EUROPE IN THE 18 CENTURY TH
A SUMMARY OF THE GREAT AND NOT-SO-GREAT POWERS
From the end of the Great Northern War (1721) until the end of the World War I (1918), the five “Great
Powers” of Europe were Great Britain (England before 1707), France, Austria (the Habsburg Empire),
Prussia (united Germany after 1871), and Russia.
THE GREAT POWERS
FRANCE
The Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659) recognized France as the major power of
the 17th century.
The Peace of Utrecht (1713) and the Peace of Rastatt (1714) limited the growth of French power trying to re-
establish a balance of power.
The absolute monarchy of Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715), constructed during the reigns of Henry IV (r. 1589-1610)
and Louis XIII (r. 1610-1643), made France the dominant political, economic, social and cultural force in
Europe.
GREAT BRITAIN (the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland)
The struggle between the Stuart monarchs and Parliament ended with the Glorious Revolution (1688).
English monarchs recognized the supremacy of Parliament after the Glorious Revolution (1688).
Parliament supported the growth of empire, business, and trade.
The cabinet system brought government cooperation between monarchy and Parliament.
The world’s largest merchant marine and the powerful British Navy brought money and power based on ocean-
borne commerce.
The Peace of Utrecht (1713) gave Britain Gibraltar and its control of the western Mediterranean.
AUSTRIA (the Habsburg Empire)
Defeat in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) turned Austria’s interests southeast toward the weakening Ottoman
Empire.
The Peace of Karlovitz (1699) gave Austria complete control over Hungary and made Austria the new power in
the Balkans.
The Habsburgs built a more efficient, centralized state following the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648).
The Peace of Rastatt (1714) gave Austria the Spanish Netherlands, Milan, Naples and Sardinia.
The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) made Austria the dominant power in Italy.
PRUSSIA (formerly Brandenburg)
Frederick William, the “Great Elector” (r. 1640-1680) and King Frederick William I (r. 1713-1740) built a
strong army and a service nobility.
Prussia acquired territories in the Rhineland. Prussia would work to link territories.
Prussia acquired former Polish territories along the Baltic.
Elector of Brandenburg was recognized as King of Prussia in 1701
Prussia built a strong monarchy based on cooperation between the monarch and the nobility (Junkers).
RUSSIA
Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725) opened up Russia to western European influences.
Peter the Great set out to remodel Russia based on western European examples.
The nobility (the boyars) was subdued but given control over the serfs.
Defeat of Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) made Russia the new power on the southeastern
Baltic.
Russia begins to challenge the Ottoman Turks on the Black Sea foreshadows coming growth
Russia was trying to expand to gain warm-water ports.
THE FADING OR LESSER POWERS
In the 17th and 18th century, several of the former powers began to fade.
SPAIN
Years of warfare and extravagant living by the monarchy left Spain financially weak
Spain had never built a strong domestic economy. The Moors and Jews, driven out because of religion after 1492, had
often been the businessmen
Peace of the Pyrenees (1659) showed a weakened Spain after its loss to France.
War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) demonstrated Spain’s fall to lesser status.
Connection to France after the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) meant a familial alliance; Bourbons
(Spanish spelling: Borbon) ruled both nations.
Spain became dependent on its stronger French ally for protection
Britain won the asiento, the money-rich concession to import slaves to Spanish colonies, in the Peace of Utrecht
(1713)
Dutch and French ships were moving most Spanish goods
English were trading illegally in Spanish colonies but Spain could not stop them.
Power still had to be recognized due to the size and wealth of the Spanish overseas empire that brought in much
money from trade and Spain’s familial alliance to France.
THE NETHERLANDS (UNITED PROVINCES OF THE DUTCH NETHERLANDS, HOLLAND)
Small population could not maintain the necessary production to remain a power.
Weakened seriously by the wars of Louis XIV (1652-1714) whose major objective was to gain the mouth of the Rhine
in the Netherlands; Netherlands went into decline after War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714).
Lost its ablest rulers to England after the Glorious Revolution of 1688
Its strength was still based on its merchant marine but it was losing its dominance in trade to the stronger British and
the French because of warfare.
SWEDEN
Small population, few resources, and less-than-modern business methods could not maintain the necessary production
for competition.
