The Empire Strikes Back

Austria, Great Britain, France, Spain

England to Great Britain

• William and Mary- joint monarchs• Brought the English in with the Dutch

against France• Act of Toleration- religious

• Catholics couldn’t vote, hold office or attend university

• William exercised strong leadership but was limited by parliament when they thought he was crossing the line• Standing army

England gains the upper hand• Formidable power on the seas• Able to gain momentum over France

after long wars• 1707 England and Scotland become one

kingdom• A strong army and navy was necessary

and by 1770 the army had 200,000 troops• Financial burden

The Georges

• George I and George II didn’t speak English well and they were more worried about their German holdings in Hanover

• Parliament gained a lot of power• Sir Robert Walpole becomes the “1st

prime minister”• Britain gains power in India

Contrast in Political Thought• Hbbes- Leviathan- Man is by nature selfish and

ambitious and without restraint would remain in a perpetual battle with his fellows

• The weak are more cunning and the strong are more stupid

• Life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.• A strong sovereign is necessary and all must

submit to the authority or we would fall into chaotic anarchy• A contract of submission

Locke’s On Civil Government• Tabula rasa• Applying reason to politics• Three basic rights: life, liberty and property• Sovereign power must be checked by an

assembly of the people• Only those with a tangible stake in the country

(propertied people) should have a say in government

• Power to overthrow the sovereign• Concerned with the individual vs. the state

France

• Worn out from fighting the British• Louis started to lose territories• The War of Spanish Succession• Many claimants to the Spanish throne after the

death of Spain’s Charles II• Charles had chosen Louis’ Grandson Phillip• Louis had to agree not to unite the French and

Spanish empires but he refused• William and Leopold created the Grand

Alliance which then declared war on France

Previous line

After The Sun King

• Great debts• Luis XV was weak• Neighbors took advantage and waged

war• Parliament and clergy fought to limit

control of the monarch• France was able to hold it together and

gain in population and empire

Austria

• The Hapsburgs- Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I: Austria, Bohemia, parts of Hungary and Italy

• Religious and talented in the arts• After the 30 years war he could no

longer rule over the princes that owed him nominal allegiance

• Most of the nobility were non-native• Absolutism with a strong independent

nobility

Prussia

• Short Quiz on Tuesday