This article points out the most recent contributions over agrarian history of Prussia and Germany in the 19th century, and which are related to the new views on social history. The so-called "Prussian via" is debated the development towards capitalism in agriculture and its responsibility for industrial backwardness. At the same time, the traditional assumptions of German historiography are reviewed as for as the lack of progress in agriculture and the impact of land reforms in the different socio-economic systems, above all those ones settled in the east of river Elbe, are concerned
