Fixing Prussia's Peripheries

Rural Disasters and Prusso-German State-Building, 1866–1914

Bibliographic Data

ID9645156
AuthorsElizabeth B Jones (Colorado State University, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume51
Issue2
Pages204-227
Publication date2018-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCentral European History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-9389 • E-ISSN: 1569-1616
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0008938918000432
OpenAlexW2811397810
LanguageEN
References cited19

In the 1860s, rural disasters on Prussia's eastern and western peripheries forced lawmakers to wrestle with the definition of the term emergency ( Notstand ), as well as with its temporal and spatial boundaries. The article first explores the legislative decision by Berlin politicians to limit state aid to East Prussia in 1868, even as other hunger crises devastated remote regions in the northwestern state of Hanover. The article then turns to the political conflicts over the 1868 law, including the disputes after unification over how to determine eligibility for state funds; the jostling among representatives of poor regions for attention; the creation of permanent relief funds; and politicians’ use of new understandings of moor science to strengthen and link Prussia's eastern and western peripheries. The article also considers the larger political context, emphasizing that the dismay over Prussian “backwardness” and inner-Prussian competition for disaster aid unfolded against the backdrop of the state's successful leadership during German unification

Archaeology · Backwardness · Context (archaeology · Development economics · Economic growth · Economic history · Economics · Geography · German · Legislature · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · European history and politics · European Political History Analysis · History · Law · Law and Political Science

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