Conquest and its Consequences
By the summer of 1611, it was an open assumption in both Prussian and foreign courts that Gdansk would soon, legally or illegally, be annexed to Prussia. There are two peices of evidence for this--the first being that, for the first time, Prussia was being approached for non-competition agreements.
By the end of the year, Naples, Alsace, Lorraine, the Palatinate and Switzerland had approached Prussia for non-competition deals. Only the Palatinate and Switzerland would gain one.
The second was that, for the first time, trade was on the King in Prussia's mind. The issue would have been forced anyways, but it played entirely into Frederich Wilhelm's hands. The Silesian Estate felt that, by the March of 1611, the Kingdom was in such a state that Frederich would not be able to deny any of their wishes for fear of a revolt. As such, they convened by April, and in June demanded a change in trade policy towards Silesia's old system, meaning that there would be no tariffs between provinces, and that many of the state subsidies built around several industries (notably Printing) would be abolished.
This was fantastic for the King. Not only did this mean that he would deal another blow to the provinces, and to the Kronesohr in turn, but abolishing the printing subsidies would allow cities other than Berlin and Konigsberg to have nascent printing industries. Most of all, ending inter-provincial tariffs would allow trade to flow towards Danzig with the greatest of ease.
While Berlin was angered by Frederich's decision, in the long run it allowed Danzig to act as a catch basin for a far greater number of goods
As all this was happening, the Prussian army was moving, albeit slowly, farther and farther east. The Lithuanian estates were captured in July 1611, and the cities of Plock and Kalisz fell to the Prussian armies. By now, it was clear that the Doppelkorps would only be satisfied with the annexation of the Teutonic territories.
Poland by the Fall of 1611
The collapse of the Polish army had other consequences in Poland as well--it destroyed the consensus over which the Korona had been built. A country which had once been one of the most tolerant countries in Europe was now tearing itself apart in religious struggles--an estimate of the Prussian Scout and Intelligence Corps was that by 1612 roving anti-Semitic bands outnumbered the Polish army. Hearing the pogroms that were tearing Lithuania apart, Rabbi Michael (a man who claimed to represent all of Prussian Jewry) offered a deal on behalf of the Prussian rabbis--if the Armee Von Preusse were to stop the Pogroms happening in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, they would preach in support of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Prussian Jews fought dissent against the war effort in return for Prussian support for Lithuanian Jews. The men of Modzewski would be Prussia's largest foe during the later stages of the war
On the eastern front, the Doppelkorps were faced with a tri-fold surprise--the incompetence of the Russian Army, the competence of the Rigan one ,and the presence of Scandanavian forces in the black sea region. Soon enough another surprise came to Neukoln in the form of a treaty--the Swedes had signed a peace with the Poles in return for the island of Osel. However the Rigan and Danish troops quickly filled in the gap in the northern front. The Poles were desperate at this point, and, praying that the Prussians would be content with northern acquisitions, offered a peace treaty.
Unfortunately for the Poles, I wanted their Western Territories
Frederich Wilhelm entered the occupied city of Warsaw at the front of the Royal Guard, riding right to the Polish estates. In front of the collected representatives which the Prussian army had captured, he offered his peace terms--Riga would get Kurland to defend its southern territories, and Russia would annex Mogilev, and Prussia would add Gdansk, Poznan, and Torun to its Kingdom.
The Treaty of Warsaw and Poland after the First Partition
Even at Frederich's moment of triumph, this annexation presented major problems for the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia's government followed in the old style of Despotic Margravatism, but was becoming increasingly Absolutist, while Poznan and Torun were used to something that was close to democratic rule. By the end of 1612, mayors from Torun and Poznan were requesting the ability of self governance. Frederich agreed, as this was playing into his planned governmental reforms. The Grand Duchy of Posen, a devolved government similar to the Silesian estates though with less rights, was formed at the dawn of 1613.
The Creation of the Grand Duchy of Posen
This reform was in purely Eastern European fashion, "which is the exact opposite of the Western, liberal concept of Reform by consent and by mutual concession...the Eastern form is reform 'from the top', and aimed at revivification of authoritarian systems". However while Russian reform usually came at the very last minute, Prussia had a long history of pro-active reform which helped both the common man and the government bureaucrat--most notably from Bismark's health care reform, the first of it's kind in the world.
