Those darn Prussians

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.It played a significant role in the unification of Germany in 1871 and was a major constituent of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918.Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Its capital was Berlin.
The kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. The polity of Brandenburg-Prussia, predecessor of the kingdom, became a military power under Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, known as "The Great Elector".As a kingdom, Prussia continued its rise to power, especially during the reign of Frederick II "the Great". Frederick the Great was instrumental in starting the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), holding his own against Austria, Russia, France and Sweden

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the hidden run of historical podcast. This is
a well that happened, quick Fix. We conditioned to a
certain degree to believe what we see in the papers,
even though sometimes is pumpable rubbish. The adage one can't speak,
can't lie has been stretched a breaking point as newspapers
of born scandalous headlines to bolster sales with their fiscally

(00:20):
motivated owners. It was no different a couple of hundred
years ago when a certain London newspaper, you know the one,
published a letter, yes, a letter. It was a well
written missive complaining that the English were being forced to
take deported Russian prisoners into their care. As you can imagine,
the British got their panties well bunched up over this,
and the words fury and anger were replied liberally to

(00:42):
the attitude of the British at this revelation. Less than
please were the Prussians, who, having read the letter, also
were upset that Britain was under the impression it was
better than the Prussians deserved, and certainly too good to
harbor any of their prisoners. The argument between the two
nations grew and grew. Words were exchanged handkerchief were waived.
My good Sir was said quite a bit, and armies

(01:03):
were put on standby. Anti Prussian feeling grew in Britain,
an anti British sentiment took hold in Prussia. Everything was
set for war until it was found that the letter
was a hoax. It was a practical joke. The armies
were relaxed and apologies issued and groveling was undertaken. It
was revealed some years later that the letter was in
fact written by Benjamin Franklin. Yes, that Benjamin Franklin. He'd

(01:27):
been spending six months in Britain, become understandably bored and
decided to cause some mischief. Sit back and see what happened.
This has been quick bits on the Well That Happened podcast.
My name's Eed Parnell. See you next time.