AP European History - Spielvogel Chapter 18: Enlightened Despots

Changes that began in the 18th century

Europe's old order: included monarchies, nobles, and landed aristocracy

Importance of army

a change that occurred due to the Enlightenment; a state's army determined the wellness of state.

Opinions of monarchies in the 18th century

philosophes agreed with them, but didn't believe in the idea of divine right.

Louis XV

Louis XIV's grandson; heavily influenced by his mistress Madame Pompadour, amongst others

Cardinal Fleury

promoted growth of industry before Louis XI's reign

Louis XVI

let his wife, Marie Antoinette, make most of his decisions and spend the French treasury

Marie Antoinette

spoiled Austrian princess (sister to Joseph II) and married to Louis XVI of France. Spent much of the French treasury

England to Great Britain

became Great Britain when they merged with the Scots' government.

English government versus French government

In England, the government was split between the Parliament and the monarchy

Anne I of England

last Stuart ruler in England.

Hanoverian dynasty

dynasty that replaced the Stuart line.

King George I

first monarch in the Hanoverian dynasty; distant German relative to Anne

Robert Walpole

first Prime Minister of Britain

British global policy for 18th century

expansion; power navy and colonial empire. Their monarchs were their biggest weakness, as they didn't even speak English

Dutch Republic during 18th century

decline in economics due to small population and overwhelming power of the aristocracy. Fell internally due to war between Patriots and Orangists, who fought over power.

Absolutist states in Central and Eastern Europe that became more important internationally

Prussia, Hungary, and Russia

Army and bureaucracy of Prussia

nobles got most of the military positions and the middle class got the rest. The bureaucracy supervised everyone, even down to a peasantry level to ensure everyone was on their toes.

Key Prussian leaders in the 18th century

Frederick William I, Frederick II, and Frederick William II

Frederick II

Frederick the Great; an enlightened despot that reformed education and considered himself the first servant of the state. Eradicated torture and gave freedom of speech and press and gave religious toleration

Territorial changes under Frederick II

seized Silesia and took partitions of Poland

Difficult administration of Austria

different nationalities from everywhere

Cause of War of Austrian Succession

the bringing of Marie Theresa to the throne after her father Charles VI left the state in much debt. While Austria was in this state, Prussia took advantage of them and seized Silesia from Austria

Maria Theresa of Austria

ruled Austria 1740-80. Staunch Catholic and never made many reforms, but forced aristocracy to pay more taxes and further centralized the state. Part of the War of Austria Succession

Joseph II of Austria

enlightened despot; made several reforms in education, civil rights and liberties, religious toleration, and attempted to change social construct. None of them were really enforced and a lot of them were disposed of after his rule.

Joseph II's appreciation

no one really appreciated Joseph's reforms, since he was much further than his own time and his own people weren't able to adjust to it

Catherine II of Russia

Catherine the Great; smart and powerful but still had the nobles on her side. Came into power when her husband was murdered by a faction of nobles that may or may not have been ordered by Catherine to do so

Catherine II and the Enlightenment

used Enlightenment ideals, but only in ways that would benefit the state. If it would make the nobles get onto her bad side, she wouldn't go through with it

Who benefitted the most from Catherine the Great?

the nobles; she favored them and the peasants suffered the most

Pugachev Rebellion

against the great oppression of the peasants and unsuccessful. Fervor of it would encourage future peasants to revolt

Territorial changes under Catherine the Great

the partition of Poland; spread south towards the Turks

Poland in the 18th century

weak government made it liable to be invaded. Prussia, Russia and Austria invaded it and partitioned sections of it.

Thaddeus Kosciuszko

leader of an unsuccessful rebellion in Poland

Administration of Spain: Philip V

First Spanish Bourbon king that centralized institutions and made the king the true ruler. French intendants were introduced into the Spanish system.

Administration of Spain: Charles III

put Catholics under royal control in Spain and banned the Jesuits.

