Free State of Prussia (Freistaat Preußen) (nov 9, 1918 – feb 25, 1947)

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The Free State of Prussia (German: Freistaat Preußen) was a state of Germany from 1918 to 1947. It was established in 1918 following the German Revolution, abolishing the German Empire and founding the Weimar Republic in the aftermath of the First World War. The new state was a direct successor to the Kingdom of Prussia, but featured a democratic, republican government and smaller area based on territorial changes after the war. Despite bearing the brunt of Germany's territorial losses in Europe, Prussia remained the dominant state of Germany, comprising almost 5⁄8 (62.5%) of the country's territory and population, and home to the federal capital, Berlin. Prussia changed from the authoritarian state it had been under previous rulers to a democratic bastion within the Weimar Republic where, unlike in other states, democratic parties always ruled in majority.

The Free State of Prussia's democratic government was overthrown in the Preußenschlag in 1932, placing the state under direct rule in a coup d'état led by Chancellor Franz von Papen and forcing Minister-President Otto Braun from office. The establishment of Nazi Germany in 1933 began the Gleichschaltung process, ending legal challenges to the Preußenschlag and placing Prussia under the direct rule of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, with Hermann Göring as Minister-President. In 1934, all German states were de facto replaced by the Gaue system and converted to rudimentary bodies, effectively ending Prussia as a single territorial unit of Germany. After the end of World War II in 1945, Otto Braun approached Allied officials in occupied Germany to reinstate the legal Prussian government, but was rejected and Prussia was abolished in 1947.

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