Prussian Guelders facts for kids
Prussian Guelders or Prussian Gelderland was a special part of the Duchy of Guelders that was ruled by the Kingdom of Prussia. This happened starting in the year 1713. Its main city, or capital, was Geldern.
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What Was Prussian Guelders?
Prussian Guelders was a historical area in Europe. It was once part of a larger region called the Duchy of Guelders. A "duchy" was like a small country ruled by a duke. By the end of the 1600s, the "Upper Quarter" of this duchy was controlled by Spain.
How It Became Prussian
A big war called the War of the Spanish Succession ended in 1713. After the war, a peace agreement known as the Treaty of Utrecht was signed. This treaty decided what would happen to the Upper Quarter of Guelders. It was split up between three powerful groups:
- The Dutch Republic (which is now the Netherlands)
- The Austrian Empire
- The Kingdom of Prussia
Prussia received its share, and that part became known as Prussian Guelders.
Important Towns in Prussian Guelders
Besides its capital city of Geldern, other important towns in Prussian Guelders included:
Interestingly, Viersen was an "exclave." This means it was a piece of Prussian Guelders that was completely surrounded by land belonging to another area, the Duchy of Jülich. Prussian Guelders was also part of a larger group of states called the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle within the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire was a large collection of lands in Central Europe.
Changes Over Time
Prussian Guelders did not stay under Prussian rule forever. Big changes happened during the time of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.
French Control
In 1794, Revolutionary France took over Prussian Guelders. Later, it became an official part of the First French Empire. It was made into a new area called the Roer Department.
After Napoleon
After the Napoleonic Wars ended, the map of Europe changed again.
- The western parts of what used to be Prussian Guelders became part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- The eastern parts, including the cities of Geldern and Viersen, went back to Prussia. These areas became part of a new Prussian region called the province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg.
Before this time, the people in these eastern regions mostly spoke Dutch and had a Dutch culture. However, after they became part of Prussia, they quickly started to become more German in language and culture. This process is called "Germanization."
