 Seen as backward, no warm water ports, little trade, undeveloped resources
 1613: Boyars (nobles) elect Michael Romanov as Tsar.
 Streltsy (Moscow garrison) have some control as well.

• Streltsy install Peter as Tsar
• Power struggle between,
Sophia, streltsy and Peter.
• Four goals = 1) tame boyars and streltsy, 2)control of church, 3)reorganize gov.,
4)develop the economy

• Impressed by the West so enforces new customs
• 1697 Visited Western Europe in disguise to inspect shipyards, docks and military
“factories”, and to seek help vs. Turks
• 1703 Relocates capital at St. Petersburg

• 1698 streltsy rebel; 1,200 put to death
• In 1722 published the Table of Ranks that says privilege and social position are now from from rank in army and bureaucracy
• Clergy opposed westernization; 1721 replaced patriarch with a synod, no monks under 50

• Created “colleges” that dealt with foreign affairs, war and economy
• 1711 creates a nine-member senate to rule while he was away
• Needed a bureaucracy to collect taxes for military spending

• Fought the Ottoman Empire
• Fought Sweden in the Great Northern War
(1700-1721); Peace of Nystad grants control of
Estonia, Livonia and Finland and warm-water ports.
____________________________________
• 1725 dies with no heir. Chaos ensues.

• After 1648 Habsburgs still have title of H.R.E.
• Needed control of other territories
• 1714 gain control of Spanish Netherlands after
War of Spanish Succession

• ethnic and religious diversity of Empire
• legal diversity of claims
• established central councils but regional

• Leopold I (1658-1705): resists Turks and Louis
XIV in Nine Years’ War, extends territory on the Balkans
• Pragmatic Sanction = legal doc. That allows hereditary succession of H.R.E.
• Maria Theresa (1740-1780) left without a strong army or treasury, has to elevate
Hungary b/c War of Austrian Succession

• Hohenzollern family ruled Brandenburg, East
Prussia and other territories (2 nd only to
Habsburgs)
• Frederick William aka the Great Elector (1640-
1688) broke the medieval parliaments, organized royal bureaucracy, and built a strong army
• Gave Junkers control over their serfs, tax collecting power, and military prestige

• Frederick I (1688-1713) receives crown from
H.R.E. Leopold I for help in War of Spanish
Succession.
• Frederick William I (1713-1740) militarized the bureaucracy and expanded the military, made the officer corps the highest social class
• Frederick II (1740-1786) invades Austria and consolidates Germany

The War of the Austrian Succession: (1740-1748)
• Prussia seizes the Austrian province of Silesia with France supporting Prussia. Britain comes to Austria’s aid to keep
Belgium Austrian
• Prussia becomes head of a powerful German state
• Ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
The Seven Years War: (1756-1763)
• Prussia invades Saxony. France, Austria, Sweden, Russia and other German states oppose while Britain aids.
• Britain takes over France’s colonies in Canada and Prussia becomes a great continental power.