ap euro 2.1-2.2

absolutism

*DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS - problems of political disintegration contributed to the rise of absolutism (wars of religion in france, english revolution in england, and the 30 years war) - belief that certain kings ruled because they were chosen by god to do so and that these kings were accountable to no person except god *ABSOLUTISM IN WESTERN EUROPE - administrative monarchy - absolute kings created new state bureaucracies and standing armies, regulated all the institutions of government, and secured the cooperation of the nobility *ABSOLUTISM IN CENTRAL/EASTERN EUROPE - serfdom: nobles in central/eastern europe had more power and autonomy than they had in the west, monarchs managed to reduce the power of the nobility and in exchange they gave the nobles more power over the peasantry - russian, polish, and prussian nobles made a fortune shipping grain to western europe, where food prices had risen due to populaiton growth - feudalism became more prevalent in the east as lords seized peasant land for their own estates and then demanded unpaid serf labor on those estates *MAJOR DIFFERENCES - western europe (especially in france) controlled the nobility and had a stronger middle class and little to no serfdom - eastern europe had a powerful nobility and a small weak middle class with a lot of serfdom among peasantry

reforms of frederick the great

*ENLIGHTENED ACCOMPLISHMENTS - attentive reader of philosophes and corresponded with voltaire - wrote pamphlet denouncing immorality of machiavelli's "the prince" - composed music - abolished torture and corporal punishment - after 7 years' war, gave peasants tools, stock, and seed to repair ruinedfarms - encouraged agricultural improvements: drained swamps, began crop rotation, and introduced iron plow, and imported new crops (clover, potato, tobacco) - religious toleration: invited expelled jesuits to predominately lutheran prussia, gave catholic minority virtually full equality, boasted that he would build a mosque in berlin in muslims wanted to settle in prussia - judicial reforms: freed courts from political pressures, ordered a reduction in use of torture, and set up a system of appellate courts *UNENLIGHTENED WAYS - hostile to doctrine of laissez-faire - levied taxes on Jews and tried to exclude them from the professions and civil service - did not loosen the bonds of serfdom (although he did abolish it on royal grounds) - urged education to peasants, but only to become literate enough for his own needs - after 7 years' war, he forced all bourgeois officers to resign their commissions - business and professional men were exempt from military service but subject to heavy taxation - used warfare as an instrument of diplomacy - the army remained the main source of power in prussia - made no real effort to curb the power of the junkers, who maintained special privilege and control over their serfs

reforms of catherine the great

*ENLIGHTENED ACCOMPLISHMENTS - corresponded with voltaire and invited diderot to russia - codified laws - restricted use of torture - patron of the arts - reduced censorship - certain degree of religious toleration for non-orthodox christians - attempted to reform education by establishing primary and secondary schools throughout russia - ended serfdom on crown lands *UNENLIGHTENED WAYS - further entrenched serfdom after rebellion - unfair taxation system - increased autocracy

reforms of joseph II

*ENLIGHTENED ACCOMPLISHMENTS - expanded religous toleration: granted full toleration to lutherans, orthodox christians, and calvinists, and also improved the lives of jews (freed from vienna's ghetto, exempted from discriminatory taxes, lifted the requirement of wearing a yellow badge as a sign of inferiority), weakened the authority of the catholic church, and closed most of the monasteries - freed the serfs: abolished obligations to manorial lords, deprived nobles of their traditional right to administer justice to peasantry - believed in popular education and social equality: provided teachers and textbooks for primary schools, and more than 25% of school age children attended school - freedom of press *UNENLIGHTENED WAYS - mercantilism: high protective tariffs, government closely supervised economic activity - absolutist in terms of government appointments - because of opposition from both the nobles and the peasants, joseph's reforms were shortlived

reforms of maria theresa

*ENLIGHTENED ACCOMPLISHMENTS - nobles paid heavier taxes - weakened the influence of the catholic church: subjected church to higher taxes, nationalized monastic property, and expelled jesuits *UNENLIGHTENED WAYS - banned works of voltaire and rousseau - banned the papal index: did not want forbidden books to arouse curiosity in her subjects

