Absolutism in Eastern Europe

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Absolutism in Eastern Europe

• How did the basic structure of society in eastern
  Europe become different from that of western
  Europe in the early modern period?
• How and why did the rulers of Austria, Prussia,
  and Russia manage to build powerful absolutist
  states?

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I. Geography of Eastern Europe

• 3 aging empires
• Holy Roman Empire
• Republic of Poland
• Ottoman Empire

• 3 emerging states
• Austria
• Prussia
• Russia

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Russia
Prussia
Poland
Holy Roman Empire
Austria
Ottoman Empire
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A. Holy Roman Empire (after 1648)

• never very strong
• remember Voltaire?
• 30 Years War delivered final blow
• econ, arts, lit, science ?
• religious disunity
• central authority ?

Holy Roman empire in 1648
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H.R.E. continued govt structure

• emperor
• elected by 9 electors, leaders of imp. German
  states
• Habsburg position bargain w/ electors to keep
  it
• imperial diet
• authority to raise troops taxes ? lost after 30
  Yrs. War

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H.R.E. continued
Brandenburg-Prussia

• not able to become absolutist as a whole, but
  individual states could
• Brandenburg-Prussia (Hohenzollerns)
• Austria (Habsburgs)
• 1806 HRE dissolved

Austria
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B. Republic of Poland (about 1650)

• Kingdom of Poland Grand Duchy of Lithuania
• republic elected king constitutional
  liberties
• weak central authority
• real authority szlachta (landed aristocracy)
  regional diets
• heterogeneous pop.
• Catholic

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Republic of Poland continued

• 1795 end of republic carved up by stronger,
  expansionistic states

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C. Ottoman Empire (about 1650)

• strongest of the 3 aging empires, BUT
• weakened govt
• weakened military
• once strong janissaries, well-equipped,
  devshirme
• feared sieges on Vienna in 1529 1683
• Muslim
• religious toleration
• heterogeneous pop.

Ottoman print of devshirme in Bulgaria. Every
fifth Christian child taken.
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• 1923 dissolution

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II. West vs. East

• Similar paths of development up to 1300
• trade, towns, pop. ?
• expansion into frontier
• ? opportunities for socioeconomic advancement

EXPANSION GROWTH!!
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West vs. East

• Diverged after 1300

Western Europe Eastern Europe
serfdom abolished serfdom reestablished
weak lords powerful lords
urban agrarian
strong middle class weak middle class
strong states strong central authority weak empires weak central authority
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Serfdom in Eastern Europe

• How did eastern European landlords return
  peasants to serfdom?
• made rulers issue laws restricting peasants
  movement
• hereditary subjugation serfdom passes on
  through generations
• took over peasants land and ? labor obligations
• growth of estate agriculture

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Serfdom in Eastern Europe

• How were eastern landlords able to enforce their
  changes to the condition of the peasantry?
• Controlled local justice.

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Serfdom in Eastern Europe

• Why did serfdom reemerge in eastern Europe?
• economic interpretation
• 14th-15th c. agricultural depression pop. ?
• ?
• labor shortage
• ?
• landlords tie peasants to land
• ?
• 16th c. prosperity returns but lords finish what
  they started
• flaw in argument Western Europe had identical
  economic development but did not reinstate serfdom

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Serfdom in Eastern Europe

• Why did serfdom reemerge in eastern Europe?
• political interpretation
• most convincing argument

Western Europe Eastern Europe
What happened strong monarchs landlords ? power weak monarchs war landlords ? power
Different concepts of monarchical authority monarch has sovereignty and protects interests of his people monarch is only 1st among equals does not protect interests of his people
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Serfdom in Eastern Europe

• political interpretation (continued)

Western Europe Eastern Europe
Power of the peasantry stronger weaker uprisings rarely succeeded
Power of the towns urban classes stronger towns retained greater privileges weaker landlords took power privileges away lords sold directly to foreign capitalists instead of urban merchants peasants lost right of refuge
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III. Rise of Eastern Absolutism

