18th-century history of Germany
Meanwhile, the states developed a classical culture that found its greatest expression in the Enlightenment, with world class leaders such as philosophers Leibniz and Kant, writers such as Goethe and Schiller, and musicians Bach and Beethoven.
Sweden's defeat by Russia, Saxony, Poland, Denmark–Norway, Hanover, and Prussia in the Great Northern War (1700–21) marked the end of significant Swedish power on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea.
During this time, the trends set in motion by the Great Elector reached their culmination, as the Junkers, the landed aristocracy, were welded to the Prussian Army.
This war was a desperate struggle for the Prussian Army, and the fact that it managed to fight much of Europe to a draw bears witness to Frederick's military skills.
Defeating the Austrian army at the Battle of Burkersdorf and relying on continuing British success against France in the war's colonial theatres, Prussia was finally able to force a status quo ante bellum on the continent.
This result confirmed Prussia's major role within the German states and established the country as a European great power.
The economy developed and legal reforms were undertaken, including the abolition of torture and the improvement in the status of Jews; the emancipation of the peasants began.
In 1772–95, Prussia took part in the partitions of Poland, occupying western territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which led to centuries of Polish resistance against German rule and persecution.
After Frederick died in 1786, his nephew Fredrick William II continued the partitions, gaining a large part of western Poland in 1793.
From 1763, against resistance from the nobility and citizenry, an "enlightened absolutism" was established in Prussia and Austria, according to which the ruler governed according to the best precepts of the philosophers.
Among the smaller princes, many offensive characters could be found, but also many of outstanding figures, such as Duke William Ferdinand of Brunswick and Margrave Karl Friedrich of Baden.
All the bishops were scions of the ruling dynasties or the high aristocracy and they considered themselves political rulers who lived and acted in the style of the contemporary secular court society.
[2] In Hesse-Kassel, the Landgrave Frederick II ruled from 1760 to 1785 as an enlightened despot, and raised money by hiring soldiers (called "Hessians") to Great Britain to help fight the American Revolutionary War.
He combined Enlightenment ideas with Christian values, cameralist plans for central control of the economy, and a militaristic approach to diplomacy.
When the German Empire was established in 1871, the Junker nobility controlled the army and the Navy, the bureaucracy, and the royal court; they generally set governmental policies.
In most of Germany, farming was undertaken by tenant farmers who paid rents and carried out obligatory services to the landlord, who was typically a nobleman.
Peasant leaders supervised the fields and ditches and grazing rights, maintained public order and morals, and supported a village court which handled minor offenses.
[6][7] In German history the emancipation of the serfs came between 1770 and 1830, with the nobility in Schleswig being the first to agree to do so in 1797, followed by the signing of the royal and political leaders of Denmark and Germany in 1804.
Indeed, for most peasants, customs and traditions continued largely unchanged, including the old habits of deference to the nobles whose legal authority over the villagers remained quite strong.
They abolished feudal obligations and divided collectively owned common land into private parcels; and thus created a more efficient market-oriented rural economy; resulting in higher productivity and population growth.
[12] Before 1750, the German upper classes often looked to France (or, previously, Italy) for intellectual, cultural and architectural leadership; French was the language of high society.
[13] Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) broke new ground in philosophy and poetry, as a leader of the Sturm und Drang movement of proto-Romanticism.
Schiller's plays expressed the restless spirit of his generation, depicting the hero's struggle against social pressures and the force of destiny.
[14] German music, sponsored by the upper classes, came of age under composers Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Joseph Haydn (1732–1809), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), and Ludwig van Beethoven.
[15] In remote Königsberg philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual freedom, and political authority.
The royal courts in Vienna and Berlin denounced the overthrow of the king and the threatened spread of notions of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
The extremists among the French revolutionaries saw war as a chance to defeat their domestic opponents and embarrass the king, whose Austrian wife, Marie-Antoinette, was Emperor Leopold II's sister.
The French took control of the Rhineland, imposed French-style reforms, abolished feudalism, established constitutions, promoted freedom of religion, emancipated Jews, opened the bureaucracy to ordinary citizens of talent, and forced the nobility to share power with the rising middle class.
Napoleon established direct or indirect control over most of western Europe, including the German states apart from Prussia and Austria.
Saxony changed sides to support Napoleon and join his Confederation of the Rhine; its elector was rewarded with the title of king and given a slice of Poland taken from Prussia.
