Absolutism in Eastern Europe (Prussia, Austria, Poland, Ottoman Empire)

Features of Absolutism in Prussia

• very militaristic

• crushed political opposition

• forced conscription

• efficient bureaucracy: "Kabinet" where the King still had final say over all the hardworking Junkers

• nobles content with serfs so they didn't revolt

Setbacks to Absolutism in Prussia

• serfdom
• no colonies
• forced conscription made people flee or injure themselves to avoid it
• land was tiny and very scattered because of 30 Years' War

Political and Military Notes on Prussia

• Junkers: Brandenburg and Prussian nobles who were reluctant allies of Frederick William in the consolidation of Prussian states
• 12th in population but had 4th largest (and the best) army in Europe by 1740
• 1688: population of 1 million but an army of 30,000
• 1733: all Prussian men had to undergo training for military and serve as reservists
• eradicated parliamentary states
• got Brandenburg, Prussia, and parts of Rhine
• learned the lesson after 30 Years' War: build up military!

Economic Notes on Prussia

• tripled revenue
• taxed without consent
• entrenched, oppressive, and backwards serfdom

Cultural, Intellectual, and Religious Notes on Prussia

• highly militaristic society
• allowed settlement of Protestant refugees → religiously tolerant
• central language

Notable Rulers/Events in Prussia

• Frederick William I (the Great Elector): unified 3 provinces (Brandenburg, Prussia, and territories on the Rhine), comes after 30 Years' War with 1/3 country dead and unable to develop economy, knows religious intolerance is not good, welcomes Protestants fleeing France, builds up military, created a Prussian nation-state which was religiously tolerant
• Frederick the Great (II): built Sans Souci Palace in Potsdam (outside Berlin where 20,000/100,000 people were soldiers), gained reputation as "Enlightened despot" for desiring to be the "first servant of the state," insisted on planting potatoes and turnips because they grow underground (could withstand trampling), implemented standard law codes, sought to expand farmland, invites Voltaire to palace and was celebrated for his policies of religious tolerance, defied the Pragmatic Sanction and unleashed Prussia's forces on Austria → gaining iron, coal, and population rich Silesia via War of Austria Succession, used war as a policy for 25 years, Austria tried to take back Silesia but he defended it in the Seven Years War (French-Indian War), turned to diplomacy in case of Partition of Poland, war was costly and left Prussia almost ruined

Features of Absolutism in Austria

• built state power
• centralized government (Pragmatic Sanction, 1713: Maria Theresa's father made other country's rulers sign this to not invade Austria and recognize Maria Theresa's claim to the throne → Frederick the Great worked around this and invaded because he stated that he didn't sign this, his father had)

Setbacks to Absolutism in Austria

• serfdom
• no colonies
• no national army
• impact of the 30 Years' War → low nationalism

Political and Military Notes on Austria

• reduced power of Bohemian Estates (Protestant Assembly)
• after 1650: the new Bohemian nobility owed their success to the Habsburgs → Habsburgs got direct rule over Bohemia
• permanent standing army to put down internal revolts
• united German-speaking provinces
• 1683-1699: pushed Ottomans out of most of Hungary and Transylvania, recovered all of Hungary in 1718
• Hungarian nobles thwarted full Habsburgs absolutism through revolting → final revolt in 1703 because Habsburgs distracted by War of Spanish Succession, was eventually defeated, but secured the aristocracy their privileges for accepting Habsburg rule
• Hungarian pledge to Maria Theresa for 100,000 troops (1741) → Maria Theresa held up her son, Joseph (one of 14 kids), and said fight for him, the future, because Prussia had invaded

Economic Notes on Austria

• took Protestant nobles land and gave it to Catholic nobles
• serfdom was worse: 3 days per week of unpaid labor
• entrenched, oppressive, and backwards serfdom
• had "cameralism," a very early mercantilism

Cultural, Intellectual, and Religious Notes on Austria

• Austria and Germany both centers for Baroque and classical music
• Bach and Beethoven both from Germany, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born in Salzburg, Austria
• Vienna in the 18th century was known as the "classical musical capital" (Austrians prided themselves upon these achievements)
• centralized language: German
• Catholicism united it as well

