Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 A shift of power from Mediterranean (Spain and Portugal) to Europe

o Able to dominate Europe
o Influence and govern other large area of the world through military might and
economic strength
 5 major states that dominated Europe politic until WWI
o Great Britain, France, Russia, Austria, Prussia
 Affected virtually every other world civilization
 Within Europe, established their dominance at the expanse of Spain,
Portugal, United Provinces of Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and Ottoman
Empire
 Equally essential to their rise was the weakness of Holy Roman Empire
after Peace of Westphalia
o Britain and France dominated western Europe
 Power was shifted from Spain and Netherlands
 Became politically and economically marginal during 18C
 Retained considerable economic vitality and influence
 Spain power declined after the war of Spanish Succession
A. Netherlands: Golden Age to decline
 7 provinces that became United Provinces of Netherlands
o Merged as a nation after revolting against Spain in 1572
 17C, Dutch engaged in series of naval wars with England
 1672, armies of French Louis XIV invaded Netherlands
o Prince William of Orange
 Grandson of William the Silent
 Hereditary chief executive and Stadholder of Holland – the most
important of the provinces
 Rallied the Dutch and eventually led the entire European coalition
against France
 Part of this strategy, he answered the invitation of Protestant
English aristocrat to assume English throne
 Political and economic life of Netherlands differed from rest of Europe
Netherlands Rest of Europe
 A republic  Strong central government
 Each province retained  Monarchy / Constitutional
considerable authority
 Central government – States
General met in Hague to
negotiate authority with
provinces
 Deeply distrusted monarchy and House of Orange/William III of Orange
o However, when confronted with major military challenge, turned to
Orange
 Its political arrangement proved highly resilient
 Allowed the republic to establish itself permanently in Europe state system
 William III dies in 1702
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 War of France/ Louis XIV ended in 1714

 Calvinist Reformation Church was official church, not established church
o Significant number of Roman Catholics and Protestant not belong to
reform church
o Haven of Jews
o Netherlands people of different religious faith lived peacefully together
 Urban Prosperity
o Dutch was economically prosperous
 Built foundation of high urban consolidation
 Transformed agriculture
 Extensive trade
 Financed an oversea commercial empire
o More pope lived in cities in Netherlands than any other area of Europe
 Model of Dutch farming
o Made urban transformation possible
o Dutch drained and reclaimed land from sea
 Used for highly profitable farming
o Dutch shipping provided a steady supply of cheap grain
 Produced more profitable dairy products, beef, tulip bulbs
 Dutch fishermen
o Dominated the marker for herring
o Supplied much of the continent’s dried fish
 Dutch supplied textile to parts of Europe
 Dutch ships appeared in harbors all over Europe
o Ship captain bought goods, transport them to other places and sold them
for high profits
 Oversea trade supported a vast shipbuilding and ship supply industry
 The most advanced financial; system of the day supported all of this trade,
commerce, and manufacturing
 Seaborne Empire
o Dutch East India Company
 Technology advanced fleets
 Established a major pressure in East Asia for spice production
 Displaced Portuguese dominance in the spice trade with East Asia
 Prevented English traders from establishing major presence in East
Asia
 Initially, just wanted commercial dominance of spice trade
 Moved toward producing the spice themselves
 Required control of many islands constituted in Indonesia
o Netherlands remained colonized until WWII
 Economic decline
o Occurred in the 18C
o After death of William III of Orange in 1702
 Provinces prevented the emergence of another strong Stadholder
 Unified political leadership vanished
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Naval supremacy slowly and steadily passes to the British

 Fishing industry declined
 Lost their technological superior in ship building
 Countries between which Dutch ships had once carried goods now
traded directly with each other
o Disunity of provinces hastened this economic decline and prevented action
that might have halted it
o Continual financial dominance saved Dutch
 Dutch banks continued to finance Europe trade
 Amsterdam stock exchange remained important financial
institution
B. Two Models of Europe Political Development
 Parliamentary monarchy > England first
 Political absolutism > France first
 Creation of these two systems resulted from military concerns
o Sharp increase in the cost of warfare
o Monarchs south new revenues to finance the growing expense
 A monarchy achieved absolute rule by building a secure financial base and not
depend deeply on the noble estates, diet, and assemblies
o France succeeded this > created absolutism
 France had to avoid dealing with national political institutions
 Prevent the limit of its authority
o England Failed in this > created parliamentary monarch / constitutionalism
 England had to govern through Parliament
 Parliament provided financial support to the king
 English political philosophers defended the divine right of kings and absolute rule
 France was emerging from religious wars turmoil
o Monarchy was weak
o King Henry IV pursed a policy of religious toleration
o French nobles had significant military forces
 In mid-17C, turned against the king
 All these conditions would change dramatically in both nations by late 17C
C. Constitutional Crisis and Settlement in Stuart England
 James I
o James VI, son of Mary Stuart, had been king of Scots
o In 1603, succeeded, without opposition, Elizabeth I as James I of England
 Inherited a large royal debt and a divided church
 Strong believer in king’s divine right
o Developed sources of income to prevent the consultation of Parliament
 Imposition – levying as new custom duties
 Parliament regarded this as an affront to their authority over royal, but
did not seriously confronted, but rather negotiate
o Ruled by favorites
 His court became center of corruption and scandals
o Duke of Buckingham
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 James’ homosexual lover

