The Jade Treaty (german: Jade-Vertrag) of 20 July 1853 between

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

and

Grand Duchy of Oldenburg The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (, also known as Holstein-Oldenburg) was a grand duchy within the German Confederation, North German Confederation and German Empire that consisted of three widely separated territories: Oldenburg, Eutin and Birk ...

provided for the handover of 340 hectares of Oldenburg territory at what is now Wilhelmshaven,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, on the western shore of the

Jade Bight The Jade Bight (or ''Jade Bay''; german: Jadebusen) is a bight or bay on the North Sea coast of Germany. It was formerly known simply as ''Jade'' or ''Jahde''. Because of the very low input of freshwater, it is classified as a bay rather than a ...

, a bay of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

west of Bremerhaven. It was considered the best natural deep-water port in the German North Sea coast, and a good place for the naval base Prussia wished to build. The navy base built there became the nucleus of today's Wilhelmshaven.

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the '' Frankfurter ...

„Preußens Geheimnis“
19 July 2003 Since before 1848 Prince Adalbert of Prussia had worked to build a Prussian navy. During the First Schleswig War of 1848-51, Prussia had virtually no navy. Within a few days the

Danish navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland). Oth ...

had destroyed German maritime commerce in the North Sea and the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. By 1852 Prussia had started to expand its fleet and needed a good port on the North Sea, which it had lacked since the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...

. The Jade Bight area offered deep water, a good anchorage and no ice in winter. Oldenburg welcomed the Prussian idea as a powerful ally and needed money to end the Bentinck succession dispute. From 1854, Prussia established the fortress, naval base and city of Wilhelmshaven, which would be useful in the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

of 1864.Gerhard Taddey (ed.): ''Lexikon der deutschen Geschichte'', , S. 596

References

{{reflist 1853 treaties Treaties of the Kingdom of Prussia Treaties of the Duchy of Oldenburg 1853 in Prussia Treaties involving territorial changes 1853 in Germany