Transcript Unit 2 Review Slides

1648 - 1815
From the Treaty of Westphalia to the Congress of Vienna
Absolutism vs. non-Absolutist states
Key Concept 2.1, I and III
The Treaty of Westphalia led to the nation-state as the new form of political organization across Europe. This led to the
rise of different political systems including French absolutism, a constitutional monarchy in England and a republic in the
Netherlands. Another important political concept in this era included maintaining a balance of power between these new
states. The diplomatic rule was to ally against any state that threatening domination, not to maintain peace as much as to
preserve the sovereignty and independence of these new sovereign states. Louis XIV (r. (1643-1715) known as the “Sun
King” experienced the Fronde as a child due to Cardinal Mazarin’s attack on nobles, leading to their rebellion. This led him
to build Versailles, avoiding Parisian revolts. Theorist, Bishop Bossuet promoted the idea that kings were God’s
representative on earth, affirming the divine rights of kings. Paying for an enlarged army and the expenses of Versailles
became the number one job of his finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Louis went on to create a uniformed Catholic
France by suppressing the Jansenists, perceived as Calvinist-like Catholics and revoking the Edict of Nantes in 1685, leading
to emigration of Huguenots, French Protestants to Holland and Germany. The last of his expansionist wars was the War of
Spanish Succession ending in 1713 with the peace treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt of 1713 and 1714, leaving a Bourbon
king in Spain with the understanding that the two kingdoms (France and Spain) would never be joined by one monarch.
Challenges to absolutism resulted an alternative political system in England where the Stuart monarchy was unable to
convert England to a Catholic nation or curtail the power of Parliament. The death of Queen Elizabeth replaced the Tudor
dynasty with the Stuart dynasty as the son of Mary Stuart, James VI of Scotland became James I of England. James I
declared that kings drew their authority from God and were responsible to God alone, supporting the divine right to rule
doctrine. That and the fact he was a foreigner and Anglican did not sit well with the Puritans in Parliament who refused to
grant funds to him and the next Stuart monarch, his son, Charles I.
A constitutional monarchy in England
Key Concept 4.1, II
The English Civil War (1642-1651) and the Glorious Revolution (1688) led to the development of a constitutional monarchy n
England, an alternative political system from the Absolutism of France, Spain and Russia. Charles I convoked a new Parliament
in 1640 in order to raise funds to put down the Scottish rebellion. Known as the Long Parliament because it met for 20 years
(1640 – 1660), its leaders included the landowning gentry supported by the merchant class. War broke out with the king’s
armies known as the royalists against parliamentary forces known as the Roundheads, which came to be led by the Puritan,
Oliver Cromwell. After driving out most of the members of the Long Parliament in what’s been called Pride’s Purge, after
Colonel Pride commander of the Parliament army, a “Rump Parliament” of only 50 members had Charles I beheaded for
treason. Oliver Cromwell ruled a Puritan Commonwealth until his death in 1658 followed by the Restoration Monarchy of
Charles II in 1660, followed by his brother, James II. It was at this time that Parliament became divided between the Whigs,
those suspicious of the king and supporters of the kings known as Tories. James II’s sympathies towards Catholicism and the
birth of a son baptized Catholic, led members of Parliament to offer the crown to his daughter, Mary who was married to
William of Orange, who invaded England with a sizeable army, causing James II to leave for France. Known as the Glorious
Revolution, Parliament in 1689 quickly drafted the English Bill of Rights securing the rights of Parliament against English kings,
leading to the sovereignty of Parliament and the creation of a constitutional monarchy in England.
The Dutch Republic was an oligarchy of urban gentry and rural landholders who were Calvinist, believed in religious toleration
and commerce as they were the most bourgeois society in Europe. The Dutch Golden Age was the 17th century as they
owned most of the shipping of northern Europe, created the East India Company in 1602, replacing the Portuguese in the Far
East and the Dutch West India Company in 1621, settling Manhattan Island. In 1609 they founded the Bank of Amsterdam
which attracted capital, making loans possible and thereby remaining the financial center of Europe. Politically they enjoyed
great freedom under a republican government, electing a stadholder, usually from the House of Orange, for military security.