 Controlled royal patronage and openly sold peerages and titles to the
highest bidders
 Angered the nobility as it cheapened their ranks
o His foreign policy roused further opposition and doubt about his Protestant
loyalty
o Concluded that England much needed peace with their long-term adversary
Spain
 Considered peace a sign of pro-Catholic sentiment
o Unsuccessfully attempted to relax penal laws against Catholics
 Further increased suspicions
o Rushed English troops to aid Germain Protestant in Thirty Years’ War
o Failed to arrange marriage between his son, Charles, with a Spanish princess
 Charles married Henrietta Marie, Catholic daughter of Henry IV of France
o Religious problems
 Anglican church wanted elimination of elaborated religious ceremonies
and to replace hierarchical episcopal system with more representative
Presbyterian form like Calvinist Church
 At Hampton Court Conference of January 1604
 James rebuffed the Puritans and declared his intention to maintain the
episcopal system and even enhanced it
 Developed suspicion on both side
 Religious dissenters began to leave England
 Puritan separatists founded Plymouth Colony on Cape Cod
Bay in North America
 Later, a Larger and better financed group of Puritans left
England and founded Massachusetts Bay Colony
 Believed that reformation would not go far enough in
England, and they could worship freely in America and
organized truly reformed church
o He detested smoking tobacco
 Enforced high tax on it
 However, after sometimes and smuggling of tobacco, he decided to make
tobacco as a source of tax revenue for income
o After his death, England again went to war against Spain
 largely in response to parliamentary pressures
 Parliament favored war with Spain but would not supply it financially
 Distrusted the monarch
 Charles I
o James I’s son
 Resorted to extra parliamentary measure
 Levying new tariffs and duties
 Collecting, discontinued taxes
 Subjecting property owners to a forced loan
 Imprison those who refused to pay
 Quartered troops in private homes
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

o Parliament meeting in 1628

 Would grant new funds if Charles recognized the Petition of Right
 Petition of Right - forced loans or taxation without the consent of
Parlement, no freeman should get arrested for without due cause, and
troops should not be billeted in private home.
 Charles did not keep his words
o Years of Personal Rule
 To conserve his limited resources
 Made peace with France and Spain
 Rousing fear that he was too friendly with Roman Catholic
powers
 Chief adviser Thomas Wentworth / Earl of Strafford
 Imposed strict efficiency and administrative centralization
in government
 Exploited every legal fund – rising device
 Enforced previously neglected laws and extended existing
taxes in new area
 Hope to impose religious conformity
 He and his high church Archbishop William Laud opposed against
English Puritans and Presbyterian Scots
 Tried to impose on Scotland the English episcopal system
 Tried to impose a prayer book identical to the Anglican Book of
Common Prayer
 Scots rebelled
 Charles, with insufficient resources for war, called for Parliament
 Short Parliament
 It refused the funding for the war until Charles agreed to
redress a long list of political and religious grievances
 Charles did not agree and dismissed the meeting
 After Scots defeated English army in Battle of Newburn
 Charles reconvened Parliament, on its term for a long and
fateful duration
o The Long Parliament and Civil War
 Landowners and merchant class represented in Parliament
 Resented Charles’ financial measure and paternalistic rule
 Puritan resented Charles’ religious policies and distrust the influence of
his Roman Catholic wife
 The Long Parliament
 1640 – 1660
 Acted with widespread support and general unanimity with it
convened in November 1640
 The House of Common executed Stafford and Laud
 Abolished the courts that had enforce royal policies
 Prohibited the levying of new taxes without its consent
 Meetings every 3 years at least, king could not dissolve it without its
consent
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Parliament was sharply divided over religion

 Bother moderate Puritans (Presbyterians) and more extreme Puritans
(Independents) wanted to abolish bishops and Book of Common
Prayers
 Both houses’ conservatives in Parliament determined to preserve
Anglican Church in its current form
 Parliament was asked to raise funds for army to suppress Scots rebel
 Charles opponents argued that he would use it to attack the
Parliament
 Thus, Parliament should become the commander-in-chief of military
 1642, Charles attacked the Parliament to arrest this opponents who
had already escaped
 Charles left London to raise its own army
 House of Common passed the Militia Ordinance – to authorize
Parliament to rise its own army
 Civil war between Cavaliers (Charles’ supporters) and Roundheads
(Parliamentary)
 Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan Republic
o Parliament won, 2 factors:
 Alliance with Scotland – committed Parliament to a Presbyterian system
of Church government
 Reorganized of Parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell
 A country squire of iron discipline and strong independent religious
sentiment
 Willing to tolerate and established majority church of it
 Permitted Protestant dissenters to worship outside it
o Oliver Cromwell
 Foiled Charles for taking advantage of division within Parliament
 Monarchy – sympathizing members were expelled from Parliament
 Charles were executed as a public criminal
 Parliament abolished the monarchy, House of Lauds, and Anglican
Church
 1649-1660, Cromwell dominated England which became officially a
Puritan republic
 Brutally conquered Scotland and Ireland
 His radical Protestant army brutally fought against Irish Catholics
 When Parliament tried to disband his 50000 men army, he instead
disbanded the Parliament
 Not a politician
 His military dictatorship was harsh and much resented for
his Puritan prohibition of drunkenness, theatergoing and dancing
 Political liberty vanished in the name of religious
conformity
 He died in 1658 – time to restore Anglican Church, and the monarch
 Charles II and the Restoration of Monarch
o Charles II
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Man of considerable charm and political skill

