Powerful Absolute Monarchs

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV was a powerful French monarch who ruled in the late 1600's to early 1700's. At the age of four Louis claimed the thrown, but he was not the true ruler of France until he was older. While technically Louis controlled France, the real ruler was Cardinal Mazarin. As discussed in The History of France, Mazarin was extremely corrupt and the French people did not respect him as their ruler because he was of Italian descent. It got even worse for the Cardinal after it was revealed that the royal treasury had no money. Mazarin blamed this on the Thirty Years' War, but the nobles were not satisfied and began to riot and revolt. At times these riots threatened the life of the young king. He never forgot these uprisings, and to prevent them from ever happening again he decided to become as powerful as possible to be able to crush the nobles if need be. He started his power search at the beginning of his real reign, when he declared himself his own prime minister. Meaning he eliminated the other main source of power in France. Now he had not only the power of a king, which had political and religious power because they believed God chose the kings, therefore going against a king was viewed as going against God. But also all the power that prime ministers previously had. He made his complete and utter power over his country clear to its people by saying "L'etat c'est moi." which translates to "The state is me." During his reign Louis gained the power of every part of his country. He controlled are the armed forces by creating a lieutenant-general position who controlled the police force. Louis had full control and allegiance of these generals. He also created an army who only answered to him. At the slightest hint of rebellion, he would send this force in and crush the riots before they even started.
One problem with Louis' ruling style was that he suppressed so many different religions and types of people, and was always paranoid of rebellion. At one point he locked up all the Gypsies, Protestants, beggars, jobless, mentally ill, "witches", and prostitutes he could get in Les Invaldives which is this big prison. He pissed off so many different people and had them locked up or shipped away. He was a big supporter of the arts and French literature flourished under his rule. But towards the end of his reign he began persecuting people with more vigor, the Protestants in particular. By doing this, he essentially sent most of his brilliant scientists, artists, workers and writers to his enemies like Prussia, the Netherlands, and England. He also fought long unnecessary battles against the Turks and a lot of non-Catholic and non-Christian empires, which cost a lot of money. He aimed to conquer all these people and be the great Catholic king of Europe, but that didn't happen, he just depleted his resources and died. He did manage to expand French territory, but he wanted more than he could ever get. W. Scott Haine explains it best when he says, "Louis tried to satisfy his virtually inexhaustible thirst for glory and power by waging war." He was constantly terrified of losing his power, and that's what really drove him to do all these things to get more power.

Ivan the Terrible of Russia

Ivan IV or as he's more commonly known, Ivan the Terrible, ruled Russia as the czar from 1547-1584. According to Absolute Terror: Ivan the Terrible, Ivan was orphaned at the age of eight, and after that "boyars" took care of Ivan and his brother Yuri. Except they didn't really take care of them. They were neglected and starving for most of their childhood, the boyars also molested them. He also witnessed murder, torture, and executions. Ivan had a lot of pent up anger and blood thirst and he would often torture and kill animals. Needless to say, Ivan had an awful upbringing that played a major role in making him the warmongering, cruel ruler he grew up to be. Ivan took the power away from the boyars in 1543, he made it very clear who was in charge by feeding Prince Andrew Shuisky, the leader of the boyars, to a pack of starving dogs. Ivan IV (The Terrible) explains how Ivan was fascinated with the arts and promoted literacy and artistic endeavors throughout Russia, like Louis XIV in France. In 1547 Ivan became the first ruler to title himself the tsar which means Caesar in Russian. He started off his new rule by expanding Russian territories, building up the military, and eliminating corruption. Soon after his first wife Anastasia Romanovna gave birth to Ivan's son, they both died. Ivan became very paranoid and suspected the boyars of poisoning his family. Ivan only had a handful of advisers, and at this point he started to truly become an absolute ruler. He killed one of his advisers and sent the other to jail. A few years later he left Moscow and wouldn't come back until he was given absolute power over everything. His blackmail worked, and Ivan became a full blown absolute ruler. After he gained sole power over Russia, Ivan, like Louis, created a group called the Oprichniki. They were a group of warriors loyal only to him, who rode all around Russia threatening everyone they could find. This is how Ivan made sure his people obeyed him fully. Also, anytime Ivan heard even the smallest rumor of rebellion, he ordered the whole town to be tortured and killed, he did this multiple times. Ivan's downfall was his paranoia and mental instability. He slaughtered his own people over small rumors, and was generally a very unstable bloodthirsty ruler. Like Louis, he was always afraid of losing his power or having to share it. This fueled his paranoia and caused him to kill all those people.

