns were nominally still subjects of the emperor within the parts of their domains that were part of

8560-625: The partially reluctant Lutheran majority formed the united Protestant Evangelical Church in Prussia . However, ensuing quarrels causing a permanent schism among the Lutherans into united and Old Lutherans by 1830. As a consequence of the Revolutions of 1848 , the Principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen (ruled by a Catholic cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern) were annexed by Prussia in 1850, later united as

8667-411: The period of Polish–Teutonic wars, Polish kings often visited the city either during fights of peace talks. The Polish–Teutonic War of 1431–1435 was ended with the signing of the Peace of Brześć Kujawski . The Thirteen Years' War , the longest of Polish–Teutonic wars, was not fought in the region, however King Casimir IV Jagiellon often stayed in the town at that time. Since the 14th century, Brześć

8774-758: The principle of constitutional government, most of the liberals decided to support the bill in hopes of winning more freedom in the future. The German Confederation was dissolved as part of the war. In its place, Prussia cajoled the 21 states north of the Main into forming the North German Confederation in 1866. Prussia entered the Confederation as a whole (including the East Prussian cradle of its statehood, as well as its share of dismembered Poland consisting of Province of Posen and West Prussia ), thus becoming

8881-529: The pro-French Second League of Armed Neutrality alongside Denmark–Norway and Russia, Britain started to capture Prussian sea vessels. After the Battle of Copenhagen the coalition fell apart and Prussia again withdrew its troops. At Napoleon's instigation, Prussia recaptured British Hanover and Bremen-Verden in early 1806. On 6 August that year the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved as a result of Napoleon's victories over Austria . The title of Kurfürst ( Prince-elector ) of Brandenburg became meaningless, and

8988-408: The region include motorcycle speedway team Polonia Bydgoszcz , basketball teams Anwil Włocławek , Astoria Bydgoszcz (men) and Basket 25 Bydgoszcz (women) and volleyball teams Chemik Bydgoszcz (men) and Pałac Bydgoszcz (women). Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia ( German : Königreich Preußen , pronounced [ˈkøːnɪkʁaɪç ˈpʁɔʏsn̩] ) constituted

9095-549: The same man until the end of the monarchy. Bismarck's new empire was the most powerful state on the Continent. Prussia's dominance over the new empire was almost as absolute as it was with the North German Confederation. It included two-thirds of the empire's territory and three-fifths of its population. The imperial crown was a hereditary office of the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia also had a large plurality of seats in

9202-437: The seat of the shared regional Sejmik council of the two voivodeships . Today, the biggest center of Kuyavia is Bydgoszcz . Also the southern part of Toruń (Podgórz) lies in the historical region. Some ethnographers and historians, for example Oskar Kolberg and Zygmunt Gloger , count the lands of Dobrzyń and Chełmno north-east of the Vistula as parts of the Kuyavia region. The Linear Pottery culture existed in

9309-621: The south of South Prussia became New Silesia . With the Polish-Lithuanian state gone Prussia now shared its eastern borders with the Habsburg monarchy ( West Galicia ) and Russia ( Russian partition ). The Partitions were facilitated by the fact that they occurred just before the 19th-century rise of nationalism in Europe, and the national self-awareness was yet to be developed in most European peoples, especially among commoners. The Kingdom of Prussia

9416-721: The south-east, almost to the mouth of the Wda River to the north. The borders of Kuyavia spread out to the west from Koronowo and Nakło to the Noteć River where they turn south-west, cross Trląg Lake , and on to Strzelneński Forest, reaching Skulski Lake and the upper Noteć River. The borders also enclose Brdowski Lake , Przedecz and Lubień Kujawski through the Skrwa Lewa, ending at the Vistula River . The Kuyavian lowlands have an average elevation of 100–130 meters above sea level. It

9523-562: The time but conservative by today's—provided for a two-chamber parliament, the Landtag . The lower house, later known as the Abgeordnetenhaus , was elected by all males over the age of 25 using the Prussian three-class franchise . Voters were divided into three classes whose votes were weighted according to the amount of taxes paid. In one typical election, the first class (with those who paid

9630-628: The western part of Kuyavia remained in the Bydgoszcz Voivodeship. In 1999 almost the whole of Kuyavia was joined to the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Furthermore, small parts of the region were included in the borders of the Masovian Voivodeship (regions between the border of the province and Skrwa Lewa River) and Greater Poland Voivodeship ( Przedecz , Wierzbinek ). The most successful and popular sports clubs in

9737-617: Was a royal city of the Polish Crown and capital of the Brześć Voivodeship , which, after the Union of Lublin (1569), was renamed Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship. King Casimir III the Great expanded the royal castle in Brześć in the 14th century. In 1496 Brześć was designated the location of the voivodeship's sejmik (provincial assembly). Various Polish Kings vested the town with multiple privileges in 1361, 1410, 1504, 1556, 1557, 1576, 1582, 1593, 1596, 1681, 1720, 1781, 1782, 1787 and 1793, and it

9844-630: Was able to instruct the Prussian delegates to the Bundesrat. The southern German states (except Austria) were forced to accept military alliances with Prussia, and Prussia began steps to merge them with the North German Confederation. Bismarck's planned Kleindeutschland unification of Germany had come considerably closer to realisation. The final act came with the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), where Bismarck maneuvered Emperor Napoleon III of France into declaring war on Prussia. Activating

9951-472: Was built. It was opened in 1939, and it had valuable collection of ethnographical objects, inter alia: furniture and clothing. Following the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland , which started World War II in September 1939, it was occupied by Nazi Germany . During the occupation , almost all of Kuyavia was annexed into the newly formed province of Reichsgau Wartheland , except the northwestern part with

