Germanisation of the Province of Posen
The Germanisation of the Province of Posen was a policy of the Kulturkampf measures enacted by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, whose goal was to Germanize Polish-speaking areas in the Prussian Province of Posen by eradicating and discrimination of Polish language and culture, as well as to reduce the influence of the "ultramontanist" Roman Catholic clergy in those regions. == Background == Since the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had ceased to exist as a state with its territory annexed by the surrounding great powers Austria, Prussia (which in turn became part of the German Empire in 1871) and Russia.
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