Absolutism
In many respects the rise of absolutism was a natural response to the chaos of the
religious wars. The theory of cuius regio, eius religio which evolved from the Peace
of Augsburg (1555) was the first step on the road to empowering the monarchy.
Absolute monarchs already had a foundation on which to build, the New Monarchs
of Europe had created larger territorial states, which required a new, more effective
form of government.
Ironically philosopher Thomas Hobbes, a strong proponent of absolutism,
developed his ideas in England, the least absolute state in Europe! He proposed in
his Leviathan (1651) that an absolute monarch could have prevented the chaos of
the English Civil War. Hobbes said that life was, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and
short”. He went on to suggest that people would only listen if they did not fear the
consequences. Therefore, individuals entered into a contract with the ruler –
surrendering their rights for protection. French philosopher Jacques Bossuet went
even further, claiming that rulers had authority from God.
It is important here to note that these rulers were absolute rulers and not arbitrary.
When they acted, they often did so out of a feeling of responsibility for the masses.
They realized that they, and they alone were responsible for the needs of the people.
Yet this is where eastern and western absolutism diverge. Western monarchs
understood the necessity of working with advisors such as parlements in France,
Cortes in Spain, or Parliament in Britain.
Before analyzing the individual countries and the role of the monarchy, perhaps one
would be best served to find the characteristics that are common in absolutism. All
absolute states benefited from extensive tenure by one dynasty. Such dynastic rule
facilitated obvious advantages such as continuance of policies, avoidance of internal
competition, increased significance of treaties and marriage alliances. The strength
of the absolute state could be seen in the large centralized bureaucracy and the
ability to maintain a large standing army to expand policies at home and abroad.
Eastern Absolutism
The rulers of Central and Eastern Europe shared many of the same structures.
Each had a strong ruler who maintained ties with the nobility through dispensing
concessions. The concessions granted to the nobility gave them far more autonomy
than in the west. Consequently, the peasants suffered significantly more in eastern
Europe than in the west because of enforced serfdom.
In eastern Europe during the seventeenth century the rights of the peasants were
taken away. As a labor shortage swept eastern Europe workers became a necessity
and as a result the movement of peasants was restricted. Peasants lost their land
and were forced into more obligations for their lords. Between 1500 and 1650
conditions worsened and serfs could be killed for nothing
Political factors accounted for the new serfdom
Weaker kings were forced to give more freedom to landlords
Landlords sold directly to foreign capitalists and abolished the need for a middle
class
War and the threat of war aided the absolute monarchies
Would-be absolutists gained power in 3 areas:
a) imposed and collected permanent taxes without consent
b) maintained permanent armies
c) conducted relations with other states as they pleased
Austria
The Habsburgs were exhausted after the Thirty Years’ War, but they still remained
emperors of the Holy Roman Empire
The real power lay with 300 varying political entities that shared a geographic
region, but had very little else in common.
Conditions for serfs became worse
The robot - 3 days of unpaid labor a week became the norm, many serfs worked
everyday except Sunday
In 1683 the Ottomans laid siege to Vienna. After two months the Turks were
eventually forced back by fresh troops who had come to the aid of the Austrians.
Pushing forward against the Ottomans, the Habsburg troops captured Budapest in
1686 and acquired nearly all of Hungary in the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699). The
Habsburg troops were led by Prince Eugene of Savoy, whom would go on to play a
prominent role in the War of Spanish Succession.
The Habsburgs then turned to fight the Ottomans, who under Suleyman the
Magnificant ruled the most powerful empire in the world
The Habsburg state had 3 parts:
a) Austria
b) kingdom of Bohemia
c) kingdom of Hungary
The Hungarians resisted because many wanted to remain Protestant
Hungary allied to Turkey
During the War of Spanish Succession the Hungarians led by Prince Francis
Rakoczy rebelled. Rakoczy was defeated but it led to a compromise
a) Hungary accepted Habsburg rule
b) Charles VI restored the rights of the aristocracy of Hungary
By Austrian law women were not allowed the claim the throne of Austria. In 1711
Holy Roman Emperor and Austrian monarch Charles VI issued the Pragmatic
Sanction (1713) which persuaded Europe’s rulers to accept a female monarch and to
never divide the Habsburg lands.
