Western Civilization

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Successful and Unsuccessful

Paths to Power”

Government of the Dutch

• The Dutch Republic consisted of the seven northern provinces of Zeeland, Utrecht, Holland, Gelderland, Overijsel, Groningen, and Friesland.

– Holland was the wealthiest and most powerful.

– Each province and each city was autonomous.

• National problems were governed by the States General which consisted of delegates from the provinces which could act only on the instructions of the provincial assemblies.

– Each province had a Stadholder, or governor, who was under the authority and instructions of the assembly.

– In times of crisis, the provinces would sometimes choose the same Stadholder, and he thereby became the national leader.

Dutch Economy

• The 17^th century was the Golden Age of the Dutch.

– The Age of Rembrandt and other great painters.

– The most prosperous region of Europe.

– The people had the most freedom of any group in Europe.

• The Dutch did not have government controls and monopolies to impede their freedom of enterprise.

• As a result, they became by far the greatest mercantile nation in Europe with the largest merchant marine in the world.

Dutch Economy (cont.)

• Medium sized cities and ports such as Leyden, Haarlem, Gouda, Delft, and Utrecht (20,000 to 40,000 populations), were characteristic of the Netherlands.

• Amsterdam was the richest city in Europe with a population of 100,000.

– The ports of these Dutch cities were stocked with Baltic grain, English woolens, silks and spices from India, sugar from the Caribbean, salted herring and coal.

• The Dutch had almost no natural resources, but built their economy around the carrying of trade, mercantile businesses, and other service occupations.

– Skilled in finishing raw materials.

• Cloth, furniture, sugar refining, tobacco cutting, armament manufacturing, and shipbuilding.

Dutch Economy (cont.)

• The Dutch taught accounting methods, provided banks and rational legal methods for settling disputes.

• Their low interest rate was a key to economic growth

– 3%, half of that in the rest of Europe.

• The Dutch were discussed and written about all over Europe as champions of free enterprise and individual rights – in contrast to state absolutism, economic nationalism, mercantilism, and protective tariffs.

Overseas Expansion

• The Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company were organized as cooperative ventures of private enterprise and the state.

• The various provinces contributed part of the capital for these ventures and the Companies were subject to the authority of the States General.

Dutch Art

• The 17^th century was the most significant in history for Dutch painting.

• Most of the Dutch painters came from the province of Holland.

– Rembrandt and Jan Steen were from Leyden; Cuyp came from Dordrecht; Van Goyen from the Hague; and Vermeer from Delft.

• The artistic center of the Netherlands was Amsterdam where the Dutch school of painters was noted for their landscape and portrait painting, and especially for “genre painting,” in which the scenes of everyday life predominate.

The Calvinist Influence

• The Calvinist influence in Holland is reflected in their celebration, but not idealization, of God’s Creation.

• The realistic portrait paintings show mankind as great and noble, but also flawed, or, as the Reformed Church put it, “fallen creatures in a fallen world.”

• Nevertheless, the flawed creation was till to be enjoyed and their pictures of Dutch life in the 17^th century show it to be intensely joyful an satisfying in human relationships.

Artistic Skills

• The Dutch painters were masters of light and shadow as were the later French Impressionists.

• They captured the subtlety and realism of an ordinary scene under the vast expanse of the sky; a storm at sea; or a rain shower “drifting across a distant landscape pursued by sunshine.”

• It is an interesting comparison to contrast the equally-great Flemish contemporary school in the Spanish Netherlands strongly influenced by the Counter-Reformation Baroque.

– Peter Rubens from Antwerp is a good example.

Dutch Wars and Foreign Policy

• The Peace of Westphalia (1648) ended eighty years of war between Spain and the Netherlands and resulted in independence for the Dutch Republic and continued Hapsburg rule of the Spanish Netherlands.

• After being freed from Spanish domination the Dutch were faced with a series of wars against England over trading rights and colonial competition.