hobbes vs locke

*HOBBES - english statesman and political philosopher - witnessed the rule of charles i, the english civil war, and the commonwealth under cromwell - hobbes ideas laid the foundation of the enlightenment - believed that human nature was greedy and selfish because humans could do whatever they wanted (absence of central authority) - social contract: agreement between a ruler and the people whereby the people agree to surrender their absolute freedom to do whatever they want in exchange for the preservation of order (government justified on grounds of social contract rather than divine right) - angered royals because he believed social authority comes from people and ranked anti-royalists because he advocated absolute authority *LOCKE - english medical doctor who believed in empiricism and natural law - influenced by hobbes and his social contract theory - insisted that all ideas are derived from experience and that the human mind at birth is like a blank tablet (tabula rasa) - believed that men are born with 3 natural (inalienable) rights: life, liberty, and property - believed that a limited government (king and parliament) is the best way to preserve man's basic rights - advocated that if social contract is violated, people have a right and duty to rebel

peter the great

*MILITARY - adopted western european patterns of political organization and modeled his national army after that of brandenburg-prussia - military reforms resulted in the defeat of sweden in the great northern war, giving russia a port on the baltic - established russia's navy *ECONOMY - sent russian workers to western europe to gain technical and organizational skills - invited foreign craftsmen to live and work in russia - instituted mercantilism, encouraging exports, developming mining, metallurgy, and textiles, provided select businesses with government money, built canals, and created state-regulated monopolies *ARCHITECTURE - built new capital on the baltic sea: st petersburg - western architecture: palaces, canals, columned buildings, domes, broad straight avenues, parks, streetlights *ABSOLUTISM - reduced the influence of the boyers - created the table of ranks - created new administrative agencies loyal to peter the great - appointed nobles and non-nobles alike to head his government agencies - destroyed the streltsy (who had come to interfere in politics) - subjugated the church of the power of the state and confiscated much of its wealth - created new taxes to build revenue: head tax, poll tax, beard tax, marriage tax, butcher tax, mill tax, hat tax, coffin tax, etc - serfs were arbitrarily assigned to work in the factories and mines - used violence, terror, and repression to quell dissent

frederick william i

- "the soldiers' king" - large military state, best army in europe - for all his involvenment in military life, he avoided committing his army to battle and was able to pass it on intact to his son - consolidation of prussian absolutism - junker class became the military elite and prussia a militarist state

louis XIV

- "the sun king" - gifted administrator and politician who used his power for state-building - "l'etat, c'est moi" - france became the undisputed power in europe during his reign - france had largest population in europe, which represented 20% of europe's total population - versailles - used paintings to convey grandeu: controlled all artistic expression via royal academies and everything was regulated for the purpose of exalting the king - edict of fountainbleau: revoked the edict of nantes, thus ending religious toleration for huguenots, repressed jansenism (kind of calvinism within the catholic church) - kept france at war for 33 of the 54 years of his personal rule: french army was employed by the state - system of balance of power developed to keep france in check by the rest of europe - first dutch war: france gained 12 fortified towns along the french-belgian border - second dutch war: invasion of the dutch rhineland, represented the furthest extent of louis xiv's expansion - war of spanish succession: the will of charles ii (spanish hapsburg king) gave all spanish territories to louis xiv, causing other countries to fear france would dominate - costs of louis xiv's wars: destroyed france's economy, 20% of french subjects died, huge debt placed on the third estate, french government was bankrupt, and financial and social tension sowed the seeds of the french revolution later in the century

