AP Euro Chapter 15 Terms and Questions

Mercantilism

A collection of governmental policies for the regulation of economic activities by and for the state; derives from the idea that a nation's international power is based off its wealth, specifically its supply of gold and silver. To accumulate wealth, a country always had to sell more goods abroad than it bought. To decrease the purchase of goods outside of France, Jean-Baptiste Colbert insisted that the French industry should produce everything needed by the French people.

Absolutism

A form of government in which all power is vested in a single ruler or other authority. Absolutist monarchs gathered all power under their personal control. Absolutism was most prevalent in France, Spain, Central Europe, and Russia. Absolutism first appeared in France. After France was weakened by religious wars, Henry IV helped France to recover by issuing Edict of Nantes, lowering taxes, improving infrastructure, etc. During the reign of Louis XIV, the French monarchy reaches its peak in absolutist development.

Republicanism

A form of government in which there is no monarch and power rests in the hands of the people as exercised through elected representatives. The English experimented with republicanism before opting for a constitutional monarchy in 1688.

"Little Ice Age"

A period of colder and wetter climate during the 17th century. It meant a much shorter farming season with less crops. This in turn created food shortages that lead to famine and disease. Because of malnutrition, people started to get sick and die, making the population decrease. There were even outbreaks of the bubonic plague. The peasants also lived in poor conditions, resulting in industries suffering greatly. Because of food shortages, peasants began to invade bakeries and steal bread to sell it at a fair price; this was called moral economy.

Fronde

A series of violent uprisings during the early reign of Louis XIV triggered by growing royal control and increased taxation. A frondeur was originally a street urchin who threw mud at the passing carriages of the rich, but the word came to be applied to the many individuals and groups who opposed the policies of the government. During the first several riots, the queen mother fled Paris with Louis XIV. In 1651, Anne's regency ended with the declaration of Louis as king in his own right. Much of the rebellion died away, and its leaders came to terms with the government. The violence of the Fronde had significant results for the future. The twin evils of noble rebellion and popular riots left the French wishing for peace and for a strong monarch to reimpose order.

"The Great Chain of Being"

A social order that linked God to his creation in a series of ranked social groups. At the top, the monarch was chosen by God to embody the state. In Catholic countries, the clergy occupied the second level. Next came nobles, whose privileged status came from their family ties. Many merchants shared a spot with the nobles through service to the monarchs of the 15th and 16th centuries. The peasants and artisans, who were lower on the social scale, were expected to defer to their betters with humble obedience. This new social hierarchy differed from the past in that after the religious wars, the clergy was not above the monarch.

Romanovs

After the Russian nobles crushed the Cossack rebellion, they brought Ivan's 16 year old grand nephew, Michael Romanov to the throne. Although the new tsar successfully re-consolidated central authority, he and his successors did not improve the lot of the common people. Despite the turbulence of the period, the Romanov tsars, like their Western counterparts, made several important achievements during the second half of the 17th century, After a long war, Russia gained land in Ukraine from Poland in 1667 and completed the conquest of Siberia by the end of the century, Territorial expansion was accompanied by growth of the bureaucracy and the army. The tsars employed foreign experts to reform the Russian army, and enlisted Cossack warriors to fight Siberian campaigns. The great profits from Siberia's natural resources, especially furs, funded the Romanov's bid for Great Power status. Russian imperialist expansion to the east paralleled the Western powers' exploration and conquest of the Atlantic world in the same period.

Cardinal Richelieu

Also known as Armand Jean du Plessis, Richelieu became first minister of the French crown. His political maneuvers allowed the monarchy to maintain power within Europe and within its own borders, despite the Thirty Years' War. Richelieu extended the use of intendants; commissioners for each of France's thirty-two districts who were appointed directly by the monarch. They recruited men for the army, supervised the collection of taxes, presided over the administration of local law, checked up on the local nobility, and regulated economic activities in their districts. As the intendants' power increased under Richelieu, so did the power of the centralized French state. Under Richelieu, the French monarchy also acted to repress Protestantism. Richelieu did not aim to wipe out Protestantism in the rest of Europe, however. In 1631, he signed a treaty with the Lutheran king Gustavus Adolphus promising French support against the Habsburgs in the Thirty Years' War.

How did countries centralize their power? What was a result of this centralization?

As a result of the religious wars in Europe in the sixteenth century and first half of the seventeenth century, the political order virtually collapsed. In the seventeenth century, European kings turned to absolutism to restore order to their chaotic and war-ravaged countries. To discourage rebellion, absolute monarchs claimed that they held power by divine right; therefore a revolt against the king was to resist divine will. Absolutist kings also claimed that they were above the law and as the highest judge in the land could not be held accountable for their actions. This meant that they acted for reasons of state, and the benefit of the entire kingdom, and therefore could not be expected to observe the rights and liberties of their subjects. In the seventeenth century, European monarchs took several steps to ensure their authority was held supreme within the state. First, they eliminated or weakened national representative assemblies. Second, they secured the support of smaller regional assemblies, which posed less of a direct challenge to centralized authority. Third, they subordinated the nobility to the king and made them dependent on his favor, while excluding him from positions of power. Fourth, the kings established centralized bureaucracies that collected taxes, recruited soldiers and operated the judiciary.