• The Louis XIV’s efforts to move into the Low Countries brought the Dutch into a drown-out war with France.

• The accession of William and Mary to the throne of England in 1688 brought an end to the warfare between the Dutch and English.

• In the War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-13, England and Holland fought against France and Spain.

Louis XV

• When Louis became king at the age of five, the government was entrusted to a regent, the Duke of Orleans.

– An elder cousin of the king.

• Lacking the authority of a monarch, he had to admit the aristocracy to a share in power.

– Entrusted the financial management of the kingdom to John Law.

– Law established the Mississippi Company to promote trade in North America.

• Most of the nobles had never liked the absolutism of Louis XIV.

• The Parlements of France reasserted their power during the reign of Louis XV.

• The aristocracy would win back many of the powers they had lost during the reign of Louis XIV.

France Under the Reign of Louis XV

• France was still the richest and most influential nation in continental Europe.

• French people of all classes desired greater popular participation in government, rejecting royal absolutism.

• There was high resentment towards special privileges of the aristocracy. (especially among the bourgeoisie)

– All nobles were exempt from certain taxes.

– Many were subsidized with regular pensions from the government.

– The highest offices in government were reserved for aristocrats.

– Promotions were based upon political connections rather than merit.

• Life at Versailles was wasteful, extravagant, and frivolous.

Government Corruption

• There was no uniform code of laws, and a lack of justice in the French judicial system existed.

– The king had arbitrary powers of imprisonment.

• The king could issue a lettre de cachet, “letter under seal,” ordering imprisonment without trial.

• Government bureaucrats were often petty tyrants many of them merely serving their own interests.

• The bureaucracy had become virtually a closed class within itself.

• Vestiges of the feudal and manorial systems continued to upset the peasants, particularly when they were taxed excessively in comparison to other segments of society.

– The philosophes gave expression to these grievances and discontent grew.

Three Wars

• France was involved in three wars during Louis XV's reign.  

• As a result of the first, the War of the Polish Succession, France gained the province of Lorraine.  

• The second, the War of the Austrian Succession, which marked the beginning of a colonial struggle with Great Britain, was unresolved.  

• In the last, the Seven Years' War, France, crippled by corruption and mismanagement, lost most of its overseas possessions to the British.

Problems Left by Louis XV

• Louis XV was only 5 years old when his great-grandfather died.

• Fifty-nine years later he too died, leaving many of the same problems had had inherited.

• Corruption and inequity in government were even more pronounced.

• Louis borrowed more and more from the bankers of France and England.

– Warned that his actions endangered France, he remarked:

• “It will last my time.” and “After me, the deluge.”

• Ominously, crowds lined the road to St. Denis, the burial place of French kings, and cursed the king’s casket just as they had his predecessor.

Great Britain and the
Age of Walpole

“BRITAIN AT MID CENTURY”

• Mercantilism found its way to England

during the mid 1600s and turned Britain

into one of the most powerful nations in

the world.

• It replaced Spain as the dominant empire

builder and the Netherlands as the

premier trading country.

• At the same time, Britain established a

constitutional monarchy; a compromise

between absolute monarchies and

democracies.

Global Expansion

• There were several reasons why Britain

was able to achieve great success.

– Geography: England’s location made it well placed to control trade during the Renaissance. By the 1600s, English

ships could be seen throughout the entire world.

• From these tiny settlements, England would eventually build a huge empire, in which it would eventually be said: “The sun never sets on the British Empire”

– Success in War: During the 1700s, Britain found itself on the winning side of several wars.

• In the War of the Spanish Succession England gained Nova Scotia and New Foundland from France. (Treaty of Utrecht)

• From the Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years War with France England gained all of French Canada.

– A Favorable Business Climate: England offered a more favorable business climate to business and commerce that its European rivals.

• England offered a more favorable business climate to business and commerce that its European rivals.

– Union with Scotland: At home, England grew by merging with Scotland.

