1. 14.3
Response to Crisis:
Absolutism

2. France Under Louis XIV
To increase stability in countries, gave monarch’s more power
= Absolutism = a system in which a ruler holds total power. It
is tied to the Divine Right of Kings.
Remember DRofK said that rulers got their power from
God and were responsible to no one except God.
Meant they made laws, levied taxes, administered justice,
controlled officials, and made their own foreign policy.
King Louis XIV (of France) is the PERFECT example.

3. King Louis XIV
Go to Youtube: King Louis XIV Rap.

4. Richelieu & Mazarin
Louis XIV came to the throne in 1643 (he was four years old).
Cardinal Mazarin, the chief minister, took control of the
government until Louis was old enough.
Mazarin died in 1661 and Louis took complete power at the
age of 23. He called himself the Sun King - the source of light
for all his people.

5. Government & Religion
Louis set up a royal court at Versailles. It was the
Household of the king
The chief officers of the state were located there too.
It was the place where powerful subjects came to find
favors and offices for themselves.

6. Government & Religion
Louis’ greatest threat came from high nobles and royal princes.
(They wanted to play a role in the government).
So...he removed them from the royal council.
His government ministers obeyed his every wish.
People that lived far from Versailles were able to have their local
nobles control some of their day to day life. The king was just
too far away to stop it or to control it.
This made Louis XIV mad. He would hire people to spy on
them and to make sure that they followed his rules.

7. Government & Religion
Louis was anti-Protestant and aimed at converting the
Huguenots to Catholicism.
He ordered the destruction of Huguenot churches and
closed their schools.
As many as 200,000 Huguenots fled to England, the United
Provinces, and the German states.

8. The Economy & War
The cost of building palaces, maintaining his court, and
pursuing his wars made $$ a big issue for Louis XIV.
Luckily, he had Jean-Baptiste Colbert as the controller -
general of finances.
He increased France’s wealth and power by following
mercantilism.
Decreased imports and increased exports and granted
subsidies to new industries.

9. Economy & War
Colbert improved communications
and the transportation of goods by
building roads and canals.
Louis created a standing army of
400,000. He wanted military glory
befitting of the Sun King.
He waged four wars between 1667 and
1713. Many nations made coalitions to
prevent him from dominating Europe.

10. Legacy of Louis XIV
He died in 1715. He left France in huge debt and surrounded
by enemies.

11. German States
After the
Thirty Years’
War, there
were over 300
German states.
382 sovereign
states and
semi-sovereign
states.

12. The Emergence of Prussia
Frederick William the Great Elector helped to
make Prussia a state.
Prussia was a small open territory with no natural
frontiers for defense so Frederick built a large
and efficient army (40,000 men). To pay the men
and maintain army = General War Commissariat
to get taxes from the people of Prussia. Watch the rise
and fall of
His son, Frederick III then became King Russia on
Frederick I. Youtube!

13. The New Austrian
Empire
After the defeat of the Turks at Vienna in 1683,
Watch the Battle of Vienna on Youtube.
The Austrian monarchy never became highly centralized.
Austria was made up of so many different national groups,
there was not one absolutist monarch.
It was a collection of territories held together by the
Hapsburg emperor, archduke of Austria, king of Bohemia,
and the king of Hungary.

14. Austria

15. Ivan the Terrible
In the 16th century, Ivan IV became the first ruler to take
the title of czar, the Russian word for caesar.
He expanded the territories of Russia eastward.
Known as Ivan the Terrible because of his ruthless deeds:
stabbing his own son to death in an argument. (Watch Ivan
the Terrible Man documentary on Youtube).
His dynasty ended in 1598 = anarchy or the Time of Troubles.
Ended when Michael Romanov was named new czar in 1613.

16. Peter the Great
The Romanov dynasty lasted until 1917. Peter the Great was
one of the most well known. He was czar in 1689. He was
absolutist and claimed the Divine Right of Kings.
He traveled and wanted to Europeanize Russia. He used
many military and technological advances to improve
Russia.
By his death in 1725, Russia was a great military power and
an important European state.

17. Military & Gov’t Changes
Peter reorganized the army. Employed both Russians and
Europeans as officers.
Drafted peasants for 25 year stints of service to build an
army of 210,000 soldiers. Made the first Russia navy too.
He divided Russia into provinces.
His personality created an atmosphere of fear instead of a
sense of civic duty.

18. Cultural Change
and a New Capital
After visiting the west, he introduced Western customs,
practices, and manners into Russia.
Made the first Russian book of etiquette.
Men had to shave their heads and shorten their coats.
Upper class women could remove their traditional face-
covering veils and move about society.
Both sexes could now mix for conversation and dancing at
gatherings.

19. Cultural Changes and a New
Capital
Peter wanted to make Russia into a great state and military
power and to “open a window to the West”.
He wanted Sweden = water port.
Won Sweden and it’s ports after a long war with Sweden.
Once on the Baltic Sea in 1703, Peter began construction of
his new capital city, St. Petersburg.
Watch the Youtube video: Peter the Great (discovery)