Geographically separated from the mainstream of European affairs and trade.
Did not develop a competitive merchant marine.
Major loss to Russia in the very costly Great Northern War in 1721 cost much Baltic coastal territory.
POLAND
The nobility-dominated Diet elected weak, often foreign, monarchs.
“Liberum veto” allowed the nobility to block any royal policy.
The monarchy was kept weak and decentralized.
Poland was surrounded by growing powers with centralized monarchies (Austria, Russia and Prussia)
Poland would be partitioned and disappear before the end of the 18 th century.
OTTOMAN (TURKISH) EMPIRE
Growing continuously weaker throughout the 17th century.
Once strong monarchs were now decadent.
Loss at the Battle of Lepanto (1571) began the decline in the eastern Mediterranean.
The last siege of Vienna (1683) was actually financed largely by France to harass Austria.
Janissaries, once the best soldiers in Europe, worked to maintain their special privileges, not to maintain their fighting
skills.
PORTUGAL
Small population and with few national resources: it could not stay competitive.
The monarchy was weakening. Portugal was actually ruled by the Spanish monarchy, 1580-1640. The Portuguese
monarchy never regained its full power after Spanish control.
Portugal lost most of its Asian colonial outposts to the Dutch in the 1600’s.
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY – A CENTURY OF WARFARE
MAJOR WARS OF THE PERIOD
1682-1699 Austria and the Ottoman Empire at war
1688-1697 War of the League of Augsburg (Nine Years’ War)
France vs. England, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Sweden and several German states
Known as King William’s War in England’s American colonies
1700-1721 Great Northern War
Russia, Denmark and Poland vs. Sweden
1701-1714 War of the Spanish Succession
France, Spain, & Bavaria vs. England, the Netherlands, Austria, & Brandenburg-Prussia
Known as Queen Anne’s War in England’s American colonies
1710-1711 Russia and the Ottoman Empire at war
1733-1735 War of the Polish Succession
France and Spain vs. Austria and Russia
1736-1739 Russia and the Ottoman Empire at war
1739-1740 War of Jenkins’ Ear
Britain vs. Spain (war continues into the War of the Austrian Succession)
1740-1748 War of the Austrian Succession
France, Spain, Prussia, Bavaria & Saxony vs. Britain, Austria & the Netherlands
Known as King George’s War in Britain’s American colonies
1741-1743 Russia and Sweden at war
1756-1763 Seven Years’ War
Briain and Prussia vs. France, Austria, Russia and Saxony
Known as the French and Indian War (beginning in 1754) in Britain’s American colonies
1768-1774 Russo-Turkish War
Russia vs. the Ottoman Empire
1775-1783 War of American Independence
Britain’s 13 American colonies (U.S.), France, Spain, & the Netherlands vs. Britain
1792-1815 Wars of the French Revolution
1792-1797 War of the First Coalition
France vs. Britain, Austria and Prussia
1798-1801 War of the Second Coalition
France vs. Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia
1803-1805 War of the Third Coalition
France vs. Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia
1808-1814 Peninsular War in Spain
France vs. Spain, Portugal and Britain
1812-1815 War of the Fourth Coalition and the Hundred Days
France vs. Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia and Spain
EUROPEAN RIVALRIES OF THE 18th CENTURY
Who hates whom and why:
England (Britain) vs. France
in the Low Countries, in North America, Caribbean islands, India and other
overseas colonial areas
England (Britain) vs. Spain
in North American and the Caribbean Islands over colonies
France vs. Austria
in the Low Countries (the Austrian Netherlands) and the Rhineland
Austria vs. Prussia
in the German states and Poland
Austria vs. the Ottoman Empire
in the Balkans, in the Black Sea (the mouth of the Danube), and in the eastern
Mediterranean
England vs. Prussia
in the German states (Hanover vs. Prussia)
Russia vs. the Ottoman Empire
in the Balkans and in the area surrounding the Black Sea
Prussia vs. Austria vs. Russia
in Poland and in the Baltic states
England vs. Spain
trade rivalries over colonies in the Americas
England vs. Netherlands
trade rivalries over colonies and shipping in the Americas and Asia