dutch golden age

- a period, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which dutch trade, science, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world - netherlands were the wealthiest and most civilized country in europe - confederation: weak union of strong provinces - amsterdam became the banking and commercial center in europe - fishing industry was the cornerstone of the dutch economy: stimulating shipbuilding, a huge merchant marine, and other industries *PAINTING - characteristics: did not fir the baroque style of trying to overwhelm the viewer, reflected the dutch republic's wealth and religious toleration of secular subjects, depicted scenes from everyday life in both urban and rural settings (showing the distinctive nature of dutch culture), many works were commissioned by merchants or government organizations, vermeer paintings of ordinary people in simple scenes - rembrandt: scenes covered an enormous range throughout his career, used extremes of light in the baroque style, works were far more intimate and psychological than typical baroque works, painted with the restraint of the classicist style *COMMERCE - the growth of dutch commerce is shown in the establishment of the dutch east india company - dutch became the most powerful maritime people in the world, owning 1200 merchant ships in europe, manned by 70k sailors - jews driven from spain and portugal took refuge in holland and added to the prosperity of her trade - reclamation of land from the sea to expand agriculture - dutch private bankers financed not only foreign trade but also foreign governments such as austria and russia - in amsterdam, they built large canals and this expanded the area of the city 4x: boats could dock outside large warehouses and unload/load goods - united provinces financed their revolt against spain by developing amsterdam as a market for a whole range of new securities - amsterdam exchange bank pioneered the system of checks or direct debits or transfers - the dutch had very low freight rates because they designed a special new kind of ship, the fluyt, which was a huge tub-like vessel that had a large hull so that it could contain a lot of freight

voltaire

- advocated for religious toleration - critic of the catholic church - advocated freedom of speech and press

montesquieu

- advocated separation of powers as the best way to prevent tyrannical government - called for the end of the remnants of feudalism - believed constitutional monarchy was the best form of government - believed government should be guided by virtue (moral excellence)

siege of vienna of 1683

- attack on vienna by the ottomans - resisted by leopold i

william and mary

- became king and queen of england after james ii was expelled from the throne - end of catholic reign as they were protestant

deism

- belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that a supreme being created the universe

sir robert walpole

- british statesman who is generally regarding as having been the first prime minister of great britain due to his influence within the cabinet

james II

- catholic king of england following charles ii - granted religious toleration and appointed roman catholics to positions in the army and government (violated the test act) - eventually expelled from the throne due to fear of a catholic monarchy

bullionism

- countries sought to build up large reserves of golf and silver and prevent the flow of these precious metals out of their country

jean-jacques rousseau

- developed the idea of the noble savage (men were born good in the state of nature but eventually corrupted by society) - advocated for popular sovereignty and the general will

laissez-faire

- doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights - adam smith: believed the economy is governed by the natural laws of supply and demand (invisible hand), advocated free competition and free trade, believed that pursuit of self-interest would lead to prosperity and progress, saw government's role as protecting people and building/maintaining infrastructure, and believed that division of labor increases productivity

hanseatic league

- economic and defensive alliance of the free towns in northern germany - powerful economic alliance - declined due to emergence of modern states (such as denmark, netherlands, england, and sweden), loss of exclusive "trade stations," and growing political authority of the german princes

mercantilism

- emphasized the goals of national economic self-sufficiency, a favorable balance of trade, vitality of key industries, and, behind all, the promotion of the power of the state - state intervention in the economy was desirable for the sake of the national good - support of tariffs as a way to keep out foreign goods

enlightened monarchs

- enlightened despots sought to justify themselves in the light of enlightenment ideas such as secularism - rationale: the autocratic monarch alone could cut his way through feudal abuses and antique customary complications and, untouched by popular prejudices, impose and complete reform based on pure reason - reform, religious toleration, dissolution of serfdom, etc - includes maria theresa (austria), joseph ii (austria), frederick the great (russia), catherine the great (russia)

philosophe

- enlightenment thinkers that questioned concepts such as the divine right of kings and the spiritual authority of priests *FRENCH PHILOSOPHES - denis diderot, voltaire, montesquieu, rousseau - most believed that people needed to be ruled by enlightened monarchs - spread enlightenment ideas throughout europe - diderot: encyclopedia - voltaire: advocated for religious toleration, critic of the catholic church, advocated freedom of speech and press - montesquieu: advocated separation of powers as the best way to prevent tyrannical government, called for the end of the remnants of feudalism, believed constitutional monarchy was the best form of government, believed government should be guided by virtue (moral excellence) - rousseau: developed the idea of the noble savage (men were born good in the state of nature but eventually corrupted by society), advocated for popular sovereignty and the general will *KANT - separated science and morality into separate branches of knowledge - science could describe natural phenomena of material world but could not provide a guide for morality - concept of the categorial imperative: a person should act in such a way that it is "possible for one to will that the maxim of one's action should become a universal law *IMPACT - enlightened despotism: selective application of enlightened ideals - american revolution, french revolution - national independence movements in latin america - liberalism - educational reform - laissez faire capitalism

