Absolutism

1
Absolutism
2
Conquest in the Americas

• When Columbus landed he encountered the Tanio
  people. They were friendly and generous to the
  Spanish.
• When the Spanish conquistadors or conquerors
  followed they seized the gold worn by the Tanios
  and made them pan for more. They also forced them
  to convert to Christianity.

3
First Encounters

• Meanwhile a deadly invader was at work- disease.
  The Europeans unknowingly carried diseases such
  as small pox, measles, and influenza to which the
  Native Americans had no immunity or resistance.
• These diseases spread from town to town. As a
  result some towns lost 90 of their population.

4
The Conquistadors

• One of the earliest conquistadors was Hernan
  Cortes he landed on the coast of Mexico in 1519.
  He landed with 600 men, 16 horses, and a few
  cannons. He headed inward towards Tenochtitlan he
  was helped by Malinche an Indian women who served
  as his translator. Cortes learned from Malinche
  that conquered people hated their Aztec
  overlords. Malinche helped Cortes to arrange
  alliances with these groups they helped each
  other to fight the Aztecs.

5
Moctezumas Dilemma

• Meanwhile messengers brought word about the
  newcomers to the Aztec emperor Moctezuma.
  Moctezuma wonder if Cortes was Quetzalcoatl the
  god king. So he sent Cortes gifts of gold and
  silver. He urged him not to continue to
  Tenochtitlan. Cortes had no intention of turning
  back. He fought his way to the capital where he
  was in awe by the city.

6
Fall of Tenochtitlan

• Moctezuma welcomed Cortes but the relation was
  quickly strained and Aztecs drove the Spanish out
  of the capital. Moctezuma was killed in the
  fighting.
• Cortes retreated and formed a plan of attack. In
  1521 in a brutal struggle Cortes and his Indian
  alliances captured and destroyed Tenochtitlan. In
  the ruins of Tenochtitlan the Spanish built the
  city Mexico city.

7
Pizarro in Peru

• Pizarro heard of Cortes adventures and was
  inspired. In 1532 he arrived in Peru right after
  the Incan ruler Atahualpa won the throne in
  bloody civil war from his brother.
• Pizarro and his alliances captured Atahualpa and
  slaughtered thousands of his followers. The
  Spanish asked for a ransom for Atahualpa the
  Incas paid it but the Spanish killed him anyway.

8
Reasons for Victory

• How could a few hundred European soldiers conquer
  huge Native populations that were in the
  millions?
• 1. Military technology The Spanish horses scared
  the Indians. The Spanish muskets and cannons
  killed many Indians. Their helmets and armor
  protected them from Indian arrows and spears.

9
Reasons for Victory

• 2. Divisions and discontent among the tribes. The
  Spanish used this to get the Indians to fight
  among themselves.
• 3. Disease
• 4. Many of the Indians believed the disasters
  they suffered were the worlds end.

10
Extending Spanish Power

• By the 1500s the Spanish had become the first
  modern European power.
• Under Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand they
  expelled the last Muslim rulers and enforced
  religious unity.
• Charles V was the grandson of Ferdinand and
  Isabella so he inherited a huge empire.
• He inherited the crown of Spain and also the
  Crown of Hapsburg.

11
Wearing two crowns

• The Hapsburg empire included the Holy Roman
  empire and the Netherlands.
• Ruling two empire always put Charles in a
  constant war fare.
• Charless greatest foe was the Ottoman empire.
• Perhaps the Hapsburg empire was to scattered or
  diverse for one person to rule.
• Charles was exhausted and he divided his empire.
  He left the Hapsburg lands to his brother
  Ferdinand who became the Holy Roman emperor. He
  gave the Spain empire to his son Phillip.

12
Phillip II and Divine right

• During his 42 year reign, Phillip expanded the
  Spanish influence, strengthen the Catholic
  Church, and he made his own power absolute. With
  the silver from the Americas he made Spain the
  most powerful country in Europe.
• Phillip was unlike many of the other monarchs. He
  was devoted to government work. He did not spend
  much time hunting or jousting.
• Phillip reigned as an absolute monarch a ruler
  with complete authority over the government and
  the lives of their people.

13
Phillip II and Divine Right

• Phillip asserted that he ruled by divine right
  meaning that his authority came directly from
  God.
• As a result of this Phillip took the undertaking
  of defending the Catholic reformation and turn
  back the protestant tide in Europe.

