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Enlightened Despots

A comparison of the enlightened despots Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Frederick the Great, Maria Theresa, and Joseph II in European history.

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Enlightened Despots

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  1. Enlightened Despots Daniel W. Blackmon AP European History Coral Gables Sr. High

  2. Monarchs to be Compared • Peter the Great • Catherine the Great • Frederick the Great • Maria Theresa and Joseph II

  3. Precursors: Peter the Great • Mongols 1242 • Alexander Nevsky 1252 • Ivan I Moneybags increases holdings, completed by Ivan III, who marries Byzantine princess, Holy Russia, Third Rome

  4. Precursors: Peter the Great • Ivan IV the Terrible (1533-1584): conquers Kazan and Astrakhan, • service nobility to hold land, breaks boyars, by using the oprichniki , • enserfed peasants, whose flight south creates Cossacks;

  5. Precursors: Peter the Great • Time of Troubles 1598-1613 • Michael Romanov 1613 • Patriarch Nikon and Old Believers 1652 • Stenka Razin peasant revolt 1670-71

  6. Precursors: Catherine the Great • Elizabeth I (1741-1762) • Peter III marries Catherine 1744; Peter withdrew from Seven Years’ War when he took throne in 1762; Catherine and her lover, Gregory Orlov plot to overthrow him and he is later murdered

  7. Precursors: Frederick the Great • Brandenburg the “sandbox of the Holy Roman Empire”

  8. Precursors: Frederick the Great • Great Elector Frederick William I (1640-1688) of Hohenzollern struggles with the Junkers. • He sets permanent standing army (aftermath of 30 Yrs War) forcing the Estates of Brandenburg and Prussia to accept taxation without consent.

  9. Precursors: Frederick the Great • His army collects taxes. Revenue triples, army increases by 10. War instrument of policy. • Compromise with Junkers–freedom from taxes and unlimited control over serfs; new taxes fall on towns.

  10. Precursors: Frederick the Great • Frederick III The Ostentatious (1688-1713) become King of Prussia

  11. Precursors: Frederick the Great • Frederick William I The Soldier King militarizes Prussian society. Austere, disciplined life, strict Lutheran values, belief in dog-eat-dog world; army and income matter.

  12. Precursors: Frederick the Great • “I must be served with life and limb, with house and wealth, with honor and conscience, everything must be committed except eternal salvation–tat belongs to God, but all else is mine.”

  13. Precursors: Frederick the Great • Junkers become officer caste; huge standing army for size; honest and efficient bureaucracy; royal drillmaster, • “Sparta of the North”

  14. Precursors: Maria Theresa • Ferdinand III (1637-1657) centralized government in Styria, Tyrol, and Austria; permanent army; • Turkish Empire begins to weaken after 1570;

  15. Precursors: Maria Theresa alliances with Louis XIV of France leads to siege of Vienna in 1683; • its defeat leads to reconquest of Hungary and Transylvania;

  16. Precursors: Maria Theresa • Austria is now tripartite: the hereditary provinces of Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary

  17. Precursors: Maria Theresa • Charles VI (1711-1740) works for Pragmatic Sanction –-Hapsburg lands never to be divided and passes to female if no male heir.

  18. Precursors: Maria Theresa • Hungary revolts under Prince Rákóczy in 1703 while Austria is tied up with War of Spanish Succession–Charles must restore Hungarian privileges in order to gain hereditary kingship.

  19. Precursors: Maria Theresa • Maria Theresa ( 1740-1780) faced with War of Austrian Succession until 1748. • Minister Wenzel Kaunitz helps push reforms;

  20. Precursors: Maria Theresa Minister Wenzel Kaunitz helps push reforms; • Joseph co-regent from 1765-1780 and king from 1780-1790

  21. Precursors:Napoleon

  22. Governmental and Administrative Reform: Peter the Great • Under force of war, reinstates service nobility for life; • military / civilian bureaucracy of 14 ranks (the Table of Ranks);

  23. Governmental and Administrative Reform:Catherine the Great • Inherited a badly trained and small bureaucracy; chose to base her autocratic authority on the land-owning class and the only group capable of exercising control.

