1. Why did kings with absolute power and nations emerge at the same time?
Do now: What is a monarch? How do monarchs gain power?
Day 1

2. Learning Objectives Define Absolute Power and its origin
Describe how Absolute Power was instituted in England, France, Spain, and Russia
Discuss how it failed in England
CCLS-(2) World History-Establishing time frames, exploring different periods, examining themes across time and within cultures, and focusing on important turning points.

3. How did Europe’s Monarchs gain power after the decline of feudalism?
Lords lose power as people left the manors and began to live in towns and cities. (NEED FOR CENTRALIZED POWER)
Kings gained power because they were able to centralize their authority over large areas of land
Rise of cities
Cities = economic/trade centers
Cities grew as the commercial revolution progressed
Commercial revolution
expansion of trade, business, and banking
Mercantilism
Workers move to cities from rural areas

4. The growth of nations allowed strong monarchs to centralize their power.
The decline of church authority after the Middle Ages and Protestant Reformation left room for Kings and Queens to grab power once held by the Church.

5. What is absolutism?
The political belief that one ruler should hold all of the power in a country. Absolute monarchs have unlimited power and control all aspects of society.
No POWER
for parliament or
citizens

6. Divine Right Theory
Absolute monarchs believed that they were given the power and authority to rule by God.
Monarchs are God’s representatives on Earth.
Absolute monarchs answer to God only! Not his or her subjects
How could this theory help a monarch maintain his or her power?

7. Crises lead to Absolutism
Religious and territorial conflicts made Europe a tense place plagued by warfare.
Absolute monarchs had several ways of reacting to these crises

8. Causes / Effects of Absolutism
Cause: Religious and territorial conflicts created fear and uncertainty
Effect: Rulers regulated religious worship and social gatherings to control the spread of ideas.
WHY?
Cause: The growth of armies to deal with conflict caused rulers to raise taxes to pay troops
Effect: Rulers increased the size of their courts to appear more powerful
Cause: Heavy taxes led to unrest and peasant revolts
Effect: Rulers created bureaucracies to control their economies

9. Absolute Monarchs Louis XIV of France Peter the Great of Russia
Philip II of Spain
Henry VIII
Suleiman the Magnificent

10. Summary
What might people gain from having a ruler with absolute power?
What factors might weaken an absolute monarch?

11. Day 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZNQDxBCC2 0
Check and go over homework.
Begin Stations activity. 5 different Monarchs, provide readings and questions, come up to front of the room and teach class about. Ask at the end, which Monarch held most power or acheived greatest feats.

12. Louis XIV of France

13. The Versailles Palace Today

14. Peter the Great

15. St Petersburg

16. Russia Under Peter the Great

17. Philip II

18. Henry VIII

19. Suleiman the Magnificent