Western Civilization II / Unit 3 WC2 0202 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Brandenburg-Prussia: Scattered Lands and the Great Compromise of 1653
Captions available
The idea
In sixteen eighteen the elector of Brandenburg inherited East Prussia, unconnected lands. In sixteen fifty-three the Great Elector's Compromise gave him taxes for a standing army and law without noble oversight; the nobles got a land monopoly and their peasants.
In practice
Serfdom made permanent; the Junkers bound to the crown.
Where people slip
The anchor calls him king; he was elector until seventeen-oh-one.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Unlocks
- 0203The Prussian Tax-and-War Office: An Efficient State Built From the Army
- 0219Sequencing the Eastern Monarchies, 1613 to 1740
- 0221Prussia, Austria, and Russia Compared: Nobles, Peasants, Army, Crown
- 0223Classifying a Reform: Westernization, Militarization, Serfdom, Compromise
- 0224Three Absolutisms Built on Serfdom: Prussia, Austria, Russia
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