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CHAPTER CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Absolute Monarchs in Europe, 5 1500–1800

Summary CHAPTER OVERVIEW lost territory and money. The split from Spain and grew rich from trade. For a time, was Europe’s most powerful , where Louis XIV ruled with total control. ’s queen resisted a Prussian land grab. Peter the Great modernized . ’s struggled with different and became the greatest power in the country.

1 Spain’s and same way were called absolute monarchs. They European Absolutism believed in holding all power. The Church’s power KEY IDEA During a time of religious and economic insta- had weakened, which helped make this possible. bility, Philip II ruled Spain with a strong hand. Some absolute rulers ended conflict within their by increasing their power. That is what harles V ruled the Holy and happened in France. Cvarious other European countries. In 1556, he retired from the and split his holdings. His brother Ferdinand received Austria and the Holy 2 The of Louis XIV Roman Empire. His son, Philip II, got Spain and its KEY IDEA After a century of wars and riots, Louis XIV, . the most powerful monarch of his time, ruled France. Philip expanded his holdings by taking Portugal rance was torn by eight religious wars between and gaining its global territories. When he tried to FCatholics and Protestants from 1562 to 1598. invade England in 1588, though, he failed. The In 1589, a Protestant , Henry of Navarre, defeat made Spain weaker. However, Spain still became King Henry IV. He changed religions in seemed strong because of its wealth—gold and sil- 1593, becoming a Catholic to please the majority of ver—that flowed in from the colonies in the his people. In 1598, he issued an called the Americas. Edict of Nantes. It gave Huguenots—French This wealth led to some serious problems, how- Protestants—the right to live in peace and have ever. The prices of goods constantly rose. Also, their own churches in some . unfair taxes hit the poor, keeping them from build- Henry rebuilt the French economy and brought ing up any wealth of their own. As prices rose, peace to the land. He was followed by his son, a Spaniards bought more goods from other lands. weak king. However, that son had a very capable The silver from the colonies, then, began to flow to chief , Cardinal Richelieu. He ruled the Spain’s enemies. land for him and increased the power of the . In the middle of these troubles, Spain lost land. The cardinal ordered that Huguenots could not Seven of the Spanish Netherlands rose in build walls for their cities. He also said nobles had protest against high taxes. Also, they were Protestant to destroy their castles. As a result, Protestants and and Spain was strongly Catholic. In 1579, these nobles could not hide within walls to defy the king’s seven provinces declared their independence from power. Richelieu used people from the middle Spain. class—not nobles—to work in his government. In the new Dutch , each had a That also cut nobles’ power. leader elected by the people. The Dutch also prac- French thinkers had reacted to the religious ticed religious tolerance, letting people worship as wars with horror. They developed a new attitude—

cDougal Littell Inc. All reserved. cDougal Littell Inc. they wished. Dutch merchants established a trading skepticism. Nothing could be known for certain, empire. They had the largest fleet of merchant

©M they argued. Doubting old ideas was the first step ships in the world and were the most important to learning the truth, they said. bankers in Europe. In 1643, Louis XIV, age four, became king. Though he lost possessions, Philip held tight Cardinal Mazarin ruled for him until Louis was 22. control over Spain. He and others who ruled in the Louis became a powerful ruler, with total control.