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was the ruler of Spain, the Netherlands, and for a time, Portugal. He felt like God was calling him to conquer as much land as possible and convert everyone to Catholicism. So that is exactly what he tried to do. in the Netherlands, Philip's Catholic views were not very popular, and for many years civil wars were fought between the Protestants and Philip's troops. During this time, Philip married Mary I, or Bloody Mary, which briefly caused an alliance between Spain and England. He only married Mary to try to rule England through her, but only a year into their marriage Mary died.Philip felt that it was "God's will" that he convert the British to Catholicism, so he did not give up on his pursuits of ruling England. He did however, put them on hold. What really caused Philip to go after England was when Elizabeth I, the then current queen of England, sent troops to help the Protestant troops in the Netherlands. This helped the people he tried so hard to suppress and prevent their religious freedoms fight against him even more. But the final straw was when English ships kept attacking Spanish ships coming back from the New World. When Elizabeth didn't tell her ships to stop the attacks, Philip decided to conquer England. He sent a fleets up to the Netherlands and after many were picked off there, they went down to England. Very few ships made it back to Spain.

Philip's downfall was that he was too ambitious with his attacks, and he was always very slow to let something go because he felt God was always calling him to wage war and end countless lives. Of coarse Philip saw it as expanding Catholicism and carrying out God's will. Not suppressing and murdering people. He always wanted more land, more people to be converted, and he hardly ever gave up on an endeavor. Even after his fleet's numbers were largely reduced after passing through the Netherlands, he still had them push on to England where they were obliterated. He wanted too much power, and wasn't practical about whether or not he could actually get the power.

Akbar the Great of India

I consider Akbar to be the most successful absolute ruler out of these five, except for maybe Louis XIV. While he was in control of the Mughal empire, it tripled in size and became much more wealthy. As said in Akbar the Great, Akbar abolished a tax on Hindus called the sectarian tax. He was one of the only absolute rulers who weren't killing his own people, or preventing religious freedom. He was the first Mughal leader to earn the loyalty of Hindu people, because he didn't discriminate against them. He participated in Hindu festivals, had books translated into Hindu to encourage them to become literate, and he married a Rajput princess. Rajputs were Hindu warriors, who after the marriage were allied with Akbar. He also allowed people from all over the Islamic world to come to his empire and participate in discussions and to study literature. He created a library with books written in all different languages. A possible downfall for Akbar would be the Christian empires wanting to conquer his empire and convert his people to Christianity. Aside from that, Akbar improved his empire in terms of wealth, size, allies and tolerance.

Frederick William of Prussia

Frederick ruled Prussia from 1713 to 1740. He improved Prussia by making a better army and a more centralized government. Count von Sechendorf explains how the Prussian troops were obsessed with beauty and order. Everything about them was efficient and orderly, from drills to their tactics in warfare. Frederick also made sure that all civil servants were completely and fully loyal to him. This allowed him to control more and more aspects of his country. At the beginning of his rule he abolished all the previous armies of his successor Adam von Schwartzenberg. Immediately afterward, he made an army loyal to only him, and allied himself with powers like France. He added more territory to Prussia. He was able to have complete control over the country by making sure all the civil servants were fiercely loyal to him, and that they kept a vigilant eye on all those working for them.

Frederick's downfall was partially due to circumstance. Later on in his reign, the Tartars killed or enslaved many Prussians. Also there were very bad problems with the agriculture in Prussia during that same time. In order to afford importing more food, and to fight back against the Tartars, Frederick increased the taxes. His people did not like this, and on top of all these problems he had to deal with he still fought the king of France Louis XIV.

Absolutism

 I think almost all absolute rulers fail in some way because they are always too ambitious in their need for power. They sacrifice the needs and well being of their people to gain more power. A ruler is supposed to protect and look out for the citizens of their country, and aside from Akbar, these rulers suppressed, overly taxed, and murdered their own people to pursue power. These rulers were willing to sacrifice everything to gain more. For example, Philip sent a fleet of ships to England they were hugely outnumbered especially after they fought a couple battles along the way in the Netherlands. A weak, now small fleet of ships fighting against one of the most powerful countries of the time, this mission was obviously going to fail. But Philip was blinded by his lust for power and essentially murdered everyone on those ships. Ivan was even worse, he would kill whole towns just because there was the smallest chance that they might threaten his power. Akbar was the only ruler who didn't hurt his people in his search for power, and he was the only one who didn't have any major ways he could be overthrown. Absolute monarchy failed because they were too power hungry and people followed them without question partially because of fear and because they believed that God chose the monarchs.