 Returned England to its hereditary monarchy
 Parliament of Lords and Commons only met when he summoned
 Anglican Church, with its bishops and prayer book, returned and supreme
religion
 Had a secret Catholic sympathies and favored religious toleration
 Wanted to let Puritan and Catholic to worship freely
 Yet, he was ultra-royalist in Parliament
 Imposed Clarendon Code – excluded Roman Catholics,
Presbyterians, and Independents from official religious and political
life of nation
 England and France formally made peace in Treaty of Dover
 Allied against Netherlands
 The secret part of the treaty – Charles pledged to announce his
conversion to Catholicism in return for Lois XIV promise to pay
Charles a substantial subsidy
 As a sign of good faith to Louis XIV, he issued Declaration of
Indulgence – suspending all law against Roman Catholics and Non-
Anglican Protestants
 Parliament refused to fund the war until Charles rescind the measure
 After Charles did it, Parliament passes the Test Act – requiring a civil
and military officials of the crown to swear against doctrine of
transubstantiation
 No loyal Roman Catholic could do
 It aimed Test Act largely at Charles’ brother, James, Duke
of York, a heir to throne, and a recent, devout convert to
Catholicism
 Liar Titus Oates lied as he swore before a magistrate that Charles’
Catholic wife was plotting with Jesuits and Irishmen to kill Charles so
James could assume the throne
 Parliament believed Oates
 Popish Plot – several innocent people were tried and executed
 Earl of Shaftesbury led opposition members of Parliament known as
Whigs
 Failed to exclude James from succession of throne
 Charles II turned again to increased custom duties and assistance of Louis
XIV for more income
 No need consultation of Parliament
 Drove Shaftesbury to exile
 Executed several Whig leaders for treason
 Bullied local corporation for electing member of Parliament
submissive to royal will
 Charles died in 1685 after a deathbed conversion to Catholicism
 Left James the prospect of Parliament filled with royal friends
 The Glorious Revolution
o James II
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Succeeded the English throne, immediately demanded Test Act repeal

 Dissolved Parliament’s balk
 Appointed Catholics to high position in court and army
 Issued another Declaration of Indulgence – suspended all religion tests,
permitting free worship
 Imprisoned 7 Anglican bishop – refused to publicize his suspension of law
against Catholic
 His action presented a royal attack on nobles’ authority privileges
 Establishing absolutism like
==

uis XIV who he admired and aiding his fellow Roman Catholics
o England hoped Mary, James II’s Protestant eldest daughter to succeed the
throne
 Mary married William III of Orange, Europe’s opposition to Louis XIV
o Unfortunately, James’ 2nd wife gave birth to a son – a male heir
 Parliament opposition invited William to invade England
 To preserve its “traditional liberties” - Anglican Church and
Parliament
o William arrived with this army in 1688
 Received considerable popular support
 James II fled to France, proclaimed William III and Mary II the new
monarchs
 Completing the “Glorious Revolution”
o William II and Mary II
 Recognized the Bill of Rights – limited the monarchs’ power and
guaranteed the civil liberties of English privileged class
 Subject to law
 Ruled by consent of Parliament – called session on every 3 years
 Bill of Rights – prohibited Roman Catholics from occupying the English
throne
 Toleration Act (1689) – permitted worship by all Protestants and outlaw
only Roman Catholics and those denied the Christian Doctrine of Trinity
 Did not extend full political rights to person outside the Anglican Church
o John Locke’s “Second Treatise of Civil Government”
 Defended idea that government resided in the consent of the governed
 Opposed Tory support for absolutism and absolutist political though on
the continent
o Revolution of 1688
 Peaceful event
 Recent scholarship disclosed considerable resistance in Scotland and
Ireland
 Resulted in significant loss of life
 Conversely events in England were driven by
 Long recognized actions of political elite
 A genuinely popular resistance to James II
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Reign of William III and Mary II

 Important new departure for Britain
 Embrace of moderate religious toleration
 Favoring more modern economic activity resembling Netherlands
 A redirection of foreign policy toward opposition to France, unlike
Charles II and James II who tried to imitate French absolutism and to
pursue close relationships with Louis XIV
 Act of Settlement
 Parliament measure that closed the century of strife
 Allowed Protestant House of Hanover in Germany to succeed the
English throne after Queen Anne, 2nd daughter of James II and heir to
childless William III, died with issue
 In 1707, England and Scotland combined in Act of Union
 In 1714, death of Ann, Elector of Hanover became George I of Great
Britain
 Age of Walpole
o George I defeated James Edward Stuart, Catholic son of James II, to protect his
title as Stuart tried to take it
o Sir Robert Walpole
 Took over the helm of government
 Royal support his ascendancy
 Able to handle House of Common
 Controlled government patronage effectively
 Maintained peace abroad
 Promoted the status quo at home
 Enemy could not oppose him
o Britain’s trade spread to New England and India
 Central government refrained from interfering with local political
influence of nobles and landowners
 Government served as local government administrators, judges, and
military commanders
 Collect taxes and pay it to support powerful military
 Particularly building a strong navy
 Became a European power and world power
o Limits of British monarchs and ministers
 Parliament members developed independent views about patronage
 So newspapers and public debated flourished
 Freedom of Speech
 No large standing army
 Significant religious toleration
 English state combined considerable military power with religious power
and political liberty
o This became the model for progressing European Countries, who questioned the
politic developments
 Deep root among Britain’s North American colonies
D. Rise of Absolute Monarchy in France
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 World of Louis XIV

