FC.101 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT STATE Feudalism (FC.41.2) Abs. monarchs who use...

FC.101 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT STATEFeudalism (FC.41.2)

Abs. monarchs who use mercantilism to dev. econ. Bigger

tax base (FC.94)

Prot. Ref. Idea all believers are equal Discredits Divine Right of Kings (FC.84)

Rise of towns (FC.64) Rise of kings (FC.68)

Dutch revolt vs. Sp. (FC.87) English Revolution (FC.96)

Locke’s idea that kings are responsible for their subjects’ welfare (FC.85.2)


tax base (FC.94)

French Revolution (FC.105)

Politically & culturally fragmented realm, but still unified in theory by loyalty to the same king

Problems of mod. admin. imposed on feudal structure:

Growing awareness of relation b/w admin., econ., & polit. factors

Public works (roads, bridges, etc.) to improve the economy

Better trained officials who take civil service exams to get jobs

Privileged tax-exempt nobles

Heredit. kings are often incompetent

Feudal dues burden peasants

At first done for benefit of the king

Idea emerges that state was working for the benefit of the people

People expected more & more state services





Prot. Ref. Idea all believers are equal

Discredits?





A

Two revolts or revolutions that especially discredited DRK?







A

John Locke’s idea about kings?







A

Abs. monarchs’

econ. policy & their motive?

Abs. monarchs’

econ. policy & their motive?



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)




Growing awareness of relation b/w?



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)




Better trained officials who take civil service exams to get jobsHow did they

improve govt?



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)





How did they improve the economy?



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)





FC.103A THE POTATO AND ITS IMPACTPizarro’s men rely on potato to

survive while returning from Peru & bring it to Europe (FC 81)

FC.103A THE POTATO AND ITS IMPACTPizarro’s men rely on potato to

survive while returning from Peru & bring it to Europe (FC 81)

The potato could supply 3-4X the calories per acre than a grain crop and most of the nutrients a person needs.

Potato can flourish in damp cool climate of NW Eur & produce 2-4X

calories/acre as grain crops

It’s also funny…

…and gross.

FC.103A THE POTATO AND ITS IMPACTPotato can flourish in damp cool

climate of NW Eur & produce 2-4X calories/acre as grain crops

Pizarro’s men rely on potato to survive while returning from Peru &

bring it to Europe (FC 81)

It required more work (I.e.,hoeing) than grains

Its appearance-> Fear it caused leprosy

Initial resistance because:








Potato spreads slowly to only a few places, such as N. Italy & just as a garden crop at 1st









Peasants on Spanish Road along Rhine b/w Italy & Neth’s plant potatoes underground

FC.103A THE POTATO AND ITS IMPACT

Thirty Yrs War -> Armies strip

peasants of their grain (FC. 88)



Religious Wars-> Armies strip























Foraging soldiers don’t find or want potatoes
















Peasants survive devastation of Relig. wars













Louis XIV’s Wars devastate much of Ger. (FC. 95)















Potato agriculture spreads further across Germany























1734- Prince Fred. of Prussia, who had developed interest in agriculture while supervising royal estates, notices peasants farming potatoes during siege of Philippsburg on the Rhine





















1740- Frederick, now Frederick II, orders Prussian peasants to farm potatoes in fallow fields














7 Years War devastates Prussia (FC.103)

































Prussian peasants survive the war despites its destruction

























Potato cultivation spreads to France, Austria, & Russia
















Ability to sustain huge armies of

French Rev. Wars(FC.105C)


Napoleonic wars (FC.106)








































Further spread of potato across N. Eur. during 1800s






















Pop. growth needed to sustain workforce of Industr. Rev. & its cities (FC.111)









Further spread of potato across N. Eur. during 1800s











Peasants adopt potato as supplementary crop

Marauding soldiers leave potatoes alone because they’re “gross” &/or too much work

to dig up

Peasants survive horrible wars of 17th & 18th centuries

Potato’s high calorie content can support huge armies of Fr. Rev. &

Napoleonic wars

Potato’s high calorie content can support huge urban growth of

indust. Rev.



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)








Feudal dues burden peasantsTax

structure?



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)








Feudal dues burden peasantsProblem

w/heredit. Kings?



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)








Feudal dues burden peasantsWhat esp. burdened peasants?



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)











tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)









At first for whose benefit were these

reforms done?



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)










People saw it done for whom?



