Prussian Dominions

Prussia is “not a country with an army, but an army with a country.” – French statesman Count Mirabeau

With a history dating back to the Teutonic Order of Knights, Prussia has long been associated with martial prowess and an often bellicose attitude. Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I recognized Frederick I as “King in Prussia” in 1700, partially as acknowledgement for his military support after the Thirty Years war. The kingdom would continue to use its well trained armies to gain territory through the 18th century, often at the expense of it’s neighbor, Austria.

Napoleon checked Prussian military hegemony, but troops under Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher played a valuable role at Waterloo, and Prussia was able to regain her lost territory at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. This map, published three years later, shows the extent of such claims along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea. Prussian dominions extend from borders with the German Confederation in the east to Russia in the West.

The map was originally designed by Scottish cartographer John Pinkerton. As part of the Edinburgh School of Cartography (which included the likes of John Cary and John Thomson), Pinkerton was responsible for creating some of the most highly detailed and precise atlas maps of the early 19th century.

Today, his maps are prized for their size, color, and wealth of information. This particular example was included in the American edition of Pinkerton’s Modern Atlas, published in Philadelphia by Thomas Dobson in 1818.