english bill of rights

- established the principal that law was made in parliament, that parliament had to meet at least every three years, that elections were to be free of crown interference, and the judiciary was to be independent of the crown - made england a limited constitutional monarchy - no law could be suspended by a monarch - no taxation without parliamentary consent - no army maintained without parliamentary consent - no subject could be detained without legal process - freedom of speech for parliament - based on john locke's philosophy that the people invented government to protect life, liberty, and property and his idea of universal/natural rights

great elector

- frederick william - took over in the aftermath of the thirty years war - war weakened the representative assemblies of the realm (controlled by the junkers (prussian nobility)) and allowed the hohenzollerns to consolidate their absolutist rule - used military force and taxation to unify his rhine holdings, prussia, and brandenburg into a strong state

rise of the hohenzollens

- frederick william: took over in the aftermath of the thirty years war, allowing for the consolidation of his absolutist rule, and used military force and taxation to unify his rhine holdings, prussia, and brandenburg into a strong state - frederick i: allied with habsburgs in war of league of augsburg and war of spanish succession to preserve the balance of power in europe and curb french influence - frederick william i: raised a largely military state, grew army from 38k to 83k

decline of spain

- gold began to run out - structural rigidity, corrupt bureaucracy, and repressive policies - inflation wrecked spain's economy: hurt domestic industries that were unable to export goods - piracy: may have lost as much as 20% of new world loot - loss of middle class: moors and jews had been expelled in large numbers and spain's population declined by over 25% - charles i borrowed money from the fugger family - spanish government spent more money in the nehterlands than it did in spain between 1580 and 1626 - new world money not used to finance spanish trade, industry, or public works: was instead poured away on military campaigns that were in the end unsuccessful, though they brought spain to the dominant military position in western europe for a century - defeat of the armada

versailles

- grandest and most impressive palace in europe - essentially a pleasure prison for the french nobility - cost of maintaining the palace was 60% of all royal revenues

decline of the dutch

- impacted negatively by england's navigation laws that sought to reduce dutch trade in the atlantic - anglo-dutch wars in the mid-17th century hurt dutch shipping and commerce and gave britain the advantage in the atlantic - wars of louis xiv further weakened the netherlands - japanese shogunate enacted a number of measures to limit the export of precious metals, severing japan and their trade from the dutch east india company - loss of an outpost and internal turmoil in china brought an end to the silk trade - loss of indian spice trade due to pressure from the french and english - after war of spanish succession, there was a decline in power of the dutch: larger countries developed their own shipping and ports, and the dutch turned from trade to finance - dutch lost most of their trading advantages, much of their empire, and eventually their freedom and republican form of government when they were conquered by france during the french revolution

price revolution

- inflation: the price of goods rose approximately six-fold during this time period due to importation of new world metals and population growth - many merchants took out loans knowing that it would be easier to pay-off in light of the inflationary economic climate - wages lagged behind prices, leading to capital accumulation which helped the economy - price revolution led to an increase in trade and manufacture that encouraged the growth of early capitalism - however, inflation also contributed to economic instability in places like spain and the italian states

joint-stock companies

- investors pooled resources for common purpose - forerunners of modern corporations - often associated with foreign trade, exploration, and colonization that came into existence with the formation of the competing european nation states

charles i

- king of england (son of james i) - absolutist - ruled without parliament - pro-catholic

charles II

- king of england, son of charles i - rose to throne following cromwell's death - appointed a coincil of five men (the cabal) to serve as both his major advisers and as members of parliament - cabal was the forerunner of the cabinet system, and it helped create good relations with the parliament - pro-french policies led to a catholic scare

