The creation of centralized states in Austria,
Prussia, and Russia required cutting deals or
cutting the throats of the nobility.

Habsburgs
Ferdinand III
 Leopold I
 Joseph I
 Charles VI
 Maria Theresa



Pragmatic Sanction
Hohenzollern




Frederick William,
the Great Elector
Frederick I
Frederick William I
Frederick II, the Great











Junkers
Ivan the Great
Ivan the Terrible
Time of Troubles
Michael Romanov
boyars
Cossacks
Peter the Great
streltsy
Table of Ranks
Great Northern War
In all three states, the monarchs
granted nobles virtually
unrestricted rights over their serfs,
thus guaranteeing wealth in
exchange for political power
 Nobles in all three states served as
the officer corps of expanding
armies.






In 1620, Ferdinand III confiscated the lands of Bohemia’s
Protestant nobles and distributed to loyal Catholics and
mercenaries.
In exchange for their loyalty, these new nobles were
allowed to forced their serfs to work for up to 7 days a
week, this system was called the robot
Ferdinand III established a permanent standing army and
improved the administration of the state.
After the 30 Year’s War, the Habsburgs gave up on
maintaining the Holy Roman Empire, instead, turning their
attention to expanding their Austrian Kingdom
1683, Leopold I forced the Ottoman Turks to lift their siege
of Vienna and pushed them out of Transylvania



By the 18th century, the Habsburgs ruled a vast Austrian
Empire of many nationalities: Austrians, Germans, Magyars,
Belgians, Czechs, Poles, Rumanians, Serbs, Slovenes, and
Italians
Hungarian nobles retained their privileges, allowing
Hungary some autonomy after it was conquered and
absorbed into the Austrian Empire.
Charles VI, who ruled from 1711 to 1740, secured the
Pragmatic Sanction to guarantee Habsburgs possessions for
his daughter Maria Theresa




Hohenzollern family ruled both Prussia, a agricultural area
along the Baltic Sea and Brandenburg, the area around
Berlin, where they held the title of Elector of the Holy
Roman Emperor
In 1618 the two states united to form Brandenburg-Prussia,
usually referred to as Prussia
During the 30 Year’s War, Prussia was largely a victim, but
the war strengthened the monarchy because it eroded the
position of the Junkers, as the nobles in Prussia were called
Frederick William, the Great Elector, whose 40 year reign
began in 1640, forced the Junkers to relinquish their
traditional political rights


He did not call their representative assembly, the diet, into session at
all in the last thirty years of his rule.
In return, the Junkers were given greater authority over their serfs
The Great Elector’s son was granted the title king of Prussia
in 1701 and became Frederick I
Frederick I son, Frederick William I, the soldier king, proved
to be the ablest of them all.







He tripled the size of the army and trained and disciplined the troops
to a degree not seen elsewhere, turning the army into the best
prepared in Europe
He infused militaristic values throughout his kingdom so that hard
work, devotion to duty, honesty, and obedience became Prussian
ideals
Frederick William I turned the Junkers into servants of the
state making them the officer class of the new army after
threatened to destroy them if they did not submit.
Prussia was generally at peace under Frederick William I
Frederick William’s I son, Frederick II the Great, would be
the one to utilizing the Prussian war machine






The dynasty that created a centralized state in Russia were
the rulers of Muscovy
Ivan III, the Great established a kingdom which reached to
the Baltic to Moscow and Novgorod
1480, Ivan the Great refused to acknowledge the Mongol
Khan as his ruler, declaring himself the sole authority in
Russia
The boyars, the Russian nobility, were allowed to keep local
power and new titles for the officer corps were created
Ivan IV, the Terrible, took the title of Tsar (Caesar) and went
to war against the Mongols, defeating them in the 1550s
Ivan the Terrible added Mongol lands to his realm, creating
the foundation to the modern, multiethnic Russia empire

Ivan the Terrible required that all nobles serve the tsar in
order to own land.




In an effort to consolidate rule he began a reign of terror killing
many boyars and giving their lands to service nobles who got their
titles in return for loyalty to him and military service.
Ivan’s death led to the Times of Troubles (1584 to 1613) when
competing claimants to the throne struggle for power
Nobles elected Michael Romanov as tsar in 1613
establishing the Romanov dynasty
Peter the Great, 1682 to 1725, sought to make Russia a great
power through his westernizing reforms




Welcomed foreigner talent
Established schools and universities
Built factors and mines worked by forced labor of serfs
Nobles were forced to dress in European style, become educated,
shave their beards, and build and live in fancy houses in his new
capital, St. Petersburg




Five years of education away from home was required for
every young nobleman
Men and women were allowed to choose their own spouses
Unigeniture, inheritance only by the oldest child, was
imposed
Peter the Great created new rankings for nobles, the Twelve
Ranks, rewarding service to the state with higher ranking




The gulf between the peasantry and nobles grew


All nobles were expected to work their way up the rankings
Military service or civil service was for life
Some slots were given to middles-class servants of the state
Peter’s reign meant higher taxes and greater obligations for serfs
Peter defeated the Swedes in 1721 ending the Great Northern
and built St. Petersburg on formerly Swedish territory