This article lists foreign ministers of Prussia.
After the creation of the German Empire in 1871, the Imperial Chancellor was normally also Foreign Minister of Prussia. However, during the chancellorship of Prince Hohenlohe (1894–1900), the position was held by the State Secretaries for Foreign Affairs.
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg was a Prussian and later German statesman and diplomat. Bismarck's Realpolitik and powerful rule led to him being called the Iron Chancellor.
Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire and the House of Hohenzollern's 300-year reign in Prussia and 500-year reign in Brandenburg.
Maximilian, Margrave of Baden, also known as Max von Baden, was a German prince, general, and politician. He was heir presumptive to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Baden, and in October and November 1918 briefly served as the last chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia. He sued for peace on Germany's behalf at the end of World War I based on U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and took steps towards transforming the government into a parliamentary system. As the German Revolution of 1918–1919 spread, he handed over the office of chancellor to SPD Chairman Friedrich Ebert and unilaterally proclaimed the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II. Both events took place on 9 November 1918, marking the beginning of the Weimar Republic.
William I or Wilhelm I was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of a united Germany. He was de facto head of state of Prussia from 1858, when he became regent for his brother Frederick William IV. During the reign of his grandson Wilhelm II, he was known as Wilhelm the Great.
Frederick III or Friedrich III was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days between March and June 1888, during the Year of the Three Emperors. Known informally as "Fritz", he was the only son of Emperor Wilhelm I and was raised in his family's tradition of military service. Following the unification of Germany in 1871 his father, then King of Prussia, became German Emperor. Upon Wilhelm's death at the age of ninety on 9 March 1888, the thrones passed to Frederick, who had been German Crown Prince for seventeen years and Crown Prince of Prussia for twenty-seven years. Frederick was suffering from cancer of the larynx when he died, aged fifty-six, following unsuccessful medical treatments for his condition.
The Treaty of Berlin was signed on 13 July 1878. In the aftermath of the Russian victory against the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the major powers restructured the map of the Balkan region. They reversed some of the extreme gains claimed by Russia in the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano, but the Ottomans lost their major holdings in Europe. It was one of three major peace agreements in the period after the 1815 Congress of Vienna. It was the final act of the Congress of Berlin and included Great Britain and Ireland, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Chancellor of Germany Otto von Bismarck was the chairman and dominant personality.
Chlodwig Carl Viktor, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prince of Ratibor and Corvey, usually referred to as the Prince of Hohenlohe, was a German statesman, who served as the chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia from 1894 to 1900. Prior to his appointment as Chancellor, he had served in a number of other positions, including as minister-president of Bavaria (1866–1870), German Ambassador to Paris (1873–1880), Foreign Secretary (1880) and Imperial Lieutenant of Alsace-Lorraine (1885–1894). He was regarded as one of the most prominent liberal politicians of his time in Germany.
Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin, Prince of Bülow was a German statesman who served as the chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia from 1900 to 1909. A fervent supporter of Weltpolitik, Bülow devoted his chancellorship to transforming Germany into a global power. Despite presiding over sustained economic growth and major technological advancement, his government's foreign policy did much to antagonize France and Great Britain, which contributed significantly to Germany's defeat in the First World War.
Georg Friedrich Karl Freiherr von Hertling, from 1914 Count von Hertling, was a German politician of the Catholic Centre Party. He was foreign minister and minister president of Bavaria, then chancellor of the German Reich and minister president of Prussia from 1 November 1917 to 30 September 1918. He was the first party politician to hold the two offices; all the others were non-partisan.
Nikolaus Heinrich Ferdinand Herbert, Prince of Bismarck was a German politician, who served as Foreign Secretary from 1886 to 1890. His political career was closely tied to that of his father, Otto von Bismarck, and he left office a few days after his father's dismissal. He succeeded his father as the 2nd Prince of Bismarck in 1898. He was born in Berlin and died in Friedrichsruh.
Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov was a Russian diplomat and statesman from the Gorchakov princely family. He has an enduring reputation as one of the most influential and respected diplomats of the mid-19th century. Scholars agree that the termination of the demilitarisation of the Black Sea was Gorchakov's greatest accomplishment but add that he stayed too long as foreign minister.
Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, was Queen of Prussia and the first German Empress as the wife of William I, German Emperor.
The German Emperor was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the official abdication of Wilhelm II on 9 November 1918. The Holy Roman Emperor is sometimes also called "German Emperor" when the historical context is clear, as derived from the Holy Roman Empire's official name of "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" from 1512.
These are lists of political office-holders in Germany.
Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was the last prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen before the territory was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1849. Afterwards he continued to be titular prince of his house and, with the death of the last prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen in 1869, of the entire House of Hohenzollern. He served as Minister President of Prussia from 1858 to 1862, the only Hohenzollern prince to hold the post. His second son, Karl, became king of Romania. The offer of the throne of Spain to his eldest son, Leopold, was one of the causes of the Franco-Prussian War, which led to the unification of Germany and the creation of the German Empire.
The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal government of Germany, and the commander-in-chief of the German Armed Forces during wartime. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag on the proposal of the federal president and without debate.
Prince Louis William Augustus of Baden was a Prussian general and politician. He was the father of Prince Maximilian of Baden, the last Minister President of the Kingdom of Prussia and last Chancellor of the German Empire. Wilhelm was a Prince of Baden, and a member of the House of Zähringen.
The abdication of Wilhelm II as German Emperor and King of Prussia was declared by Chancellor Maximilian of Baden on 9 November 1918; it was formally affirmed by a written statement of Wilhelm on 28 November, made while in exile in Amerongen, the Netherlands. The abdication caused the German Empire to dissolve and concluded the House of Hohenzollern's 500-year rule over Prussia and its predecessor state, Brandenburg. Wilhelm reigned from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. As a result of the abdication and the German Revolution of 1918–19, the nobility as a legally-defined class was abolished. Following the proclamation of the Weimar Constitution on 11 August 1919, all Germans were declared equal before the law. The rulers of the twenty-two constituent states of the Empire also had to relinquish their monarchical titles and domains.
The Prussian State Ministry from 1808 to 1850 was the executive body of ministers, subordinate to the King of Prussia and, from 1850 to 1918, the overall ministry of the State of Prussia consisting of the individual ministers. In other German states, it corresponded to the state government or the senate of a free city.
The Prussian Revolutionary Cabinet was the provisional state government of Prussia from November 14, 1918 to March 25, 1919. It was based on a coalition of Majority Social Democrats (MSPD) and Independent Social Democrats (USPD), as was the Council of the People's Deputies, which was formed at the Reich level. The Prussian cabinet was revolutionary because it was not formed on the basis of the previous Prussian constitution of 1848/1850.