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)











1600s- Absolute monarchs whose rule is justified by Divine right-> King is only accountable to God

1700s- Enlightened despots whose rule is justified by their merit-> accountable to & for the welfare of the people they rule

People expected?



tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)















?





tax base (FC.94)






tax base (FC.94)













(Clockwise from top left) Frederick II of Prussia, George II of England, Louis XV of France, and Maria Theresa of Austria

Joseph II of Austria

Louis XV of FranceMaria Theresa of

Austria

Frederick the Great of Prussia

FC.91 THE RISE OF BRANDENBURG-PRUSSIA (1640-88)

Basis for Prussia’s eventual unification of Germany (FC.121)

Postal system to connect his lands

& make $

Encourages new crops, ag. tech’s & immigration,

Opportunistic foreign policy of switching sides

Peacetime army builds roads, canals, etc.

Measures to build Br-Pr’s econ.Measures to unify & defend Br-Pr:

Br-Pr the only Eur. state to ally w/its nobles & use them in service to state

Tradition of efficient milit. & govt. run by nobles w/strong civic spirit

Use bureaucracy & army to enforce its will

State demands taxes to increase mil. & bureauc.

Foundations of absolutism in

Br.-Prussia

Mercenaries, but also peasant recruits Cheap &

loyal trained reserve

Nobles as officers & bur’s, giving them pay, status, &

power over serfs

Fr-Wm concentrates on building his army using:

By 1688 Br-Pr has preserved & even expanded its borders

By 1688 Br-Pr’s pop. has recovered & its tax rev has grown 25X

Thirty Years War devastates Ger., esp. Brandenburg-Prussia which lost up to 60% of its population (FC.88)

Brand. & Prussia separated by Polish

territory

Destruction from Thirty Years War

Strong neighbors using Brand-Pr as

a battleground

Poor soil & few natural

resources

Unruly & powerful nobles & rebellious

army

Frederick-William Hohenzollern, “The Great Elector” (1640-88) faces many problems:

“Packhorse” of the State: Frederick II of Prussia

Prussia was the state that most people saw as the epitome of the enlightened despotate. To a large extent, poverty built the Prussian state of the 1700's. It created a tightly run and loyal officer class by forcing impoverished nobles into service to the state. It also forced Prussia's rulers to adopt the tight-fisted economic measures that became the basis of Prussian discipline and regimentation into this century.

Prussia was the state that most people saw as the epitome of the enlightened despotate. To a large extent, poverty built the Prussian state of the 1700's. It created a tightly run and loyal officer class by forcing impoverished nobles into service to the state. It also forced Prussia's rulers to adopt the tight-fisted economic measures that became the basis of Prussian discipline and regimentation into this century. At the center of this was Frederick II himself, whose incredible energy, drive, and intelligence surpassed those of any other ministers and rulers of the day. Frederick clearly saw the interdependence of foreign, domestic, military, and financial affairs and was determined to direct all these affairs personally. Therefore, he served as his own foreign minister, finance minister, and general staff. (He even scouted enemy positions by himself, much to the worry of his officers.)

Frederick’s day started at 4AM, although he hated it. If he wouldn’t wake up, he told his servants to throw a cloth soaked in cold water on his head. If, out of pity, they let him sleep, he would put them in the army. Frederick, like his father, suffered from a chronic stomach illness and was in constant pain, but hardly mentioned it. He also had little patience with others complaining of sickness, since he drove himself so relentlessly. His court at Potsdam had neither family, court etiquette, religious holidays, nor other distractions to impair the government's efficiency.

Frederick’s day started at 4AM, although he hated it. If he wouldn’t wake up, he told his servants to throw a cloth soaked in cold water on his head. If, out of pity, they let him sleep, he would put them in the army. Frederick, like his father, suffered from a chronic stomach illness and was in constant pain, but hardly mentioned it. He also had little patience with others complaining of sickness, since he drove himself so relentlessly. His court at Potsdam had neither family, court etiquette, religious holidays, nor other distractions to impair the government's efficiency.

The court and government resembled a barrack and were run with military precision. Similarly, he had no time for fancy uniforms, usually being dressed in a dirty and shabby uniform. His one luxury was a collection of 1500 snuffboxes, all of them full, which proved a torture for the English ambassador who was allergic and sneezed constantly. Below: Frederick scolding his nephew for bothering his work.

