Download The Eighteenth Century

The Eighteenth Century:
European States, International Wars and Social Change
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The European States
o The ideas of the Enlightenment ___________ began to have some effect on the political
development of the European states.
o The belief in ____________ – such as equality before the law, freedom of religion and freedom
of speech and press, right to hold property became common.
o The question remained how best to achieve and maintain these basic rights.
o A common abuse singled out by the Philosophes as impeding the development of enlightened
political rule was the ___________________by rulers and arbitrary enforcement of laws.
o Most believed in the need for an “___________” ruler.
o Enlightened Absolutism
o During the eighteenth century, the idea of ____________ was gradually replaced by the idea of
"enlightened absolutism" justified by utilitarian arguments
o The rulers most closely associated with this term were: Frederick the Great, of Prussia; Joseph II
of Austria; and Catherine II of Russia.
A Survey of the European States
o Politically, the period from 1715 to 1789 witnessed the continuing process of ______________
in the development of nation-state for efficient taxation and building armies.
France in the Eighteenth Century
o Louis XIV left France bankrupt and in the hands of his five year old great-grandson Louis XV.
o The country was then controlled by the drunken and morally depraved Duke d’Orleans.
o When Louis reached his majority the country was well led by his chief minister
_______________.
o Upon Fleury’s death in 1743, Louis decided to rule on his own.
o During Louis XV’s reign France lost an empire while acquiring a huge ___________, leaving
even Louis with the realization that the future was looking dark.
Louis XVI
o The next King of France and his wife Marie Antoinette will oversee the destruction of the
monarchy in France during the French Revolution.
Great Britain and Parliament
o The official title of The United Kingdom of Great Britain was created by law in 1707 with the
____________.
o The Glorious Revolution prevented absolutism in Great Britain but did not truly bring about
constitutional monarchy.
o The government was a system of _____________ between Parliament and Crown – with
Parliament gradually gaining the upper hand.
o Parliament was dominated by the __________________ in both the House of Lords and the
House of Commons.
o The election of ministers to Commons was hardly democratic with few people having the right to
vote.
o Many Boroughs were completely controlled by single individuals – “_______________.”
o Great Britain in the Eighteenth-century also witnessed the increasing influence of the king's
_________.
The Hanoverian Dynasty
o In 1714, the last Stuart Ruler, Queen Anne, died without leaving an heir.
o In accordance with the Act of __________ of 1701 – the crown was offered to the Protestant
George of Hanover, a German.
o George remained thoroughly German in tastes and habits, he never learned the English language,
and he remained unpopular in Britain, due in part to his private life.
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o He divorced his wife in 1694 and kept her imprisoned in Hanover.
o When he came to England, he brought with him two mistresses who both became unpopular
because of their greed.
The Old Pretender
o Supporters of the house of Stuart, known as the Jacobites, plotted to replace him with James II's
son, James Edward Stuart, known as the Old Pretender - they were defeated in battle.
Robert Walpole
o Both George I and George II relied heavily upon their Prime Minister Robert Walpole.
o As prime minister of Great Britain, Robert Walpole pursued a peaceful foreign policy to avoid
new __________.
William Pitt the Elder
o Advocates of Empire and ____________ found a leader in the new Prime Minister William Pitt.
o Pitt advocated an aggressive foreign policy and was successful in acquiring Canada and India in
the Seven Years War.
George III
o George III replaced Pitt the Elder with Lord Bute and sought to rule with more authority.
o Public outcry for reform of the _________ system, inflamed by the troubles of John Wilkes, and
added to by the rebellion in the Americas, led to the appointment of William Pitt the Younger in
1783.
William Pitt the Younger
o Pitt, aided by George III’s increasing insanity, the loss of America and the turmoil of the French
Revolution, stayed in power avoiding any ___________ for another generation.
The Dutch Republic
o Struggles between the local oligarchs and the Stadtholders of the House of Orange led to the
further decline of Dutch power.
o The Dutch burghers, calling themselves ________, sought democratic reforms, but were crushed
by the _________ who were aided by the Prussian army.
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 Absolutism in Central and Eastern Europe
Prussia – an Army with a State to Support it.
