Absolutism in Eastern
Europe
Austria, Prussia, and Russia
 Monarchs were in “control” up to 1918
 These monarchs will have a powerful
impact on culture
– Architecture
– Arts
Unlike the West
 Powerful Nobility
 Unlike the West- Nobles were able to
suppress the serfs
 Weak Middle Class
 Oppressed Peasants-serfs
Lords and Peasants in
Eastern Europe
Serfdom increases in the East
 Lords created laws that restricted the free
movement of peasants – run-a-ways in
Prussia had their ears nailed to a post and
given a knife to cut themselves free
 Landlords took more and more of their
land and increased labor obligations
 Local lords were judge and jury
Consolidation of Serfdom
 Poland – Lords could inflict death
 Prussia (1653 ) Hereditary subjugation
 Russia – (1649) 9 year time limit on
runaways was lifted
Increase in Agriculture
 As European economy expanded, the price
of food increased
 More peasants meant a surplus of local
products were sold to foreign markets
 Was it simply to develop of export
markets?
No effective Central
Government
 Political rather than economic factors were the
difference in the status of serfs.
 Identical developments caused opposite results in
the west.
 Local nobles held more power over weaker kings
and increased their political demands
 A king in the east was the first among equals
 Nobles undermined cities power. Products were
sold directly to foreign capitalists
 Importance of urban middle class declined “ no
more did town air make one free.”
East as least and West as Best
 Because of social inequalities and harsher
economic conditions, the west perceived
the east as barbaric and uncivilized.
 Therefore the east was considered morally
inferior which was eventually tied to
ethnicity
 The Ottomans
The Rise of Austria and Prussia

Toward a Central Government
 Monarchs gained power in three key areas
– Imposed and collected taxes without consent
– Created standing armies
– Conducted relations with foreign states as they
pleased
Austria and the Ottoman Turks
 Devastated by the Thirty Years War
 The loss made them turn inward
 Established direct rule over Bohemia
 The robot… 3 days a week of unpaid labor
 Protestants were stamped out
 1683 – Ottomans are in retreat to the east
the Habsburgs take Hungary
The Pragmatic Sanction
1713
 Habsburg land was divided into three
fragile political entities
– Austria
– Bohemia
– Hungary
• Rakoczy- Revolt
• Defeated 1703
All would be passed to a single heir.
Hapsburgs . Hungary accepts Habsburg ruler but
is never fully integrated into the Empire.
Prussia in the 17th Century
 The Elector of Brandenburg – had prestige
to elect the Holy Roman Emperor, but no
military power
 Estates of princes’ were weakened by the
Thirty Years War
 Frederick William the “Great Elector”
– Comes to power 1640
Frederick William The Great
Elector [r.1640-1688]
The Junkers
 Landowning nobles that had dominated
Prussia
 Frederick was not resisted in his drive
toward absolutism by the nobles “they
barked but did not bite”
 Different than England which had moved
to constitutionalism
Frederick the Great Elector
 Introduced permanent taxes without
consent
 Paid for a standing army
 The size of the army grew ten-fold
 Two major reasons for success
– The invaders to the east demanded a
consolidation of forces
– Allowed the nobles to continue their rights and
privileges over the peasants, but the royal
authorities could tax the townspeople
Frederick the Ostentatious
1688-1713
 Weak in mind and body
 Man crush on Louis XIV
 Luxury and petty tyranny
Frederick William I
“ The Soldier King”
1713-1740
 Prussian war psychology- cult of the
military- with the Junkers as officers
– Best and strongest soldiers
– “Dog eat dog” view of world politics
– Violent temper – immediate and severe
punishments
– Obsession for tall soldiers
The Prussian Military
 Grows from 38,000 to 83,000
 Amazing discipline and precision
 Although ready for war, he was usually at
peace
 Tall males were recruited
Replaces the Estates with
bureaucracy
 Frederick was austere which made his
country economically conscientious
 Ministers were honest and fair
Russia
 It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery,
inside an enigma … Winston Churchill
The Mongol Yoke
 Russia was forced to pay tribute
 The Greatest prince was the one that paid the
most money
 Ivan I – “money bags”(r1328-1341)
– Collects taxes for the Mongols
– Ivan III (r 1462 – 1505) Muscovite princes’ gain
authority
– Ivan III stops acknowledging Mongols
• Fall of Constantinople – holy Russia 1480
Ivan the Terrible(IV)
 R. 1533-1584
 Turns west against the Poland and Lithuanian
state
 Destroys leading Boyars with secret police
 Purges many other elements of society
 Greater oppression of the serfs
 All were servants of the Prince