Pomerania During The Early Modern Age - Partition of Poland

Partition of Poland

In 1772 First Partition of Poland most of Royal Prussia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, which created out of its conquered territories the province of West Prussia following year, with the exception of Warmia, which became part of the Province of East Prussia. The Polish administrative and legal code was replaced by the Prussian system, and education improved; 750 schools were built from 1772–1775. He also advised his successors to learn Polish, a policy followed by the Hohenzollern dynasty until Frederick III decided not to let William II learn the language.

Frederick despised Poles and called them "dirty" and "vile apes"- In the annexed lands the number of schools was reduced and some of them reoriented towards Germanization, while the peasant population was burdened with heavy taxes and twenty years of military service, while Prussian goods could move freely into acquired Polish territories, Polish wool industry(being the largest) was subject to prohibition of export to other Prussian areas; this put local industries at danger He considered West Prussia as uncivilized as Colonial Canada and compared the Poles to the Iroquois. In a letter to his brother Henry, Frederick wrote about the province that "it is a very good and advantageous acquisition, both from a financial and a political point of view. In order to excite less jealousy I tell everyone that on my travels I have seen just sand, pine trees, heath land and Jews. Despite that there is a lot of work to be done; there is no order, and no planning and the towns are in a lamentable condition." Frederick invited German immigrants to redevelop the province, also hoping they would displace the Poles. Many German officials also regarded the Poles with contempt.

In the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, further annexations were made, with Prussia obtaining Gdańsk and Toruń, Germanised into Danzig and Thorn. Some of the areas of Greater Poland annexed in 1772 that formed the Netze District were added to West Prussia in 1793 as well.