Germany: 1630-1800 v. 2

This is one of three volumes which together provide a full social and economic history of Germany, from the Middle ages to the present. The second volume concentrates on the dislocation caused by economic downturn and the Thirty Years' War, in the first half of the 17th century, the gradual recovery up to 1800, and the long-term structural legacy of the 17th-century crisis. Characteristic features of Germany in this period are: the growth of bureaucratic absolutist states; the comparatively slow development of agriculture, industry and trade; the long survival of a corporate organization of society, despite the emergence of the "middle-classes" and the long-term poor; and the importance of religious confessionalism and moral and social regulation.