Chapter 15
• European monarchs came into conflicts as
they flexed their military might and sought
to satisfy their ambitions through statebuilding, an attempt to increase their own
power and solidify their states.
Statebuilding and War
• Rising Ambitions in Eastern Europe
– New Leadership in Expanding Russia
• The nobility took back some of the authority it had
lost to Peter
– Catherine the Great
• Her family married her to Peter III
• She conspired with officers, who assassinated him
and declared Catherine tsarina of Russia
• She defeated the Turks in 1774
– The Partition of Poland
• Russia, Prussia, and Austria divided Poland
among themselves
Statebuilding and War
• Rising Ambitions in Eastern Europe (Cont.)
– Forging a Military State in Prussia
• Fredrick William I was obsessed with the military
• 70 percent of the state’s budget went to the armed forces
• He required all men to register for military service
– Austria Tries to Hold On
• Austria contained a complex array of language groups
• Austria could barely control Hungary
• Maria Theresa could afford only a relatively small army
Statebuilding and War
– The Midcentury Land Wars
• Fredrick marched his troops into Silesia
• He forged alliances with other German states against Austria
– The Diplomatic Revolution
• Fredrick signed an alliance with Great Britain, and Maria
Theresa solidified a new alliance with France
• The shift of alliances transformed former enemies into friends
• Warfare in the Eighteenth Century
Statebuilding and War
• Western Europe and the Great Colonial Rivalry
– The French Monarchy in Decline
• People criticized Louis XIV for dragging France into foreign
conflicts
• After Louis’s death in 1715, France’s parlements angled for a
restoration of the powers
– Making the British System Work
• House of Lords – nobles, House of Commons – commoners
• Parliament controlled taxation, lawmaking, and the process
for bringing grievances to the monarchy
Statebuilding and War
– Colonies, Trade, and War
• France and Britain fought over colonies, and made
their greatest profits from trade across the Atlantic.
• British colonists’ expansion and resistance from
local tribes, led to savage battles.
– The Triangle of Trade
• Europe, Africa, and the Americas
• Sugar, rum, coffee, and dyestuffs
Statebuilding and War
– The Slave Trade
• Ships from Europe carried manufactured goods
and gin to western Africa and traded them for
slaves
– Fighting on Three Continents
• The War of the Austrian Succession
• The French an Indian War
• The Seven Years War
Chapter 15
• In spite of declining monarchies in Britain and
France, royals in other countries maintained
their authority by justifying their rule in terms of
enlightened absolutism.
– Fredrick the Great
• He knew and spoke the phrases of the Enlightenment
• He initiated codification of the laws, abolished torture, and
ended most capital punishment
– Joseph II
– Style, Substance, or Survival?
• Monarchs found it easier to manifest their “enlightenment” in
style rather than substance
Chapter 15
• Social and economic changes paralleled
the ambitious politics and wars in Western
societies, especially in the countryside,
improving some lives but plunging others
into poverty.
Changes in Country and City Life
• The Agricultural Revolution
– New Crops and Techniques
• In Holland and Britain, farmers began experimenting with
clover, turnips, potatoes, and legumes
• Farmers used new crops to feed livestock, and more cattle
meant more dairy products
– Enclosures
• Landowners enclosed land with fences, hedges, and walls
• Manufacturing Spreads in the Countryside:
Cottage Industry
Changes in Country and City Life
• More People, Longer Lives
– Population Growth
• Europe’s population jumped from approximately 110 million
in 1700 to 190 million in 1800
– Eighteenth-Century Medicine
• Inoculation against smallpox
• They learned to treat soldiers for shock before operating, and
to clean wounds
• Deepening Misery for the Poor
• Prosperity and the Bourgeoisie
Chapter 15
• While aristocratic and royal patronage of
the arts was still crucial, the audiences for
culture expanded as artistic styles and
cultural forms were changing and reflected
a “cult of sensibility.”
The Culture of the Elite: Combining
the Old and the New
• The Advent of the Modern Novel
• Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, Pamela, Virtue Rewarded,
Tom Jones, Evelina, Young Lady’s Entrance
• Pride and Sentiment in Art and Architecture
• Antoine Watteau, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, William Hogarth
• Reaching New Heights in Music
– Baroque Music
• Johann Sebastian Bach created great music for organ,
harpsichord, clavichord, orchestra, and chorus; and wrote 46
operas
• George Fredric Handel wrote instrumental and vocal music
The Culture of the Elite: Combining
the Old and the New
– The Classical Style
• Franz Joseph Haydn wrote more than a hundred
symphonies
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed more than
600 works and excelled in all forms; symphonies,
piano concertos, and operas
• The Grand Tour
Chapter 15
• The lower classes had their own forms of
culture which helped to foster a common
identity and often revolved around religion,
festivals, and oral traditions, although
literacy was rising.
Culture for the Lower Classes
• Festivals and Popular Literature
• Gin and Beer
• All the social classes also engaged in drinking wine, brandy,
gin, or beer.
• Religious Revivals
– Pietism
• Religious revivals spread from community to community
• John Wesley
Chapter 15
• The first major event to upset the social and
political stability of the West took place as
Britian’s North American colonies fought to free
themselves from British rule.
• Insults, Interests, and Principals: The Seeds of
Revolt
– New Commercial Regulations and Taxes
• The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed printed documents such as
newspapers, pamphlets, and wills
Foreshadowing Upheaval: The
American Revolution
• A War for Independence
• The Second Continental Congress appointed
George Washington its military commander
• On July 4, 1776 Congress issued the Declaration
of Independence, written primarily by Thomas
Jefferson
• Treaty of Paris in 1783
• Creating the New Nation
– War for Independence or Revolution?