Transcript Absolutism (Ch 15) PPT

CH 15 ABSOLUTISM AND
CONSTITUTIONALISM
Ca. 1589-1725
17th Century Crisis and Rebuilding
◦ “Age of Crisis”
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Climate changes
Bitter religious divides
Government pressures and war
Hunger and population loss
The Social Order and Peasant Life
◦ Europe was rigidly hierarchical (divided into social classes) and
patriarchal (dominated by men)
◦ Families were a microcosm of this, with the father/husband being
the “King” of the household.
◦ Most Europeans lived in the countryside.
◦ Bread was the primary element for all classes. White bread was
for the richest.
17th Century French Society
1st Estate:
clergy
2nd Estate:
nobility
3rd Estate
Bourgeoisie, peasants,
laborers
Famine and Economic Crisis
◦ Peasants were constantly threatened by scarcity and famine.
◦ “Little Ice Age” (another one)-period in the 17th century known for
a much wetter and colder climate.
◦ Shorter farming seasons, lower yields, food shortages and famine.
◦ Significantly reduced populations because of malnutrition and
exhaustion.
◦ Bubonic plague continued until the 1720s
◦ The urban poor and peasants were hardest hit as the $ of bread
increased.
◦ Frequent riots over bread led by women against bakers
◦ “Moral economy” refers to a vision of a world where community needs
predominate over competition and profit.
Thirty Years’ War
◦ https://prezi.com/wwpja8ls-lox/thirty-years-war/
Achievements in State-Building
◦ “Absolutist” governments: (monarchs gather power under their personal control)
◦ France
◦ Spain
◦ Central Europe, and Russia
◦ Constitutionalist governments: (rulers respect laws passed by representative institutions)
◦ England and the Dutch Republic
◦ They were all similar in that they
◦ Protected and expanded their frontiers
◦ Raised new taxes
◦ Consolidated control
◦ Competed for new colonies
Warfare and the Growth of Army Size
◦ The driving force behind state-building was warfare.
◦ New monarchs began recruiting permanent standing
armies; army officers were required to be loyal and
obedient to the monarch.
◦ France set the standard in building a large professional
army.
◦ Great Britain focused on naval forces.
Popular Political Action
◦ 1. Popular revolts were very common in England, France, Spain,
Portugal, and Italy. They were often caused by food shortages and
tax increases.
◦ 2. Urban Uprisings in France—French urban uprisings were driven by
deep popular anger and violence at outside officials sent to collect
royal taxes.
◦ Governments were hesitant to put them down for fear of creating martyrs and
because armies were expensive.
◦ By beginning of the 18th century, people who opposed royal policy and taxes
were swiftly punished because of prompt military support from the central
government to local authorities and better integration of municipal
governments into the national structure.
ABSOLUTISM IN
FRANCE AND SPAIN
Foundations of absolutism
◦ Absolutism is the product of religious warfare that had been prevalent after the
reformation.
◦ People yearned for order and stability and so they naturally looked to their monarchs.
◦ The French, Prussians, Austrians, and Russians are main autocracies-they are less
focused on religion and more focused on politics, although they do make a
connection between the two.
◦ Divine Right Theory states that a King derives his power from God, and that gov’t is a
God-created thing.
◦ The Chief theorist of this idea was a French theologian and Jacques Bossuet , who
wrote Politics Drawn From the Holy Scriptures.
Foundations of absolutism
1. Henry IV(r. 1589–1610)
◦ founded the Bourbon
dynasty
◦ kept France at peace during his
reign in part by
◦ granting the Edict of Nantes
(allowing Protestants to practice
their religion in certain towns)
◦ lowered taxes and improved the
infrastructure.
◦ He was assassinated by a
Catholic zealot in 1610.
Foundations, cont’d…
2. Cardinal Richelieu--(1585–1642)
◦ became first minister of the French crown during
the reign of Louis XIII (r. 1610–1643), who was nine
years old.
◦ He strengthened royal control for France.
◦ Developed a royal system of administration
◦ extended the use of intendants who supervised tax
collections, recruited men for the army, presided over
local administration, checked up on the nobility, and
regulated local economic activities.
