pressing people into service was the standard back then
But not very much of a standard to abduct them in foreign countries on a regular basis, or so I am told. Recently I have come across the story of him (yes, it was Frederic's father) kidnapping a French (or Austrian) diplomat who had this misfortune of being very tall and whose relatives had to put much effort later on into persuading the Prussians to release him from their army...
So Prussia was a parasite that grew by feeding on Polish blood
In fact, it wasn't only Prussia which did. All the three partitioning powers were embracing resources of Poland which was the second largest European country before partitions occured. But the thing often escaping attention of people in Poland is that the Prussians promptly began to improve the economic infrastructure in the newly annexed territories of Poland which was rather poor before that (the presently called 'Bydgoski' Canal is a very good example of this). And this wasn't neither the case in either the Russian or the Austrian part.
Anyway, by refering to 'Prussian heritage', I chiefly meant Silesia, Western Pomerania and East Prussia rather than such bizzare and temporary provinces as 'Southern Prussia'.
let's not exaggerate. Remember that before the partitions Prussia meant and was nothing
If you think that Prussia was nothing before 1772-1795, how would you explain their quick and successful campaign leading to the conquest of Silesia, a very rich province of the Habsburg Empire, in the years 1741-42, so 30 years before the time of the first partition of Poland? Austria was a big and a powerful country of Europe whereas Prussia was relatively tiny...
