Absolutism in the East--17th Century

Three Empires in Decline  1. Holy Roman Empire  After TYW is politically divided.  Emperor has no army, revenues or power  Will be replaced by Austria and Prussia  2. Republic of Poland  Elected King limited by powerful nobles  Any action by king required unanimous approval in the Sejm  Vulnerable to outside powers  3. Ottoman Empire  Almost sacked Vienna in 1683, but didn’t. The beginning of the end.  1. Holy Roman Empire  After TYW is politically divided.  Emperor has no army, revenues or power  Will be replaced by Austria and Prussia  2. Republic of Poland  Elected King limited by powerful nobles  Any action by king required unanimous approval in the Sejm  Vulnerable to outside powers  3. Ottoman Empire  Almost sacked Vienna in 1683, but didn’t. The beginning of the end.

Habsburg--Austrian Empire  1. Emerged after TYR  2. Centered in Vienna, expanded in the 17th century  3. Never highly centralized  4. Diverse group of ethnic groups

Brandenburg--Prussia  1. Centered around Berlin.  2. Hohenzollern family were hereditary leaders.  2. Frederick William the Great Elector ( )-- consolidated power of separated states. (see map)  3. Large standing army.  4. Junkers traded the authority of their Estates General for more control over serfs.  5. His son became King Frederick the I and further strengthened the nation.

Russia and Peter the Great ( )  1. Russia was ruled by the Romanovs since  2. Centralized power  3. Table of Ranks--new, loyal nobles  4. Dominated the Boyars  5. Created large army and navy  5. Western reforms-- government and public etiquette.  6. Women’s rights

 7. Defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War ( )--access to the Baltic  8. Westernized and modernized Russia on the backs of slave-like serfs.

Rise of Serfdom 1.Between 1500 and 1650 Serfdom actually increased in Eastern Europe as it declined in the West. 2. Recall Frederick William’s deal with the Junkers (1653)? Poles had it in 1574, Russians in 1649.

Enlightened or Not? Catherine The Great, Frederick II, and Joseph II  Enlightenment Ideals:  1. Equality under law  2. Freedom Religion  3. Freedom of Speech/Press  4. Freedom to assemble  5. Right to pursue happiness  6. Support of education, etc  Enlightened or Not:  Enlightenment Ideals:  1. Equality under law  2. Freedom Religion  3. Freedom of Speech/Press  4. Freedom to assemble  5. Right to pursue happiness  6. Support of education, etc  Enlightened or Not:  Directions: Collect evidence, both from the documents and the textbook, that shows enlightened leadership or lack thereof.  Write a thesis statement for each of the leaders that answers the question. Then turn this into your outline/essay for this unit.  “To what degree did eighteenth-century Prussia, Austria, and Russia exhibit the characteristics of enlightened absolutism?”

 Prussia-- Frederick William I (1713) continued to consolidate power through his civil bureaucracy the General Directory.  He won over the Junkers by putting them in control of the officer corps.  Though only the 13 th largest European nation in terms of population, it the 4 th largest army  Middle class was won over with civil service posts

Leads us to Frederick II (the Great)  “First servant of the state”  How enlightened was he?  Non-nobles?  Military use?  7 years’ war?  First partition of Poland?

 1. Friend of Voltaire  2. Single code of law  3. No torture except for treason and murder.  4. Limited freedom of speech  5. Religious toleration  6. Commoners couldn’t join civil service  7. Loved war.

Austria?  Maria Theresa ( ). Rose to power after the Pragmatic Sanction of  Lost Silesia to Prussia but consolidated power everywhere else.  She was Catholic and conservative.  Joseph II ( ) was quite different

Joseph II Enlightened?  “I have made philosophy the lawmaker of my empire; her logical applications are going to transform Austria.”

 1. Abolished serfdom  2. Land to the peasants  3. Equality before the law  4. Religious toleration  5. Never accepted by the nobility.

Catherine II The Great ( ) of Russia  1. Explored enlightenment ideas, but was she really enlightened?  Strengthened landholding nobles allowed more self- rule, and greater rights (Charter of Nobility 1785)

 Inspired Emelyan Pugachev’s revolt (  Expanded Russia’s territory western into Poland and southward to the Black sea

Partitions of Poland  1. First Partition 1772  2. Second Partition 1793  3. Third Partition

What powers limited the enlightened monarchs?