Whose fortress city Kaliningrad really is, and why neighbors fought for it for centuries

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The remote and geographically separated Kaliningrad region is in a special position among other regions. The history of the westernmost regional center is of great interest to scientists. From the German Königsberg, the city became Russian Kaliningrad after the Second World War. But his story began much earlier, and he also had a chance to visit a Russian city until 1945.

The struggle for the present Kaliningrad lands

Since ancient times, the lands of the present Kaliningrad region have been a place of collision of geopolitical interests. According to legend, already in the 6th century, the Prussian fortress Tuwangste stood here, through which the Amber trade route to the Adriatic and the cities of the Roman Empire passed. Many conquerors claimed the ancient Prussian lands.

The Germans came here in the 13th century, when, with the consent of the Pope, the Teutonic Order organized a crusade against the pagan tribes. The uninvited guests came not only to impose the Catholic way of life, but also to simply expand the boundaries. The Teutons smashed the Prussians, erecting order castles on their lands. In 1255, the Tuvangste fortress was burned to the ground, and a new castle - Königsberg ("King's Mountain") arose in its place. Not resigned to enemy domination, the Prussians rebelled and laid siege to the fortress. However, the reinforcements that came up after a while defeated the Prussians. By the 15th century, the lands of the Teutonic Order spread throughout the Baltic States.

The first Protestant state in Europe

The Teutonic Order was known as an aggressive regional hegemon who continued to expand their possessions at the expense of Polish lands. Panicked Poland made peace with Lithuania, consolidating the alliance with the Krevo Union. The Poles with the Lithuanians stopped the German expansion to the East, defeating the Teutons in the Battle of Grunval in 1410.

After the defeat, the Teutonic Order agreed to territorial concessions, in fact resigned to the decline of its military glory. Recognizing themselves as Polish vassals, the Germans lost the castle of Marienburg - the capital of the Teutonic Order. The new center actually became Königsberg, where the residence of the great Teutonic master moved.

The next significant milestone for Prussia and, in particular, Königsberg was 1525, when, with the support of Poland, Grand Master Albrecht of Brandenburg adopted Protestantism, declaring the Prussian duchy to be secular. So this territory became the first Protestant state in Europe.

The duchy was freed from Polish "patronage" only by the 17th century, when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth trembled under the blow of Swedish and Russian troops. Prussia proclaimed its independence, the Elector of Brandenburg Frederick III was crowned in Konigsberg, and the ex-duchy became a kingdom.

Since the capture of the Prussian lands by the Germans, the area has been overgrown with settlements. Moreover, housing construction was going on so actively that by the XIV century Königsberg Castle had become the geographical center of three new cities surrounding it - Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof. In 1724, the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I united these city formations together with the ancient castle into a single Königsberg.

Why the Prussians surrendered to the Russians

In January 1758, during the Seven Years War, the Russian army entered the capital Königsberg without a fight. The Prussians, tired of Frederick II, unanimously swore allegiance to Elizaveta Petrovna. Among them was the founder of classical German philosophy, Immanuel Kant, after whom the Baltic University was named for a reason.

The officer and scientist A. Bolotov wrote in detail in his memoirs about the life of Koenigsberg at that time as part of Russia. He argued that the Russian military behaved in an exemplary manner, excluding violence, robbery and requisition. The Prussians continued to pay taxes, though now to the Russian treasury, and lived their own lives. The new authorities, with the support of the Prussian bureaucracy, improved the economic and cultural development of Konigsberg, introducing the Prussians to Orthodox culture.

The annexation of East Prussia to the Russian Empire took nothing from the Prussians, but only guaranteed their protection. However, when, after the sudden death of Elizabeth Petrovna, the throne passed to the ardent admirer of the Prussian king Peter III, the latter abandoned all Russian conquests of recent years.

Between Germany, France and Russia

The beginning of the 19th century was not the best period for Koenigsberg. Napoleon, who came to power in France, made East Prussia an arena of battles. Gathering an army in 1812 to advance to Russia, Napoleon forced the timid Prussian king to join the French army.

After the military defeat of the French Empire, Frederick William III went over to the side of the victor and concluded an agreement with Alexander I on a joint confrontation with Napoleon. Russian troops soon liberated Prussia from the aggressive Corsican.

By the end of the 19th century, due to the cold snap in relations between Germany and Russia, East Prussia was already positioned as a German bastion in the war, for which they had been preparing in advance. The architecture of the villages was approved by the military - all houses and outbuildings were necessarily equipped with loopholes. In the First World War, Koenigsberg and the surrounding lands became almost the only German territory where hostilities unfolded. Germany, as you know, lost this war. With the rise of the Nazis to power, the country began to prepare for retaliation. In East Prussia, led by the fanatical Gauleiter E. Koch, the construction of innovative engineering fortifications proceeded at a rapid pace.

Fallen Walled City

By 1939, Königsberg had become an impregnable fortress city, in which Hitler had high hopes. His garrison, when liberated in 1945, did hold out for a long time. Despite the fact that the front line had long since moved back to Berlin, a powerful German grouping continued to hold on to Konigsberg. The Soviet army raised its flag over the city only on April 10, shortly before the German surrender.

The USSR army entered the broken city, which was to become the Russian Kaliningrad next year. Stalin demanded that Konigsberg be handed over to the Soviet Union at the Tehran Conference in 1943. The motivation was simple: the USSR needed ice-free ports on the Baltic Sea. However, there was an ideological rationale behind this. In this refuge of German aggression, the leader strove to root out the fascist military clique forever.

As a result, Prussia was divided between Poland and the Union, the German population was evicted to Germany, and it was decided to take its place by immigrants. On April 7, 1946, a decree was adopted on the formation of the Konigsberg region as part of the RSFSR, and in July the city was renamed Kaliningrad.

You can read more about how the city became Soviet and what changed in it. in our material.