However, the shift in governance from the Kronesohr to the MunzeArchiv (heretofore known as the Directory) was long in coming, and was sure to happen ever since Frederich opted to stay in the Kronesauge. The Kronesohr had been a thorn in the King's side ever since Georg II had allowed its creation, and their new economic weakness and the huge amount of popularity of Frederich Wilhelm allowed him the chance to implement French-style reforms.
The King's court had long been divided in three parts representing the 3 major bureaucracies and Prussian governance had been split between two ideas--Foreign Politics represented by the Doppelkorps and Domestic Politics represented by the Kronesohr. Linz, one of the few Comparative Governance Scholars to focus on Authoritarian Rule, splits authoritarian rule into two categories--totalitarian, in which 'everything is politics, but politics is own by the government', and authoritarian, in which there is a degree of diversity in power groupings. Both of these types need to stay total/apolitical, or else they will start to fragment.
In Fascist Italy, for instance, power was split between the Church, the Army, the Monarchy, and the Government. Because power is total in an authoritarian system, if 'politics' (defined by the rhetorical and sometimes physical conflict between differing groups/ideologies) were to be introduced into this system, then those institutions would now be at each others necks for the right to control the state. The Kronesohr consistently threatened to introduce this element to Prussia, especially because they had power of administration and the power of the purse. Beyond this, the power of the purse controlled by the Kronesohr meant that 'minor projects' dominated the Prussian budget. Most importantly, the powers of the kronesohr meant that the denizens Estates of Silesia and the Grand Duchy of Posen were enraged by their lack of representation, as well as Prussian jewry, who by now were on similar numbers to the Prussian Catholics, but who remained unrepresented. The last major problem with the Kronesohr is that, when it was made, there were only 12 Prussian 'major towns' (meaning that they had a population higher than 8,000). Now there were nearly 170, and still mayors from all matter of small towns were demanding on be present on the Board of Mayors.
Frederich Wilhelm announced on the 16th of July, 1613, that the Directory would take control of all administration duties (defined as different from 'governance' as there is no politics in administration) of all provinces. The Kronesohr would be replaced by the new Director of Landers (Landarchiv), and the Board of Mayors would be replaced by the Lord Electors, who despite their name, had only an advisory position. The electors would be made up of--
4 Lords of the 4 Prussian Landers (a great deal of the new Prussian proto-constitution defined how large these landers could be, preempting any conquests that would occur)--Ostmark, Westmark, Preusse, and the Grand Duchy of Posen
3 Religious Lords--the Bishop of Altmark, the Rabbi of Prussian Jewry (generally a Berliner or a Breslaun), and the Prince-Priest of Potsdam
The Mayors of Berlin and Konigsberg, chosen by the King
and the King himself, though he reserved the right to choose a surrogate
The Landarchiv's organization as of 1615: The 4 Landers plus the 4 military districts of Silesia, white dots signify cities which were ruled by Lord Electors
Many historians have noted that the Landarchiv was far more aristocratic than its predecessor, the Kronesohr. This is because of its scale--the Margravate of Brandenburg was comprised of two larger cities (Potsdam and Berlin) and massive amounts of small towns and noble estates. The Prussian government, in the modern, bureaucratic sense of the word, was built in order to deal with the problems presented by large cities. In the countryside, nobles controlled their estates and singular families dominated the towns. The amazing tolerance of the Prussian government came out of this unique concept.
Beyond this, the argument that the Prussian government got more and more aristocratic over time misses the point of the Landarchiv--it was primarily a rubber stamp organization, who had small amount of money collected through excise taxes and little else to do. By 1650 nearly all of Prussian governance was performed through the Directory, an organizatin which was, firstly, operated directly by the King, and secondly, primarily urban in nature.
What this actually meant
There was another consequence of Prussia's annexation of Poland's westernmost provinces. The Danziger government-in-exile protested to the Emperor for protection, and all historical records indicate that Ferdinand intended to use this instance to attack Prussia if it weren't for his timely death in 1612.
That said I don't think I recall you commenting on my AAR, so this just makes it an even bigger surprise 