Frederick William I (1688-1740)
o King of Prussia (1713-1740), who during his reign made his kingdom into a major European
state.
o Frederick William's greatest accomplishment was in the ____________________ of Prussia.
o He instituted a system of rigid and efficient economy at court and transferred public financial
administration from local governments to the central royal authority and the
_________________.
o The continuing trend under his rule was the social and military dominance of the ______
nobility.
o He built up industry by forbidding the importation of finished goods and the exportation of raw
materials, and directed the colonization of non-populous areas, especially in East Prussia.
o He also instituted compulsory elementary education in Prussia.
o The development of the ____ was his fondest achievement; he was particularly proud of the
Potsdam Guard, composed of exceptionally tall men hired, and sometimes kidnapped, from all
parts of Europe.
o Under his supervision the number of soldiers in the army was increased from about 45,000 to
some 83,000 and Prussia became the third ranking military power in Europe.
o Frederick William died at Potsdam on May 31, 1740, and was succeeded by his son, Frederick II,
the Great.
Frederick the Great
o King of Prussia (1740-86); during his reign, he was considered among the most notable of
___________ despots in 18th century Europe.
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o As crown prince he was trained, under his father's supervision, to become a soldier and a thrifty
administrator.
o Frederick, however, encouraged by his mother, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, and his tutors,
showed a preference for courtly life, music, and ______ literature.
o Frederick William, failing to understand the tastes of his son, developed an open dislike for him.
o At the age of 18, Frederick decided to escape to England; his proposed plan was discovered, and
he was arrested, imprisoned, temporarily deprived of his status as crown prince, and forced to
witness the execution of one of his two confederates.
o After he had subsequently applied himself diligently to fiscal and military affairs he was
reinstated to his position as crown prince.
o On the death of his father in 1740 Frederick became king and embarked almost immediately on a
policy of Prussian aggrandizement and __________________ – increasing the size of the army
to 200,000 men.
o He ________ the laws but ultimately did little to institute the reforms called for by his
Enlightenment idols.
o He was at heart a ___________________ and allowed serfdom to continue and strengthened the
hereditary hierarchy of the landed aristocracy.
The Austrian Hapsburgs
Vienna: the Paris of the East
o Vienna was a great city of Baroque architecture and the _____________ of Europe.
o It was the capital of the Hapsburg Empire.
Maria Theresa (1717-1780),
o Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia (1740-1780), she strengthened and
unified the Austrian monarchy in the 18th century.
o Born in Vienna on May 13, 1717, she was the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI.
o In 1736 she married Francis Stephen of Lorraine (later Holy Roman Emperor Francis I).
o The couple eventually had 16 children, including two future emperors, Joseph II and Leopold II,
and Marie-Antoinette, later queen of France.
o Charles VI's efforts to guarantee Maria-Theresa's succession as ruler of the Habsburg dominions
with the __________________ led to the War of the Austrian Succession.
o In the years after the war Maria-Theresa accomplished sweeping internal reforms that
strengthened her central administration and revitalized the army.
The Diplomatic Revolution
o She also drastically reordered Austria's foreign policy, abandoning the traditional alignment with
the United Kingdom in favor of collaboration with ______ and Russia against Prussia.
Seven Years' War
o After trying without success to reconquer _______ in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), she
turned to a more peaceful foreign policy.
Partition of Poland
o On the advice of her son Joseph, however, she participated in the first partition of Poland (1772),
thereby acquiring _______.
The Coregency
o After Francis's death in 1765 Maria-Theresa recognized Joseph as coregent but retained ultimate
authority for herself.
o She largely resisted her son's desires for further internal reforms, although she did abolish
_______ on crown lands.
o Often pondering abdication, she always demurred because she considered Joseph ________,
particularly in his religious policies.
o She died on November 29, 1780, in Vienna.
