1. Absolutism in Eastern Europe

2. Austria
Need to rebuild power after Thirty Years War and end of Spanish Habsburgs
Do gain land in Peace of Utrecht
Need to assert power over diverse ethnic groups
Ferdinand II gave Protestant lands to Catholic nobles to gain support
Consolidates power in Bohemia
Weak nobility
Forced labor (serfdom)
Religious Unity
Permanent Army

3. Schonnbrun

4. Hungary
By 1718 Austria conquers Hungary and Transylvania back from the Ottoman Empire
Hungarian nobles rise up against absolutism
Protestants were freer under the Ottomans
Want local control
Accept Habsburg rule in return for local freedoms

5. Pragmatic Sanction 1713
HRE Charles VI declares that Habsburg lands are to never be divided even if it means a woman takes the throne
Would pass to his daughter Maria Theresa
Has to win over European agreement
Frederick the Great of Prussia still invades Silesia upon Charles’ death

7. Prussia
Brandenburg, Prussia, and Rhine Territories ruled by the Hohenzollern family
Frederick William the Great Elector (r ) brings “Junkers” (landowning, noble class) in line
Gains the right to tax permanently by maintaining noble privileges
Gives out jobs in civil service (Bureaucracy)
Estates (Local assemblies) weakened by 30 years war
Welcomes religious minorities from other nations
Army + Money = Absolutism

8. Frederick William I (r.1713-1740)
Builds Prussian military
Best in Europe
Important to Prussian culture
Seeks to avoid war
Builds efficient, loyal bureaucracy
Ends local representative assemblies

9. “Mongol Yoke” Mongols conquer much of Eastern Slavic peoples
Rule with ruthless force
Nobles (Boyars) serve as tax collectors for Mongols
Moscow (Muscovy) is favored
Ivan III (r ) of Moscow is able to conquer much of region
Breaks from Mongol control

10. Moscow’s claims to power
Ivan III’s claims
Moscow is “Third Rome” following fall of Constantinople (Byzantine Empire)
Takes the title of Tsar/Czar, claims divine right
Support of local nobility (Boyars)
Gives greater control of serfs
Creation of service nobility
Makes Russia center of Orthodox Church

11. Ivan IV the Terrible (r.1533-1584)
Defeats last Mongol khans
Creates multiethnic empire
Distributes land in return for noble support
Had to work for the czar
Uses Oprichnik (spies) to watch nobles
Monopolizes industry
Increases serfdom to stop peasant flight to join the Cossacks
Rebels (against autocracy) led by Stenka Razin

13. Time of Troubles
Vicious angling for the throne while fighting Sweden and the Cossacks
Nobles combine to put down Cossacks
Michael Romanov chosen as Tsar
Beginning Romanov dynasty
Thought to have no connections
Works to crush representative government

14. Russian etc. Divisions in Russian church Continued Cossack rebellions
Divided over fall of Constantinople and reforms and modernization
Continued Cossack rebellions
Conquer Ukraine

15. Peter the Great (r )
Travels Europe to learn modern (Western) technology and skills, brings advisors to Russia
Forces adoption of western dress and hair
Increases power during war with Sweden
The Great Northern War ( )
Charles XII defeated by Russian winter
Ends Sweden’s role as a major player
Russia gains access to Baltic Sea for trade
Standing army
75% of budget
New military academies
25 year recruits

16. Peter the Great (r )
Requires nobles to serve in military, administration, or court
Make them dependent on him
Table of Ranks- Gives status based on position in gov. rather than birth
Secret police crush dissent
Abolishes position of Patriarch in Church, replaces with Holy Synod
Administration jobs based on merit
Open to non-nobles
Efficient bureaucracy
Ruled by decree (absolutism)
Builds factories and mines
Industrial serfs
State regulated monopolies

18. St Petersburg Built in short period of time by conscript labor
Based on Western ideals, highly regulated
Gives Russia port on the Baltic Sea
Forces nobles to live there

19. Ottoman Empire Islamic state, expands as far as Vienna
Absolutist until the end of Suleiman the Magnificent’s reign
Conquered peoples organized into “millets,” small autonomous, religious units