10058-498: Was crowned King of Poland in 1320. Brześć was granted town rights by Duke Casimir I of Kuyavia before 1250, and was vested with various privileges by Władysław I the Elbow-high in 1292, 1295 and 1297. The earliest written mention of the town dates back to 23 April 1228, when a ceremony took place in Brześć granting the land to the Teutonic Order by Konrad I of Masovia . It was a temporary deal, which included four villages and

10165-583: Was crushed, and Prussia annexed four of its smaller allies—the Kingdom of Hanover , the Electorate of Hesse , the Duchy of Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt . Prussia also annexed Schleswig and Holstein, and also effectively annexed Saxe-Lauenburg by forcing it into a personal union with Prussia (which was turned into a full union in 1876). King William initially wanted to take territory from Austria itself and annex Saxony, but Bismarck persuaded him to abandon

10272-676: Was disjointed, stretching 1,200 km (750 mi) from the lands of the Duchy of Prussia on the south-east coast of the Baltic Sea to the Hohenzollern heartland of Brandenburg , with the exclaves of Cleves , Mark and Ravensberg in the Rhineland . In 1708 about one third of the population of East Prussia died during the Great Northern War plague outbreak . The bubonic plague reached Prenzlau in August 1710 but receded before it could reach

10379-486: Was dropped. Nonetheless, King Frederick William III was now de jure as well as de facto sovereign of all of the Hohenzollern domains. Before this time, the Hohenzollern sovereign had held many titles and crowns, from Supreme Governor of the Protestant Churches ( summus episcopus ) to King, Elector, Grand Duke, Duke for the various regions and realms under his rule. After 1806 he was simply King of Prussia and summus episcopus . But when Prussia, after it turned against

10486-476: Was elected by universal male suffrage. The upper house, or Bundesrat (Federal Council) was appointed by the state governments. The Bundesrat was, in practice, the stronger chamber. Prussia had 17 of 43 votes and could easily control proceedings through alliances with the other states. For all intents and purposes, Bismarck dominated the new grouping. He served as his own foreign minister for virtually his entire tenure as prime minister of Prussia, and in that capacity

10593-563: Was essentially an enlarged Prussian army, and the embassies of the new empire were mostly old Prussian embassies. The Constitution of the German Empire was essentially an amended version of the constitution of the North German Confederation. However, the seeds for future problems lay in a gross disparity between the imperial and Prussian systems. The empire granted the vote to all men over 25, although Prussia retained its three-class franchise , in which votes were weighted by taxes paid. Since

10700-466: Was in Brześć that King Casimir III the Great granted the nearby major city of Bydgoszcz its city rights in 1346. Brześć was an important and thriving city, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was the center of grain trade , however it declined after Swedish invasions of 1655–1660 and 1701–1706 . On 23 April 1782, King Stanisław August Poniatowski granted a privilege to the town's Jewish population that allowed them to build houses on

10807-403: Was not until 1713 that Frederick William ascended to the throne. Therefore, in 1715, Prussia, led by Frederick William, joined the coalition for various reasons, including the danger of being attacked from both her rear and the sea; her claims on Pomerania ; and the fact that if she stood aside and Sweden lost, she would not get a share of the territory. Prussia only participated in one battle,

10914-594: Was organised the following year into the Province of West Prussia ; most of the rest became the originally separate Netze District , which was attached to West Prussia in 1775. The boundary between West Prussia and the territory previously known as the Duchy of Prussia, now the Province of East Prussia was also adjusted, transferring Marienwerder to West Prussia (which became its capital) and Warmia (the Heilsberg and Braunsberg  [ de ] districts) to East Prussia. The annexed territory connected East Prussia with

11021-630: Was part of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw and administered within the Bydgoszcz Department . In 1815 under the provisions of the Congress of Vienna , Kuyavia was divided between the Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland remaining in a personal union with the Russian Empire , from 1831 direct part of Russian Empire) and the Kingdom of Prussia. While the Brześć Kujawski province (counties: Aleksandrów, Radziejów and Włocławek) remained with

11128-516: Was perceived in Poland more as a nationality-neutral personal holding of the ruling House of Hohenzollern , rather than a German nation-state, and any anxiety concerned predominantly freedom to practice religion rather than rights to maintain national identity. The onset of Germanisation in the following decades, later joined by the Kulturkampf , quickly changed this benign picture and alienated Poles from

11235-441: Was rejected, but Austria faced several other opponents in a desperate struggle for survival, and Frederick was eventually able to gain formal cession with the Treaty of Berlin in 1742. To the surprise of many, Austria managed to renew the war successfully. In 1744 Frederick invaded again to forestall reprisals and to claim, this time, the Kingdom of Bohemia . He failed, but French pressure on Austria's ally Great Britain led to

11342-511: Was soundly defeated and surrendered both Schleswig and Holstein, to Prussia and Austria respectively. The divided administration of Schleswig and Holstein then became the trigger for the Austro-Prussian War of 1866—also known as the Seven Weeks' War. Prussia, allied with the Kingdom of Italy and various northern German states, declared war on the Austrian Empire. The Austrian-led coalition

11449-523: Was still legally part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Duchy of Prussia was a fief of Poland . The Teutonic Order had paid homage to Poland since 1466, and the Hohenzollerns continued to pay homage after secularizing Ducal Prussia. In the course of the Second Northern War , the treaties of Labiau and Wehlau-Bromberg granted the Hohenzollerns full sovereignty over the Prussian duchy by September 1657. In return for an alliance against France in

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