UNIT 3THE EARLY MODERN WORLD

1400-1800

Asia RulersI am

Kangxi

The Forbidden City Beijing

The pride of Tokugawa

Chapter 14: Crisis and Absolutism in Europe, 1550–1715

Out of the wars of the sixteenth century, absolutist rulers emerged in many parts of Europe, while England laid the groundwork for a constitutional monarchy. Art, literature, and political thought were heavily influenced by changes in the wake of the Reformation.

Wars of Religion Wars between Catholics and Protestants plagued sixteenth-

century Europe. Economic, social, and political forces all played a role. For nearly 40 years, the French Wars of Religion pitted Catholics against Protestant Huguenots. The violence finally ended in 1598 when Henry IV extended full political privileges to Huguenots while making Catholicism the official religion. Catholic Spain appeared to be at the height of its power. However, Philip II was bankrupting Spain with costly wars. Meanwhile, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, a heavily Protestant region of the Spanish Empire, emerged as a great power in its own right. The English monarch, Elizabeth, sought to placate both Protestants and Catholics at home while balancing the power of France and Spain. Hoping to restore Catholicism to power, Philip tried to invade England and met with disastrous results.

Social Crises, War, and Revolution

Witch-hunts were common. Religious disputes in Germany left over from the Peace of Augsburg led to the Thirty Years' War. The war evolved into a much larger European struggle. The Peace of Westphalia, which ended the war in 1648, split up the Holy Roman Empire and left German states free to choose their religion. France became the dominant nation in Europe. A year later, Charles I of England was executed by Oliver Cromwell, a military genius who led a revolt against the crown. The English Revolution was the latest battle in a struggle pitting Parliament against the monarchy. England's Protestant minority had also played a role. The monarchy was later restored, but the conflict simmered. In 1688, King James II fled to France and the Dutch king, William of Orange, took power with almost no bloodshed. In exchange for the crown, William and his wife, Mary, accepted a Bill of Rights, laying the groundwork for a constitutional monarchy.

Lettuce put our heads together.

http://wrir4.ucdavis.edu/PHOTOS/CROPS/images/Lettuce%20WideBeds.jpg

Absolute Rulers

Louis XIV Peter the Great

Response to Crisis: Absolutism

The French king, Louis XIV, is regarded as the best example of a seventeenth century absolutist ruler. Louis used all means at his disposal to keep power firmly in his own hands. In the absence of a centralized German state, Prussia and Austria emerged as great European powers. Prussia built the fourth-largest army in Europe. The Hapsburgs, formerly rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, built a loosely governed Austrian Empire that included today's Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. The Russian state emerged in the fifteenth century. The Romanov dynasty established in 1613 produced a series of Russian absolutists. To make Russia a great power, the Romanov czar Peter the Great undertook military reforms, introduced western practices, and went to war with Sweden.

The World of European Culture

The baroque style tried to merge the ideals of Renaissance art with spiritual concerns. Many magnificent and highly detailed baroque churches and palaces were built. Writing and drama reached new heights in England and Spain. Two writers from this period, England's Shakespeare and Spain's Lope de Vega, are considered among the greatest writers ever. Political thought also evolved during this period. Thomas Hobbes argued in favor of absolutism. Hobbes's fellow Englishman, John Locke, countered that governments were formed by a contract to protect people's natural rights. Locke's ideas became important to both Americans and French in the eighteenth century.

European CultureLope de Vega

John Locke

Chapter 17: Revolution and Enlightenment, 1550–1800

The Scientific Revolution gave rise to a intellectual movement—the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thought provided the philosophical foundations for the American Revolution. Britain lost its colonies in North America to the newly formed United States, while Spain and Portugal held onto their profitable Latin American colonies.

Scientific Revolution

The Scientific Revolution

Nicholas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, and Galileo Galilei revolutionized astronomy. Copernicus claimed that the sun, not the earth, was at the center of the universe—an idea considered heresy by the Catholic Church. Equally revolutionary were Isaac Newton's explanations of gravity and the movement of the planets. There were breakthroughs in medicine and chemistry, and numerous women contributed to the body of scientific research. The new view of the universe affected Western philosophy. The Frenchman Rene Descartes, the first rationalist, declared that matter could be independently investigated by reason. Francis Bacon, an English philosopher, developed the scientific method—a system for collecting and analyzing evidence.

Heads Together

http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2006/1106/pg2_w_chad_275.jpg

The Enlightenment

Enlightenment intellectuals, known as philosophes, were chiefly social reformers from the nobility and the middle class. They often met in the salons of the upper classes to discuss the ideas of such giants as Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot. In the economic sphere, Adam Smith put forth the doctrine of laissez-faire economics. The later Enlightenment produced social thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and an early advocate of women's rights, Mary Wollstonecraft. Salon gatherings, along with the growth of book and magazine publishing, helped spread Enlightenment ideas among a broad audience. Most Europeans were still Christians.

