Transcript Unit 1: From Pre-History to Early Civilizations

Section III: The Rulers of the
Holy Roman Empire, Prussia, and Russia
(Pages 397-401)
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This section is about:
The civil war in Germany that
ended the reign of the Holy
Roman Empire.
How politics and war helped
to make both Russia and
Prussia major European
powers.
Important historical figures
such as Fredrick the Great,
Peter the Great, and
Catherine the Great.
In “Main Ideas:” letter A is
something we knew was
coming, but it’s been a long
time since we don’t have this
group in power.
We knew a little about letter C,
but there’s more now.
We should look at the two maps
– the first is on page 398.
The second: on page 400.
The Thirty Year’s War
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Absolute rulers in Europe
used the military and
economics to expand
their power.
Germany was not one of
these places: Germany
was just dozens of small
and independent
“states.”
Even the Holy Roman
Empire couldn’t unite
them.
Germany and Civil War
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In 1612: Ferdinand II came to
power in Bohemia
He was a Hapsburg who
wanted to get Protestantism
out of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Bohemian nobles didn’t
agree, and forced Ferdinand to
step down – replacing him
with a Protestant ruler.
This began _ _ years of war.
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Peace came in 1635,
but….Cardinal Richelieu worried
about Hapsburg power and
started the war again – now
against Spain and in the
Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and
Scandinavia.
The war was fought mostly by
mercenaries (hired soldiers)
who would do anything for
money.
If they didn’t get money,
they’d just take whatever they
could find of value.
At the end of the war, 1/3 of
Germany’s population had
been killed, or died from
undernourishment (and
sometimes the plague).
The Peace of Westphalia
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Peace talks started in 1640 –
and lasted until 1648 (The
Peace of Westphalia).
The Hapsburgs were forced to
give upon their idea of a
Roman Catholic Europe.
Protestants would now have
religious freedom.
Germany became weak, and
France grew much more
powerful.
The Holy Roman Empire was
divided into 300 separate
“states.”
This was the end of the Holy
Roman Empire as a political
force in the world.
Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire
The Rise of Prussia
as a European Power
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At this time, Prussia
was starting to
become a power.
Prussia was in
northeastern Europe
and is now parts of
Poland, Germany, and
Russia.
A Military State
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In the early 1600’s (Thirty Year’s
War), Prussia came under the
control of Fredrick William.
He began a policy of militarism
(military needs and values are
most important).
He wanted to build a strong,
capable army in case he was ever
attacked.
The next Fredrick (III) was asked
to supply some of his soldiers for
the Spanish.
He said he would, if he was
named King of Prussia, so now he
was King Fredrick I.
He developed a huge standing
army (1/5 of his citizens).
(professionally trained, prepared, and paid soldiers)
Fredrick the Great
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Fredrick II (the Great) comes
along next (1740-1786).
He loved literature, philosophy,
the arts, religious liberty, and
was a brilliant military leader.
One of his acts was to invade
and control Silesia (Poland).
Austria, Russia, and France
didn’t like that, so they went
after Fredrick the Great in the
Seven Years War.
Even though he was
outnumbered 10-1, he was
able to save his kingdom.
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Fredrick the Great’s style of
rule is called enlightened
despotism.
This is when an absolute
ruler uses their power to
bring changes that help
their subjects.
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He’s called the Great, so he was
good overall for Prussia, but he was
bad at being prepared: he never
named his successor, so…
Prussia became weak – enough that
20 years after his death, they were
successfully invaded by a French
General named Napoleon.
The Russian Empire Emerges
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In the late 1600’s, Russia wasn’t
really even an organized country:
They had little contact with
Europe.
They had a little different religion
(Russian Orthodox – from
Constantinople and not Rome).
They had been invaded often
(Mongols, etc…).
They have a lot of geography to
deal with (big place, tough place).
They don’t have many warm
weather ports.
We had already talked about Ivan
the Great and Ivan the Terrible,
but this is a little later than them.
Peter the Great
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Peter I started organizing
Russia into one nation.
When he was 25, he
went to Europe for a
year.
He wanted to make his
country more like Europe
(culturally, economically,
militarily, socially, etc…).
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This is for page “F”
in your packets
Peter I actually shaved the
noblemen’s beards himself to get
the process going. Ha, what guts. He
was determined to modernize Russia
and take them away from their oldfashioned habits. Oh I guess I
should say now that beards were
considered a gift from God and a
man without one was an effeminate
beast. Needless to say the Russians
were outraged and fearful God
would deny them admittance into
heaven without there traditional
beards. To assuage his people’s
fears, Peter I decided to allow
beard-growth on any man (what
about bearded ladies?) so long as he
paid a beard tax and had a beard
license. I found this picture of what
the men with beards were given
after paying their beard tax. Notice
the beard replica at the bottom of
the token.
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One of the first things he did
was attack - and get some
new lands in the Baltic Sea
region.
He also built a new home –
in a new city (Saint
Petersburg) which was going
to be a symbol of a new
Russia.
He adopted a system of
mercantilism – encouraged
mining, textile production,
trade, exports, education.
He was also an absolute
monarch – and that was
hard on the peasants and
serfs.
One thing he didn’t do:
have a successor. He had
his own son executed for
treason (tortured to death).
He didn’t believe the next
ruler should be a descendant.
Catherine the Great
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No true heir to the throne:
meant chaos in Russia for
about 30 years.
Finally, in 1762, Catherine
proclaimed herself Tsarina.
She admired some French
philosophers and was tolerant
of different religions, but she
enjoyed being in power (often
at serfs/peasants expense).
She did add to Russia’s
territory. She also won (in a
war) a port on the Black Sea.
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Catherine was actually German and not Russian. Her
marriage to Peter, the heir to the Russian throne was
arranged by Peter’s mother in 1743. Once Peter
assumed the throne, he proved to be an ineffective ruler,
and the royal couple grew to hate each other. The
nobles and common people of Russia were happy when
Catherine overthrew her husband, had him murdered in
1762, and assumed the throne herself.