1.
Prussia
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Prussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and centred on the region of Prussia. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised, Prussia, with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin, shaped the history of Germany. In 1871, German states united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership, in November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918–19. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, from 1933, Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup, when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state. Prussia existed de jure until its liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No.46 of 25 February 1947. The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights—an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders—conquered the lands inhabited by them. In 1308, the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk and their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The Second Peace of Thorn split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia. 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 powers shortly after becoming a kingdom, and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century it had a say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great. During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a Lesser Germany which excluded the Austrian Empire. At the Congress of Vienna, which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleons defeat, Prussia acquired a section of north western Germany. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became the core of the North German Confederation in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that Junkers and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians. In the Weimar Republic, the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland, the main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. The black and white colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a cross with gold insert
2.
Brzeg
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Brzeg is a town in southwestern Poland with 36,381 inhabitants and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on the bank of the Oder. The town of Brzeg was first mentioned as a trading and fishing settlement in the year 1234, in 1248, Duke Henry III the White granted the settlement town rights and by the late 13th century the city became fortified. During the interwar period, Brzeg, often referred to as “the garden town”, was considered one of the most beautiful locations on the Oder River and its size greatly expanded after the construction of dwelling houses which were located on the city outskirts. Towards the end of World War II, in February 1945, the Soviet army captured Brzeg, in accordance with the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, the area was annexed by Poland. Subsequently, the town’s German population was deported and replaced with Polish settlers from the Eastern Borderlands, since 1950 the reconstructed town has been a part of the Opole Voivodeship. Brzeg was in earlier documents referred to as Civitas Altae Ripae, meaning city at high banks of the Oder river, its name is derived from the Polish Brzeg. The historian Konstanty Darmot, in his book of the etymology of Silesian localities, states that in a Latin document from 1234, the early human populous left behind traces of lithic flakes, flint flakes and other flint related tools. The earliest signs of agriculture come around during the Neolithic Era, the Neolithic culture developed agriculture and domesticated farm animals, this lifestyle led Nomadic cultures to settle in the locality. The time period of 1300–700 BC bears the existence of the Lusatian culture of the late Bronze Age, tribes of the Lusatian culture were Orthodox, being the ancestors of the early Slavic peoples. The culture settled in the region and in large continued to develop agriculture, the natural economy of the culture was based on weaving, pottery and metal works. To follow the Lusatian culture, which witnessed its declension around 500 BC, were the Celts, around 400–300 BC in Silesia, as identified with archaeological findings in Lubsza and Pawłów. Around 100 BC, the peoples of Silesia began trading with the Roman Empire, the ages of 500–1000 AD saw the establishment of the early feudal system in Silesia. The era was characteristic of the establishment of settlements, towns. It is believed the permanent populous around modern-day Brzeg was set up by Silesian tribes, the Ryczyn gords became the main line of defence for the Silesians, namely to protect the river trade routes along the River Oder and the land trade route between Ryczyn and Brzeg. The importance of the Ryczyn gords is demonstrated by Henry V of the Holy Roman Empires army halting their advancement before the gords in 1109, around the year 990, Silesia was annexed into Mieszko Is Poland. During the Fragmentation of Poland, the area of the Brzeg Lands, together with Silesia, came under the control of King of Poland, Bolesław III Wrymouths oldest son, Władysław II the Exile. The most favourable area for the settlement of Brzeg is located between the Castle Square, with elevated ground extending south-east towards the Square of the American Polonia
3.
Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 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, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
4.
Prussian Army
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The Royal Prussian Army served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power, the Prussian Army had its roots in the core mercenary forces of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648. Elector Frederick William developed it into a standing army, while King Frederick William I of Prussia dramatically increased its size. The army had become outdated by the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, conservatives halted some of the reforms, however, and the Prussian Army subsequently became a bulwark of the conservative Prussian government. In the 19th century the Prussian Army fought successful wars against Denmark, Austria and France, allowing Prussia to unify Germany, the Prussian Army formed the core of the Imperial German Army, which was replaced by the Reichswehr after World War I. The army of Prussia grew out of the armed forces created during the reign of Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg. Hohenzollern Brandenburg-Prussia had primarily relied upon Landsknecht mercenaries during the Thirty Years War, Swedish and Imperial forces occupied the country. In the spring of 1644, Frederick William started building an army through conscription to better defend his state. By 1643–44, the army numbered only 5,500 troops. The electors confidant Johann von Norprath recruited forces in the Duchy of Cleves and organized an army of 3,000 Dutch, garrisons were also slowly augmented in Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia. Frederick William sought assistance from France, the rival of Habsburg Austria. He based his reforms on those of Louvois, the War Minister of King Louis XIV of France, the growth of his army allowed Frederick William to achieve considerable territorial acquisitions in the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, despite Brandenburgs relative lack of success during the war. The provincial estates desired a reduction in the size during peacetime. In the 1653 Brandenburg Recess between Frederick William and the estates of Brandenburg, the nobility provided the sovereign with 530,000 thalers in return for affirmation of their privileges, the Junkers thus cemented their political power at the expense of the peasantry. Once the elector and his army were strong enough, Frederick William was able to suppress the estates of Cleves, Mark, Frederick William attempted to professionalize his soldiers during a time when mercenaries were the norm. Acts of violence by officers against civilians resulted in decommission for a year, Field Marshals of Brandenburg-Prussia included Derfflinger, John George II, Spaen and Sparr. The electors troops traditionally were organized into disconnected provincial forces, in 1655, Frederick William began the unification of the various detachments by placing them under the overall command of Sparr. Unification also increased through the appointment of Generalkriegskommissar Platen as head of supplies and these measures decreased the authority of the largely mercenary colonels who had been so prominent during the Thirty Years War
5.
Generalfeldmarschall
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Generalfeldmarschall was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire, in the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, the rank Feldmarschall was used. The rank was the equivalent to Großadmiral in the Kaiserliche Marine and Kriegsmarine, the title of Kaiserlich-Königlicher Feldmarschall is used in statutes of the Holy Roman Empire to describe senior military officials. The rank existed in the Austrian Empire as Kaiserlicher Feldmarschall and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire as Kaiserlicher und königlicher Feldmarschall, both were based on usage in the Holy Roman Empire. The monarch held the ex officio, other officers were promoted as required. Between 1914 and 1918, ten men attained this rank, of four were members of the reigning Habsburg dynasty. The equivalent of colonel-general in the German Navy was the rank of Generaladmiral, in 1870 Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia and Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm—who had commanded armies during the Franco-Prussian War—became the first Prussian princes appointed as field marshals. Not even such well-known German commanders as Erich Ludendorff and Erich von Falkenhayn received marshals batons, the equivalent of a Generalfeldmarschall in the navy was Großadmiral. Unlike Kaiser Wilhelm II, Adolf Hitler distributed the rank more widely, promoting 26 Heer and Luftwaffe officers in total and two Kriegsmarine Grand Admirals. Four weeks after the Heer and Luftwaffe had won the Battle of France, in the promotion Hitler noted that no German or Prussian field marshal at that point in history had ever been captured alive. Paulus surrendered the day anyway, claiming Ich habe nicht die Absicht. A disappointed Hitler commented, Thats the last field marshal I make in this war, Generalfeldmarschall was the highest regular general officer rank in the German Wehrmacht, comparable to NATO rank codes OF10, and to the five-star rank in anglophone armed forces. It was equivalent to Großadmiral of the German Kriegsmarine and he also bestowed generous presents on his highest officers, with Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb receiving RM250,000 for his 65th birthday from Hitler. Promotion to the rank did not guarantee Hitlers ongoing favor, however, as the tide of the war turned, Hitler took out his frustrations on his top commanders, relieving most of the Generalfeldmarschalls of duty before the wars conclusion. Von Bock, Von Brauchitsch, Von Leeb, and List were all relieved of their posts in 1942 for perceived failures during Operation Barbarossa, paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, Von Manstein and Sperrle were similarly retired in 1944 and Von Rundstedt and Maximilian von Weichs in March 1945. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder was retired in January 1943 following an argument with Hitler over the future of the German surface fleet. Walther Model, one of Hitlers most successful commanders, had nevertheless lost the Fuhrers confidence by wars end and committed suicide to avoid capture, ferdinand Schörner ignominiously abandoned his command to save himself in the wars last days. Von Kluge, Von Witzleben and Rommel were either executed or forced to suicide for their real or imagined roles in assassination plots against Hitler. By wars end, only Keitel, Kesselring, Robert Ritter von Greim, the Nationale Volksarmee of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR created the rank of Marschall der DDR on 25 March 1982
6.
