Overview
In the 1500s and 1600s, several
rulers in Asia and Europe sough to
centralize their political power.
Claiming divine right, or authority
from God, leaders such as Philip II
in Spain and Louis XIV in France
gained complete authority over
their governments and their
subjects.
England resisted the establishment of absolutism. After a civil
war, England’s Parliament enacted a Bill of Rights that limited
the English monarch’s powers.
Overview
Main Ideas:
• Monarchs acted to establish
absolute power
• Monarchs used the divine right
theory and similar ideas to justify
their power
• Parliament and the Puritans in
England resisted absolutism
• A limited monarchy was
established in England
Map of states under Absolutism
Thomas Hobbes (1588 –1679)
Believed
• “Man is selfish &
wicked”
• Absolutism
• Social Contract= People
hand over rights to a
strong ruler
• agreement between
society & its govt.
Thomas Hobbes saw Society as a giant machine (perpetually
in motion), thus the title of his great work, The Leviathan,
which is founded on Mechanics (the Motion of Bodies /
Matter). In Leviathan, Hobbes argues that the natural state of
man (without any civil government) is war,
... the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. ... The condition of man ... is a
condition of war of everyone against everyone.
According to Hobbes, man in the state of nature seeks nothing but his own selfish
pleasure, but such individualism naturally leads to a war in which every man's hand is
against his neighbour. In pure self-interest and for self-preservation men entered into a
compact by which they agreed to surrender part of their natural freedom to an absolute
ruler in order to preserve the rest. The State determines what is just and unjust, right
and wrong; and the strong arm of the law provides the ultimate sanction for right
conduct.
John Locke (1632 – 1704)
Believed
• “Man can learn & improve
themselves”
• Against Absolutism
• People can overturn a bad
government
• People have the power to
form a govt.
• People are born w/natural
rights!
Life
Liberty
Property
System of government
•King or Queen has
complete control over
government & its people
Autocracy
Centralized Government
Nation states
•Monarchs based their
claim on Divine Right
Authority comes from God
Similar to “Mandate of Heaven”
•Monarchs are “Above the Law”
•Common features- Strong
armies,limited representative bodies,
high taxes
Breakdown of Feudalism/ Rise
of Nation states
Continuous Warfare
Need for money
Exploration
Declining influence of the church
Regulation of Religion
& society
Loss of power by
nobility & legislatures
New government
Bureaucracies
Huge building projects
The Hapsburg
Monarchy
1556 Holy Roman
Emperor Charles V
divides empire
Son Phillip II rules
Spain, Netherlands
& Italy
Promoted “Golden age of Spain”
•Wealth from colonies
helped buildup military
•Defender of Catholicism
1588-Spanish Armada
defeated by England
(Elizabeth I)
 1600’s Spain power declines
Financial problems
The Bourbon Monarchy
•Henry IV increases
power of Govt. &
decreases power of nobility
•Louis the XIII strengthens
& builds up military
Cardinal Richelieu
subdues nobles &
Huguenots
Known as “The Sun King”
Ruled for 72 years
•Mercantilist policies
•Built the strongest army in
Europe
•Expanded bureaucracy
•Never called the Estates General
•Persecuted the Huguenots
French Protestants
•Built Lavish palace @ Versailles
“Gilded Cage” for nobility
His successors inherited enormous
debts (costly Wars & extravagance)
1480 Russian rulers
drive Mongols out
•Early Czars Ivan III &
Ivan IV (Terrible) used
harsh methods to unify
Russia & strengthen
Monarchy
•1613 Michael Romanov
begins Romanov Dynasty
•Grand Embassy tour
Toured Europe
learning new technologies
•Westernization/Modernization
•Introduced western ideas
•Laws, technology, culture
•Built largest army
in Europe
Won territory
along the Baltic Sea
St. Petersburg becomes
“Window to the West”
Major trading port & new
capital
Centralized
power
Reduced power
of the nobility
Brought
Orthodox Church
under his control
1215 King John forced to sign
Magna Carta
Limited King’s powers
1295 Edward I establishes
Model Parliament
Lawmaking body
House of Lords & House of
Commons
Parliament
successfully blocked
attempted shifts to
absolute rule
The Tudor
Monarchs(1485-1603)
generally worked well w/
Parliament
Ex. Henry VIII &
Elizabeth I
Had absolutist
tendencies (Strong belief
in Divine Right)
James I & son Charles
I Consistently clashed
with Parliament over
finance & foreign policy
Angered Puritans
Known as the Puritan
Revolution (1643)
Charles’s Cavaliers vs.
Roundheads led by
Oliver Cromwell
Charles I is overthrown
by forces loyal to
Parliament
beheaded in 1649
England became a Republic
called the Commonwealth
At first Cromwell & Parliament
share power
•1653 Cromwell assumes Title of
Lord Protector & rules as a
dictator
Cromwell brutally put down
revolts in Ireland & Scotland
(Genocide)
•Upon Cromwell’s death, Parliament
restores Stuart Monarchy to throne
•Charles II & James II became
unpopular due to absolutist policies
•Parliament fears return of
Catholicism(James II)
•Parliament overthrows James II
& asks William & Mary to
assume throne (Glorious Revolution)
1688-William & Mary
forced to sign English Bill
of Rights is signed
Guarantees Parliament’s
superiority over the
Monarchy
 England becomes a
Limited Monarchy
(Remains today)