Peter The Great Absolutism

During the XVII century, most of the European countries were ruled by more or less absolute Monarchy. Born in 1638, Louis XIV will have the longest reign out of all French ruler ( 72 years). A few years later, while Louis XIV’s reign was at his apogee, another important ruler of this era get to the throne: Peter the Great. Both of these rulers, known for being an absolute monarch, have been influenced by the traumatic event of their childhood. For Louis XIV, it was the insurrection of the nobility against the royal power, known as the Fronde; Forced to flee Paris, he will hold a grudge against this feudal power . As for Peter The Great, it was the rebellion led by his step-sister, after the death of his brother with whom he ruled as Tsar, that will influence his way of ruling the kingdom.

During Peter the Great’s reign, Russia flourished. Peter accomplished many goals, making Russia one of the most powerful countries at the time. Peter the Great was a czar of Russia who ruled from 1682-1725. Before peter’s reign, Russia did not possess a stable economy as well as military. Russia was in a disorganized state.

In the latter half of the 1600 's, monarchial systems of both England and France were changing. Three royal figure throughout history who all tried to establish a role of absolutism in their societies all of them had varying factors with the greatest success from least to greatest being Charles I, Louis XIV, and Peter the Great. Absolutism is a form of government where a king or queen rules with unrestricted powers. They are often followed in heredity by passing on the leadership through bloodlines. All over the world these bloodlines still exist except, that most of them only remain as a symbolic figure or a person of fame. A couple of monarchs that still rule are Brunei, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, the emirates comprising the UAE, and Vatican City.

Peter the Great ruled over Russia from the late 1600’s to the mid 1700’s. He influenced Russia in many ways and shaped It in to a westernized country. Russia became westernized when Peter the Great began to fear the Ottomans, because they were great fighters and they continuously ransacked Russia. Peter decided to travel to Western Europe in disguised in search for allies to help his country. His trips to the west led to extensive changes in Russia; he became intrigued with western Europe and constructed Russia to have similar customs.

Peter recognized that his country was falling behind the European countries in knowledge, technology, trade, and governing ability. Using his absolute power as a czar, he brought in foreign advisers to help him modernize, westernize and educate his people. Peter had a great respect for Europe, and his reforms had a lasting influence in Russia, though there was of course opposition from the more conservative nobles.

Peter the Great led Russia to its modern and powerful time, at the same time Louis XIV also made his people see the rise of a stronger France which under the rule of him. They suffered their people but also bring them new life so that is hard to judge who is better, but as a leader, Louis XIV created the grandest court in history of France and made France became the leading cultural and military power of Europe. Peter the Great was successfully involved in every part of Russians’ life such as what people wore and read. Louis XIV made his country become much more powerful and respectful in the world stage so he was considered better than Peter the Great.

Much like Tiberius, Peter the Great had an overall auspicious impact on Russia with St. Petersburg. During the late seventeenth century, he was a Russian czar both narcissistic and thirsty for power. Mostly because of his reforms, Peter is known to have a positive effect on Russia, though it is debatable. Throughout his reign and life, Peter continued struggling just to maintain power in Europe. His reign marks a dramatic shift in the development and goal of Russia.

Many rulers used absolutism in their countries. They believed rulers should have complete control over the country. Prince Machiavelli believed the best way to rule was to be feared and thought that the only way people would listen to him was if he was mean and scary. He thought if he was nice and loved then they would not fear him and end up taking advantage of him. (doc1) King James also believed absolutism was the way to go. He believed in divine right and that it was the only way to keep the country

     Peter the Great had many strengths, but his best was he modernized Russia. By seeing Europe, he changed many things. He changed the calendar so the New Year would be January 1. He increased agriculture by growing new crops and increased the number of factories in Russia. He also started the first Russian newspaper and enlarged their army to 200,000 men. He also got a warm water port for his “window on the sea.”

An absolute monarch is a ruler by divine right who has control over every portion of his kingdom. The most famous absolute monarch, Louis XIV, had the longest reign of any of the French kings. Louis achieved this as a result of his reformed laws, foreign policy, a smart economic advisor, and his decision to deny power to the nobility. Although some of these ideas could be viewed as having a negative impacting on France, overall Louis XIV's absolute government was beneficial to the development of his country.

As a conclusion Peter the Great of Russia should receive the title of “Most Absolute Monarch” because he was wise, yet cruel. He created Russia's navy, but required an education before the men could join. He was fond of physical labor and didn't mind putting his men through it. Peter also westernized the entire country of Russia. Since beards were not a fashion in westernization, Peter made it mandatory for all of his nobleman to shave their beards off. He wanted Russia to be westernized completely. Peter was very strong and was not afraid of anyone's criticism. When his people tried to overthrow him (which was multiple times), it usually ended with mass executions. Peter had to let everyone know who was boss. He even interrogated his own son because of faulty reasoning. He also was a very strong Protestant Christian and made everyone follow him as a Christian. To get down to it, if things didn't go Peter's way, it all ended

Meanwhile, Louis XIV of France would engage in four wars at the end of his reign from 1667 to 1713. None of these wars provided any gains for France, however they were extremely costly. These wars also effectively shattered the power and splendor of the state, and caused the disillusioned people of France to threaten revolt. In addition, Peter the Great of Russia was infamous for ruthlessly slaying any opposition to his rule. An example of this is when a conspiracy by the musketeer regiment to overthrow him was uncovered, and Peter retaliated by torturing, killing, and publically displaying over 1000 musketeer bodies. Clearly the amount of people who died due to absolute monarchs did not bode well with the general populace, hence causing much unrest.

when he was only four years old when his father Louis XIII died on May

From the mid-1600s to the end of the eighteenth century, absolutism had grown strong in several European states, and as the cognizance of people threaten to weaken the system, influential

A European monarch that heavily enforced absolutism throughout his reign is Louis XIV. He is known as the Sun King and for his statement “I am the State.” Louis had no tolerance toward Protestants, and believed in the motto "one king, one law, one faith." Due to this, he revoked the Edict of Nantes. Following with the Edict of Fontainebleau, Louis ordered the destruction of Protestant churches, closure of Protestant schools, and expulsion of Protestant clergy. After this, a great number of Protestants fled, resulting in France’s loss of much of its labor force. It led to the decline of his reign and the country itself. Throughout his reign, Louis was able to enrich the French