Prussia, despite winning the Napoleonic Wars, never regained a chunk of its Polish lands that it had lost in 1807. So why not and why did it go to Russia? To find out watch this short and simple animated history documentary.

A special thanks to my Patreon Supporters below:

Jens Koch-Nommensen
Øystein Alsaker
Carl Österbrand
Sergio M. Vela
Dennis Vandeban
Michael Kram
Hasmuffin 
CharÉTS
Franco La Bruna
Don Bonnigan
Ian Whitcomb
Adam Barrett
Bradley chaulk
John
Southside Mitch
Justin Kubusch
Matthew Literovich
Heath Robertson
JakeBak0905
Ethan 
Person
sharpie660
Vance Christiaanse
Paul Munro
Shauna K
Nathan Mendelsohn
Phoenix Fats
ConspiracyPizza 
Philip Yip
Sean D.
Piotr Wojnowski
Martha Grondin
Travis Mount
Mario Peshev
Joooooshhhhhh 
Aaron Conaway
Jane Sumpter
Joshua Rackstraw
Christopher Godfrey
Andy McGehee
Steven Gibson
Phillip Gathright
Jack Nelson
Barry
Erik Hare
Tony Belmonte
Adrian Marine
John Orr
Joshua Schneider
Andreas Mosand
Alex Teplyakov
Jamie van Brewen
Andrew F
D. Mahlik
Dr. Schtnizel
Peter Marino
Thomas McGraw
Konstantin Bredyuk
Brooks Woolson
Nick Macarius
Evan Ellingson
Zhao Liu
DocOzz13 .
Ron Johnson
Arthur Hosey Jr.
Dana Spurgeon
zockotron
Chase Labiste
Shawn Morse
Angel Aguiñaga
Katie Flinn
Keith A. Layton
Tactical_Jackal 
Bernardo Cavalcanti
William Swiacki
Allen Rines
MGS2600
Nolan Peale
Sahni 
Roman Kynčl
Ciege Engine
John Garcia
Matthew Toles
Chris Winther
Liam Gilleece
mgnesium.poetry
Carl Blanton
Tim Stone
Jacob Zachs
Contdoko12
Bernice 
Chris Weisel
Zach Rust
Joe DeVito
Clayton Schuman
Michael Galloway
HelloAgain
Andrew Patane
Tino
Vilena5
Bradley Backoff
Jason Vandeventer
Serius_Loyola
Zachary Pascalar
Jason Gould
Brian George
Matthew O'Connor
Matt Reed
blaZzinG_FurY
ARandomPaperClip
Leena Al-Souki
KNSTRKTVST
Windischgraetz
Dullis 
Blue Cardinal
Aaron Larrow
Justin Short
William Adderholdt
Ben Drums 24
george tyler
Wilhelm Screamer
ThePalestRose
Bartosz Zasada
Perry Gagne
Hexapuma
Patty Culp
Anthony McCann
Oliver Jenner
Steven Mastronardo
Joseph Reinsch
Tyler Jenkins
Bodo Nuber
Joseph Hutchins
Colm Byrne
Joel Cromwell
Curt Helmerich
Clay Carroll
Magdalena Reinberg-Leibel
Stefan Møller
Juan Castillo
Andrew Niedbala
Ahmed Roshdi
Thomas McGill
B Dryad
Ned Burke
David van Reyk
Logical Insanity
Chach
Geoffrey Sparrow
Dexter_McAaron
Liquid Chief
Joel Wasserman
No way
Warren Rudkin
Tim Sweeney
bas mensink
BattleGoat Studios
James 
Ian Smith
Burt Clothier
Ali Sadighian
kevinh
Ethan Harlow
Matthew Ward
Matt Busch
Little Ernu
Steve Bonds
Romney Manassa
Yared Cristiano
Chris Wreker
Robin!
Alen
Ryan Lowe
Bren Ehnebuske
anon
William Clark
Yosef Waysman
Mars Project
Richard Wolfe
Jonny Minogue
Melissa Prober
Donald Weaver
Vegard Tønnessen
nullptr 
Manny F
Colonel Oneill
Juan Benet
David Spellmeyer
Zach Weakland
Anthony Uk
Thomas Wang
SirAlpaka 
hefcluba
Mark Ploegstra
I'm Not In The Description
Mik Scheper
Hiro P
Azul Bravestrong
Brian Giordano
JT96
Yuichiro Kakutani
Bruh 11
Ryan Haber
Alex G.
Tim Stumbaugh
luvrhino
SketerK
Emily Glover-Wilson
Nathan Ngumi
Joseph Kerckhoff
Tristan Kreller
Andrei Listochkin
Jeffrey Schneider
Emily D
Wolf 
Charles Doolittle
Scott Oppel
Sethars
Sophie Winter
James R DeVries
Allen
Igor Stavchanskiy
Gregory Priebe
pdswanfleet 
LambOfLeg 
Sara Birnbaum
Phil and Lisa Toland
Lech Duraj
Dr. Howard Dr. Fine Dr. Howard
John Gross-Whitaker
Isabel Harrison
Kevin Phoenix
Tom Ebert
Hunter Bayliss
Robert Brockway
Dustin Koellhoffer
Will Sullivan
Ian M
Dutchball Animations
Rita Cragwall
Seth Reeves
Tranier Bocaj
Peter Konieczny
AltHistoryConjectures
Danny Anstess
Chasen Le Hara
Zachary Oertel
Riley davidson
YugiJitsu Games
Eric Askins
0_DannyBoy
Roko Lisica
George Caponera
Dan Reiher
Colm Boyle
Sean Long
Nathan Snyder
Kinfe85
Doug MacLean
Kirk Hoffman
Laurent Othacehe
mohd 
Miky Hidalgo Morriss
אורי פרקש
Dr. Sarno
Heytun 
Harley Raptopoulos
Rob Rollins
Andrew Sever
Shakira Graham
Mickey Landen
Nicholas Menghini
Christopher S Nelson
Paul McGee
Lindorien 
João Santos
Abdallah Al-Ammari
Daniel O'Reilly
Typhoon2401
Deadlock
Markus Lindström
Michael Corson
blei95
Kasi
Jan Bart Verbist
M Scho
Ploshtinska polyudnica
Schwarzer Hai
Robin_Col
Olaf
biohazardgamer
James
Tarsirrus
Ben L
Rhys Little
Ash Elford
Jackarice26
Harrison Tatem-Wyatt
Twinny Hill
Gina Service
zemnmez 
KingKyumber
Rhys Jackson
DarkLycan 
Phil Johnston
Roberticus1992
Tom Pollard

