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A Thumbnail
Sketch of Early Pommern History
(Please click map for
larger view)
The Roman Empire fell in the
fifth century A.D. Constantinople and the Roman church were
poised to take on the Teutons and Wend Barbarians to their north and
west. Saint Boniface was one of the earliest missionaries to
the German people in the northern regions in 745 A.D. In 967
the Roman Church converted and baptized Duke Miezko of Poland.
He sealed this by marrying the daughter of the King of Bohemia who
was also a Christian. Poland then formed an alliance with the
western nations and western Christianity for a protection against
Turk and Tartar invaders.
In the 11th and 12th centuries,
various nations organized three military, priestly orders. The
Germans organized the Order of Teutonic Knights. The Christian
world sent crusades of armed knights against Muslin, and later
Turks, heathens who occupied Jerusalem and the Holy Lands.
Similar crusades were organized by Emperor Frederick II and Pope
Gregory IX and the Teutonic Order. Duke Conrad of Poland
invited the crusades, through the Pope and especially the Teutonic
Order, to assist him in converting these heathens, who were
irritating his borders with raids and also prevented Poland with
access to the Sea.
The Dukes of Greif (Griffon), a
hereditary line, ruled the Wend tribes along the southwest part of
the Baltic shoreline. However they were being harassed
constantly by Denmark from the sea and from the west, who wanted to
extend her empire throughout Norway, Sweden, Finland and the other
Baltic lands. Pommern was also under siege from Poland
who was trying to convert the heathen and establish access to the
Baltic through her land. Poland advanced as far as Stettin
several times, the last time in 1121, but they were unable to hold
the position. A few years later, Poland finally recognized the
house of Greif as the legitimate heirs of Pommern.
Albert the Bear, ruler of the
Mark of Brandenburg, and others were leading crusades into Pommern
in 1134 and through the 12th century. Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa)
met with the Pommern Dukes in 1181 at Lubeck. The Dukes
decided they would be better off allying themselves with the
Germans, rather than the Danes or the Poles. The Germans had
established two Bishoprics in Pommern in 1133, one in Demmin and one
in Stettin and already had a number of German settlers there. The
Dukes liked what the German settlers were doing there in terms of
agriculture and law. Frederick I declared Pommern a
principality of the Empire and elevated the Pommern Duke Bogeslaw I
to the rank of Prince of Pommern.
The Empire
of Prussia
in 1939
A Thumbnail Sketch
of Early Prussian History
Prussia, the former kingdom, was
the largest and most important of the German states.
Originally, Berlin was the capital. The area that was
later called East Prussia. was originally known as Prussia. In
1618, by then a duchy, (East) Prussia, passed to the
elector of Brandenburg. In 1660, full independence from Polish
authority was obtained by Friedrich Wilhelm, the Great Elector.
The electors of Brandenburg gradually
acquired other lands, and in 1701 Elector Friedrich III had himself
crowned king in Prussia as Friedrich I. He remained a prince
of the Holy Roman Empire as elector of Brandenburg, but not as king
of Prussia, which lay outside imperial boundaries. This gave
the kings of Prussia some independence from the emperor King
Friedrich Wilhelm (who reigned 1713-1740) and worked to unify the
state and build an efficient army. His son, Friedrich II
(reign: 1740-1786) won most of Silesia from Austria in the War of
the Austrian Succession and entered the Seven Year War.
Prussia gained additional territory when
Poland was partitioned (1772-1795). The kingdom was taken over
by France under Napoleon, and had a major part in France's defeat
(1813-1815). In 1862, Otto von Bismarck became Prussian
premier. He sought to unify Germany under Prussian leadership.
After territorial gains in the Austro-Prussian War and the
Franco-Prussian War, the Prussian king was proclaimed (1871) emperor
of Germany and was designated Wilhelm I.
Thereafter, the history of Prussia is essentially that
of Germany. Prussia remained a kingdom in the German Empire
until Germany became a republic in 1918. Prussia was abolished
as a state in 1947 and divided among West Germany, East Germany, the
Russian Republic of the USSR (now Russia), and Poland.
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