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Central Europe: The Rise of Austria and Prussia

Central Europe: The Rise of Austria and Prussia. Holy Roman Empire?. “This body which called itself and still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.” ~ Voltaire (1769).

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Central Europe: The Rise of Austria and Prussia

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  1. Central Europe: The Rise of Austria and Prussia

  2. Holy Roman Empire? “This body which called itself and still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.” ~ Voltaire (1769)

  3. Compare the Prussian Hohenzollerns to Peter I in terms of the methods they used to create Absolutist power for the monarchy. Steps Think along PERSIANS: Economics, Politics, and Social Organize thoughts and facts in a coherent manner. Write Thesis Statement! Make Outline and fill the ‘skeleton’ with some ‘meat.’

  4. Economics • PRUSSIA • Peasants dominated by nobility. • Taxes levied by individual estates. • 1660 – Frederick William forced permanent taxation for standing army. • Early 1700s – penny-pinching Frederick William I and his “large war chest.” • RUSSIA • Taxation of peasants increased 3x during Peter’s reign. • Constant warfare consumed 80-85 % of all revenue. • Building of St. Petersburg financed by direct taxation on the wealthy, who in turn forced the peasantry to do most of the work w/out pay, and paying a special tax on top of that!

  5. Politics • PRUSSIA • Elector of Brandenburg virtually powerless in comparison to Junkers, the nobility and landowning classes. • Thirty Years War destroyed Prussian estatesmen’s power – giving opportunity to Elector to seize absolutist power after. • Ongoing Euro wars allowed for a standing army to be required (security). • Junkers dumped any new taxes onto towns, with no real financial repercussions against them, and entitlements assured. • Great Elector build power like Louis XIV, based on nobility’s allegiance and service. • Frederick William I creates a strong centralized bureaucracy, eliminating parliamentary and local govt. • 12th in population, 4th largest army by 1740. • Next 200 hundred years soldiers known for excellence. • RUSSIA • Peter bent on bettering his army, and expanding his borders. • Formed alliances with Denmark and Poland to attack Sweden. • Defeat forced change: compulsory education, merit-based power, increase in commoner requirements. • Russia defeated Sweden in 1721, gaining new land along the Baltic

  6. Social • PRUSSIA • Junkers refuse to ally with commoners, and so accept the Great Elector’s compromise for political ascendency. • Junkers recruited by Soldier King into the army as the officer caste. Peasants serve as underlings there, too. • Civil society became rigid and highly disciplined • “Sparta of the North” • Unquestioning obedience. • RUSSIA • Meritocracy valued by Peter – all started at the bottom and worked their way up through 14 ranks. • Non-nobles and foreigners employed. • Government burdens on the peasantry make them culturally fatalistic. • Peter valued Western ideas, introduced dress, etiquette, and inheritance traditions to Russia. • Autocratically built port city as new capital, and forced migration of all classes.

  7. Prussia's Hohenzollerns Analyze the military, political, and social factors that account for the rise of Prussia in the late 16-early 17C.

  8. Frederick William, the Great Elector Frederick William the Great Elector (r. 1640-1688)

  9. “It is certain that nowhere in the world one can see troops comparable with the Prussians for beauty, cleanliness, and order.” ~Count von Seckendorf

  10. Junkers Junkers Prussian landed nobility

  11. German Peasants Junkers Peasants are best treated like stockfish, that is “best when beaten well and soft,” according to a Prussian clergyman in 1684!

  12. Frederick I Frederick I (r. 1688-1713) “King in Prussia”

  13. Frederick William I Frederick William I (r. 1713-1740)

  14. Frederick William I's Words of Wisdom Frederick William I “One must serve the King with life and limb, with goods and chattels, with honor and conscience, and surrender everything else except salvation. The latter is reserved for God. But everything else must be mine.” “It cannot be done with the pen if it is not supported by the power of the sword.”

  15. "The Sergeant King" Sergeant King • Doubled the size of the Prussian army to 80,000 in 1714 • 3rd-largest army in Europe • Junkers = officers

  16. "He abused him whenever he laid eyes on him, so that Frederick became obsessed with a fear of him which persisted even after he reached the age of reason." ~ written by Frederick the Great’s sister Wilhelmina, about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father

  17. Frederick the Great Frederick the Great (r. 1740-1786)

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