◦ He repressed Protestantism (laid siege to the
Protestant stronghold of La Rochelle) in France
◦ weakened the Catholic Habsburgs’ grip on power
in the territories surrounding France by supporting
Lutheran Gustavus Adolphus in 30 yrs war.
Foundations, cont’d…
◦ 3. Cardinal Mazarin—(1602–1661)
◦ Richelieu’s successor
◦ continued his centralizing policies in part by increasing taxes.
He acted as chief minister for four-year-old Louis XIV.
◦ 4. The Fronde (1648–1653)—A series of violent uprisings
during the early reign of Louis XIV triggered by growing royal
control and oppressive taxation and involving nobles and
common people, including those in the Parlement of Paris.
Louis XIV and Absolutism
◦ When Mazarin died in 1661, Louis declared himself his
own prime minister.
◦ L’etat, c’est moi”
◦ Firmly believed in the divine right theory, which he
thought justified his absolute power-he was responsible
to no man or group.
◦ He was the most absolutist monarch in the age of
absolutism. He would reign for 72 years.
◦ -It was golden age of culture for France under Louis XIVFrance became the “universal tongue”
◦ -French literature and style(in dress, furniture,
architecture) became the standard by which all
Europeans measured their sophistication.
◦
What elements of
this painting
signify the king’s
preeminence?
◦ -Louis distrusted the nobility because of the Fronde, and to further dominate
them,, he moved his palace 12 miles outside of Paris, the chateaux Versailles. He
spent untold sums of money in doing this.
◦ -The most extravagant Europe had ever seen. It was both his personal household and
held the operations of government.
◦ -Eventually 10,000 noblemen and servants lived there, hoping to acquire government
jobs.
◦ -60 % of the royal tax revenue went to the maintenance of Versailles.
◦ Nobles stayed busy with court intrigue, gossip, gambling, and competition over
things like who got to hold the king’s sleeve while he dressed. Life at Versailles was
a huge ceremony. Called it the “captive nobility”-participation in court life was a
social requirement.
◦ -His financial minister was Jean Baptiste Colbert-followed mercantilist policies-build
supply of gold by exporting.
◦ He also revoked the Edict of Nantes-demolished Huguenot churches and schools;
exiled 200,000.
◦ Big on religious unity.
Louis XIV and War
◦ War was an instrument of Louis’ foreign policy-for 2/3 of his reign, France was at
war. The Treaty of Westphalia had weakened the Hapsburgs so much that
Bourbons took advantage of it.
◦ There were 4 major wars: French army was called the Huns of the 17th c.
◦ 1. Devolution-1667-1668-attempt to seize the Spanish Netherlands (Belgium).
Unsuccessful.
◦ 2. Dutch War-1672-1678-He invaded Holland-William of Orange opened up the
dikes and flooded them.
◦ 3. League of Augsburg-1688-1697-trying to expand to the Rhine River. William had
become King of England in 1689 and took lead in forming an alliance against him.
◦ 4. War of Spanish Succession-1702-1714-When the last Hapsburg King of Spain died,
he granted the throne to Louis’ grandson (Philip of Anjou). This meant potential
unification of Spain and France-it was a big deal. Major states of western Europe
combined to prevent this. Worried about the balance of power
◦ Treaty of Utrecht-1713-Philip V remained on Spanish throne, but no ruler could ever
rule both Spain and France.
◦ Although his reign solidified central government of France, his
wars exhausted the treasury/
◦ Left the bourgeoisie and peasantry with enormous tax burden
and his personal extravagance aggravated the situation.
◦ The seeds for revolution were sown in the national debt that had
to be paid off by the 3rd estate.
◦ He left France in debt and surrounded by enemies.
VI. Spanish absolutism and decline
A. Decline of the Spanish economy in the 17th
century
1. The Spanish economy was hurt by the loss of
middle class Moors and Jews.
• The population of Spain shrank from 7.5
million in 1550 to 5.5 million in 1660.
2. Spanish trade with its colonies fell 60% between
1610 and 1660.
