The Rise of Prussia 267manor: Junkers retained rights of seigneurial justice over their peasants. Bur
ghers, including merchants and skilled craftsmen, also stood powerless
before nobles, in contrast to the middle class in England and the Dutch
United Provinces, where they presented an imposing obstacle to the growth
of absolutism.
Frederick William (ruled 1640-1688), the “Great Elector” of Branden
burg (so named because the ruler of Brandenburg had the right to cast a bal
lot in the election of the Holy Roman emperor), initially had neither a
standing army nor the resources to raise one. Prussian nobles at first resisted
the creation of a standing army, fearful that it might aid Frederick William
in reducing their privileges. In 1653, Frederick William convinced the
Junkers to grant him funds with which to build an army in exchange for
royal confirmation of their privileges over the peasantry and their right to
import goods without paying duties. Furthermore, the king agreed to consult
the nobles on matters of foreign policy.
Then Frederick William turned to the business of augmenting state
authority in his three fragmented territories. He extracted concessions from
each of them, including more taxes and the right to recruit soldiers. The
Hohenzollern family owned more than half of East Prussia, which provided
considerable state revenue. The Great Elector established a centralized
administrative bureaucracy, arguably the first modern efficient civil service
in Europe. The Prussian bureaucracy was coordinated by an office with the
suitably imposing name of “General Directory Over Finance, War, and Royal
Domains.” Prussian towns, which paid a disproportionate percentage of
taxes, lost their representation in the provincial Estates. In 1701, the Great
Elector s son Frederick III (his title as elector of Brandenburg) took the title
of King Frederick I of Prussia (ruled 1688-1713).
Frederick William I (ruled 1713-1740), grandson of the Great Elector,
succeeded Frederick 111 as elector of Brandenburg and king in Prussia. As a
boy, Frederick William could not count to ten without his tutors assistance,
but upon his succession to the throne he continued the centralizing policies
of his grandfather and father. The bad-tempered “Sergeant-King” wore his
officer’s uniform around the house and turned the royal gardens into a mili
tary training ground. Frederick William I was known for fits of screaming
rage, calling everyone in sight “blockhead,” sometimes beating officials with
a stick, and knocking out the teeth of several judges whose sentences dis
pleased him. Officials known as “fiscals” went around to ensure that the
kings representatives served him well. But the king was astute enough to
break with tradition by employing some commoners, many of whom served
with uncommon loyalty and efficiency.
A Prussian official described, with some exaggeration, the feature that
defined his country’s absolutism and the emergence of Brandenburg-Prussia
as a power: “What distinguishes the Prussians from other people is that
theirs is not a country with an army. They have an army and a country that
serves it.” Military expenditures accounted for half of Prussia’s state budget.