Landownership in Eastern Germany Before the Great War: A Quantitative Analysis
The big landlords of eastern Germany have loomed large in the country's history, but the absence of official statistics on landownership has left their position and identity confined to folklore, without satisfactory quantification. This study, making extensive use of primary sources from the seven 'core provinces' of eastern Germany-the so-called 'East Elbian' region-establishes answers to questions pivotal to our understanding of pre-war Germany: who were the biggest landowners, both by area and by the tax assessment of their land? Which social groups held land? How much land did they own and where? How did this change, especially during the last decades before the Great War? Professor Eddie demonstrates that most of the inroads into landownership by the bourgeoisie had already been made by the mid-1850s, perhaps even before the mid-1830s. However, one of the most interesting findings in this study is that, despite rapid industrialization after 1880, there was a net exodus of the nouveaux riches from the ranks of large land owners. On the eve of war, the largest landowners were the Prussian state, the royalty, and the higher nobility. Meticulously researched and thoroughly documented, this book will be the benchmark for all future work in this area.
1113065967
Landownership in Eastern Germany Before the Great War: A Quantitative Analysis
The big landlords of eastern Germany have loomed large in the country's history, but the absence of official statistics on landownership has left their position and identity confined to folklore, without satisfactory quantification. This study, making extensive use of primary sources from the seven 'core provinces' of eastern Germany-the so-called 'East Elbian' region-establishes answers to questions pivotal to our understanding of pre-war Germany: who were the biggest landowners, both by area and by the tax assessment of their land? Which social groups held land? How much land did they own and where? How did this change, especially during the last decades before the Great War? Professor Eddie demonstrates that most of the inroads into landownership by the bourgeoisie had already been made by the mid-1850s, perhaps even before the mid-1830s. However, one of the most interesting findings in this study is that, despite rapid industrialization after 1880, there was a net exodus of the nouveaux riches from the ranks of large land owners. On the eve of war, the largest landowners were the Prussian state, the royalty, and the higher nobility. Meticulously researched and thoroughly documented, this book will be the benchmark for all future work in this area.
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Landownership in Eastern Germany Before the Great War: A Quantitative Analysis

Landownership in Eastern Germany Before the Great War: A Quantitative Analysis

by Scott M. Eddie
Landownership in Eastern Germany Before the Great War: A Quantitative Analysis

Landownership in Eastern Germany Before the Great War: A Quantitative Analysis

by Scott M. Eddie

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Overview

The big landlords of eastern Germany have loomed large in the country's history, but the absence of official statistics on landownership has left their position and identity confined to folklore, without satisfactory quantification. This study, making extensive use of primary sources from the seven 'core provinces' of eastern Germany-the so-called 'East Elbian' region-establishes answers to questions pivotal to our understanding of pre-war Germany: who were the biggest landowners, both by area and by the tax assessment of their land? Which social groups held land? How much land did they own and where? How did this change, especially during the last decades before the Great War? Professor Eddie demonstrates that most of the inroads into landownership by the bourgeoisie had already been made by the mid-1850s, perhaps even before the mid-1830s. However, one of the most interesting findings in this study is that, despite rapid industrialization after 1880, there was a net exodus of the nouveaux riches from the ranks of large land owners. On the eve of war, the largest landowners were the Prussian state, the royalty, and the higher nobility. Meticulously researched and thoroughly documented, this book will be the benchmark for all future work in this area.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780191518645
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication date: 03/06/2008
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 6 MB