Works Cited:

Haine, W. S. The History of France. Westport: Greenwood Group, 2000. Print.

Witherbee, Amy. "Ivan IV (the Terrible)." History Reference Center. EBSCO Industries, Inc., 2014. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fweb.a.ebscohost.com%2Fhrc%2Fdetail%3Fvid%3D4%26sid%3D0ce7879e-b06d-4ea2-92f8-6e32ac9be370%2540sessionmgr4001%26hid%3D4206%26bdata%3DJnNpdGU9aHJjLWxpdmU%253d%23db%3Dkhh%26AN%3D27455261>.

 Haarman, Susan. "Absolute Terror: Ivan the Terrible." Western Civilization. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. <http://academic.mu.edu/meissnerd/ivan-terrible.htm>.

Moose, Christina J., ed. "Akbar Mughal Emperor of India." The Renaissance & Early Modern Era. Vol. I. Pasadena: Salem, 2005. 15-17. Print.

Moose, Christina J., ed. "Philip II King of Spain." The Renaissance & Early Modern Era. Vol. II. Pasadena: Salem, 2005. 778-81. Print.

"Akbar the Great." Taj Mahal. PBS, n.d. Web. <http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/taj_mahal/tlevel_2/t1mughal_2akbar.html>.

"The Decline of the Holy Roman Empire and the Rise of Prussia." Internet History Sourcebooks. Fordham University, n.d. Web. 15 May 2014. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/hre-prussia.asp>. 

Sommerville, J. P. "Prussia in the Later 17th Century." Prussia in the Later 17th Century. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014. <http://faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville/351/351-151.htm>.

Absolute Monarchs--Jackson Nowlin

Louis XIV

            During Louis XIVs reign in France, he defined what it means to be an absolute monarch. While on the throne, Louis XIV a lot of the European countries with four wars! Louis XIV came into power at the age of four after his father Louis XII died. Louis XIV saw an ideal world through the arts. While in power he had theaters and high-class artwork and sculpting all over the city of Paris. But the main thing he took advantage of was the power of warfare and his ability to conquer land. Louis XIV fought the Spanish-Netherlands war to gain land back from his Spanish wife’s brother Charles II, he then went to the United Providences of the Netherlands and fought the Angelo-Dutch war, his goal in this war was to break all connection with Dutch trade. He also fought to conquer land on the Franco-German border and provinces on the northern border of Italy. This is simply all Louis XIV wanted, land and power. After winning many battles he began to kind of do whatever he wanted. He was always pretty confident in himself and his decision making... When coming in to power, he chose the sun as his emblem because he thought he was infallible. There were 11 civil wars fought in France while he was in power. This shows how careless he was in the safety of his people. All of Louis XIV success made other European countries see France as a threat. Many wars started to arise with France with many different countries. France and Louis XIV had the dominant army and won most of the land but due to all of the expenses of war, France was now in major debt. This caused the people of France to turn against Louis XIV and this led to the downfall of his rule. 

Phillip II

        Philip II was also an absolute leader, he abused his power mostly in the form of government in being the only one who had any input on decision making. The only other people he had involved with government were people to assist him like the secretaries of state. Philip worked with his son Antonio Perez. But they were not on the same page after all... Perez wanted the Prince of Eboli's suggestion for a government which was a federal system of government which gave states their own customs and allowed them to have some say in decision making. Philip II than thought the people would agree with this idea whereas he did not. Therefore he had Perez arrested so he wouldn't appose a threat to him. The only other form of power that even kind of held a threat to Phillip II was the council of state. Phillip II often did not attend these meeting because he knew he was the one who had the most authority. But he sometimes went to these council of state meetings to gather new ideas from different people. This actually turned out to be Philips greatness weakness, to try and take advice from other people. Phillips ideas of ruling himself would've worked if he did not listen to other peoples ideas. He had complete control but he let it slip away from him from changing his actions.

