The 18th Century
The European States
-Most European states in the 18th century were ruled by
monarchs.
-The philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment began to have an
impact on the political development of European states in the
18th century.
-The ideas of natural laws as well as a belief in natural rights
were two of the dominant ideas ushered in by the Enlightenment.
-These natural rights included equality before law, freedom of
religious worship, freedom of speech and press, and the right to
assemble, hold property, and seek happiness.
- All of these natural rights were included in the American
Declaration of Independence.
-According to the Enlightenment philosophers the only way these
natural rights could be preserved was by having an enlightened
ruler.
- In order to be an enlightened ruler they must; Allow
religious toleration, freedom of speech, and press, and the
right to hold private property.
-Above all, these enlightened rulers must obey the laws and
enforce the laws strictly but fairly for everyone.
-Many historians and scholars believe the 18th century
fostered in, as a result of the enlightenment, a new type of
monarch which they called enlightened despotism or
enlightened absolutism.
-Some examples of enlightened despots were Frederick II of
Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russian, and Joseph II of
Austria. All of which followed the enlightenment principles
which paved the way for a modern nation.
European States: France
-As a result of the overseas voyages in the Age
of Exploration during the 16th century, the
European economy begin to shift from the
Mediterranean to the Atlantic.
-In the 17th century, the English and Dutch
expanded as former powers Spain and
Portugal declined.
- In the 18th century, France experienced an
economic revival as a result of the
Enlightenment. However, the French
monarch resisted the ideas of the
Enlightenment.
-The state of the French economy and throne was bleak.
Previous monarch, Louis XIV had left France with
enlarged territories, a huge debt, an unhappy population,
and a five year-old great grandson as his successor.
-As a result, France was ruled by a couple of regents who
successfully withdrew France from all foreign adventures,
and even balanced the budget by promoting domestic
commerce and trade.
- After the most influential regent died, Louis XV decided he
would rule alone. However, Louis was lazy and weak and
soon his advisors and mistresses began to run his affairs.
- One of Louis’ most notable mistresses was Madame de
Pompadour, who was probably the most famous mistress
in the 18th century, greatly influenced Louis in foreign
affairs as well as governmental decisions such as
appointments.
-The loss of the French Empire in the Seven Years War,
coupled with the taxes that had been levied on France as a
result as well as higher public taxes, forced even Louis XV
to recognize the monarchy was becoming irrelevant.
-Louis’s replacement was his twenty-year-old grandson, who
took the title of Louis XVI, knew very little about running a
government and was equally as lazy Louis XV.
-It was his wife, however, that became more infamous
among historians. Mary Antoinette, was an Austrian
princess who was spoiled very early in life and only loved
the court intrigues of being queen.
European States: Great Britain
The 18th century political system in GB was characterized by a
sharing of power between king and Parliament, with\
Parliament gradually being gaining the majority of power.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain came into existence in
1707 when the governments of England and Scotland united.
The term British came to refer to both English and Scots.
The king chose ministers who responsible only to him and
their job duties consisted of setting policies and guiding
Parliament.
Parliament contained the power to make laws, levy taxes,
pass the budget, and indirectly influence the king’s ministers.
English Parliament was divided into two separate groups both
of which belonged to the aristocracy.
The first group are referred to as the peers who sat for life in
the House of Lords.
And the landed gentry who sat in the House of Commons. And
served as justices of the peace in the counties.
Both groups were landowners were similar economic interests,
both groups also intermarried to further their family prestige.
In 1714, a new dynasty was created, the Hanoverians. This was
a result of the Queen Anne dying without an heir. As a result
the crown was offered to the Protestant rulers of the German
state of Hanover.
Because the first Hanoverian King, George I, did not speak
English and he nor his successor George II had much familiarity
with the British government, they chose to relegate their
decisions to Parliament.
Historians often credit George I and II with the creation of the
modern cabinet system in Great Britain.
Following their reign was George III who replaced the Prime
Minister with his handpicked favorite.
George III soon became the product of extreme discontent. He
was credited for losing the American colonies in the
Revolutionary War.
