Königsberg is the historic German and Prussian name of the medieval city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussian settlement Twangste by the Teutonic Knights during the Baltic Crusades. It was named in honour of King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who led a campaign against the pagan Old Prussians, a Baltic tribe.
Königsberg Castle before World War I; demolished in 1968–1969 on Brezhnev's orders
The 14th-century Königsberg Cathedral
Prussian Homage: Albert of Brandenburg and his brothers pay homage for the Duchy of Prussia to King Sigismund I the Old of Poland, 1525 (painting by Jan Matejko, 1882).
Coronation of Frederick I of Prussia in 1701
Prussia was a German state located on most of the North European Plain, also occupying southern and eastern regions. It formed the German Empire when it united the German states in 1871. It was de facto dissolved by an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government to German Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932 and de jure by an Allied decree in 1947. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, expanding its size with the Prussian Army. Prussia, with its capital at Königsberg and then, when it became the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Berlin, decisively shaped the history of Germany.
Situation after the conquest in the late 13th century. Areas in purple under control of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights.
Prussian Homage by Jan Matejko. After admitting the dependence of Prussia to the Polish Crown, Albert of Prussia receives Ducal Prussia as a fief from King Sigismund I the Old of Poland in 1525.
The "Great Elector" and his wife
Frederick I, King in Prussia
