PRUSSIA 55 devastated his country with fire and sword in 1432. Frederick II. (1440-'70) enlarged his possessions by purchases from neighboring states, but was unfortunate in his attempts to conquer Lusatia from Bohemia and Stettin from Pomerania. Albert Achilles (1470-'86) and John Cicero (1486-'99) contended energetically against the usurpations of the lords, and pro- moted industry, commerce, and science. The two younger brothers of the latter received the Franconian possessions of their father, and % founded the two branch lines of the house of Brandenburg, Anspach and Baireuth. Jo- achim I. Nestor (1499-1535) was noted as a scholar, and also as one of the most violent opponents of the reformation, and a persecu- tor of the Jews, of whom he had many burned at the stake or exiled. Joachim II. Hector (1535-'71) became a Protestant, secularized the bishoprics of Brandenburg, Havelberg, and Lebus, founded many educational or charitable institutions with the proceeds of the church property, and concluded a treaty of mutual in- heritance with the duke of Liegnitz in Silesia, which two centuries later became the founda- tion of the Prussian claims on Silesia. John George I. (1571-'98) expelled the Jews who had been readmitted by his predecessor, but invited the exiled Protestants from the Netherlands into his country, and by wise economy greatly improved the financial condition of his state. Joachim Frederick (1598-1608) acquired by marriage a claim on the duchy of Prussia, which his son John Sigismund (1608-' 19) per- manently united to the electorate of Branden- burg, having previously, after the death of the duke of Jiilich, acquired Oleves and other pos- sessions. Under the reign of George William (1619-'40), Brandenburg and Prussia suffered terribly from the thirty years' war. Having adopted a policy of neutrality, the elector was looked upon as an enemy by both contending parties. Prussia was ravaged by Swedes and Poles, Brandenburg by the imperial armies and those of the league, and during 12 years by the Swedes. From the lowest depth of misery and desolation the country was raised by the energy and wisdom of Frederick William, the Great Elector' (1640-'88). By marking out a vigorous and independent policy against France, Sweden, and Poland, and shrewdly taking advantage of dissensions among his enemies, he enlarged his dominions and obtained a posi- tion but little below that of the great powers of Europe. Of Prussia he made a sovereign duchy, severing its connection with Poland. At his death his possessions had increased to 42,000 sq. m. with 1,500,000 inhabitants. His son Frederick, the third elector of that name (1688-1713), by consent of the German emperor, assumed the title of king of Prussia, and was crowned as such Jan. 18, 1701. He acquired a few small territories, the princi- pality of Neufchatel in Switzerland among the rest. His son Frederick William I. (1713-'40) acquired from Sweden a part of Pomerania, with Stettin, increasing the area of the country to 48,000 sq. m. He left to his son Frederick II., the Great (l740-'86), $6,000,000 over and above all debts, and an army of 70,000 men, the best disciplined in all Europe. With these means Frederick began a war of conquest, and wrested Silesia from Austria. By a wise and prudent administration he strengthened and consolidated his kingdom, and elevated it to the rank of a great power by successfully re- sisting during a sanguinary war of seven years' duration (1756-'63) the combined aggressions of Austria, France, and Russia. In 1772 he took part in the first partition of Poland. To his successor he left a treasure of $50,000,000, an army of 220,000 men, and a territory of 77,000 sq. m. On his accession he had 2,240,000 subjects, and at his death the number exceeded 6,000,000. Frederick William II. (l786-'97), though his reign was weak, harmful, and oc- cupied by imprudent and unsuccessful wars in alliance with Austria against revolutionary France, failed to destroy the prestige of Prus- sia, and by participating in the second and third partitions of Poland added to his posses- sions 40,000 sq. m. Frederick William III. (1797-1840), by a weak and vacillating policy, isolated Prussia and encountered the wrath of Napoleon, who, after the ignominious defeat of the Prussian armies at Jena in 1806, reduced the kingdom to less than half its former area. For six years Prussia was cruelly oppressed by Napoleon, who did his utmost to reduce the kingdom to insignificance. But during this period the statesmen of Prussia laid the foun- dation of its subsequent greatness by unfet- tering labor and commerce, by granting muni- cipal self-government, and basing the military power of the state upon the people. After the downfall of Napoleon most of its former possessions were restored to Prussia, and in addition to them it acquired parts of the king- dom of Saxony and of Pomerania, Berg, Julich, and several valuable territories on the Rhine. The promise of a liberal constitution, given by the king to his people, was not kept. The political condition settled down into a sort of patriarchal despotism. The establishment of the Zollverein was the only wise and states- manlike measure during 25 years of peace. Frederick William IV. (1840-'61), who had great natural talents and scholarship, but was weak and pusillanimous, destroyed almost to- tally the moral prestige of Prussia, and threw away the opportunity, offered to him by the revolution of 1848, of becoming the head of a united German nation. For nearly 10 years under his reign the reactionary party held al- most absolute sway, though the state had been converted into a constitutional monarchy. In 1857 his mental faculties gave way, and his brother William was intrusted with the re- gency. Frederick William died Jan. 2, 1861, and was succeeded by the regent as William I. The accession of the new king, whose career had already shown him to be heartily devoted
