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"It imposed the Prussian tyranny and brute force over lands that had not known it -- indeed the differences between the Prussians and say the Bavarians still exist and the western Germans were different.The Germans of pre-Prussian era (before the 30-years war) were cultured, scholarly etc., quite unlike our image of Germans which is really the Prussian image" Actually, the 30-years war ended in 1648, the first Prussian King(Frederic I) was crowned in 1701 and before that it was a fairly average duchy in the grand scheme of the Holy Roman Empire. And nobody would have used the terms 'cultured and scholarly' after the horrors of the 30-years war which killed 1/3 of the German population. Germany back then was regarded as a fairly backwards and barbaric cesspool with constant wars and strife between all the little nations, duchies, fiefdoms and city states. Or with the words of Charles V 'I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse' which was later changed by Frederic II 'I speak French to my ambassadors, English to my accountant, Italian to my mistress, Latin to my God and German to my horse' Only after 1740 with the coronation of his grandson Frederic II and the Silesian Wars did Prussia became a hegemonic power in Europe. And Frederic II was also one of the first 'enlightened' monarchs in Europe and was a big advocate of religious tolerance, freedom of speech, independence of court of justice, he strengthened the rights of his commoners and limited the powers of his nobles, all that some time before the french and american revolutions. And the image of germany as a cultured and scholarly people probably started with Frederic II, he spoke several languages fluently, was an accomplished philosopher and historian and invited the brightest thinkers of his time to Potsdam and his academies. He reformed and modernized the state and was one of the first nations to introduced state funded schools and education and literacy became widely spread and was later copied by many nations. Sure Prussia was never squeamish in using military power to accomplish their national interests but 'tyranny' isn't the first trait I would associate with Prussia and for sure not in the context of "over lands that had not known it" most monarchs and their nobles of this time were a lot more autocratic and abusive with their powers. The Prussians were protestants and the Bavarians were catholics and close allies of the Austro-Hungarian empire which were the other big fish in the pond and both empires struggled for centuries over the predominance over the other German states, so no wonder there were big cultural differences. 'The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices.' 'All religions must be tolerated...for...every man must get to heaven in his own way' 'My people and I have come to an agreement which satisfied us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please. ' Frederic II

Although the 30-years war ended in 1648, the Prussian Duchy had already been formed in the 1500s with the secularization of the Teutonic Order

This was not a fairly average duchy and it was not within the holy Roman Empire -- it was a military state. The Prussian kingdom and thenceforth the German Empire took those characteristics

I said the Germans before the 30-years were cultured, scholarly etc. Also quite frankly the Germans AFTER the 30-years war with the exception of the Prussians WERE cultured and scholarly. Germania was not regarded as backwards or a barbaric cesspool in the 1600s - it was the site of battles but not a barbaric land

Charles V, holy Roman Emperor lived from 1500 to 1558 -- nearly a 100 years before the 30 years war.

The Prussians were a continuous threat from their point of secularisation -- the Polish Kings made a mistake of not eliminating the Duchy when they had the chance

Sure Prussia was never squeamish in using military power to accomplish their national interests but 'tyranny' isn't the first trait I would associate with Prussia and for sure not in the context of "over lands that had not known it" most monarchs and their nobles of this time were a lot more autocratic and abusive with their power -- actually I would. Read about what they did in Poland in the 1800s. They were tyrannical and the entire culture of the Junkers excluded the development of culture besides the glorification of the military.

Frederic II may have SAID all religions are equal but what he really meant was that he would take anyone that was useful to him. His successors were not so nice -- witness the KulturKampf