Holt McDougal World History: Patterns of Interaction

Chapter 21 Sections 1 to 5

Sec 1 Spain’s Empire and European Absolutism

Charles V

 Charles V (the 5th) was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire and other
lands.
 He was a king from the Hapsburg family, a famous royal family.
 He was a Catholic Christian.

 He ruled Spain, parts of Italy, lands in Austria and the Netherlands, and
parts of Germany.
 But he also controlled Spain’s colonies in America (places in America
that Spain had conquered).
 It was the first time since Charlemagne that a European ruler controlled so
many lands.

 Charles V opposed the Muslims and the Lutherans (people who followed
Martin Luther) because they were against the Catholic Church.
 He was one of the most important kings of his time, and his empire was
very powerful.

Charles retires

 Charles V eventually got old and decided to retire from being a king. He
devoted his life at a Catholic monastery, a religious place of worship.
 He handed his empire to two people:

1. His brother, Ferdinand

2. His son, Philip II
Let’s look at each of them in more detail …

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Ferdinand
 Ferdinand was Charles’ brother.
 Charles told him to rule Austria and the Holy Roman Empire.
Philip II

 Philip II was Charles’ son.

 Charles gave him Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, and the American
colonies.
 At that time, Mexico was one of the colonies that Spain controlled in
America. They found lots of gold there, and it all went to Philip.
Philip takes Portugal

 The king of Portugal died, and he had no heir to inherit the throne.
 So Philip took this chance to invade Portugal.
 Philip now controlled Portugal, and he also got all the places Portugal had
been controlling, like parts of Africa, India, and the East Indies.
Philip’s army

 Philip became very powerful. He ruled many lands, plus Portugal and its
colonies.
 To manage all these lands and riches, he needed a strong army.
 So he made a strong army of 50 thousand soldiers to defend his huge
empire.
 He didn’t trust many people, and his court historian said that “his smile
and his dagger were very close”.
Reconquista
 Philip was a very religious Catholic, to the point that he was a fanatic. This
meant that he was an extreme hater of other religions and was ready to
get into wars with empires who weren’t Catholic.

 Philip was familiar with the Reconquista that happened 64 years before
him. This was a war to kick out all the Muslims from Spain.
 In the Reconquista, all Spanish Muslims were hunted and told to either (a)
convert to Christianity right now, or (b) leave Spain with nothing. Or die,
obviously.

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Inquisition

 Philip’s parents and grandparents had done something similar to the

Reconquista, called the Inquisition.
 In the Inquisition, Philip’s great-grandparents Isabella and Ferdinand had
held Muslims in public trials to suspect fake Christians.
Fighting the Ottomans

 Another very strong power in the world was the Ottoman Empire.
 The Ottomans were led by their powerful Sultan, Suleiman I.
 Due to his religious intolerance, Philip fought the Ottomans because they
were Muslims.
 He attacked with 250 thousand soldiers against the Ottomans.
 They fought in the Battle of Lepanto.
 Philip won this battle, making his empire even bigger.
Battle of Lepanto = Philip II X Ottomans
Victory: Philip
Fighting the English Protestants

 Philip then went to fight the Protestant Christians, who were in England.
 They fought in the Spanish Armada battle.
 An armada is a fleet of war ships. Each side had a huge armada.
 However, the English had a stronger armada and managed to defeat
them.
Spanish Armada = Philip II X Protestants in England
Victory: England
Philip’s defeat

 Philip had been getting so powerful and winning so many battles – until he
lost at the Spanish Armada.
 This was a shocking defeat for him. He pretended that he had “left
England”, but he had lost a battle.
 This defeat made Spain weaker.

 To show that he was still powerful even after losing a battle, Philip decided
to build the Escorial Palace.
 This was a huge and beautiful palace that was very expensive to build.

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Art and Literature
 From then on, Philip decided that the time for wars was done, and he now
focused on making Spain beautiful with art.
 Philip built more grand palaces, and nobles started becoming patrons of
art, like sponsors who buy paintings and appreciate beautiful art.

 In the 16th and 17th centuries, 2 famous artists appeared in Spain …

1. El Greco

 An artist born in Crete, but he lived most of his life in

Spain.
 This was not his real name.
 He expressed emotions through his paintings by using
clashing colors.
 Used a new painting technique called distortion, where
the body proportions of the people he drew weren’t
correct. (For example, someone with one long arm one
very thin arm, etc.) One of El Greco’s paintings
 He was a deeply religious Catholic and painted saints with distortion.

and martyrs (‫)شهداء‬.

2. Velázquez

 50 years after El Greco.

 Full name: Diego Velázquez.
 The court painter of Philip IV.
 He was best known for his portraits were of the royal family.
 Like El Greco, he used rich colors.
Miguel de Cervantes

 Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish writer who wrote a famous book

called Don Quixote de la Mancha, or just “Don Quixote”.
 He was the first person to write a modern novel like the ones we read
now.
 In his book, he wrote about a poor Spanish nobleman who went crazy
after reading books about heroic knights.
 The knight in the story was crazy and fought windmills.
 It sarcastically described Spanish society.
 Some people thought it was mocking chivalry, the code of knights In the
Middle Ages.

