The Drive for Power in The Drive for Power in the East, 1650-1796the East, 1650-1796

Absolutism and Enlightened Absolutism

Austria Turns East Post-1648 HRE War v. Ottoman Emp.

(Vienna—1683), Peace of Karlowitz (1699)

Counter-Reformation, subdue diets, establish hereditary rule

War of Spanish Succession and Peace of Utrecht (1714)

Charles VI (1713-40) and Pragmatic Sanction

Maria Theresa (1740-80):Matriarch of Steel

War of Austrian Succession—loss of Silesia

Modernization—break assemblies, centralize bureaucracy, tariff union, reform serfdom, etc.

Pious Catholic and mother

Diplomatic Revolution (1756) and Seven Years War

Joseph II (1765-90):Royal Idealist

Co-ruler with mother Abolished serfdom and

attempted a physiocrat reform of agriculture

Edict on Idle Institutions Patent of Toleration Legal code equalized Revolt by Belgium,

nobles, and Church Ended in failure

Prussia: Nation Around an Army Combination of Electoral

Brandenburg and ducal Prussia (scattered state)

Destruction of 30 Yrs War Frederick William, the

Great Elector (1640-88) War Commissariat and

bureaucracy Standing army (30,000) Repress estates & Junkers Excise tax Religious tolerance

(Huguenots)

Frederick William I (1713-40)—Paternalistic Warlord

Stern and efficient taskmaster

Merit system Civil Service famous

for efficiency (walking stick)

Increased army but didn’t use it

Potsdam regiment Relationship with son

Frederick II, the Great (1740-86): Cultured Warrior

Childhood traumas with father

Enlightenment interests (French, flute, Voltaire)

Codified laws Antimachivel and

Forms of Government “first servant of state” Few gains for

peasants Warfare & personality

Russia: Big and Backward Ivan III (1462-1505) and

Ivan IV “Terrible” (1533-84)

Drive out Mongols, streltsy, suppress boyars

Control of Orthodox Church

Autocracy and Russia’s cultural position

Time of Troubles (‘til Romanovs)

Peter I (1685-1725): Modernizing Giant

Interest in technology and new ideas (German suburb, foreign advisors)

Backwardness of Russia Old Believers and Nikon Great Embassy (navy, industry,

army) Streltsy revolt, women,

manners, Table of Ranks, Senate, mercantilism

Great Northern War (St. Petersburg—”Venice of North”

Reactions and effects

Catherine II (1762-96): Greatness and Power

Strong willpower and intellect, German

Peter II and palace coup Patronage of arts &

Enlightenment Legislative Commission

(1767) Education and religious

tolerance Charter of Nobility (1785) Pugachev Revolt & serfdom Wars with Ottoman Empire,

Polish Partitions Symbol: Potemkin Villages