Editing German Confederation (section)

===Nobility===
In a heavily agrarian society, land ownership played a central role. Germany's nobles, especially those in the East called ''{{Lang|de|[[Junker]]s}}'', dominated not only the localities, but also the [[Prussian court]], and especially the [[Prussian army]]. Increasingly after 1815, a centralized Prussian government based in Berlin took over the powers of the nobles, which in terms of control over the peasantry had been almost absolute. They retained control of the judicial system on their estates until 1848, as well as control of hunting and game laws. They paid no land tax until 1861 and kept their police authority until 1872, and controlled church affairs into the early 20th century. To help the nobility avoid indebtedness, Berlin set up a credit institution to provide capital loans in 1809, and extended the loan network to peasants in 1849. When the German Empire was established in 1871, the nobility controlled the army and the Navy, the bureaucracy, and the royal court; they generally set governmental policies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weber |first=Eugen |url=https://archive.org/details/modernhistoryofe0000webe |title=A Modern History of Europe |date=1971 |publisher=Norton |isbn=0-3930-9981-4 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernhistoryofe0000webe/page/586 586] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Sagarra|1977|pp=37–55, 183–202}}</ref>