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Fall of Spain
 The Spanish Empire weakened and eventually fell because of:
1. Inflation & economic problems
Inflation happens when prices increase but salaries do not. The value of
money decreases.
 Increased population: As the Spanish population increased, merchants
raised prices.
 No skilled Muslims / Jews: When Jews and Moors (Muslims) left
(because of Philip’s religious intolerance), many skilled artists and
businessmen left, so the economy worsened.
 Nobles never paid taxes, so lower classes had to pay a lot.
 Silver abundance: There was a lot of silver, so its price went down. (When
there’s a lot of something, it becomes less rare and its value decreases.)

2. Making Spain’s enemies rich

 Buying foreign products: Merchants in Spain sold things very expensive,
so people couldn’t afford local products anymore. They started buying
things from England and France, improving the economies of other
empires and even enemies.
 Borrowing money: Spain borrowed money from German and Italian
bankers to finance their wars.
 Spain got bankrupt 3 times because of its weak economy

3. Dutch Revolt / Revolution

 In the Spanish Netherlands, the Dutch (the people in the Netherlands) were
Calvinist, not Catholic like the rest of Philip’s empire.
 Philip, who was a religiously intolerant person, raised taxes there in order
to crush the Calvinism and help with his bankruptcy.
 Spain had a weak economy, while the Netherlands had a strong one, so
Philip put higher taxes in Netherlands than in Spain.
 The Dutch were angry from the high taxes and started a revolution. They
burnt Catholic churches and paintings.

 Philip sent an army led by a Spanish duke called Duke Alva, and in one
day he killed 1500 protestants.
 William of Orange, a smart Dutch prince and military leader, put a plan …

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  The Netherlands was a geographically low country, as if it was in a valley
(nether = low + lands). Therefore, they had lots of dams to keep the water
of seas and rivers from flooding the country.
 William Orange used this against Philip’s army. He allowed Philip’s soldiers
to enter the country, then he and his army ran and left them. They opened
the dams onto Philip’s army, who had to either drown or escape.
Dutch independence
 After the Dutch had won against Philip’s army, they got their
independence from the Spanish Empire.
 There were 7 states that gained their independence, and together they
became the United Provinces of Netherlands.
 However, the 10 southern provinces remained under Spanish control.

 The independent Dutch were different from other European states

because religion bonded them. They also practiced religious tolerance,
letting people worship as they wish.
 Also, they were a republic.
 Each province elected a governor. His power depended on the support of
the merchants and landowners.
Trading

 Because the Dutch were a stable republic now, they focused on improving
their economy.
 The Dutch had many trading boats, the largest fleet of ships in the
world.
Smart merchants

 The merchants in Amsterdam, an important Dutch city, bought a lot of

grains from Poland, who had a surplus of grain and sold it cheaply.
 Then the Dutch stored their grain for a long time … until there was a
shortage of it in South Europe. They took this chance to sell it for high
prices, even though they had gotten it cheap.
 They did the same with timber wood, shipping it to Spain, France, and
Italy.
 They made the Dutch East India Company, a trading company controlled
by the government.
 Gradually, the Dutch replaced the Italians as the best bankers in Europe.

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Dutch art

 In the 1600s, the Netherlands became what Florence, an artistic Italian

city, used to be in the 1400s. It had the best banks and best artists.

 The greatest Dutch artist was Rembrandt, who

painted portraits of wealthy middle-class merchants,
and group portraits.
 He also created oil paint by mixing oil with powder.
 His most famous painting is called The Syndics (),
where he focused on facial expressions.
 Another one of his famous paintings is called The
Night Watch.

 Vermeer was another famous Dutch artist.

 He painted women doing daily activities.

Absolutism
Absolutism in Europe

 Absolutism is the political belief that one ruler should hold all the power in
his country.

 Even though Philip II lost his control on the Netherlands, he was a strong
ruler who held tight control over Spain.
 Leaders like him, who wanted all power to be with them only, are called
absolute monarchs.
 Absolute monarchs believed in something called divine right: the idea that
a monarch represents God on earth, and has a holy right to rule.
Growing power in Europe

 Monarchs in Europe kept assuming greater power because of:

1. The decline of Feudalism

2. The rise of cities and kingdoms, which helped centralize authority

 Monarchs were supported by merchants and businessman, because they

helped them in business.
 Monarchs used the wealth of their colonies to buy things for themselves.

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  After the Church’s authority lessened, monarchs could claim even more
power.
Crises that led to absolutism

1. Conflicts between religions, and wars to win lands

2. Governments built huge armies and put high taxes
3. Unrest and unsafety was widespread
4. Peasants often started revolutions

 To solve these problems, monarchs increased their own power.

 They created new government bureaucracies (offices) to control their
economies and empires, which gave them the freedom and time to be
absolute rulers.

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Sec 2 The Reign of Louis XIV
Henry II

 When King Henry II (the 2nd) of France died, he had 4 young sons. 3 of
them ruled, but they were all weak.
 The real power was in the hands of their mother, Catherine de Médicis.
 Catherine and her last son died, leaving France in chaos.
Henry IV

 Afterwards, Henry IV (the 4th) ruled France.

 He was originally called Henry of Navarre.
 He came from the Bourbon family, a royal family (like the Hapsburg family
in Section 1).
 He was a Protestant, but most of his citizens were Catholic.
 So he converted from being a Protestant to a Catholic like most people.
Huguenots’ protection

 Protestants in France were called Huguenots.

