abstract
| - Prussia (German: Preußen; Old Prussian: Prūsa;) is a kingdom located in central Europe. It is bordered by Denmark to the north, the Russian Empire to the east, the Danubian Federation to the south, and France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg to the west. The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians. In the 13th century, "Old Prussia" was conquered by German crusaders, the Teutonic Knights. In 1308, Teutonic Knights conquered the formerly Polish region of Pomerelia with Danzig. Their monastic state was mostly Germanized through immigration from central and western Prussia and in the south, it was Polonized by settlers from Masovia. After the Second Peace of Thorn of 1466, Prussia was split into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the eastern part, since 1525 called Duchy of Prussia, a fief of the Crown of Poland up to 1657. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. Prussia entered the ranks of the great power shortly after becoming a kingdom and exercised the most influence on the German minorities, in an attempt to form the North German Federation, and then Germany. At the Congress of Vienna, which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleon's defeat, Prussia acquired a large section of North-Western Germany, including the coal-rich Ruhr.
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