Prussia

PRUSSIA, a former German kingdom, now the largest, most populous and important State of the German Reich. It is bounded on the north by the Baltic, Mecklenburg, Denmark and the North sea, on the east by the frontiers of the republics of Lithuania and Poland, on the south by Czechoslovakia, the republic of Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria and Hesse, on the west by Alsace-Lorraine, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Nether lands. The republics of Oldenburg and Mecklenburg run like wedges from the coast into Prussian territory, and Brunswick and other small German States also form Prussian enclaves. With the exception of these enclaves, and of exclaves such as Hohenzollern and the province of East Prussia, the State of Prussia forms a tolerably compact mass of territory, and occupies almost the whole of northern Germany.

Physical Features.

The greater part of Prussia belongs to the great north European plain, and may be generally character ized as lowlands. The plain is much wider on the east, where only the southern margin of Prussia is mountainous, than on the west, where the Hanoverian hills approach to within less than Ioo m. of the sea. A line drawn from Dusseldorf through Halle to Breslau would, roughly speaking, divide the flat part of the country from the hilly districts. In the south-east, Prussia is separated from Czechoslovakia by the Sudetic chain, which be gins at the valley of the Oder and extends thence towards the north-west. This chain includes the Riesengebirge, with the highest mountain in Prussia (Schneekoppe), and subsides grad ually in the hills of Lusatia. The Harz mountains, however, be yond the Saxon plain, follow the same general direction and may be regarded as a detached continuation of the system. To the south of the Harz the Prussian frontier intersects the northern part of the Thuringian forest, which is also prolonged towards the north-west by the Weser Gebirge and the Teutoburger Wald. The south-west of Prussia is occupied by the plateau of the lower Rhine, including on the left bank the HunsrUck and the Eifel, and on the right the Taunus, the Westerwald and the Sauerland. Between the lower Rhenish and Thuringian systems are interposed the Vogelsberg, the Rhon and other hills belonging to the Triassic system of the upper Rhine. The Silesian moun

tains are composed chiefly of granite, gneiss and schists, while the Harz and the lower Rhenish plateau are mainly of Devonian and Silurian formation. To the north of the Sauerland is the important Carboniferous system of the Ruhr, and there are also extensive coalfields in Silesia; a considerable portion of the Silesian coalfield has, however, been ceded to Poland. With the exception of the Danube, Prussia is traversed by all the chief rivers of Germany, comprising almost the entire course of the Oder and the Weser (see also GERMANY).

Climate.

The climate of Prussia may be described as moder ate, and is generally healthy. The greatest contrasts of tem perature are found between the east and west, the mean annual temperature in the bleak and exposed provinces of the north-east being about 44° F, while that of the sheltered valley of the Rhine is 5° higher. In winter the respective means are 27° and 34° ; in summer the difference is not above 2° to 4°. The highest monthly average is about 66° in July. The rainfall in the lowlands is about 25 in. at Cologne, 23 in. at Berlin and 25.5 in. at Konigsberg, but in the east it diminishes inland to 19 in. or less. It is greater on the outstanding heights.

Area and Population.

The republic of Prussia is made up of the following provinces and divisions (Gebietsteile), viz., East Prussia, Brandenburg, Berlin, Pomerania, Border prov ince (Grenzmark Posen and West Prussia), Lower and Upper Silesia, Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Westphalia, Hessen Nassau, Rhine, Hohenzollern and Waldeck, with a total area of 113,048 sq.m. and a population (according to the 1933 census) of 39,906,929, excluding the Saar district but including Waldeck. The State of Waldeck was incorporated with Prussia, April 1, 1929. Prussian boundaries are subject to change from the inclusion of the territory of the adjacent Free States as these signify their desire for incorporation (Official German Information, Dec. 1928). The population is densest in the mining and manufacturing district of the Rhine, which is closely followed by Westphalia; next to these come Hessen-Nassau, Silesia and Saxony. In 1933 Prussia contained 33 towns, each with upwards of ioo,000 inhabitants.