 There were 8 religious wars between the Catholics and Huguenots.
 During St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (or just the Bartholomew
Massacre), Huguenots were killed by Catholics for 6 weeks.
 So the Huguenots started wanting protection.

 Henry IV issued a decree (or official law) called the Edict of Nantes, which
protected Huguenots from the Catholics who were killing them.
 The Edict of Nantes gave Huguenots the right to have their own churches
in certain places, sometimes put walls around their communities, and live
in peace.
Louis XIII

 Henry got stabbed by a fanatic and died.

 After him, his son Louis XIII (the 13th) became king.
 Since he was a weak king, his chief minister (like the prime minister)
Cardinal Richelieu ruled in his name.
 Cardinal Richelieu hated Protestants / Huguenots.
 So Richelieu canceled the Edict of Nantes.

Richelieu’s goals

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  Since Cardinal Richelieu was practically ruling instead of Louis XIII, he
had clear goals:

1. Decrease the nobles’ power and destroy their castles (because he

felt threatened by them), but increase the middle class’ power. His
government was powered by middle-class workers, not nobles.
2. Move against the Huguenots and decrease their rights, because he
thought they were planning against the king.
3. Protect & increase the Bourbon family (the royal family of Henry and
Louis)

 He also saw the Hapsburg rulers as an obstacle, because their lands

surrounded France. So he fought them in the Thirty Years’ War, which we
will study in Section 3.

Skepticism

 An idea called skepticism appeared at that time.

 Skepticism is the idea that nothing could be known for certain.
 Therefore, people started doubting everything that didn’t have proof.
 For example, French writers and thinkers starting doubting the Church’s
information.
Montaigne

 Michel de Montaigne, a French writer, created a new form of literature

called the essay which helped spread skepticism.
 An essay is a brief work that expresses a person’s thoughts and ideas, so
old ideas could be replaced by new ones.
 He supported skepticism and said that there is nothing called “absolute
truth”, because every day we discover something that changes what we
know.
Descartes

 René Descartes, another writer, wrote a book called Meditation of First

Philosophy.
 In this book, he argued that we shouldn’t be certain about anything.

Louis XIV

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  After Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, Louis XIV (the 14th) became king.
 He was only 4 years old when he started ruling.
 Cardinal Mazarin, his advisor, was just like Richelieu, and ruled for Louis.
 He ruled for 72 years.
The Sun and the State

 Louis XIV had a huge ego, meaning he was very confident about himself.
 He said that he is the sun, because all power radiates from him (just like
all light comes from the sun). He became known as the Sun King.
 He also said that he is the state, meaning he thought he was France in a
person.
Mazarin & nobles

 After a war called the Thirty Years’ War, France became the strongest
country in Europe.
 The nobles hated Mazarin because he increased taxes and gave more
power to the central government.
 So the nobles decided to start riots, like mini revolutions.
 However, the nobles’ riots failed for 2 reasons:

1. The leaders of the riots didn’t trust each other

2. The government used violence and oppressive laws to fight them
Intendants

 When Mazarin died, Louis XIV was 23 years old*, so he took control of the
government himself.

*Note: In the PowerPoint, it says that Louis was 23 when Mazarin died. In the
book, it says he was 22.
 Louis weakened the power of the nobles.
 He hired important government agents called intendants, who collected
taxes and administered justice.
Mercantilism

 Louis had a smart Minister of Finance called Jean Baptiste Colbert.

 Colbert used a strategy called mercantilism.
 Mercantilism is keeping wealth in your country to make it independent.
 Colbert believed that France should be self-sufficient and able to create
everything instead of importing products.
Colbert’s mercantilism

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  To grow France’s manufacturing and make it independent, Colbert did
several things:

1. Helped French companies grow.

2. Placed high taxes on imported goods.
3. Realized the importance of colonies, which provided raw materials for
manufacturing. He encouraged people to migrate to Canada, a French
colony, because it had a lot of expensive fur that they could trade.
After Colbert

 When Colbert died, Louis canceled the Edict of Nantes and denied
Huguenots’ rights, just like Richelieu.
 So thousands of Huguenots, who were skilled artists and businessmen,
left the country.
 Louis’ move made France lose a lot of skilled workers.

Versailles

 Louis XIV built a huge palace on a hill near Paris, called the Palace of
Versailles.
 He surrounded himself with luxury and high-quality food and ate a lot. 500
cooks and servants prepared his food.

 He told all nobles from all around France to come live with him in the
Palace of Versailles.
 Then he humiliated the nobles and degraded them, making them his
servants.
 He made them help him dress up and serve him. This made the nobles
feel dependent on the king and kept them away from their lands.
French art

 Versailles was the center of arts during Louis’ reign.

 Louis made opera and ballet more popular. He had a ballet called The
Sun King.
 One of his favorite writers was Molière, who wrote funny plays.
 The purpose of art during Louis’ reign was to glorify the king, which helped
increase his absolute rule.

French strength

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  Under Louis, France was the most powerful country in Europe.
 It had about 20 million people.
 This was x4 the population of England and x10 the Dutch population.
 The French army was one of the best.
Invading Netherlands

 Since France was one of the strongest countries in the world, Louis XIV
tried to invade the Spanish Netherlands (Philip had also fought them in
Section 1, if you remember).
 He gained 12 towns.
 Then, when he tried to go the Dutch Netherlands, the Dutch used the
same trick of opening the dams and flooding their enemies.
 France fell into the same mistake as Spain had earlier.

