Social & Cultural Aspects of Prussia during Unit 1 & 2

During the Thirty Years War the population of the Prussia dropped drastically and many of the villiages in Prussia vanished. Socially speaking, a lot of German speaking peasents had a lot in common with Polish peasents in other provinces. When the Great Elector came to power the state's total revenue tripled and the size of the army increased largely, to the point that in 1688 the population of Prussia was one million, and thirty thousand troops made up a standing army during times of peace. There were Estates of Brandenburg and they were dominated by the nobility and the land owners. Land owners back then were called "Junkers." If the Estates had successfully resisted the demands of the absolutist Grand Elector their government would have had the possibility of evolving into a form of Constitutionalism, instead of Absolutism. The power that the Estates had held declined greatly after the introduction of a pernament taxation without consent was enstilled. The Prussian people paid a heavy price for the obsessions and indulgences of the Absolute Ruler. And the society of Prussia became rigid and extremely disciplined.