Once out of bed, Frederick composed music while his hair was curled. He also practiced the flute at least four times a day, claiming that was when political ideas came to him. Frederick was an accomplished composer, whose compositions are still performed and recorded.

After that he examined his mail. The king had a vast knowledge of coats of arms, so he could save time by throwing the letters of people who bored him into the fire unopened. Personal friends' letters he answered personally, the rest going into one of three baskets: granted, refused, or consult further on it. At breakfast, the royal secretary came for the letters, for each of which Frederick gave a summarized answer in one sentence. There were three secretaries who had to have all the letters ready by 4PM.

At 10AM the king either directed military exercises, wrote personal letters, or walked in his garden with a book. His constant companions were two or three Italian greyhounds, who even slept on his bed with him. It was one of these dogs he named after the French king’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour, arousing so much ire in the woman that it helped lead to the Seven Years War.

The young Frederick soon after coming to the throne

The king would then dine at noon with various writers, wits, and soldiers. Despite his stomach condition, he liked highly spiced food and drank lots of coffee and champagne. This would last until 3 PM, unless it was sunny (which he loved), in which case he would bolt his food so he could go for his afternoon walk. Frederick’s walks were not popular with those who attended since he liked to amuse himself at their expense.

From 3PM to 10PM, Frederick was engaged in administrative work. After that came supper and then a concert. Besides being a composer, Frederick was also a good flautist, but had erratic timing, making it hard to accompany him. One of his personal highlights was when the composer Johann Sebastian Bach visited him.

For a brief time, Voltaire stayed with Frederick at his Sans Souci palace. However the huge intellects and egos of the two men led to a falling out. Frederick claimed he had squeezed the juice from the orange and thrown away the peel, apparently meaning he got all the wisdom he needed from Voltaire before kicking him out.

Voltaire later got his revenge in Candide by describing the abuses of the Prussian army, thinly disguised as the Bulgarian army.

Frederick’s governmentUnlike the rest of Europe, where most public offices were either bought or inherited, Prussia required all of its civil servants to earn their positions by passing a civil service exam. Most candidates had a college education in jurisprudence and government management. All of them, regardless of class, also had to spend one to two years on a royal farm to familiarize themselves with the various aspects of agriculture, in particular the new scientific agricultural techniques being developed and the issues of lord-serf relations.

At the provincial level, there were 15 provincial chambers, each with 15 to 20 members. Since the members were responsible for each other's actions, there was little corruption at this level. The provincial chambers had two main duties: to collect taxes; and stimulate the economy to raise the tax base. In true mercantilist spirit, they had sandy wastes reclaimed, swamps drained, and new settlements founded. They went to England and Holland to study commercial and agricultural methods there, sought out markets for Prussian goods, and arrested any vagabonds they found, since laziness and indolence were public offenses in Prussia.

At the local level there were the steurrat and landrat, who administered towns and rural affairs respectively. The steuerrat ruled from 6 to 10 towns, and left them little in the way of home rule. In addition to collecting taxes, he fixed food prices, enforced government decrees, regulated the guilds, and kept the garrison properly housed

The landrat had much the same duties in the countryside, but was not so closely supervised by the central government, largely because the king had too little money to closely control the Junkers (nobles). The landrat was always a local noble and estate owner and was elected to his position by his fellow Junkers as often as he was appointed by the king. The landrat exercised all the functions of local government: tax collecting, administering justice, maintaining public order, and conscripting recruits for the army. As long as he did his job and did not abuse the peasants too severely, the central government largely left him alone.

Frederick had little faith in either his troops or bureaucracy and subjected them to severe surveillance and discipline to make sure they did their jobs. Royal agents, known as fiscals, combined the duties of spies and prosecuting attorneys to keep the bureaucrats in line. Any examples of corruption led to immediate dismissal. Civil servants had virtually no civil rights (including that of a trial) and have been described as the "galley slaves" of the state.

Even with the fiscals, Frederick felt he needed better information about his government and kingdom. Therefore, he had subordinates report to him about their superiors. He also made an annual tour of the kingdom from May to August, personally examining officials, interviewing private citizens, inspecting local conditions, and gathering immense amounts of information. There were few things of importance that escaped Frederick's notice for long.

