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European Monarchies In The 17th Century

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The nature of European monarchies changed between 1500 and 1789. Prior to the Reformation, various levels of government had worked together to make laws and to govern the land. The Reformation destroyed that because it divided people at every level of society. A way around this problem came from the idea that monarchs got their power to rule directly from God. This power was absolute and indivisible. This theory came to be called the divine right of kings. Religious upheaval, continuous warfare, and increasing wealth gave divine right monarchs the opportunities they needed to take power into their own hands. As a result, most European rulers achieved more political power and less legal restraint on that power. England proved to be the great …show more content…
By the end of the 17th century, England had a limited monarchy meaning they still had a monarch, but the constitution limited the monarch's power. Parliament also prevented England from having an absolute monarchy. The monarch needed Parliament's permission to impose taxes and pass other laws. By 1700, three powers dominated the East: Austria, Prussia, and Russia. All three countries adopted absolute monarchies based on the model of France. The leaders even went so far as to build their own versions of Versailles. In the 16th century, Charles V divided the Hapsburg empire into two halves: the Spanish half and the Austrian half. The Spanish side declined as a power in Europe over time. The Hapsburgs who lived in Austria controlled the Holy Roman Empire in Central …show more content…
However, once Frederick William had his standing army, he began implementing his policies without the permission of the nobles. By this time, it was too late for the nobles to resist. Frederick William had the power to tax and the army to back him up which are two of the key elements of an absolute state. From then on, Prussian rulers maintained strong armies and a unified nation. The leaders who ruled Russia were called czars. Russian nobles, called boyars, usually approved a czar before he or she took power, and they often attempted to remove czars who were unpopular. The Romanovs ruled absolutely like their counterparts in Western and Central Europe. They also led Russia to become one of the most powerful nations in Europe. Russia's absolutist leaders made great efforts to both strengthen and enlarge their empire. Their efforts were successful, and by the end of Catherine the Great's reign, Russia had new territories and important access to ports and

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