Controlled Nobility
1653 – Convinced Junkers
(nobles) to grant him the
money to build an army
In exchange Junkers
maintained privileges (tax
free) – allowed to keep
control of the peasantry
Established Military
Created a permanent standing
army
Junkers = Officers
Peasants = Soldiers
This was the 1st modern civil
service
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
Took the title of King
of Prussia
Establishing the
power of the
Hohenzollern family in
Europe
Modeled himself
after Louis XIV
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 1st Military
reserves
“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.”
ROAD TO POWER
 Youngest son of Tsar Alexis –he was a
child from Alexis’ second wife
 Alexis had 3 children with his 1st wife
1. Feodor – an invalid
2. Sophia
3. Ivan – a semi imbecile
 1676 – Alexis died and Feodor became
Tsar
 1682 – sickly Feodor died and Peter’s
mother campaigns to have him made
Tsar over Ivan
 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 down the Red Stairs of
the Faceted Palace in Moscow onto raised
pikes
 Coup is successful and Peter is forced to
share the crown with Ivan
 Sophia acts as the regent
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
Sophia tries another
coup, this time losing to
Peter
Peter exiles Sophia to a
convent
6 years later Ivan dies
and Peter is left to rule
alone
1st 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
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
Another Coup
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
Peter hung the bodies of
the rebels outside of
Sophia’s convent
window, and Sophia
apparently went mad.
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.”
WESTERNIZATION
Military Conscription
Technical schools
Replaced church patriarchy with himself
Simplified the alphabet
Placed a Tax on – males, beards, hats , peanuts
Used money to pay for upgrades and
wars
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)
Peter used forced peasant labor to build his
palace.
Conservative Clergy
Nobility
His son Alexis
Renounce throne flees to Austria
Sentenced to death by Peter
Died while being tortured
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 1725
The Holy Roman Empire
300+ German States
Austria
Bohemia
Hungary
•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
•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
•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
•War of Spanish Succession
•Won Battle of Blenheim over the
French
•Confirmed Austria’s position as one
of the great powers of Europe
•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
•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
Schoenbrunn
Palace
Versailles
Schoenbrunn
Versailles
Schoenbrunn
Versailles