Continuity and Change in 18th-Century States Practice Test

In a seminar on continuity and change in eighteenth-century European states, a student notes that monarchs from Prussia to Austria expanded standing armies, centralized tax collection, and promoted state-directed economic reforms, while still relying on noble officers and estate-based privileges. Considering these trends across 1700–1789, which development best illustrates a significant change in state power while also revealing a continuity in social hierarchy?

In discussing eighteenth-century state building, a lecturer highlights Russia’s Table of Ranks, Prussia’s canton system, and Austria’s administrative reforms as evidence of expanding state capacity. The lecturer also emphasizes that coerced labor and seigneurial obligations persisted for many rural subjects. Which option best captures the major continuity and change implied by these examples?