I.
Prussia
A.
Nobility
in power after 1400 – Elector of Brandenburg (essentially, the king) had no
real power—no army, cut off from sea, poor land
B.
30
Years War opens the door for absolutism because it weakened the Estates (the
nobles or “Junkers”); plus, Estates traditionally held power of the purse ($)
C.
Electors
1.
Frederick William (The Great
Elector) – strides toward absolutism
a.
sought
to unite 3 provinces (see map)
b.
tug-o-war with
nobles/Estates over the question: Who gets the right to tax?
c.
Great
Elector won that right and built himself an army
2.
Elector Frederick
III
(Frederick the Ostentatious) – weak of body and mind
a.
imitated
Louis XIV
b.
“all
hat and no cattle”; like Lord Farquar in Shrek
3.
Frederick William I (The Soldier
King)
a.
military man! Discipline,
skill, precision
b.
Bureaucracy
established
c.
Compromise
with nobility – serve in army lordly over peasants
II.
Russia
A.
The
Mongol Yoke – 200 years of Mongol control
B.
Three
Ivans, and two Other Guys
1.
Ivan I (Ivan Moneybags)
a.
was
tax collector in Moscow for the Mongols
b.
gathered
lands around Moscow (see map)
2.
Ivan III
a.
enlarged
Russian lands around Moscow
b.
becomes
“czar” and breaks with Mongols
c.
believed
to be heirs to caesars and Orthodox Christianity
d.
Began
the “Third Rome”
e.
“boyard nobility” (regular nobles) become “service nobility
(hold king’s land but must serve in his army)
3.
Ivan IV (Ivan the
Terrible)
a.
insulted
by nobles as a boy
b.
solidified
idea that nobles didn’t own land and had to serve
c.
employed
terror to “convince” the nobles
d.
people fled…ie.
The Cossacks
e.
upon
his/his son’s death, confusion emerges for his heir in “Time of Troubles”
4.
Michael Romanov
a.
nobles
unite to crush Cossack revolt of Time of Troubles
b.
agree
on Ivan IV’s grandnephew, Michael Romanov
c.
Romanov
completely enserfs the peasants, relaxes military
obligations of nobility
d.
Social
protest #2 – Nikon seeks religious
reform like Greek Orthodox church, people revolt, Cossacks revolt
e.
Nobility
make their top priority à
czar’s power and peasants’ kept down
5.
Peter the Great
a.
always
at war
b.
his
military lagged behind the west, so, he westernizes
c.
Peter
returns to Russia to attack Sweden, only to lose
d.
He
tightens the army – requires nobles to serve again, made schools, military
bureaucracy, drafted peasants
e.
Peter
now beats Sweden, takes Estonia and Latvia
f.
Paved
the way for Catherine the Great who
moves closer to westernizing