james I

- king of great britain following elizabeth's death (1603) - absolutist and believer of divine right - squandered a lot of money on his friends - bitter squabbles erupted between king and the commons: the commons wanted political power equal to its economic strength

oliver cromwell

- leader of the "new model army" that defeated the royalists - came from gentry class that dominated the house of commons - puritan - led a military dictatorship following the defeat of the royalists - allowed religious toleration for all (except catholics) and savagely crused the revolt in ireland - enforced protestantism on ireland and english aristocrats took control of a lot of irish land - conquered scotland - censored press and closed theaters and made dancing and drinking illegal - regulated the economy according to mercantilist principles

constitutionalism

- limitation of the state by law: the state must be governed according to law, not royal decree - refers to a balance between the power of the government and the rights of the subjects - a constitution may be written or unwritten, but the government must respect it - constitutional governments may be either republics or monarchies

table of ranks

- list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of imperial russia - determined a person's position and status according to service to the tsar rather than according to birth or seniority

english civil war

- members of parliament believed that taxation without consent was despotism, hence they attempted to limit royal power - revolt in scotland over the religious issue (charles tried to impose anglican religion on scotland) forced him to call a new parliament into session to finance an army - commons passed an act compelling the king to summon parliament every 3 years and also impeached archbiship laud and abolished the house of lords - charles initiated military action against parliament: the civil war revolved around the issue of whether sovereignty should reside in the king or in parliament (problem not resolved, but charles was executed and the monarchy was abolished) - resulted in the emergence of new sects such as the levellers (radicals who sought social and politcal reform and advocated for popular soveriengty, universal male suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance)

jean-baptiste colbert

- minister of finance under louis xiv - one of the foremost practitioners of mercantilism - encouraged the growth of industry through subsidies and tariff protection, regulated the qualities and prices of manufactures and agricultural products, tried to break down trade barriers within france, and initiated a vigorous road-building program - also secretary of naval affairs and constructed shipyards, arsenals, harbors, and began the construction of a large navy as a first step in the development of commerce and colonization - contributed significantly to the splendor of louis xiv's reign by patronizing the arts and sciences - founded the academy of sciences and the paris observatory and promoted the french academy

peace of westphalia

- participants: france, spain, netherlands, sweden, holy roman empire, portugal, papal states, switzerland, venics - viewed as the progenitor of modern nation-state sovereignty - recognized a system of independent states *UNDER THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA... - france emerged as the dominant power in europe: french replaced latin as the dominant language, france gained alsace and lorraine - sweden gained territory in the holy roman empire - united provinces and swiss confederation recognized as independent states - german princes given almost complete independence, permitting the rise of brandenburg-prussia and the growth of absolutism in germany *WEAKENED PAPAL AUTHORITY - temporal powers of the church were curtailed to the point that they no longer challenged any state's sovereignty - condemned by the pope *RESULTS - reorientation toward the east, marking the beginning of the austro-hungarian empire 0 transition from feudal principalities to sovereign states, westphalian system viewed as the foundation for understanding modern international relations - current notions of state sovereignty were laid down, codified the basic principles of territorial integrity, border inviolability, and supremacy of the state rather than the church - gave recognition to secular kingship as the legitimate and dominant form of government - europe consolidated its long transition from the middle ages to a world of sovereign states

denis diderot

- philosopher who wrote the encyclopedia

whig party

- political party of mostly protestants who opposed catholic james i and his absolutism

junkers

- prussian nobels

levellers

- radicals who sought social and political reform - advocated popular sovereignty, universal male suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance

bishop bossuet

- reinforced medieval notions of kningship in his theory of the divine right of kings - argued that certain kings ruled because they were chosen by god to do so and that these kings were accountable to no person except god

english navigation acts

- required that imported goods be carried in english ships - resulted in increased trade and a boom for english shipbuilding

boyers

- russian nobles

gentry

- wealthy landowning class

the general will

- what is in the best interest of the most people