The Impact of the Enlightenment The baroque and neoclassical styles of art endured, while a

more delicate style, called rococo, emerged. The works of Bach, Handel, Haydn, and Mozart represented one of the greatest periods in European music. Novels attracted a middle-class audience. The Enlightenment interested the absolutist rulers of Europe. However, only one, Joseph II of Austria, attempted far-reaching reforms based on Enlightenment ideas; they were largely a failure. The reforms of Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia were far more limited. Territorial disputes in Europe and in the colonial empires of Britain and France produced the War of Austrian Succession, followed by the Seven Years' War. In the end, France lost India and most of North America, and Britain emerged as the world's greatest colonial power.

Colonial Empires and the American Revolution

In the sixteenth century, Portugal came to control Brazil, while Spain established an empire in the Western Hemisphere that included parts of North America and most of Latin America. Portugal and Spain held onto their Latin American colonies for over 300 years. During that time, they profited richly by exporting Latin American gold, silver, and other natural resources and farm products. Spanish and Portuguese officials and Christian missionaries played important roles in Latin American societies. In North America, British control over its colonies began to unravel over issues of taxation. Multiple crises led the Americans to declare their independence in 1776 and to fight Britain until its defeat in 1783. The Articles of Confederation that formed the United States were soon replaced with a Constitution, which created a stronger central government. The Bill of Rights added important freedoms derived from the natural rights expressed by the philosophes.

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

French revolutionary stages

French revolutionary stages

“Let’s work in pairs.”

http://www.polyphotoclub.com/Images_Thumbs/2006%20Year%20End/Lets%20Put%20Our%20Heads%20Together%20-%20Clark%20Winsor.JPG

Chapter 18: The French Revolution and Napoleon, 1789–1815

Poverty, social divisions, and economic crisis led to the French Revolution and a reign of terror. Napoleon Bonaparte took power in a coup d'etat and tried to overthrow Europe's old order. After his costly military campaigns, he was defeated at Waterloo, Belgium, and exiled.

The French Revolution Begins

Poverty and deep social divisions were the backdrop of the French Revolution. On the eve of the revolution, financial crisis gripped the government of Louis XVI. Rather than accept higher taxes, the commoners in France's legislative body, the Estates-General, broke off to form a National Assembly. Anticipating an attack by the king's forces, commoners then stormed the Bastille prison, marking the start of the Revolution. The new Assembly took control of the Catholic Church and adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. The document was inspired in part by the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution. The Assembly then wrote a constitution establishing a limited monarchy and a Legislative Assembly. France was soon at war with Austria, where some feared the revolution might spread. Louis XVI was taken captive by the Paris Commune. The commune called for a National Convention and forced the revolution into a more violent phase.

Radical Revolution and Reaction

During the first years of the revolution, a republic was established, Louis XVI was executed, and thousands of people were killed on suspicion of opposing the revolution. While factions fought over control within France, European states fearing the spread of revolution made plans to invade France. The National Convention responded by forming a Committee of Public Safety. The committee led a 12-month Reign of Terror, executing close to 40,000 suspected enemies and expunging signs of Catholic influence. The committee also raised the largest army in European history and repelled the invading armies. With the crisis past, the National Convention ended the Reign of Terror and executed its zealous leader, Maximilien Robespierre. Power shifted into the hands of more moderate middle-class leaders who produced a constitution in 1795. The constitution called for a two-house legislative body and an executive committee, called the Directory. The Directory faced mounting problems. In 1799 a popular General, Napoleon Bonaparte, seized power in a coup d'état.

Napoleon

The Age of Napoleon

Napoleon formed a new government, the consulate, in which he held absolute power. In 1802 he was crowned emperor and signed a peace treaty with Russia, Great Britain, and Austria. At home, he made peace with the Catholic Church and created a functioning bureaucracy. His Napoleonic Code preserved many of the rights gained in the revolution. War was soon renewed. By 1807, Napoleon had created a French empire. In parts of the empire, Napoleon sought to spread the revolution. However, his invasions had contributed to the spread of nationalism as well. This, along with British sea power, would spell his defeat. After a disastrous invasion of Russia, other European nations attacked Napoleon's army and captured Paris. Napoleon was exiled from France, and the monarchy was restored. Napoleon returned to power briefly, only to face final military defeat against a combined Prussian and British force at Waterloo and to be exiled once again.