What were the social conditions of Eastern Europe? How did rulers of Austria and Prussia transform their nations into powerful absolutist monarchies?

As compared with the West, 17th century Eastern Euro had a strong nobility and a weak middle class: most were peasants. After the High Middle Ages and the Black Plague, the West sought to maintain peasant production via economic incentives as a result of the relative weakness of the nobility. In the East, however, the strong noble class was able to forcefully keep peasant production high and make up for population loss. This trend toward oppression resulted in a great divide between East and West: while the economic power of the middle and lower classes increased in the West, it sharply decreased in the East. So, while serfdom was virtually abolished in the West, it became deeply entrenched in the East as a result of the sharply contrasting political philosophies which arose prior to the 1700's. This base of serfdom meant that generally Eastern monarchs were weaker and had to make concessions to the nobles to obtain their cooperation, resulting in greater political power for the nobility and thus less power for the lower and middle classes. However, strong monarchs did begin to emerge in Eastern Europe, largely thanks to war and threat of war. The consistency of warfare in Eastern Europe allowed monarchs to secure power in three main areas. They were able to raise permanent taxes to defend the state, they maintained standing armies for the defense of the state, and they conducted foreign relations as they saw fit. These three powers that the monarch came to control helped lead to the rise of absolutism in Eastern Europe, as the monarch no longer had to rely on any representative bodies for funds and could crush any opposition with his royal army.

Cardinal Mazarin

Cardinal Mazarin became the first minister of France after Cardinal Richelieu's death in 1642. Along with the regent Queen Anne of Austria, Mazarin continued Richelieu's centralizing policies. His struggle to increase royal revenues to meet the costs of war led to the uprisings of 1648-1653 known as the Fronde. As rebellion spread outside of Paris, civil order broke down completely. In 1651, Anne's regency ended with the declaration of Louis XIV as king in his own right. Much of the rebellion died away, and its leaders came to terms with the government.

Charles I

Charles I's views were similar to his father's, and he also believed in divine right, counter to English traditions and considered such constraints intolerable and a threat to his divine right prerogative. Consequently, bitter squabbles erupted between the Crown and the House of Commons. Charles' response was to refuse to summon Parliament from 1629 onward. He antagonized religious sentiments by marrying a Catholic Princess, and supported the heavy-handed policies of the archbishop of Canterbury William Laud. He ruled from 129-1640 without Parliament, financing his government through extraordinary stopgap levies considered illegal by most English people. He revived a medieval law requiring coastal districts to help pay the cost of ships for defense, but he levied the tax, called "ship money" on inland as well as coastal counties. In 1641, the Commons passed the Triennial Act which compelled the king to summon Parliament every 3 years. The Commons impeached Archbishop Laud, and then threatened to abolish bishops. King Charles, fearful of a Scottish invasion reluctantly accepted these measures. In 1647, Charles was captured by Oliver Cromwell's forces and he was put on trial for high treason. He was found guilty and beheaded on January 30, 1649.

Charles II

Charles II was king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Although the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II King, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth, and the country was a republic, led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester. Cromwell became dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland. A political crisis that followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy, and Charles returned to Britain. He favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of his early reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and ruled alone until his death.

What is constitutionalism? How does it differ from a democratic form of government? How does it differ from Absolutism?

Constitutionalism is when the ruling power has limits of set laws creating a balance between the power of the government and the rights of the citizens. A constitution is a fundamental part of constitutionalism and gets its power from the government's recognition and also serves as the people's protector of their rights, liberties, and property. A constitutional government can either be in the form of a monarch or republic but the electorate has the ultimate power. It differs from a democracy because a true democracy grants all citizens the right to vote, where constitutionalism gave some men and no women a vote. Constitutionalism differs from absolutism because an absolutist state has one ruler who claims he has the divine right and controls everything within his state.

Cossacks

Cossacks were free groups of warriors which peasants joined. As landlords demanded more from the serfs who survived the persecutions, growing numbers of peasants fled to the wild, recently conquered territories to east and south to join the cossacks. Ivan responded to this by tying peasants ever more firmly to the land and to noble landholders. Simultaneously, he ordered that urban dwellers be bound to their towns and jobs so that he could tax them more heavily. When Russia entered the "Time of Troubles" cossacks and peasants rebelled against nobles and officials, demanding more fair treatment. The Cossacks rebellion, however, was crushed and brought Michael Romanov to the throne.

Briefly explain the order and aspects of peasant life in the seventeenth century socially, politically, and economically.