Absolute Monarchs in Europe 21 mwh10a-CIB-02_021-036_P2 12/15/20032:03PMPage22 G 22 Name ruled AustriaandtheGermanstateofPrussia. KEY IDEA power. European coloniestoEngland,thenewrising were forcedtogiveupsomeoftheirAmericanand joined inwaragainstthem.BothFranceandSpain . TherestofEuropefeltthreatenedand France andSpainattemptedtosetupunited 1700 to1714.InthisWar oftheSpanishSuccession, harvests toproduceproblemsathomeinFrance. The highcostofthesewarscombinedwithpoor joined togethertostopFrancebythelate1680s. bolder andtriedtoseizemoreland.Othernations wars againstneighboringcountries,hebecame mistakes thatlaterprovedcostly. Afterwinningsome than anyothercountry. However, Louismadesome Europe. Francehadmorepeopleandalargerarmy on hisfavorinordertoadvancesociety. Paris. Healsomadesurethatnobleshadtodepend built ahugeandbeautifulpalaceatVersailles near The furtradetherebroughtwealthtoFrance. ple tosettleinthenewFrenchcolonyCanada. and notthosefromothercountries.Heurgedpeo- convince FrenchpeopletobuyFrench-madegoods tried tobuildFrenchindustry. Colbertaimedto chief ministeroffinance,JeanBaptisteColbert, worked hardtoincreasethewealthofFrance.His sure thattheyansweredonlytohim.Healso gave morepowertogovernmentofficialsandmade Louis determinednevertoletnobleschallengehim. Protestants. AlthoughFrance wasaCatholicnation, In thelastyearsofwar, Francehelpedthe king ofSwedenwonseveralbattlesagainsthim. his largearmytoloottowns.ThentheProtestant However, Germanysuffered,becauseheallowed by Ferdinand,theHolyRomanEmperor, won. new warbrokeoutandlastedfor30terribleyears. though, thetwosideshadtenserelations.In1618,a be CatholicorProtestant.Overthenextdecades, that theywoulddecidewhethertheirlands 3 Monarchs Clash Central European The finalwarfoughtinLouis’s timelastedfrom Louis madeFrancethemostpowerfulnationin Louis enjoyedalifeofluxuryathiscourt.He He frozethenoblesoutofhisgovernment. In thefirsthalfofwar, Catholicforcesled Unit 2,Chapter5 ended in1555.Rulersofeachstateagreed ermany hadsufferedfromreligiouswarsthat After aperiodofturmoil,absolutemonarchs I France’s coloniesinNorthAmericaandIndia. victory, Britaingainedcompletecontrolover with Britain.ThePrussiansandBritishwon.Inthat its oldally, forFranceandRussia.Prussiajoined this SevenYears’ War, Austriaabandoned Britain, The twosidesfoughtagainbeginningin1756.In she managedtokeeptherestofherempireintact. Still, infightingthisWar oftheAustrianSuccession, queen foughthardtokeeptheterritory, butlost. Prussia invadedoneofMariaTheresa’s lands.The well-trained army. In1740,FredericktheGreatof a strongstatewithmuchpowergiventothelarge, new stateinnorthernGermany. Thosekingsbuilt nobles. ShewasopposedbythekingsofPrussia,a managed toincreaseherpowerandcutthatofthe ent peoples.MariaTheresa,QueenofAustria, and Bohemiainanempirethatlinkedmanydiffer- Still, twoimportantpowersarose. power, whichkeptthepowerofrulersincheck. an economybasedintowns.Noblesenjoyedgreat people werestillpeasants.Thisregionhadnotbuilt there werelessdevelopedthanintheWest. Most none emergedincentralEurope.Theeconomies equal righttonegotiatewithalltheothers. war, eachnationofEuropewasseenashavingan and SpainmadeFrancestronger. Becauseofthis to recover. ThepeaceweakenedthepowerofAustria economy wasinruins.IttookGermanytwocenturies . About4millionpeoplehaddied,andthe Peace ofWestphalia. Ithadbeenadisasterfor Richelieu fearedgrowingHapsburgfamilypower. thatruledRussiafor about300years. the grandnephewofIvanIV’s wife. He begana to nameanewruler. Theychose Michael Romanov, son. Afewyearsafterhedied,Russiannoblesmet nents andkillthem.Ivanevenkilledhisownoldest harshly. Heusedsecretpolicetohuntdownoppo- of laws.Afterhiswifedied,however, heruled added landstoRussiaandgavethecountryacode Ivan theTerrible—began asasuccessfulruler. He continued thatwork.Hisgrandson,IvanIV—called Russia totrymakeitmorelikewesternEurope. KEY IDEA 4 Russian statewithacentralgovernment.Hisson van IIIhadmadeMoscowthecenterofanew Absolute RulersofRussia The HapsburgfamilyruledAustria,, While strongstatesaroseinwesternEurope, The ThirtyYears’ War endedin1648withthe Peter theGreatmademanychangesin Absolute Monarchs inEurope continued

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Name Absolute Monarchs in Europe continued

The Romanovs restored order to Russia. In the of the Puritans won. They tried and executed Charles late 1600s, Peter I—called Peter the Great—began for —the first time a king had ever been exe- an intense program of trying to modernize Russia. cuted in public. Cromwell became a military dictator, Peter admired the nations of western Europe. He ruling until 1658. He crushed a rebellion in Ireland traveled in Europe to learn about new technology and tried to reform society at home. Soon after his and ways of working. He returned to Russia deter- death, though, the government collapsed. The new mined to make his country more advanced. His first Parliament asked Charles’s older son to restore the steps were to increase the powers of the czar, or . Charles II began to rule in 1660. ruler, so he could force people to make the changes Charles II’s reign was a period of calm after tur- he wanted. He put the Russian Orthodox Church moil. After his death in 1685, James II became under his own control. He cut the power of nobles. king. His pro-Catholic policies angered and worried He built up the army and made it better trained. the English, who feared that he would restore He took several steps to make Russia more Catholicism. Finally, in 1688, seven members of western. He brought potatoes as a new food, began Parliament contacted James’s older daughter, Mary, Russia’s first newspaper, gave more social status to and her husband, William of Orange, prince of the women, and told the nobles to adopt Western Netherlands—both Protestants. They wanted them clothes. He promoted education and built a grand to replace James II on the throne. The event was new capital , St. Petersburg, on the shores of called the , a bloodless revolu- the Baltic Sea. tion that forced James to flee to France. William and Mary agreed, swearing to rule according to the laws made by Parliament. They agreed to accept 5 Parliament Limits the the Bill of Rights, which guaranteed English people English Monarchy certain rights. From then on, no king or queen KEY IDEA Absolute monarchs in England were over- thrown, and Parliament gained power. could rule England without the consent of Parliament. hen Queen Elizabeth I died, her cousin James, Wking of Scotland, became king of England. James fought with Parliament over money. His reli- Review gious policies also angered the Puritans in Parliament. 1. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects They wanted to reform the English church to rid it of Why did Spain weaken in power? Catholic practices. James was unwilling to make these 2. Summarizing How did Richelieu and Louis changes. XIV increase the power of the French king? His son, Charles I, continued the tension 3. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects between king and Parliament. Parliament forced How did the Thirty Years’ War affect Germany? him to sign a in 1628. By signing, 4. Clarifying What did Peter the Great do to Charles allowed that the king was answerable to modernize Russia? Parliament. Then he dissolved the Parliament and 5. Drawing Conclusions How did England tried to raise money without it—going directly develop away from an ? against the Petition of Right. Other actions of Charles had caused Scotland to threaten to invade England. To meet the danger, Charles needed some money, and to raise taxes he needed Parliament. When Charles called a new Parliament, it quickly passed laws to limit his power. Charles responded by trying to arrest its cDougal Littell Inc. All rights reserved. cDougal Littell Inc. leaders. Soon England was plunged into a civil war: ©M Charles and his against the supporters of Parliament, many of whom were Puritans. The English Civil War lasted from 1642 to 1649. Under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, the forces

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