4.  1653 – Convinced Junkers to grant him the money to build an army  In exchange Junkers maintained privileges – allowed to keep control of the peasantry Controlled Nobility

5. Established Military  Created a permanent standing army  Junkers = Officers  Peasants = Soldiers  This was the 1 st modern civil service

6. Other Policies  Increased taxes to the equivalent of France (had to pay for military)  Religious Toleration – welcomed 20,000 Huguenots, Polish Jews and other refugees

7.  Took the title of King of Prussia  Establishing the power of the Hohenzollern family in Europe  Modeled himself after Louis XIV

8.  Continued policies of his Grandfather – centralization  Turned Royal Gardens into a military training ground  Increased army from 39,000 – 80,000  All young men HAD TO register for military service  Created the 1 st Military reserves

9. Eccentricities of the “Sergeant King” He had a strange preference for Tall men, and would send recruiting agents out throughout Europe to find them. He even gave bonuses to parents who surrendered their tallest sons to him. At one point he instituted a breeding program that ultimately turned out to be too slow a process. Many of the giants resorted to desertion or suicide, despite the great pay. He doted on his Giants and didn’t waste them in battle, rather he liked to paint portraits of them. When he was depressed he would have a few 100 of them march through his bedroom to cheer him up.

10. “What distinguishes the Prussians from other people is that theirs is not a country with an army. They have an army and a country that serves it.”

12. ROAD TO POWER  Youngest son of Tsar Alexis –he was a child from Alexis’ second wife  Alexis had 3 children with his 1 st wife 1.Feodor – an invalid 2.Sophia 3.Ivan – a semi imbecile

13.  1676 – Alexis died and Feodor became Tsar  1682 – sickly Feodor died and Peter’s mother campaigns to have him made Tsar over Ivan

14.  Peter is made Tsar at 10 years old  Ivan’s Family instigates a coup d’etat  Peter watched as his supporters and family were thrown form the Red Stairs of the Faceted Palace in Moscow onto raised pikes  Coup is successful and Peter is forced to share Tsarship with Ivan  Sophia acts as the regent

15. EARLY TROUBLES  Miserable Peter leaves Moscow and becomes interested in war games  He becomes acquainted with Western strategies and tactics  He establishes a military support base

16.  Sophia tries another coup, this time loosing to Peter  Peter exiles Sophia to a convent  6 years later Ivan dies and Peter is left to rule alone

17. 1 st Tsar in 100 years to make contact with the West in peacetime Met with Western Monarchs such as William III of England to establish a mutually beneficial trading relationship Conducted diplomacy

18.  In England he stayed at a house in Deptford belonging to writer John Evelyn. During his stay he and his companions caused a great deal of damage. He had a party full of “nasty people” wrecked the house and garden, carpets were left filthy with grease and ink. Paintings looked like they were used as shooting targets. Locks and windows were broken. Every one of the 50 chairs in the house vanished – probably burned in fires.

19. Traveled incognito (in Holland he worked as a ship’s carpenter) His trip created a desire to Modernize Russian state and to Westernize its society

20.  1698 – Forced to return home when he hears of another rebellion by Sophia  Responds with force – ordering a mass execution of the surviving rebels  Next day he stared his program to recreate Russia in the image of the West Another Coup

21. Peter hung the bodies of the rebels outside of Sophia’s convent window, and Sophia apparently went mad.

22. Translation: Right Corner: “The barber went to cut off an Old Believer’s beard” Left Corner: “The Old Believer says:” “Listen, barber, I neither want to cut my beard nor shave watch out, or I will call the guards to teach you to behave.”

23. WESTERNIZATION Military Conscription Technical schools Replaced church patriarchy with himself Simplified the alphabet

24. WESTERNIZATION Changed Calendar to fit the West Changed his title from Tsar to Emperor Moved capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg (a new “modernized” city)

27. Peter used forced peasant labor to build his palace.

28.  Conservative Clergy  Nobility  His son Alexis  Sentenced to death by Peter  Died while being tortured

29. Alexis renounced his right to succession and fled to Austria. Peter thought he fled to get foreign backing and had him arrested and tried for treason. He was sentenced to death. Died from the torture wich occurred before the execution could ever take place.

30.  Peter died in 1725  In November 1724 – he leapt into freezing water and worked throughout the night to assist in the rescue of 20 sailors whose ship had been grounded. The resulting fever helped lead to his death in early 1925

32.  The Holy Roman Empire  300+ German States  Austria  Bohemia  Hungary

33. Major Obstacles in the way of an Absolute Monarchy Not a nation-state – included too many languages, traditions and nationalities. Germans Czechs Magyars Slovaks Croatians Slovenes Rumanians Italians Poles

34. Successfully resisted both Ottoman Empire and King XIV of France Acquired virtually all of Hungary and imposed his authority over the Magyar aristocracy Most Magyar nobles had become Protestant during the Reformation. Hapsburg persecution of Hungarian Protestants sparked an insurrection in 1679

35. 1684 – Leopold led a “Holy League” against the Turks Victory forced the Hungarian Estates to declare that the Hungarian throne would be a hereditary possession of the Hapsburgs – recognizing the sovereignty of the Hapsburg dynasty Magyar Nobles would continue to be tax exempt

36. War of Spanish Succession Won Battle of Blenheim over the French Confirmed Austria’s position as one of the great powers of Europe

37. Took throne after Joseph I 1705 – 1711 War of Spanish Succession – awarded the Spanish Netherlands and Spain’s holdings in Italy The Pragmatic Sanction – allowed the throne to be passed down to his daughter Maria Theresa

38. War of Austrian Succession 1740-1748 – she successfully defended her right to inherit the Austrian Hapsburg domains Created a centralized bureaucracy to control local affairs Established the state’s control over the administration of the Roman Catholic Church Husband had the title Holy Roman Emperor

39.  Schoenbrunn Palace  Versailles

40.  Schoenbrunn  Versailles

41.  Schoenbrunn  Versailles