When you win a war, any previous territorial losses are often swiftly returned to you.

Yet, whilst Prussia had been on the winning side of the Napoleonic Wars when France had been defeated and occupied, Prussia's previous loss of this territory in 1807 was never rectified.

And in fact, it was handed over to Russia.

Why did Prussia lose this land even after it was victorious?

So, to begin, during Napoleon's adventures across Europe, numerous coalitions formed to oppose him.

1 of these coalitions was the Fourth Coalition, which was comprised of these nations trying to prevent France from creating a new European order.

The coalition didn't fare too well and shortly after Napoleon had occupied Berlin, the Prussians sued for peace.

In the peace treaty it was dictated that Prussia would lose all of these lands, with this large chunk here becoming the Duchy of Warsaw, the first independent Polish state since Prussia, Russia and Austria carved up Poland-Lithuania at the end of the previous century.

Then again a year later and France was occupied and in no position to dictate its own borders let alone those of Prussia.

So why was it then that after the dust had settled, a chunk of Russia's Polish territories were a part of the Russian Empire and had not been returned.

Whilst Prussia did lose a lot of its Polish territory, it did keep most of what it had gained in the first 2 partitions.

However, there were 2 main reasons that this land was lost to Prussia forever.

The first reason was the most obvious, Sweden.

You see, after Prussia's losses in 1807, its place in the coalition was diminished, and thus it didn't command the same level of respect that it once had.

Both Prussia and Sweden had eyes and territory in the German-speaking parts of Europe, and If Prussia spent too much political goodwill trying to regain Poland, then that would leave Sweden with a greater foothold in the area.

The second reason was that Russia was occupying the lands.

When pushing Napoleon back to Paris, the Russians had conquered the Duchy of Warsaw, and had placed it under military administration.

Prussia wasn't exactly excited at the prospect of fighting another major war that it would likely lose.

And so, there really wasn't much that they could do.

That's not to say that the Russians weren't going to compensate Prussia for the loss.

Emperor Alexander I knew that Prussia had a claim to the land.

And so, in return for handing Warsaw and the Polish heartlands over to Russia, it would support Prussia's expansion westward, which worked well for both sides.

For Prussia, it meant that it would lose a great chunk of its Catholic Polish-speaking population and could replace them with the richer German-speaking Protestant populations to its west.