Joseph II of Austria
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o Joseph embarked on a thorough ______ of church and state in accordance with the rational
principles of the 18th-century Enlightenment.
o He granted ____________________ to Protestants, ended discriminatory laws against Jews, and
drastically reorganized the predominant Roman Catholic church.
o Joseph eliminated most forms of censorship, separated the executive from the judiciary, and
promulgated a new law code.
o To unify the administration of the various Habsburg realms, he abolished numerous organs of
local government and tried to impose the ______ language on his Hungarian and Slavic subjects.
o He abolished _______ and tried to give the peasants hereditary rights to their lands.
o He followed the ideals of the Physiocrats by abolishing internal trade barriers and ending
monopolies.
o In a sincere effort to reform his domains in the style typical of enlightened rulers, he issued over
6,000 decrees and 11,000 new laws, most antagonistic to the majority of his subjects.
o The reign of Joseph II witnessed the __________________ of the people due to his drastic
reforms.
o His reforms met with resistance in many quarters, and before his death in Vienna on February
20, 1790, he was forced to rescind many of them.
Russia under Catherine the Great
o Following the death of Peter the Great, Russia had six rulers in succession that were all
overthrown by the Palace Guard.
Peter III
o Grand Duke Peter of Holstein, a grandson of Peter the Great and heir to the Russian throne,
married _________, the daughter of a minor German prince in 1745.
o Peter became Emperor Peter III of Russia in 1762, but lasted only a few months.
o Unstable and impossible in personal relations, he immediately antagonized the court, the
Orthodox Church, and the leading elements in the army.
o He also indicated plans to rid himself of Catherine.
o In July 1762, Catherine and the imperial guard led by her lover Count Grigory Orlov overthrew
Peter in a palace ____, and Catherine was declared empress as Catherine II.
o Orlov's brother Alexey killed Peter days later, perhaps inadvertently during a drunken argument.
o Catherine proceeded to rule Russia for __ eventful years.
Catherine the Great
o Catherine II made her considerable mark in history by her extremely successful and _________
foreign policy, as well as, by her energetic and fruitful continuation of the process of
Westernization in the footsteps of Peter the Great.
The Extension of Russian Territory
o Two major victorious wars against the _______ Empire (1768-1774, 1787-1792) extended
Russia to the shores of the Black Sea.
The Partition of Poland
o Agreements with Prussia and Austria led to three __________ of ______, in 1772, 1793, and
1795, after which that major country disappeared from the map and Russia's territory extended
well into central Europe.
o The dismemberment of Poland showed the necessity of a ______, ___________ monarchy to
defend a state in this period.
Catherine as Reformer
o Catherine developed into an accomplished intellectual of the Age of Enlightenment, indeed in
her own opinion its best model.
o The Spirit of Laws (1748), by French political theorist Montesquieu, became her avowed prayer
book.
o Catherine convened the ___________ Commission in 1767 to codify the laws of the realm, and
in the process rationalize and modernize Russian law and life.
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o The commission received Catherine's Nakaz, or ___________, a liberal document that presented
the ideal government, from the form of its laws to its education and social structure.
o The enlightened legal reforms expressed by Catherine the Great in her Instruction accomplished
nothing due to ________________ and were soon forgotten.
The Pugachev Rebellion
o _____ antagonism stemming from the arguments over Catherine’s Instructions covered much of
central and southeastern European Russia with blood in the great Pugachev rebellion (17731774).
o An illiterate Don Cossack, Yemelyan ________, took advantage of grievances among Cossacks
of the Ural Mountains to raise the banner of revolt.
o Pugachev proclaimed himself Emperor Peter III.
o The local uprising soon became a ______________, as crowds of serfs, workers in the Ural
mines and factories, Old Believers and other minority peoples joined.
o Defeated, the rebellion dissolved as quickly as it had arisen.
o Pugachev himself was handed over by his own men, taken to Moscow, tried, and executed.
o After the rebellion, Catherine's alliance with the gentry became stronger and she further
___________________ referring to herself as the "first landlord of the realm."
The Scandinavian States
Sweden
o Gustavus III of Sweden was labeled as "one of the most successful enlightened monarchs of his
age" and among the most __________ in wresting power away from the nobility.
o By decree, he established freedom of religion, speech and press; he eliminated torture in the
justice system.
o He established the economic policies of _____________ by reducing tariffs and encouraging
trade and agriculture.
o He apparently went too far as he was eventually assassinated by a group of nobles.