o French absolutism exerted far-reaching
o Direct control of the nation at all levels
o French monarchy gradually achieved the firm authority
o Grand of absolutism laid by 2 power chief ministers
 Cardinal Richelieu and Mazarin
 Attempted to impose direct royal administration on France
 Richelieu circumscribed many privileges Henry IV had extended to
Huguenots in Edict of Nantes
 Their centralized policies finally provoked a series of widespread
rebellions among French nobles known as Fronde
 This unsuccessful rebellion convinced Louis XIV that heavy-handed
policies could endangered the throne
 Concentrated unprecedented authority in the monarchy
 But made it more subtle
 Made the monarchy the most important and powerful political
institution in France
 Assuring nobles and other wealthy groups of their social standing and
influence on local level
 Largely worked through existing local social and political institutions
o Years of personal rule
 On the death of Mazarin in 1661, Louis XIV assumed personal control of
the government at 23 years old
 Appointed no single chief minister
 Rebellious nobles now challenged him directly
 They could not claim to be resisting only a bad minister
 Devoted enormous personal energy to his political task
 Ruled through councils that controlled foreign affairs, army, domestic
administration, and economic regulation
 Spent hours/day with ministers of these councils
 Ministers were chosen from families long in royal service or form
among people just began to rise in social structure
 Nobles under him had no real or potential power bases in provinces
 Depended on Louis for their standing in society and government
 Made sure that nobility and other major social groups would benefit from
his authority’s growth
 Never tried to abolish those institutions or limit their local authority
 The crown would confer informally with regional judicial bodies,
called Parlements, before making rules that affect them
 Clashed with Parlement, which had the right to register royal laws
 He curtailed its power by requiring it to register laws before raising
any questions about them
 Many regional Parlements and authorities, resented the Parisian body
power, so support the monarch
o Versailles
 Symbol of monarchy
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Largest secular structure in Europe

 Built from 1676 to 1708
 ½ of Louis’s annual revenues
 Paid significant political dividends
 Louis impressed the grandeur of his crown on French people and nobility
 Manipulated symbols
 Dominated the nobility by demonstrating that he could outspend them
and create a greater social display than the strongest nobles in the
land
 He used the physical setting of this court to exert political control
 It became it permanent residence in 1682
 Royalty, designed and decorated to proclaim glory of Louis as the Sun
King
 Spectacular estate with magnificent fountains and gardens
 Housed thousands of more important nobles, royal officials and
servants
 Stables : 12000 horses
 Some paid for residence – depleting their resources
 Some required royal patronage to remain in residence
 Residence became dependent on the monarch
 Louis organized life at court around every aspect of his own daily routine
 Elaborate etiquette governed every details of life in Versailles
 Louis’s ring and dressing were times of rare intimacy
 Nobles whispered special requests to his ear
 Fortunate nobles held candles when he slept
 Some nobles avoided Versailles
 Managed their estates and cultivated their local influence
 Some were too poor to cute a figure at court
 By they knew that Louis would not threaten their social standing
 He supported France’s traditional social structure and
social privileges of nobility
 Louis did not oppress over daily lives of their subjects
 Absolutism functioned in classic areas of European state action
 Making war and peace, regulation of religion, oversight of
economic activity
 Retained their administrative authority
 Supported social and financial privileges in local elites
 Louis prevented nobles/elite classes from interfering with his
authority on national level
o King by divine right
 Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet
 Political theorist
 Influenced Louis’ concept of royal authority
 “Divine right of kings”
 Cited Old Testament
 Only God could judge king
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Louis declared “I am the state”