 The war between France and the Netherlands ended with a treaty called
the Treaty of Nijmegen.
 France had won several towns and a region called Franche-Comté.
League of Augsburg

 After France attacked the Netherlands, the other European empires

realized it was very powerful.
 They were scared that Spain and France would make an alliance,
because both of them very strong. Together, they could destroy the rest of
Europe.
 To make sure that Spain and France would stay enemies, many European
empires sided together in the League of Augsburg to be as powerful as
France:

League of Augsburg:
 Spain (Hapsburgs)
 England X France
 Sweden

 William of Orange, the Dutch prince we studied in Section 1, had become

the king of England.

War of the Spanish Succession

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  A Spanish king married a French princess, so Spain and France became
friends, just like the rest of Europe had feared.
 So, many countries (Austria, Dutch Republic, Portugal, some German and
Italian states) felt threatened and united against France and Spain.
 These two sides fought the War of the Spanish Succession.
Treaty of Utrecht

 Spain’s king, Charles II, promised Philip of Anjou (Louis’ grandson) the
throne of Spain. Like this, both Spain and France would be ruled by
someone from the Bourbon family. All this did was to create more conflict
and war.

 The War of the Spanish Succession continued until the Treaty of Utrecht
was signed.
 According to the Treaty, Louis’ grandson could remain king of Spain as
long as France and Spain were not united.
 Both France and Spain were forced to give up some of their colonies to
Britain at the end of the war. Britain took Gibraltar, an important fortress
area, from Spain.
Louis XIV’s death

 Louis realized that his wars had ruined France, and regretted many of the
wars to which he had dragged his people.
 Unfortunately, he had also left France in debt.
 He died in his bed in 1715.

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Sec 3 Central European Monarchs Clash
Good video to understand better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFPZ7BR3iEA&t=1s&ab_channel=MarkRusso

Peace of Augsburg

 Germany was made up of many states, each ruled by a prince. However,

they were all ruled by the Holy Roman Empire.
 The princes had many religious differences and had fought many wars
because of that.
 So they made the Peace of Augsburg with Charles V, the Emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire (we studied him in Section 1)
 The Peace of Augsburg was an agreement that gave each prince the
power to determine the religion of his state.

 The German princes were allowed to be Lutherans or Catholic, but not

Calvinist.
 The Protestants / Lutherans were German people who didn’t like the
Catholic Church’s corruption, so they followed Martin Luther. Lutherans
and Protestants are the same thing.

 The Peace also allowed people who didn’t like their state religion to
emigrate, or move from it.

 After the Peace of Augsburg agreement, the Catholic and Lutheran

princes of Germany watched each other suspiciously.
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Religious tension

 Both the Lutheran and Catholic princes felt threatened by Calvinism,

which was spreading in Germany, and tried to gain more followers.
 The Lutherans / Protestants united together and made something called
the Protestant Union.
 The Catholic princes made the Catholic League.
Ferdinand II

 Ferdinand II was the head of the Hapsburg family, an important European

royal family.

 He ruled:
1. BOHEMIA. Ferdinand ruled Bohemia, which was a Czech kingdom.
2. GERMANY. He became the Holy Roman Emperor, which meant that he
also ruled the German princes.
3. SPAIN & AUSTRIA.
Bohemians revolt

 The citizens in Bohemia didn’t trust Ferdinand, because he was a

Catholic, but they were Protestant.
 He was also a foreigner to them.
 Ferdinand closed some Protestant churches, so the Bohemian
Protestants revolted.
 Ferdinand sent an army to Bohemia to stop the revolts.
 Several German Protestant princes took this chance to start a war and
fight against Ferdinand, because he was their emperor.
Thirty Years’ War

 The Thirty Years’ War was a long war over religion and territory in Europe.
 It wasn’t a political war; it was a religious war.
 The Hapsburg royal family fought in this war.
 The Thirty Years’ War is divided into 2 main stages:

1) the Hapsburg triumphs

2) the Hapsburg defeats

 At first, the Hapsburgs were winning (which was the time of the Hapsburg
triumphs), and then they started losing (the Hapsburg defeats).
 Let’s look at each stage of the war in detail …

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1) Hapsburg triumphs

 During the first 12 years of the Thirty Years’ War, Hapsburg (Austrian and
Spanish) armies were winning the armies of the Protestant princes.
 They crushed the revolution in Bohemia.
 Ferdinand II had an army of 125,000 soldiers. He paid them by allowing
them to plunder, or rob / steal, German villages.
2) Habsburg defeats

 After a certain time, the Hapsburgs started losing, because some people
helped the German princes …

Swedish help
 Gustavus Adolphus, or just Adolph, a Protestant from Sweden, pushed the
Hapsburg army out of north Germany. This began to weaken the
Hapsburgs.
 Adolphus was killed right afterwards.

