a quick look at the Absolute rulers of Europe and Russia

1. Absolute Rulers
A How To Guide with examples from
Russia…

2. Causes of Absolutism
Religious and territorial Which leads to…
conflict
Armies growing larger
to deal with conflicts Which leads to…
A need for cash to pay Where can a ruler get
armies. money from?

3. Absolutism, continued
Taxes! Right The
Who pays
Peasantry!
the taxes?
So they revolt, which causes
more unrest…
And the Monarch takes more and more power
to try and keep control. Eventually He/she
claims to rule because God says he or she
should, and he or she only answers to God…

4. Meanwhile, all the other monarchs
Are taking note of
your ever-
strengthening
military and
getting a wee bit
worried about Well, this
what you plan to guy said he
do with it… WAS the
state
(L’Etat, C’est
Moi), so
maybe he
didn’t worry
about
much…

5. Peace of Westphalia
Warfare in Europe 1648
Sometimes Absolutism comes
after a war between sides. Most important from this
treaty is that Europe is now
The Thirty Years War is one of
these conflicts, where made up of “sovereign”
Catholics and Protestants in
Germany fight each other for
states.
Thirty Years (hence the
creative name). This means that they are
independent and equal;
Other states get involved
seeking advantages. This is the origin of the
Ultimately it becomes a
European conflict that results modern nation-states
in a treaty.
system we live in now.

6. Europe after the Treaty of Westphalia
Not very neat looking, is it? And each has its own
monarch, enjoying sole control over his or her
territory…what’s likely to happen in the future?

7. Meanwhile…
Russian Absolute Monarchs
Crazy or just “Special”?

8. Ivan the Terrible
• Not Terrible as in “Bad”
but Terrible as in
“Ferocious”
• His dad claimed that his
mom was a witch and
had her put into a
nunnery.
• Made Tsar at age 16.
• Ruled 1533-1584

9. Ivan
• Ordered St. Basil’s
Cathedral built in
Moscow.
• Then he ordered the
architect to be blinded
so he couldn’t make
anything as beautiful
ever again.

10. Ivan
• Contracted a near fatal illness in 1553, but
recovered.
• Apparently was left mentally ill.
• Waged war against Swedes, Lithuanians, Poles
and Teutonic Knights.
• Plague broke out in Russia. 600-1000 died a
day in Moscow, food prices went up by a
factor of 10.

11. Ivan
• Ordered the destruction of Novgorod over a debt
the city owed him.
• 1581 Ivan beat his daughter in law for wearing
indecent clothing (she was pregnant and lost the
baby.
• His son confronted him about it, and in a rage, he
smashed his son’s head with a poker. Remaining
son who inherited was mentally disabled.
• Ivan died of either poisoning (mercury) or
strangulation by a man whose wife he attempted
to rape.

12. Peter the Great
• Stood 6 ft 8 inches
tall, but was thin with
narrow shoulders and a
small head for his body.
• Likely had a form of
epilepsy.
• Ruled 1682-1725

13. Peter the Great
• Became Tsar at 10 years old, with mommy as
his regent
• A dispute led to him sharing the throne with
his mentally incompetent half-brother
• Peter didn’t really want to be Tsar. He liked to
build ships and play with toy soldiers.
• He was forced to marry a woman at 16 whom
he hated. After 10 years, he forced her to
become a nun.

14. Peter the Great
• Reformed Russia to • You could keep your
become more modern beard if you paid 100
• Wanted the army to Rubles (money) as a tax
modernize and to build • Tried to form an alliance
a navy. against the Ottoman
• Required state officials empire, but no
and military to shave European leader will go
their beards and adopt along with him.
modern clothing styles. • Changed the Russian
calendar to match
Europe’s

15. Peter the Great
• Ordered his son tortured and killed for disobeying
Peter’s orders and for disregarding official policies.
• Changed tax structure, decreed that all children of
nobility must have an education.
• Died due to complications of a urinary tract infection
that became gangrene of the bladder.
– At one point had four pounds of urine drained from his
body…
• Had no sons left alive to inherit the throne, but had 11
children with two wives; the second, Catherine I, rules
as Empress until her death.

16. Catherine The Great
• Married Peter III at age
16. They were second
cousins.
• After the coup, she
expands Russia’s
borders and takes over
Ukraine, Belarus, Lithua
nia, and set up an
agreement with Prussia.
• Ruled 1762-1796

17. Catherine the Great
• Took the title “Empress and Autocrat of all the
Russias.”
• Took power after her husband was deposed in
a coup. (She wasn’t involved, though she did
start sleeping with some of the members
later.)
• Did not care for the poor at all.
• Created a system of states for Russia based on
population.

18. Catherine
• Waged a successful war
against the Ottoman
Empire to get port cities
on the Black Sea.
• Patronized artists of all
types in Russia, lured
scientists and thinkers
to Russia from Europe.

19. Catherine—Hot or Not?
• Caused lots of scandal all • He would select the men
over Europe based on physical beauty
• Took many lovers. When and intellectual capacity.
she was done with them, • She apparently had an
she “paid” them in land, insatiable sexual appetite.
money and serfs. • Rumored to have involved
• Her first lover became her horses, but no proof.
“love advisor” • Succeeded by her
nephew, Paul.