First Silesian War
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Silesia was strategically important to Prussia because it significantly blunted the capacity of Prussias two chief foes—Austria and Russia—to meddle in Prussian affairs. Prussian victory foreshadowed a wider struggle for control over the German-speaking peoples that would culminate in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the First Silesian War inaugurated, and is generally seen in the context of, the wider ranging War of the Austrian Succession. While Charles launched a claim to the throne and the Habsburg territories, King Frederick II aimed at the annexation of Silesia. Furious Frederick III in turn insisted on the centuries-old Brandenburg claims to the Silesian Piast heritage. Forty-five years on, an alliance formed in support of Prussia’s newly asserted claims on Silesia. King Frederick II was supported by the electorates of Bavaria, Saxony and Cologne, as well as by the kingdoms of France, Spain, Sweden and Naples along with various smaller European powers. The shared objective within the alliance was the destruction or at least the diminution of the Habsburg Monarchy, Britain and Austria were bound by the Anglo-Austrian Alliance which had existed since 1731. On 8 November 1740, King Frederick II ordered the mobilization of the Prussian Army, according to his plan of attack, two corps would defeat a small Austrian infantry regiment and occupy the whole Silesian lands. On December 11 he issued an ultimatum to Austria demanding the surrender of Silesia, in turn, he promised to acknowledge the Pragmatic Sanction and to give his vote as Brandenburg prince-elector in the Imperial election to Maria Theresas husband Duke Francis of Lorraine. Instead of awaiting the Austrian response, he marched against Silesia with an army of about 27,000 men five days later, hailed by the Protestant population. After a two-month campaign, Prussian forces had occupied all of Silesia, with only small Austrian garrisons entrenched in the fortresses of Głogów, Brzeg, and Nysa. Having abandoned winter quarters in 1741, the Prussian forces started their spring campaign, the Silesian capital Wrocław was occupied by August 10, a first armistice was concluded on October 9. The Prussian victory in the Battle of Chotusitz on May 17,1742, only the southern portion of Upper Silesia remained under Habsburg control, later called Austrian Silesia. The Second Silesian War took place from 1744 to 1745, the Austrians had lost Silesia to Prussia in the Battle of Mollwitz. This was the time when the Austrians, under the command of Field Marshal Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, the Prussians were again led by King Frederick the Great. The Battle of Hohenfriedberg on June 4,1745, was fought through a series of separate actions, after the Prussian victory, Frederick did not pursue the opposing armies. In the Battle of Soor on September 29,1745, Fredericks Prussians faced an Austrian army led by Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine with 39,000 men, Frederick tried to obtain Graner-Koppe from Prince Charles where the Prussians met with cannon fire. The Prussians won after a closely fought battle consisting of a series of attacks, whilst Frederick was sure the war was over, Empress Maria Theresa had not given up her claims to Silesia
7.
Seven Years' War
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The Seven Years War was a war fought between 1754 and 1763, the main conflict occurring in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763. It involved every European great power of the time except the Ottoman Empire and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by the Kingdom of Great Britain on one side and the Kingdom of France on the other. Meanwhile, in India, the Mughal Empire, with the support of the French, faced with this sudden turn of events, Britain aligned herself with Prussia, in a series of political manoeuvres known as the Diplomatic Revolution. Conflict between Great Britain and France broke out in 1754–1756 when the British attacked disputed French positions in North America, meanwhile, rising power Prussia was struggling with Austria for dominance within and outside the Holy Roman Empire in central Europe. In 1756, the major powers switched partners, realizing that war was imminent, Prussia preemptively struck Saxony and quickly overran it. The result caused uproar across Europe, because of Austrias alliance with France to recapture Silesia, which had been lost in a previous war, Prussia formed an alliance with Britain. Reluctantly, by following the diet, most of the states of the empire joined Austrias cause. The Anglo-Prussian alliance was joined by smaller German states, Sweden, seeking to re-gain Pomerania joined the coalition, seeing its chance when virtually all of Europe opposed Prussia. Spain, bound by the Pacte de Famille, intervened on behalf of France, the Russian Empire was originally aligned with Austria, fearing Prussias ambition on the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but switched sides upon the succession of Tsar Peter III in 1762. Naples, Sicily, and Savoy, although sided with the Franco-Spanish alliance, like Sweden, Russia concluded a separate peace with Prussia. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris between France, Spain and Great Britain and the Treaty of Hubertusburg between Saxony, Austria and Prussia, in 1763. The Native American tribes were excluded from the settlement, a subsequent conflict, Prussia emerged as a new European great power. Although Austria failed to retrieve the territory of Silesia from Prussia its military prowess was noted by the other powers. The involvement of Portugal, Spain and Sweden did not return them to their status as great powers. France was deprived of many of its colonies and had saddled itself with heavy war debts that its inefficient financial system could barely handle. Spain lost Florida but gained French Louisiana and regained control of its colonies, e. g. Cuba and the Philippines, France and Spain avenged their defeat in 1778 when the American Revolutionary War broke out, with hopes of destroying Britains dominance once and for all. The Seven Years War was perhaps the first true world war, having taken place almost 160 years before World War I and it was characterized in Europe by sieges and the arson of towns as well as open battles with heavy losses
8.
Order of the Black Eagle
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The Order of the Black Eagle was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg, in his Dutch exile after World War I, deposed Emperor Wilhelm II continued to award the order to his family. He made his wife, Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz. The statutes of the order were published on 18 January 1701, membership in the Order of the Black Eagle was limited to a small number of knights, and was divided into two classes, members of reigning houses and capitular knights. Before 1847, membership was limited to nobles, but after that date, capitular knights were generally high-ranking government officials or military officers. The Order of the Black Eagle had only one class, by statute, members of the order also held the Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle, and wore the badge of that order from a ribbon around the neck. From 1862, members of the Prussian royal house, upon award of the Order of the Black Eagle, the badge of the Order was a gold Maltese cross, enameled in blue, with gold-crowned black eagles between the arms of the cross. The gold center medallion bore the monogram of Friedrich I. This badge was worn either a broad ribbon or a collar. The ribbon of the Order was an orange moiré sash worn from the shoulder to the right hip. The sash color was chosen in honor of Louise Henriette of Nassau, daughter of the prince of Orange, the star of the Order was a silver eight-pointed star, with straight or faceted rays depending on the jewelers design. The center medallion displayed a black eagle on a background, surrounded by a white enamelled ring bearing a wreath of laurels. At meetings of the chapter of the Order of the Black Eagle and at certain ceremonies, embroidered on the left shoulder of each cape was a large star of the Order. From its founding in 1701 to 1918, the Order of the Black Eagle was awarded 407 times, subjects of the Prussian King receiving the order which was only given in one class were promoted to the peerage and received hereditary title. The Order was also conferred upon Prussian queens, though other members of the royal family usually received the Order of Louise instead. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn – Kaiser Wilhelm IIs uncle, Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland – Prince of Sweden Carol I of Romania – King of Romania, member of the Princely House of Hohenzollern. Louis XVIII – King of France, ludwig II of Bavaria – King of Bavaria. Emperor Meiji – Emperor of Japan, mozaffar al-Din Shah – Shah of Persia –29 May 1902 – during the visit to Berlin of the Shah Naser al-Din Shah Qajar – Shah of Persia
9.
Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg)
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The Order is led by its thirty-seventh Herrenmeister, Prince Oskar of Prussia. Each of its knights, about four thousand men worldwide, is either a Knight of Justice or a Knight of Honor, although membership no longer is limited to the nobility, as it was until 1948, the majority of knights still are drawn from this class. The Order comprises seventeen commanderies in Germany, one each in Austria, Finland, France, Hungary, and Switzerland, with the Roman Catholic Sovereign Military Order of Malta, these four Alliance orders represent the legitimate heirs of the Knights Hospitaller. The Order and its orders in the Netherlands and Sweden. The SMOM, headquartered in Rome, admits only men and women of the Roman Catholic faith, in time, these landholdings were gathered into regional administrative divisions known as commanderies, each headed by a senior knight, or knight commander of the Order. The first commandery in the Germanies was founded in the mid-twelfth century, though separated from the Roman Catholic main stem of the Order of Saint John, the Bailiwick of Brandenburg continued to flourish. Admitting only noblemen, principally from the Germanies, the Bailiwick maintained hospitals and other institutions to care for the poor, the sick, and the injured. The horrific Thirty Years War devastated the Bailiwick, resulting in the deaths of many knights and he established a similarly named order of merit, the Royal Prussian Order of Saint John, in its stead. He announced his election to the head of the Order of Malta, during the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Order created and supported more and more charitable activities. It now owns and operates numerous hospitals, ambulance services, old-age homes, after World War II, with the Neumark given by the victorious Allies to Poland, the Order moved its headquarters to Bonn, West Germany. After the reunification of West and East Germany, the headquarters were moved again, more than location of the seat of the Order changed in the aftermath of the Second World War. The Finnish commandery, however, remains a purely noble society, as do the now independent Swedish, there are three active classes in the Order, Commander, Knight of Justice, and Knight of Honor. These services are similar to the St. John Ambulance in many Commonwealth nations, all are carried out under the auspices of the Christian faith. Additionally, spiritual retreats and other activities of the Order concentrate on the spiritual formation, the cloak of the Order is plain black with a large, white, linen eight-pointed cross on the left breast. For most knights, the cloak is black woollen with a plain lining, the cloaks of most knights are closed only at the neck, but the Herrenmeister, Commanders, Honorary Commanders, and Knights of Justice also wear a long black cord called a cingulum. The insignia, also known as crosses of honor, are no longer bestowed by the Order automatically, Knights of Honor now must have rendered five years of service to the Order before a cross of honor is granted. Promotion to Knight of Justice requires at least seven years of distinguished service, the basic insignia of the Order is a white-enamelled Maltese cross. Each cross is worn from a black-moire,4. 5-centimeter-wide ribbon worn about the neck, all members of the Order may also wear a plain, Maltese cross as a star or breast badge
10.
Frederick the Great
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Frederick II was King of Prussia from 1740 until 1786, the longest reign of any Hohenzollern king. Frederick was the last titled King in Prussia and declared himself King of Prussia after achieving full sovereignty for all historical Prussian lands, Prussia had greatly increased its territories and became a leading military power in Europe under his rule. He became known as Frederick the Great and was affectionately nicknamed Der Alte Fritz by the Prussian, in his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than the art of war. Upon ascending to the Prussian throne, he attacked Austria and claimed Silesia during the Silesian Wars, winning acclaim for himself. Near the end of his life, Frederick physically connected most of his realm by conquering Polish territories in the First Partition of Poland and he was an influential military theorist whose analysis emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics. Considering himself the first servant of the state, Frederick was a proponent of enlightened absolutism and he modernized the Prussian bureaucracy and civil service and pursued religious policies throughout his realm that ranged from tolerance to segregation. He reformed the system and made it possible for men not of noble stock to become judges. Frederick also encouraged immigrants of various nationalities and faiths to come to Prussia, some critics, however, point out his oppressive measures against conquered Polish subjects during the First Partition. Frederick supported arts and philosophers he favored, as well as allowing complete freedom of the press, Frederick is buried at his favorite residence, Sanssouci in Potsdam. Because he died childless, Frederick was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II, son of his brother, historian Leopold von Ranke was unstinting in his praise of Fredericks Heroic life, inspired by great ideas, filled with feats of arms. Immortalized by the raising of the Prussian state to the rank of a power, Johann Gustav Droysen was even more extolling. However, by the 21st century, a re-evaluation of his legacy as a great warrior, Frederick, the son of Frederick William I and his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, was born in Berlin on 24 January 1712. The birth of Frederick was welcomed by his grandfather, Frederick I, with more than usual pleasure, with the death of his father in 1713, Frederick William became King of Prussia, thus making young Frederick the crown prince. The new king wished for his sons and daughters to be educated not as royalty and he had been educated by a Frenchwoman, Madame de Montbail, who later became Madame de Rocoulle, and he wished that she educate his children. However, he possessed a violent temper and ruled Brandenburg-Prussia with absolute authority. As Frederick grew, his preference for music, literature and French culture clashed with his fathers militarism, in contrast, Fredericks mother Sophia was polite, charismatic and learned. Her father, George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg, succeeded to the British throne as King George I in 1714, Frederick was brought up by Huguenot governesses and tutors and learned French and German simultaneously. Although Frederick William I was raised a Calvinist, he feared he was not of the elect, to avoid the possibility of Frederick being motivated by the same concerns, the king ordered that his heir not be taught about predestination
11.
Cavalry
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Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the most mobile of the combat arms, an individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations such as cavalryman, horseman, dragoon or trooper. The designation of cavalry was not usually given to any military forces that used animals, such as camels. Cavalry had the advantage of improved mobility, and a man fighting from horseback also had the advantages of greater height, speed, another element of horse mounted warfare is the psychological impact a mounted soldier can inflict on an opponent. In Europe cavalry became increasingly armoured, and eventually became known for the mounted knights, in the period between the World Wars, many cavalry units were converted into motorized infantry and mechanized infantry units, or reformed as tank troops. Most cavalry units that are horse-mounted in modern armies serve in purely ceremonial roles, modern usage of the term generally refers to specialist units equipped with tanks or aircraft. The shock role, traditionally filled by heavy cavalry, is filled by units with the armored designation. Before the Iron Age, the role of cavalry on the battlefield was largely performed by light chariots, the chariot originated with the Sintashta-Petrovka culture in Central Asia and spread by nomadic or semi-nomadic Indo-Iranians. The power of mobility given by mounted units was recognized early on, Cavalry techniques were an innovation of equestrian nomads of the Central Asian and Iranian steppe and pastoralist tribes such as the Persian Parthians and Sarmatians. The photograph above left shows Assyrian cavalry from reliefs of 865–860 BC, at this time, the men had no spurs, saddles, saddle cloths, or stirrups. Fighting from the back of a horse was more difficult than mere riding. The cavalry acted in pairs, the reins of the archer were controlled by his neighbours hand. Even at this time, cavalry used swords, shields. The sculpture implies two types of cavalry, but this might be a simplification by the artist, Later images of Assyrian cavalry show saddle cloths as primitive saddles, allowing each archer to control his own horse. As early as 490 BC a breed of horses was bred in the Nisaean plain in Media to carry men with increasing amounts of armour. However, chariots remained in use for purposes such as carrying the victorious general in a Roman triumph. The southern Britons met Julius Caesar with chariots in 55 and 54 BC, the last mention of chariot use in battle was by the Caledonians at the Mons Graupius, in 84 AD. During the classical Greek period cavalry were usually limited to citizens who could afford expensive war-horses
12.
Duchy of Prussia
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The Duchy of Prussia or Ducal Prussia was a duchy in eastern Prussia established during the Protestant Reformation in 1525. It was the first Lutheran duchy with a dominant German-speaking population, as well as Polish, in old texts and in Latin, the term Prutenia refers alike to Ducal Prussia, its western neighbor Royal Prussia, and their common predecessor, Teutonic Prussia. The adjectival form of the name was Prutenic, in 1525 during the Protestant Reformation, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Albert, secularized the orders Prussian territory, becoming Albert, Duke of Prussia. His duchy, which had its capital in Königsberg, was established as fief of the Crown of Poland and it was inherited by the Hohenzollern prince-electors of Brandenburg in 1618, this personal union is referred to as Brandenburg-Prussia. Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg, achieved full sovereignty over the territory in the 1657 Treaty of Wehlau, the Duchy of Prussia was elevated to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. In a deal brokered by Luther, Ducal Prussia became the first Protestant state. When Albert returned to Königsberg, he declared his conversion. On 10 December 1525, at their session in Königsberg, the Prussian estates established the Lutheran Church in Ducal Prussia by deciding the Church Order. By the end of Alberts rule, the offices of Großkomtur and Ordensmarschall had deliberately been left vacant, some of the knights converted to Lutheranism in order to retain their property and then married into the Prussian nobility, while others returned to the Holy Roman Empire and remained Catholic. On 1 March 1526 Albert married Princess Dorothea, daughter of King Frederick I of Denmark, Albert was greatly aided by his elder brother George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, who had already earlier established the Protestant religion in his territories of Franconia and Upper Silesia. Albert also found himself reliant on support from his Jagiellonian uncle Sigismund I of Catholic Poland, as the Holy Roman Empire, the Teutonic Order had only superficially carried out its mission to Christianize the native rural population and had erected few churches within the states territory. There was little longing for Roman Catholicism, Bishop George of Polentz had forbidden the widespread forms of pagan worship in 1524, and repeated the ban in 1540. Already on 18 January 1524 Bishop George had ordered to use native languages at baptisms. There was little resistance to the new creed, although the fact that the Teutonic Knights had brought Catholicism and Protestantism made the transition easier. The Church Order of 1525 provided for visitations of the parishioners and pastors, because Ducal Prussia was ostensibly a Lutheran land, authorities travelled throughout the duchy ensuring that Lutheran teachings were being followed and imposing penalties on pagans and dissidents. The rural population of native descent was only thoroughly Christianised starting with the Reformation in Prussia, a peasant rebellion broke out in Sambia in 1525. The combination of taxation by the nobility, the furor of the Protestant Reformation, the relatively well-to-do rebel leaders, including a miller from Kaimen and an innkeeper from Schaaken in Prussia, were supported by sympathizers in Königsberg. The rebels demanded the elimination of taxes by the nobility
13.
Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
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Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau from 1693 to 1747. He was also a Generalfeldmarschall in the Prussian army, nicknamed the Old Dessauer, he possessed good abilities as a field commander, but was mainly remembered as a talented drillmaster who modernized the Prussian infantry. Elected by Frederick I to the rank of marshal in 1712. He was later appointed the commander of the Prussian-Saxon army during the Great Northern War against Sweden, Leopold was a personal friend of Frederick William I. The last great achievement of his career was commanding the Prussian troops to victory over the Saxons at the Battle of Kesselsdorf in 1745 during the Second Silesian War. Leopold was born in Dessau as the ninth of ten children of John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, by his wife Henriette Catherine, daughter of Frederick Henry, an older brother had died well before Leopold was born. From his earliest youth he devoted himself to military pursuits, for which he educated himself both physically and mentally, Leopolds first campaign was that of 1695 in the Netherlands, in which he was present at the Siege of Namur. He remained in the field to the end of the war of 1697, the affairs of the principality being managed chiefly by his mother, Leopolds career as a soldier in important commands began with the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701. In the campaign of 1704 the Prussian contingent served first under Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, then Prince Eugene of Savoy, in 1705 Leopold was sent with a Prussian corps to join Prince Eugene in Italy, and on 6 August fought at the Battle of Cassano. In the Battle of Turin, he was the first to enter the hostile entrenchments and he served in one more campaign in Italy, and then served under Eugene to join Marlborough in the Netherlands, being present in 1709 at the siege of Tournai and the Battle of Malplaquet. Shortly before this he had executed a coup de main on the castle of Mors, the operation was effected with absolute precision and the castle was seized without a shot being fired. In the earlier part of the reign of Frederick William I, although Prussia was hostile to Sweden, the Prussians were reluctant to participate in the Great Northern War. Only after the Russians destroyed most of the Swedish army did Prussia enter the war in 1715, in peacetime, and especially after a court quarrel and duel with General Friedrich Wilhelm von Grumbkow in 1725, he devoted himself to the training of the Prussian army. Leopolds outstanding achievement just before time was his training of the Prussian infantry. The prince himself was not often employed in the kings own army, the king, indeed, found Leopold somewhat difficult to manage, and the prince spent most of the campaigning years up to 1745 in command of an army of observation on the Saxon frontier. Early in that year his wife died, Leopold was now over seventy, but his last campaign was destined to be the most successful of his long career. A combined effort of the Austrians and Saxons to retrieve the disasters of the summer by a campaign towards Berlin itself led to a hurried concentration of the Prussians. Frederick from Silesia checked the Austrian main army and hastened towards Dresden, but before Frederick arrived, Leopold had decided the war by means of his overwhelming victory over Saxons at Kesselsdorf on 14 December 1745
14.
War of the Spanish Succession
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The War of the Spanish Succession was a major European conflict of the early 18th century, triggered by the death in 1700 of the last Habsburg King of Spain, the infirm and childless Charles II. Charles II had ruled over a vast global empire, and the question of who would succeed him had long troubled the governments of Europe, the English, the Dutch and the Austrians formally declared war in May 1702. By 1708, the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy had secured victory in the Spanish Netherlands and in Italy, France faced invasion and ruin, but Allied unity broke first. With the Grand Alliance defeated in Spain and with its casualties mounting and aims diverging, French and British ministers prepared the groundwork for a peace conference, and in 1712 Britain ceased combat operations. The Dutch, Austrians, and German states fought on to strengthen their own negotiating position, the Treaty of Utrecht and the Treaty of Rastatt partitioned the Spanish empire between the major and minor powers. The European balance of power was assured, in the late 1690s the declining health of King Charles II of Spain brought to a head the problem of his succession, a problem which had underlain much of European diplomacy for several decades. The empire was in decline, but remained the largest of the European overseas empires, unlike the French crown, the Spanish crowns could all be inherited by, or through, a female in default of a male line. The next in line after Charles II, therefore, were his two sisters, Maria Theresa, the elder, and Margaret Theresa, the younger, Maria Theresa had married Louis XIV in 1660 and by him she had a son, Louis, Dauphin of France. The testament of her father, Philip IV, reiterated this waiver and bequeathed the reversion of the whole of the Spanish dominions to his younger daughter, Margaret Theresa. However the French, using in part the excuse that the dowry promised Maria Theresa was never paid, nor was it clear whether a princess could waive the rights of her unborn children. Leopold I married Margaret Theresa in 1666, at her death in 1673 she left one living heir, Maria Antonia, who in 1685 married Max Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. Shortly before her death in 1692, she gave birth to a son, if he chose, Louis XIV could attempt to assert his will on Spain by force of arms, but the Nine Years War had been an immense drain on Frances resources. To seek a solution and gain support, Louis XIV turned to his long-standing rival William of Orange. England and the Dutch Republic had their own commercial, strategic and political interests within the Spanish empire, however, the Maritime Powers were in a weakened state and both had reduced their forces at the conclusion of the Nine Years War. Louis XIV and William III, therefore, sought to solve the problem of the Spanish inheritance through negotiation, based on the principle of partition, to take effect after the death of Charles II. However, the bulk of the empire – most of peninsular Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, Sardinia, the Spanish Empire was now divided between the three surviving candidates. By this new treaty Archduke Charles would receive most of Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, Sardinia, and the overseas empire. For Leopold I, however, control of Spain and its empire was less important than Italy
15.
Holy Roman Emperor
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The Holy Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. From an autocracy in Carolingian times the title evolved into an elected monarchy chosen by the Prince-electors, until the Reformation the Emperor elect was required to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the imperial title. The title was held in conjunction with the rule of the Kingdom of Germany, in theory, the Holy Roman Emperor was primus inter pares among the other Catholic monarchs, in practice, a Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances made him. Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, effectively became hereditary holders of the title, after the Reformation many of the subject states and most of those in Germany were Protestant while the Emperor continued to be Catholic. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by the last Emperor as a result of the collapse of the polity during the Napoleonic wars, from the time of Constantine I the Roman emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity. In the west, the title of Emperor was revived in 800, as the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages, popes and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The best-known and most bitter conflict was known as the Investiture Controversy. After Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, no pope appointed an emperor again until the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. Under Otto and his successors, much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, the various German princes elected one of their peers as King of the Germans, after which he would be crowned as emperor by the Pope. After Charles Vs coronation, all succeeding emperors were called elected Emperor due to the lack of papal coronation, the term sacrum in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa. Charles V was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope, the final Holy Roman Emperor-elect, Francis II, abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empires final dissolution. The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was August Emperor of the Romans, the word Holy had never been used as part of that title in official documents. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman Emperor on one hand, the English term Holy Roman Emperor is a modern shorthand for emperor of the Holy Roman Empire not corresponding to the historical style or title. Successions to the kingship were controlled by a variety of complicated factors, elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of France, although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The Electoral council was set at seven princes by the Golden Bull of 1356, another elector was added in 1690, and the whole college was reshuffled in 1803, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire. After 1438, the Kings remained in the house of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine, with the exception of Charles VII. Maximilian I and his successors no longer travelled to Rome to be crowned as Emperor by the Pope, Maximilian therefore named himself Elected Roman Emperor in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors, of his successors only Charles V, the immediate one, received a papal coronation
16.