• In 1707, the Act of Union united the two countries into the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

• The union brought economic advantage to both countries. It allowed free trade among the two countries.

• Eventually, the U.K would also include Wales.

– Ireland: England had controlled Ireland since the 1100s. In the 1600s, English rulers tried to subdue Catholic Ireland by sending Protestants from England & Scotland to settle there.

• The Irish fiercely resisted Protestant rule. When uprisings failed, repression increased.

• Catholic were forbidden to marry non-Catholics serve as teachers, or own weapons.

Growth of Constitutional Government

• During the century that followed the Glorious Revolution, three new institutions developed in Britain: political parties, the cabinet, and the office of the Prime Minister.

• These innovations were all part of the development of a constitutional monarchy

• The British constitution is not a single document, it is made up of all the acts of Parliament over the centuries.

• It also includes documents such as the Magna

Carta, the Petition of Rights, and the English bill of Rights.

Political Parties

• During the late 1600s two political parties emerged in England.

• They were the Whigs, who supported the more liberal policies of the Glorious Revolution.

– They supported religious toleration and a strong Parliament.

• The Tories supported a strong monarch and wanted to maintain the status quo.

The Cabinet System

• In 1714, the English crown went to a member of the House of Hanover in Germany.

– George I could only speak German and so relied on the leaders in Parliament to help him rule.

• Under George I, and later under George II, a small group of Parliament’s advisers set policy.

– These men were known as the “Cabinet” because they met in a small room called the cabinet.

• Eventually, the Cabinet gained official status and was made up of members of the majority party in the House of Commons.

– The Cabinet quickly caught on in other parts of Europe and the world. Some would follow the Parliamentary system as found in England or as in the United States the chief executive would select their own cabinet.

The Prime Minister

• Heading up the cabinet was the Prime Minister.

• The Prime Minister was the head of the majority party in Parliament and as with today is the chief official of the British government.

• In 1721, Robert Walpole became the first Prime Minister of England, though the title was not yet in use.

– Walpole was a Whig who unified the cabinet and required that all members agree on major issues.

Politics and Society

• The Age of Walpole was a time of peace

and prosperity.

• However, even though it may appear on the outside that Parliament was gaining power, and that England was becoming more democratic, England of the period was really an Oligarchy - a government in which the ruling power rests in the hands of a small number of people.

• Other famous 18^th century prime ministers were :the Duke of Newcastle, George Grenville, William Pitt, the Elder, Lord North, and William Pitt, the Younger.

Central and Eastern Europe

Central & Eastern Europe

• Central and Eastern Europe was much less advanced economically, than Western Europe.

• Most of the countries were agrarian with little industry developed.

• After the Peace of Westphalia, Europe in this region would begin to slowly consolidate its powers into regional governments.

– Sweden

– Hapsburg Austria

– Prussia

– Russia

Sweden

• The high point of Swedish power in the Baltics was in the 1650s.

• Sweden was not a large or productive country.

• Maintaining a strong standing army proved to be too much of a strain on the economy.

• Sweden sought to control trade of the Baltic Sea with its important naval stores, but even at the height of Swedish powers, only 10% of the ships in the Baltic trade were Swedish; 65% were Dutch.

• Swedish provinces in the Baltic and Germany were impossible to defend against strong continental powers such as Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

Political Situation

• After the death of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632, the government was effectively controlled by an oligarchy of the nobility in the name of the Vasa dynasty.

• Christina, the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, became queen at six years of age and ruled from 1632 to 1654.

• At age 28, she abdicated the throne to her cousin and devoted the rest of her life to the Catholic faith and to art.

• Charles X reigned from 1654 to 1660 during the First Northern War against Poland, Russia, and Denmark.

Charles XI

• Charles XI became king at age 11.

• When he came of age, he spent the rest of his life attempting to regain powers lost to the Council.

• For this he secured the aid of the Lower Estates of the Riksdag who in 1693 declared that Charles XI was “absolute sovereign king.”