Ivan the Terrible
       Ivan was known to be a very gruesome leader that rarely anyone liked due to his blood thirsty tactics. He came onto the throne when he was only fifteen after his father died. He was one of 3 children but one of his brother had already died at a young age and so his father declared that once he died, Ivan would be his successor. The reason Ivan got the nickname "Ivan the Terrible" was because of how destructive and abusive he was. This was due to the fact that he had a very rough childhood. Ivan lived in poverty during his child and saw things everyday like murders and beatings. Ivan did not like seeing these things so he took his anger out on ripping feathers off birds and cutting them open. Like Louis XIV Ivan loved having more land. Sometimes when Ivan's Russian army even approached a smaller, weaker army, they would surrender with out even having to fight. One of Ivans famous battles was when he conquered Kazan and Astrakhan. After conquering these 2 large landmasses, Ivan officially got his famous nickname. The nickname that people started to give him was "Gronzy" which means "the terrible" it also means "dread" but historians say that the most accurate translation is "the awesome". Conquering these 2 regions gained over 1,000,000 square kilometers to Russias already massive landmass. This made the people of Russia extremely satisfied and started liking Ivan. This made it easier for Ivan to get money for war supplies due to the generosity of the people to help pay extra. Ivan also opened up trading/foreign policies to many countries which brought a wide variety of people into his country. When his wife died Ivan started banging his head against the floor and destroying his house. Ivan fled Russia but then returned shortly showing signs of abuse and stress on his body. Ivan then witnessed the Oprichniki coming into a church during mass and beating and killing members of the church. This made Ivan extremely angry and slaughtered 60,000 people of Novgorod. According to adademic.mu.edu he did things like tie them to sleds and run them into the freezing river. This is when Ivans problems started to kick in and his downfall affected his rule. He did things like attack his daughter, kill his son, and attack and kill many of his close friends. These actions show that he had the power to do whatever he wanted and was unstoppable. The only thing that stopped him were his aggressive and stupid actions.

Akbar
     Akbar the Great took over the throne in India at the young age of 14. He succeeded his father Humayun which only led for a couple months before dying. Bairam Khan ruled most of Northern India at this point but Akbar was able to dismiss him and take full control. Akbar was known to be a great military general, according to bio.com he was able to conquer to Afghanistan in the North, Sindh in the West, Bengal in the East, and the Godavari Rver in the South. Akbar was a smart man and created a central government which pleased his people so they would trust and believe in his future decisions. He also didnt discriminate people by their religion or beliefs and allowed anyone to join his empire. He was known for pleasing his people and trying to make an ideal life for them. He wasnt very selfish like most absolute monarchs were... his goals were to please his people. Since he gained so much land, many people werent Muslim so he thought it was unfair that they were being taxed and abolished the taxes on non Muslims. And he didnt force the Hindu people to convert to Islam because he thought that people should not be forced into a religion. The loyalty that he had and the trust he generated from his people allowed him to gain a lot of power. The trust from the people granted his decision making not to be questioned.

Charles I
      Charles I took the throne at the age of 25. The people thought Charles would lead them to a parliament type government but Charles did not want to convert. Charles fought off parliament for 11 years and ended up in a civil war. Charles showed poor managing skills when trying to assort the country and eliminate religious problems between the Cavaliers (supporters of monarchy) and the Roundheads (supporters of parliament). The Cavaliers were mostly in the North and West of the country while the Roundheads were usually in the South and East. The Roundheads were bound to win with more land mass and more people and they did defeat the Cavaliers in 1645. A year later, Charles surrendered to Scotland and allowed parliament to come in rule. Charles failed at trying to run the country himself due to his instability and poor decision making as he lost his power over a civil war in his own country.

Being an Absolute Monarch
      All of these leaders were thirsty for land and power in their countries. Most of them had access to a lot of power but just abused it by trying to go to far with their selfish decision making. Akbar the Great was the only successful which he was defeated by the Hemu and Sur army which knocked him out of his rule. If these leaders would have been more conservative and not tried to go overboard by trying to conquer so much land or take advantage of their people it is possible that their would be many absolute rulers today. But an empire or nation can not stand with out trust and belief from its people.

Works Cited:
"Phillip II and Government." Phillip II and Government. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/PhillipII_government.htm

"Phillip II and Government." Phillip II and Government. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Phillip_II_the_man.htm

"Absolute Terror- Ivan the Terrible." Susan Haarman, n.d. Web.
http://academic.mu.edu/meissnerd/ivan-terrible.htm

"Akbar the Great." Bio. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
http://www.biography.com/people/akbar-the-great-9178163#awesm=~oEljqHsNsnU8QF

"Charles I." Brittania. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014. <http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon47.html>.

"Louis XIV." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 15 May 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/louis-xiv>.

