1. Absolutism in Prussia, Austria, and Russia

2. The German States
The Peace of Westphalia (1648) left each of the states in the Holy Roman Empire virtually autonomous and sovereign
More than 300 little German states
Two emerged as great European powers in the 17th and 18th centuries Prussia and Austria

3. Rise of Brandenburg-Prussia
Hohenzollern dynasty
Foundation of the Prussian state laid by Frederick William the Great Elector ( )
Built a competent and efficient standing army
Many of his officials were Junkers- members of the aristocracy in Prussia-served as officers in the army
Started with ruling principality in northeaster Germany in In 1609, the Hohenzollerns inherited land in the Rhine valley in western Germany, 9 years later received the duchy of Prussia. By the 17th c, the house of Hohenzollerns, now called Brandenburg-Prussia – 3 disconnected masses in western, central, and eastern Germany – Hohenzollern connected them
Frederick William  realized that Brandenburg-Prussia was a small, open territory with no natural frontiers for defense- need to build up army
By 1678, he possessed a force of 40,000 men that absorbed more than 50 percent of the state’s revenues
To sustain the army and his power, Frederick established the General War Commissariat to levy taxes for the army and oversee its growth and training  evolved into an agency for civil government as well

4. “Great Elector” established Prussia as a great power
Most Significant: oversaw Prussian militarism and created the most efficient army in Europe
Employed military power and taxation to unify his holdings- Prussia and Brandenburg into a strong state
Increased military spending through heavy taxes (more than Louis XIV)
Prussian nobility not exempted
Soldiers were the tax collectors

5. Junkers formed the backbone of the Prussian military officer corps
The nobles’ support for Frederick William came from a “deal”
In return for a free hand in running the government, he gave nobles almost unlimited power over their peasants, exempted nobles from taxation, and awarded them the highest ranks in the military with understanding they would not question his control
Nobles could bind peasants to the land as serfs

6. Building the Economy Frederick William followed mercantilist policies
Constructed roads and canals and used high tariffs
Subsidies and monopolies for manufacturers to stimulate domestic industry
BUT favored the interest of the nobles at the expense of the commercial and industrial middle classes
Efforts of overseas trade failed due to lack of ports and naval experience

7. Frederick I (Frederick III) (1688-1713)
Most popular of the Hohenzollern kings
Sought to imitate the court of Louis XIV
Encouraged higher education
Fought in two wars against Louis XIV to preserve balance of power
War of League of Augsburg ( )
War of Spanish Succession ( )
Son of Frederick William the Great Elector
In return for aiding the Holy Roman Emperor, he was granted the title of king-in-Prussia. Became King Frederick I

8. Frederick William I (1713-1740)
Important regarding development of absolutism
Infused militarism into all of Prussian society
“Sparta of the North”
Developed an efficient bureaucracy
Removed the last of local self-government
Demanded absolute obedience and discipline from civil servants
Some commoners able to rise, merit based promotion
Junkers remained high in army in return for supporting king
Established approx. 1,000 schools for peasant children
Calvinist like Father, and grandfather
Society became rigid and highly disciplined
Unquestioning obedience was the highest virtue
Most militaristic society of modern times
Nearly doubled the size of the army
80% of government revenue went to military
Avoid war through deterrence

9. Austria
Habsburgs
Traditionally the HREmperor
After the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Habsburg rule was consolidated in Austria
Austria a multinational empire – prevented it from being a highly centralized, absolutist state
Austria Proper: Germans, Italians
Bohemia: Czechs
Hungary: Magyars, Serbs, Croats, Romanians
Each territory had its own laws, Estates-General, and political life
The aristocrats throughout the empire connected with common bond of service to the house of Habsburg
The nucleus of the new Austrian Empire remained the traditional Austrian hereditary possessions: Lower and Upper Austria, Carinthia, Carniola, Styria, and Tyrol – also added the kingdom of Bohemia and parts of northwestern Hungary in the 16th century

10. Leopold I ( )
Ottomans laid siege to Vienna in 1683 army led by the Austrians defeated the Ottomans in 1687
Treaty of Karlowitz, 1699, Austria took control of Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia, and Slovenia established more of a presence in southeastern Europe
After the War of Spanish Succession, Austria gained the Spanish Netherlands and received formal recognition of occupation of Spanish possessions in Italy Milan, Mantua, Sardinia, and Naples
Strong supporter of the Catholic Counter Reformation severely restricted Protestant worship
He married Margarita Teresa  daughter of King Philip IV of Spain – both his niece and his first cousin –the princess in Las Meninas – she died young
Married twice more
b/c of inbreeding suffered the Habsburg jaw – nickname was the “hogmouth”

11. Charles VI (1711-1740) Issued the Pragmatic Sanction in 1713
Habsburg possessions were never to be divided and would be passed to a single heir
His daughter, Maria Theresa, inherited the empire
Will lead to the war of Austrian Succession
Ruled after brother Joseph