Early modern European society was a hierarchy. Most people identified closely with their social class. They knew where they stood in terms of social class and they lived accordingly, expecting and accepting inequalities as simply a part of life. At the top of the hierarchy stood the nobility. Nobles were titled, privileged, and usually wealthy and they owned much of Europe's land. Most nobles inherited their rank from generations of ancestors who had demonstrated their military prowess throughout the Middle Ages, impressing their monarchs and gaining their lands as a reward. The majority of Europeans, however, were not nobles; they were rural peasants, the people who worked the land. In fact, early modern Europe was very much a rural and agricultural society, for in the 16th century, about 90% of the population lived on farms or in small rural villages. By this time, most European peasants were free, rather than tied to the land on which they lived. But they still owed their local nobility taxes and labor. Some peasants rose to the rank of landowners, but most rented their homes and worked on land owned by others. Although rural life continued to dominate early modern Europe, urban life was on the rise. Cities grew fast and assumed an ever-increasing cultural and economic role. At the beginning of the 16th century, only Paris, Naples, Venice, and Istanbul had populations of over 100,000 people. By the end of the century, 12 cities had reached this level and they were joined by many smaller cities that were also busy and flourishing.

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland. One of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. Her time on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity. During her reign, she exercised very great personal power. Elizabeth was able to maintain control over her realm impart by refusing to marry and submit to a husband. She was immensely popular with her people, but left no immediate heir to continue her legacy, which ruled in James Sturt ascending to the throne.

James I

In 1603 Elizabeth's Scottish cousin James Stuart succeeded her as James I. King James was well educated and had thirty-five years' experience as king of Scotland. But he was not as interested in displaying the majesty of monarchy as Elizabeth had been. Urged to wave at the crowds who waited to greet their new ruler, James complained that he was tired and threatened to drop his breeches "so they can cheer at my arse." James' greatest problem, however, stemmed from his absolutist belief that a monarch has a divine right to his authority and is responsible only to God. James went so far as to lecture the House of Commons: "There are no privileges and immunities which can stand against a divinely appointed King." Such a view ran directly counter to English traditions that a person's property could not be taken away without due process of law.

Peter the Great

In 1613, the Russians crowned a new tzar from the Romanov family. This family or "dynasty' would rule Russia until 1917. He successfully pursued two major policies: Westernization and expansionism. As a young man, Peter became fascinated with the culture and technology of Western Europe. He believed that Russia could become a major military power if they westernized. He introduced many reforms. He reorganized his army according to western models and created a navy. He invited western businessmen to Russia to teach Russians modern techniques. He also forced serfs to work in mines and factories. Nobles were required to serve in the military or government. Peter also adopted western fashions. Peter also moved the capital of Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg - a city he built on the Baltic Sea. In 1682, under Peter, Russia aggressively expanded. Russia fought several wars and won land along the Baltic Sea.

"Great Elector"

In 1640, the 20 year old Fredrick William, later known as the "Great Elector", was determined to unify his three provinces and enlarge his holdings. William profited from ongoing European war and the threat of invasion from Russian when he argued for the need for a permanent standing army. In 1660 he persuaded Junkers the estates to accept taxation without consent in order to fund an army. They agreed to do so in exchange for reconfirmation of their own privileges, including authority over the serfs. Having won the Junkers, the king crushed potential opposition to his power from the towns. One by one, Prussian cities were eliminated from the estates and subjected to new taxes on goods and services. Thereafter, the estates' power declined rapidly, for the Great Elector had both financial independence and superior force. By following his own sage advice, Fredrick William tripled state revenue during his reign and expanded the army drastically. In 1688 a population of 1 million supported a peacetime standing army of 30,000. In 1701 the Elector's son, Fredrick I, received the elevated title of King of Prussia as a reward for aiding the Holy Roman emperor in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Frederic William

In 1640, the 20 year old Fredrick William, later known as the "Great Elector", was determined to unify his three provinces and enlarge his holdings. William profited from ongoing European war and the threat of invasion from Russian when he argued for the need for a permanent standing army. In 1660 he persuaded Junkers the estates to accept taxation without consent in order to fund an army. They agreed to do so in exchange for reconfirmation of their own privileges, including authority over the serfs. Having won the Junkers, the king crushed potential opposition to his power from the towns. One by one, Prussian cities were eliminated from the estates and subjected to new taxes on goods and services. Thereafter, the estates' power declined rapidly, for the Great Elector had both financial independence and superior force. By following his own sage advice, Fredrick William tripled state revenue during his reign and expanded the army drastically. In 1688 a population of 1 million supported a peacetime standing army of 30,000. In 1701 the Elector's son, Fredrick I, received the elevated title of King of Prussia as a reward for aiding the Holy Roman emperor in the War of the Spanish Succession.

English Bill of Rights

In England, the revolution represented the final destruction of the idea of divine-right monarchy. The men who brought about the revolution framed their intentions in the Bill of Rights, which was formulated in direct response to Stuart absolutism. Law was to be made in Parliament; once made, it could not be suspended by the Crown. Parliament had to be called at least once every three years. The independence of the judiciary was established, and there was to be no standing army in peacetime. Protestants could possess arms, but the Catholic minority could not. No Catholic could ever inherit the throne. Additional legislation granted freedom of worship to Protestant dissenters, but not to Catholics. William and Mary accepted these principles when they took the throne, and the House of Parliament passed the Bill of Rights in December 1689.