Absolute Monarchs Abby H

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was an absolute monarch in Spain in the 1500’s. He, like his father Philip I, was very religious. Portugal, being an empire that had colonies in Africa, the East Indies, and India, was one of the most powerful empires in the world. After the King of Portugal died, Philip II took over. He had right to the throne because he was the nephew of the king. After taking over Portugal, he had the biggest empire in Europe during this time. American mines helped him gain tons of silver and gold. The Americas supplied him with about 339,000 pounds of gold. Philip II made every fifth boat of gold and silver a royal share. He did this so that the Spaniard army could expand to 50,000 soldiers with superb training and weapons. With his army, he battled to punish protestant england. He was defeated and set back the empire majorly. 

The downfall began after Philip was defeated in battle. With so much silver coming in from America, it was too common for everyone in the empire and the value dropped. When the value dropped it increased costs of everyday necessities. Philip then kicked out all Jews and Muslims from Spain. Doing so, they lost skilled workers and people who would have helped the economy by bringing more skilled jobs that others have not been trained to do. These things were bad, but the worst thing Philip II did while he was in power was make the nobles not pay taxes. Without the nobles paying taxes, the poor had to pay more than what they had. This created the problem of not having a middle class in spain.

Louis XIV of France

After the Thirty Years' War, France was one of the most powerful countries in Europe due to the peace treaty from the war. Louis XIII died when the war ended, and when Louis XIV was a child, before he was old enough to be in power. While Louis XIV was growing up, Cardinal Mazarin was in charge of France. The people of France did not Mazarin because he raised taxes continuously and strengthened the central government. Once Mazarin died and Louis XIV took over, he tried to make every part of France perfect. Once Louis was in charge he trusted no one, and made nobles no longer part of his council so they didn't have as much power as they did with Mazarin. He also communicated with everyone that had any type of authority. He communicated with local officers every day just so he could know what was going on every day in his country. Louis also kept trading to a minimum so he would not have to worry about other countries. The French colonies in Canada was something he was proud of, and he encouraged people to settle there. Because nobles did not have a big role anymore, he would pick out of 100 nobles every day a few people to help him dress for the day. Louis spent a ton of the countries fortune on himself.

The downfall of Louis XIV was when Europe ganged up on him to stop fighting. After Louis kept getting into battles and wars Europe made an alliance to stop France from expanding and killing more Europeans. Because France was the biggest army in the world, it was hard to stop them. Fighting against everyone for no reason was not smart of Louis XIV because it loses money and makes taxes raise.

Peter the Great of Russia

At this point in time, in the 1700's, Russia was a little behind Western Europe's ways of living. They still had Serfs during the 1700's. Due to geographical features, it was very hard to get to western Europe. Peter the Great of Russia wanted to learn more about western Europe, so he went. He visited the Dutch, England, and Austria. He lived undercover while he was at these seaports and worked as a ships carpenter at all these seaports. He stood out in a Dutch seaport due to his size, and people ended up finding out who he was. 

After Peters trip, he realized Russia needed to be westernized. He also knew the only way to do it was to force his people. He believed this would make Russia stronger. Peter took over the Russian Orthodox Church and appointed new leaders to the church called the Holy Synod. They led the church under the direction of the king. The rich landowners had their power reduced. He promoted lower class families with positions of authority and land. This way they were loyal to him no matter what he did because he gave them a better job and land. European officers were brought in to train the Russian armies in European ways. They had European tactics and weapons. By the time Peter the Great died, 200,000 men were in the Russian army. Taxes were extremely high because there were so many men. After Peter built up his army he fought Sweden for part of the Baltic coast. It took 21 years, but Russia gained that small part of the coast. He built the city of St. Petersburg on a swampy area that took 25,000 to 100,000 deaths every summer to build.

Although he succeeded reforming Russia, he killed a lot of people doing it.

Frederick the Great of Prussia

Frederick the Great ruled as an absolute Monarch from 1740-1786. Frederick was practical and an atheist. Frederick wanted religious toleration and legal reform. In fact, he encouraged it. He greatly enlarged Prussia by fighting with Austria. Frederick believed he needed to have a strong army to make sure that if another Thirty Years' War was to happen, Prussia would be prepared. In Prussia, The landowning nobility were called the Junkers. They resisted the kings power. That is, until Frederick the Great. Frederick bought their cooperation by giving them the right to be in the army as officers. When Frederick fought Austria, he aimed for Silesia. Silesia was an industrial city that made iron ore, food products, and textiles. Because Frederick the Great wanted that land, he started the Seven Years' War.

Maria Theresa was the leader of Austria at the time, and knew they alone could not fend off Prussia. She went to the Hungarians, who agreed to help her. Then, France also allied with Austria, because the French hated the Prussians. After Frederick heard her allies, he then created an ally with Britain. Eventually, every European country that was successful was fighting each other. This war was called the Seven Years' War. In the end the territories stayed the same and the fighting was worthless.

