Brandenburg-Prussia Catholic armies swept the land back and forth, killing, burning, seizing men and taking the food supplies. Upwards of half the population was killed or dislocated. Berlin and the other major cities were in ruins, and recovery took decades. By the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648, Brandenburg gained Minden and Halberstadt, also the succession in Farther Pomerania (incorporated in 1653) and the Duchy of Magdeburg (incorporated in 1680). With the Treaty of Bromberg (1657), concluded during the Second Northern War, the electors were freed of Polish vassalage for the Duchy of Prussia and gained
Pomeranian War Frederick's downfall and to humiliate and destroy the Swedish queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, Frederick's sister. The Hats faction was also encouraged to declare war by France, whose wishes were central to the Hats' actions. Frederick's invasion of Saxony in 1756 was used as a pretext for war, being denounced by both Sweden and France as a violation of the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648, of which they were both guarantors. On March 21, 1757 the governments of France and Austria agreed a convention in which Sweden and France explained that they had to maintain Germany's freedom in line with