Absolutism, a how to guide

Absolute Rulers

A How To Guide with examples from Russia…

Causes of Absolutism

Religious and territorial conflict

Armies growing larger to deal with conflicts

Which leads to…

Which leads to…

A need for cash to pay armies.

Where can a ruler get money from?

Absolutism, continued

Taxes! Right Who pays the taxes?

The Peasantry!

So they revolt, which causes more unrest…

And the Monarch takes more and more power to try and keep control. Eventually He/she claims to rule because God says he or she should, and he or she only answers to God…

Meanwhile, all the other monarchsAre taking note of your ever-strengthening military and getting a wee bit worried about what you plan to do with it…

Well, this guy said he WAS the state (L’Etat, C’est Moi), so maybe he didn’t worry about much…

Warfare in Europe

Peace of Westphalia1648Most important from this

treaty is that Europe is now made up of “sovereign” states.

This means that they are independent and equal; This is the origin of the modern nation-states system we live in now.

Sometimes Absolutism comes after a war between sides.

The Thirty Years War is one of these conflicts, where Catholics and Protestants in Germany fight each other for Thirty Years (hence the creative name).

Other states get involved seeking advantages. Ultimately it becomes a European conflict that results in a treaty.

Europe after the Treaty of WestphaliaNot very neat looking, is it? And each has its own monarch, enjoying sole control over his or her territory…what’s likely to happen in the future?

Meanwhile…Russian Absolute Monarchs

Crazy or just “Special”?

Ivan the Terrible

• Not Terrible as in “Bad” but Terrible as in “Ferocious”

• His dad claimed that his mom was a witch and had her put into a nunnery.

• Made Tsar at age 16.• Ruled 1533-1584

Ivan

• Ordered St. Basil’s Cathedral built in Moscow.

• Then he ordered the architect to be blinded so he couldn’t make anything as beautiful ever again.

Ivan

• Contracted a near fatal illness in 1553, but recovered.

• Apparently was left mentally ill.• Waged war against Swedes, Lithuanians, Poles

and Teutonic Knights.• Plague broke out in Russia. 600-1000 died a

day in Moscow, food prices went up by a factor of 10.

Ivan

• Ordered the destruction of Novgorod over a debt the city owed him.

• 1581 Ivan beat his daughter in law for wearing indecent clothing (she was pregnant and lost the baby.

• His son confronted him about it, and in a rage, he smashed his son’s head with a poker. Remaining son who inherited was mentally disabled.

• Ivan died of either poisoning (mercury) or strangulation by a man whose wife he attempted to rape.

Peter the Great

• Stood 6 ft 8 inches tall, but was thin with narrow shoulders and a small head for his body.

• Likely had a form of epilepsy.

• Ruled 1682-1725

Peter the Great

• Became Tsar at 10 years old, with mommy as his regent

• A dispute led to him sharing the throne with his mentally incompetent half-brother

• Peter didn’t really want to be Tsar. He liked to build ships and play with toy soldiers.

• He was forced to marry a woman at 16 whom he hated. After 10 years, he forced her to become a nun.

Peter the Great

• Reformed Russia to become more modern

• Wanted the army to modernize and to build a navy.

• Required state officials and military to shave their beards and adopt modern clothing styles.

• You could keep your beard if you paid 100 Rubles (money) as a tax

• Tried to form an alliance against the Ottoman empire, but no European leader will go along with him.

• Changed the Russian calendar to match Europe’s

Peter the Great

• Ordered his son tortured and killed for disobeying Peter’s orders and for disregarding official policies.

• Changed tax structure, decreed that all children of nobility must have an education.

• Died due to complications of a urinary tract infection that became gangrene of the bladder.– At one point had four pounds of urine drained from his

body…• Had no sons left alive to inherit the throne, but had 11

children with two wives; the second, Catherine I, rules as Empress until her death.

Catherine The Great

• Married Peter III at age 16. They were second cousins.

• After the coup, she expands Russia’s borders and takes over Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and set up an agreement with Prussia.

• Ruled 1762-1796

Catherine the Great

• Took the title “Empress and Autocrat of all the Russias.”

• Took power after her husband was deposed in a coup. (She wasn’t involved, though she did start sleeping with some of the members later.)

• Did not care for the poor at all.• Created a system of states for Russia based on

population.

Catherine

• Waged a successful war against the Ottoman Empire to get port cities on the Black Sea.

• Patronized artists of all types in Russia, lured scientists and thinkers to Russia from Europe.

Catherine—Hot or Not?

• Caused lots of scandal all over Europe

• Took many lovers. When she was done with them, she “paid” them in land, money and serfs.

• Her first lover became her “love advisor”

• He would select the men based on physical beauty and intellectual capacity.

• She apparently had an insatiable sexual appetite.

• Rumored to have involved horses, but no proof.

• Succeeded by her nephew, Paul.