General Directorate (Prussia)

The General Directorate was set up by King Frederick William I on December 20, 1722, to consolidate the departments established during his reign to replace the corrupt Cabinet of Three Counts and reorganize the finances that had been shattered by his father, King Frederick I.

The new central authority was initially divided into four "departments", each of which was responsible for several territories of the entire state.

The Directorate was responsible for financial, economic and domestic policy (with the exception of the judiciary and church).

[3] Beginning with the reign of King Frederick II in 1740 onwards, a number of new departments were created which were divided into subject areas, namely for trade and manufacturing (in 1740), for military economics (in 1746), for excise and customs (in 1766), for mines and smelters (in 1768) and for forests (in 1770).

It was only in the course of the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms that the General Directorate was abolished in 1808 and its tasks were transferred to the modern State Ministry, in which the distribution of departments was divided solely according to subject areas.