Enlightened Despotism Revisited
o In the final analysis, Enlightened absolutism in the eighteenth century could _____ really
________ the political and social realities of the time.
Wars and Diplomacy in the Eighteenth Century
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o ___________ denounced war as a waste of life and resources.
o European diplomacy during the eighteenth century was predicated on the idea that in a balance
of power, one state should not achieve dominance over another.
o Yet, Frederick the Great said “the fundamental rule of government is the principle of extending
their territories.”
The Enlightened Monarchs
o The extension of dynastic holdings and provision for dependents began to give way to reason
and looking out for the long-term interests of their _______.
The War of the Austrian Succession
o The conflict arose on the death in 1740 of __________, Holy Roman emperor and archduke of
Austria.
o Before his death, many of the great powers of Europe, including Britain, France, Prussia, Russia,
and the Netherlands, had guaranteed, by the _________ ________, that Charles's daughter Maria
Theresa would succeed him.
o Various European powers with claims to the Hapsburgs by marriage or blood changed their
minds, believing Maria Theresa to be ____.
o In addition, King Frederick II of Prussia took the opportunity to lay claim to _______, then part
of the Grand Duchy of Austria.
o He precipitated the war by invading and occupying Silesia in 1740.
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o The war was fought by an alliance of Bavaria, ______, Spain, Sardinia, Prussia, and Saxony
against Austria, the Netherlands, and _______, with the three claimants fighting against Maria
Theresa.
o The War of the Austrian Succession was ended in 1748 by the Treaty of _______________,
which provided that all conquests made during the war revert to their original possessors, with
some exceptions.
o Maria Theresa kept most of her lands except Silesia, which was granted to _______.
The Seven Years War
o Austria's resolve to repossess the rich province of Silesia, which had been lost to Prussia in 1748,
was the major conflict leading to the Seven Years' War.
The Diplomatic Revolution
o The __________ Revolution resulted when Maria Theresa of Austria, with the aid of her foreign
minister Wenzel von Kaunitz, won a French alliance.
o She also acquired the support of ______, Sweden, Saxony, and Spain with the specific aim of
waging war against Prussia and its ally, _____________.
The Major Areas of Conflict
European Phase
o Through the first half of the war, the Prussians continued victorious.
o They defeated the French at Rossbach and the Austrians at Leuthen in 1757 and the Russians at
Zorndorf in 1758.
o At this point, however, with ______ entering the war and virtually all Europe opposing
Frederick, the tide seemed to turn.
o By 1759 eastern Prussia was in the hands of the Russians, and ______ had been captured.
o The Prussian situation was desperate.
Turning the tide for Prussia
o The British and Hanoverians; both, until this point ineffective combatants, now fought
successfully against the French.
o In 1762 ,Russia and Sweden withdrew from the war.
o This occurred as a result of the death of Empress Elizabeth of Russia; her successor, Peter III, an
admirer of Frederick, quickly signed a peace treaty with the Prussian leader.
The American Conflict
o In North America, the war began in ____.
o Colonial rivalry had gradually developed between France and Great Britain over lucrative ___trading posts and land west of the Appalachian Mountains and over fishing rights off the coast of
Newfoundland.
o The French, by a strategy of encirclement, hoped to contain British settlement, particularly in the
____ Valley, where Virginia planters had established fur-trading posts in 1749.
o By resisting British expansion westward, France was in hopes of uniting, through a chain of
forts, its Canadian empire with possessions as far south as New Orleans.
o During the first two years of the war, ______ and _______________ forces were largely
victorious, winning an important and surprising victory in defending Fort Duquesne.
o In 1757, the British statesman ____________, was given complete charge of British foreign
policy and appointed the British general James Wolfe to command the troops in the New World.
o Pitt's bold strategy ultimately resulted in defeat for the French.
o By 1760 the British had conquered all of _____________.
The Indian Theater
o Conflict spilled over into _____ in 1756 in a continuation of 18th-century conflicts between the
French and the British for supremacy in the area.
o In 1757 British soldier Robert _____ defeated the native government of Bengal at the Battle of
_______ and installed a puppet government in the region controlled by the British.
o The most decisive battles of the war were fought in the south.
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o ___________, the capital of French India, fell in 1761 and Britain succeeded completely in
demolishing French plans for control of the country.
