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Enlightened Absolutism
Enlightenment thought influenced European thought
in the 18th century, and it took a strong monarch to bring about enlightened reforms to society.
Enlightened Absolutism: a system in which rulers
tried to govern by Enlightenment principles while maintaining their full royal powers.
This idea was supported by many Enlightenment
Philospohes. They too believed that a strong monarchy was the best tool for spreading Enlightenment Ideas
The Seven Year's War
The TRAP
Although they were spreading enlightenment ideas it was still an absolute Monarchy, use this acronym to remember how they tried to achieve their goal...
1. Toleration - of religious minorities
2. Reform - of institutions
3. Absolutism
4. Patronage - of philosophes
The Seven Year's War: While in Europe the war was mostly
between the Prussians and Austrians over territory. In America however it was fought between the French and British over land in Canada and the Ohio Country.
Also called the French and Indian war, Native Americans
sided primarily with the French. Eventually the British won but there was a cost.
Wars are expensive and the deficit that the British ran in
the beginning increased nearly twenty times before the end.
Lucky for the British: They had colonies in America to
tax heavily to make up for the costs of the war, this eventually upset the colonists and lead to one of the biggest revolutions of all time.
Fredrick the Great
Catherine the Great
Fredrick II or Fredrick the Great or Prussia was perhaps
the most educated monarch of the time. Aside from being a great military mind, he seemed quite willing to make enlightened reforms to his country...
Fredrick's Legacy:
1. Abolished the use of torture except in cases of
treason and torture
2. Granted limited freedoms of speech and press.
3. Created greater religious toleration
4. Kept serfdom and Prussia's rigid social structure
Catherine II or Catherine the Great or Russia was another great enlightened monarch. Succeeding Peter II or, guess what? Peter the Great.
Catherine's Legacy:
1. She believed that all people were equal in the eyes of the law.
2. Sadly she failed to act on these ideas and her support of the nobility worsened conditions for Russian Peasants.
3. She did however help Russia expand to the south, gaining land it would hold until after the World Wars