Absolutism also developed in Spain and Central and Eastern Europe,
while absolutist rulers in Central and Eastern Europe later claimed to be
Key Concept 2.1, I and III
Enlightened Monarchs
In Spain, Philip II, III and IV were all absolute monarchs. Philip II became the king of Spain when his father, Charles V
abdicated the thrown dividing Habsburg lands between his son, Philip and his Austrian brother. Very Catholic, he built his
palace El Escorial to be also a monastery and mausoleum. It was during this Golden Age of Spain, the 16th century, that
Cervantes wrote Don Quixote. Philip II lost control of the Netherlands during the Dutch Revolt. But even though he won a
great naval battle against the Turks at Lepanto off the coast of Greece, his armada catolica of 130 ships was defeated by the
English with the help from the the “Protestant wind.” In the 18th century the inability of the Polish monarchy to consolidate
its authority over the nobility led to Poland’s partitioning. In 1505 the Polish nobles transferred legislative power from the
monarch to the Polish Diet. In 1772, Russia, Prussia and Austria forced terms of partitioning on Poland, it was further
partitioned in 1793 and one last time in 1795 erasing it from the map of Europe until after WWI in 1919. After 1648, as a
result of the Peace of Westphalia, the Holy Roman Empire’s limitation of sovereignty led to Prussia’s rise to power, causing the
Austrian Habsburg to shift their empire to the east under Leopold I, absolutist ruler of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor who
faced opposition from both France and the Ottomans. The defeat of the Turks in 1683 in the Battle of Vienna, causing the
Ottomans to cease their westward expansion and the failed siege of Vienna in 1688 led to the treaty of Karlowitz in 1699
giving Austria control of Hungary. Prussian ruler, Frederick William I (r1713 - 1740) was known as the “soldier king” for
recruiting all the tall boys of the Prussian kingdom and building a large, disciplined military which he loved so much as that he
did not commit them to war. His son, Frederick II, however soon committed the Prussian military to war by invading Silesia,
part of Austria in 1740, breaking the 1713 Pragmatic Sanction that Charles VI had secured from Europeans rulers to guarantee
transfer of his lands to his daughter, Maria Theresa. This invasion began the War of Austrian Succession.
Absolutism also developed in Spain and Central and Eastern
Europe, while absolutist rulers in Central and Eastern Europe
later claimed to be Enlightened Monarchs (continues)
Meanwhile, another autocratic ruler, because he had power even over the Russian Orthodox Church, was Peter the Great,
Russian czar that ruled between 1685 and 1725. His policy of westernization and expansion of Russia governed his reign. He
created the Holy Synod to govern the church, replacing the patriarch in Moscow. He controlled his boyars (nobles) by
creating the Table of Ranks and having them compete with each other for top positions in his bureaucracy and military. He
also won over their loyalty by officially establishing serfdom in Russia, turning 90% of Russian peasants into serfs. He asked
his boyars to cut off their beards and adopt western clothing in his efforts to westernize Russia. Expansion in order to build
his “window to the west” St Petersburg on the Baltic, occurred after wining the Great Northern War with Sweden resulting in
the Treaty of Nystadt, 1721. Catherine the Great continued the westernization process by building an Enlightenment library
of works and promoting western education to her nobles.
Enlightened Monarchs included Catherine the Great of Russia, Joseph II of Austria and Frederick II or the Great, of Prussia
and refer to monarchs who professed to rule with Enlightenment principles that were rational and for the benefit of their
people. They pursued legal, social and education reforms and while they typically instituted administrative reform, religious
toleration, and economic development, they did not propose reforms that would undermine their sovereignty or disrupt the
social order. Meanwhile, in Western Europe, rivalry between Britain and France resulted in world wars fought both in Europe
and in the colonies with Britain supplanting France as the greatest European power. For example in the Seven Years’ War
(1756-1763), caused by Prussia’s invasion of Saxony, brought in Britain who had allied with Prussia to fight against France who
had allied with Austria. In North America this was known as the French and Indian War.
The Scientific Revolution of the 17th century led to the
Enlightenment of the 18th century by introducing rational and
empirical thought that challenged traditional systems. Key Concept 2.3
Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot and Adam Smith, replaced faith in
religion with faith in human reason. Liberal theorists such as John Locke questioned absolutism while Adam Smith
questioned mercantilism. John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) introduced the idea of ‘tabula rasa’
stating man was born with a ‘blank slate’ influenced by his environment and experiences, promoting the reform-minded idea
that man was able to improve his social condition. Locke also promote the idea of man’s natural rights that included life,
liberty and property and a government’s duty to protect these rights, and the rights of individual to overthrow a government
that does not. Voltaire’s writings championed individual freedoms such as freedom of speech and religious toleration,
putting his faith in an enlightened monarch. Montesquieu, in Spirit of the Laws, wrote about dividing power into separate
branches with one checking and balancing the other, putting his faith in representative assemblies and constitutional
governments. Cesare Beccaria in On Crimes and Punishment advocated for the rights of those accused of crimes. He wrote
against the use of torture and the death penalty. Rousseau in The Social Contract write about the will of the majority or the
general will, promoting democracy and republicanism. Rousseau’s emphasis on the role of human emotion and intuition set
him apart from the other Enlightenment philosophes’ insistence on rational, empiricism as the driving force of change. In that
sense, Rousseau opened the door to Romanticism, a literary and art movement that sought to glorify individual humans and
stirring human emotions. Rousseau also introduced created a ‘cult of domesticity’ by acknowledging that only women were
capable of carrying out the important role of maintaining an orderly home and raising the children. This became a core
principle of the bourgeoisie (middle class) during the 19th century Victorian era of England. Physiocrats like Adam Smith
challenged mercantilist theory by espousing free trade, laissez faire capitalism, based on competition of individuals.