• This was largely due to English and Dutch
competition.
3. The Spanish treasury was bankrupt and had to
repudiate its debts at various times between
1594 and 1680.
4. National taxes hit the peasantry particularly
hard.
a. Many peasants were driven from the
countryside and swelled the ranks of the poor
in cities.
b. Food production decreased as a result.
5. Inflation from the “price revolution” hurt
domestic industries that were unable to export
goods.
6. A poor work ethic stunted economic growth.
a. Upper classes eschewed work and continued
a life of luxury
b. Many noble titles were purchased which
provided tax exemptions for the wealthy.
c. Capitalism was far less prevalent than it was
in the Netherlands and England.
B. Political and military decline
1. Symbolically, England’s defeat of the
Spanish Armada in 1588 was once seen by
some historians as the beginning of the
decline of the Spanish empire.
• However, Spain had the most formidable
military until the mid-17th century.
ABSOLUTISM IN
AUSTRIA & PRUSSIA
The Return of Serfdom in the East
◦ 1. Erosion of Peasant Liberties—
◦ Peasant lords dealt with labor shortages caused by the Black Death by
restricting their peasants’ right to move.
◦ In Prussia by 1500, runaway peasants were required to be returned to their
lords, and the lords imposed heavier labor obligations (peasants in some
regions were required to work six days a week for the lords).
◦ 2. local lord was also the local prosecutor, judge, and jailer.
◦ There were no independent royal officials to provide justice or uphold the common law.
◦ Peasants required permission to marry or could be forced to marry and lords
could sell serfs apart from their families.
◦ 3. Growth of Commercial Agriculture—
◦ Eastern lords squeezed surpluses out of their peasants and sold their grain
directly to the growing cities of western Europe (bypassing local towns that
declined in size and importance.
Habsburg Empire in 1700
The Austrian Habsburgs
1. Habsburgs emerged from the Thirty Years’ War exhausted and impoverished, and real
power was in the hands of many separate political jurisdictions.
◦ focused inward and eastward to unify their holdings.
2. Bohemia—
◦ The Habsburgs under Ferdinand II (r. 1619–1637) reduced the power of the Bohemian
Estates, the largely Protestant representative assembly,
◦ confiscated lands of Protestant nobles, and worsened the condition of the enserfed
peasantry. All these changes created absolutist rule in Bohemia.
3. Hungary—The Habsburgs expelled the Ottomans from most of Hungary and Transylvania
from 1683 to 1699, but the Hungarian nobility thwarted the full development of Habsburg
absolutism.
◦ Hungary was never fully integrated into a centralized, absolute Habsburg state as was
Austria and Bohemia.
Prussia in the
th
17
Century
◦ 1. Hohenzollerns—family in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that
ruled parts of eastern Germany as imperial electors in Brandenburg
and dukes of Prussia.
◦ In 1640, Frederick William, (“Great Elector”) worked to unify the
Prussian state and enlarge his territory.
◦ 2. Junkers—The nobility of Brandenburg and Prussia who were
reluctant allies of Frederick William in his consolidation of the Prussian
state.
◦ 3. The Absolutist Solution—In 1660, Frederick William convinced the
Junkers to accept royal taxation to fund the army in exchange for
authority over the serfs.
◦ This gave the king power to crush any opposition from the towns.
◦ He tripled state revenue during his reign and built a huge army.
Prussia under the
Hohenzollern Family
• Hohenzollern rulers of the 17th and 18th Centuries
• Frederick William, the Great Elector r.1640-1688
• Frederick I r.1688-1713
• Frederick William I r.1713-1740
• Frederick the Great r.1740-1786
• The history of Prussia is largely the history of this family that first
became rulers of Brandenburg in the early 15th Century
• They were absolutists devoted to the military and are a major reason
why Prussia became a nation devoted to militarism; meaning military
values permeated all spheres of life
Prussia under the
Hohenzollern Family
◦ Rule of Frederick William, the Great Elector
◦ Raised taxes through force to build an army
◦ Junkers, the German noble landlords in return for obedience to Frederick
could enforce serfdom
◦ Army and Elector become powerful allies
◦ Frederick William’s successors
◦ His son, William I, helps Hapsburgs in War of Spanish Succession and
becomes King of Prussia
◦ Frederick William I – most successful Prussian leader – made the strongest
army in Europe the symbol of power and unity, while staying out of war
◦ Frederick II or Great – did not have wisdom of his father and invaded
Silesia starting long Austrian-Prussian rivalry
Russia – The Romanov Dynasty
 Russia did not emerge as a power in Europe until the late seventeenth century.
