ap euro mu 5 nb 17 enlightened absolutists

who wrote leviathan

thomas hobbes in 1651

main idea of leviathan

People were inept and incapable of making decisions for the state; society would crumble into all out war

what did thomas hobbes support

a strong central ruler to ensure good decision making and order

social contract

subjects give up their freedom and sovereignty in exchange for protection and order

john locke wrote _ in _

Two Treatises on Government in 1689

in john locke’s writing, he believed that

People were born with a blank slate (tabula rosa) and had potential to be intelligent and morally good

john locke clarified the social contract and made it so a state is responsible for

guaranteeing the protection of its subjects’ life, liberty, and property

a state is responsible for guaranteeing the protection of its subjects’ life, liberty, and property,

If a state fails to do this, then its subjects have the right and obligation to

remove the leaders and replace them with a government that will provide those guarantees

john lockes writings were

Massively influential in the revolutions of the next century

Other intellectuals primarily in UK and France will continue to write about _ and recommend _

government, civics, society.

modest and radical changes to how we should live and rule (see Rosseau, Voltaire, Beccaria, etc etc)

these 5 countries thrived in western europe

spanish, french, portuguese, dutch, english

With the Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, and English thriving in 

     Western Europe, many of the Europeans further east began to

take notice

In Central and Eastern Europe, _, _, and _ adopted Westernization programs with varying degrees of success

russia, prussia, austria

leaders of russia prussia and austria attempted different methods and reforms to

bring the nobles and finances under their control

 to become more Western meant four things:  

• To make their governments more centralized

• To adopt Western economics (commercialization and maritime trade)

• To improve their military structure and technology

• To adopt Western culture and ideas, if possible

Peter the Great was from

Russia

Peter the Great adopted a _ model of reform, but rejected _

western, rejected enlightenment ideals in favor of complete control

much like louis xiv, peter the great

had all of the nobles moved to him, and forced them to be a part of his government

peter the great reformed his military under the model of the

Prussians, using nobles as officers and vastly expanded russian territory to the east and against poland

peter the great attempted to mimic Louis XIV by

 building an entire city (St. Petersburg) and the lavish Winter Palace for himself

peter the great  used his conquest to

open up ports in an attempt to open up commercial trade like the West

peter the great established the

russian academy of sciences in 1725 to expand russian knowledge and adopt western science

Of the four, Prussia was the most successful at Westernizing under the ‘enlightened monarch’

Frederick the Great

Frederick was an educated individual who __ and was fond of the __

• read Western literature and was fond of the ideals of the Enlightenment on government and religion

Frederick II believed that

• while a monarch should have complete control, he should use that power to protect and serve his people

• Under Frederick II of Prussia, Prussia Westernized in the following ways:

• Nobles were used in the central bureaucracy, and kept local rights

• The military was reformed and nobles were appointed as officers

• Religious toleration was adopted in Prussia 

Joseph II was from

Austria

Joseph II of Austria, also attempted to _, but focused instead on

westernize, changing laws and education after his mother, maria theresa

Maria had failed to

centralize the nobles (mostly in Hungary) who refused to cooperate vs. the Ottoman Empire without maintaining their traditional local power

Joseph II made many Enlightenment-inspired changes to the HRE:

• He initiated religious toleration in Austria

• He started compulsory education for elementary boys

• He freed the serfs as peasants had been in the West (this reform didn’t last)

• He also reformed the legal system to respect individual rights

Despite failing to reform Austria, Austrian power grew substantially thanks to the

conquests of Poland and the Ottoman Empire in South/Eastern Europe

Peter’s successor Catherine the Great continued to bring about reforms

• She enhanced education in Russia, and started state school for women

• She patronized Enlightenment art and writers

• She began to remove the Eastern Orthodox Church from the 

     Russian state (sold lands)

catherine the great non western reforms

• Gave nobles more freedom, and required less state participation 

• She reinforced serfdom, and made the Russian economy dependent on it

catherine the great continued to expand russia to the

 East, and vs. the decaying Ottoman Empire and Poland