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• Economic and social conditions made Absolutism different in Central Europe:

– Powerful nobility and much poorer peasantry
– Less industrial and more rural
– Fewer towns
– Monarchs had a more difficult time diminishing power of nobility in the countryside.
• As a trade-off, the monarch gave the aristocrats even greater power over their own peasants in return for
their support for his centralized government.

Poland
 Absolutism fail
 Weakest of all European Kingdoms (ironic because in 1500 it was actually the largest nation in Europe)
 Nobles: szlachta (10% of population) limited power of kings
 Monarchy evolved into elective position, dominated by foreign countries (between 1630s & 1795 there
were only 2 Polish kings).
 Poland’s representative body (Sejm) was subject to liberum veto – any single noble could block action.
 FINAL PARTITION 1795

Ottoman Empire
 Constantinople fell in 1453.
 Periodically the Turks scare Europeans; got to Vienna in 1529 & again in 1683 (Polish king Jan Sobieski
saves the day).
 Empire in decay – Turkish sultans were corrupt; Janissaries (elite fighting unit of former Christians) were a
force opposed to change. Empire too big.

Habsburgs
 Began as minor Swiss nobility in the Middle Ages
 By 1558, the Habsburg Empire had become one on which “the sun never set.”
 Not just Holy Roman Emperors, but also:
o Dukes of wealthy Burgundy and the “Low-Counties”
o Kings of Bohemia and Hungary
o Kings of Spain (which included more than half of the Americas and the Philippines)
 How did that happen? Warfare? Wealth? Diplomatic excellence? Yes.
 But mostly, they gained power, wealth, and
status through smart marriages.
 A Latin verse from the 16th century states:
“Let others wage war, you - happy Austria -
marry!"

Austria
 Still reeling from Thirty Years’ War
 Stole territory from Turks (Hungary &
Transylvania 1697)
 War of the Spanish Succession: Ended with
Peace of Utrecht (can’t reunite 2 branches of
Habsburg family, but got to keep Spanish
Netherlands & some land in Italy.)
  HRE Charles VI (1711-1740): reign dominated by focus on ensuring succession.
o Daughter, Maria Theresa
o Crowning glory of his life: Pragmatic Sanction – diplomatic agreement that all Habsburg lands
would pass intact to Maria Theresa and nobody would fight that. They lied.

Rise of Prussia
 Initially small & scattered
 Did have status because in the HRE, it was one of the areas that had an elector vote in the HRE.
 Relied on efficient leadership from Hohenzollerns & unbelievable military.
o “Prussia is not a state with an army, but an army with a state.”
 During Thirty Years’ War, the capital (Berlin) was reduced to rubble, but they rebuilt & in Peace of
Westphalia managed to add some land along the Pomeranian.
 Frederick William, the “Great Elector”
o To gain support of Junkers (Prussian nobles), he gave them complete control over serfs; they gave
him taxes and accepted Hohenzollern leadership
 Junker - Means “young lord” in German
 Usually a lesser noble in the Middle Ages
 Took up careers as soldiers and mercenaries
 Became the aristocracy of Prussia
 They dominated all the higher civil offices and officer corps of the army and navy.
 Strong supporters of monarchy and tradition

o Hohenzollern leaders led Spartan existence, allowing most of the money to flow into the military.
o When Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, Frederick William welcomed Huguenots because he
figured he could cash in on their economic skill.
 Frederick William’s son was Frederick III of Brandenburg-Prussia, but after he helped the HRE in the War
of the Spanish Succession, he was awarded the title King Frederick I of Prussia.
 His son, Frederick William I, makes Prussia into the “Sparta of the North.”