Rise of Austria, Prussia, and Russia: Absolutism and Revolution (1550–1850) Lesson

1. Absolutism and Revolution (1550–1850) Lesson 2 Rise of Austria, Prussia, and Russia

2. Absolutism and Revolution (1550–1850) Lesson 2 Rise of Austria, Prussia, and Russia Learning Objectives • Outline the causes and results of the Thirty Years’ War. • Understand how Austria and Prussia emerged as great powers. • Explain the steps Peter the Great took to modernize Russia. • Describe how Russia grew under Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. • Describe how European nations tried to maintain a balance of power.

3. Absolutism and Revolution (1550–1850) Lesson 2 Rise of Austria, Prussia, and Russia Key Terms • electors • mercenaries • depopulation • Peace of Westphalia • Maria Theresa • War of the Austrian Succession • Prussia • Frederick William I • Frederick II • Peter the Great • westernization • boyars • autocratic • warm-water port • St. Petersburg • Catherine the Great • partition

4. The Thirty Years’ War During the Reformation, the many German-speaking states within the Holy Roman Empire were plunged into religious wars. Some princes remained loyal to the Roman Catholic Church. Others accepted the teachings of Protestant reformers like Martin Luther or John Calvin. By the early 1600s, war raged across much of the Holy Roman Empire.

5. The Thirty Years’ War • A Fragmented “Empire” - By early modern times, as the French philosopher Voltaire later observed, the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. Instead, by the seventeenth century it had become a patchwork of several hundred small, separate states. • In theory, these states were ruled by the Holy Roman emperor, who was chosen by seven leading German princes called electors. In practice, the emperor had little power over the many rival princes. This power vacuum contributed to the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War. • Religion further divided the German states. The north had become largely Protestant, while the south remained Catholic. • In May 1618, a few rebellious Protestant nobles tossed two royal officials out of a castle window in Prague. This act, known as the Defenestration of Prague, sparked a general revolt, which Ferdinand moved to suppress. As both sides sought allies, what began as a local conflict widened into a general European war.

6. Conflict Erupts • The Thirty Years’ War left German lands divided into more than 360 separate states—“one for every day of the year.” These states still acknowledged the rule of the Holy Roman emperor. Yet each state had its own government, currency, church, armed forces, and foreign policy. • The German-speaking states, if united, had the potential to become the most powerful nation in Europe. They remained fragmented, however, and would not be joined into a single nation for another 223 years.

7. A Time of Chaos • The fighting took a terrible toll. Roving armies of mercenaries, or soldiers for hire, burned villages, destroyed crops, and killed without mercy. Murder and torture were followed by famine and disease. Wolves, not seen in settled areas since the Middle Ages, stalked the deserted streets of once-bustling villages. • At the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, forces led by the Holy Roman emperor destroyed the Bohemian army. • The war led to a severe depopulation, or reduction in population. Exact statistics do not exist, but historians estimate that as many as one third of the people in the German states may have died as a result of the war.

8. The Thirty Years’ War Analyze Maps Identify two modern-day countries with lands that were part of the Holy Roman Empire.

9. Peace Is Restored Finally, in 1648, the exhausted combatants accepted a series of treaties, known as the Peace of Westphalia. Because so many powers had been involved in the conflict, the treaties ended with a general European peace and settled other international problems. Among the combatants, France emerged a clear winner, gaining territory on both its Spanish and German frontiers. The Hapsburgs were not so fortunate. They had to accept the almost total independence of all the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. In addition, the Netherlands and the Swiss Federation (present-day Switzerland) won recognition as independent states.

10. The Thirty Years’ War The Defenestration of Prague, shown here, was the immediate cause of the Thirty Years’ War. The actual causes were long-term political and religious conflict.

11. Hapsburg Austria Expands The Thirty Years’ War took a terrible toll on the people of the German states. Out of the ashes, however, rose two great German-speaking powers: Austria and Prussia. Like Louis XIV in France, their rulers tried to centralize power and rule as absolute monarchs.