About the Author

Scott Eddie is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents


List of Tables     xvii
List of Figures     xxiii
Map: Central Europe in 1910, with seven East Elbian provinces outlined in white     xxiv
Introduction     1
The Setting     1
Who Owned the Land? How do we Know?     4
Address Books of Landed Properties as Sources for Scholars     6
The Pioneer: Johannes Conrad     6
Conrad's Students and Followers     9
Recent Work in the Conradian Tradition: Hess, Nabert, Buchsteiner, Schiller     10
Farm Statistics are not Property Statistics     20
Incomparabilities in the Data of the Agricultural Censuses     23
Owning, Renting, and Ownership Statistics     27
Can Census Data Serve as a Proxy for Property Data?     30
Adjustment of the 1882 Census Data     30
Data Considerations     37
Preview     37
Principal Sources and Uses of Ownership Data     37
Correcting and Adjusting the Data     41
Internal Consistency of the Data     41
Problems with Individual Properties     43
General     43
The Principality of Pless     44
Incomplete Coverage of the Data     46
Adjusting for the Anomalies inReporting State-Owned Properties     48
Introduction     48
Adjustments to State and Crown Properties for Pomerania, Brandenburg, and East Prussia     48
The Geographical and Size Distribution of Large Landed Properties     54
Preview     54
Introduction     55
The Land Endowment of the Eastern Provinces     55
The Regional Distribution of Large Properties     59
The Size of Large Properties     67
Traditional View 1: Distribution by Total Area of Properties     67
Traditional View 2: Distribution by Total Area Owned     69
A Non-Traditional View 1: Distribution by Tax Value     73
A Non-Traditional View 2: Logarithmic Distributions     76
Summary     78
Distribution in the Provinces     83
Ownership of Land by Rank or Class of Owner     86
Preview     86
Introduction     87
Ownership by Rank and Type of Owner     91
Royalty     93
The Nobility     98
Princes and Dukes     98
Counts and Countesses     102
Barons and Baronesses     103
Untitled Nobility     106
Summary      108
Non-Noble Persons ('Bourgeoisie')     109
Another Look at Rank: Military Officers     111
The Prussian State     116
Non-Physical Juridical Persons (Other than the Prussian State)     117
Summary     119
The Biggest Landowners     123
Preview     123
Introduction: Conrad's Twenty Largest Landowners     124
The Top Fifty Landowners by Total Area and Total Tax Value     129
The Super Elite: The Top Ten Landowners     146
Knight's Estates: A Special Class of Property     152
Preview     152
Introduction     153
Numbers and Area of Knight's Estates in East Elbia     155
General Considerations     155
Coverage and Inclusion     157
East and West Prussia, 1834-1884/5     158
Ownership Changes in All Seven Provinces after c.1882     163
Who Owned How Much?     165
Was there Specialization in Ownership?     167
Grouping Properties by their Land-Use Profile     168
Did Different Classes of Owners Specialize in What Types of Properties They Owned and Where?     170
Why did Knight's Estates Appear to Command a Premium over Other Large Properties in the Market?      173
Summary of Examination of Knight's Estates     173
Industry on the Land     175
Preview     175
Introduction     176
The Data     177
Summary of Distribution of Industrial Establishments     178
Numbers of Certain Industrial Establishments from Tax Data     180
Industrial Establishments according to the Industrial Censuses     182
Industrial Establishments on the Larger Estates     185
Share of Census-Listed Industrial Establishments on Large Estates     187
Distribution by Province and Size Category over Time     188
Who Owned the Properties with Industrial Establishments on Them?     190
Owners with Twelve or more Industrial Establishments on their Land     193
Factors Influencing the Location of Rural-Based Industrial Enterprises     200
Summary and Conclusions     207
Classifying Land by its Use     210
Preview     210
Introduction: The Distribution of Land Quality and Value     211
Classifying Properties by Land-Use Profiles     222
Calculating Land-Use Profiles     224
Cluster Analysis and the Number of Properties     225
Cluster Analysis and the Area and Tax Value of Properties      229
Regional Concentration of Properties by Land-Use Profiles     230
Was there Specialization in Ownership of Large Properties?     232
Concluding Remarks     236
The Book Started with a Sermon     236
What has this Study Shown?     236
Was the Land Tax Biased to Favour Big Holdings?     242
Auf Wiedersehen     249
Coding the Handbook Data     250
Location Coding     250
Owner Codes     250
Physical Persons     251
Non-Physical Legal Persons     252
Other Codes     254
Additional Characteristics of Owner or Property     254
Reference Variables and Fields     256
List of Works Cited     258
Archival Sources and Prussian Laws     258
Official Government Publications     258
Directories of Landowners and Landed Properties     259
Articles, Book Chapters, Lectures, Monographs, Reference Works     260
Index     265
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