Italy in the 18th century

Austria replaced Spain as the dominant power there. The states started to grow less important in international affairs.

Sweden in the 18th century

Their power declined at this time due to the death of Charles XII, rise in noble power and the Battle of Poltava. Became slightly liberal under Gustavus III but it went back afterwards

King Gustavus III of Sweden

made a liberal government in Sweden with citizens' rights and laissez-faire economics, but the noble disliked this and assassinated him. The aristocrats proved themselves bad at implementing a successful aristocracy.

Enlightened Absolutism: FLAWS

Enlightened despots were disciples of the Enlightenment, but their policies weren't really affected by the Enlightenment. The state necessities were over reforms. Used their heightened power to control armies and control wars.

Three best known Enlightened Despots of the 18th century

Joseph II, Frederick II, and Catherine the Great

International rivalries and continued centralization of the European state

The armies created tensions between nations by ensuring that problems would be solved with war rather than diplomacy. The need for money to support the armies and navies would give bureaucrats more power.

Seven Years' War: three major areas of conflict

Europe, India, and North America

Seven Years' War: rivalries that instigated it

Rivalries between Britain and France, Prussia and Russia, and Austria and Prussia.

Seven Years' War: who against who?

British and Prussians vs Austrians, Russians, and the French

Seven Years' War: European conflict

majorly over territories; no one emerged as a victor after Russia withdrew after a new ruler emerged there. Everyone agreed on peace and occupied territories were returned.

Seven Years' War: Indian conflict

an Anglo-French point of concentration. British ultimately won because they were more persistent.

Robert Clive

leader of the army of the British East India Company during the Seven Years' War

Seven Years' War: North America

Two major points of conflict: Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Ohio River valley. Considered the greatest point of contention; the French and the British were fighting it out here. Ultimately the British surpassed the French here because of their superior naval powers.

William Pitt the Elder

reviver of British spirit in the French and Indian War; convinced the British that defeating the French was necessarily for the expansion of the British empire.

Professional standing armies of the 18th century

necessarily to be a formidable force in the 18th century. Divided by class ranks usually and their navies were generally the more important aspect.

Change in the nature of warfare in the 18th century

wasn't necessarily destructive, since it wasn't based on religion or ideology anymore. Considered more of a last resort because of how expensive it was and a system of formalities were exchanged to allow either side to withdraw without further harm.

European population in the 18th century

started growing due to improving conditions. Decline in death rates (due to increase in food supply), agricultural revolution, the The Great Plague was finally fading, more women were marrying and having more children.

Conditions people lived in in the 18th century

death was still an everyday characteristic of life in the lower class. Hygiene was still poor and diseases were rampant. Famine and hunger could still be devastating.

Social organization in the 18th century

family was still the heart of the social organization. Head of households were still patriarchal and marriages were still selected by parentss

Problem with breastfeeding in the 18th century

during the first half of the century, it was considered undignified to do so, so higher classes sent their infants to wet nurses to do it, but it was later believed it was important for the child's development for the mother to do it during the second half of the century

Children-rearing in lower vs higher classes

lower classes couldn't afford to send their infants to be breastfed so they did it by themselves, but higher class women sent them to wet nurses.

Attacking primogeniture

attacked because people started to believe more that all of their children deserved their parents attention

Infanticide in 18th century Europe

wasn't accepted and hard to stop. Many families couldn't afford to raise an infant and didn't want to send it to a foundling home

Foundling homes in the 18th century

often overcrowded, even though they were funded by sympathetic aristocrats, and infants either died, or were sent to miserable jobs

Marriage age of non-aristocratic couples in the 18th century

generally surprising; male: 27-28 and women 25-27. Married late so the families could save money

Women and children in working classes

peasants/rural: women grew small vegetable plots and children worked on the fields.

urban: women worked as spinners or seamstresses

Factors contributing to the increase in food production

more farmland, increased crop yields per acre, healthier and more abundant livestock, and an improved climate