12. Hapsburg Austria Expands • A Diverse Empire - Though weakened by war, the Hapsburgs still wanted to create a strong united state. They kept the title “Holy Roman emperor” but focused their attention on expanding their own lands. To Austria, their base of power, they added Bohemia, Hungary, and, later, parts of Poland and some Italian states. • Uniting these lands proved difficult. Not only were they divided by geography, they included a number of diverse peoples and cultures as well. By the 1700s, the Hapsburg Empire included Germans, Magyars, Slavs, and others. In many parts of the empire, people had their own languages, laws, political assemblies, and customs. • The Hapsburgs did exert some control over these diverse peoples. They sent German-speaking officials to Bohemia and Hungary and settled Austrians on lands they had seized in these provinces. They also put down revolts in Bohemia and Hungary. Still, the Hapsburgs never developed a fully centralized governmental system like that of France.

13. Empress Maria Theresa • In the early 1700s, a new challenge threatened Hapsburg Austria. Emperor Charles VI had no male heir. His daughter, Maria Theresa, was intelligent and capable, but no woman had yet ruled Hapsburg lands in her own name. Charles persuaded other European rulers to recognize his daughter’s right to succeed him. When he died, however, many ignored their pledge. • Shortly after Charles’s death in 1740, Frederick II of Prussia seized the rich Hapsburg province of Silesia. This action sparked the eight-year War of the Austrian Succession. • Maria Theresa set off for Hungary to appeal for military help from her Hungarian subjects. The Hungarians were ordinarily unfriendly to the Hapsburgs. But she made a dramatic plea, and she eventually got further help from Britain and Russia.

14. Reforms of an Absolute Monarch • Maria Theresa never succeeded in forcing Frederick out of Silesia. Still, she did preserve her empire and win the support of most of her people. Equally important, she strengthened Hapsburg power by reorganizing the bureaucracy and improving tax collection. She forced nobles and clergy to pay taxes and tried to ease the burden of taxes and labor services on peasants. • Maria Theresa was an absolute monarch who believed that her decisions were for the good of her subjects. Like other rulers at the time, she strengthened royal authority by limiting the power of nobles and the Church.

15. Hapsburg Austria Expands The Hapsburg empire included many different peoples and cultures. This painted silk flag shows the double-headed eagle, symbol of the Hapsburg dynasty.

16. Prussia Emerges While Austria was molding a strong Catholic state, Prussia emerged as a new Protestant German-speaking power in the north. In the 1600s, the Hohenzollern (HOH un tsahl urn) family ruled scattered lands across north Germany. After the Peace of Westphalia, ambitious Hohenzollern rulers united their holdings by taking over states between them. Like absolute rulers elsewhere, they imposed royal power on all their subjects and reduced the independence of their nobles, called Junkers (YOON kerz).

17. Prussia Emerges • Creating an Efficient Bureaucracy - To achieve their goals, Prussian rulers set up an efficient central bureaucracy and forged one of the best-trained armies in Europe. One Prussian military leader boasted, “Prussia is not a state which possesses an army, but an army which possesses a state.” • Emperor Frederick William I, who came to power in 1713, gained the loyalty of the nobles by giving them positions in the army and government. His tactic reduced the nobles’ independence and increased his own control. By 1740, Prussia was strong enough to challenge its rival Austria. • Frederick the Great - That year, young Frederick II inherited the throne. From an early age, Frederick was trained in the art of war, as his father insisted. • His tutor must take the greatest pains to imbue my son with a sincere love for the soldier’s profession and to impress upon him that nothing else in the world can confer upon a prince such fame and honor as the sword. • —Frederick William I

18. Frederick the Great of Prussia • However, Frederick preferred playing the flute and writing poetry. His father despised these pursuits and treated the young prince so badly that he tried to flee the country. Discovering these plans, Frederick William put his son in solitary confinement. Then he forced the 18-year-old prince to watch as the friend who had helped him was beheaded. • Frederick’s harsh military training had an effect. After becoming king in 1740, Frederick II lost no time in using his army. He boldly seized Silesia from Austria, sparking the War of the Austrian Succession. • In several later wars, Frederick continued to brilliantly use his disciplined army, forcing all to recognize Prussia as a great power. His exploits and his power as an absolute monarch earned him the name Frederick the Great.

