Chapter 17 Absolutism in Central and Eastern Europe to 1740

The Estonians were conquered by German military nobility in the Middle Ages and reduced to serfdom. The German-speaking nobles ruled the Estonian peasants with an iron hand, and Peter the Great reaffirmed their domination when Russia annexed Estonia Estonia in the 1660s Mansell Collection/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Billeting troops among civilian populations caused untold hardships. In this late seventeenth- century Dutch illustration, brawling soldiers take over a peasant’s home, eat his food, steal his possessions, and insult his family. Peasant retaliation sometimes proved swift and bloody. Soldiers Pillage a Farmhouse Rijksmuseum-Stichting Amsterdam

Pierre-Denis Martin: View of the Chateau de Versailles, 1722 Pierre-Denis Martin: Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles/ Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY

Project for the Palace at Schönbrunn (ca 1700) Austrian National Library, Vienna

Prince Eugene’s Summer Palace, Vienna Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

Austria expanded to the southwest into Hungary and Transylvania at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. It was unable to hold the rich German province of Silesia, however, which was conquered by Brandenburg-Prussia. The Growth of Austria and Brandenburg-Prussia to 1748

After the disintegration of the Kievan state and the Mongol conquest, the princes of Moscow and their descendants gradually extended their rule over an enormous territory.1 Compare this map with Map 17.4, which shows Ottoman expansion from What explains the fantastic success of both the Russians and the Ottomans in expanding their territories? Why was the sixteenth century such an important period for expansion?2 How do you explain the geographical direction that expansion followed in each case?3 What happened after the periods shown on these maps? Did the territorial development of the two states diverge from each other or follow the same trajectory? The Expansion of Russia to 1725

This compelling portrait by Grigory Musikiysky captures the strength and determination of the warrior-tsar after more than three decades of personal rule. In his hand Peter holds the scepter, symbol of royal sovereignty, and across his breastplate is draped an ermine fur, a mark of honor. In the background are the battleships of Russia’s new Baltic fleet and the famous St. Peter and St. Paul Fortress that Peter built in St. Petersburg. Peter the Great in 1723 Kremlin Museums, Moscow/The Bridgeman Art Library

Rastrelli’s remodeled Winter Palace, which housed the royal family until the Russian Revolution of 1917, stands on the left along the Neva River. The Navy Office with its famous golden spire and other government office buildings are nearby and across the river. Russia became a naval power and St. Petersburg a great port. St. Petersburg, ca 1760 Michael Holford

Sultan Suleiman I created separate quarters at the Topkapi Palace for his wife Hürrem and her ladies-in- waiting. His successors transferred all of their wives, concubines, and female family members to the harem at Topkapi, carefully situated out of sight of the staterooms and courtyards where public affairs took place. The harem was the object of intense curiosity and fascination in the West. The Sultan’s Harem at Topkapi Palace, Istanbul Vanni/Art Resource, NY

The brutality of serfdom is shown in this illustration from Olearius’s Travels in Muscovy. University of Illinois Library, Champaign