Absolutism in Central & Eastern Europe to

1740Chapter 17

OverviewEastern Euro and much of central Euro differed in significant ways from western Euro in the 16th & 17th C – differences that remain important to this day. econ & pol changes in western Euro ultimately were providing ordinary

people with greater personal freedom and opportunity, Eastern Euro serfdom not only was continuing but in fact was

becoming more and more the bedrock of society. o eastern Euro societies remained rural and agricultural, o with a relatively small merchant class.

Four powerful states emerged: Austria Prussia Russia the Ottoman Empire While the monarchs in Austria and Prussia adopted western Euro models, the Russian & Ottoman rulers were seen by other Euro as despotic and even fanatic.

All 4 empires, which were frequently at war with each other, lasted until WWI.

AP Tip The fact that these 4 autocratic states survived up until WWI w/o becoming constitutional monarchies had major consequences in the 20th C. The Russian Revolution, Nazism, and WWI & WWII were outgrowths, directly or indirectly, of the institutions and traditions estab in eastern Euro in the 17th C and 18th C.

au·toc·ra·cy1.A system of government by one person with absolute power.2.A regime based on such a principle of government.

Key Concepts While serfdom was disappearing in the West, it reappeared

& became more entrenched in the East. Peasants’ uprisings sought relief from harsh conditions

The Thirty Years’ War finally resolved religious conflicts in the Holy Roman Empire but delayed the unification of a German state for another 200 yrs. The war was devastating to both the German population & their econ.

Prussia developed an absolutist gov. that was highly efficient and devoted to militaristic values. Both its effective admin structure & its well-trained army would help it become the dominant state in central Euro

Austria under the Habsburgs developed into an absolutist state, conquered important territories such as Hungary from the Ottomans, & made Vienna a center of Euro culture.

Key Concepts Continued

Russia developed into an absolute state under the Romanovs, the princes of Muscovy. The Russian tsars expanded the territory under their control thru conquest and warfare, and were closely associated with the Russian Orthodox Church. The most transformative tsar, Peter the Great, modernized and westernized Russia, expanded the empire, and built a splendid new capital city in the early 18th C.

The Ottoman Empire was estab in what is now Turkey when it defeated the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 and took over Constantinople. Its emperor, the sultan, was both a secular and religious ruler as head of the Muslim community. The Ottomans conquered the Balkans, North Africa, and the Middle East, acquiring an empire filled with religious and ethnic minorities who were given religious toleration and some legal rights.

AP TipWhile Absolute monarchs in western and eastern Euro built similarly splendid palaces and had similar goals of aggrandizement of personal power, there were important and long-lasting differences in the social classes the monarchs used for this purpose. The merchant and manufacturing classes were given important roles in France, but were excluded from power, by and large, in the Austrian, Prussian and Russian states, which all relied on their aristocracies instead.

Warfare & Social Change

The rise of serfdomo Central & eastern Euro regained control of the peasants and

re-imposed serfdom• After the Black Death the East and West diverged

• Commoners won econ/personal freedoms in the West• Landlords won control in the East

• Peasants lost freedom of movement in Prussia & Russia• Land taken• Labor obligations to landlords increased - up to 6 day a week w/no

pay

• Weak monarchies – no royal justice to offset the landlords’ control over the legal system

• Hereditary serfdom after 1500 became the legal norm.• Polish nobles were granted complete control

• Legal right to impose capital punishment 1574

• Estate agriculture – large plantations, profitable

AP Tip There is a useful parallel here between Russia and the US. Both developed large plantation agriculture, both used forms of unpaid labor (serfdom and chattel slavery) and both liberated that population in the 1860s. This freeing up of their econ is part of the reason that both states rose to become major powers in the 20th C.

The Thirty Years’ War 1618-1648

The Peace of Augsburg 1555 Temp solution of the religious conflict in the Holy Roman

Empire Spread of Calvinism & changes in religions in several

member states, stirred religious tensions again.o Catholics & Lutherans felt underminedo Catholics & Protestants each formed a league in the early 17th C

War 1618 – Defenestration of Prague Bohemian Protestants threw 2 reps of their new Catholic king,

Ferdinand of Styria, later Holy Roman Emperor, out the window of a Prague castle

(Defenestration is the act of throwing someone out of a window)

AP TipThere were several Defenestrations of Prague, this one in 1618 and another in 1948 when Jan Masaryk fell or was thrown out of a window in protest against the estab of a Soviet-dominated communist gov in Czechoslovakia

4 Phases of The 30 years’ War

1st Phase - Bohemian phase Civil War over Bohemian religion & independence Battle of White Mountain 1620

o Ended with the defeat of Czech nationalism and Protestantism.