 Louis’s Early Wars
o France compared to other European countries
 More population, better administrative bureaucracy, army, and national
unity
o Jean-Baptiste Colbert
 Economic policies
 Most brilliant minister
 Raised and maintained large and powerful army
o Louis’s chief military and foreign policy goal
 Achieve secure international boundaries for France
 Secured northern borders
 Secured southern borders
 Pursuit of French interests threatened neighboring countries – forming
coalition against France
o Early wars
 Conflict with Spain and United Netherlands
 War of Devolution – Louis supported his first wife’s right to inherit
Spanish Netherlands
 1667, invaded Flanders and Franche-Conte
 Repulsed by Triple Alliance of England, Sweden, United Provinces
 Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle – gained control of certain towns bordering
Spanish Netherlands
 Secret Treaty of Dover – England and France allied against Dutch
 1672, Louis invaded Netherland again (Franco-Dutch War)
 Prince of Orange forged alliance with Holy Roman Empire, Spain,
Lorraine and Brandenburg against Louis
 War ended with Peace of Nijmegen
 France gained more territories like Franche-Conte
o Louis’s Repressive Religious Policies
 Political unity and stability required religious conformity
 Suppression of the Jansenists
 French crown and French Roman Catholic church had long jealousy
about their ecclesiastical independence or “Gallican Liberties” from
papal authority in Rome
 Jesuit – loyal to Pope
 Confessors to Henry IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV
 Monopolized education of French upperclassmen
 Students promoted religious reformed and doctrine of
Council of Trent
o Jansenism
 Cornelius Jansen
 A Flemish theologian and bishop of Ypres
 Published “Augustinus” – assailed Jesuit teaching on grace and
salvation as morally lax
 A Roman Catholic religious movement against Jesuits
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Jansenists
o Adhered teaching of St. Augustine
o Apposed Jesuits’ Teaching of freewill which original sin
had corrupted human kind so they did nothing good nor
contributing anything to their salvation
 Progressed among prominent families – convent at Port-Royal
 Augustinian theology resembled Calvinism
 Lived extremely pious and morally austere lived
o Resembled English Puritan
 Associated with opposition to royal authority
o Involved in the Fronde
 Pope Innocent X
o Declared heretical five Jansenists theological proposition (grace and
salvation)
o Banned Jansen’s Augustinus
 Pope Clement XI issued bull Unigenitus – condemned Jansenists
 Louis permitted papal bull banning Jansenism
o Closed down Port-Royal Community
o Ordered French Church to accept the bull despite opposition
o Turned his back on the long tradition of protecting Gallican Liberties of
French church
o Fostered within the French Church a core of opposition to royal
authority
 After Louis died
 Parlement and French judicial bodies reasserted
authority in opposition to the monarchy
 Sympathized Jansenism because of common resistance
to royal authority
 Revocation of Edict of Nantes
o After the Edict, 9/10 of French population was Catholic and 1/10 was
Huguenots which was declining
o Catholic remained hostile with Huguenots and supported their persecution as
pious and patriotic
o After Peace of Nijmegen, Louis launched a campaign against Huguenot
 This was influenced by his pious Catholic 2nd wife
 Hounded Huguenots out of public life
 Banned from government office
 Excluded from profession like printing and medicine
 Quartered troops in Huguenot towns
 Revoked Edict of Nantes
 Closed Protestant churches and school
 Exiled protestant minister
 Used financial incentives to encourage convert to Catholicism
 Protestant children were baptized by Catholic priest
 Non-converts were forced into slaves
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

o ¼ million of Huguenots left France, formed new communities or joined

resistance
 Louis’s later wars
o The League of Augsburg and the Nine Years’ War
 Louis maintained his army at full strength
 Restlessly probed beyond his border
 Invaded Strasbourg
 This resulted in the coalition to form against Louis
 League of Augsburg
 England, Spain, Sweden, United Provinces, Germany,
 Supported by Habsburg emperor Leopold I
 Battled with Louis in Nine Years’ War
o France and England struggled for North American Control
 Peace of Ryswick ended the war
 Secured Holland’s borders
 Thwarted Louis’s expansion into Germany
o War of Spanish Succession
 Last Habsburg king, Charles II dies without a male heir
 Left his entire heritance to Louis’s grandson, Philip of Anjou
 He became Philip V of Spain
 Spain fell into France
 Grand Alliance: England, Holland, and Holy Roman Empire
 Preserve the balance of power by securing Flanders as a neutral
barrier between Holland and France
 Gaining for the emperor, who was also a Habsburg, his fair share of
the Spanish inheritance
 Louis soon increased the political stakes by recognizing the Stuart
claim to English throne
 War of Spanish Succession
 1701 – 1714
 France went to war with inadequate finances, poorly equipped, army,
mediocre general
 English had advanced weaponry, superior tactics
 John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, defeated Louis’s
soldiers in every major engagement
 France made peace with England at Utrecht and with Holland and
emperor at Rastalt
 Philip remained Habsburg king
 England got Gibraltar and island of Minora – Mediterranean Power
 Louis recognized the right of house Hanover to English throne
 France after Louis XIV
o France remained a great power
o Still superior, but not like 1680
 Bequeathed by Louis XIV
o France, as well as other countries, was debilitated
o Louis’s 5 year-old grandson Louis XV succeeded the throne
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 John Law and the Mississippi Bubble

o Louis XV’s uncle, duke of Orleans
 A gambler
 Turned over the financial management of the kingdom to John Law, a
Scottish mathematician and fellow gambler
 Believed an increase in paper money supply would stimulate France’s
economic recovery
 Established a bank issued paper money
 Organized a monopoly, Mississippi Company, on trading privileges
with French colony of Louisiana in North America
o Mississippi Company
 Took over the management of French national debt
 Issued shares of its own stock in exchange for government bond
 To redeem large quantities of bonds, law encouraged speculation in
the Mississippi Company stock
 Price of the stock rose handsomely
 Investors took their profits by selling their stock in exchange for paper
money from Law’s bank
 Sound in exchange for gold
 Bank lacked enough gold to redeem all paper money
 All gold payments were haltered
 Law fled the country
 The affair was called Mississippi Bubble
 it in the end reorganized and functioned profitably
o Renewed authority of Parlement
 Duke of Orleans made a second decision – set up a system of council
 Nobles were to serve along with bureaucrats
 Their idle domestication in Versailles gave them the lack of talent and
desire to govern
 This failed
 But nobles still wanted to used their authority to limit the power of
monarchy
 Used Parlements or court dominated by nobility
 Paris Parlement - approved by Orleans the reinstitution of
all power to allow or disallow laws
 Received wide support, became natural centers no only to
aristocratic and resistance to monarchy
 More nearly represent France rather than monarch
o Cardinal Fleury
 General political direction
 Maintained the authority of the monarchy
 Ongoing repression of Jansenists
 Preserved local interests of French nobility
 Pursued economic prosperity at home and peace abroad
E. Central and Eastern Europe
 Economically less advantage than western Europe
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