French help
 Cardinal Richelieu and Mazarin in France (from Section 2), feared the
Hapsburgs more than the Protestants.
 So France helped the Protestants (even though it was Catholic): they
sent French soldiers to help the Protestants against the Hapsburgs.
Peace of Westphalia

 The Peace of Westphalia was a treaty that ended the Thirty Years’ War.
 This treaty had important effects:

1. Weakened the Hapsburgs (Spain and Austria)

2. Gave some German lands to France
3. German princes became independent from the Holy Roman Empire
4. Ended religious wars in Europe
5. Introduced a new way to negotiate peace, which is when all sides meet
and discuss a solution and terms of peace
Idea of modern states

 After the Peace of Westphalia, there was no longer a powerful Catholic

empire that ruled most of Europe.
 Now, Europe was a group of equal and independent states.
 This idea of states like the ones we have now was a very important result
of the War.
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Effect of the war on Germany

 The Thirty Years’ War weakened Germany (especially in the beginning

when they were losing), in these ways:

1. 4 million deaths: The German population dropped from 20 million to 16

million.
2. Both trade and agriculture were damaged.
3. The economy was ruined.

 Germany took a long time to recover from this damage, and didn’t unite
until the 1800s, 200 years later.
Central vs Western Europe

 Europe had two important regions: Central and western Europe.

 The economy of Central Europe was much less developed than that of
western Europe. Here is a comparison of their economies:

Central Europe Western Europe

 Still following the Feudal

 Serfs moved to towns and
system.
became middle-class people who
 The nobles and landowners gave
gained economic power.
serfs no freedom and kept them
 The commercial revolution
on the land. The landowners and
happened, and an idea called
nobles took the serfs’ crops
capitalism developed.
and sold them in western
 Monarchs put taxes on towns,
Europe for high prices.
and used these taxes to create
 Serfs used to work for 6 days
armies and reduce the nobles’
without even having enough time
power.
to produce their own food.

Central Europe

 In Central Europe, there were three strong powers:

1. Holy Roman Empire

2. Ottoman Empire
3. Poland

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Central Europe weak

 In Central Europe, nobles blocked the power of strong kings. There

were no strong rulers that made unified empires.

1. The nobles in Poland chose the Polish king and limited his power.
2. Suleyman the Magnificent, from the Ottoman Empire, had conquered
Hungary, but he could not conquer anything more in Europe, and the
empire lost its power.
3. The Holy Roman Empire was also weakened by the Thirty Years’ War. It
no longer controlled the German princes.
Austria grows stronger

 Since central Europe was weak, the Hapsburgs in Austria tried to become
absolute monarchs and rule Central Europe.
 The Hapsburgs did several things to become absolute monarchs:

1. In the Thirty Years’ War, they reconquered Bohemia, which they had
lost. There, they made a loyal Czech noble class.
2. After the war, the Hapsburgs centralized the government and created a
standing army.
3. They took Hungary from the Ottoman Empire.
Charles VI

 (Not to confuse with Charles V in Section 1)

 Charles VI became the Hapsburg ruler. Before, it had been Ferdinand II.
 He ruled different people, like Czechs, Hungarians, Italians, Croatians,
and Germans.
 He had to keep Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia united.
Charles VI  Maria Theresa

 Charles VI wanted to make sure the Hapsburgs would continue to rule his
lands.
 Therefore, he spent his entire life convincing Europe to sign an agreement
promising that his daughter Maria Theresa would become the heir of his
throne.
 Maria Theresa inherited the throne.
 She got into long wars, and her main enemy was Prussia …

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Prussia

 Prussia was a kingdom in Europe.

 It was ruled by the Hohenzollerns royal family (like the Hapsburgs and
Bourbons).
 The empire started with 2 states in north Germany, which the
Hohenzollerns united.
Frederick William

 Frederick William became the leader of Prussia.

 At first he was given the title Elector of Brandenburg, and later the Great
Elector.
 Fredrick William realized that becoming an absolute monarch and having
a strong army would be the best decision for his empire.
Fredrick William rules absolutely

 Frederick built an army of 80,000 men, the largest army in Europe.

 To finance this army, he made a system with permanent taxes.
 Frederick William and the rulers after him started calling themselves
“kings”, not just rulers / electors.
Junkers

 Prussia’s nobles were called the Junkers.

 At first, they were against the king’s power.
 Later, Frederick William put them and their children in high positions
in the army, which made them be ready to help him.
 Prussia became a military-controlled society.
Frederick William’s son

 Frederick William had a son called Frederick (because he loved his name
so much).
 Frederick II, the son, only loved music, philosophy, and poetry, and spent
his time with his friends. He didn’t like fighting and didn’t want to rule.
 To punish Frederick II, Frederick William (his dad) gathered all his friends
and killed them in front of him.

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Frederick the Great

 Frederick II et3adal and became known as Frederick the Great.

 He followed his father’s military ideas, but he softened some of his
father’s laws. He believed a ruler should be like a father to his people.
 He was nicknamed “Old Fritz”.
Note: All the names with F can get confusing, so here is everyone:
o Ferdinand II (Hapsburg ruler, participated in the Thirty Years’ War)
o Frederick William / Great Elector (killed his son’s friends)
o Frederick II / Frederick the Great (his son)
War of the Austrian Succession

 Let’s go back to Maria Theresa …

 She inherited her father’s throne and started ruling the Hapsburgs just 5
months after Frederick II became king of Prussia.
 Frederick wanted Silesia, an Austrian land that contained a lot of iron
ore, which could be used to make weapons for his army. Silesia also had
good textiles (cloth) and food products.
 Frederick thought that because Maria Theresa was a woman, she
would not be able to defend her lands, so he attacked Silesia.
 This started the War of the Austrian Succession.
Maria Theresa begging
 Maria Theresa had 13 children. She went to Hungary and knocked on the
nobles’ doors with her children in her hands, asking for help.
 The nobles gave Maria Theresa an army.