• Monarchs vs. landlords ? successful monarchs
  gained power in 3 key areas
• taxation
• army
• foreign policy

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AUSTRIA
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Austria

• Habsburgs
• mostly in HRE, but also outside to SE
• Austrian rulers HRE emperors
• Catholic

Habsburg domains to 1795.
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Austria consolidation of power

• 30 Years War set stage
• Habsburgs (losers) turn inward and eastward to
  strengthen state
• events in Bohemia (Phase 1) introduce new
  nobility loyal to Habsburgs ? Habsburgs
  reestablish control over Bohemia

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Austria Bohemia 30 Yrs War (1)

• Bohemian Estates (Protestant) revolt against
  Habsburgs (Catholic)
• Battle of White Mountain (1620) Bohemian
  Estates crushed

• Habsburgs take land/power from Protestant Czech
  nobles and give it to Catholic Czech nobles new
  Bohemian nobility loyal to Habsburgs

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Austria Bohemia 30 Yrs War (2)

• Habsburgs reestablish control over Bohemia
• Protestantism eliminated
• peasants exploited even more the robot
• ? Personal note It was in this era that my
  grandmothers family converted from Protestantism
  to Judaism because they were persecuted for being
  Protestants and did not want to become Catholic
  Judaism for them was the less detestable choice.
  Not a good decision in the long run.

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Austria Turkish wars expansion

• 1529 1683 unsuccessful Ottoman sieges on
  Vienna
• Habsburgs acquire Hungary Transylvania
  (Romania) from Ottomans

• new Habsburg state Austria, Bohemia, Hungary

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Absolutism partially achieved

• common Habsburg ruler but each state kept own
  laws/govt (Estates)
• Pragmatic Sanction (1713) Habsburg possessions
  are never to be divided and are to be passed to
  single heir
• Hungary not fully integrated
• Hungarian nobles revolted somewhat successfully
• why and how religion (Protestant Hungarians vs.
  Catholic Habsburgs), Hungarian nationalism,
  Ottoman military support
• 1703 revolt under Rákóczy ? Hungarians accept
  Habsburg rule Habsburgs restore Hungarian
  nobilitys privileges

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Austria Habsburg rulers ( H.R.E. emperors)

• Ferdinand II (r. 1619-1637)
• crushes Bohemian Estates creates new loyal
  Bohemian nobility
• Ferdinand III (r. 1637-1657)
• consolidates German-speaking provinces (Austria,
  Styria, Tyrol)
• creates permanent standing army
• Charles VI (r. 1711-1740)
• Pragmatic Sanction (1713)
• Rákóczys revolt

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Prussia
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Prussia
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Prussia

• Hohenzollerns elector of Brandenburg duke of
  Prussia
• elector of Brandenburg helps choose Holy Roman
  emperor
• 1618 Prussia became possession of elector of
  Brandenburg when junior branch of Hohenzollern
  family died out

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Prussia

• Hohenzollerns had little power until 30 Years
  War
• elector of Brandenburg position bestowed no
  real power
• Brandenburg land-locked, no natural defenses,
  poor land
• Prussia separated from Brandenburg, basically
  part of Poland
• 30 Years War weakened the Estates (rep.
  assemblies) ? allowed monarchs to take more power

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Prussia Hohenzollern rulers

• Frederick William, the Great Elector
• (r. 1640-1688)
• Frederick III, the Ostentatious
• (r. 1688-1713)
• Frederick William I, the Soldiers King
• (r. 1713-1740)

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Frederick William, the Great Elector (r.
1640-1688)

• strengthened central authority
• unified 3 provinces Brandenburg, Prussia, lands
  along the Rhine
• forced Estates to accept permanent taxation w/o
  their consent
• created permanent standing army
• factors enabling his success

• foreign invasions ? Estates more willing to issue
  funds for army
• Junkers did not support the towns ? elector broke
  town liberties

