1. Jan Hus
2. Bohemian Estates
3. White Mountain
4. Ferdinand II
5. Ferdinand III
6. Charles VI
7. Mohacs
8. Pragmatic Sanction
9. Maria Theresa
10. Spanish Succession
11. Utrecht
12. Austrian Succession
13. Seven Years
14. Mongol Yoke
15. Khan
16. Moscow
17. Ivan III
18. Autocracy
19. tsar
20. "Third Rome"
21. boyars
22. service nobility
23. Ivan "The Terrible"
24. Cossacks
25. "Time of Troubles
26. Michael Romanov
27. Peter the Great
28. Charles XII
29. Great Northern War
30. St. Petersburg
31. Enlightenment
32. Enlightened absolutists
33. Catherine the Great
34. Grigory Orlov
35. Emelian Pugachev
36. Poland
37. Joseph II
Eastern Europe Alex Moutoux Susan Lang
Period 6
In the early 15th century, this Czech clergyman argued for academic freedom and denounced
superstition, indulgences, an overendowed church, and other abuses. Though he insisted his teachings
were orthodox, he was burned at the stake and has since been hailed as a reformer. His name was
(1)___________.
Serfdom had basically disappeared from Europe in the High Middle Ages, but when the Black Death
caused the population and economy to decline, nobles tried to solve their economic problems by
reinstating serfdom. This was unsuccessful in the west, but succeeded in Eastern Europe because the
weaker monarchs could not (and did not want to) prevent nobles from exploiting their serfs. In
exchange for leaving nobles the unquestioned masters of their serfs, monarchs in Eastern Europe were
able to gain power and establish absolutist monarchies.
The Habsburg dynasty originated in Austria and through strategic marriages came to rule almost half of
Europe in the 16th century. They began their absolutist state-building in Austria in the early 17th
century, but they had a major obstacle to their development of absolutism. This problem was the
(2)___________, the representative body in Austria, which was mostly Protestant and had a lot of
political power. The Habsburgs were very Catholic and did not allow religious diversity because they
believed it weakened the state. In the Battle of (3)___________, the Estates rose up in defense for
Protestant rights, but the Habsburgs (led by king (4)___________) crushed them. After the Thirty
Years' War, king (5)___________continued to consolidate power by centralizing the government and
creating a permanent standing army. He was followed by king (6)___________, who recovered the
parts of Hungary which had been given to the Ottomans in 1526 at the Battle of (7)___________.
However, the Hungarian nobility were more successful than the Czechs at preventing the full
development of Habsburg absolutism, and the Habsburgs had to compromise with them. This same
king proclaimed the (8)___________ in 1713, declaring that Habsburg territory could never be divided.
This would later allow his daughter (9)___________ to be crowned queen.
When the Spanish king Charles II died in 1700, he left his kingdom to Louis XIV's grandson in violation
of a prior treaty to divide it between France and the Holy Roman Empire. Austria joined England, the
Netherlands, and Prussia in a Grand Alliance against Louis to check France's power. This War of
(10)___________ ended in 1713 with the Peace of (11)___________, which promised the French &
Spanish crowns would never be united.
Maria Theresa took the Austrian throne in 1740. Soon afterwards, Frederick the Great of Prussia seized
her territory of Silesia in the War of (12)___________. She tried to win it back from Prussia in the
(13)___________ War, but was ultimately unsuccessful. The loss of Silesia prompted her to try to
strengthen the state by introducing reforms to limit papal influence, strengthen the bureaucracy,
include nobles in the tax system, and reduce the power of lords over their serfs.
Meanwhile, in Russia, absolutism began to take hold and develop. To see where it all started, one must
go all the back to the 13th century, to the time of the (14)___________. The Mongols controlled much
of the east, including the Baltics and all the way up to the Hungarian plains. They conquered territories,
yet still allowed local princes to rule so long as they were loyal and ready to serve the (15)___________.