 France went to the same side with Prussia, against Austria (Maria
Theresa).
 Britain then joined Austria because it wanted to fight France (Britain and
France were always enemies).

In the War of the Austrian Succession:

Prussia (Frederick) Austria (Maria T.)

+ +
France
X Britain

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  Maria Theresa lost Silesia during an agreement called the Treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle.
 When Prussia took Silesia, it became a stronger European power.

The Seven Years’ War

 Later, Maria Theresa (Austria) allied with France, although she had
been against it in the War of the Austrian Succession.
 Russia also joined them, entering a European war for the first time.
 When Frederick saw this, he sided with Britain.
 Austria, France, Russia, and others were allied against Britain and
Prussia.
 This was called the Seven Years’ War.
In the Seven Years’ War:

Prussia (Frederick) Austria (Maria T.)

+ +
Britain
X France & Russia

End of the War

 Frederick attacked Saxony, an Austrian ally.

 Now, every major European power was involved in this Seven Years’ War.
 The war was fought in Europe, India, and North America.
 The war didn’t change many borders in Europe.

 Prussia and Britain won.

 Britain the real winner of the Seven Years’ War. France lost its colonies
in North America, and Britain dominated India.

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Sec 4 Absolute Rulers of Russia
Ivan III & Vasily
 Ivan III of Moscow ruled in the 1400s and had a number of
accomplishments:
1. Conquering most of the territory around Moscow, the Russian capital.
2. Freeing Russia from the Mongols.
3. Centralizing the Russian government.
 After him, his son Vasily ruled for 28 years and continued his father’s
efforts. However, he was quite weak and didn’t do much.
 Vasily’s son was Ivan IV …
The first Czar
 Ivan IV was known as Ivan the Terrible. He took the throne when he was 3
years old.
 Boyars, the Russian nobles, fought often during his childhood, each
wanting to control young Ivan.
 When he was 16 years old, Ivan took the power himself and named
himself a czar. This title meant “Caesar”, and Ivan was the first Russian to
use it officially.
 He became an absolute ruler.
 He married a beautiful woman called Anastasia, who came from the
Romanovs, an old and well-known boyar family.
Ivan two-faced
 Ivan’s “good period” was from 1547 to 1560. Just like his father and
grandfather, he won great victories, added lands to Russia, and gave
Russia a code of laws, ruling fairly.
 Ivan’s “bad period” began after Anastasia died.
 He accused the boyars of poisoning his wide. He made his own police
force and murdered people he considered traitors. These police wore
black and rode black horses.
 He executed many boyars, their families, and their peasants. Ivan took
boyar’s lands and gave them to other loyal nobles.
 One day, Ivan killed his oldest son and heir. This was both a personal
tragedy and a national disaster.
 Ivan died 3 years later, and now only his weak second son was left to rule.

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Time of Troubles
 Ivan’s son was physically and mentally unfit for ruling, and he died without
an heir.
 Russia saw a time of chaos called the Time of Troubles. Boyars fought
and killed each other.
 Finally, representatives from many Russian cities met to choose the next
czar.
 They picked Michael Romanov, Anastasia’s grandnephew.
 He began the Romanov dynasty that ruled Russia for around 300 years.
Peter the Great

 The Romanovs decreased the chaos by putting a law code and stopping a
revolt.
 Later, Peter I came.
 At first, Czar Peter I shared his throne with his half-brother. When he
turned 24, however, he became the single ruler of Russia.
 He became known as Peter the Great because of his accomplishments
and reforms.
Serfdom in Russia

 When Peter came to power, Russia was still a land with boyars and serfs.
 In Russia, serfdom continued much longer than in western Europe.
 Landowners treated serfs as property, selling them with the land that they
were tied to.
 Serfs could be sent by landowners as gifts or to pay their debts.
 It was illegal for serfs to escape their master.
Russia isolated

 Russia was cut off from western Europe, because:

1. Not looking to Rome: Russia had admired Constantinople, not Rome, in

the Middle Ages.
2. Mongol control: Earlier, the Mongol invasion had kept them away from
the new ideas of the Renaissance and Age of Exploration.
3. Frozen port: The only Russian port, Archangel, was in the north and
frozen most of the year. Only Dutch and German visitors came, and they
had to stay in a certain part of the city.
4. Religious difference: Russia was Eastern Orthodox, unlike most of
western Europe.

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Peter visits the West

 Moscow had a German neighborhood, where Peter loved to walk. He was

fascinated by seaports and foreign tools.
 Peter was very tall, taller than 6 and a half feet.
 One year after starting to rule Russia, Peter made a visit to western
Europe, called the Grand Embassy.
 Peter wanted to learn about European traditions and manufacturing
techniques. No czar had ever gone there before, to the heretics, or people
from a different religion.
 There, he saw new techniques for building ships.
Note: According to our teacher, Peter visited Europe secretly, in disguise, before
he officially went on the Grand Embassy. However, in the book, it only said he
visited the German part of Moscow, then did the Grand Embassy.
Peter rules absolutely

 Peter got inspired by his Grand Embassy, and wanted to make Russia
stronger with westernization, or the idea of looking to western Europe.
 Because many of his people didn’t want to change, he increased his
power and became an absolute ruler.