 Politically and geographically, it lay on the periphery and never emerged as a major
commercial power because it lacked consistent access to warm-water ports.
 Ivan IV (The Terrible)-first Czar (1583-1584)
 Reign began sensibly, but underwent a personality change-turned him into a tyrant who ruled through
terror and repression.
 Had St. Basil’s Cathedral built
 Time of Troubles
Russia – The Romanov Dynasty
 Romanov Dynasty begins under Mikhail Romanov
 Elected by group of nobles at 16 to end the Time of Troubles
 Dynasty would rule until 1917
 Important Achievements of Romanovs
 Gained land in Ukraine from Poland in 1667 and conquered the rest
of Siberia by the end of the century.
 The army and the bureaucracy grew considerably during this period
 profits from Siberia’s natural resources funded Russian imperialist
expansion in the east
 but the boyars, (old nobility) still retained a lot of bureaucratic power
and
 the streltsy, or guards of the Moscow garrison remained a threat to
mutiny against the czar.
Peter the Great
◦ Came to power at 10- believed that the power of the tsar must be secure from the
jealousy and greed of the boyars, the old nobility, and the streltsy, the guards of the
Moscow garrison
◦ publicly executed rebellious streltsy and repressed and humiliated the boyars
◦ Wanted to increase Russian military power, so he drafted an army of 300,000 soldiers
◦ Built a navy on the Baltic Sea and began a war with the Ottomans in 1695 to protect his
interests in the Black Sea.
◦ The Great Northern War – 1700-1721-Peter defeats the Swedes and takes control of
Estonia, Livonia, parts of Finland-ice-free port and permanent influence in world affairsBattle of Poltava
◦ St. Petersburg – built a capital in honor of himself with places forcibly built by the boyars
that resembled small versions of Versailles
◦ Peter’s son, Aleksei, with Charles VI of Hapsburg, attempts a conspiracy against Peter
and is sentenced to death; dies in prison under mysterious circumstances
Peter the Great
◦ Modernization and
westernization
◦ Required nobles to shave
their beards and wear
western clothing
◦ Ordered them to attend
parties and socialize
◦ Freely choose spouses
◦ Many nobles hated system
of unigeniture
◦ Gap between rich and poor
increased
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wojI4sQO5M0&l
ist=PLfzs_X6OQBOxudwbxvxBuTWvh6bwaVhQ&index=24
The Ottoman Government
◦ Religious toleration existed more there than anywhere else in Europe
◦ Sultans governed their empire through millets – officially recognized
religious communities
◦ Still some religious discrimination – dhimmis – non-Islamic persons in
the Empire could worship, but couldn’t rise in power, had to pay a
poll tax, could not serve in the military and were prevented from
wearing certain colors
◦ Devshirme – Christian boys recruited and raised as Muslims and put
into the military as infantry troops known as Janissaries.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights
reserved.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights
reserved.
The End of the Ottoman
Empire
 The Ottomans attempt to expand their empire into
Europe, but fail
 The power of the main political figure, the vizier, grows
and splits up the empire
 Europe passes the Ottomans in learning, science, and
military prowess
 Ottomans suffer military losses to the united European
states and Russia and in consequence lose land and
revenue
 Europe sees the Ottoman Empire as one in decline and
Islam as an inferior religion
Poland with No Central Authority
◦Most Polish monarchs were foreigners and
tools for foreign powers
◦Had a central legislative body called the Sejm
or diet, but it had no real power as any single
veto, liberum veto, could stop a Sejm
◦Poland disappears from map in 18th century
as a result