Stadholder

In each province, the Estates appointed an executive officer, known as the Stadholder (the executive officer in each of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, a position often held by the princes of Orange) They carried out ceremonial functions and were responsible for military defenses. Although in theory freely chosen by the Estates and answerable to them, in practice the strong and influential House of Orange usually held the office of stadholder in several of the 7 provinces of the republic. This meant that tension always lingered between supporters of the House of Orange and those of the staunchly Republican Estates.

Johann Sebastian Bach

In music, the baroque style reached it culmination almost a century later in the dynamic, soaring lines of the endlessly inventive Bach. Organist and choirmaster of several Lutheran churches across Germany, Bach was equally at home writing secular concertos and sublime religious cantatas. Bach's organ music combined the baroque spirit of inventions, tension, and emotion in an unforgettable striving toward the infinite. Unlike Rubens, Bach was not fully appreciated in his lifetime, but since the early 19th century, his reputation has grown steadily.

What were the reasons for the fall of the Spanish Empire?

In the 17th century, Spain was declining from their absolutism. The lack of a strong middle class due to the expulsion of many Jews and Muslims, political incompetence, and population decline contributed to this decline. The state debt and declining revenues caused currency devaluation and a declaration of bankruptcy. Spanish kings reacted by canceling the national debt. The kings all lacked force of character and left the problems to others. Philip IV's administrator returned to the imperial tradition, reviving the war with the Dutch and creating one with France over Mantua. Spain became embroiled in the Thirty Years' War, while facing revolts in Catalonia and Portugal and defeat from France. The Treaty of Pyrenees of 1659, ended the French-Spanish wars, marked the end of Spain's great power and main source of revenue.

Prussian Hohenzollerns

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Hohenzollern family had ruled parts of eastern Germany as the imperial electors of Brandenburg and the dukes of Prussia. The title of "elector" gave its holder the privilege of being one of only seven princes or archbishops entitled to elect the Holy Roman emperor, but the electors had little real power.

United Provinces of the Netherlands

In the late seventeenth century the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands fought for and won their independence from Spain. The independence of the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands was recognized in 1648 in the treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War. In this period, often called the "golden age of the Netherlands," Dutch ideas and attitudes played a profound role in shaping a new and modern worldview. At the same time, the United Provinces developed its own distinctive model of a constitutional state.

Peter Paul Reubens

In the painting world, the Baroque Period reached maturity early with Peter Paul Rubens, one of the most outstanding and most representative of baroque painters. Studying in his native Flanders and in Italy, where he was influenced by masters of the High Renaissance such as Michelangelo, Rubens developed his own rich, sensuous, colorful style, which was characterized by animated figures, melodramatic contrasts, and monumental size. Rubens excelled in glorifying monarchs such as Queen Mother Marie de' Medici of France. He was also a devout Catholic; nearly half of his pictures treat Christian subjects. Yet one of Ruben's trademarks was the fleshy, sensual nudes who populate his canvases as Roman goddesses, water nymphs, and remarkably lifelike saints and angels.

Why is it said that Locke was the spokesman for the liberal English revolution of 1689 and for representative government?

It is said that Locke was the spokesman for the liberal English Revolution of 1689 and for representative government because he maintained that people set up civil governments to protect life, liberty, and property. A government that oversteps its proper function-protecting the natural rights of life, liberty, and property-becomes a tyranny. Under such a government, the people have the natural rights to rebel. Locke linked economic liberty and private property with political freedom.

Ivan III

Ivan III Vasilyevich also known as Ivan the Great, he earned the title "the Great" by building beautiful churches. He also enclosed Moscow in a wall that became known as the Kremlin. He was a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus' He tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde over the Rus', renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of what later became called the Russian state. He was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history. Ivan conquered or brought under his control the lands of north-eastern Rus', marking the beginning of Muscovite dominance over Rus' territory. Ivan arguably became best known for his consolidation of Muscovite rule. Following his second marriage, Ivan developed a complicated court ceremonial on the Byzantine model and began to use the title of "Tsar and Autocrat". Also during the reign of Ivan and his son, Vasily III, Moscow came to be referred to by spokesmen as the Third Rome. New buildings were erected in the Kremlin, and the Kremlin walls were strengthened and furnished with towers and gates. Ivan believed that the Mongol's power had weakened. He stopped paying taxes to them and drove out the Mongols. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, Ivan saw himself as the defender of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He called himself "czar" or "tsar" which meant "Caesar" in Russian.

What were the attitudes and policies of James I that made him so unpopular?

James I wasn't interested in displaying the majesty and mystique of monarchy, and thus lacked popularity among the populace. He didn't like to wave at the crowds who waited to greet him. He was also a poor judge of character, and in a society already hostile to Scots, his Scottish accent didn't help him. James was devoted to the theory of the divine right of kings and went so far as to lecture the House of Commons. He said that there is nothing that can stand against a king. He was implying total royal jurisdiction over the liberties, persons, and properties of English men and women formed the basis of the Stuart concept of absolutism.

