Download Unlimited Governments of Europe

Unlimited
Governments of
Europe
Notebook #8
Analyze the characteristics of limited governments
and unlimited governments that evolved in Europe
in the 1600s and 1700s.
A. Unlimited Govts. of Mainland Europe
monarchs in Europe were
shocked by events in England
 they became stricter & created
unlimited govts.
 France- King Louis XIV (14th)
set the model of absolutism:
 he ruled for 72 years
 banned the Estates-General
(French assembly) from
meeting

overruled the Edict of Nantes, which had
protected the rights of French Protestants
 he controlled taxes, the military, &
business
 he fought wars to increase France’s power
 he died & left France in debt & with many
enemies
 Frederick the Great of Prussia & Maria
Theresa of Austria followed his example

B. Russian Absolutism
1689-1725 Peter I (Peter the Great) ruled Russia
 his title was czar
 he believed in divine right &
used France as a model
 he made himself head of
Russian Orthodox Church
and crushed nobles’ power
 Peter strengthened Russia:
 brought in experts to Westernize Russia
 built up the military & expanded borders

1762 German princess Catherine II poisoned
her Russian husband & took power
 she thought about reforms but
changed her mind after a
peasant rebellion
 her focus was to expand the
empire
 called Catherine the Great
 died in 1796, the last of Europe’s
major absolute monarchs
 ideas of equality & freedom were taking hold in
Western Europe & U.S.