• This was in dramatic contrast to the centuries’ ongoing struggles in Holland and England to constitutionally limit their kings.

Charles XII

• King Charles XII came to the throne at age 15 and reigned for 21 years.

• He spent most of his life at war and was an outstanding military leader in the Great Northern War (1700-1721).

• Denmark, Saxony, Poland, and Russia formed an alliance to destroy the Swedish Empire.

• In Feb. 1700, Poland attacked Swedish Livonia and Denmark invaded Holstein.

• The Swedish navy defeated the Danes and attacked Copenhagen, forcing Denmark to make peace.

• Charles then shifted his attention to Estonia and routed a Russian invasion in the Battle of Narva, inflicting heavy losses.

– Charles was then 18 years of age.

Charles XII (cont.)

• The next several years were spent fighting Poland, defeating both the Poles and the Russians.

• But in 1709, the Russians outnumbering the Swedish forces 2 to 1 defeated them.

• Peter the Great then took the Baltic provinces of Livonia and Estonia from Sweden.

• Years of warfare, poor government, and high taxes finally led to Charles XII’s alienation from his people.

• In 1718, he was killed by a stray bullet.

Eighteenth Century Sweden

• The loss of the Empire meant a move to a more democratic, limited monarchy and the new freedom led to a sharp increase in peasant enterprises and independence.

• The Swedish economy prospered.

• By 1756, parliament considered itself the sovereign Estates of the realm and many civil liberties were established.

• Principle decisions of government were made by the Riksdag

• Under Gustavus III there was a temporary return to royal absolutism until he was assassinated in 1792.

The Hapsburgs and Central Europe

History of the Hapsburgs

• In 1273 Rudolph of Hapsburg was elected Holy Roman Emperor and gained permanent possession of Austria for the Hapsburg family.

• The Holy Roman Empire was still intact in the 18^th century and consisted of 300 separate states, 51 free towns, and 1500 minor states.

• The largest states of the Empire were the Hapsburg Monarchy, with a population of 10 million inside the Empire and 12 million outside; Prussia with 5.5 million, Bavaria and Saxony with about 2 million each; and Hanover, with about 1 million.

• Since the Hapsburg controlled such a large population, they were continually elected emperor because they had sufficient power to enforce Imperial decisions.

Emperor Leopold I (1658-1705)

• Leopold I was the first cousin of King Louis XIV of France and also of King Charles II of Spain.

• He loved poetry, music, and was a patron of the arts.

• A devout Catholic, Leopold followed the advice of the Jesuits and sought to restrict severely his Protestant subjects.

• He employed German and Italian artists to build and decorate Baroque churches and palaces.

• One of Leopold’s most severe tests came with the Turkish invasion of Austria and siege of Vienna in 1683.

– The Turks were driven back by the Poles, Austrians, and Hungarians.

Emperor Charles VI

• Following a brief reign of his older brother Joseph I (1795-11), who died of smallpox at the age of 33, Charles VI, son of Leopold, came to the Austrian throne.

• Charles VI had a keen sense of duty and lived a conscientiously moral life.

• He was meticulous in his administration and personally involved in the details of governing.

• Early in his reign he signed the Treaty of Szatmar with the Hungarians, recognizing their particular liberties and returning the Crown to St. Stephen.

• The Hungarian Chancellery was to be autonomous within the administration.

Maria Theresa

• Charles VI attempted to protect his daughter with the Pragmatic Sanction.

– Rulers of Europe agreed not to attack Austria under Theresa.

– Eventually violated by Frederick II of Prussia.

• Maria Theresa was not really the “Empress” although she was often referred to as such.

• Her first husband and then her son was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

• Technically, she was Queen of Bohemia and Hungary, Archduchess of Austria, along with several other titles.

• Maria Theresa was a beautiful, courageous,, high-minded, pious, and capable ruler.