Defeat of the French Navy
o The final blow to the French came in a series of losses in major naval battles in 1759.
o With the defeat of the French navy and the Treaty of Paris (1763), Britain became the world's
greatest colonial power.
Treaty of _____
o The Seven Years' War officially ended in 1763.
o On February 10 of that year the Treaty of Paris was signed to settle differences between France,
Spain, and Great Britain.
The Terms
o Among the terms was the acquisition of almost the entire French Empire in _____________ by
Great Britain.
o The British also acquired Florida from Spain, and the French gave up their possessions in India.
The continent of Europe remained free from territorial changes.
Treaty of Hubertusburg
o On February 15, the Treaty of Hubertusburg was signed in Saxony.
o This agreement confirmed Prussia's possession of _______, and established it as a leading power
in Europe.
European Armies and Warfare
o The ____________ standing army became the standard in Europe by the 18th century.
o All of the continental great powers had standing armies in excess of 200,000 soldiers.
Class Structure in the Army
o The hierarchy of the army reflected the ________________ of the times.
o The officer corps were made up of hereditary ________.
o Promotion from the ranks was rare and not really desirable.
The Rank and File
o The foot soldiers were recruited or drafted from the _____ classes.
o Conditions in the ranks were __________ and discipline was tough.
o Many countries realized that conscription from the working classes was counterproductive to
economic development.
o So many armies were made up of foreign ___________.
o Of the great European powers, _____________ was the only one not to possess a standing army
and to rely heavily on mercenaries.
The Royal Navies
o Maritime powers, such as Britain and the _____, regarded navies as more important than armies.
o Conditions in the British navy were ________, where scurvy and yellow fever and the scourge of
the “cat-o-nine-tails” prevailed.
The New Warfare
o Modern standing armies were expensive, as well as destructive; so many monarchs were
reluctant to commit them to _______________.
o Because of this European warfare in the eighteenth century was characterized by _______
objectives and elaborate maneuvers.
Economic Expansion and Social Change
o Economic depression of the 17th century began to end in the 18th century.
o The 18th century was characterized by rapid __________ ______, expansion in banking and
trade, agricultural and industrial revolution and world trade.
Growth of European Population
o European population began to grow by ____ and the growth rate doubled in the second half of
the century.
o One reason for this growth was the decline in ______ mortality rates.
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o Death rates were still high, but increases in ____ supplies and the end of periodic epidemics of
the bubonic ______ began to lower the death rate.
Family, Marriage and Birthrate Patterns
o The family was still the foundation of the social order.
o Upper class families were still considered a “_____.”
o Marriages were arranged.
Child Rearing
o Lower class women breastfeed their own children and would often act as __________ for the
upper classes.
Upper Class
o Children began to be treated as ________ instead of little adults.
o Childhood was seen as important phase in human development and children were given toys and
“__________” book.
o Primogeniture decreased and mothers began to breastfeed their own children
Lower classes.
o For the lower classes many children were still seen as one more _____________.
o ___________ became a real problem and many parents were forced to place their unwanted
children in foundling homes.
o Conditions in orphanages were ________ with some institutions having mortality rates as high as
90%.
Marriage Patterns
o The _______ family became the standard, especially in northwestern Europe.
o Common people typically married _____ than nobles.
o This tended to act as a natural form of _____________ – except that there was also an increase in
the number of illegitimate births.
o Women typically had their first child within one year of marriage and continued to have a child
every two to three years throughout their child-bearing years.
o Birth control began to be used more commonly among the aristocrats – especially in ______.
Women in Society
o Women began to take a more important role in the “family _______.”
o Women began to work in the _______ industries of the textile trade.
An Agricultural Revolution?
o _______ led the way in developing new agricultural techniques.
o New crops increased soil fertility and food crops from the New World – such as maize and
________ increased the food supply.
o New Scientific breeding led to new breeds of cattle – increasing the meat supply.
o ___________ experimented with seed planting machines.
The Enclosure Acts
o The need for more land for more extensive farming led to the end of the ______ lands.
o Resistance to the enclosure of the commons led to Parliaments passing a series of _________
laws to legally close the common lands.
o Farming estates increased in size and many farmers were forced to seek work in the ______.
o Many found work in the new _______ factories being built in Manchester and Leeds.
