The Origins of the Prussian Agricultural Revolution, 1750–1840

Abstract

The emergence of Prussia's mid-19th century “agricultural revolution” has been attributed to, variously, the actions of state reformers, the origin of the manorial system centuries prior, or the quotidian effects of compounding economic growth. This paper, instead, proposes a new explanation that identifies two unprecedented structural transformations in the rural economy as bringing about this change. First, the establishment of rural credit institutions in the wake of the Seven Years' War unintentionally pushed Prussian landlords into dependence on agricultural commodity markets. Second, the rapid demographic increase in the mid-18th century, unfolding in the context of traditions of impartible inheritance, produced a proletarianized rural labor force available to be recruited into expanded agricultural production. The distinctive “Prussian path” to capitalism originated from the confluence of these two developments.