1. Absolute Empires
Ch 14 sec 3

2. Absolutism
A ruler that holds total power ( social, political, and religious).
It is tied into the idea of Divine right of Kings. Responsible to no one but God.
It gives the king the following:
Right to make laws
Right to levy taxes
Administer justice
Control officials
Determine foreign policy

3. France
France had a chief minister as a ruler when the monarch was too young to rule. The following are two of the most famous:
Cardinal Richelieu – eliminate threats to the throne by taking political and military power away from the Huguenots. Also had spies watching nobles.
Cardinal Mazarin – Put down a revolt of nobles, thereby saving the young king.

4. Louis XIV Best example of Absolutism.
He had the royal court moved to Versailles (so he could keep an eye on them)
He removed nobles from the royal council.
Bribed local officials to enforce policies.
Had an anti-protestant policy to convert Huguenots
Destroyed Huguenots churches and closed schools.
200,000 Huguenots fled to England.

5. French Economy
Louis XIV picked Jean Baptiste Colbert to get France out of financial ruin.
4 measure that Colbert instituted:
Granted subsides to new industries
Built roads and canals for transportation of goods
Raised tariffs on foreign goods, decreased imports
Started a merchant marine

6. Louis XIV advice Make peace with your neighbors (countries)
No overspending
Lighten your people burden
Told to his great grandson.
All the things that he regretted.

7. Prussia Frederick William laid the foundations for Prussia by:
Created a standing army
Created the General War Commissariat - levied taxes for the army.
Junker – landowning Aristocracy that made up the GWC. Were also officers in the army.
King Frederick I became the first king (son of Frederick William). Frederick III
4th largest army in the world.

8. Austrian-Hapsburg Empire
Austria, Bohemia, Hungary
Becomes the Holy Roman Emperors
Could not create an empire in Germany
Could not create an absolute state:
Spoke different languages
Had different cultures
Had different governments
The only things they had in common was their service to the Hapsburg family and religion.

9. Russia First Tsar(Czar) was Ivan the Great or Ivan III.
Boyars – landowning nobles of Moscow.
Ivan IV or otherwise known as the Terrible.
Given the name for defeating an enemy of the Russians. The term was an honor for this battle.
Time of troubles : dark period of time in Russia were there were invasions, and fighting over the throne after Ivan dies.
Zemsky Sobor – An assembly of Nobles, Clergy, and townspeople who chose the next Tsar. Micheal Romanov(last until 1917).

10. Peter the Great - Russia
Changed the military by:
Employed Russians and Europeans
Drafted peasants for 25 years
Had a standing army of 210,000
Created the first Russian navy.

11. Peter the Great - Russia
Changes in the Government:
Divided Russia into provinces and place administers to run them.
Wanted a police state but few administers shared his concept of honest service and duty to country.

12. Peter the Great - Russia
Cultural changes:
Wanted Russians to have western manners
Had beards and long coat cut.
Women did not have to wear a veil and could mix freely with men.
Known for building St. Petersburg which was located on the Baltic sea so as to have a ice free port with year round access to Europe.