Hobbes and absolutism
THE SUN KING
– “L’etat c’est moi.”
– Survived the Fronde
– Suppressed the Jansenists
– spent lots of $$
VERSAILLES
LOUIS XIV’S WARS
• Louis wants to expand France and challenge
the Habsburgs: Spain and Austria
• 1659 – The Treaty of the
Pyrenees – set the
boundary between
France and Spain
1667-68 – THE WAR OF DEVOLUTION
– Louis XIV wanted to take Franche-Comte and the
Spanish Netherlands
– France vs. Dutch, English, Swedish, Spanish
– 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen)– little
land gained: France annexed Lille and part of
Flanders
1672-79 – THE DUTCH WAR
– Louis XIV made secret payments to keep the
English neutral
– France takes some territory from the Southern
Netherlands and Franche-Comte
– No clear winner
1689-97 – THE WAR OF THE LEAGUE OF
AUGSBURG (a.k.a. KING WILLIAM’s
WAR)
– Louis XIV orders invasion of the Palatinate
– League of Augsburg includes England, Dutch,
Spain, Sweden, Bavaria, Saxony, Palatinate
– 1692 –tries to invade England
– 1697 – Treaty of Ryswick – France keeps gains in
Alsace, but it’s clear other Europeans will join
forces to fight them
1701-1714 – THE WAR OF SPANISH
SUCCESSION (a.k.a. QUEEN ANNE’s
WAR)
– Louis XIV supports his grandson as King of Spain
– England, Holland, Austria, Prussia, Portugal vs.
France (with Spain and Bavaria as allies)
– 1713 Treaty of Utrecht – makes peace between
France and England – Austria got the southern
Netherlands, France gave Newfoundland, Nova
Scotia, and Hudson Bay to England, Philip V keeps
throne of Spain, but not France
PRUSSIA (Hohenzollerns)
• Frederick William (The Great Elector) – 16401688
• Frederick I (King of Prussia) – 1688-1713
• Frederick William I – 1713-1740
• Frederick II (Frederick the Great)
– 1740-1786
AUSTRIA (Habsburgs)
• Leopold I – 1657-1705
• Joseph I – 1705-1711
• Charles VI – 1711-1740 – Pragmatic Sanction
• Maria Theresa 1740-1780
• Joseph II
(Enlightened Absolutist)
Schonnbrun Palace in Vienna
SWEDEN
• Charles XII – dies in battle
• Loses the Great Northern War (1700-21) vs. Russia
POLAND
• King John III Sobieski – led Polish army to help
Vienna vs. Turks in 1683
• Polish nobles had power in the Sejm, but the
liberum veto made it hard to govern
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
• Peaked under Sultan Suleiman the
Magnificent (r. 1520-1566)
• Organized people into millets
• Non-Islamic people were known as zimmis
RUSSIA
• The Time of Troubles -> Romanovs take over in
1613
• Peter the Great – 1682-1725
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Westernization
Built St. Petersburg
Built up the military/navy
Improved trade
Expanded territory into Baltics
Simplified alphabet
More involved in foreign affairs