o Agrarian, beside Baltic port

o Fewer cities by many more large estates worked by serfs
o No oversea empire
o No engagement in extensive oversea trade
o Supply western Europe grain
 Weak political authority
o Lay along Elbe River
o Constant warfare > temporary and shifting political loyalties with princes
and aristocracies of small states > refused to central monarchical authoritiy
 18 C, 3 strong dynasties aspire to absolutism
th

o Austrian Hubsburg
 Started to consolidate their power outside of Germany
o Prussia under Hohenzollern dynasty
 A factor in north German politic
 Major challenger to Habsburg domination of Germany
o Russia under Romanov Dynasty
 A military and naval power of first order
1. Poland: Absence of strong central authority
 After King John III Sobieski rescued Vienna from Turkish siege
o Endanger aristocratic independence
 Failed to establish a centralized government
o Distrust and division among nobles
o Sejm – central legislative body
 Nobles + specific representatives of towns
 Liberum veto: a practice of disbanding this diet because of
opposition of any member who had been bribe by a foreign power
 Exploding diet
 Unsatisfied group of members
2. Habsburg Empire and the Pragmatic Sanction
 Austrian Habsburg was on their own because of the decline of Spanish power
 Habsburg family retain control of Holy Roman Empire
o Depended less on army
o Depended more cooperation of various political bodies in the Empire
 Large German units Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria, Brandenburg
 Small German cities, bishopric, principalities, territories
o Consolidated power and influence within hereditary possession outside
Holy Roman Empire
 Crown of Saint Wenceslas, kingdom of Bohemia, Duchies of
Moravia and Silesia, Crown of Saint Stephen ruling Hungary,
Croatia, Transylvania
o Treaty of Rastatt – receiving former Spanish Netherlands and Lombardy
northern Italy
o Ruling primarily on territories outside Germany
 Territories rule by different title – king, archduke, duck
o Needed corporation of local nobility (not always forthcoming)
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Bargained with nobles in one part of Europe to maintain their

power in another
o Geography diverse: different languages and customs
o Difficult to unify even with roman Catholicism
 Established various central councils: chart common policies
 Leopold I
o Managed to resist the advances of the Ottoman Empire and to thwart the
aggression of Louis XIV
o Liberated Hungary from Ottoman in 1699
o Extended territorial holding over Balkan Peninsula and Romania
o Hoped to develop Mediterranean through Trieste port
 Compensate for their loss of effective power over Holy Roman
Empire
o Greater political leverage in East Germany
o Succeeded Joseph I who continued Leopold’s policies
 Charles VI
o Succeed Joseph
o No male heir
 Weakest of precedents for a female rule of Habsburg domains
o Feared that Austrian Habsburg would fall to surround powers
o Devoted most of his reign to seeking the approval Pragmatic Sanction
 Provided legal basis for a single line of heritance within Habsburg
dynasty through Charles VI’s daughter Maria Theresa
 Theresa was recognized as a rightful heir
 Had established a permanent line of succession and basis for
further legal bonds within Hubsburg holding
o Failed to provide Theresa a strong army or full treasury
 Left her open to foreign aggression
o Frederick II of Prussia invaded Hubsburg provinces of Silesia and in
Eastern Germany
3. Prussia the Hohenzollern
 Hohenzollern
o Ruled Brandenburg since 1417
o Through inheritance acquired duchy of Cleves, Counties of Mark and
Ravenburg, East Prussia, Pomerania
 Lack of natural resources
 Devastated during Thirty Years’ War
 Frederick the Great Elector
o Established a central uniting power by breaking nobles states
 Organized a royal bureaucracy, built an strong army
o Created refugee for Huguenots
o Did not have enough army or tax revenues to confront the threat of war
between Sweden and Poland on his holding in Pomeranian and East
Prussia
 Brandenburg refused to grant new taxes
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Collected tax by military force

 Built an army: continued his view despite nobility’s
disapproval
o Social trade-off with nobles: in exchange for their obedience to
Hohenzollerns, Junkers, or German noble land lords, received the right to
demand obedience from their serfs
o Chose local administrators of the tax structure who were the noble branch
of old parliament
o Tax fell most heavily on peasant and urban classes
o Junkers increasingly dominated their army officer corps
 All officials and army officials took other of loyalty directly to the
Elector
o Made Prussia a valuable potential ally
o Still did not possess a crown
 Frederick I
o Son of the elector
o Built palaces, founded Halle University, patronized arts, lived luxuriously
o During War of Spanish Succession, put his army at disposal of Habsburg
Holy Roman Empire, in exchange, the emperor permitted Frederick to
assume the title “King of Prussia”
 Frederick William I
o Frederick I’s successor
o Most eccentric monarch to rule the Hohenzollern domains
o One of the most effective
o Organized the bureaucracy along military lines
o Discipline toward army
 Grew from 39000 in 1713 to 80000 in 1740
 3rd or 4th largest
 Just a symbol not instrument for war and invasion
 Avoided conflict
o Population ranked 13th in size
o Separate laws applied to army and civilians
o Highest social class of the state: official corps
o Military service attracted sons of Junkers
o Army + Junker nobilities + monarch = single political entity
o Military priorities dominated Prussia government, society, daily life
 Frederick II
o Son of Frederick William I
o Known as Frederick the Great
o Did not refrain from using the powerful army his father created
o Superb military himself
o Upset Pragmatic Sanction and invaded Silesia
4. Russia Entered the European Political Arena
 Russia – had previously been considered part of Europe by courtesy
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Before 1673, did not send permanent ambassadors to western Europe