Rittmeister
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Rittmeister was a military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia, and some other countries. He was typically in charge of a squadron, and was the equivalent of a Hauptmann-rank, the Norwegian equivalent, rittmester, still serves as the official designation for officers in the armoured and mechanized infantry branches of the Norwegian Army. In Sweden the rank was known as ryttmästare, and in Denmark as ritmester, the armies of Poland, Finland, Lithuania and Russia adopted, but localised, the Germanic term for someone of similar rank. These were, Polish, rotmistrz, Finnish, ratsumestari, Lithuanian, rotmistras, Russian, in the Polish army a rotmistrz commanded a formation called a rota. However, a rotmistrz of hussars was a commander of between 100 and 180 hussars, with a lieutenant of hussars as his second-in-command, in the cavalry the rank continued until 1945 as a company level title. Applied to the commander of a troop, it was equivalent of a modern-day captain, the rank was also adopted by Russian New Regiments as rotmistr and later formalized in Table of Ranks as the cavalry post, until 1798, a lower-ranking shtabs-rotmistr also existed. In British and Commonwealth military forces, a Riding Master is an appointment, in the Household Cavalry Regiment a suitable Warrant Officer within the ranks of Riding Instructors is commissioned from the ranks
17.
Major
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Major is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicators, major is one rank senior to that of an army captain and it is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks. Majors are typically assigned as specialised executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers, in some militaries, notably France and Ireland, the rank of major is referred to as commandant, while in others it is known as captain-major. The rank of major is used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures, such as the Pennsylvania State Police, New York State Police, New Jersey State Police. As a police rank, major roughly corresponds to the UK rank of superintendent, the term major can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band such as in pipe-major or drum-major. Historically, the rank designation develops in English in the 1640s, taken from French majeur, in turn a shortening of sergent-majeur, which at the time designated a higher rank than at present
18.
Dragoon
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The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, in most armies, dragoons came to signify ordinary medium cavalry. Dragoon regiments were established in most European armies during the late 17th, the name is derived from a type of firearm, called a dragon, which was a handgun version of a blunderbuss, carried by dragoons of the French Army. The title has been retained in modern times by a number of armoured or ceremonial mounted regiments, the establishment of dragoons evolved from the practice of sometimes transporting infantry by horse when speed of movement was needed. In 1552 Prince Alexander of Parma mounted several companies of infantry on horses to achieve surprise. Another early instance was ordered by Louis of Nassau in 1572 during operations near Mons in Hainaut and it is also suggested the first dragoons were raised by the Marshal de Brissac in 1600. According to old German literature, dragoons were invented by Count Ernst von Mansfeld, one of the greatest German military commanders, there are other instances of mounted infantry predating this. However Mansfeld, who had learned his profession in Hungary and the Netherlands, often used horses to make his troops more mobile. The name possibly derives from a weapon, a short wheellock called a dragon because the first dragoons raised in France had their carbines muzzle decorated with a dragons head. The practice comes from a time when all gunpowder weapons had distinctive names, including the culverin, serpentine, falcon, falconet and it is also sometimes claimed a galloping infantryman with his loose coat and the burning match resembled a dragon. It has also suggested that the name derives from the German tragen or the Dutch dragen. Howard Reid claims that the name and role descend from the Latin Draconarius, Dragoon is occasionally used to mean to subjugate or persecute by the imposition of troops, and by extension to compel by any violent measures or threats. Early dragoons were not organized in squadrons or troops as were cavalry, Dragoon regiments used drummers, not buglers, to communicate orders on the battlefield. Supplied with inferior horses and more equipment, the dragoon regiments were cheaper to recruit. When in the 17th century Gustav II Adolf introduced dragoons into the Swedish Army, he provided them with a sabre, an axe, many of the European armies henceforth imitated this all-purpose set of weaponry. In the Spanish Army, Pedro de la Puente organized a body of dragoons in Innsbruck in 1635, in 1640, a tercio of a thousand dragoons armed with the arquebus was created in Spain. By the end of the 17th century, the Spanish Army had three tercios of dragoons in Spain, plus three in the Netherlands and three more in Milan, in 1704, the Spanish dragoons were reorganised into regiments by Philip V, as were the rest of the tercios. Towards the end of 1776, George Washington realized the need for a branch of the American military
19.
Oberstleutnant
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For the use of this rank in other countries, see Lieutenant colonel. Oberstleutnant is a German Army and German Air Force rank equal to lieutenant colonel, above Major, see also ⇒ Artikle, Ranks of the German Bundeswehr ⇒ Artikle, Rank insignia of the German Bundeswehr There are two paygrade associated to the rank of Oberstleutnant. Paygrade A14 is the standard level paygrade whereas A15 is assigned to senior Oberstleutnant personnel, Oberstleutnant of the General Staff or Reserve have the words im Generalstabsdienst, der Reserve after their rank—thus, OTL i. G. Oberstleutnant who are retired are described as außer Dienst During World War II. On the shoulder there are two silver pips in silver oak leaves. Comparative military ranks of World War I Comparative military ranks of World War II
20.
Oberst
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Oberst is a military rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway, the Swedish rank överste is a direct translation, as are the Finnish rank eversti and the Icelandic rank ofursti. In the Netherlands the rank overste is used as a synonym for a lieutenant colonel, Oberst is the highest staff officer rank in the German Army, German Air Force. On the shoulder there are three silver pips in silver oak leaves. Spelled with a capital O, Oberst is a noun and defines the military rank of colonel or group captain. Spelled with a lower case o, or oberst, it is an adjective, meaning top, topmost, uppermost, highest, chief, head, first, principal, both usages derive from the superlative of ober, the upper or the uppermost. As a family name, Oberst is common in the southwest of Germany, the name is also concentrated in the north-central cantons of Switzerland. Here the Swiss version of Oberst is spelled Obrist, the name first appeared in the thirteenth century in the German-Swiss border area, and early forms were Zoberist and Oberist. The name most likely refers to the tribe that lives the highest on the mountain or the family that lives the highest in the village, with the emergence of professional armies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, an Oberst became the commander of regiment or battalion-sized formations. By the eighteenth century, Obersten were typically afforded aides or lieutenants and this led to formation of the modern German rank of the same name, translated as lieutenant colonel. Oberst was used in the militaries of Germany and Austria during both World Wars, Oberst was also used as the prefix of the now obsolete SS rank of Oberstgruppenführer. The SS Standartenführer was equivalent to an Oberst, a colonel general during the World Wars was called Generaloberst. Again, rather than literally meaning colonel general, its more accurate translation is supreme general as it was normally the highest peacetime military rank, the rank of Oberst is known in American cinema, since several popular movies have featured characters holding the rank. Luftwaffe Colonel Klink of the television series Hogans Heroes was a caricature of such a character
21.
Cuirassier
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Cuirassiers were cavalry equipped with armour and firearms, first appearing in late 15th-century Europe. This French term means one with a cuirass, the armour which they wore. The first cuirassiers were produced as a result of armoured cavalry, such as the man-at-arms and demi-lancer, discarding their lances, in the later 17th century, the cuirassier lost his limb armour and subsequently employed only the cuirass, and sometimes a helmet. By this time, the sword was the weapon of the cuirassier. Cuirassiers achieved increased prominence during the Napoleonic Wars and were last fielded in the stages of World War I. Cuirassiers continue to be employed as ceremonial troops by a number of countries, the first cuirassiers were similar in appearance to the fully armoured Late Medieval man-at-arms. They wore three-quarter armour that covered the upper body as well as the front half of the legs down to the knee. The head was protected by a helm, burgonet or lobster-tailed pot helmet. The torso was protected by a breast and back plate, sometimes reinforced by a placate, the arms and shoulders were fully armoured with pauldrons, rerebraces, elbow couters and vambraces. Armoured gauntlets were often abandoned, particularly for the right hand, long tassets, instead of a combination of short tassets with cuisses, protected the front of the thighs and knees, Riding boots were substituted for lower leg armour. Weapons included a pair of pistols in saddle holsters, sometimes a pick. The armour of a cuirassier was very expensive, in England, in 1629, during the latter half of the 16th century, the heavy knightly lance gradually fell out of use perhaps because of the widespread adoption of the infantry pike. Also, the lance required an amount of practice to perfect its use. The lancer or demi-lancer, when he had abandoned his lance, following some initial successes, this tactic proved to be extremely ineffective as infantry, with superior firearms and numbers could easily outgun the cuirassiers. The change from cavalry being reliant on firearms, to close combat cavalry reliant mainly on the sword was often attributed to Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in the 1620s and 1630s. Only two cuirassier regiments were raised during the English Civil War, the Lifeguard of the Earl of Essex, with the refinement of infantry firearms, especially the introduction of the powerful musket, the usefulness of the protection afforded by full armour became greatly lessened. By the mid 17th century, the fully armoured cuirassier was becoming increasingly anachronistic, the cuirassier lost his limb armour and entered the 18th century with just the breast and backplate. Cuirassiers played a prominent role in the armies of Austria, by the time of the French Revolutionary War, few heavy cavalry regiments, excepting those of Austria, wore the cuirass on campaign
22.