Notable Rulers/Events in Austria

• Ferdinand II: reduced power of Bohemian Estates (Protestant Assembly), confiscated Protestant noble land and gave it to Catholic nobles and foreign mercenaries who led armies
• Ferdinand III: continued to build state power, centralized government in German-speaking parts
• 1683-1699: pushed Ottomans out of most of Hungary and Transylvania, recovered all of Hungary in 1718
• Hungarian nobles thwarted full Habsburgs absolutism through revolting → final revolt in 1703 because Habsburgs distracted by War of Spanish Succession, was eventually defeated, but secured the aristocracy their privileges for accepting Habsburg rule
• failure in the 30 Years' War with treaties of Münster and Westphalia seen as setbacks for German national movement
• Austria tried to secure the throne for Maria Theresa with the Pragmatic Sanction (1713) and Hungarian Pledge

Features of Absolutism in Poland (kinda..)

• Sejm (diet) could be "exploded" with the Liberum Veto (shouting it would dissolve the legislative body of Sejm) → Nothing was accomplished! And the Monarchy was powerless

Setbacks to Absolutism in Poland

• marshy land with no natural boundaries
• large (yet poor) aristocracy
• foreign interference

Political and Military Notes on Poland

• rescued Habsburg Vienna by breaking Ottoman siege (1683)
• Failed to remain a competitive power
• Sejm (diet) could be "exploded" with the Liberum Veto

Economic Notes on Poland

• commercial agriculture (by lords) and serf based agriculture
• Szlachta nobles were tax exempt

Notable Rulers/Events in Poland

• King John III Sobieski (r. 1674-1696) led a Polish army to rescue Vienna from the Turks

Features of Absolutism in the Ottoman Empire

• millet system: divided into religious communities with self government under their religious leader (Orthodox Christians, Jews, Armenian Christians, Muslims); created a strong bond between the ruling class and religious leaders (supported the sultan for authority over the community); millet collected taxes, regulated collective behavior, maintain courts, schools, houses of worship, and hospitals
• "tax" on 1,000 to 3,000 male Christian kids in conquered populations in the Balkans → taken as slaves to be raised in Turkey as Muslims and trained as soldiers and government administrators
• most talented slaves rose to the top of the bureaucracy, could get wealth and power there; less fortunate sent to the army
• Sultan married high ranking women but did not have children with her, instead he took on many concubines who he had children with (stopped having children with each after a son) → prevent wife's elite family's influence over the government
• at a young age, each son of sultan and their mother (a concubine) were sent to govern a province → stabilize power and prevent civil war

Setbacks to Absolutism in the Ottoman Empire

• failed to modernize and compete with Western Europe and trading rivals → lost land
• major land loss with the Treaty of Karlowitz (Karlowitz, 1699), losing Hungary, Transylvania and more
• it was intercontinental

Political and Military Notes on the Ottoman Empire

• Sultan originally selected top ranks from his slave corps
• Various "states" (or millets) made up the empire
• Janissary military corps: core of the Sultan's army, made of slave conscripts from non-Muslim parts of empire (Muslim law forbade enslaving other Muslims), after 1683 it became voluntary, open to Christians and Muslims
• Sultan reshaped the role of marriage and family, power structure shifted to admin and military bureaucracies with the Grand Vizier increasing in power → Suleiman changed this
• After losses to the Habsburgs, was weakened and had to fight against the Russians for the Black Sea

Economic Notes on the Ottoman Empire

• Sultan technically held all agricultural land → peasants had to pay taxes to use the land → no private property or nobles
• Failed to compete with the Dutch and Spanish trade

Cultural, Intellectual, and Religious Notes on the Ottoman Empire

• religious scholars, who were part of the "Circle of Equity" (council), emphasized that the Ottomans should conform to traditional life/values
• Sharia Law enforced
• religiously tolerant

Notable Rulers/Events in the Ottoman Empire

• Conquered Constantinople (1453), making it its capital (Istanbul)
• defeated by Philip II of Spain at the battle of Lepanto (1571)
• besieged (but lost) Vienna to a Christian coalition (1683)
• Sultan Suleiman (r. 1494-1566) broke tradition and married his concubine Hurrem in 1534
• 1529: tried to lay siege to Vienna; but pretzel vendors, who woke up early to make pretzels, saw the gates of the city were open and woke others up to shut it → Vienna was saved