Colbert

Jean-Baptiste Colbert was the controller general under Louis XIV. His central principle was that the wealth and the economy of France should serve the state. He applied rigorous mercantilist policies to France. To decrease the purchase of goods outside France, Colbert insisted that French industry should produce everything needed by the French people. To increase exports, Colbert supported old industries and created new ones, focusing especially on textiles, which were the most important sector of the economy. Colbert enacted new production regulations, created guilds to boost quality standards, and encouraged foreign craftsmen to immigrate to France. To encourage the purchase of French goods, he abolished many domestic tariffs and raised tariffs on foreign products. In 1644 Colbert founded the Company of the East Indies with (unfulfilled) hopes of competing with the Dutch and Asian trade. Colbert also hoped to make Canada- rich in untapped minerals and some of the best agricultural land in the world- part of the vast French Empire. He sent 4,000 colonists to Quebec, whose capital had been founded in 1608 under Henry IV. Subsequently, the Jesuit Jacques Marquette and the merchant Louis Joliet sailed down the Mississippi River, which they names Colbert in honor of their sponsor. During Colbert's tenure as controller general, Louis was able to pursue his goals without massive tax increases and without creating a stream of new offices. The constant pressure of warfare after Colbert's death, however, undid many of his economic achievements.

John Locke

John Locke was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism". Considered one of the first of the British empiricists he is equally important to social contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. Locke was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. The Glorious Revolution and the concept of representatve government found its best defense in Locke´s Second Treatise of Civil Government. Roche maintained that a government that oversteps its proper function (protecting the natural rights of life, liberty and property) becomes a tyranny.By natural, Locke meant rights basic to all men because all have the ability to reason. under a tyrannical government, the people have the natural right to rebellion. He justified limiting the vote to property owners. His ideas were also very popular in America .

Boyars

Like the khans, the Muscovite state forced weaker Slavic principalities to render tribute previously paid to Mongols and borrowed Mongol institutions such as the tax system, postal routes and census. Loyalty from the boyars, or the highest ranking nobles in Moscow, helped the Muscovite princes consolidate their power.

Louis XIII

Louis XIII acquired the throne after his father's death. When Louis finally did take full control, he ruled with heavy guidance and support from Cardinal Richelieu. In 1618, when Thirty Years War between the Catholics and the Protestants broke out, going against the advice of the noblemen, King Louis XIII supported the Habsburg Ferdinand II, the Holy Roman Emperor. In the same year, he revoked the paulette tax, which annoyed the nobles of France, causing them to riot. In August 1620, the royal force finally routed the rebels. He formed a council of ministers, which would help him to govern. In the same year in October, the King signed a treaty with Duke of Roahan, which ended the rebellion by the Huguenots. During his reign, France witnessed a tremendous growth. Under Richelieu's guidance, King Louis XIII was able to keep the nobility under his control and successfully intervened in the Thirty Years War. He also strengthened the navy and established absolute monarchy. The reign of King Louis XIII is also remembered for the cultural development of the nation.

Discuss the foreign policy goals of Louis XIV. Was he successful?

Louis XIV of France was a strong believer in French Expansion. His foreign policies were mainly against the Habsburg dynasty's power and the ownership of French-speaking territories by nations other than France. Therefore, his foreign policies included many wars. He took over the Spanish Netherlands, some of the United Provinces of Holland, and the French Comté. However, his advances in expansion caused alliances to be formed against him which included the Holy Roman Empire, England, and Holland. Eventually, Louis XIV could not defeat the alliances, and some acquired territories were lost again in treaties, even French colonies.

Sovereignty

Over time, centralized power added up to something close to sovereignty. A state became "sovereign" when it possessed a monopoly over the instruments of justice and the use of force within clearly defined boundaries. In a sovereign state, no system of courts, such as church tribunals, competed with state courts in the dispensation of justice and private armies, such as those of feudal lords. While 17th century states did not acquire total sovereignty, they came closer than other countries or states had before.

Was the revocation of the Edict on Nantes an error on the part of Louis XIV? Why or why not?

Regardless of whether it was a good decision or not, King Louis XIV had multiple reasons for revoking the Edict of Nantes. The French monarchy did not intend for religious toleration to be permanent, as religious pluralism was not regarded as a 17th century virtue. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes was also very popular, as aristocrats had wanted Louis XIV to crack down on the Protestants for a long time. Tens of thousands of Huguenot craftsmen, soldiers, and businessmen were emigrated, taking away their skills, revenues, and bitterness to Holland, England, Prussia, and Cape Town. However, modern scholars found that the revocation only caused a minor effect in the French economical development.

In what ways does Richelieu symbolize absolutism? What were his achievements?

Richelieu had a policy of total subordination of all groups and institutions to the French monarchy. The nobility was considered the biggest threat to the centralizing goals of the crown and a strong national state, so Richelieu sought to restrain their power. In 1624, he re-shuffled the royal council and eliminated any threats to power. He dominated the council, leveling castles, and crushed aristocratic conspiracies quickly. His greatest accomplishment is the administrative system he established, which consisted of royal commissioners, called intendants, that ran the 32 districts France was made up of. They ran special tasks, like financial, judicial, and policing. As intendants' power increased under Richelieu, so did the power of the centralized French state.

