The office of Minister-President (german: Ministerpräsident), or Prime Minister, of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

existed from 1848, when it was formed by

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

Frederick William IV during the 1848–49 Revolution, until the

abolition of Prussia The formal abolition of Prussia (german: Abschaffung von Preußen) occurred on 25 February 1947, by decree of the Allied Control Council. History Prussia was for many centuries a major power in north-central Europe, based around the cities o ...

in 1947 by the

Allied Control Council The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority (german: Alliierter Kontrollrat) and also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria after the end of ...

History of the office

Under the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

the Minister President functioned as the chief minister of the

, and presided over the

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non ...

(the Prussian

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

established in 1848). After the

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

in 1871 and until the collapse in 1918, the office of the Prussian Minister President was usually held by the

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

, beginning with the tenure of

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

. Under the

Free State of Prussia The Free State of Prussia (german: Freistaat Preußen, ) was one of the constituent states of Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, it continued to be the domina ...

the Minister President was the head of the state government in a more traditional parliamentary role during the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

. The office ceased to have any real meaning except as a kind of political patronage title after the takeover by the national government in 1932 ('' Preußenschlag''), and after

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

dismantled Prussia as a state in 1935 ('' Reichsstatthaltergesetz''). Eventually, the office was abolished along with Prussia itself by the Allies after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Chief Ministers of the
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...
(1702–1848)

*1702–1711:

Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg Johann Kasimir Kolbe, ''Graf'' von Wartenberg (6 February 1643, in Wetterau – 4 July 1712, in Frankfurt am Main) was the first ever Minister-President (effectively Prime Minister) of the kingdom of Prussia, and the head of the " Cabinet of Th ...

*1711–1728: *1728–1739:

Friedrich Wilhelm von Grumbkow Friedrich Wilhelm von Grumbkow (4 October 1678 – 18 March 1739) was a Prussian ''Generalfeldmarschall'' and statesman. The cultured Grumbkow was born in Berlin as the son of Joachim Ernst von Grumbkow, General War Minister of Brandenburg-P ...

*1739–1749: *1749–1753: *1749–1777: Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein *1777–1802: *1786–1798: *1802–1804: Count Christian Heinrich Kurt von Haugwitz (1st term) *1804–1806: Count Karl August von Hardenberg (1st term) *1806: Count Christian Heinrich Kurt von Haugwitz (2nd term) *1806–1807: *1807: Count Karl August von Hardenberg (2nd term) *1807–1808: Baron Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein *1808–1810: Count Karl

Friedrich Ferdinand Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten Friedrich Ferdinand Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten (29 March 1771 – 31 March 1831) was a Prussian politician. Biography Dohna-Schlobitten was born at Finckenstein (today Kamieniec, Poland) to Friedrich Alexander Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schl ...

*1810–1822: Prince Karl August von Hardenberg (3rd term) *1822–1823: *1823–1841: Count Carl Friedrich Heinrich, Graf von Wylich und Lottum *1841–1848:

List of Ministers President of Prussia (1848–1945)

Ministers-President of the
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...
(1848–1918)

Political Party:

Ministers-President of the
Free State of Prussia The Free State of Prussia (german: Freistaat Preußen, ) was one of the constituent states of Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, it continued to be the domina ...
(1918–1945)

Political Party:

History of the office

List of Ministers President of Prussia (1848–1945)

See also