19. Prussia Emerges Hohenzollern rulers united their lands to create a Prussian empire. This 18th-century print shows a Prussian army camp in Pomerania, territory that lay between East Prussia and West Prussia.

20. Peter the Great Modernizes Russia From 1604 to 1613, Russia was in a period of disorder, plagued by foreign invasions and internal rebellion. The rise of the first Romanov tsar restored a measure of order. Still, Russia remained a medieval state, untouched by the Renaissance or Reformation and largely isolated from Western Europe. Peter Visits the West - The young tsar was a striking figure, nearly seven feet tall, with a booming laugh and a furious temper. Although he was not well educated, he was immensely curious. He spent hours in the Moscow neighborhood where many Dutch, Scottish, English, and other foreigners lived. There, he heard of the new technology that was helping Western European monarchs forge powerful empires. In 1697, Peter set out to learn about Western technology and ways for himself. He spent hours walking the streets of European cities, noting the manners and homes of the people. He visited factories and art galleries, learned anatomy from a doctor, and even had a dentist teach him how to pull teeth. In England, Peter was impressed by Parliament. “It is good,” he said, “to hear subjects speaking truthfully and openly to their king.”

21. Peter the Great Modernizes Russia • Peter the Great, shown here as a young man, worked to restore order in Russia and make it a great modern power.

22. Peter the Great Modernizes Russia • The Westernization of Russia - Returning to Russia, Peter brought a group of technical experts, teachers, and soldiers he had recruited in Europe.  • Some changes had a symbolic meaning. He forced the boyars, or landowning nobles, to shave their traditional beards and wear Western-style clothes. To end the practice of secluding upper-class women in separate quarters, he held grand parties at which women and men were expected to dance together. Russian nobles opposed this radical mixing of the sexes in public, but they had to comply. • To impose his will, Peter became the most autocratic of Europe’s absolute monarchs, meaning that he ruled with unlimited authority. Determined to centralize royal power, he brought the Russian Orthodox Church under his control. He forced the haughty boyars to serve the state in civilian or military jobs.

23. Extending Serfdom A Harsh, Effective Ruler • Extending Serfdom • Peter knew that nobles would serve the state only if their own interests were protected. Therefore, he passed laws ensuring that nobles retained control over their lands. This included the serfs who were tied to those lands. • Under Peter’s rule, serfdom spread in Russia at a time when it was dying out in Western Europe. Further, he forced some serfs to become soldiers or to work as laborers on roads, canals, and other government projects. • A Harsh, Effective Ruler • Peter showed no mercy to any who resisted his new order. When elite palace guards revolted, he had more than 1,000 of the rebels tortured and executed. Then, as an example of his power, he left their rotting corpses outside the palace walls for months. • Peter was known not only for cruelty but also for remaking Russia. He imported Western technology, simplified the Russian alphabet, and set up academies for the study of mathematics, science, and engineering. To pay for his reforms, Peter adopted mercantilist policies, such as encouraging exports. He improved waterways and canals, developed mining and textile manufacturing, and backed new trading companies. Peter succeeded in refashioning Russia from a medieval backwater into a rising European—and Asian—power.

24. Expanding Russia’s Borders From his earliest days as tsar, Peter worked to build Russia’s military power. He created the largest standing army in Europe, built a world-class navy from scratch, and set out to extend Russian borders to the west and south. To achieve these goals meant fighting Russia’s neighbors. Seeking a Warm-Water Seaport Peter’s chief goal was to win a warm-water port, a port that was not frozen in winter. Russian seaports, located along the Arctic Ocean, were covered in ice most of the year. A warm-water port would increase Russia’s ability to trade with the West. The nearest warm-water coast was located along the Black Sea. To gain control of this territory, Peter had to push through the powerful Ottoman Empire. In the end, Peter was unable to defeat the Ottomans and gain his warm-water port. The drive to achieve this goal motivated future Russian tsars, and by the late 1700s, Catherine the Great would succeed.