14
The Wars of Phillip II

• Phillip fought many wars trying to advance
  Spanish Catholic power.
• The last half of Philips reign he battled
  Protestants in the Netherlands. The Protestants
  resisted Phillips attempt to crush their faith.
• There was an uprising in the Netherlands. The
  savage fighting lasted for decades.

15
Invading England

• BY 1580 Phillip saw Queen Elizabeth his chief
  enemy of the Protestants.
• Elizabeth had supported the Dutch against the
  Spain. She even encouraged captains known as sea
  dogs plunder Spanish ships.
• To end the English attacks Phillip prepared a
  huge armada or fleet to carry the Spanish force
  to England. He sailed with more than 130 ships,
  20,000 men, and 2,400 pieces of artillery.

16
Spanish Armada

• In the English Channel the lumbering Spanish
  ships took losses from the lighter English ships.
  Then a savage storm blew up scattering the
  armada.
• This ended Philips plan to invade England.
• In the 1600s-1700s the Dutch, English, and
  French fleets surpass the Spanish power in Europe
  and the world.

17
Spains Golden Age

• The century from 1550 to 1650s is known as the
  Spains golden century. This century is known as
  this because of their brilliance in art and
  literature.
• El Greco was a famous painter of this time. El
  Greco studied the Renaissance.
• Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote. This was
  the first modern novel in Europe. It mocked the
  feudal traditions from the past in Spain.

18
Economic Decline

• In the 1600s the Spanish power and prosperity
  started to decline. The first reason was lack of
  strong leadership.
• Economic problems was also to blame costly wars
  drained the economy.
• They focused too much on trading and on treasure
  than farming and commerce.

19
France under Louis XIV

• By the late 1600s Louis was an absolute monarch
  and the most powerful ruler in Europe.
• Between the 1560s and 1590s religious wars tore
  France apart they were between the Huguenots
  (French protestants) and the Catholic majority.
• The problems were at there worse on August 24,
  1572 St. Bartholomews day. Both The Huguenots
  and the Catholics attended a Royal wedding.
  Violence broke out and 3,000 Huguenots were
  massacred the next day one thousand more were
  slaughtered.

20
Henry IV

• In 1589, a Huguenot prince inherited the French
  throne Henry IV. He knew he would have a hard
  time ruling as a protestant in a Catholic
  majority population.
• To protect the protestants Henry issued the
  Edict of Nantes in 1598 it granted religious
  toleration.
• Henry helped the peasants to receive food. He
  also had the royal officials administer justice,
  improve roads, and agriculture. This laid the
  foundation for royal absolutism.

21
Louis XIV

• Like his great grandfather Louis XIV believed in
  divine right.
• Louis took the sun as the symbol of his absolute
  power. He said just as the sun is the center of
  the universe he stood at the center of his
  nation.

22
Strengthening Royal Power

• Louis spent many hours a day attending to
  government affairs. He expanded the bureaucracy
  and appointed intendants royal officials, who
  collected taxes, recruited soldiers, and carried
  out policies.
• Under Louis the French army became the strongest
  in Europe. The army reached numbers over 300,000
  Louis used them to enforce his policies at home
  and abroad.

23
Colbert and the Economy

• Louiss brilliant finance minister was Jean
  Baptiste Colbert. He cleared farming land to
  encourage mining and other industries. He was
  also very interested in trading luxury items.
• To protect French manufactures he placed high
  tariffs on imported goods. He also encouraged
  overseas colonies.
• Colbert policies helped to make France the
  wealthiest country in Europe. Colbert could not
  produce enough money for Louis though.

24
Versailles

• 1.5 billion may have been taken from the French
  treasury to build the palace of Versailles.
• It took tens of thousands of workers decades to
  build the palace.
• The palace housed 10,000 people.
• Versailles became the perfect symbol of the Sun
  Kings wealth and power.

25
Versailles

• The palace housed the finest paintings and
  sculptors.
• In the royal gardens, millions of flowers, trees,
  and fountains were set out in a precise geometric
  pattern.
• In these gardens many plays and musical
  performances were held.

26
Successes and Failures

• Louis XIV ruled for 72 years. French culture,
  manners, and customs replaced those from the
  Renaissance.
• Louis XIV spent a vast fortune to fight wars to
  expand his borders.
• Later the Dutch and the English led an alliance
  to maintain balance of power meaning that one
  country in Europe would not be a dominating
  force.

