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George William, Elector of Brandenburg

George William (German: Georg Wilhelm) (13 November 1595 – December 1, 1640) of the Hohenzollern dynasty was margrave and elector of Brandenburg and duke of Prussia (1619-1640). His reign was marked by ineffective governance during the Thirty Years' War.

Born in Cölln on the Spree, George William was the son of Margrave John Sigismund and Anna of Prussia. His maternal grandfather was Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia.

In 1616 George William married Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate. Their only son Frederick William later became known as the "Great Elector".

In 1619 George William inherited the Margravate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia. During the Thirty Years' War, he tried to remain neutral between the Catholic forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Protestant principalities. As his sister Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg was queen of Sweden, George William had to maneuver between requests of assistance from his Protestant brother-in-law King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and his own Protestant counsellors on one side and his Catholic chancellor Count Adam von Schwarzenberg on the other.

Despite his attempts at neutrality, he was forced by Gustavus Adolphus to join the Protestant forces in 1631. His rule was largely weak and ineffective however, as much of Brandenburg-Prussia's government responsibilities were left with Schwarzenberg as the country suffered greatly during the war. Protestant and Catholic troops alike burned and plundered the region and the population was decimated there as it was throughout the German states during that conflict.

With his brother-in-law Gustavus dead (1632), Goorge William stayed with the Swedish alliance until after the Swedish defeat at the Battle of Nordlingen on September 6, 1634. George William withdrew Brandenburg from the war and signed the Peace of Prague with Emperor Ferdinand II on May 30, 1635. Leaving Schwarzenberg in charge of the government, George William retreated in 1637 to the relatively safe region of the Duchy of Prussia where he lived in retirement until his death at Königsberg in 1640. He was succeeded by his son Frederick William.

His great-great-grandson Frederick II the Great later wrote about him, that this was the unluckiest time, it is a shame that Georg Wilhelm did not put up an army, before the combatants of the Thirty Years War destroyed the land, where the ravages can still be witnessed so many years later.

• Wedgwood, Cicely V. The Thirty Years War, New York, 1961.