25. Expanding Russia’s Borders • The Great Northern War - In 1700, Peter began a long war against the kingdom of Sweden, which at the time dominated the Baltic region. Early on, Russia suffered humiliating defeats. A Swedish force of only 8,000 men defeated a Russian army five times its size. Undaunted, Peter rebuilt his army, modeling it after European armies. • Finally, in 1709, he defeated the Swedes and won territory along the Baltic Sea. On this land, Peter would build a magnificent new capital city, St. Petersburg. • A “Window on the West” - St. Petersburg became the great symbol of Peter’s desire to forge a modern, Western-oriented Russia nation. Seeking to open a “window on the West,” he located the city along the swampy shores of the Neva River, near the Baltic coast. He forced tens of thousands of serfs to drain the swamps. Many thousands died, but Peter’s plan for the city succeeded. • On his journey to the West, Peter had visited Louis XIV’s splendid new palace of Versailles. Like the Sun King, Peter invited the best European architects and artisans to design and build the palaces for his new city. Peter even planned the city’s parks and boulevards himself, modeling them on those he had seen at Versailles.

26. Expanding to the East A Mixed Legacy • Expanding to the East - Peter also expanded the Russian empire eastward toward the Pacific. Russian traders and raiders also crossed the plains and rivers of Siberia. Under Peter, Russia signed a treaty with China that recognized Russia’s claim to lands north of China and defined the common border of the two empires. • In the early 1700s, Peter hired the Danish navigator Vitus Bering to explore what became known as the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska. After Peter’s death, Russian traders built outposts in Alaska and northern California. Few Russians moved east of the Ural Mountains at this time, but the expansion made Russia the largest country in the world. It still is today, nearly 300 years later. • A Mixed Legacy - When Peter died in 1725, he left a mixed legacy. He had expanded Russian territory, gained ports on the Baltic Sea, and created a mighty army. He had also ended Russia’s long period of isolation. From the 1700s on, Russia would be increasingly involved in the affairs of Western Europe. Yet many of Peter’s ambitious reforms died with him. Nobles, for example, soon ignored his policy of service to the state. • Like earlier tsars, Peter the Great had used terror to enforce his absolute power. His policies contributed to the growth of serfdom, which served only to widen the gap between Russia and the West that Peter had sought to narrow.

27. Expanding Russia’s Borders Peter wanted to gain access to a warm-water port and the open sea. His first step toward this goal was to capture Azov, a town in what is now southwestern Russia, from the Turks. This painting shows the successful capture of Azov in 1696.

28. Catherine the Great • Peter’s successors in the Romanov dynasty were ineffective rulers. Russian nobles quickly reasserted their independence. Then a new monarch took the reins of power firmly in hand. She became known to history as Catherine the Great.

29. Catherine the Great • A German Princess Becomes Tsar - A German princess by birth, Catherine came to Russia at the age of 15 to wed the heir to the Russian throne. She learned Russian, embraced the Russian Orthodox faith, and won the loyalty of the people. • In 1762, a group of Russian army officers loyal to her deposed and murdered her mentally unstable husband, Tsar Peter III. Whether or not Catherine was involved in the assassination is uncertain. In any case, with the support of the military, she ascended the Russian throne. • Catherine Embraces Reform - Catherine proved to be an efficient, energetic empress. She reorganized the provincial government, codified laws, and began state-sponsored education for both boys and girls. • Like Peter the Great, Catherine embraced Western ideas and worked to bring Russia fully into European cultural and political life. At court, she encouraged French language and customs, wrote histories and plays, and organized performances. She was also a serious student of the French thinkers who led the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment.