2nd Phase – Danish phase Protestant King of Denmark aide the Protestant forces, Generally the Catholics had the advantage – The HRE

reinstated Catholic rights Wallenstein – Catholic leader – divisive3rd Phase – Swedish phase Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden

o Subsidized by Cardinal Richelieu o Supported the Protestant forces and ended the Habsburg dream of

uniting the German states under one authorityo Battlefield death 1632, led France to intervene on the Protestant side

Battle of White Mountain(Nov. 8, 1620)

Battle fought near Prague in Bohemia. The battle marked the first major victory of the Roman Catholic Habsburgs over the Protestant Union, a military alliance among the Protestant states of Germany, in the Thirty Years' War (1618–48). The victory enabled the house of Habsburg to end constitutional rule in Bohemia and its neighbours and to establish an authoritarian government that survived for three centuries, until the reconstruction of central Europe following World War I.

The army raised by the Bohemian rebels and their allies after 1618 achieved initial success, especially after Frederick V, elector Palatine of the Rhine, accepted their offer of the Bohemian crown. In 1620, however, the combined forces of the German Catholic League and of the Holy Roman emperor and king of Bohemia Ferdinand II, under Johann Tserclaes, count von Tilly, gradually drove them back toward Prague. Christian of Anhalt, Frederick's principal adviser and one of his military commanders, decided to make a stand on White Mountain, hoping that his opponents would not dare to attack in winter. He miscalculated: in just one hour Tilly's forces, which included many notable Catholics (such as the future philosopher René Descartes), routed Christian's men. Prague fell at once, soon followed by the rest of the areas in revolt.

Ferdinand at once had the rebel leaders tried and executed, confiscated the lands of all their supporters, expelled all Protestants, and abolished the constitution. In 1627 he issued a “new constitution,” which created an authoritarian government that lasted until 1918, when Czechoslovakia was formed out of Bohemia and adjoining regions. He imposed similar measures on Bohemia's allies in the rebellion against him: Austria, Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia.

Catholics all over Europe celebrated the victory. In Prague, Ferdinand laid the foundations of the monastery that still stands on the battleground, and he erected a victory column in the heart of the city, which Czech patriots saw as a symbol of Habsburg tyranny and tore down after 1918.

Religion/politics/culture

4 Phases of The 30 Years’ WarFrench or international phase

The Peace of Westphalia 1648• Protestants won important victories• Restricted the role of the Papacy • Confirmed the Peace of Augsburg – rights extended to Calvinists.• Princes of the HRE were confirmed in the Calvinist’s power

• Prevented a centralized gov

• Dutch & Swiss independence• Sweden got some of German territory• France got Alsace

Effects of The 30 Years’ Waro Most destructive war up to the 20th Co Death of 1/3 of population & 2/5 of the peasants w/n Holy Roman Empire

• Warfare• Refugees• Disease

o Agriculture, livestock, commerce • Rapid decline

o Price revolution – inflation• Influx of Spanish silver

o Nobles were able to expand their estates and enforce serfdom

The Rise of Austria & Prussia

Absolutism in the Easto Aided by The 30 Years’ Waro Monarchs trade pol power for econ power with nobles

• Kings won the right to impose taxes w/o the consent of the nobles• Paid for permanent armies• In exchange noble had unlimited authority over their serfs

o Austria• Hapsburgs recognized that the Holy Roman Empire would remain

disunified states – turned toward expanding the Austrian kingdom• Bohemia – imposed religious uniformity & diminished Bohemian

estates• Ferdinand III redistributed the defeated Bohemian Protestant lands to

loyal Catholics and foreign mercenaries.• New nobility loyalty to the Habsburgs• Estab a permanent standing army

• Robot – serf worked 3 days a week or more

The Rise of Austria & Prussia

Hungaryo Leopold I 1683

• Forced the Ottomans to lift their siege of Vienna• Pushed out of Transylvania & parts of Hungary

• Built the palace of Schonbrunn in Vienna to celebrate victory over Ottomans• Became the model of many palaces

o Nationalism• Hungarian nobles developed nationalistic ideas

• 1703 – rebelled against new overlords • Led by Rakoczy• Habsburgs defeated the Rakoczy rebellion• Nobles did win restoration of privileges – allowed Hungary to remain

somewhat indep of Austrian rule

• Common identity with Habsburgs• Shared Catholicism• Voted to provide funds for the royal army • Began speaking Ger.

AP TipAustria, Russia & the Ottoman Empire, but not Prussia developed into multiethnic, multireligious states in this period. As they expanded from their original heartlands, they conquered peoples of different faiths & nationalities. Each state handled its minorities differently – a factor that would ultimately determine the fate of each empire to a large degree.