The House of Commons decided the crown’s power needed to be
diminished greatly.
However, George III was able to save himself and stay in power
by appointing a new Prime Minister who Parliament highly
favored
European States: Prussia
During the 18th century Prussia was one of the world’s
dominant powers.
Its first king of this century was Frederick William I.
He is known for promoting the evolution of Prussia’s civil
bureaucracy by establishing the General Directory.
The General Directory served as the chief administrative
agent of the central government, supervising military,
police, economic, and financial affairs.
Frederick William personally kept a close watch over his
officials to ensure that they performed their duties.
Close supervision of the bureaucracy became a
hallmark of the 18th century Prussian rulers.
Following Frederick William I was followed by his
son, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great.
He is remembered as being one of the best
educated and most cultured monarchs of the 18th
century.
He reveled in the Enlightenment’s ideas, even
inviting Voltaire to live at his court for several
years.
He became a conscientious ruler who made the
Prussian bureaucracy famous for both its
efficiency and its honesty.
Frederick the Great
Frederick the Great is also
remembered for his military
contributions to the Prussian
Army.
He enlarged the Prussian army
to over 200,000 men during his
reign.
Unlike his predecessors, he
used his military first by seizing
the Austrian territory of Silesia.
This in turn, embroiled
Frederick and Prussia into two
separate wars: The War of
Austrian Succession as well as
the Seven Years War.
By the end of his reign, Prussia
was recognized as a great
European power.
The Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire of the Hapsburgs contained
the city of Vienna which was filled with palaces
and became the music capital of Europe.
The Austrian Empire contained many different
groups of people which varied in languages,
nationalities, religions, and cultures.
This, in turn, made it difficult to impose common
laws and a centralized government for its people.
Empress Maria Theresa reformed the Austrian
Empire after the Prussians took Silesia in fear
that the Prussians might invade more
territories..
She made these decisions in an effort to
strengthen the power of the Habsburg State.
Empress Theresa was Catholic and did not buy into the
ideas of either the Reformation or the Enlightenment.
However Joseph II who followed Theresa was in favor
of both.
He tried to carry on his mother’s legacy of instituted
new reforms through the Empire. His reforms were
much more potent than that of Theresa’s.
Joseph II abolished serfdom and worked to give
peasants hereditary rights to their property.
He also instituted new penal codes which sought to
provide equality of all before the law.
Another reform Joseph passed with complete toleration
of religion as well as restrictions on the Catholic
Church.
During his reign, Joseph
issued over 6,000 decrees
and 11,000 laws.
As a result of the enormous
amount of reforms Joseph
instituted, Austria became
overwhelmed.
He alienated the nobility by
freeing the serfs, and
alienated the church by his
attacks on the Catholic
establishment.
Much of his reforms were
later undone by Austria.
Russia in the 18th Century.
Russia experienced great growth under the monarch
Peter the Great during the 17th century. However, his
successors had to share power with the palace
guard of Russia.
It was not until six successors after Peter the Great
that Peter III died and his wife Catherine the Great,
won the favor of the palace guard and became an
autocrat of all of Russia.
Catherine supported the ideas of the Enlightenment
but was careful not to disrupt Russia too much
because she understood the importance of keeping
the palace guard on her side.
Catherine instituted the Charter of the Nobility in
1785 which divided Russia into 50 provinces with
each being subdivided and ruled by officials chose
by the nobles.
Catherine the Great
With the passing of The Charter
of the Nobility, Catherine
favored the nobility which
angered the peasantry
This soon led to a revolt by the
peasants which was supported
by the Cossacks, which were
independent tribes of warriors
who had fought for the
Russians against the Turks.
The Cossacks fought alongside
the peasants because they did
not agree with Catherine’s
policy of absorbing them into
the Russian Empire.
The rebellion was led by
Emelyan Pugachev beginning
in Southern Russia.
Pugachev issued a manifesto that freed all
peasants from oppressive taxes and military
services, as a result the peasantry rose up
and killed more than 1,500 estate owners
and their families.
However, Pugachev’s rebellion ended as
Russia responded and government forces
rallied and became more effective.