What happened as a result of the war?

Socially, the Thirty Years War caused a significant number of problems, particularly for the peasants and working people. The sizes of the armies required for the prolonged fighting required vast amounts of money and because the fighting went on so long with mercenary troops, the only alternative was to heavily tax the citizens of the states going to war. There were a large number of uprisings throughout Europe, particularly in France, which was a shadow of things to come. The cycle of unfair taxation and the abuse of state bureaucratic power was a major problem for the people of the counties but this was also because times were hard in every aspect of their lives. During the years of the Thirty Years War agricultural production declined significantly. As a result, people who at least worked for enough to eat were having trouble feeding their families. This was made even worse because oftentimes the mercenary troops would lay siege to small and large towns alike, plundering if need be because even they were not given enough. This was compounded by the fact that many of the troops had a large entourage of women, children, and others who came along with them and they too needed to eat as well. These problems were all combined and a long period of disease and general famine swept across Europe and was particularly bad where the armies passed by. For the common people, the number of social ills were stacking up but despite some uprisings, these people were generally not heeded by their governments until much later in history.

Sword Nobles

Sword nobles were the traditional warrior nobility of Europe. As rebellion spread outside Paris and the sword nobles' civil order broke down completely. Both noble rebellion and popular riots left the French wishing for peace and for a strong monarch to reimpose power. This monarch would be Louis XIV, when he assumed personal rule over France at the age of twenty-three.

Junkers

Term used to describe Prussia´s nobility. The estates of Brandenburg and Prussia were dominated by the nobility and the landowning classes, called junkers. Frederick William had to persuade the Junkers in the estates to accept taxation in their territories in order to fund an army, which in the ling term helped develop and absolutist monarchy. They agreed to do so in exchange or reconfirmation of their own privileges, including authority over the serfs. Having won over the junkers, the king crushed potential opposition to his power from the towns. Thereafter, the estates´power declined rapidly, for the Great Elector had both financial independence and superior force.

Austrian Hapsburgs

The Austrian Habsburgs emerged from the Thirty Years War impoverished and exhausted. They efforts to restore the power of the Holy Roman Empire had failed. They lost their power to separate political jurisdictions. Instead of turning t exploration, they decided to get themselves together, to unify their lands. They did this by establishing a common vernacular, which was German, imposing Catholicism as the national religion, making a norm that three days a week peasants were not to be paid and centralized government. These new ideas were forced on the people, which made it an absolutist monarchy.

Baroque

The Baroque Period is often thought of as a period of great artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, theater, and music. The style began around 1600 in Rome and Italy, and spread to most of Europe. The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent, in response to the Protestant Reformation, that the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement. The aristocracy also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing visitors and expressing triumph, power and control. Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence. Some of the most prevalent members of the Baroque period were Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and Peter Paul Reubens.

Describe the Dutch system of government. What was unusual about the Dutch attitudes toward religious beliefs?

The Dutch system of government was a confederation of seven provinces with each having an oligarchy of wealthy merchants called regents. The regents handled the local domestic affairs and the provincial estate held most of the power. There was also a states general which took care of wars and foreign issues but it didn't have much power in local matters. The Dutch were different from that of Western European States because of its tolerance of all religion. The Dutch attitudes towards religious belief was unusual because at the time, patriotism was closely related with religious uniformity, but the Dutch sacrificed this idea for the sake of business which paid off and attracted a great deal of foreign capitals and investments.

What were the immediate and long-range causes of the English Civil War? What were the results?

The English Civil War has many causes but the personality of Charles I must be counted as one of the major reasons. Few people could have predicted that the civil war, that started in 1642, would have ended with the public execution of Charles I. His most famous opponent in this war was Oliver Cromwell, one of the men who signed the death warrant of Charles. No king had ever been executed in England and the execution of Charles was not taken well by the public. A long term cause of the English Civil War was the slow decline of the English monarchy under James I.

Janissary Crops

The Janissary Corps made up the core of the sultans army, composed of slave conscripts from non-Muslim parts of the empire; after 1683 it became a volunteer force. These highly organized and efficient troops gave the Ottomans a formidable advantage in war with western Europeans.

Millet system

The Ottomans divided their subjects into religious communities called millets Each millet, or nation, enjoyed autonomous self-government under its religious leaders. The Ottoman Empire recognized Orthodox Christianity, Jews, Armenian Christians, and Muslims as distinct millets, but despite its tolerance, the empire was an explicitly Islamic state. The millet system created a powerful bond between the Ottoman ruling class and religious leaders , who supported the sultan´s rule in return for extensive authority over their own communities. Each millet collected taxes for the state, regulated group behavior, and maintained law courts, schools, houses of worship, and hospitals for its people.

Peace of Utrecht

The Peace of Utrecht, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession, allowed Louis' grandson Philip to remain king of Spain on the understanding that the French and Spanish crowns would never be united. France surrendered Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Hudson Bay territory to England, which also acquired Gibraltar, Minorca, and control of the African slave trade from Spain. The Peace of Utrecht represented the balance-of-power principle in operation, setting limits on the extent to which any one power could expand. It also marked the end of French expansion. Thirty-five years of war had given France the rights to all of Alsace and some commercial centers in the north. However, in 1714 an exhausted France hovered on the brink of bankruptcy.