• Her first reform was to increase the Austrian standing army from 30,000 to 108,000 by persuading the various estates to accept tax reforms and a tax increase.

• She gradually centralized the Empire and increased the power of the Austrian government.

Prussia and the Hohenzollerns

Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648

• The Thirty Years’ War had devastated Germany.

– Brandenburg had lost half its population through death, disease, and emigration.

• Brandenburg was established by the Emperor Otto I in 950 A.D. and the ruler of Brandenburg was designated as an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Sigismund in 1417.

– Brandenburg will become ruled by the Hohenzollern family.

– Brandenburg looked as if it had no great future in store.

Frederick William (1640-88)

• During his half-century reign, the “Great Elector” established Prussia as a great power and laid the foundation for the future unification of Germany in the 19^th century.

– Was the nephew of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and his wife was the daughter of William the Silent of Orange.

• Frederick sought to emulate the government organization of the Swedes and the economic policies of the Dutch.

• Frederick was well educated, was a strict Calvinist, but promoted religious toleration within Prussia.

• Frederick encouraged industry and trade.

– Brought in foreign craftsmen and Dutch Farmers.

• In each province he established a local government, headed by a governor and chancellor, but with control from the central government in Berlin.

• His most historically-significant innovation was the building of a strong standing army.

– He was able to do this only through heavy taxes.

• Twice the rate of Louis XIV in France.

• Prussian nobility were not exempt, however.

• The Elector sought to encourage industry and trade.

– One of his achievements was the Frederick William Canal through Berlin which linked the Elbe and Oder Rivers and enabled canal traffic from Breslau and Hamburg to Berlin.

• Frederick was the only Hohenzollern to be interested in overseas trade before Kaiser Wilhelm II.

– But without ports and naval experience, the effort collapsed.

Frederick I (1688-1713)

• The Great Elector’s son, Frederick I was a weak and somewhat deformed man, but won the affection of his people.

• He loved the splendor of the monarchy and elaborate ceremonies.

– Built beautiful palaces with fine furniture.

• Frederick I built a new palace at Berlin.

• Frederick also promoted learning and the arts throughout Prussia.

• Much of Frederick I’s reign was spent at war.

– Prussia participated in the War of the League of Augsburg (1688-97) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13).

• Prussia did not gain territorially, bet perpetuated the military tradition that was beginning .

Frederick William I (1713-1740)

• Frederick William was quite different from his father.

• Did not support the lavish ceremony his father had loved.

• Believed Prussia needed a strong standing army and a plentiful treasury

– Frederick doubled the size of his army, paid off all debts, and built a surplus in the treasury.

– Established the Potsdam Guard.

• Frederick believed a strong standing army would help prevent war.

– Only once during his reign did Frederick use his army.

• Charles XII of Sweden tried to take Stralsund in 1720.

• Prussia developed the most efficient bureaucracy in Europe.

– Done with a bureaucracy 1/10^th of most European countries.

• Frederick also promoted education within Prussia by establishing over 1,000 schools for peasant children.

Frederick the Great (Frederick II: 1740-1786)

• Frederick the great inherited the throne at age 28.

• His father left him a prosperous economy, a full treasury and a standing army of 80,000 men.

• Unlike his father, Frederick loved French literature, poetry, and music.

– He played the flute and wrote poetry.

• Frederick regarded himself as ”the first servant of the state.”

• In October 1740, the Emperor Charles VI died, and in December, Frederick ordered an attack on Silesia.

– In violation of the Pragmatic Sanction signed by his father.

– This also began 23 years of warfare between Prussia and the other powers of Europe.

Prussian Gains

• Though Prussia’s population was 1/15^th of those countries it was fighting, it emerged with more territory and twice its former population after the years of fighting.

• After the wars, the remaining years of his life were spend in rebuilding and reforming what had had very nearly destroyed.

– Frugality, hard work and discipline were promoted throughout Prussia.