It would also increase Prussia's influence in the new German confederation at the expense of Austria, which was a fun bonus for them.

And for Russia, gaining Poland was important because Alexander believed that some of Napoleon's liberal ideals were here to stay.

And so it was better to paint himself as Poland's liberator and protector than to risk Prussia getting it wrong and Poland breaking free.

This wouldn't last for long because after Poland revolted in 1831, its status as an independent state was abolished and it was formally incorporated into the Russian Empire as a territory.

And with that, Prussia lost control of Poland, and its successor state Germany would only briefly regain it during the First World War.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and a special thanks to my patrons...

In Words About Books podcast, Captain Psydog, Gustav Swan, Marvin Casal, Camoon Yoon, Winston K.

Wood, Boogily Woogily, Daniel Tobian, Miss Iset, Aaron the White, Corey Turner, The McWhopper, Alex Schwin, Anthony Beckett, Copper Tone, Maggie Patskowski, Shuenin, Spinning 3 Plates, and Charles I.


Speaker 0: When you win a war, any previous territorial losses are often swiftly returned to you. Yet, whilst Prussia had been on the winning side of the Napoleonic Wars when France had been defeated and occupied, Prussia's previous loss of this territory in 1807 was never rectified. And in fact, it was handed over to Russia. Which raises the question, why? Why did Prussia lose this land even after it was victorious?

So, to begin, during Napoleon's adventures across Europe, numerous coalitions formed to oppose him. 1 of these coalitions was the Fourth Coalition, which was comprised of these nations trying to prevent France from creating a new European order. The coalition didn't fare too well and shortly after Napoleon had occupied Berlin, the Prussians sued for peace. In the peace treaty it was dictated that Prussia would lose all of these lands, with this large chunk here becoming the Duchy of Warsaw, the first independent Polish state since Prussia, Russia and Austria carved up Poland-Lithuania at the end of the previous century. 7 years later, Napoleon was defeated.

Then again a year later and France was occupied and in no position to dictate its own borders let alone those of Prussia. So why was it then that after the dust had settled, a chunk of Russia's Polish territories were a part of the Russian Empire and had not been returned. Whilst Prussia did lose a lot of its Polish territory, it did keep most of what it had gained in the first 2 partitions. However, there were 2 main reasons that this land was lost to Prussia forever. The first reason was the most obvious, Sweden.

You see, after Prussia's losses in 1807, its place in the coalition was diminished, and thus it didn't command the same level of respect that it once had. Both Prussia and Sweden had eyes and territory in the German-speaking parts of Europe, and If Prussia spent too much political goodwill trying to regain Poland, then that would leave Sweden with a greater foothold in the area. The second reason was that Russia was occupying the lands. When pushing Napoleon back to Paris, the Russians had conquered the Duchy of Warsaw, and had placed it under military administration. Prussia wasn't exactly excited at the prospect of fighting another major war that it would likely lose.

And so, there really wasn't much that they could do. That's not to say that the Russians weren't going to compensate Prussia for the loss. Emperor Alexander I knew that Prussia had a claim to the land. And so, in return for handing Warsaw and the Polish heartlands over to Russia, it would support Prussia's expansion westward, which worked well for both sides. For Prussia, it meant that it would lose a great chunk of its Catholic Polish-speaking population and could replace them with the richer German-speaking Protestant populations to its west.

It would also increase Prussia's influence in the new German confederation at the expense of Austria, which was a fun bonus for them. And for Russia, gaining Poland was important because Alexander believed that some of Napoleon's liberal ideals were here to stay. And so it was better to paint himself as Poland's liberator and protector than to risk Prussia getting it wrong and Poland breaking free. This wouldn't last for long because after Poland revolted in 1831, its status as an independent state was abolished and it was formally incorporated into the Russian Empire as a territory. And with that, Prussia lost control of Poland, and its successor state Germany would only briefly regain it during the First World War.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and a special thanks to my patrons... In Words About Books podcast, Captain Psydog, Gustav Swan, Marvin Casal, Camoon Yoon, Winston K. Wood, Boogily Woogily, Daniel Tobian, Miss Iset, Aaron the White, Corey Turner, The McWhopper, Alex Schwin, Anthony Beckett, Copper Tone, Maggie Patskowski, Shuenin, Spinning 3 Plates, and Charles I.

See all History Matters transcripts on Youtube

Why did Prussia lose Poland after the Napoleonic Wars? (Short Animated Documentary)