 He knew that change was necessary, but the people could only do it if
they were forced.
 To one government official, he said “For you know yourself that, though a
thing be good and necessary, our people will not do it unless forced to.”
Governmental & religious control

 Russia was different from western Europe also because of its religious
differences. While most western Europeans were Catholics or
Protestants, Russia was Eastern Orthodox.

 Peter brought the Russian Orthodox Church under his control. He

removed many of the religious officials, such as the Patriarch (like the
Pope) and hired a group called the Holy Synod to run it.

 He reduced the power of landowners and nobles, and hired people from
lower classes, who became loyal when he gave them a lot of land and
money.

25
Military

 Peter hired European officers for his army to teach Russian soldiers how
to use European weapons and tactics.
 Being a soldier became a lifetime job.
 By the time of Peter’s death, the army had reached 200,000 soldiers.
 He increased taxes to support his large army.
Westernizing Russia

 Peter’s westernization plans included these changes:

1. Potatoes: Introducing potatoes to the Russian cuisine, which became
very important and used in their vodka and dishes
2. Newspapers: Starting Russia’s first newspaper and editing the first
edition himself
3. Women rights: Raising women’s social status
4. Western clothing: Preferring western fashion over traditional clothes
5. Education: Improving education and forcing scholars to explore foreign
lands. Before, they had been forbidden to do so. Also, starting a school of
navigation that used advanced tools like the astrolabe.
Window to the west: St. Petersburg

 Peter wanted to make a seaport that would make travel to the West
easier. He wanted a window to the west.
 Russia already had ports, but he wanted a warm water port that
wouldn’t be frozen all year round.
 To do this, he fought Sweden to gain a part of the Baltic cost, and won
after 21 years.
 Peter built a city on this previously Swedish land.
 He called his new city St. Petersburg after his patron saint. Its river, the
Neva River, made it easier for him to sail into the sea and reach western
Europe.
 St. Petersburg was built on muddy and swampy land, so it wasn’t easy to
build it. Every summer, thousands of serfs were forced to go work on its
construction.
 Historians think 25-100 thousand people died from the working
conditions.
 When it was finished, Peter ordered his nobles to leave Moscow and
settle in this new capital. St. Petersburg became a bustling port.
 By the time of Peter’s death in 1725, Russia had become a power that
competed with Europe.

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Sec 5 Parliament Limits the English Monarchy
Elizabeth I

 In England, the Parliament had financial power, so it could accept or deny

the monarch’s decision. This stopped English rulers from becoming
absolute monarchs.
 Queen Elizabeth I of England often fought with the Parliament.
 Most of the time, the Parliament and Elizabeth argued over money,
because the treasury, or national vault, didn’t have enough money to pay
for the queen’s debts.
 When she died, she left a huge debt.
James Stuart

 Elizabeth had no child, and her nearest male relative was her cousin,
James Stuart.
 He became King James I of England.
 James Stuart was already the king of Scotland, and he now also ruled
England.
 England and Scotland were not united yet, but they had the same ruler.
James’ problems

 Elizabeth had left many problems for James to deal with.

 Just like Elizabeth, he fought a lot with the Parliament over money.
 He was the ruler of England during the Spanish Armada battle* (Section
1), so he needed a lot of money for that war.
*Note: According to the book, it was Elizabeth I who was in the Spanish Armada,
but our teacher said it was James I.
Puritans offended

 The Puritans were very religious Protestants in the Parliament.

 Unlike them, James was Catholic.
 The Puritans hoped James would stop the Catholics in England.
 However, he refused to make any changes except translating the Bible.
 This offended the Puritans.

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Charles I

 After James I died, his son Charles I took the throne.

 Charles was at war with Spain and France, so he always needed money.
 Often, when the Parliament refused to give him funds, he dissolved it.
 Dissolving the Parliament means cancelling it and kicking out its
members.
 Later, he was forced to call back the Parliament again.
 This time, the Parliament refused to grant him any money until he signed a
document called the Petition of Right.
Petition of Right

 The Petition of Right said that the king agreed to 4 points.

The ruler would NOT:

1. imprison people without due cause (=without a good reason)

2. put taxes without the Parliament’s agreement
3. house soldiers in private homes, or fancy and elegant homes
4. impose martial law in peace time. This was a law that allowed any
policeman to stop a citizen and put them in prison without a trial.

 The Petition of Right was important because it introduced the idea that the
law was higher than the king.
 This idea was against absolute monarchy.
Charles tears the Petition

 Charles agreed to the Petition of Right, but ignored it just afterwards.

 In 1629, Charles dissolved the Parliament and refused to call it back.
 To get money, he put high taxes and fines on the English people. This
was directly against the Petition of Right.
 His popularity decreased every year.
Conflict
 Charles offended the Puritans by keeping the rituals of the Anglican
Church, which was England’s church. It was Protestant.
 He wanted both his kingdoms to follow one religion.
 So he tried to force the Presbyterian Scots in Scotland to also follow the
Anglican Church.
 The Scots didn’t want to follow the Anglican Church because they were
Catholic.
 So they made a huge army and threatened to invade England.

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  To defend England, Charles needed money – and he could only get this
money by calling back the Parliament (after he had dissolved it).
 So he got back the Parliament.
Charles opposed

 When the Parliament came back, it put laws to limit royal power.
 Charles was angry and tried to arrest the Parliament’s leaders, but they
escaped.
 A crowd of people from London were also angry and gathered around the
palace.
 Charles escaped from London and raised an army in the north of England,
where people were loyal to him.
English Civil War

 The English Civil War was from 1642 to 1649.

