
Rebellious Prussians
Urban Political Culture under Frederick the Great and his Successors
Florian Schui(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 14. March 2013
Book
Hardback
236 pages
978-0-19-959396-5 (ISBN)
Description
Prussian discipline is legendary. Central to debates about modern German history is the view that an oppressive Prussian state cast a shadow on the development of civil society. In particular, historians have seen the absence of a revolution in the eighteenth century as a symptom of a delayed and incomplete emancipation of the Prussian bourgeoisie. Prussia's urban dwellers have often been portrayed as poor relations of the self-reliant and assertive bourgeois of Western Europe and the Atlantic world. Economically backward and politically oppressed, they were allegedly in no position to challenge the iron grip of the state and question the authority of the Hohenzollern dynasty.
Drawing from extensive and original research, Florian Schui challenges the accepted view and argues that Prussians in the eighteenth century were much more willing to challenge the state than has been recognised. Schui explores several instances where urban Prussians successfully resisted government policies and forced Frederick the Great and his successors to give in to their demands. Rebellious Prussians thus sheds light on a little-known historical reality in which weak Hohenzollern monarchs - and a still weaker Prussian bureaucracy - were confronted with prosperous, fearless, argumentative, and occasionally violent Prussian burghers.
Such conflicts between state and citizens were by no means unique to Prussia. Rather the events in Prussia were, on many levels, connected to similar contemporary developments in other parts of Europe and North America. Florian Schui systematically explores these links and thus develops a new European and Atlantic perspective on Prussian history in the eighteenth century.
Drawing from extensive and original research, Florian Schui challenges the accepted view and argues that Prussians in the eighteenth century were much more willing to challenge the state than has been recognised. Schui explores several instances where urban Prussians successfully resisted government policies and forced Frederick the Great and his successors to give in to their demands. Rebellious Prussians thus sheds light on a little-known historical reality in which weak Hohenzollern monarchs - and a still weaker Prussian bureaucracy - were confronted with prosperous, fearless, argumentative, and occasionally violent Prussian burghers.
Such conflicts between state and citizens were by no means unique to Prussia. Rather the events in Prussia were, on many levels, connected to similar contemporary developments in other parts of Europe and North America. Florian Schui systematically explores these links and thus develops a new European and Atlantic perspective on Prussian history in the eighteenth century.
Reviews / Votes
Schui has successfully shown that examining resistance to fiscal and religious policy, rather than simply the glamour of eighteenth-century political radicalism, can inform us about Prussian and European history on a deep, engaging and critical level. * David Taylor (University of Tasmania), European History Quarterly, Vol. 47 *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
One map and 5 black and white figures
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
523 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-959396-5 (9780199593965)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Florian Schui
Rebellious Prussians
Urban Political Culture under Frederick the Great and his Successors
E-Book
03/2013
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€76.49
Available for download
Person
Florian Schui completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge. He was a research fellow at St. Edmund's College, at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH) in Cambridge, and at the National University of Ireland in Galway. He has published extensively on the European history of political and economic ideas in the eighteenth century and beyond.
Content
Introduction ; 1. The paradoxes of state building ; 2. Urban navel gazing ; 3. Official perspectives on the towns ; 4. Taxation and its discontents ; 5. Religion and the state ; 6. A Prussian on liberty ; Conclusion: 'Le Sonderweg est mort, vive le Sonderweg?' ; Bibliography ; Index