The rapid and dramatic changes of the 19th century – industrialisation and its associated social and technological upheavals – left their mark also on East Prussia although change was slower to come. The province retained its largely agricultural character and remained socially and politically conservative.
After the victory over Napoleon a new order was established in Europe. There was still no Polish state. West and East Prussia were merged into the "Province of Prussia" until 1877. The special legal status of the province remained - it did not belong to the newly founded "German Confederation". This changed only after 1866 with the "Norddeutscher Bund" (North German Confederation) and in 1871 with the foundation of the German Empire.
Progress in the transport sector - paved roads and the arrival of the railway in particular - as well as the abolition of Prussian inland customs duties caused trade to flourish. East Prussia exported agricultural products on a large scale. Overall, however, the region lost some of its importance. The new up-and-coming cultural and economic centres of Prussia were located in Berlin, the Ruhr area and Upper Silesia.
Illustration:
Anton von Werner: Proclamation of the German Empire, 18th January 1871, 1882
170 years after the Prussian royal coronation in Königsberg, William I was crowned German Emperor in Versailles during the Franco-Prussian War. East Prussia with its Masurian- / Polish- and Lithuanian-speaking border areas only then became officially "German".