o Lay on the periphery: hemmed in by Sweden and Baltic and by Ottoman
on Black Sea
o No warm-water, ice-free ports
o Archangel on White Sea – trade to the West
 The Romanov Dynasty
o Ivan IV (1533 – 1584)
 Known as Ivan the Terrible
 Started well by ended badly
 Moved from a program of sensible reform of law, government,
and the army to violent personal tyranny
 “Time of Trouble” followed his death
o An assembly of nobles elected Michael Romanov as tsar
 2 successors: Aleksei (1654 – 1676), and Theodore II (1676 –
1682)
 Brought stability and modest bureaucratic centralized Russia
 Remained weak and impoverished
 Boyars, old nobility, largely controlled the bureaucracy
 Faced danger of mutiny from streltsy - guards of Moscow garrison
 Peter the Great
o 1682 – 1725
o Peter + Sickly Ivan V > Russian throne
o Came to power on the shoulders of the streltsy – expected to be rewarded
o Violence and bloodshed had surrounded the disputed succession
o Ivan V died in 1689, ling the throne to Peter
o Peter’s followers overthrew his sister, Sophie, who was a regent
o Peter began to rule personally
o Peter was convinced by 2 things
 Power of tsars must be secured from jealousy of boyars and greed
of streltsy
 Russian military power must be increased
o He resembled Louis XIV of France who resolved to established a strong
monarchy safe from nobility and defended by a powerful army as a result
of Fronde turmoil
 Peter became Peter the Great
o Fascinated by military resources of maritime powers of Northwest Europe
o 1697, made a famous visit in transparent disguise to Western Europe
 Dined and talked with the great and the powerful
 His happiest moments: on trip inspecting shipyards, docks, and
manufacture of military hardware on England and Netherland
 Learned how to build better worships to fight on Baltic
 Imitated this first order to make Russia a great power
o Taming the Streltsy and Boyars
 Streltsy rebelled during peter’s trip to West Europe
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Peter returned, brutally suppressed the revolt with private tortures

and public execution
 Peter’s new established military served the tsar, not itself
 Effective and ruthless policies of conscription
 130,000 soldiers (1700) to 300,000 troops (1715)
 Adopted policies for their officer corps and general military
discipline patterned on those of West European armies
 Made sustained attack on the boyars and their attachment to
traditional Russia culture
 Changed their physical and costume appearance – joke to
other Europe courts
 Become highly skilled at balancing one group off against another
while never exclude any as he set about to organized Russian
government as military forces along the lines of more powerful
European States
o Developing a Navy
 Construction of ships to protect his interests in the Black Sea
against Ottoman Empire
 In 1695, captured Azov on Black Sea from Ottoman
 Russian Expansion in the Baltic: Great North War
o Sweden consolidated its control of Baltic after Thirty Years’ War
 Prevented Russian possession of the port
 Permitted Polish and German access with terms
 Better armies in Europe
 Economy based on export of iron – not strong enough to ensure
continued political success
 Charles XII came to throne in 1697
 Headstrong, say the least, and insane
o Great North War
 1700 - 1721
 Peter wanted Baltic
 Charles defeated Peter in Battle of Narva in 1700
 Peter strengthen his force – defeated Sweden at Battle of Poltava
in 1709
 Charles sought refuge in Turkey and did not return till 1714
 Was killed 4 years later while fighting with Danes in
Norway
 War ended, Peace of Nystad confirmed Russian conquest of
Estonia, Livonia, and part of Finland
 Russia possessed ice-free ports and permanent influence on
Europe affairs
 Founding St. Petersburg – site on the Gulf of Finland
o 1712
o Better contact with Western Europe
o New capital
o Built government structures
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

o Compelled the boyars to construct town houses

o Copied Louis XIV by constructing smaller version of Versailles
o Establishing a central imperial court
o Symbolized a new Western orientation on Baltic Coast
o Employed architecture from western Europe for many prominent building
 Case of Peter’s son Aleksei
o Aleksei, Peter and his first wife’s son
o Peter was jealous of Aleksei, who never demonstrated strong intelligence
or ambition
o Peter’s opponent looked to Aleksei as a focus for possible sedition
o Aleksei went to Vienna, where he entered a vague conspiracy with
Habsburg emperor Charles VI
 He returned to Russia, surrounded with rumors and suspicion
o Peter began to look into Aleksei relationship with Charles VI
 Discovered Aleksei and Charles VI succeeded in organizing a
conspiracy
 Russian nobles, officials, and Churchmen might joined
them
o Aleksei condemned to death and died mysteriously
 Reforms of Peter the Great’s Final Years
o Interrogations surrounding Aleksei had shown greater degree of court
opposition than Peter suspected
o Peter could not eliminated this the same way we attacked streltsy
o He under took radical and administrative reforms designed to bring
nobility and Russian Orthodox Church more closely under authority of
persons loyal to tsar
 Administrative colleges
o Peter reorganized domestic administration to sustain his own personal
authority and to fight rampant corruption
o Colleges: bureaus of several persons operating according to written
instruction, not departments headed by single minister
o 8 colleges:
 Oversee collection of taxes, foreign relation, war, economic affair
 Received advice from a foreigner
 Members were nobles who Peter might thought was loyal
 Table of Ranks
o Intended to draw nobility into state service
o Equated a person’s social position and privileges with his rank in the
bureaucracy or military, not with his linage among the traditional landed
nobility
o Peter made social standing of individual boyars a function of their
willingness to serve the central state
 Achieving Secular Control of the Church
o Suppress the independence of Russian Orthodox Church
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

