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Absolute Monarchies Essay

Decent Essays

Amanda Dwyer
Mr. Asher
Modern European History W5
29 January 2016
Absolute Monarchies The concept of absolute power was established in the seventeenth century and was prominent in Europe and Russia. Absolute power enabled kings and queens to have complete authority and power over their people. The kings and queens believed that through divine right, God gave them their power to rule over their country, hence their power was unconditional. The idea of absolute monarchy was a solution to the problem of an unorganized society. When absolute monarchies were established they began to spread across Europe and Russia. The first and most influential absolutist was King Louis XIV of France. The absolute monarchy of France was so influential that …show more content…

Peter made more changes that improved the country, although this meant sharing his power. Peter reduced the power of the nobility but created a senate to administer to the state, thus making his absolute power significantly weaker that King Louis'. Peter greatly improves Russian finances and forces landholders to serve in the military which makes it stronger. He uses his power by also forcing Western traditions into Russian society and this greatly affects the lives of all Russians. This brings an end to the remote traditions that the Russians were still practicing since the reign of Ivan IV "The Terrible" or "Terrifying", who was also an absolutist in Russia from 1547-1584. His power was instilled into the Russian people. He was ruthless and acquired large amounts of land which expanded Russian boarders. Although intelligent, he was believed to have been mentally ill since he violently killed his heir to the throne. His absolutism was terrifying, but successful in a bad way. In Poland, Augustus "The Strong" has very little absolute power. He was a very unsuccessful leader having provoked a war with Sweden which ultimately caused the Polish kingdom to split apart. This began the decline of Poland as a European power as

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