Chapter 17 Part 1

1
Chapter 17Part 1

• Absolutism in Eastern Europe
• 1600-1740

2
HOP RAP

• In Decline
• HRE
• Ottoman Empire
• Poland
• On the Rise
• Russia
• Austria
• Prussia

3
The HRE

• In decline due to
• The Reformation
• Religious wars of the 16th and 17th Centuries
• Germany split into 300 sovereign principalities
  Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist

4
The Ottoman Empire

• Was built on expansion
• The Sultan had absolute power
• After 1560 a decline in Western Expansion meant
  the disintegration of the Empire
• The Sultan could only keep power if the empire
  expanded because this is how he rewarded loyalty
  and military servicewith conquered territory

5
The Ottoman Empire

• Expansion was checked by Russian and Austrian
  expansion
• Will soon be called, The Sick Old Man of Europe
• Concern by great powers Who would fill the gap?

6
The Ottoman Empire

• Suleiman the Magnificent (gone by 1566)
• The most powerful man in Europe in the 16th
  Century
• 1529 Suleiman almost conquered Austria
• DID capture Serbia
• Took almost ½ of Eastern Europe
• The Balkans
• Part of Hungary
• Part of Southern Russia

7
The Ottoman Empire

• Talented Christian children from conquered
  provinces worked in the Ottoman bureaucracy
• Janissary Corps Christian slaves (not talented
  enough for the bureaucracy) served loyally in the
  Turkish army
• NOTE the Ottomans were tolerant re religion and
  culture and tradition of conquered people
• Millets Christian or Jewish communities within
  the Ottoman Empire were expected to pay taxes,
  contribute to the army, and keep the peace.

8
Poland

• Had once been very powerful
• BUT was undone by
• The Liberum Veto voting in the Polish
  Parliament had to be unanimous for changes to be
  made
• So little was done to strengthen or defend the
  kingdom

9
Poland

• Will be divided up between Russia, Austria, and
  Prussia in three separate Partitions of Poland
  in the 1770s and 1790s
• Poland will disappear from the map of Europe by
  1800
• http//www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/466910/P
  artitions-of-Poland

10
Absolutism in Eastern Europe

• Was different than Absolutism in Western Europe
• Eastern Absolutism was based on a powerful
  nobility, fairly weak and small middle-class,
  weak monarch and oppressed peasantryserfs
• Western Absolutism Powerful monarch, weak
  nobles, stronger middle class peasants free from
  serfdom

11
Eastern European Centralization

• Threats of war and Asian invaders necessitated
  strong leadership in Eastern Europe
• So for the sake of survival, Eastern European
  nobles agreed to support a monarch IF they were
  given something in return
• The nobles in Eastern Europe insisted on more
  authority over the peasants

12
Results of Centralization

• Reduced political power of the nobility
• BUT the nobility had increased power over the
  peasants
• The nth degree of Eastern European Absolutism was
  the reign of Peter the Great

13
Eastern Absolutists

• Kings imposed and collected permanent taxes
  without the consent of their subjects
• Eastern European countries maintained permanent
  standing armies

14
Serfdom in Eastern Europe

• During the early modern period, serfdom was
  revived or re-imposed in Eastern Europe
• Bohemia, Silesia, Hungary, eastern Germany,
  Poland, Lithuania, Russia
• The Black Death created tremendous labor
  shortages (like in Western Europe)

15
Nobles demanded

• That their kings and princes restrict or
  eliminate the free movement of peasants
• By 1500 in Prussia, laws required that runaways
  be hunted down and returned
• Laws were passed that froze peasants in their
  social class

16
The Nobles

• Confiscated Peasant land and imposed heavier
  labor obligations
• The legal system was monopolized by the local lord

17
The Robot

• Labor obligation of the free (non-serf )
  peasant
• Free peasants were often required to give 3 to 4
  days of labor to their local lord each week
  without pay
• How did the robot differ from the corvee?

18
Between 1500-1650

• Hereditary serfdom was re-established in Poland,
  Russia and Prussia
• Poland by 1574 nobles had complete control over
  the peasantslife or death
• In 1694 the Russian tsar rescinded a 9-year term
  limit on recovery of runaway serfs

19
The Growth of Estate Agriculture

• Especially in Poland and Eastern Germany
• Food prices increased as a result of the influx
  of precious metals from the Americas
• Surpluses of wheat and timber were sold to the
  big foreign merchants who exported to the West

20
In the East

• Monarchs NEEDED the nobles
• The constant warfare in the East meant that the
  monarch needed the cooperation of the nobles to
  keep peace
• Strong Kings will not emerge in Eastern Europe
  until after 1650
• Until thenFirst among equals

21
Peasants in the East

• Uprisings did not succeed
• No solidarity
• Landlords (nobles) undermined the medieval
  privileges of towns and power of urban classes
• SOpopulation in towns small
• Population of urban middle

22
The Austrian Empire (Hapsburg)

• The ruler of Austria was traditionally selected
  as the HRE
• After the War of the Spanish Succession and the
  Treaty of Utrecht, the Bourbons occupied the
  Spanish throne
• The Hapsburg power is now concentrated in Austria

23
The Austrian-Hapsburg Empire included

• Naples, Sardinia, Milan (in Italy)
• Austrian Netherlands (Belgium)
• Hungary and Transylvania (Romania)

24
Hapsburgs

• Will attempt to consolidate their diverse
  holdings into a strong, unified state

25
The Reorganization of Bohemia

• Czech (Bohemian) nobility was wiped out
• Ferdinand II redistributed Czech lands to
  aristocratic soldiers from all over Europe
• Conditions for serfs declined

26
Provinces in Austria Proper

• Were centralized
• Ferdinand II created a large permanent standing
  army
• Hungary the largest part of the dominion
• Serfdom was intensified there

27
Government in the Austrian Empire

• Austria was not a single nation-state
• Each region had a different legal relationship
  with the Emperor
• It included many nationalities and multiple
  regions
• Austria Proper Germans, Italians
• Bohemia Czechs
• Hungary Hungarians, Serbs, Croats, Rumanians

28
Important Hapsburg Rulers

• Ferdinand II (1619-1637) Ruled during the 30
  Years War
• Ferdinand III (1637-57) Centralized Austria
  Proper
• Leopold I (1658-1705) Was influenced by
  Jesuits, severely restricted Protestantism,
  successfully defended Vienna from the Ottoman
  Turks in The Siege of Vienna in 1683the last
  attempt by the Ottomans to take central Europe

29
Hapsburg Rulers

• Charles VI 1711-1740 spent most of his reign
  protecting his daughters ascension to the throne
• The Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 Hapsburg
  possessions were never to be divided and
  henceforth to be passes intact to a single heir
• Maria Theresa (1740-1780)

30
(No Transcript)