Maria Theresa became queen of Austria. She took local control away from the
regional diets, made German the language of the empire, created a large
bureaucracy, taxed the nobility and the clergy and took control of the Roman
Catholic Church.
1740 Frederick II became king of Prussia, rejected the Pragmatic Sanction and
invaded the Austrian province of Silesia. This started the War of Austrian
Succession (1740-48). Great Britain, and the Dutch supported Austria; France and
Spain supported Austria. In 1748 the war ended with the Treaty of Aix-laChapelle. The Austrians could not stop the Bourbons from gaining control of the
Spanish throne, Frederick kept Silesia and Austria received the Spanish
Netherlands (Belgium) as compensation.
Joseph II succeeded his mother in 1780 and as an enlightened despot he initiated
sweeping reforms. Personally, he was against serfdom and abolished the robot in
1789, the year of the French Revolution. However, these reforms came too fast and
many peasants took advantage of the situation and revolted. Leopold II followed
Joseph and repealed most of the reforms to pacify the nobility. He reintroduced
serfdom and the robot, which remained in existence until the revolution of 1848.
Russia
The Mongols ruled and unified the eastern slavs for more than 200 years. The
Mongol Khan was supreme ruler. Mongol rule was absolute and violent, uprisings
were brutally suppressed. The Mongols used local princes to collect taxes and as
servants and through cooperation, Moscow became the most loyal city. Eventually
the prince of Moscow was the tsar and he was an absolute rule
Moscovite authority was based on:
a) Ivan III stopped acknowledging the khan as a supreme ruler
b) after the fall of Constantinople (1453) the tsars saw themselves as heirs to the
caesars and Orthodox Christianity
All the other kings of Europe were heretics
Ivan III (1442-1505) ended Mongol domination of Russia and took the title Tsar
(Caesar) proclaiming himself heir to the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine
Empire). He confiscated 80% of Novgorod, keeping half and gave the rest to his
nobles, causing a rise in service nobility.
Ivan IV "the Terrible" grandson of Ivan III who started westernizing Russia was a
contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Ivan the Terrible claimed all nobles
had to serve the tsar in order to hold office. His purges depopulated much of
Russia, forcing many peasants to flee west to hide and form groups called Cossacks.
Ivan believed he owned all the trade and industry which sharply contrasted with
capitalism in western Europe.
The ruling Moscovite family died out in 1584 which led to the Time of Trouble
(1584-1613). The "Time of Trouble" followed the death of Ivan the Terrible,
especially after Ivan’s son and heir died. The rebellion of the peasants caused
problems for the aristocracy. The social confusion and possibility of war brought
the nobles to their senses. The tsar relaxed obligations of nobility, but increased
pressure on the peasants.
In an attempt to end the turmoil the Russian nobility (boyars) elected the young
Michael Romanov (r. 1613-54) as tsar in 1613. The Romanov family ruled until
1917 when Nicholas II was overthrown in the Revolution. Stability was restored by
Michael, but the steltsi (Moscow garrison) and the boyars (nobility) continued to
challenge his authority.
Moscovy in 1689, was 3 times larger than the rest of Europe, but people were the
primary unit of taxation.
Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725) established stability after the Times of Troubles
(1584-1613) and turned Russia into an empire. Peter was fascinated by geography
and spent 18 months touring Europe in disguise. The steltsi, taking advantage of
Peter’s absence, rebelled in 1698 - Peter brutally suppressed the revolt.
He forced the boyars to accept western ways including shaving and allowing women
to attend social functions
In 1703 he built a new capital called St. Petersburg the "window to the West"
The best part of the army was the cavalry comprised of the boyars and nobility
Peter wanted to improve the army but it only served part-time
The sons of nobles were forced to attend military or engineering schools and
prohibited from marrying until they had done so.
Created a standing army of 200,000 men, recruitment was for life
Russia won the Great Northern War (1700-21) against Sweden’s Charles XII
including the Battle of Poltava (1709) and signed the Peace of Nystad (1721) ending
the war.
