Enlightened Despotism

1. Enlightened Despotism c.1740-1790 LT: Analyze the traits of Enlightened despots & compare/contrast their enlightened characteristics.

2. Enlightened Rule by Monarchs • Despot: a king or other ruler with absolute, unlimited power. • Enlightened despots sought to justify themselves in the light of reason & secular usefulness. • The Enlightenment did not change Europe quickly. Many countries still had kings & queens. Some of them became “enlightened despots”, using Enlightenment ideas in their countries.

3. Characteristics of Enlightened Despots • Secular • Claimed no divine right, recognized no responsibility to god or church • Rational & Reformist • Typically set out to reconstruct his/her state by the use of reason • Impatient of custom & customary law: traditional rights and privileges of nobles, church, judicial bodies, etc. • Contradictory Methods • Uncompromising & abrupt: wanted change & wanted it immediately • Contradictory: were comfortable with contradiction: selected certain enlightened ideas & denied others as they saw fit for their monarchy & state

4. Types of Reforms • Religious – increased toleration • Legal - Streamlined legal codes (made them simple & universal) • Education - Increased access • Criminal Justice - Reduction or elimination of torture & the death penalty

5. Prussia

6. Frederick the Great of Prussia(Frederick II r. 1740-1786) • Background • One of the greatest rulers in German history • Strong military education (he didn’t want) • Profoundly influenced by the Enlightenment • He considered French education to be superior • Patronized Voltaire and invited him to live in his court in Berlin

7. Frederick the Great of Prussia • Interesting Facts: • Talented in music & languages (spoke French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian; he also understood Latin, ancient and modern Greek, and Hebrew.) • At age 18 Frederick attempted to escape to England. He was caught, court-martialed and forced by his father to watch as his best friend was decapitated. • Frederick was ordered to marry and only ever saw his wife at public events. They rarely stayed in the same palace. • Hitler hid his body in a salt mine during the allied bombings of WWII.

8. Important EventSeven Years’ War (1756-1763) • Cause: Maria Teresa of Austria sought to regain Silesia from Prussia. • Goal: Austria, Russia and France wanted to conquer Prussia and divide its territories among the winners • Bloodiest war in Europe since the Thirty Years’ War of the 17th century. • World war that also included England & France’s struggle for North America • Prussia was outnumbered by its enemies 15 to 1 • Prussia suffered 180,000 dead & severe disruptions to its society • Berlin was twice captured & partially destroyed by Russian troops • Prussia was on the verge of a catastrophic defeat

10. Russia in the Seven Years’ War • Russian Czar Peter III (an admirer of Frederick) pulled Russia out of the war in 1763 • This saved Prussia from almost certain defeat • Peter III was assassinated and replaced by Catherine II as a result

11. Treaty of Paris (1763) • Most important peace treaty of the 18th century and most important since the Peace of Westphalia (1648) • France lost all its colonies in North America to Great Britain • Britain gained France’s territory in India • By 1763 Britain is the world’s greatest colonial power

12. Reforms of Frederick II Enlightened Accomplishments: • General ✓ attentive reader of philosophes ✓ brought Voltaire to Prussia ✓ composed music • Economic ✓ After Seven Years’ War gave peasants tools, stock and seed to repair ruined farms ✓ Encouraged agricultural improvements ➡ drained swamps, began crop rotation and introduced iron plow ➡ imported new crops: clover, potato, tobacco

13. More Reforms • Religious: some religious toleration ✓ invited expelled Jesuits to predominately Lutheran Prussia ✓ gave Catholic minority virtually full equality ✓ boasted that he would build a mosque in Berlin if Muslims wanted to settle in Prussia • Criminal justice reforms ✓ freed courts from political pressures ✓ ordered a reduction in use of torture ✓ set up a system of appellate courts

14. Despotic Ways • Levied taxes on Jews and tried to exclude them from the professions and civil service • Did not loosen the bonds of serfdom (although he did abolish it on royal grounds) • Urged education to peasants, but only to become literate enough for his own needs (not enough to be discontented with their lifestyles) • After Seven Years’ War he forced all bourgeois officers to resign their commissions • Business and professional men were exempt from military service but subject to heavy taxation