System that replaced the open-field system

planting something like alfalfa or clover that stored nitrogen in their roots and would help the field restore its fertility

Increase in livestock affecting: crop production

gave more manure for the field; made the soil richer

Increase in livestock affecting: the European diet

increased the amount of food the average European was eating and gave staple foods like potatoes that had lots of nutrients and didn't need much land to grow

Increase in livestock affecting: new innovations

landed aristocrats interested in science created agrarian inventions to made systems flow faster (Jethro Tull and Seed Drill)

Maize and the potato

important crops brought from the Americas; important to Irish and the Germans and those of the Low Countries. High in minerals and could be grown on little land

Enclosure acts

done by the British Parliament that small family-owned plots to be compiled into large plots owned by aristocrats. Forced farmers to become wage-earners on the land. Created in a corrupt sense, since it was for the benefit of the aristocracy

Economics: silver and gold

decline in supply of these; led to an abundance of credit and paper notes

Economics: private and public banks

most successful: Bank of England. Used to exchanging with foreign countries' currencies and making loans to the government. Eventually used "banknotes" that were backed with credit.

Economics: national debt

largely noticed in England with its bank; appeared in lieu of the debt of a monarch

Economics: France's lack of a national bank

John Law tried to make a national bank and did investments for trading companies, but it went overboard and went bankrupt. Made people of France believe less in paper currency and a national bank

Economics: Dutch capitalism

Bank of Amsterdam: leader of international finance. They would rather do it abroad since they had so little to do within itself

Textiles

most important industry of the 18th century; used a domestic system

Putting-out system

also known as the domestic system or the cottage industry system. Contributed largely to the domestic order of a cottage household

Cotton

emerged as a potential competitor to textiles in the 18th century. Mainly produced in India (originally) and on the slave plantations in the Americas

Flying Shuttle

invented by John Kay; sped up the process of weaving on a loom

Water frame

invented by Richard Arkwright; churned out large quantities of yarn to match the speed of the flying shuttle

Spinning Jenny

invented by James Hargreaves; spun more than one spindle at once

Consumer revolution

took place in England; small merchants grew in number and created more items that more of the population could buy; included items like china, ready-made clothing and furniture.

How global economic changed in the 18th century

using mercantilist ideas and methods, countries created colonies and increased world trade and created a global economy for the first time. Trade between countries and their colonies increased at this time

What changed in Europe's social order

reformers believed all of the traditional orders were hostile to the development of society and enlightened individuals attacked the old order

What continued in Europe's social order

social status was still based on traditional orders and you could still tell the status of an individual by the clothes they wore

Features of peasant life

-still owned tithes: supposed to go to priests but usually went to aristocrats

-often owed dues or fees for not being a serf anymore

-landlords still had local jurisdiction

-foods like potatoes were most of peasant's diet

Nobles in the 18th century

at the top of the social order. Given many privileges and were allowed to hold high military positions. Their diet was much better than lower classes' because they could afford high food prices of the winter

Nobility in different locations of Europe

might vary due to the different lands, in Prussia they were more involved with military matters but central European ones were more involved in government

Are all nobles the same?

No, not even in the same place because they were of educations and power.

"Sweet" life of the nobility

attended country houses as vacations that had huge rooms and entrance halls with plenty of open spaces for women and men separately. Didn't attend court society because the large houses continued their domination of the surrounding countryside.

Features of a grand tour

would cross the English Channel through rough seas. Make a trip to Italy or France (could face pirates by sea). Then cross the Alps and Germany

Importance of townspeople

without them there would be no workforce in towns

Problem with poverty in the 18th century

Big problem at the time; attitude towards this changed when the government began to portray beggars as criminals and institutions set up to help the poor became overwhelmed by the masses of poor

Different dwellers in urban cities

Poorer classes: skilled artisans and workers like maids or cooks. Upper classes were the officers, financiers, bankers, and merchants

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