With this system, princes were rewarded for the most loyalty. The princes of (16)___________ were
especially known for their service to the Mongols. One in particular, (17)___________, became very
powerful and conquered his rivals and their territories. Eventually Ivan gained so much power he
decided to stop serving the Mongols, and declared his land holdings an (18)___________, meaning he
was the sole source of power. He called himself the (19)___________, as the heir to the caesars, and to
Orthodox Christianity. Muscovite churchman named "holy Russia" the (20)___________. As tsar, Ivan
had obstacles to consolidating power, one of which was the (21)___________, or the highest nobles.
Ivan cooperated with the boyars, and created a new class called the (22___________ who held the
tsar's land but under the condition they were completely obedient to him. In addition, used religion as
a source of nationalism to maintain a firm grip on the Russian people.
Ivan III was succeeded by Ivan IV, or (23)___________. Ivan IV was a vicious military ruler. He
obliterated the last of the Mongols and waged a long war against the Polish-Lithuanian state. He ruled
his country with the same brutality, creating a special corps and torturing anyone standing in his way.
In addition, Ivan IV forced the peasants to more obediantly serve the tsar, causing many to flee and
form little armies called (24)___________. After the death of Ivan IV, as in most cases with a powerful
ruler, came an era of chaos, aptly named the (25)___________. During this time many people claimed
inheritance to the throne and fought with one another; meanwhile, Cossack bands were attacking and
killing nobles. Finally, nobles elected Ivan IV's grandnephew, (26)___________, to be the next
hereditary tsar.
The next influential tsar in Russian history was the giant, 6 feet 7 inches, (27)___________. Peter
began his 43 year reign in 1682, ready to begin his ambitious territorial expansion. But first he
embarked on an 18 month journey across western Europe to adopt the western culture. Peter
returned to Russia with not only the culture of the west, but also the technology and ideas. Soon after
his return, Peter waged war against Sweden, headed by a young king of only 18. Though inexperienced,
(28)___________ destroyed Peters attack on the fortress of Narva. Thus began the (29)___________
between Sweden and Russia, which after 21 years of fighting ended with a Russian victory, although
minimal territorial expansion for Russia. Along with military victory, Peter the Great accomplished
many things, such as creating schools, a more efficient beuracracy, and most importantly: the creation
of (30)___________. It was a beautiful modern city created to show the power and elegance of Russian
rulers, and arguably Peters greatest accomplishment.
Though Paris was an important center of the 18th century intellectual movement known as the
(31)___________, it also occured in Greece, the Balkans, Poland, Hungary, Russia, and some western
European countries. This movement influenced some of the rulers of the late 18th century, who held
complete power but tried to act for the benefit of their people in accordance with the new ideas.
These rulers were known as (32)___________.
One of these rulers was (33)___________ of Russia. She did not get along with her husband, the heir to
the German throne, and she and her lover (34)___________ overthrew and murdered her husband
shortly after he took the throne, making her empress of Russia. The new empress westernized Russia,
restricted torture, allowed limited religious toleration, improved education, and strengthened local
government. She condemned serfdom in theory until a serf rebellion led by a Cossack soldier named
(35)___________ destroyed any intentions she had to reform the system - after crushing the rebellion
she extended serfdom and gave nobles more power over their serfs. In territorial expansion she was
very successful, including a partition of the aging republic of (36)___________ with Austria and Prussia.
Another ruler influenced by the new ideas of his time was Maria Theresa's son (37)___________ of
Austria, who took the throne in 1780. He closely controlled the Catholic Church, granted religious
toleration and civic rights to Protestants and Jews, abolished serfdom, and converted all peasant labor
obligations to cash payments. His reforms were very radical and after he died, his successors mostly
cancelled them in order to reestablish order.
Throughout the French Revolution of the late 18th - early 19th century, Eastern European countries
fought with France. They formed coalitions with each other and with countries of Western Europe in
opposition to the French revolutionaries. They felt threatened by the revolutionary spirit that was
spreading throughout Europe and later, by Napoleon and his expansionist policies. While at first
unsuccessful, the allies against France ultimately emerged victorious, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in
1814.