This article consists of a series of short essays dedicated to a certain period of the 'popular' socioeconomic history (with a particular focus on the institutional development problems) of the former East Prussia from Antiquity to present days. The authors tackle the issues of the economic history of amber, the role of the Hansa League in the development of medieval trade, the QWERTY-effects in the rail gauge standards, and the peculiarities of the development of the Kaliningrad region in the post-Soviet period

This article considers the problematic issue of the prehistory of the Kaliningrad region. The author analyses different approaches to the periodisation of the East Prussian offensive, delimits the periods of its stages and determines the date of the termination of the operation.