  24. Governmental and Administrative Reform:Catherine the Great • Goal was to transform the gentry into unsalaried servants of the Crown.

  25. Governmental and Administrative Reform:Catherine the Great • Russian gentry did not have traditional corporate rights; their status depended on the Crown.

  26. Governmental and Administrative Reform:Catherine the Great • Catherine reorganized administrative districts and municipalities. • She extended the gentry’s patrimonial control over the serfs,

  27. Governmental and Administrative Reform:Frederick the Great • King is the “first servant of the state”

  28. Governmental and Administrative Reform:Frederick the Great • General Directory was the central administrative body, but all reports went to his “Kabinett” or personal office. • He rarely asked for advice, only information, and intruded continuously in all departments.

  29. Governmental and Administrative Reform:Frederick the Great • He was in fact the most “absolute” of the Enlightened Despots.

  30. Governmental and Administrative Reform:Maria Theresa and Joseph II • Large scale reorganization of bureaucracy after 1748 to clarify and rationalize duties;

  31. Governmental and Administrative Reform:Maria Theresa and Joseph II Creation of a Staatsrat (State Council) to coordinate between the monarch and the various administrative departments; • Concentrated on Crown lands in Bohemia and Austria

  32. Governmental and Administrative Reform:Maria Theresa and Joseph II • Joseph became co-regent from 1765 and sole ruler after 1780. • Extended reforms to to other lands: the Netherlands, Hungary and Lombardy in an attempt to create a unitary state;

  33. Governmental and Administrative Reform :Napoleon • “Authority from above, confidence from below”

  34. Governmental and Administrative Reform :Napoleon • Hostility to the “mob”: The “Whiff of Grapeshot” • Overthrow of the Directory, new Constitution with himself as First Consul • Ratified by plebiscite

  35. Governmental and Administrative Reform :Napoleon • Crowned himself Emperor • Made his relatives kings, attempted to create a new Bonapartist dynasty

  36. Governmental and Administrative Reform :Napoleon • Repressed political liberty • Censored newspapers, restricted freedom of speech

  37. Governmental and Administrative Reform :Napoleon • Orderly, efficient, centralized government • Prefects and subprefects to administer laws.

  38. Precursors:Napoleon

  39. Economic and Fiscal Reform:Peter the Great • Fosters trade with Western Europe, • invites foreign merchants in; creates factories and mines served by serfs and owned by the state;

  40. Economic and Fiscal Reform:Peter the Great • triples taxes; • Builds St. Petersburg as his Window to the West

  41. Economic and Fiscal Reform: Catherine the Great • Offered generous conditions to foreign settlers to settle in thinly populated areas; • devoted Crown lands to the construction of model farms to demonstrate scientific farming ;

  42. Economic and Fiscal Reform: Catherine the Great • foundation of a royal bank to provide investment capital; • final secularization of Church lands, thus making them taxable;

  43. Economic and Fiscal Reform: Catherine the Great • “Catherine II performed one of her greatest services for the Russian economy in creating a state debt by heavy borrowing from both domestic and foreign sources.

  44. Economic and Fiscal Reform: Catherine the Great • “In capital-poor Russia, such indebtedness was an indispensable requirement for the growth of Russian industry. Her monetary policy, too, created for the first time a really stable currency system.” (Gagliardo 45)

  45. Economic and Fiscal Reform:Frederick the Great • draining of swamp land around the Oder and Vistula and attraction of 300,000 foreign colonists to settle on the newly reclaimed land;

  46. Economic and Fiscal Reform:Frederick the Great • devoted Crown lands to the construction of model farms to demonstrate scientific farming • fostered state businesses that were strategically important,

  47. Economic and Fiscal Reform:Frederick the Great • state monopolies of salt, tobacco and coffee; • foundation of a royal bank to provide investment capital;

  48. Economic and Fiscal Reform:Frederick the Great • created an Excise and Tolls Department (the Régie) to collect taxes, thus abandoning the use of tax farmers;

  49. Economic and Fiscal Reform:Frederick the Great • doubled state revenue, and at his death, state income was three times state expenditure

  50. Economic and Fiscal Reform:Maria Theresa and Joseph II • attempts to foster modern manufacturing, • attract skilled workers from abroad; • revamped taxes;

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