In the spirit of the enlightened mercantilist despot, Frederick abolished torture, cruel military discipline, censorship, and public penance for unwed mothers. He provided state relief to war torn or famine stricken areas. By the end of his reign, his hard work had borne results, including: • 213 new villages in Silesia • 264 industries producing tobacco, porcelain, sugar salt, starch, and wool • Banks to support those industries • Pop. growth of 1.1million

However, all that came at a price for Frederick’s subjects as well as for him personally, since peasants paid twice the taxes as their French counterparts and even orphans were put to work.

Austria

The Hapsburg Empire may have been an absolute monarchy, but it was a far cry from being a unified state. The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) especially pointed out the need to organize an administration such as Richelieu and Frederick William the Great Elector had done for their respective states a century earlier.

The central government in Vienna had a number of governing bodies whose functions overlapped, which led to great confusion. A full one-third or more of all taxes collected never made it to Vienna, so no effective budget could be made. Local government consisted of noble estates (assemblies) that granted or refused the central government its taxes.

Nobles in Hungary owned 80% of the land and paid no taxes, leaving the full tax burden to the peasants. The nobles also maintained jurisdiction over the peasants on their lands. It was this mess that Maria Theresa’s minister, Count Haugwitz, set out to clean up. He did it at the central, provincial, and local levels. The central government was streamlined into five ministries: foreign affairs, commerce, war, justice, and internal affairs. Typical of the prevailing mercantilist philosophy of the day, the minister of finance was deemed most important in both France and Austria.

At the provincial level, an administrative board known as the gubernium largely replaced the power of the noble estates. In 1748, after the disasters of the War of the Austrian Succession, the estates recognized the need to reform the state and granted ten years worth of taxes to the central government. This meant that the empress could rule without the estates for the next decade.

As the nobles’ power withered, that of the gubernium increased. Thus the feudal estates were gradually replaced by a more modern system. Another important principle that took over here was that of the separation of powers within a government, specifically between the courts and the executive/legislative branches. This principle was pushed by the French philosophe, Montesquieu, and has remained an important part of the modern state down to this day.

At the local level, a Hapsburg official, the kreishauptmann, interfered more and more in the affairs traditionally left to the noble estates. The more such officials became involved in the daily affairs of the peasants, the more concerned they and the Hapsburgs were for their welfare and their ability to pay taxes. Therefore, the kreishauptmann became the virtual champion of the peasants against the nobles, preventing them from evicting peasants and taking their lands or forcing them to do extra servile labor.

Maria Theresa's government also effected a major fiscal reform to raise revenue. Even nobles and clergy had to pay regular property and income taxes. This distributed the tax load more evenly, but there were still gross inequities. The average peasant still paid twice the taxes that a noble paid. And Bohemia was liable for twice the taxes that Hungary was. Still, her reforms were a giant step forward for the Austrian Empire, and her system remained the basis for Hapsburg administration to the end of the empire in 1918.

Maria Theresa's son, Joseph I, carried the spirit of enlightened rule even further than she had. He was an enlightened ruler who was determined to use his power to make his people live according to enlightened principles whether they liked it or not. Joseph's reforms cut across the whole spectrum of the Hapsburg state and society.

Maria Theresa's son, Joseph I, carried the spirit of enlightened rule even further than she had. He was an enlightened ruler who was determined to use his power to make his people live according to enlightened principles whether they liked it or not. Joseph's reforms cut across the whole spectrum of the Hapsburg state and society.

In the judicial realm, he had the laws codified, tried to get speedier and fairer trials presided over by trained judges, and outlawed torture, mutilation, and the death penalty. He ordered toleration for both Protestants and Jews and legalized interfaith marriages. Along the same lines, he relaxed censorship, restricting it only to works of pornography, atheism, and what he deemed superstition.

Joseph was a devout Catholic, but saw the Church as a virtual department of state that needed some house cleaning. Therefore, in 1781 he closed down many monasteries or converted them into hospitals and orphanages. He also required a loyalty oath from the clergy to ensure tighter control of the Church. He controlled and encouraged education, especially for the purpose of producing trained civil servants. Through a combination of incentives for families who sent their sons to school and punishments for those who did not, Austria under Joseph had a higher percentage of children in school than any other state in Europe. As an enlightened despot, Joseph took measures to ensure the morality of society, but in enlightened ways. Instead of the harsh punishments normally inflicted on prostitutes, Joseph just had their heads shaved and made them sweep the streets.

