Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment

Age of Absolutism

• Absolute rule was seen as a solution due to religious wars between Protestants and Catholics in Europe, which caused chaos and required strong leadership
• Kings and queens began to take absolute control to stop the chaos and fighting within their countries
• Absolute rulers controlled religion, government, taxes, the military, and laws
• Divine Right is the belief that God gave kings and queens the right to rule, and only God could take their power away
• Divine Right suggests rulers could speak for God on religious matters
• The Versailles Palace was built by Louis XIV to display his power as head of state

Enlightenment

• Thomas Hobbes believed that people needed a social contract with their rulers
• John Locke believed people were naturally good and could govern themselves, and that people had rights that couldn't be taken away like life and liberty
• Baron de Montesquieu advocated for checks and balances between branches of government
• Voltaire was a proponent of freedom of speech and religion
• Rousseau believed in a social contract where government gets its power from the people
• Wollstonecraft initiated the idea of feminism
• Social contract is defined as people's agreement with their rulers

Enlightenment Ideas

• Rationality suggests governments, decisions, and laws should all be based on good, proven reasons
• Freedom states that people should have the freedom to think how they want and express their ideas freely
• Progress suggests that by using thought, humans could surpass the ideas of Greece and Rome
• Humanitarianism implies human suffering could be made better, leading to less war, poverty, and sadness
• The Enlightenment began in Europe
• Diderot contributed to the search for knowledge during the Enlightenment by creating the first encyclopedia

American Revolution

• The colonies were able to defeat the monarch and replace it with their own government, which defined the revolution.

French Revolution

• Social inequality
• Economic hardship due to heavy taxation on the poor
• A weak monarch under Louis XVI
• Enlightenment ideas promoting equality

What event set it off

• Storming of the Bastille was a revolutionary act
• Maximillian Robespierre was the leader of the radical wing of the revolutionary government
• Robespierre was appointed to the committee of public safety and passed the law of suspects

The Three Estates

• Church
• Nobility
• Commoners
• During The Reign of Terror, the revolutionary government executed mostly commoners

Napoleonic Wars

• Napoleon Bonaparte set up a national banking system in France
• Bonaparte built roads and canals to improve trade and bring in money
• He created government-run public schools called lycées
• Bonaparte created peace between revolutionaries and the Catholic Church while separating church and state
• Code Napoleon was created a national law code to uphold the rights and freedoms of the French Revolution

Battles

• Austerlitz = British Victory and Napoleon's most brilliant military triumph
• Trafalgar = British Victory, British Royal Navy vs the combined fleets of France and Spain. The battle secured British naval dominance and prevented a French invasion of Britain
• The Continental System was a policy to cut off the European continent from British support
• The final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo is one of the most famous military confrontations in history

The Peninsular War

• Some countries in Europe started to become angry with Napoleon for telling them what to do
• Portugal wouldn't participate in the blockade against Britain, so Napoleon tried to invade Portugal by going through Spain
• When Spain refused, Napoleon put his brother on the Spanish Throne causing Britain to send troops to help the Spanish rebellion, which weakened France

Congress of Vienna

• The Congress of Vienna aimed to create order and peace after Napoleon's exile
• Countries met in Austria with reactionary goals to create a lasting peace in Europe

Industrial Revolution

• Industrializing means introducing something new to an industry on a large scale

Factors of the Agricultural Revolution

• Enclosure movement
• Seed drill
• Four crop rotation system
• The steam engine increased the ease of operating boats, ships, railways, factories, and mills, which helped start the Industrial Revolution and allowed boats to go upriver
• The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain
• Textile mills are factories that transforms yarn or fabric into usable textiles

Economics

• Economics involves the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services
• Communism is a system where the government takes what people have, distributes it as it sees fit, and suppresses protests
• Socialism is a system where everyone should share equally in the benefits of industry, either through equal wealth or equal access to benefits
• Capitalism is an economic system using the ideas of Laissez-Faire, where people privately own and run businesses without government interference
• Laissez-Faire suggests government interference in business only causes problems, businesses should be left alone to naturally happen, and business owners can set their own prices to create quality goods if they want to make a profit
• Adam Smith applied an enlightened idea called Laissez-Faire to economics
• The Wealth of Nations is a book by Adam Smith about the three natural laws of economics: self-interest, competition, and supply and demand
• Karl Marx developed communism after visiting Manchester, England, witnessing the conditions of the poor working class
• The Communist Manifesto is a book in which Karl Marx wrote all of his ideas
• A somewhat Socialist government has a minimum wage requirement for workers and government-run public schools or universities
• Higher taxes give everyone free and equal healthcare
• A somewhat Socialist government has government requirements for paid health insurance

Society

• Slums are highly populated and crowded parts of a city that are extremely unsanitary
• High unemployment, poor factory pay, Crime, murder theft prostitution
• Tenement Housing housed the poor factory workers living in cities near work
• Alcoholism, domestic abuse, failure of workers, higher crime rates were effects of alcohol use
• Life inside factories conditions were almost worse than outside
• There were no rules existed yet to protect workers
• There were low wages and long hours, and dangerous conditions led to injuries, deaths and deformations, and women and children suffered the most
• Unions were started as skilled workers began to join up to work together for better treatment
• Strikes were used by unions as a way to get better hours, pay, working conditions, and treatments
• The Industrial Revolution created inequality between rich and poor social classes and rich and poor countries

Industry

• The Industrial Revolution created inequality between rich and poor social classes and rich and poor countries
• Not all countries had the labor source, resources, capital, or technology to industrialize
• Stronger countries began taking over weaker countries to use them for reassures without helping them industrialize
• Doctors and merchants were considered middle class
• The Industrial Revolution started in Britain because of its powerful navy and its geography
• Britain's geography allowed an excellent position between north and south Europe
• Britain also commanded the seas, baltic and mediterranean, and lots of good harbors
• Britain was in a perfect position to go to America and Europe , with gentle flowing rivers
• No part of the country is farther than some 70 miles from the sea

Agricultural Revolution

• Increased productivity resulted in an increase in population
• Seed drilling made planting seeds easier and more efficient, so fewer farmers were needed to produce the same food
• Farmers migrated to cities that supplied factories with large labor forces
• More use of fertilizers, drill seeders, new crops and crop rotation
• New tech in machinery meant factories could produce more goods in less time for less money
• New inventions like the spinning jenny, crompton's mule, water frame, and steam engine helped in the introduction of the factory system
• The Colonies of Great Britain had colonies in North and South America, Africa, and South Asia
• English traders brought raw materials from its colonies to the factories and made them into finished goods
• The manufactured goods were sold through Great Britain, Europe, the United States, and back to the colonies

Napoleon as a Leader

• Napoleon gave positions in the government based on merit and citizenship, not based on birth
• Napoleon set up a national banking system and built roads and canals to improve trade and bring in money
• Napoleon created government-run public schools called lycées
• Napoleon created peace between revolutionaries and the catholic church while separating church and state
• Napoleon created a nNational law code to uphold the rights and freedoms of the French revolution
• Napoleon and his armies had brought peace within the outside of France allowing for progress inside of the country leading to increased nationalism and he had spread the ideas of the revolution and enlightenment everywhere he conquered

Explore the rise of absolute rule in response to religious wars in Europe. Discover how kings and queens centralized control over religion, government, taxes, and laws, claiming Divine Right. Learn about Enlightenment thinkers like Locke and Montesquieu.