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Frederick III, the Ostentatious (r. 1688-1713)

• weak
• focused on copying Louis XIVs style

Frederick III
Louis XIV
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Frederick William I, the Soldiers King (r.
1713-1740)

• most influential in est. Prussian absolutism
• military obsessed
• strengthened royal authority
• created best army in Europe
• created strong, centralized bureaucracy
• honest and conscientious
• worked to develop economy
• eliminated threat from nobility by enlisting
  Junkers in army (became officers)
• almost always at peace
• civil society became militarized very rigid
  disciplined

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C. Russia

• Similar to W. Europe up to 1250
• Christian (though Eastern Orthodox)
• territories unified (11th c.)
• feudal (boyard nobility peasantry)
• political fragmentation at various times
• 1250-1700 Russia becomes quite different from W.
  Europe
• cause Russia under brutal foreign rule (Mongols)

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Largest contiguous empire in history!!!
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Russia the Mongol Conquest

• Chinggis Khan (1162-1227) Golden Horde great
  conquerors

Kiev (capital of Ukraine)

• mid-13th c. Mongols conquer Kievan Rus ? Mongol
  Yoke

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Russia The Mongol Yoke

• unified eastern Slavs
• Allowed Russian princes who demonstrated good
  service/loyalty to retain some authority.
• ? ? ?
• Muscovite princes served Mongols well ? given
  more power. Over time Muscovite princes ?
  territory and consolidate power.

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Russia rulers

• Ivan I, Ivan Moneybags (r. 1328-1341)
• Ivan III (r. 1462-1505)
• Ivan IV, Ivan the Terrible (r. 1533-1584)
• Michael Romanov (r. 1613-1645)
• Alexis (r. 1645-1676)
• Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725)

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Ivan I, Ivan Moneybags (r. 1328-1341)

• stingy
• made by lending to princes for Mongol tax
  collection
• Mongols made him tax collector great prince

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Ivan III (r. 1462-1505)

• Muscovite power consolidated no longer
  recognized leadership of Mongol khan
• ? ?
• hello Russian absolutism!

• Why did this happen?
• Ivan III felt strong
• tsars believed they had to carry on Byzantine
  legacy (Orthodox Xtianity Moscow as Third
  Rome after Constantinople)
• monarchy became more powerful than nobility
• boyard nobility lost power in 15th c.
• service nobility new class loyal to tsar

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Ivan IV, Ivan the Terrible (r. 1533-1584)

• 1st to take title of tsar
• wars of expansion
• successful in the E. took Mongol land
• unsuccessful in the W. (Poland-Lithuania)
• subjugated boyars reign of terror
• service nobles demand more from peasants ?
  peasants flee and form independent outlaw groups
  Cossacks
• urban traders artisans bound to towns so Ivan
  could tax them
• limited middle class (vs. W. Europe)

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1584-1682

• Theodore (r. 1584-1598)
• Time of Troubles (1598-1613)
• fighting over who would be tsar
• unsuccessful Cossack rebellion led by Ivan
  Bolotnikov
• Michael Romanov (r. 1613-1645)
• elected by nobles became new hereditary tsar
• restored power of the tsar

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1584-1682 cont

• Alexis (r. 1645-1676)
• 1649 peasants enserfed
• social class gap widens
• split in Russian Orthodox church Nikon wants
  reforms along Greek Orthodox model vs. Old
  Believers want to stick to Russian ways ? Old
  Believers persecuted Russians alienated from
  church
• 1670-71 unsuccessful Cossack rebellion led by
  Stenka Razin

Alexis
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Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725)

• What were his policies?
• What made him great?
• Was he really great?

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Some Terminology

• tsar term for the Russian ruler (like king)
• autocracy government in which one person
  possesses unlimited power
• absolutism government by an absolute ruler or
  authority, meaning a ruler completely free from
  constitutional or other restraint