Catherine imposed greater restrictions on
the peasantry and serfdom was expanded
into newer parts of the empire.
Other European countries in the
18th Century
The Polish state was demolished in the 18th
century as a result of the rivalries of it’s three
great neighbors, Austria, Russia, and Prussia.
The remaining Polish state was left to be
independent, however, it was actually
dominated by the Russians.
Historians have used Poland as an example to
justify the importance of building a strong,
absolutist state in the 18th century
Wars of the 18th century
The first conflict in the 18th century was The War
of the Austrian Succession.
The Habsburg emperor Charles VI feared the
consequences of the succession of his daughter
Maria Theresa that he spent much of his reign
negotiating the Pragmatic Sanction which
recognized his daughter as his heir among the
other European countries.
After Charles’ death the Pragmatic Sanction was
tossed aside, especially by Frederick II who soon
invaded the Austrian territory of Silesia and
exploited Maria Theresa’s reign.
The War of Austrian Succession
The vulnerability of Maria Theresa encouraged
France to enter the war against its rival Austria.
In turn, Theresa made an alliance with Great
Britain.
Soon the war was being fought throughout
Europe among four of the world’s largest
empires.
By 1748, all parties were tired of fighting and
soon agreed to stop and sign a peace treaty,
which promised the return of all occupied
territories except the territory of Silesia which
remained in the Prussians hands.
The refusal to give up Silesia guaranteed Prussia
and Austria would once again go to war.
The Seven Years War
Maria Theresa refused to accept the loss of Silesia
and began rebuilding her army for another war but
more importantly began working to separate
Prussia from its main ally of France.
Theresa succeeded and France allied with Austria
as well as Russia due to the fact that Russia
perceived the Prussians as a hindrance to its own
goals. In turn Great Britain, allied with Prussia.
Some historians argue that the Seven Years War
was the first true world war fought. It was fought
Europe, India, and North America.
The first set of battles were fought in Europe, where
at first the Prussians had great success, but
eventually were wore down by the French-Austrian
forces.
However, the Prussians were saved by the death
of Russian Tsarina Elizabeth. Her heir Peter III
was a great admirer of Frederick the Great of
Prussia and withdrew his Russian troops from the
areas where Prussian soldiers occupied.
Peter III withdrawal of troops guaranteed a
stalemate and led to the Peace of Hubertusburg
which ended the European conflict and all
occupied territories were returned.
As a result Austria officially recognized Prussia’s
permanent control of Silesia.
The second phase of the Seven Years War took
place in India and North America was known as
the Great War for Empire.
France and Great Britain supported opposing
native Indian princess. In the first segment of the
Great War for Empire Great Britain won not
because they had better forces but because they
The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended the Indian affair
and the French withdrew its troops and left India to
the British.
However the North American conflict that followed
was, by far, the largest of all the conflicts of the Seven
Years War and is remembered as The French and
Indian War.
This conflict began with disputes over two sets of
waterways. The first was the St. Lawrence River and
the second was the Ohio River valley.
As the French began to move south along the
Mississippi River and east along the Appalachian
mountains they established forts. The British who
occupied the thirteen colonies to the east feared the
French would cut off a large area of newly founded
British territory.
The French soon paired up with the native Indians
primarily because the Indians perceived the French
less threatening than the British.
The British troops, under the leadership of William Pitt, defeated French
forces.
Pitt decided to concentrate the fighting in North America and focus on
the British navy because he realized the British colonies could only
prosper without France in the picture.
France, at the time, had many more available soldiers. So, Pitt
concentrated his efforts in strengthening the British navy which could
then cut off incoming French soldiers to the New World.
The northern British forces fighting over the St Lawrence were led by
General James Wolfe.
Great Britain went on to seize all the major territories controlled by the
French.
By the Treaty of Paris in 1763 the French ceded all of Canada and the
lands east of the Mississippi to the British. Their ally Spain transferred
Spanish Florida to the British as well (In return the French gave their
Louisiana territory to the Spanish).
By 1763, Great Britain had become the world’s greatest colonial power.