Chapter 13 part 2

Three Aging Empires

HRE

Republic of Poland

Ottoman Empire

Differences:

Poland and HRE based on Christian tradition connected to West

Ottoman Empire a Muslim power connected to the Middle East

Similarities:*central authority grown weak*Inefficient system of administration*Made obsolete by new powers*made up of culturally diverse groups that make country politically weak

Holy Roman Empire

The HRE is neither Holy nor Roman

Voltaire

30 Years War and Peace of Westphalia are the death blow for HRE

HRE

•Too much savings and capital lost•Commercial connections broken and difficult to repair•Burgher class lost vitality•No colonies to stimulate economy•No stock exchange until 1771 Vienna-50 years after London, Paris

•Have different calendars among states•Behind in math and science•Behind in the arts

# of states 300-2000

Real # Includes “Knights of the Empire” independent knight who claim no overlord except Emperor

Electorate of Saxony

Kingdom of

Bohemia

Bishopic of Munster

Electorate of Bavaria

Mecklenberg

Wurttemburg

Hesse-Castel

Each German state wants to remain independent

Protects “Germanic Liberties”

Each ruler in Germany pictures himself as mini-Louis

To maintain independence, must not allow Empire to have real power

German states do not allow the Imperial Diet to exercise the few powers it has

The Emperor is an elected position

Candidates must give away power in order to win election

I promise to do nothing

Position of Emperor becomes political football between Habsburgs, German rulers, and other outside influences

Some German princes want to increase power

How?

Absorb their neighbors

Marriage and inheritance

Politics within Empire

Leading families:

Wittelsbach of Bavaria

Guelph of Hanover

Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg

Two groups will come forward in the 1700’s to begin to look for domination of the German states

Habsburg Austria

Hohenzollern Prussia

Brandenburg 1600

Brandenburg-Prussia 1700

Republic

of

Poland

Republic of Poland

Called a Republic due to the election of its king and the

constitutional liberties

For King

x King

Kon

g

King

Jam

es

The vast size is a problem

Difficult to have one administrative system

Republic of Poland is made up of two main parts:

Kingdom of Poland

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Republic is made up of numerous ethnic and religious groups who speak many different languages

Many Polish towns had a significant minority of Jews, who came during the Middle Ages

Polish aristocracy the most powerful group

Will not allow for a united, absolute rule nor a true parliamentary system

Count Stanislaus Potaki by David

Want to protect their ‘Polish Liberties’

Had elected king who had to accept restrictions

Political action occurred in regional diets of 50-60 aristocrats

Give orders to Central Diet

CentralDietCentral Diet,

do the

following:

Regional Diets

Central Diet powerless

Any member can object to a proposal and use “liberum veto”

This disbands or ‘explodes’ the Diet

Liberum veto

From 1652-1764:

Out of 55 Diets

exploded48

No real national government

King has:no armyno courtsno income

Nobles pay no tax

Revenues 1/57th of French King

Leading aristocrats had their own armies and conducted own foreign policy

Feudalism still flourished

Many rural peasants are serfs

Because of weakness due to divisions, Republic starts to lose territory

East Prussia becomes independent in 1660

Kiev reconquered by Muscovite princes

East Prussia

The Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire is the largest and best organized of the three

The Turks had a standing army before any European nation

Janissaries-young boys recruited from Christian families to be soldiers

Forced to convert

Turkish army had been equal or superior to West in equipment and tactics

During 17th century begin to fall behind

Turks, while harsh rulers, are a tolerant society

Do not force people to learn their language or customs

Turks often leave local leaders in charge to settle issues of their people

Local rules pay tribute to Turks

Turks willing to trade with the West

Have treaty with France

France get areas of extraterritorial privileges

1660’s the Turks begin to move deeper into Europe

Rising Powers

Formation of Austria

Austria is both new and old

•Austrian lands & Habsburgs part of the HRE

•Emerges from HRE and builds empire of its own

Habsburgs lost connection to Spain with the death of Charles II

Not a major loss as Spain had declined as a power

Habsburgs will rule and expand Austria while remaining HRE & keep a hand in German politics

Austria has three main parts:

1.Hereditary provincesupper & lower Austria

2.Kingdom of Bohemia includes Silesia3.Kingdom of Hungary

Hungary had been scene of fighting between Turks & Austria

1663 Turks move up the Danube

After Habsburgs & allies resist Turks sign 20 year truce

Louis would prefer to have Austria busy

Gets his trade partner Turks to attack at conclusion of treaty

1683 Turks march on Vienna-lay siege

International force comes

Prince Eugene of Savoy drive Turks out of Hungary

Once Turks sign peace treaty giving up Hungary and other lands, Austria now free to join War of Spanish Succession and stop Louis STOP

Austria has numerous influences from different ethnic groups-nobles are from all of these

Austria has no central diet, but regional diets survive

Made up of landowners

Vienna didn’t micromanage as long as diets produced taxes & soldiers as needed and followed policy

Only in religion were Hapsburgs inflexible

Repress Protestants and seize estates of Protestant nobles

Charles VI wants to make sure empire stays together under on ruler

Pragmatic Sanction 1713

Important to Charles since he has no son, only a daughter

Maria Theresa

Gets all diets and Habsburg arch dukes to sign Pragmatic Sanction

Then goes to foreign powers

Takes year to get all to sign

Must make concessions

British force him to stop new trading company in Belgium

Russia

Russia made up of different groups:

Muscovites-around Moscow

Tartars-Black Sea from Genghis KhanCossacks-between other two

White Russians-Byelorussian

Little Russians-Ukrainians

Drunkenness, violence, murder, kidnapping, torture are all common

Use own calendarClocks are a noveltyHad feudal system with serfs

Culture different from rest of Europe

Women secluded

Men with beards, long robes

In early 1200’s Genghis Khan comes through

Known as the Tartars or Golden Hoard

Tartars expect cities to pay yearly tribute

Muscovite Princes begin to gain power

Used by Tartars to collect tribute

They wait for Tartars to get weak

Ivan Grozny

1530-1584

Father , mother and uncles die – suddendly over period of five years

Ivan is pawn in power struggle between Boyars-noble families

Boyars

Ivan witnesses his favorite advisor Mishurin skinned alive by rival family

At age 13 Ivan calls meeting of Boyars- has his guards take the head of the strongest family and thrown into a pit with hungry hunting dogs

Russia has good government for the next 10 years

1553 Ivan ill- asks boyars to take oath of allegiance to his son

They won’t

Ivan gets better

Creates Oprichnikiseparate realm

Wage war against boyars

Attacks Norgorod in 1570-kills 60,000

Oprichniki

Ivan has problem with line of succession-kills his only son

Ivan dies without heir

Times of Trouble

To end the chaos Zemski Sobor, assembly of nobles elects the new tsar:

Michael Romanov

Michael and other Romanov leaders will work on setting themselves up as absolute monarchs

1646 serfs names recorded by landowner and legally attached to the land

Unlike feudal Europe, owners could sell serfs w/o land

Peter the

Great

Peter had to survive political intrigue from half sister Sophia who served as regent for Peter and his older brother Ivan

Able to overthrow sister and reign with his brother for 7 years until Ivan dies

Peter: *Just under 7 feet tall*Natural athlete*Willing to do physical labor*Interested in technology*Knowledgeable in 14 different trades*could design and oversee construction of a ship

Travels Europe in disguise to learn European ways and find people to teach in Russia

The anti-Louis:

Court ceremony bored him

Lived simply and frugally

Enjoyed “earthy” individuals

Most Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters

Peter’s domestic goal:

Reform/modernize-military-economic-social-religion

Peter wants Russia to become a European power

Must modernize Russia to do this

Peter secularizes education

School of Math & Navigation

Sets up county’s first library and museum

Wants to increase manufacturing and trade:

Builds new ships to carry goods

Allows serfs to be used in industry

Peter makes all land/serf owning aristocrats to serve in army or civil administration

Gentry must put sons in school

Peter’s foreign policy goals:

1.Hold off Poles, Swedes and Turks

2.Obtain a warm water port-Baltic or Black Sea

To become European power must have access to the Baltic Sea

Baltic port gives:

*access to European trade

*scientific and technological ideas

*a natural frontier

1700 Peter attacks Sweden - loses

King Charles XII of Sweden returns the favor in 1707

Great Northern War

Peter orders any area that can’t be defended must be evacuated and anything of use to the enemy burned

Scorched Earth

Lack of supplies and great distances wears down Swedes

Peter defeat them and drives Swedes out of their Russian territories

Peter builds St. Petersburg

Makes nobles move there

Winter Palace-built by Peter’s daughter Elizabeth

Peterhof

Brandenburg-Prussia

Smaller to mid sized countries were able to play a part in European affairs due to the size of armies

30 Years War 20,000 average

Wars of Louis XIV 40,000

Smaller countries could counter larger armies by training, discipline and equipment

This is the basis of Prussia

Hohenzollerns rule Brandenburg since 1415

Have three disconnected territories:*Brandenburg w/Pomerania*East Prussia*Cleeves, Mark, Minden-by Elbe R.

Connecting these become the goal

Frederick WilliamThe Great Elector

Takes over at 20 during the last 8 years of the 30 Year War

FW sees a country with no natural frontier-to defend it he needed a quality army

Even is not strong enough to defeat a major power, he could do enough damage to make aggressors stop and think

Play balance of power and ally with different combinations

In doing this, looked to make political gain

To maintain the army FW has to find new sources of money

Adds new taxes:

excise tax on consumer goods

government monopoly on salt

To fill officer corps and as government officials FW used the landed gentry-Junkers

Brandenburg is different from other European countries since absolute rule was based on cooperation with aristocracy, not fighting them

To keep class system, FW makes law to forbid sale of ‘noble’ lands to non-noble

Nobles only

To help the economy FW encourages immigration from successful countries:

Swiss & Dutch settle

Helps 20,000 Huguenots from France

1701 Frederick III gets HRE to make him King Frederick I

This puts him above all other German rulers

When FW’s son Frederick becomes King Frederick I, he wants to live like a king

Lives lavish lifestyle

Nearly bankrupts the country

King Frederick William I returns to army and austerity

Increases army from 40,000 to 83,000

Rotates furloughs so troops can help with the farming

Uses ½ of the royal palace as office space for the government

Leaves a surplus of 7 million thalers for his son

Frederick II

Frederick the Great