Generalmajor
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For the use of this Two-star rank in other countries, see Major general. Generalmajor, short GenMaj, is the third highest general officer rank in the German Army and this rank is also used in the Austrian Armed Forces, but is abbreviated as GenMjr. The rank is rated OF-7 in NATO, and is grade B7 in the pay rules of the Federal Ministry of Defence and it is equivalent to Konteradmiral in the German Navy or to Generalstabsarzt, and Admiralstabsarzt in the Zentraler Sanitätsdienst der Bundeswehr. On the shoulder there are two golden pips in golden oak leaves. Comparative military ranks of World War I Comparative military ranks of World War II
23.
Generalleutnant
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Generalleutnant, short GenLt, is the second highest general officer rank in the German Army, German Air Force. The rank is rated OF-8 in NATO, and is grade B7 in the pay rules of the Federal Ministry of Defence and it is equivalent to Vizeadmiral in the German Navy, or to Generaloberstabsarzt, and Admiraloberstabsarzt in the Zentraler Sanitätsdienst der Bundeswehr. On the shoulder there are three golden pips in golden oak leaves. Prior to 1945, Generalleutnant was the rank associated with the command of a division. It was thus the equivalent of the rank of general in English-speaking armies. Comparative military ranks of World War I Comparative military ranks of World War II
24.
Battle of Mollwitz
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The Battle of Mollwitz was fought by Prussia and Austria on 10 April 1741, during the early stages of the War of the Austrian Succession. It was the first battle of the new Prussian King Frederick II and this battle cemented his authority over the newly conquered territory of Silesia and gave him valuable military experience. After the accession of Maria Theresa of Austria to the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, Frederick II saw an opportunity to invade and he took Silesia by storm and occupied almost the entire province. Both Neipperg and Frederick rushed northwards in parallel columns, in a race to reach the city first, in atrocious weather, Neipperg reached Neisse first and set up camp there. Frederick II and his army were now caught behind enemy lines with a large Austrian force lying between him and the rest of his kingdom and his supply and communication lines cut off. Both sides knew that battle was now inevitable, there was very heavy snow on the ground which caused snow-blindness, and Frederick miscalculated the distance to the river on his right. He deployed several of his units behind a bend in the river where they could take no part in the battle and it is said that Schwerin commented early on that Frederick miscalculated the distance, but he was ignored. Neipperg was in a bad situation when he discovered Fredericks entire army on his doorstep by simply looking out of his window, not only were most of his soldiers still sleeping, but his entire army was facing to the north-west, away from the Prussians. The Austrian army was waking up, desperately rushing from its camp, by around 1 pm, both sides had formed lines of battle and were ready to engage. This left the Prussian flank open to attack, and the Austrian cavalry then turned on the unprotected infantry, abandoning the field, he was nearly caught and almost shot. Many historians believe that Schwerin advised Frederick to leave so that Schwerin could take command of the troops himself, the leader of the Austrian cavalry, General Römer, received a fatal shot to his head from a Prussian musket ball. With the leaders of both dead, an officer asked Schwerin where they should retreat to. Schwerin famously replied, Well retreat over the bodies of our enemies, a second Austrian cavalry attack on the left side was beaten back and Schwerin ordered a general advance of all Prussian forces. The Prussian infantry soon engaged the Austrian battle line and they were some of the most well-drilled infantry of the period, and could fire 4-5 shots a minute with their flintlock muskets, seriously outgunning their opponents. Soon the Austrians were routed from the field and Frederick the Great stood victorious, the victory was due to Field Marshal Schwerin. The Prussian king had fled from the battlefield when the Austrians seemed to be winning, Frederick the Great later swore never again to leave his troops behind in battle, and he kept this promise faithfully until his death in the late 18th century. He annexed the province of Silesia from Austria and learned a number of lessons from Mollwitz. He is quoted as saying, Mollwitz was my school, Frederick had made several mistakes but his army still won the battle due to their superior training
25.
Wilhelm Dietrich von Buddenbrock
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Wilhelm Dietrich Freiherr von Buddenbrock was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall and cavalry leader. Buddenbrock was born on 15 March 1672 to Elisabeth Sophia von Rappe and his family, Westphalian in origin, had settled in the Livonian Confederation in 1318 and in Ducal Prussia in 1622. After studying at the Albertina University of Königsberg for three years, Buddenbrock enlisted in the Prussian Army and campaigned in the Netherlands in 1690, as an 18-year-old cornet in an Anhalt cuirassier regiment, Buddenbrock fought in the Battle of Fleurus. His regiment participated in the battles of the War of the Spanish Succession. He was promoted to Oberst of the 1st Prussian Cuirassier Regiment on 18 July 1724, Buddenbrock was accepted into King Frederick William I of Prussias retinue in 1729, and was awarded the Order of the Black Eagle in 1739. A member of the so-called Tobacco Ministry, Buddenbrock was one of Frederick Williams companions when the king was on his deathbed, Frederick also granted Buddenbrock a district captaincy and a pay increment. On 19 March 1745, Buddenbrock was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall, Buddenbrock died at the age of 85 while Governor of Breslau. Regarding personal names, Freiherr was a title before 1919, before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given. Since 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix, can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting. The feminine forms are Freifrau and Freiin, Johann Wilhelm Dietrich von Buddenbrock who died in the Battle of Chotusitz, Anna Sophia Agnes von Lehwaldt, Karl Friedrich Frhr. Engelmann, Joachim, Friedrich der Große und seine Generale, Friedberg 1988, Wilhelm Dietrich von Buddenbrock at Geni. com
26.
Battle of Hohenfriedberg
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The Battle of Hohenfriedberg or Hohenfriedeberg, now Dobromierz, also known as the battle of Striegau, now Strzegom, was one of Frederick the Greats most admired victories. Fredericks Prussian army decisively defeated an Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine on 4 June 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession, austria sought to regain Silesia, which had been lost to Prussia in the Battle of Mollwitz. An Austrian army of about 62,500, including allied Saxon troops marched to Silesia, the commander was Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, brother-in-law of Empress Maria Theresa. Johann Adolf II, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels commanded the Saxons, Frederick had a very low opinion of his counterpart, saying of Prince Charles Alexander that there will be some stupid mistakes. In fact, Frederick was counting on Charles entering Silesia by crossing the Riesengebirge, if he did, Frederick intended to attack the Austrian army and crush it in one decisive blow. Hans Joachim von Zietens Zieten-Hussars shadowed the Austrian army, keeping Frederick informed of their movements, when the Prince finally did cross in early June, Frederick saw his opportunity to attack. The Austrian army marched some 50 km northeast from the Riesengebirge to Striegau and they encamped near Striegau, with the Saxons just northwest of the town at Pilgrimshain and the Austrians spreading out west and south to the village of Hohenfriedberg. Their front was covered by the Striegau River, which ran north, the Prussian army was camped south of the town. Prussian scouts located the Austro-Saxon forces, Frederick decided to march north with his whole force, right in front of the Austrians, cross the Striegau by a bridge just west of town, and attack the Saxons first. With the Saxons routed, Frederick would then roll up the Austrian line from east to west and he also decided to march by night, concealing his movement, and thus surprise the Saxons. One of Fredericks generals, Richard de Moulin led the march, to achieve surprise, Frederick ordered his troops to leave their campfires burning and tents pitched, and forbade them to talk or smoke during the march. There was not enough space for all of the Prussian troops on the designated route, a bottleneck soon developed at the bridge over the Striegau, so only limited forces were able to make it over. The first Prussian objective was two hills in front of the Saxon lines, the Saxon army had occupied these two hills the previous day with a small force. The Prussian vanguard encountered this force, the resulting clash alerted the Saxons, de Moulin decided to bypass the hills and strike right at the Saxon camp before the Saxons could deploy. The Prussian attack began at about 7,00 AM, some Saxon cavalry got out on the field, but the Prussian cavalry soon charged and routed them. The Prussian infantry then stormed the Saxon camp, defeating the few Saxon infantry that managed to deploy, the easterly wind, blowing smoke and dust into the Saxons faces, was also advantageous for the Prussians. The entire left half of the Austro-Saxon army was destroyed in the hours of the dawns light, by then the Austrians were alerted to the battle. From their camps further to the south and more protected by the river, the Prussians who had still not crossed the Striegau to the north wheeled to the west and advanced through river crossings wherever they could find them, finding enough fords to accomplish this
27.