– He promoted new industries, drained marshland for framing

– Oversaw the reform of the judicial system.

• Frederick’s last great claim was the First Partition of Poland, where Prussia gained a large segment of the country of Poland.

Russia and the Romanovs

Ivan III (1442-1505)

• Ivan III, “Ivan the Great” put an end in 1480 to Mongol domination over Russia.

• Ivan married Sophie Paleologus, the niece of the last emperor of Constantinople.

– Ivan took the title of Caesar (czar) as heir of the Eastern Roman Empire.

• Ivan encouraged the Eastern Orthodox Church and called Moscow the “Third Rome.”

• Ivan brought in many Greek scholars, craftsmen, architects, and artisans to Russia.

Ivan IV (1533-1584)

• Ivan IV, “Ivan the Terrible,” grandson of Ivan III, began westernizing Russia.

• A contemporary of Queen Elizabeth, he welcomed both the English and the Dutch and opened new trade routes to Moscow and the Caspian Sea.

• English merchant adventures opened Archangel on the White Sea and provided a link with the outer world free from Polish domination.

• The “Times of Troubles” followed the death of Ivan IV in 1584, when the ruling Muscovite family died out.

• The Time of Troubles was a period of turmoil, famine, power struggles, and invasions from Poland.

The Romanov Dynasty

• The Romonov dynasty ruled Russia from 1613 to 1917.

• Stability returned to Russia in 1613 when the Semski Sobor (estates general representing the Russian Orthodox Church, landed gentry, townspeople and a pew peasants) elected Michael Romanov as czar from 1613 to 1645.

• Russia, with a standing army of 70,000 was involved in a series of unsuccessful wars with Poland, Sweden, and Turkey.

• In 1654, Russia annexed the Ukraine with its rich farmlands.

– The Ukrainians were supposed to be granted full autonomy, but in the end they were not.

Continued Russian Westernization

• It was under Michael Romanov that Russia continued its expansion into contiguous territory and created an enormous empire across Asia to the Pacific.

• Westernization begun under Ivan IV, continued under Michael Romanov.

– The army was trained by westerners (Scotsmen)

– New armaments purchased.

– Western skills and technology were introduced.

– Western dress was introduced.

• The Raskolniki (Old Believers) refused to accept any Western innovations or liturgy

– Were severely persecuted (20,000 burned at the stake)

Peter the Great

• Peter was one of the most extraordinary people in Russian history.

– Almost 7 feet tall and could be cruel and ruthless.

– Often whipped his servants, killed people who angered him, and even tortured his son to death.

– When he received good news, he would dance around and sing.

• Peter became the actual king of Russia at the age of 22.

• The driving ambition of Peter the Great ‘s life was to modernize Russia and he needed the West to accomplish that.

• At the same time he wanted to compete with the great powers of Europe on equal terms.

• Peter began to industrialize Russia and hired western craftsmen to work in Russia.

Wars of Peter the Great

• Peter built up the army through conscription and a 25-year term of enlistment.

• He gave flintlocks and bayonets to his troops instead of the old muskets and pikes.

• Artillery was improved and discipline enforced.

• By the end of his reign, Russia had a standing army of 210,000 despite a population of only 13 million.

• Peter also developed the Russian navy.

• In the Great Northern War, Russia allied with Poland and Denmark against Sweden.

• Though it had losses in the early stages of the war, in the final Treaty of Nystad, Russia gained Estonia and Livonia, giving it ports on the Baltic Sea and a window to the West.

Reforms Under Peter the great

• The czar ruled by decree (ukase).

• Government officials acted under government authority, but there was no representative body.

• The Swedish model was used to organize the government.

– Russia was divided into twelve provinces with a governor in charge.

• Russia maintained its traditional system of “Conditional land tenure” with the Czar as the theoretical owner of all land the land in Russia.

• When the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church died in 1700, Peter abolished his authority and began treating the Church as a government department.

– He eventually gave governing authority to a Holy Synod.