What began the thirty years' war? Explain how the Thirty Years' war went from a religious confrontation to a political one.

The Thirty Years' War (1618-48) began when Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II of Bohemia attempted to end the religious activities of his subjects, sparking rebellion among Protestants. The war came to involve the major powers of Europe, with Sweden, France, Spain and Austria all waging war primarily on German soil. Known in part for the atrocities committed by soldiers, the war ended with a series of treaties that made up the Peace of Westphalia. The fallout reshaped the religious and political map of central Europe, setting the stage for the old centralized Roman Catholic empire to give way to a community of sovereign states. This conflict, which redrew the map of central Europe, began in the Holy Roman Empire. Over the previous two centuries, a balance of power had emerged among the states, but during the sixteenth century, the Reformation and the Counter Reformation had divided Germany into hostile Protestant and Catholic camps, each prepared to seek foreign support. Therefore in 1618, when Ferdinand II began to end certain religious privileges of his subjects there, they immediately called for help from the Protestants in the rest of the empire. Ferdinand, in turn, called upon the German Catholics, Spain, and the papacy. In the following war, Ferdinand won a major victory at White Mountain outside Prague that allowed the extirpation of Protestantism in most of the Hapsburg lands. Encouraged by this success, Ferdinand turned in 1621 against Bohemia's Protestant supporters in Germany. Despite aid from Britain, Denmark, and the Dutch Republic, they lost, and by 1629, imperial armies overran most of Protestant Germany and much of Denmark. Ferdinand then issued the Edict of Restitution, reclaiming lands in the empire belonging to the Catholic Church that had been acquired by Protestant rulers.

Serfs

The endless wars of the 17th century allowed rulers to increase their power by building large armies, increasing taxation, and destroying representative institutions. In exchange for their growing political authority, monarch allowed nobles to remain as unchallenged masters of their peasants, a deal that appeased both king and nobility, but left serfs at the mercy of the lords. In the west the demographic losses of the Black Death allowed peasants to escape from serfdom as they acquired enough land to feed themselves. In eastern Europe 17th-century peasants had largely lost their ability to own land independently. Eastern lords dealt with the labor shortages caused by the Black Death by restricting the right of their peasants to move to take advantage of better opportunities elsewhere. Moreover, lords steadily took more and more of their peasant's land and arbitrarily imposed heavier labor obligations. Between 1500 and 1650 the consolidation of serfdom in Eastern Europe was accompanied by the growth of commercial agriculture, particularly in Poland and Eastern Germany. As economic expansion and population growth resumed after 1500, eastern lords increased the production of their estates by squeezing sizable surpluses out of the impoverished peasants.

The Glorious Revolution

The events of 1688-1689 in England. They were called "The Glorious Revolution" because the English believed that it replaced one king with another with barely any bloodshed. The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England as well as James VII of Scotland and James II of Ireland by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch William III of Orange-Nassau. William's arrival sparked revolutionary riots and violence across the British Isles and in North American cities such as Boston and New York. William's victory as the Battle of the Boyne and the subsequent Treaty of Limerick sealed his accession to power.

How did countries grow their militaries? What happened as a result of this growth?

The growth of European states in the seventeenth century was largely the result of war. Between 1600 and 1721 Europeans were constantly at war. By the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, most European countries had a standing army, which could be used in foreign wars as well as in maintaining internal order. In the seventeenth century and early eighteenth century these armies became larger. They were equipped with new gunpowder technology such as the musket, which required more intensive training. The cost of recruiting soldiers, equipping them with arms and uniforms and training them was so high that only the state could afford it. The need to meet the financial cost of the military forced states to improve the bureaucracy and tax collection.

Peace of Westphalia

The name of a series of treaties that concluded the Thirty Years' War in 1648 and marked the end of large-scale religious violence in Europe. The Thirty Years' War was the most destructive event for the central European economy and society prior to the world wars of the twentieth century. Perhaps one-third of urban residents and two-fifths of the rural population died, leaving entire areas depopulated. Trade in southern German cities, such as Augsburg, was virtually destroyed. Agricultural areas suffered catastrophically. Many small farmers lost their land, allowing nobles to enlarge their estates and consolidate their control. The treaties recognized the independent authority of more than three hundred German princes, reconfirming the emperor's severely limited authority. The Augsburg agreement of 1555 became permanent, adding Calvinism to Catholicism and Lutheranism as legally permissible creeds. The north German states remained Protestant, the south German states Catholic.