Russia annexed Latvia and Estonia
Westerners and western ideas flowed to Russia
The gap between the educated and the peasants widened. Few Russians were
wealthy, the vast majority of people were poor uneducated peasants.
New ideas of statehood took hold and Russia became closer to Europe than Asia
Forced boyars to serve the state by enlisting in the civil or military service
1722 - issued the Table of Ranks - provided social position and privileges based on
rank in the military or bureaucracy – not status.
Forced China to accept Russia’ claim for Siberia
To make the Russian Orthodox Church more secular he abolished the office of
patriarch - established the Holy Synod
Peter had his son, Alexis, imprisoned in 1718, where Alexis died under mysterious
circumstances. When Peter died in 1725 the Russian empire was six times larger
than during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.
Without a designated successor the nobility and the military fought for almost fifty
years. In 1762 the weak Peter III became tsar and shortly after was assassinated
with his wife’s approval. The widowed queen who took control was the German
Catherine who would go on to rule on her own for over thirty years.
Catherine the Great (r. 1762-96) admired the ideas of the Enlightenment and
corresponded with Voltaire. However, she did little to reform Russia. Serfs became
the property of the nobles and consequently could be treated accordingly.
From 1773 to 1775 the peasants rebelled. Led by Emelian Pugachev the serfs tried
to gain certain rights. Pugachev was captured and beheaded.
Defeated the Ottomans and expanded Russia’s southern border. Russia gained
control of the Black Sea and her warm water ports as well as control of the straits to
the Aegean Seas. Also the treaty made a vague reference to Russia being the
protector of the Orthodox Christian subjects of the Sultan – this would later be
invoked as justifiable cause for Russian intervention in affairs of the Ottoman
Empire.
Divided Poland with Austria and Prussia. Poland ceased to exist until 1919
In the 1785 Charter of the Nobility Catherine made sweeping concessions to the
nobility. They became:
exempt from taxation
exempt from required military service
gained complete control over their estates and serfs
Catherine was the last of great absolute monarchs
She died in 1796 when Europe was challenging the idea of the monarchy
Prussia
In 1415 the Hohenzollern family began to rule as electors of Brandenburg. The
Hohenzollern family had little real power. Choosing the Holy Roman Emperor was
of little value and they had no military strength. The Hohenzollern power-base was
Brandenburg and was cut off from Prussia, which was part of Poland. In 1618 the
Hohenzollern prince died and Prussia returned to the Elector of Brandenburg.
Gradually they increased the size of their land until they were second only to the
Hapsburgs. The Hohenzollern family formed an alliance with the Junkers (unlike
the monarchy of France).
They practiced religious toleration
Improved the economy, abolished torture, reorganized the tax system, imposed
tariffs to protect Prussian industry, made more land available for agriculture
The power of the Estates (the Junkers) was weakened and elector Frederick William
(Great Elector) assumed absolute control. The Great Elector (r. 1640-88) - started
to rule Germany after it had been devastated by the Thirty Years' War (1618-48).
He reduced the power of the landed aristocracy (Junkers) and the estates,
established the civil service and the army as the focus of the states’ power. He also
used the military and civil service to control the state - top jobs went to the Junkers.
In return he did not interfere with Junker control of the serfs.
He wanted to unite 3 areas: Prussia, Berlin, and the Rhine
There are 2 reasons he was successful
1) the wars between Sweden and Poland and the wars of Louis XIV seemed to create
a sense of permanent crisis
2) the Junkers were unwilling to join the commoners against the crown
By 1688 Frederick I (r. 1688-1713) had made Prussia one state. He supported the
Habsburgs in the war of Spanish Succession and was granted the title “King of
Prussia”.
Frederick William I (r. 1713-40) "the soldier king" truly established Prussian
absolutism. He created the best army in the world and gave society military values.
Frederick William I always wore a uniform
Created a strong centralized bureaucracy
Parliamentary government vanished as Frederick William enlisted the Junkers to
help him
Prussia was 12th in population, 4th largest army clearly deserving of the title, the
"Sparta of the north".
Royal absolutism in Prussia was stronger than in Austria