World Civilizations Unit Sheet 1
The Absolute Monarchs and the Enlightenment
During the 1500s and 1600s, several European monarchs became absolute rulers. In England, Parliament gained control. After the Thirty Years’ War, Prussia emerged as a strong Protestant state. In Austria, the Hapsburgs expanded their territory. In Russia, Peter the Great gained land and brought reforms to Russia but worsened the condition of the serfs. Enlightenment ideas, brought about by the Scientific Revolution, challenged the absolute monarchies. Focusing on reason, the Enlightenment thinkers created new forms of art and literature as well as new ideas about government. Unit Objectives Analyze how the absolute monarchies transformed the economic and political systems of Europe and brought them into the age of modern nation-states Examine the similarities and differences of absolute rule established by Louis XIV, Philip II, and Peter the Great. Analyze the consequences (positive/negative) of the major philosophers of the Enlightenment. Examine the transformation of European society as a result of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. Vocabulary Absolutism Balance of Power Checks and Balances Common Sense Commonwealth Divine Right Identifications Bach Catherine the Great Charles V Oliver Cromwell Queen Elizabeth English Civil War Frederick the Great
Encyclopedia Free Market Intendants Mercantilism Natural rights Philosophes
Reason Salons Separation of Power Social Contract Westernization
Hobbes Huguenots James I Locke Louis XIV Maria Theresa Montesquieu
Newton Peter the Great King Philip II Richelieu Rousseau Thirty Years’ War Voltaire
World Civilizations Unit Sheet 1 Essential Questions How did the absolute monarchs defend their positions of royal authority and what effects did this have on the domestic and foreign policies of these countries? How did the principle of the “balance of power” emerge as the key to European politics in the 1700s? What are the differences between an absolute monarchy and a limited (constitutional) monarchy? To what extent where the thinkers of this era successful in uncovering natural law? To what extent did the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment impact rulers and artists? Chapter Section Title 17 The Age of Absolutism 1 Extending Spanish Power 2 France Under Louis XIV 3 Triumph of Parliament in England 4 Rise of Austria and Prussia 5 Absolute Monarchy in Russia 18 Enlightenment and Revolution 1 Philosophy in the Age of Reason 2 Enlightenment Ideas Spread Pages 412-417 418-420 421-426 427-430 431-435 446-450 451-455