Absolutism – 1598-1715

Characteristics of Absolutism

• Sovereignty:– Sole control over instruments of justice– no competitors for the use of force (i.e. permanent standing armies)

• Sovereignty embodied in the person of the ruler– “divine right”

• State bureaucracies for the direction of the economic life of the country in the interests of the king

Absolutism in France

• Louis XIII – – Allowed Cardinal Richelieu to guide policy

– eliminated the power of nobles and of Huguenots

– Lessened the power of the Hapsburgs of Austria and Spain (30 Years War

Absolutism in France• Louis XIV – The “Sun King”

– Used the palace at Versailles to awe his subjects and foreign dignitaries, and control French nobles

– Imposed a unified and centralized system of administration on the country

– Governed without the Estates General

– Utilized a secret police, informers, and the reading of private mail

Absolutism in France• Results of the reign of Louis XIV

– economic decline and national debt

• Expenses of Versailles

• Revoked Edict of Nantes

• Unsuccessful Wars–Ex: the War of Spanish Succession

Absolutism - Prussia

• Frederick William the Great Elector– Built a large army

– Prussian nobles (Junkers) served as officers

– Used the army to control the citizens

– 1701 – Fredericks son recognized as a king

Absolutism -- Russia• Peter Romanov – Peter the Great

- Primary goal was to “westernize” Russia

- Forced western clothing and etiquette on Russian nobles (boyars)

- Introduced a newspaper to indoctrinate the public

- Hired Prussian generals to train his army

- Built St Petersburg as his “window on the west”