The French Revolution
Key Concept 2.1, IV and V
In 1789 the French Revolution began. In 1793-94 a more radical phase took over and between 1799-1815, France and most
of Europe came under the rule of Napoleon. The French Revolution was caused by an economic crisis due to expenditures
from many wars and an unequal tax collecting system, as well as political inefficiencies of Louis XVI, hatred of the French of
his Austrian wife, Marie Antoinette and social tensions between various groups of the First, Second and Third Estates, as
well as resentment over the privileges of the clergy and the Catholic Church. Enlightenment ideas embraced by the
bourgeoisie and liberal aristocracy governed the first phase of the revolution which replaced absolutism with a
constitutional monarchy with Constitution of 1791, nationalized the Catholic Church with the Civil Constitution of the
Clergy and abolished hereditary privileges with the August 4th Decrees. One of the earliest documents was the Declaration
of the Rights of Man and Citizen that guaranteed equality of all citizens and individual rights. After the execution of Louis
XVI, the radical Jacobin Republic led by Maximillian Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety, responded to
opposition at home and war abroad by instituting the Reign of Terror wherein the new invention of the guillotined was
used. A liberal, capitalist economy was abandoned as the revolutionary government set prices and wages, urged on by the
sans culottes of Paris. A campaign of DeChristianization created a new Deist faith based on worshipping a Supreme Being.
Other radical Jacobins included Georges Danton and Jean-Paul Marat. While many were inspired by the revolution’s
emphasis on equality and human rights, others condemned its violence and disregard for traditional authority. In Britain,
Edmund Burke criticized the revolution and defined for the first time conservative values in his Reflections on the Revolution
in France 1790. The Levee en Masse created revolutionary armies raised by mass conscription and along with the
brotherhood ideal found in the revolutionary slogan of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, nationalism became an important
revolutionary ideal, along with liberalism and republicanism. Although women participated in many events, they gained
little rights and what rights they gained were stripped away later by Napoleon in his Napoleonic Code.
The French Revolution (cont.)
The third phase of the revolution, known as the
Thermidorian Reaction, brought a more liberal
government made up of 5 leaders known as The
Directory. Fear that some wanted to restore the
monarchy, led others to invite Napoleon Bonaparte and
his army to overthrow the Directory. Napoleon was one
of three consuls, then first consul and finally emperor.
Claiming to defend the ideals of the French Revolution,
he imposed French control over much of Europe.
Turmoil in France created an opening for the slaves in
Haiti, inspired by revolutionary ideals, to revolt
themselves. Led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, the French
colony of Saint Domingue became the independent
nation of Haiti in 1804. Spain’s invasion by Napoleon’s
army and the displacement of the Spanish king also led
to revolutions, this time the Latin American
Revolutions led by Simon Bolivar, leading to the loss of
the Spanish Empire in the Americas and the creation of
independent Latin American nations.
Napoleon (1799 – 1815)
Napoleon’s rule led to domestic reforms while curtailing rights, all while his military exerted direct and indirect control over
much of Europe, leading to the spread of ideals such as liberalism, republicanism and nationalism. His expanding empire
created nationalist responses in turn, most especially in Germany which, together with German Romanticism, led to a strong
German nationalist movement among writers and the military. Napoleon declared, “My motto has always been a career
open to all talents” and with that created a meritocracy by abolishing hereditary positions. Citizens were to rise in
government service purely according to their abilities. His centralized bureaucracy was made of “notables” who were chosen
through universal male suffrage from a list of notables that were appointed by the government but had little political power.
More administrative centralization included the appointment of “prefects” which were high government officials much like
the intendants of absolutist years. The prefects were the administrators of the departements, the new division of France
according to Napoleon’s domestic reforms. The Concordat of 1801 was signed between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII. It
declared Catholicism the religion of France and allowed for public Catholic processions and seminar schools but did not return
church lands confiscated during the revolution or allow tithing. Salaries of the clergy were paid by the state which also paid
salaries to Protestant ministers. The Napoleonic Code also known as the Civil Code of 1804 established a legal system where
all were equal under the law, private property was protected, workers’ union forbidden and women’s rights were few under
its very patriarchal family codes. Spreading the Napoleonic Code throughout his Grand Empire meant the end of noble
privileges and feudal rights. His educational reforms include the creation of the Lycees system where the most talented males
were trained as bureaucrats. He also established the Legion of Honor, an order of merit for those serving the French military
and bureaucracy. The Napoleonic Era will end in 1815 when he is captured and exiled, twice. After his defeat a coalition of
European powers known as the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) attempted to restore the balance of power in Europe and
contain the danger of revolutionary or nationalistic upheavals.