a republic in central Europe; pop. 8,210,300, capital, Vienna; official language, German. and Prussia a former kingdom of Germany. Originally a small country on the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea, it became a major European power, covering much of modern northeastern Germany and Poland, under Frederick the Great. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, it became the center of Bismarck's new German Empire, but was abolished following Germany's defeat in World War I.