 There were two sides:
English Civil War

Royalists / Cavaliers
X Puritans from the Parliament

Led by Charles I Led by Oliver Cromwell

Because they had short hair, the

Since they were led by the royal king,
Cavaliers also called them
Charles, they were called Royalists.
Roundheads.

 At first, neither side could really win.

 Later, the Puritans got a general called Oliver Cromwell.
 Cromwell made an army called the New Model Army, and he defeated the
Cavaliers.
 In the end, they held the king prisoner.
Charles dies

 Cromwell and the Puritans got Charles in front of the Parliament.

 They said he was guilty of treason and sentenced him to death.
 For the first time, a king was killed openly after a public trial. Before that,
kings had been overthrown, killed in battle, or killed secretly.

29
Cromwell rules

 After Charles was executed, Oliver Cromwell became the ruler.

 He improved England and did many changes.
 He removed the monarchy (so he wasn’t officially a king), House of Lords,
and the Parliament.
 He made a commonwealth, which is a form of government like a republic.
 A man named John Lambert made a constitution, the first written one in
Europe.
 However, Cromwell later tore the constitution and became a dictator
military.
Irish rebel

 Many English rulers, like Henry II and Henry VIII, had colonized Ireland
and put it under English rule.
 Just after he started ruling, Cromwell had to deal with a rebellion in
Ireland.
 Cromwell went to Ireland with an army and crushed the rebellion.
 He took the lands and homes of the Irish and gave them to English
soldiers.
 Fighting, disease, and famine killed hundreds of thousands of people in
Ireland.
Cromwell’s society

 In England, Cromwell and the Puritans wanted to reform society.

 They made laws that promoted Puritan morality (ideas).
 Cromwell banned activities like theater, sports, and dancing, because
he thought they were wrong and sinful.
 Although he was a strict Puritan, Cromwell had religious toleration for
all Christians, except Catholics.
 He even allowed Jews to return; they had been kicked out of England
earlier.
 He also closed some churches.
After Cromwell

 Nobody could oppose Cromwell, so he ruled until he died.

 After his death, his government collapsed, and a new Parliament was
made.
 The English people were tired of Cromwell’s military rule.
 The Parliament asked the older son of Charles I to rule. This is Charles II.

30
Charles II

 The people were very happy once Charles II started ruling.

 He restored (got back) the monarchy, so the period of his rule is called the
Restoration.
Habeas Corpus

 During Charles II’s reign, the Parliament made an important law called the
Habeas Corpus Act.
 It means in Latin “to have the body”.
 This law gave every prisoner the right to say that he wants to be
fairly judged and not just thrown in prison. A judge would decide
whether the prisoner should be tried or set free.
 Because of the Habeas Corpus, a monarch could not put someone in
jail simply for opposing him.
 Also, people could not go to prison without a trial.
Charles’ heir

 Charles II had no legitimate child, so Parliament debated who should

inherit his throne.
 In the end it was his brother James II, a Catholic.
 A group called the Whigs / liberals opposed James, and a group called the
Tories / conservatives supported him.
 These two groups were the first political parties in England.
James II

 Charles II died, and James II became king.

 James then offended his people by showing his Catholicism.
 He put several Catholics in high office, even though this was against the
law.
 When the Parliament protested, he dissolved it.

 James’ second wife gave birth to a son.

 This made the English people, who were Protestants, scared of the idea of
having a line of Catholic kings for years after.

31
William & Mary
 James had an older daughter called Mary who was a Protestant.
 She the wife of William Orange, the prince of Netherlands (in Section 1).
 7 members of the Parliament contacted William and Mary and convinced
them to overthrow James.
 So William and Mary agreed to overthrow James for the sake of
Protestantism.
 When William led an army into London, James fled to France.
 This bloodless overthrow of King James II is called the Glorious
Revolution.
William and Mary rule

 Once they started ruling, William and Mary vowed, or promised, to

recognize Parliament as an important power in governing.
 They were smart, and didn’t oppose the Parliament like those before them
had done.
 England had become a constitutional monarchy, where laws limited the
ruler’s power.
Bill of Rights

 To make the limits of royal power clear, Parliament made a Bill of Rights.
 According to the Bill of Rights, a ruler could NOT:

1. suspend the Parliament’s laws

2. put taxes without a specific grant from Parliament
3. interfere with freedom of speech in Parliament
4. punish a citizen who petitions the king about grievances

 William and Mary agreed to these, as well as other limits on their royal
power.
Cabinet system
 No British monarch could rule without the consent, or agreement, of
Parliament.
 At the same time, Parliament could not rule without the consent of the
monarch.

 Sometimes, the Parliament and the monarch disagreed.

 So the cabinet solved the problem.
 The cabinet was a group of ministers who linked between the monarch
and the Parliament.

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Cabinet power

 The cabinet is supposed to represent the monarch, but really it was the
majority party in the Parliament.
 Over time, the cabinet became the center of power.
 This system of English government continued till today.
 The prime minister is the leader of the cabinet
 Modern prime ministers of the UK include Gordon Brown, Boris Johnson,
and Tony Blair.

 William and Mary started the history of England until today. The Bill of
Rights is the backbone of the English government now, and England is
still a constitutional monarchy.

33