30. Catherine the Great • An Absolute Monarch - Like rulers in France and Spain, Catherine was an absolute monarch. Like them, she could be ruthless. She granted a charter to the boyars outlining important rights, such as exemption from taxes. She also allowed them to increase their stranglehold on the peasants. When peasants rebelled against the harsh burdens of serfdom, Catherine harshly suppressed the uprisings. Under Catherine, conditions grew even worse for Russian peasants and serfdom continued to spread. • Like Peter the Great, Catherine was determined to expand Russia’s borders. After a war against the Ottoman Empire, she achieved the Russian dream of a warm-water port on the Black Sea. She also took steps to seize territory from neighboring Poland. • The Partitions of Poland - Poland-Lithuania had once been a great European power. However, its rulers were unable to centralize their power or diminish the influence of the Polish nobility. In the 1770s, three powerful neighboring monarchs—Catherine of Russia, Frederick II of Prussia, and Joseph II of Austria—hungrily eyed Poland. • To avoid fighting one another, the three monarchs agreed in 1772 to partition, or divide up, Poland. Poland was partitioned three times between the 1770s and 1790s. Russia took the eastern part, where many Russians and Ukrainians lived. Austria and Prussia divided up the rest. By 1795, the independent kingdom of Poland had vanished from the map. Not until 1919 would a free Polish state reappear.

31. Catherine the Great Analyze Maps Russia expanded its borders from 1689 to 1796. Which five cities could probably serve as warm-water ports?

32. Five Great European Powers By 1750, five European powers had come to dominate European affairs. They were Austria, Prussia, France, Britain, and Russia. All five had strong centralized governments. Although Spain and the Ottoman Empire ruled parts of Europe, these once powerful empires were in decline.

33. Five Great European Powers • Struggles for Power • As these five nation-states competed with one another, they formed various alliances to maintain the balance of power. Though nations sometimes switched partners, two basic rivalries persisted. Prussia battled Austria for control of the German-speaking states. At the same time, Britain and France competed for power and influence both in Europe and in their growing overseas empires. • On occasion, these rivalries resulted in worldwide conflict. The Seven Years’ War, which lasted from 1756 until 1763, was fought on four continents. • In Europe, Prussia and Britain battled Austria, France, Russia, and Sweden. Britain and France also battled for power in India, Africa, and North America, where the conflict became known as the French and Indian War. • Absolutism at Its Peak • Absolutism reached its peak in the mid-1700s. Four of the five great European powers were ruled by absolute monarchs. Britain, with its strong Parliament, was the only exception. • At the same time, new ideas were circulating about natural rights and the role of government. In time, demands for change and reform would topple French absolutism, revolutionize European societies, and transform the balance of power in Europe.

34. Five Great European Powers The Seven Years’ War in Europe pitted Europe, Prussia, and Britain against Austria, France, Russia, and Sweden. This painting shows a December 1757 battle in which the Prussians defeated the Austrians.

35. Quiz: The Thirty Years’ War Which of the following was a long-term cause of the Thirty Years’ War? A. the Defenestration of Prague B. the Protestant Reformation C. the depopulation of Europe D. the Peace of Westphalia

36. Quiz: Hapsburg Austria Expands What was one of Maria Theresa's successes as an absolute monarch? A. uniting the German states B. forcing Frederick out of Silesia C. strengthening royal power D. adding Hungary to the Hapsburg empire

37. Quiz: Prussia Emerges What goal did Frederick the Great pursue as monarch of Prussia? A. winning the Thirty Years’ War B. extending Prussian power through military might C. imposing Catholicism on the German states D. destroying the power of the Junkers

38. Quiz: Peter the Great Modernizes Russia Why did Peter the Great strengthen serfdom in Russia? A. to follow the example of Western Europe B. to punish people who opposed him C. to help pay for his reforms D. to win the support of the boyars

39. Quiz: Expanding Russia’s Borders Which is an example of Peter the Great’s legacy? A. He established Russia’s first warm-water port. B. He expanded Russian territory. C. He created a more democratic monarchy. D. He put an end to all serfdom.

40. Quiz: Catherine the Great How did Catherine succeed where Peter the Great had failed? A. She strengthened the institute of serfdom. B. She expanded Russia's borders. C. She won a warm-water port for Russia. D. She introduced policies to westernize Russia.

41. Quiz: Five Great European Powers What were the two main rivalries after 1750? A. England and France; Austria and Prussia B. England and Austria; France and Prussia C. England and Prussia; France and Austria D. England and Russia; France and Austria