War of Spanish Succession

The precarious health of the childless King Charles II of Spain left the succession open. England and Holland were opposed to the union of French and Spanish dominions, which would have made France the leading world power and diverted Spanish trade from England and Holland to France. On the other hand, England, Holland, and France were all opposed to Archduke Charles, because his accession would reunite the Spanish and Austrian branches of the Habsburg family. Louis XIV, exhausted by the War of the Grand Alliance, sought a peaceful solution to the succession controversy and reached an agreement with the King of England. This First Partition Treaty designated Joseph Ferdinand as the principal heir. The unexpected death of Joseph Ferdinand rendered the Anglo-French treaty pointless. England and Holland, although willing to recognize Philip as king of Spain, were antagonized by France's growing commercial competition. There was an anti-French alliance among England, Leopold, and the Dutch. The war ended with the peace of Utrecht, leaving the French king´s grandson as the king of Spain, under the condition that Spain and France could never be united.

Louis XIV

The reign of France's Louis XIV, the Sun King, lasted for 72 years. In that time, he transformed the monarchy. Unlike past kings, he relied through councils and had no first ministers. Because of Mazarin´s teachings, he strongly believed in his divine right to be king, a common belief of absolutist rulers. He also ushered in a golden age of art and literature, ruled over a royal court at Versailles, annexed new territories, and established his country as a dominant European power. Louis also insisted on religious unity, another common absolutist trait, forcing Catholicism and prosecuting Protestants. During the final decades of Louis XIV's rule, France was weakened by several lengthy wars that drained its resources, bankrupting the State and forced him to raise taxes upon the people which brought them poverty and sickness. The mass exodus of its Protestant population followed the king's revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

Why would the reign of the Great Elector be regarded as "the most crucial constitutional struggle in Prussian history for hundreds of years"? What did he do to increase royal authority? Who were the losers?

The reign of the Great Elector would be known as the "the most crucial constitutional struggle" because the Great Elector would remove representative powers and introduce absolutist power. Since the Estates of Brandenburg gave into the permanent taxation, constitutionalism would never be achieved. This caused him to have superior force and financial independence. To increase royal authority, he used permanent taxation. The losers were the peasants and the Estates of Brandenburg since they were the ones who became the ones ruled be the Frederick William the Great Elector, and had to pay his taxes

Sultan

The ruler of the Ottoman Empire; he owned all the agricultural land of the empire and was served by an army and bureaucracy composed of highly trained slaves. Peasants paid taxes to use the agricultural land of the sultans because there was almost a complete absence of private landed property and no hereditary nobility. The Ottomans also employed a distinctive form of government administration. The top ranks of the bureaucracy were staffed by the sultan's slave corps. Because Muslim law prohibited enslaving other Muslims, the sultan's agents purchased slaves along the borders of the empire. Within the realm, the sultan levied a "tax" of one thousand to three thousand male children on the conquered Christian populations in the Balkans every year. These young slaves were raised in Turkey as Muslims and were trained to fight and to administer. Unlike enslaved Africans in European colonies, who faced a dire fate, the most talented Ottoman slaves rose to the top of the bureaucracy, where they might acquire wealth and power.

Mongols

The two hundred year period of rule by the Mongol khan set the stage for the rise of absolutist Russia. The Mongols, a group of nomadic tribes from present-day Mongolia, established an empire that, at its height, stretched from Korea to Eastern Europe. In the thirteenth century the Mongols conquered the Slavic princes and forced them to render payments of goods, money, and slaves. The princes of Moscow became particularly adept at serving the Mongols and were awarded the title of "great prince".

Divine Right of Kings

This was the belief that God had established kings as his rulers on earth, and they were answerable ultimately to him alone. Kings were divinely anointed and shared in the sacred nature of divinity, but they could not simply do as they pleased. They had to obey God's laws and rule for the good of the people.

Robe Nobles

Under the Old Regime of France, the Robe Nobles were French aristocrats whose rank came from holding certain judicial or administrative posts. As a rule, the positions did not give the holder a title of nobility' such as baron, count, or duke, but they were almost always attached to a specific function. The offices were often hereditary, and by 1789, most had inherited their positions. The most influential of them were the 1,100 members of the 13 parliaments, or courts of appeal. They were distinct from the "Nobles of the Sword", whose nobility was based on their families' traditional function as the knightly class and whose titles were usually attached to a particular feudal fiefdom, a landed estate held in return for military service. Together with the older nobility, the Nobles of the Robe made up the Second Estate in pre-revolutionary France.

Versailles

Versailles offered King Louis XIV protection from any civil unrest going on in the city. It also forced the nobles to travel to Versailles and seek lodging in the palace, something that impeded their ability to build up regional power bases that could potentially challenge the king. By making nobles live at the palace with the king, he was able to keep at close watch all the movements of the nobility.

Constatutionalism

While France, Prussia, Russia, and Austria developed absolutist states, England and the Netherlands evolved toward constitutionalism, which is the limitation of government by law. Constitutionalism also implies a balance between the authority and power of the government, on the one hand, and the rights and liberties of the subjects, on the other. By definition, all constitutionalist governments have a constitution, be it written or unwritten. A nation's constitution may be embodied in one basic document and occasionally revised by amendment, like the Constitution of the United States. Or it may be only partly formalized and include parliamentary statutes, judicial decisions, and a body of traditional procedures and practices, like the English and Dutch constitutions. Despite their common commitment to constitutional government, England and the Dutch Republic represented significantly different alternatives to absolute rule.