Principality of Bayreuth
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The Principality of Bayreuth or Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth was an immediate territory of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty. The Kulmbach-Bayreuth principality arose from the uplands of the former Burgraviate of Nuremberg. Mountainous and densely wooded, most of the lands were of agricultural use, nevertheless mineral resources. Beside the residence Bayreuth, the separate Oberland and Unterland territories were administrated from Hof, the two principalities were once again united under the younger son, Frederick, after Johns death on 11 June 1420. At the Council of Constance in 1415, Emperor Sigismund vested Frederick with the title of an Elector of Brandenburg. Frederick finally sold his title to the citizens of the Imperial City of Nuremberg. Ansbach passed to the third son Albert Achilles, as John the Alchemist had no male heirs, he renounced his rights in 1457, whereupon Kulmbach-Bayreuth fell to his brother, Albert Achilles. When the eldest brother, the Brandenburg elector Frederick Irontooth abdicated in 1470, the rulers were commonly known as the Margraves of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Kulmbach-Bayreuth became part of the Franconian Circle in 1500, in 1552 he sparked the Second Margrave War against Nuremberg and the neighbouring Prince-bishoprics of Würzburg and Bamberg. His soaring plans to re-establish the medieval Duchy of Franconia under his rule ended with his utter defeat, with George Fredericks death in 1603, the elder Bayreuth line became extinct. He left his successor, Margrave Christian, younger son of the Brandenburg elector John George, in 1705 his son Prince George William founded the Ordre de la Sincerité, predecessor to the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle. A university was founded in 1742 and relocated to Erlangen the next year, on 2 December 1791, Charles Alexander signed a treaty with King Frederick William II of Prussia, whereby he ceded his principalities to the Prussian state against a lifelong annuity. He married socialite Elizabeth Craven and retired to life in England, while Bayreuth. Occupied by French troops during the War of the Fourth Coalition, Prussia had to cede Bayreuth according to the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit
28.
Battle of Kesselsdorf
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The Prussians were led by Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, while the Austrians and Saxons were led by Field Marshal Rutowsky. The Prussians were victorious over the Royal Saxon Army and the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor. Two Prussian columns, one led by Frederick, the second by the Leopold the Old Dessauer were converging on Dresden, the capital of Saxony, interposed between Leopold and Dresden was Rutowsky with an army of Saxons. Rapidly marching towards Dresden and Rutowsky was prince Charles who hoped to be able to reinforce both, Leopold moved slowly and deliberately forward entering Saxon territory on 29 November and advanced on Rutowsky at Leipzig, whereupon Rutowsky retired towards Dresden. By 12 December, Leopold reached Meissen and joined with a corps under Lehwaldt, the Saxons deployed along a ridge that ran from Kesselsdorf to the river Elbe and that was fronted by a stream and marshy ground. The 7,000 Austrians under Grünne formed on the right near the Elbe, the line was long and there was a considerable gap in its center between the Saxons and the Austrians. On the fifteenth, Leopold finally came up, there was much snow and ice on the field. The Prussians were slightly outnumbered 35,000 to 32,000, additionally, the Saxons and Austrians had the advantage of the ground. The Saxons had the town defended with twenty-four heavy cannons, their engineers and carpenters enhancing its defensibility, a second, reinforced attack was made and this too failed with the Prussians fleeing in disorder. The Prussians had suffered some 1,500 casualties from the forces of 3,500. The shock of the charge sent the Saxons tumbling back and through their position in Kesselsdorf. At this same time, Leopolds son, Prince Moritz, personally led a regiment which broke through the Saxon center. The regiment, although isolated, held its ground while other Prussian regiments attempted but failed to link up with it due to the stubbornness of the Saxon defence. Eventually, Leopolds success in taking Kesselsdorf bore fruit and the Saxon flank was turned causing the Saxon line to collapse and their army to flee at nightfall. During the battle, the Austrians on the right never fired a shot, while Charles, the Saxons fled in a wild panic into Dresden. There, despite the presence of Charles and his army of 18,000, Leopold then linked up his forces with those of Frederick, who was so delighted by the victory that he embraced Leopold personally. The Saxons then abandoned Dresden, which Fredrick and Leopold occupied on the eighteenth after demanding its unconditional surrender, annals of the wars of the eighteenth century. Flags through the ages and across the world, the Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough
29.
Battle of Lobositz
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The Battle of Lobositz or Lovosice also Lowositz on 1 October 1756 was the opening land battle of the Seven Years War. Being a believer in the strike, on 29 August 1756 Frederick invaded Saxony with the bulk of the Prussian army. Neither the Saxon nor the Austrian army was ready for war, the Saxon army took up a strong defensive position near Pirna, and Frederick had no option but to isolate and try to starve them into surrendering. An Austrian army under Field Marshal von Browne had prepared a base at Budin to block any Prussian moves out of the Mittel-Gebirge. On the 28th, Browne received an agreement from Bruhl on his proposal. Meanwhile, Frederick and his 28,000 men were making their way through the Mittel-Gebirge toward the Bohemian plain. Brownes intelligence told him that the Prussians would exit from the mountains at Lobositz, modern day Lovosice in the Czech Republic a few miles northwest of his fortified base at Budin. He recalled his small force up the Elbe and raced with 33,000 men up to Lobositz on the 28th to lay an ambush for Frederick as he debouched from the narrow passes of the mountains. The Austrian army took up positions on an extinct volcano above Lobositz. These, in turn, were supported by 7,800 regular infantry under Franz Moritz von Lacy, in front of the town Browne set up a relatively small force of cavalry and grenadier battalions as bait. Behind these, and hidden by a road, he positioned more Croats and grenadiers in ambush. On the south Browne hid the bulk of his army on the side of a marsh defined by the Morellenbach. He had his battalions lie down in the grass and hid his heavy cavalry squadrons behind the woods of a game preserve next to the village of Sullowitz. In this village he also placed some battalions of infantry and artillery, most of his army was hidden from Prussian view by morning mist and terrain. On the morning of 1 October, in fog, Fredericks Prussians approached Lobositz in column of route. They were completely unaware that they were walking into a trap, the Austrians Croatian irregulars on the Lobosch began to fire at them and Frederick dispatched Duke of Brunswick-Bevern with seven battalions of infantry to brush them off. The center of the Prussian position between the two mountains, the Lobosch to the north and the Ovcin to the south, was dominated by a low spur called the Homolka. The few Croats defending this were chased away and the Prussians unlimbered a battery of artillery on it
30.
Frederick William IV of Prussia
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Frederick William IV, the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 1840 to 1861. In politics, he was a conservative, and in 1849 rejected the title of Emperor of the Germans offered by the Frankfurt Parliament as not the Parliaments to give, in 1857, he suffered a stroke and was left incapacitated until his death. Born to Frederick William III by his wife Queen Louise, he was the favourite son. Frederick William was educated by tutors, many of whom were experienced civil servants. He also gained experience by serving in the Prussian Army during the War of Liberation against Napoleon in 1814. In 1823 he married Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria, since she was a Roman Catholic, the preparations for this marriage included difficult negotiations which ended with her conversion to Lutheranism. There were two wedding ceremonies—one in Munich, and another in Berlin, the couple had a very harmonious marriage, but childless. Frederick William opposed the idea of a unified German state, believing that Austria was divinely ordained to rule over Germany, Frederick William became King of Prussia on the death of his father in 1840. Through a personal union, he became the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel. In 1842, he gave his fathers menagerie at Pfaueninsel to the new Berlin Zoo, despite being a devout Lutheran, his Romantic leanings led him to settle the Cologne church conflict by releasing the imprisoned Clemens August von Droste-Vischering, the Archbishop of Cologne. He also patronized further construction of Cologne Cathedral, Cologne having become part of Prussia in 1815, in 1844, he attended the celebrations marking the completion of the cathedral, becoming the first king of Prussia to enter a Roman Catholic building. He committed himself to German unification, formed a government, convened a national assembly. Once his position was more secure again, however, he quickly had the army reoccupy Berlin and in December dissolved the assembly, therefore, Frederick William would only accept the imperial crown after being elected by the German princes, as per the former empires ancient customs. In the kings eyes, only a reconstituted College of Electors could possess such authority, with the failed attempt by the Frankfurt Parliament to include the Habsburgs into a newly unified German Empire, the Parliament turned to Prussia. Seeing Austrian ambivalence towards Prussia taking a powerful role in German affairs. All German states, excluding those of the Habsburgs, would be unified under Hohenzollern authority, the German Confederation remained the common government of German Europe. The lower house was elected by all taxpayers, but in a system based on the amount of taxes paid. This constitution remained in effect until the dissolution of the Prussian kingdom in 1918, Frederick William IV is buried with his wife in the crypt underneath the Church of Peace in the park of Sanssouci, at Potsdam
31.
Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great
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The equestrian statue of Frederick the Great is an outdoor sculpture in cast bronze at the east end of Unter den Linden in Berlin, honouring King Frederick II of Prussia. It was designed in 1839 by Christian Daniel Rauch and unveiled in 1851, after German reunification the monument was moved back to its original location and restored. It is a monument of the City of Berlin. The monument is 13.5 metres tall, the statue itself being 5.66 metres high on an unusually tall pedestal,7. The statue stands at the east end of Unter den Linden and it is enclosed by a low wrought-iron fence, which was recreated when the monument was restored and replaced in its original position. Frederick William III commissioned the monument from Christian Daniel Rauch in 1839 and it is one of Rauchs best known works, and influenced other monuments erected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During World War II, the monument was encased in concrete for protection, in May 1950, the East German Magistrat decided to remove it to the park at the palace of Sanssouci in Potsdam. Metal thieves damaged it after the protective casing was removed, and it was dismantled, after being stored in pieces and at one point almost melted down, by 1962 the monument had been re-erected in the hippodrome at Charlottenhof Palace. In the 1980s, the East German government changed its politics of memory, western Germany saw a similar return of a more positive view on Prussia with the Berlin exhibition Preußen – Versuch einer Bilanz. After having paint thrown at it during a protest against the Bundeswehr, it was restored once more in 2006, johann Gottfried Schadow, who was Rauchs teacher and had received many commissions under the previous king, Frederick William II, had expected to carry out this commission. Already in 1821–22 he had made a bronze of Frederick the Great with two greyhounds, which is at Sanssouci. He also created a statue of Frederick for the city of Stettin, now lost. In 1865 two students of Rauchs, Aloisio Lazzerini and Carlo Baratta, made an approximately half-size copy in marble of Rauchs equestrian statue, list of equestrian statues in Germany Statue of Frederick the Great Names inscribed on the Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great Jutta von Simson. Das Berliner Denkmal für Friedrich den Großen, die Entwürfe als Spiegelung des preußischen Selbstverständnisses. Frankfurt/Berlin, Ullstein/Propyläen,1976, ISBN 3-549-06619-8 Frank Pieter Hesse, beiträge zur Denkmalpflege in Berlin 17. Schelzky & Jeep,2001, ISBN 978-3-89541-158-8 Wieland Giebel
32.
Province of Silesia
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As a Prussian province, Silesia became part of the German Empire during the Prussian-led unification of Germany in 1871. The territory on both sides of the Oder river formed the part of the Prussian kingdom. It furthermore included the part of Upper Lusatia around Görlitz and Lauban. In the northeast, Upper Silesia bordered on remaining Congress Poland, the incorporated Upper Lusatian strip of land in the west touched the remaining territory of the Saxon kingdom. Immediately after the coronation of Maria Theresa as Bohemian queen regnant, King Frederick the Great of Prussia had invaded Silesia, attempts by Maria Theresa to regain the crown land in the Second Silesian War failed and she ultimately had to relinquish her claims by the Treaty of Dresden. As the lands had been part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1806, the character of the provinces eastern third, Upper Silesia, had been much lesser shaped by the medieval German Ostsiedlung. According to the census of 1905, about three-quarters of the Silesian inhabitants were German–speaking, the Upper Silesian Industrial Region was the second largest industrial agglomeration of the German Empire after the Ruhr area. Ethnic tensions rose on the eve of World War I, with politicians like Wojciech Korfanty separating from the Centre Party, after the war, the parts remaining in Weimar Germany were re-organized into the two provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia in 1919. Further, in 1920 the Hlučín Region was ceded to Czechoslovakia according to the Treaty of Versailles, after the Nazi Germany conquest of Poland in late 1939, the Province of Silesia was extended when a part of Poland was merged into that province. In 1941, the Province was divided again, the German-speaking population left or was expelled following World War II, though a minority remains. A smaller western part of the former Silesia Province lies within modern German states of Saxony, coats of arms of Upper Silesian towns while part of the Province of Silesia Administrative subdivision and population breakdown of the Province of Silesia in 1900/1900
33.
Carl Gotthard Langhans
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Carl Gotthard Langhans was a Prussian builder and architect. His works are among the earliest buildings in the German classicism movement and his best-known work is the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Langhans was born in Landeshut, Silesia and he was not educated as an architect. Through the intervention of the Count of Hatzfeld, he became known in the royal court in Berlin. As his first work in the service of the family, he built in 1766 the stairwell. His designs were used in the construction of the The Princely Pheasantry in Pszczyna-Poręba in southern Poland and he died at Grüneiche near Breslau. In 1771, Langhans married Anna Elisabeth Jaeckel, the daughter of a jurist in Breslau and she had five children, daughters Louise Amalie and Juliane Wilhelmine, a son, theater architect Carl Ferdinand as well as two other children, who died soon after birth. From 1782 he lived with his family in his in-laws house at Albrechtstraße 18 in Breslau, and in 1788, he moved to Berlin, where he lived at Charlottenstraße 48, at the corner of Behrensstraße. The fulfillment of this dream was not granted only to Goethe and Schinkel, but Langhans, too, was able to afford a trip in 1768 and 1769 thanks to the support of the Count of Hatzfeld. When he was assigned to be the leader of the Breslau war and dominion chamber, he visited the countries of England, Holland, Belgium
34.
Count
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Count or countess is a title in European countries for a noble of varying status, but historically deemed to convey an approximate rank intermediate between the highest and lowest titles of nobility. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning “companion”, the adjective form of the word is comital. The British and Irish equivalent is an earl, alternative names for the count rank in the nobility structure are used in other countries, such as Graf in Germany and Hakushaku during the Japanese Imperial era. In the Western Roman Empire, Count came to indicate generically a military commander, in the Eastern Roman Empire, from about the seventh century, count was a specific rank indicating the commander of two centuries. Military counts in the Late Empire and the Germanic successor kingdoms were often appointed by a dux, the position of comes was originally not hereditary. By virtue of their estates, many counts could pass the title to their heirs—but not always. For instance, in Piast Poland, the position of komes was not hereditary, the title had disappeared by the era of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the office had been replaced by others. Only after the Partitions of Poland did the title of count resurface in the title hrabia, in the United Kingdom, the equivalent Earl can also be used as a courtesy title for the eldest son of a duke or marquess. In Italy, by contrast, all the sons of certain counts were counts, in Sweden there is a distinction between counts created before and after 1809. All children in comital families elevated before 1809 are called count/countess, the following lists are originally based on a Glossary on Heraldica. org by Alexander Krischnig. The male form is followed by the female, and when available, apart from all these, a few unusual titles have been of comital rank, not necessarily to remain there. Dauphin was a comital title in southern France, used by the Dauphins of Vienne and Auvergne. The Dauphin was the lord of the province known as the région Dauphiné. Conde-Barão Count-Baron is a title used in Portugal, notably by D. Luís Lobo da Silveira, 7th Baron of Alvito. His palace in Lisbon still exists, located in a named after him. The German Graf and Dutch graaf stems from the Byzantine-Greek grapheus meaning he who calls a meeting together), the Ottoman military title of Serdar was used in Montenegro and Serbia as a lesser noble title with the equivalent rank of a Count. Since Louis VII, the highest precedence amongst the vassals of the French crown was enjoyed by those whose benefice or temporal fief was a pairie, i. e. In the eleventh century, conti like the Count of Savoy or the Norman Count of Apulia, were virtually sovereign lords of broad territories
35.
Integrated Authority File
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The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format
36.
Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
Kingdom of Prussia