o Abolished the position of patriarch – bishop where was head of the

Church
o Replace patriarch with a government department called Holy Synod
 Consisted of several bishops headed by a layman – procurator
general
 Governed with tsar’s secular requirements
 Most radical transformation of the traditional institution in his
reign
 Peter died in 1725 without a male successor
o Soldiers and nobles again determined who ruled Russia
o Peter laid the foundation of modern Russia, not foundation of a stable
state
F. Ottoman Empire
 Largest, most stable political entity to arise in Europe following the collapse of
Roman Empire
 In 1453, conquered Constantinople, ended the Byzantine Empire
 From 18th C, it started a long decline until WWI when it finally collapsed
o European states on the empire’s border sought to extend their influence at its
expense
 Religious toleration and Ottoman Empire
o Dominant political power in Muslim world
o Administrated Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem
o Population: diverse ethically, linguistically, and religiously with significant
number of Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christian, and Jews from Spain
 Sultans governed the empire through unites or millets – officially recognized
religious communities
o Laws are applied at millet level, not territorial level
 Non-Islamic, Dhimmis, or people with tolerated religion
o Could practice their religion and manage their internal community affair though
their own religious officials
o 2nd class citizen – unable to serve the empire
o Paid special poll tax (jizyah)
o Could not serve in military
o Prohibited from wearing certain colors
o Residence could not be bigger than Muslims’
o Often attained economic success – possessed higher level of commercial skill
 Islamic population rarely acquired these commercial skill because the
empire discourage their various people from interacting with other
o Kept itself separated from the more powerful families
 Sultans recruited military leaders and officers from groups that they
thought were personally loyal to them
 Devshirme – recruited most elite troops from Christian communities in
Balkans
 Recruited Christian boys were raised Muslims and organized into
elites military units
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Janissaries: infantry troops, extremely loyal to sultan because they

owed their life and status to them
 partly the reason sultans did not let native Islamic families
to join military and work in administration
 thousands of people from peripheral region of empire who were slaves of
sultans, filled government posts and achieved major political influence and
status
 elite families however remained primarily linked to local government in
provincial cities
 believe that it is better to be a slave of sultan than to be free citizens
 The role of the Ulama
o Islamic religious authorities played a significant and enduring role in political,
legal, and administrative life in the empire
o The empire saw itself as the chief protectors of Islamic law (Shari ’a) and Sunni
Traditions of Islam, and holy places
o Ulama is Islamic Scholars
 Dominated Ottoman religious institutions, schools and court of law
o Trade-off
 Sultan sought advices from Ulama with regard to how their policies and
behavior accorded with Islamic law and Qur’an
 In turn, Ulama would support Ottoman state while the latter deferred to
their judgment
o Urged sultans to conform traditional life
 However, Ottoman confronted a rapidly changing and modernizing
Europe
 Janissaries resisted changes that undermine their own privileged status
 This was the key factor to the fate of Ottoman Empire
 End of Ottoman Empire
o Determined to push further westward into Europe
 Naval defeated in 1571 at Battle of Lepanto
 Deepest military invasion in 1683
 Failed to besiege Vienna
 Deeper power decline as a result
o 17th C >
 Authority of grand vizier grew
 More and more authority lay with administrative and military bureaucracy
 Rivalries for power and wealth for themselves
 Army leaders VS nobles
 Weakened the effectiveness of government
 Local elites began to assert their own influence
 Did not much reject imperial authority
 Renegotiate its conditions
 Transylvania, Walachia, Moldavia, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and
elsewhere – empire depended on the goodwill of local rulers
 Paid tributes
 Never fully submitted to imperial
Tin Bao Luu AP European History Absolutism and Constitutionalism

 Despite having better intellectual, science, military prowess than Europe

during Middle Ages, Europe advanced rapidly in these areas from 15th C>
 Better ships – better trades – new commercial skills
 Greater military and naval power, and new weapons
 1690s, Ottoman unsuccessfully fought a league of European states
(Austria, Venice, Malta, Poland, Tuscany, Russia)
 Negotiated with Treaty of Carlowitz
 Surrendered significant territory at heart of the empire to Europe
 Hungry > Habsburg
 Revenues the Ottomans had long drawn from those regions
 Russia and Ottoman shared control around Black Sea
 Despite the many defeats, continued to regard themselves as superior to the once
underdeveloped European West
 Ottoman leaders isolated from leading Muslim subjects and Europe
o Failed to understand the development beyond their border
o No work of new European science were translated
o Failed to develop its own infrastructure
 Borrowed European technology
 Imported foreign advisers
o Islam became a backward-looking religion
 Powerful Ulama opposed imitation of Christian Europe
o However, eventually allowed non-Muslim teachers to enter and approved non-
Muslim alliance
o Limited this relationship
o Persuaded sultan to close technology school and abandon a printing press