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Brandenburg-Prussia State Consolidation

Type Event Region Germany Time 1660

In the 1660s Brandenburg's Great Elector Frederick William rebuilt the state from the ruins of the Thirty Years' War—raising a standing army, reformi…

Timeline

  1. 1660Berlin · GermanyAfter the 1660 Treaty of Oliva, Frederick William confirmed his rule over Prussia, Cleves, and other territories, and maintained a balancing diplomacy between the Empire, Sweden, and Poland, winning external room for domestic reform.
  2. 1660Brandenburg-Prussia · GermanyThe Great Elector expanded the standing army and established a war ministry and general tax office, funding military expenses through territorial contributions and tariff revenues. By the mid-to-late 1660s the army's size and training led among the German states, and state coercive power increased markedly.
  3. 1660Königsberg · GermanyBy inviting Huguenot craftsmen, relaxing industrial and commercial regulations, and imposing protective tariffs, Brandenburg-Prussia recovered population and trade in the 1660s. The elector and the Junker nobility exchanged land and military service for political support, forming a distinctive state–nobility cooperative structure.

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