Joseph's reforms extended to trying to make his subjects' lives easier. Although he failed to abolish serfdom, he did get the number of days per week that peasants had to work for their lords reduced from four to three and evened out the tax burden paid by peasants and nobles. He tried to encourage trade and industry through high protective tariffs, tax relief, subsidies, loans, and the building of roads and canals. He rewarded immigrants, but severely punished those trying to emigrate from his empire. Sometimes, his decrees could interfere with the minutest aspects of people's lives, such as encouraging peasants to mix vinegar with their water and forbidding them to drink the muddy water of the Danube or to eat gingerbread (as if we could catch one of those critters).

By his death, Joseph had increased his empire's revenues from 66 million to 87 million florins, while virtually tripling the size of his army. Unfortunately, no amount of reform probably could have solved the Empire's most serious problem: the large number of different nationalities and cultures forcibly held under Hapsburg rule. Although there were attempts to impose German language and culture throughout the Empire, in the long run, the Hapsburg Empire was a virtual time bomb of nationalities waiting to explode and fragment into different states.Below: Vienna General Hospital. Patients were billed on a progressive sliding scale based on how much they could afford.

France under Louis XV may at first glance have seemed like a strongly unified state. But it had serious problems at the center of government. First of all, the court at Versailles with its petty intrigues stifled the work of most capable officials. Instead of tending to their appointed duties, officials spent more time defending their positions at court. Under Louis XV there were 18 foreign secretaries and 14 controller generals, most of them eventually ruined by palace intrigue. Their average terms of office were between two and three years. At the center of this was the king, Louis, who was a somewhat intelligent, but weak-willed and disinterested man who let others run the government for him.

Another problem for the central government was the intense competition between the council of state (with whom the king made laws and policy) and the various ministers (justice, finance, war, navy, foreign affairs, and the king's household) who carried out, but often modified the king's policies. Given what court intrigue did to many of the ministers, one can imagine the confusion and lack of direction in France’s central government.

By contrast, the provincial government was fairly efficient. The main figures here were the intendants that ran the 32 generalites (provinces) set up by Richelieu some 100 years before. They were in charge of tax collection, justice, and policing their provinces, and had a fairly free hand to carry out these duties as they saw fit.

The intendant was the king's agent in the province and was the man most Frenchmen saw as representing royal authority. He also represented the interests of the people to the central government, and the king's ministers and councilors generally respected his opinion.

In contrast to the unfortunate officials close to Versailles, the intendants generally kept their positions for decades, which allowed them to know their territories and peoples more thoroughly and better rule them. Naturally, they were often criticized for being too powerful and corrupt. There certainly was some corruption, but in general, the intendants represented efficient and conscientious government. Unfortunately, nobles, anxious to preserve and regain their ancient prestige, took over more and more intendant positions as the 1700's progressed.

The intendants needed help at the local level. These lower level officials fell into three categories. The first category consisted of feudal officials who had bought or inherited their positions. Such men had little training or care for their work and were a burden to the intendants that were stuck with them. Next, there were subdelegates, who were poorly paid, poorly trained, and also of little use.

Finally, there were what we might call true civil servants. These were specialists (engineers, architects, physicians, etc.) who had to take competitive tests to gain their positions. These were the men who usually carried out the directives of the intendants and kept the French state running. It was these officials who would survive the French Revolution and become the nucleus of the modern French civil service.Below left: old feudal provincesRight: the new generalites that often overlapped two or more feudal provinces, raising questions of jurisdiction that were generally decided in favor of the king and his officials.

Catherine the Great of Russia also strived to be an enlightened despot, at least in appearance. However, Russia was too big and too far behind the West for it to be transformed into an enlightened society overnight. The court, to be sure, reflected the fashions and manners of courts in the rest of Europe. However, this was a mere facade to mask the still medieval nature of the rest of society in the countryside.

Symbolizing this facade was the series of fake villages stocked with healthy prosperous looking peasants that Catherine's prime minister, Potemkin, set up to fool Catherine into thinking her realm was indeed on a par with the West. Unfortunately for Russia, parity with the West was far from the case, and Russia would pay a heavy price for its backwardness in the years to come.

Catherine the Great (1762-96) saw herself as continuing Peter the Great’s westernizing reforms, although they mainly benefited the nobles at the expense of the increasingly enserfed peasants.

Pugachev, the leader of a massive peasant revolt that nearly succeeded, is being taken to his execution. Notice the difference between the modern uniforms of the soldiers and the traditional peasant garb of the driver.

FC.101 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT STATE Feudalism (FC.41.2) Abs. monarchs who use...

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