The Textile Industry
o ______ cloth made up 75% of British exports in the 18th century.
o By the 18th century the ________ System of “putting out” work to country “cottage” workers
was replacing the urban artisans.
Cotton and Factories
o The increase of imported ______ from India and the Americas led to a demand for faster means
of production to keep up with demand.
o Richard _________ invented a “water frame” to power the spinning of yarn.
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o Mechanical _____ will follow – leading many rural workers to call for the destruction of the new
machines.
New Methods of Finance Industry
o The lack of gold and silver coins led to an increased reliance on _____ banks notes.
o The creation of private and public _____ led to an expansion of credit.
The Bank of England
o The Bank of _______ was established in 1694.
o The Bank began making loans and issued _____ notes backed by its credit.
o These notes became negotiable and a __________ for gold and silver.
o The issuance of government _____ led to the establishment of the “national debt.”
o Government credit allowed for the borrowing of money to finance government projects and ever
larger armies and navies.
o Britain gained a definite advantage over their rivals the ______.
The Mississippi Bubble
o John ___, a Scottish monetary reformer, came up with a scheme for generating money to invest
in overseas colonies.
o The creation of a bank led to the development of the ___________ Valley.
o Over ___________ led to the bursting of the bubble.
o Law went bankrupt and people became afraid to create a ______ National Bank.
Toward a Global Economy: Mercantile Empires and Worldwide Trade
o Despite the rise of banking and industrialization, _____ was still the dominant economic practice
of the 18th century.
o The 18th century saw a major increase in overseas trade, giving rise to a ______ economy.
o The _______ and ______ became the dominant colonial powers of the 18th century.
Colonial Empires
o The British and French held vast territories in the New World and India.
o The French empire in North America was based on the ___ trade and was thinly populated.
o The British created 13 colonies all of which became thickly populated and dominated by
agriculture
o __________ policies limited trade between the various foreign colonies.
The Slave Trade
o The need for labor on sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations led to an increase in the _______
slave trade.
o Despite the feeling that Africans were racially inferior, some Europeans began to call for the end
of the ___________ by the end of the century.
The Social Order of the Eighteenth Century
o The social organization of the Middle Ages continued into the 18th century.
o European society was divided into _______ based on birth and position.
o Enlightenment ideas began to have some effect on the old social order.
The Peasants
o The ________ were _______ social group in Europe making up 85% of the population.
o Most of Western Europe was made up of free peasants, many of whom owned little or no land.
o Many free peasants were _____ off than serfs in Russia.
o Many still owed crushing _____, church tithes and ________ to the local lords.
Serfs
o Eastern Europe was dominated by large estates controlled by ___________.
o _____ were bound to the land and were legally controlled by the local lord.
Village Life
o Local villages and the village church were ______ of peasant life.
The Peasant Diet
o The diet of the peasant, based on _____ _____, vegetables and legumes, was the __________
diet in Europe.
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o New food staples such as corn and potatoes added to the peasant diet.
o Bad harvests could still lead to ______.
The Nobility
o 2-3% of the population – they dominated European society.
o Nobles had special __________ – they were exempt from _____, were judge only by their peers
and were immune from severe punishment.
o _____ was supposed to be beneath their station but many involved themselves in the new
mercantile endeavors.
o Many invested in industry as well
The Aristocractic Diet
o Aristocrats got to eat ____ and have ______ on their food.
The Aristocratic Way of Life: The Country House
o Life on the _______ _______ of the landed gentry dominated aristocratic society.
o In England, the aristocrats of the Hanoverian kings spent lavishly to build up their estates.
Georgian Architecture
o Many were rebuilt in the ________ style of architecture – modeled after the great Venetian
architect Andrea ________.
The Grand Tour
o No proper aristocratic education was complete without taking a _____ ____ of the great cities of
Europe.
The Inhabitants of Towns and Cities
o The largest European city by the 18th century was ______.
o Cities were still ______ and lacked proper sanitation
o The ___________ of the cities gained more power and influence.
The Problem of Poverty
o The urban poor were often forced to rely on _______.
o ____________ and drunkenness were common.
o _______ came to be seen as an encouragement to the poor to remain idle.
o Idleness and ________ became a crime and few governments did anything to aid the poor.