House of Hohenzollern

From Turtledove

The House of Hohenzollern is a family dynasty of electors, kings, and emperors of Prussia, Germany, and Romania.

It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near the forementioned town.

The family uses the motto Nihil sine Deo ("nothing without God"). The family crest, first adopted in 1192, began as a simple shield with four silver and black quarters in the form of a saltire. The head and shoulders of a hound were added in 1317 by Frederick IV. Later quartering incorporated other branches of the family.

The family split into three branches, the Catholic, Swabian and Protestant Franconian. The Swabian branch ruled the area of Hechingen until their eventual extinction in 1869. The Franconian branch was comparatively more successful. Branches of the Franconian line ascended the throne of Brandenburg in 1415 and of the Duchy of Prussia in 1525. The union of these two Franconian lines in 1618 allowed the creation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, the state which led the Unification of Germany and the creation of the German Empire in 1871.

[edit] Hohenzollern in Curious Notions

The Hohenzollern dynasty continued to rule Germany after it defeated Britain, France, and Russia in a brief war in 1914. By the middle of the 20th century, the Hohenzollern dynasty ruled an empire that covered Europe, Asia, Africa and North America.

[edit] Hohenzollern in Southern Victory

The Hohenzollern family continued to rule Germany after the country emerged victorious from the Great War and into the Second Great War.

[edit] Hohenzollern in Worldwar

The Hohenzollerns were forced to abdicate when Germany's defeat in World War I led to the German Revolution in 1918. The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 set the terms for the dismantling of the German Empire.