27
Persecution of the Huguenots

• Louis saw the Huguenots as a threat to his
  religious and political unity. Louis revoked the
  Edict of Nantes and more than 10,000 Huguenots
  fled France.
• The persecution of the Huguenots was Louis
  biggest mistake. They were among his hardest
  working and prosperous subjects.

28
Looking Ahead

• Louis XIV outlived his sons and grandsons. When
  he died in 1715 his 5 year old grandson inherited
  the throne as Louis XV.
• Even though France was the strongest power in
  Europe many wars drained the French treasury.
• Louis XV was too weak to rule or deal with the
  problems of being king.

29
The Tudors in Parliament

• From 1485 to 1603, England was ruled by the Tudor
  Dynasty. The Tudors did believe in divine right
  but they also believed in the parliament.
• When Henry needed money he raised the taxes but
  only with the parliaments approval. The
  parliament would vote the way Henry wanted but
  they became accustomed to being consulted on
  important matters.

30
The Early Stuarts

• When Elizabeth died there was no Tudor heir so
  the title was passed to her relatives the
  Stuarts. The Stuarts were not popular like the
  Tudors nor were they good at working with
  parliament.

31
The Royal Challenge

• James I was the first Stuart ruler. He agreed to
  rule according to the English law but soon he
  started to argue his divine right.
• James had repeated clashes with the parliament.
  Eventually James dissolved the parliament and
  collected his own taxes.
• James had problems with dissenters protestants
  who differed from the Church of England. One of
  these groups were called the puritans.

32
Parliament responds

• In 1625 Charles I inherited throne as an absolute
  ruler. However when he needed more money he had
  to summon the parliament to raise the taxes.
• The parliament said they would not vote until
  Charles signed the Petition of Right this
  prohibited the king from imprisoning anyone
  without just cause.

33
Parliament responds

• Charles did sign the petition, but then he
  dissolved the parliament in 1629. For 11 years,
  he ignored the petition and ruled the country
  with out the Parliament.
• The parliament in1640 became known as the Long
  Parliament because it lasted until 1653. It
  declared that King could not dissolve the
  parliament with out their consent.
• Charles fights back in 1642 he sends troops to
  the house of commons. They arrest most radical
  leaders of parliament. Parliament creates their
  own army and now they fight on the battle field.

34
The English Civil war

• At first the odds seem to favor the Cavaliers or
  the supporters of Charles I. The cavaliers were
  the wealthy nobles and they expected a quick
  victory.
• The Cavaliers foes were the country gentry. They
  were called the Roundheads because their hair was
  cut close around their head.
• The round heads found a leader in Oliver
  Cromwell. Cromwell was a skillful general.

35
Cromwell

• Cromwell organized the New Model Army to fight
  for parliament.
• Cromwells army defeated the Cavaliers in a
  series of decisive battles. By 1647, the king was
  in the hands of the parliament forces.

36
Execution of a King

• Parliament set up a court to put the king on
  trial. The court condemned the king to death as a
  tyrant, traitor, murderer, and a public enemy.
• In January 1647 Charles was executed. This sent a
  shock wave through Europe. In past Kings had been
  assassinated or killed on the battleground. This
  was the first time a king had been tried and
  executed by his own people. England sent a
  message that no ruler would claim absolute power
  and ignore the rule of law.

37
The Commonwealth

• After the execution of Charles I the house of
  commons abolished the monarchy, the house of
  lords, and the official Church of England. They
  declared England as a republic, known as the
  common wealth, under the leadership of Oliver
  Cromwell.

38
Puritan Society

• The puritans tried to root out godlessness and
  improve a rule of saints.
• Parliament made sure Sunday was set aside for
  worship.
• They closed the theaters they also frowned at
  lewd dancing, taverns, and gambling.
• They also believed that every child should be
  able to read.
• The Puritans also allowed some women to give
  sermons.

39
From Restoration to Glorious Revolution

• In 1658 Oliver Cromwell died. In 1660 Charles II
  was welcomed back.
• Charles reopened the theaters and the taverns. He
  was a very popular ruler.
• Charles restored the Official Church of England
  but he did tolerate other religions.
• Charles did accept the Petition of Rights but he
  also believed in the absolute monarchy.

