Editing History of Germany (section)

===Social changes===
{{Main|Social changes in 18th to 19th-century Prussia}}
[[Prussia]] underwent major [[social change]] between the mid-17th and mid-18th centuries as the [[nobility]] declined as the traditional [[aristocracy]] struggled to compete with the rising [[merchant class]],<ref>Marion W. Gray, ''Productive men, reproductive women: the agrarian household and the emergence of separate spheres during the German Enlightenment'' (2000).</ref> which developed into a new [[Bourgeoisie]] middle class,{{Sfn|Nipperdey|1996|loc=ch 2}}<ref>Marion W. Gray and June K. Burton, "Bourgeois Values in the Rural Household, 1810–1840: The New Domesticity in Germany", ''The Consortium on Revolutionary Europe, 1750–1850'' 23 (1994): 449–456.</ref><ref>Eda Sagarra, ''An introduction to Nineteenth century Germany'' (1980) pp. 231–233.</ref> while the [[emancipation of the serfs]] granted the rural [[peasantry]] land purchasing rights and freedom of movement,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ford |first=Guy Stanton |url=https://archive.org/details/steinanderarefo01fordgoog |title=Stein and the era of reform in Prussia, 1807–1815 |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1922 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/steinanderarefo01fordgoog/page/n205 199]–220}}</ref> and a series of [[agrarian reforms]] in northwestern Germany abolished [[feudal obligations]] and divided up feudal land, giving rise to wealthier peasants and paved the way for a more efficient [[rural economy]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Brakensiek |first=Stefan |title=Agrarian Individualism in North-Western Germany, 1770–1870 |date=April 1994 |work=German History |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=137–179}}</ref>