The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-18
THE RULERS OF PRUSSIA

Onathe eighteenth of January, 1901,
at Konigsberg, amidst scenes OF the
greatest splendor, a deformed, sickly
prematurely old Teuton placed a
crown upon his own head, and declar-
ed himself King of Prussia. By this
act Frederick III, Elector of Bran
denburg and Duke of Prussia, became
Frederick T, the first king Of Prussia.
Thus the house Of Hohenzollern,
which had held the electorate Of
Brandenburg since 1415. when Elec-
tor Frederick I. attained to that
honor. reached the status Of royalty.
Frederick, the crippled son of Fred
erick william, the Great Elector. >
achieved kingly honors only by hu-
initiating himself before the Hapsburg
Emperor OF Austria, who demanded
ais the price of his permission 10000
Prussian troops, the support Of Prus-
sia in every debate in the diet, and the
Prussiar vote for the Hapsburg
princes in every Imperial election.
On another eighteenth of January,
in 1871. another scion of the house Of
Hohenzollern. King William I. Of
Prussia, was crowned Emperor or
Germany. The first Prussian king
had been the vassal Of the Hapsburgs;
his successor was now master of the
Hapsburgs, having defeated the Aus
TRANS In war remarkable for Its
brevfty. In 1871, with bleeding
Francs under his iron heel, William
i. was come to Versailles, where in
the 'hall Of mirrors" Of the royal
palace he was proclaimed Emperor OF
Germany. The coronation festivities
were punctuated with the DUH boom
OF the cannon which were slowly, but
surely battering Paris into submits
sion. William T., thanks largely to
the towering ambition of Bismarck,
had made himself master Of Germany,
and states which but a few years be-
fore had vbeen the enemies of Prus-
STA. sent their representatives to YER
sailfes to bow down before the con-
quering Prussian
On ANOTHER Eighteenth of January,
just year. ago, another Hohenzol-
Tern prince, the Emperor William H.,
met at Nish, the captured war capital
OF Serbia, the ruler of his Bulgarian
allies, Kfng Ferdinand. and there
they felicitated each other on the
wipir1g ont of Serbian nationality.
This historic meeting has already
been commemorated by marble
r1OnumSnL, CESCICu Uy VAuSA VI SAo
bulgarian government
These three dates, historic in Prus-
sian annals, will be celebrated to-day
throughout Germany. The eighteenth
OF January stands out as a landmark
In the Hohenzollern dynasty's rise to
power and its ambition for further
conquest The deformed Frederick l.,
on assuming the title of king, receiv-
ed but the gurdging and ungracious
consent of other European mon-
arches. The second king, Frederick
William T., early conceived the de-
ST IN OF making Prussia a powerful
state, and the means he adopted was
the creation of great army. The
ruling passion of his life was to create
d corps OF giants, and the world was
transacted 70 secure recruits. The
brutal old monarch was succeeded by
Frederick H.. known as Frederick
the Great, who. by his military VIC
tories and his encouragement Of the
arts and sciences. accomplished more
for Prussia than any other Hohenzol-
1ern. He gave way to his nephew.
the intolerant libertine Frederick
william H., whose SON. and successor,
Frederick William III, WAS humiliat-
I'd by Napoleon, but lived to enjoy
the revenge Of Waterloo. Frederick