40
New clash with Parliament

• Charles brother James II inherited the throne in
  1685.
• Unlike Charles he flaunted his Catholic faith.
• In 1688 the parliament leaders invited Mary of
  Dutch and William III of Orange to become rulers
  of England.
• When they landed with their armies James II fled
  to France. The bloodless overthrow is know as the
  Glorious revolution.

41
English Bill of Rights

• Before William and Mary could be crowned they had
  to accept several acts passed by parliament.
  These acts became known as the English Bill of
  Rights. These Bill of Rights ensured that
  parliament would be superior to the monarchy.
• The Bill of Rights restated traditional rights of
  trail by jury.
• It affirmed the principle of habeas corpus
  meaning that no person could be held in prison
  with out being charged with a crime.

42
Looking Ahead

• The Glorious revolution did not create a
  democracy. It did create a limited monarchy in
  which constitution of legislative body limits the
  monarchy power.
• The monarchy still had a lot of power but they
  did have to obey the law and govern in
  partnership with the parliament.

43
Thirty Years War

• The war had both religious and political causes.
  The war was sparked when a few protestants threw
  two royal officials out of a window.
• King Ferdinand tried to suppress the violence but
  both sides sought allies and a widespread
  conflict began in Europe.
• The following year Ferdinand was elected Holy
  roman emperor.
• The battle became more political than religious
  and some protestants and Catholics joined sides.

44
A Brutal conflict

• The fighting was terrible. Armies of mercenaries
  or soldiers for hire, burned villages, destroyed
  crops and killed without mercy.
• The war led severe depopulation or reduction in
  population. Some believe that 1/3 of the German
  states population had died.

45
Peace at last

• In 1648 a series of treaties were signed known as
  the Peace of Westphalia.
• France emerges as the big winner and the
  Hapsburgs as the big losers.
• The thirty years war divided Germany into more
  than 360 separate states.

46
Hapsburg Austria

• Even though the Hapsburgs were weak they still
  kept their title and they still wanted to have a
  strong untied state.
• Uniting these state would prove to be hard. They
  had different languages and different cultures.

47
Maria Theresa

• When Charles VI died he had no male heir but he
  did have a daughter Maria Theresa.
• Fredrick II invaded and seized the Hapsburg
  providence of Silesia. Maria set out to get
  alliances to fight Fredrick.
• During the 8 year war she could not force
  Fredrick out of Silesia but she preserve her
  empire. She also strengthen the Hapsburg power.

48
The Rise of Prussia

• While Austria became a Catholic state, Prussia
  emerges as a Protestant state.
• Rulers like Fredrick William of Prussia created
  one of the best trained armies in Europe.
• Fredrick became strong enough to challenge the
  Austrians.

49
Absolute Monarchy in Russia

• Peter the Great was just 10 years old when he
  became ruler of Russia.
• Peter set out to study western technology. He
  visited factories, art galleries, and he even
  learned anatomy from doctors.
• Peter returned to Russia and tried to embark on
  the policy of westernization, the adoption of
  western ideas.

50
Autocrat and Reformer

• Peter wanted to strengthen Russia and his powers
  as ruler. He forced boyars the landowning nobles,
  to serve the state in civilian or military jobs.
  Under Peter serfdom spread.
• Peter wanted to change his peoples way of life.
  He wanted them to dress and act like the
  westerns.
• He did not have any mercy for anyone who resisted
  his new world order. He tortured and executed
  thousands of his citizens.

51
Expansion under Peter

• Peter first wanted to expand the Russian
  military.
• Russian water ports froze during the winter. They
  desperately needed a warm-water port one that
  would not freeze, to trade in.
• Peter won land from Sweden and built his capital
  city St. Petersburg.

52
Legacy of Peter the Great

• When Peter died in 1725 Peter left a mixed
  legacy. He expanded the Russian territory. He
  create a strong army.
• Peter had to use terror to enforce his absolute
  power.

53
Catherine the Great

• Catherine proved to be an efficient and energetic
  empress. Like Peter she embraced western ideas.
• She was a ruthless absolute monarch.

54
Partition of Poland

• At one time Poland had been great European power.
  By this time it was divided.
• Catherine the Great, Fredrick the Great and
  Phillip II of Austria all eyed Poland.
• To avoid a war they all agreed to partition or
  divide up, Poland.