The 30 Years War
-It took place in the area known as the Holy Roman Empire…very scatter German states.
-The war was provoked by King Ferdinand, the Catholic King of Bohemia, with his attempt to
establish dominance over the nobles and suppress the Protestant Reformation.
-1618, Protestant nobles assaulted Ferdinand’s royal officials…called the Defenestration of
Prague, igniting a full scale Protestant revolt.
-Ferdinand made moves to suppress the revolt.
- Gains support of Spain, Poland, and other Catholic states to push back the Protestant
Reformation.
-Bohemians were defeated.
-This concerned Protestant powers that Ferdinand could actually end the Reformation by force.
-The Protestant power, which included the Netherlands and Sweden, sent troops to Germany.
-The scope of the war changed into a political war and the Europeans became involved to
maintain the balance of power.
-The 30 Years War severely depopulated Europe estimated by as much a 1/3 reduction in the
German states.
-1648, series of treaties accepted called the Peace of Westphalia. It divided the German states
into 360 separate states that each governed themselves independently.
-France gained the most for the treaty, gaining territory on both Spanish and German frontiers.
New Hapsburg Austrian Empire (Catholic)
-1700s, able to surround Austria’s base with Bohemia, Hungary, latter parts of Poland, and some
Italian states….loyalty to the Holy Roman Emperor.
-The states were very scattered and people very diverse.
-Never, able to establish centralized government like France
-Charles VI leaves throne to his daughter Maria Theresa
-1740, Fredric of Prussia seizes Hapsburg’s Silesia province
-Maria appealed to Hungary for help
-Hungary helped, along with Britain and Russia to maintain the balance of power.
-Silesia was never reclaimed, but gained strength by gaining support of her people
-Reorganized the bureaucracy and taxed the nobles.
Hohenzollern Prussia (Protestant)
-Central bureaucracy, Frederick William I ruler in 1713.
-Gained loyalty of junkers, the Prussian nobles, by giving them positions in government and this
helped unify Prussia.
-Placed great emphasis on his military
-Frederick William I’s son, Frederick II, liked poetry and the flute.
-FWI hated it and treated son badly
-Fredrick II tried to flee the country with a companion
-Companion beheaded in front of FII and he was forced into solitary with harsh military training.
-1740, Fredrick II becomes king
-Seizes Silesia from Austria, starting the war of Austrian Succession.
-He commanded a powerful army, known as Fredrick the Great.
Russian Absoulute Monarchy
-1682, Peter Romanov (Peter the Great) took throne at 10 yr. old.
-Curious kid, wandered the German quarter learning about European technology
-1697, travels to Europe to learn and hoping to advance his country
-Comes back to Russia with experts to help him Westernize the country
-Sought to expand Russia’s borders, strengthen the military, and centralize power.
-He took control of all institutions, including Orthodox Church
-Force the boyars, landowning Russian nobles, to serve the state in military or government.
- Mixed of sexes at social events and made men shave beards. (Called the barber king)
-Forcefully modernized Russia through bettering infrastructure and education
-Those who revolted were executed, corpses hung outside the palace for months
-Created the largest standing army in Europe
-Russian needed warm water port….to attain it, waged war on the Ottoman Empire to a port on
the Black Sea….unsuccessful until Catherine the Great.
-Waged war with Sweden, succeeded and attained coastal lands on the Baltic Sea…builds St.
Petersburg
-Access to the Pacific Ocean with treaty with Qing China…Manchuria
-Bering Strait explored, Russians settle Alaska
-Peter the Great dies in 1725
Catherine the Great
-Next monarch after Peter the Great to firmly assert power of the monarchy over the nobles
-1762, gains power through the murder of Tsar Peter III, military coup to put her in power.
-Embraced education and western ideas
-More peasants forced into serfdom
-1770s, Catherine attained lands from a weak state of Poland. Russian takes a large part of
Eastern Poland; the rest is split between Prussia and Austria.