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So I'm reading a book ont he Rhineland in the Revolutionary Period, and it mentions some facts that I think people here might find interesting.

1) We overestimate the importance of territorial fragmentation in the Holy Roman Empire. In some places it probably hindered economic development. In the Rhineland, however, the disputes between provinces failed to stop marriages between families in Aachen and Dusseldorf, or the or the establishment of familial ties between the Lutheran manufacturing aristocracy of Monschau and the economic elites of Aachen, Burtscheid, Krefeld, Berg and Mark; Larger firms, like families, transcended borders. Monschau’s largest enterprises, for example, had branches extending into Prussian, Palatine and Austrian territory. Textile manufacturers that had a putting-out system extended across borders, encompassing families in Cologne, Krefeld, and Julich-Berg. In addition, Rhenish fragmentation encouraged economic liberalism.

Taxes were low "partly because so much industry was located in the countryside, but also because territorial fragmentation meant that trade could be diverted towards towns with the most competitive tax regimes. In the Prussian enclaves, for example, peasants purchased goods in neighbouring territories where taxes were lower. Over time, fiscal competition resulted in lower taxes everywhere and harmonisation between town and country; a shift to property taxes."

2) The Rhineland was a highly literate, liberal society, with a literacy rate around 91% for men. As you'd expect, the late 18th century saw increasing appeals before the Imperial Court in Berlin by cities complaining that magisters were corrupt, secretive, and arbitrary. There was also demand for an independent judiciary, and a lot of the cases that were sent to Berlin entailed accusations that judges were being controlled by magisters.

3) In the princely states, absolutism in the Rhineland had been turned back by a ruling by the Imperial Court in 1714 that the states needed to consent to taxation. Wuttemburg's parliament was considered so powerful that Fox said it was the equal of Westminster, and in Cologne the estates controlled not only taxation but financial administration. In the 1770s and 1780s the way the estates perceived themselves also began to shift. For instance, in Trier the Landtag began to call itself "des volckes Reprasentanten," or the People's Representatives.

4) When the Revolutionary War broke out, the Estates in Western Germany replied to demands for troops with demands for concessions of their own. In the Palatinate, peasants demanded the abolition of noble privileges, while in Cologne the estates pressed demands for privilege in return for funding for the war effort. So even if the Revolution was strangled early, the region was due for a shakeup.

I'll post something about Hoche in a bit.
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