15. Russia

16. Catherine the Great of Russia(r. 1762-1796) • Background • As a reformer, the least “enlightened” of the Enlightened Despots • German princess, became Queen after her husband, Peter III, was assassinated during the Seven Years’ War • She may have played a role in the assassination plot • Peter the Great had abolished the succession of hereditary czars • She loved French culture (she refused to speak German or Russian). Diderot (French philosophe) lived in her court for a time

17. Catherine the Great • Interesting Facts: • Her real name was Sophie • 3 of her 4 children were illegitimate • She & her followers overthrew her husband, Peter III. • She was extremely generous to her former (and current) lovers, showering them with gifts, jewels & positions in the government.  She made one of her lovers a king, & gave another 1000 serfs.

18. Reforms & Accomplishments • General ✓ corresponded with Voltaire ✓ invited Diderot to Russia; Catherine eventually bought Diderot’s library • Other reforms ✓ codified some laws ✓ restricted use of torture ✓ some degree of religious toleration for non-Orthodox Christians ✓ attempted to reform education by establishing primary & secondary schools throughout Russia

19. Westernized Russia • Architects, artists, musicians & writers were invited to Russia • Culturally, Russia gained the respect of western European countries • Considered the Golden Age of Russian Art & Culture • The Hermitage Museum began as her personal art collection • She corresponded with Voltaire for 15 years though the two never met (He called her the “star of the north”) • She wrote comedies & fiction • She was a great patron of Russian opera

20. Despotic Ways • Further entrenched serfdom after Pugachev’s Rebellion (1773) ✓ led by former soldier Emelian Pugachev, most destructive in Russian history ✓ Pugachev claimed he was the true tsar, Peter III ✓ massive rebellion of peasants, miners, fishermen & others who burned and looted Russian towns & villages. Priests & landlords were killed. ✓ with the help of a famine and the army, rebellion put down. Pugachev was executed. ✓ result: Catherine further empowered the landowners over the serfs. • unfair taxation system (heaviest burden fell on poorest) • increased autocracy

21. Austria

22. Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1780-1790) • Ruled with his mother, Maria Theresa, as co-regent until her death in 1780 • Perhaps the greatest of the “Enlightened Despots” in terms of reforms but in many ways was the least effective • Deeply influenced by the writings of Diderot and the Encyclopedia & its emphasis on reforms • Firm believer in absolutism •  During his reign, Joseph put forth an average of 690 decrees a year.

24. Joseph II • Interesting Facts: • Loved his first wife, Isabella, who died after contracting smallpox while pregnant. • For political reasons he married his 2nd cousin. This marriage proved extremely unhappy. He avoided her entirely – 4 months after the 2nd anniversary of their wedding, she died of smallpox. Joseph neither visited her during her illness nor attended her funeral, though he later expressed regret for not having been kinder to her. • Joseph never remarried. • He was the older brother of Marie Antoinette (Queen of France). • It was under Joseph II that Mozart rose to fame, though his music was a little too extravagant for him.

25. Joseph II’s Reforms • Enlightened Accomplishments: • Religious • granted full toleration to Lutherans, Orthodox Christians & Calvinists • Improved the lives of Jews • freed from Vienna’s ghetto • exempted from discriminatory taxes they had been paying • lifted the requirement of wearing yellow badge as a sign of inferiority • Freed the serfs • abolished obligations to manorial lords • deprived nobles of their traditional right to administer justice to peasantry • Education - popular education & social equality • provided teachers & textbooks for primary schools • more than 25% of school age-children attended school

26. Despotic Ways & Decline • Practiced mercantilism - government closely supervised economic activity • Absolutist in terms of government appointments Leopold II was forced to reverse many of Joseph’s radical reforms in order to maintain effective control of the empire.

27. Big Question… • To what extent were Enlightened Despots interested in true reform and how much were they interested in consolidation of power?