12. Russia
Ivan IV the Terrible ( )- first ruler to take title of tsar
Expanded the territories of Russia
Began process of westernizing – encouraged trade
Married a Romanov
Years of unsuccessful wars with Poland-Lithuania
Nobles had to serve the tsar in order to keep land
Serfdom increased
Time of Troubles followed his death
Time of aristocratic troubles and period of anarchy
The national assembly will end this by choosing Michael Romanov as the new tsar
Historical Background of Russia 13th c – Mongols from Asia ruled the eastern Slavs for over 2 centuries – left legacy of ruthless leadership which will continue in Russia
Eventually, princes of Moscow, who served the Mongol khan, began to consolidate their rile and replaced Mongol power  Muscovy began to emerge as the most significant principality that formed what would become Russia
Ivan III (The Great)
1480- ended Mongol domination of Muscovy
Established himself as hereditary ruler – make Moscow new center of Orthodox Church after the Byzantine Empire fell
Claimed divine right
Struggled with the Russian nobles (boyars) and eventually their political influence decreased but they began exerting more control of peasants
Ivan Terrible executed a lot of nobles because he blamed them for his wife’s death – he became increasingly cruel and demented
He had 8 wives
Michael Romanov- Ivan’s grand-nephew ( )

13. In the 17th century, society was very stratified
At top, the tsar
Russian society dominated by the aristocrats, who controlled their peasants
Townspeople also controlled merchants could not move without government permission or sell business to anyone outside of their class
In the 17th century, multiple peasant and merchant revolts and schism in the Russian Orthodox Church
Russia remained outside of the framework of the West: the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the geographic discoveries of the 16th and 17th centuries made little impact on Russia
Peter the Great wanted to change that
An abundance of land and a shortage of peasants made serfdom desirable to the landowners

14. Peter the Great ( )
His sister, Sophia, ruled as a regent for him while he was young
She tried to have him killed and Peter had her banished to a convent
Made a trip to the West to learn and he wanted to westernize and modernize Russia
Revolt of the Streltsy put down by Peter in 1698
Security of his reign confirmed
Unusual character
He was a strong man, almost 7ft tall-said he could bend a horse shoe with his bear hands
Very coarse and rude
He enjoyed a low king of humor- belching contests, crude jokes, and comical funerals- also vicious punishments including floggings, impaling, roasting, and beard burnings
While on his first visit to the West, Peter received word that the Streltsy – an elite military unit stationed in Moscow- had revolted against his authority
Peter hurried home and crushed the revolt in savage fashion.

15. Peter the Great Military was Peter’s greatest concern
Reorganization of the army and creation of a navy
Conscripted peasants for 25 years of service to build a standing army of 210,000 men
Each Russian village required to send recruits
75 % of the national budget spent on the military by the end of Peter’s reign

16. Government Reform
To impose the rule of the central government more effectively he divided Russia into 8 provinces and later, in 1719, 50
Peter hoped for a sense of civic duty, but his own forceful personality created an atmosphere of fear and prevented it
Demanded that all members of the landholding class serve in the military or civil office
In 1722 created the Table of Ranks  created opportunity for non-nobles to serve the state and rise in rank
He hoped to create a “police state” which he meant a well-ordered community governed in accordance with law, few of his bureaucrats shared his concept of honest service and duty to the stat
Peter hoped for a sense of civic duty, but his own forceful personality created an atmosphere of fear and prevented it
Table of Ranks- had all civil offices ranked according to 14 levels and created a parallel list of 14 grades for all military offices. Every official was then required to begin at level one and work his way up the ranks – when a non noble reached the 8th rank, he acquired noble status
Peter’s successors did not continue his attempt to create a new nobility based on merit

17. Peter adopted Western mercantilist policies to stimulate economic growth
Tried to increase exports and develop new industries while exploiting domestic resources like the iron mines in the Urals
Military needs were endless and had to rely on raising taxes, imposing additional burdens on the peasants

18. Women benefited from Peter’s reforms
Peter also sought to establish state control over the Russian Orthodox Church
Created a body called the Holy Synod to make decisions for the church – at its head was a procurator, a layman who represented the interests of the tsar
After returning from the West, Peter began to introduce Western ideas to Russia
He ordered Russian beards had to be shaved and coats shortened – Peter personally enforced this at court by shaving off nobles’ beards
Women benefited from Peter’s reforms
Social gatherings held three times a week in the large homes of Saint Petersburg where men and women could mix for conversation
He ordered the preparation of the first Russian book of etiquette to teach Western manners. Among other things, it pointed out that it was not polite to spit on the floor or to scratch oneself at dinner
Saw women mixing freely with men in Western courts, Peter shattered the seclusion of upper-class Russian women and demanded that they remove the traditional veils that covered their faces
The tsar also insisted that women could marry on their own free will

19. Peter’s primary goal was to open a window to the West – easily accessible port to Europe
To get a Baltic port, he attacked Sweden in 1700 – believed the young king of Sweden, Charles XII, could easily be defeated
Great Northern War ( )
Peace of Nystadt- gave Peter Estonia, Livonia, and Karelia – on the Baltic coast
Would use this land to build Saint Petersburg –symbol that Russia was looking westward

20. St. Petersburg One of Peter’s crowning achievements
Wanted to create a city similar to Amsterdam and modeled the Winter Palace after the grandeur of Versailles
By his death, the city was the largest in northern Europe- 75,000
Became the capital of Russia
Peter ordered noble families to move there
Peasants conscripted for heavy labor in the city’s construction – high death toll

21. Legacy Peter’s reforms modernized Russia
Created a great military power
Policies also detrimental to Russia
Westernization kind of a sham because only reached the upper classes
The creation of a strong military only added more burden to the masses of Russian people
The forceful way in which Peter the Great imposed Westernization led his people to distrust Europe and Western civilization rather than embrace it