The low-point of Frederick the Great and Prussia was starting The Seven Years' War. It was worthless, because it changed nothing. It was also economically expensive.

Akbar the Great

Akbar was only 13 when he came into power of the Mughal Empire.He was in power during the 1500s. There were sometimes religion conflicts with Akbar and the Mughal people because he was Muslim whereas most of the people in the empire were Hindu. In order to help his empire, he needed to bring Hindus and Muslims together. He accomplished this by allowing Hindus into the military and government. He also lessened the taxation of farmers. Throughout Akbars ruling, he conquered the many lands around him. He made the people he conquered become loyal to him. When he conquered places, he created a central government their instead of letting them rule how they did before. He was very curious about religion and even married a hindu and let her practice her own religion. He was the best Mughal leader during the Mughal empire. Out of the 5 leaders, Akbar was one of best.

Argument of Absolute Monarchs

Every single empire listed above have one thing in common: They all started to fail when they went to war to conquer more land and power. They went into war, which raised taxes, hurting the economy and killing troops, sometimes for no reason. For example, Frederick the Great went into war with all dominant empires for seven years and the territories stayed the same. The war just hurt everyone economically, having to pay for weapons and soldiers. All of them were selfish and just wanted more land so they could have more power.

MLA

"The Mughal Empire of India (Overview)." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 13 May 2014.

Anderson, Matthew Smith. "Frederick II (king of Prussia)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 14 May 2014

"Absolutism in France (Overview)." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 14 May 2014.

"Ab al-Fat Jall al-Dn Muammad Akbar." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 15 May 2014.

"Absolute Monarchs in Europe." Absolute Monarchs in Europe. McDougal Littell, n.d. Web. 13 May 2014

"World History." : Was Louis XIV an Absolute Monarch? N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2014.

"Louis XIV." Louis XIV. UCC, n.d. Web. 8 May 2014.

The Role of Absolutism During The 16th-19th centuries

What is Absolutism?

Absolutism is a type of national monarchy in which the leader possesses all power. Although the absolute monarch is the sole leader of the nation, the aristocracy limits his power. The aristocracy is subordinate to the monarchy but provides political and military support. Absolutism required the centralization of political power to the monarch. A majority of the absolute monarchs believed that they had divine power known as divine right. If a ruler believed that God sent them to be the leader, they believed that they had divine right.

Ivan The Terrible

Ivan The Terrible was born into royalty. His father Vasily III died when he was only three making him the next leader. Ivan had a committee of boyars to oversee the nation. When Ivan was 16 he called all of the boyars to a meeting at which he denounced them and crowned himself the Czar. Prince Shuisky, who was leading at the time, was dropped into a cage full of wild dogs in front of a large crowd in Moscow. That day he took over the nation as the supreme ruler. His violent and cruel punishments gave him the nickname as Ivan Grozny. The direct translation of Grozny to English is “terrible” but it actually meant feared. In 1964 Ivan left Moscow and decided to come back on his own terms. This was because the citizens were worried and wanted him to return. He responded by demanding absolute power if he were to return. They went along with it and allowed him to become the Absolute Monarch of Russia. Ivan eventually died in a strange way. His cause of death isn’t for sure but most believe that he died from a stroke while playing in a chess game. Ivan’s reign marked the beginning of a weak Russia. Ivan killed his son that would have taken power upon his death, which gave the middle-son the throne. His middle son Fyador was childless and not fit for the job. The beginning of the Time Of Troubles began upon his death. Ivan The Terrible’s reign as an Absolute Monarch was capped off by his cruel and violent ways. These practices would give Ivan a bad legacy.

Louis XIV

Louis XIV was one of the France’s most influential leaders ever. Louis established a sense of Absolutism with this quote that he spoke the day after Cardinal Marazin’s death; “Up to this moment I have been pleased to entrust the government of my affairs to the late Cardinal. It is now time that I govern them myself. You [secretaries and ministers of state] will assist me with your counsels when I ask for them. I request and order you to seal no orders except by my command, . . . I order you not to sign anything, not even a passport . . . without my command; to render account to me personally each day and to favor no one." He announces to France that he will be the sole leader of France and be subject to no one. Louis called himself the Sun King, as he shed light on the nation. Louis was Catholic, which could be the reason he forced all protestants to become Catholic, but it was most likely that he believed in the motto “one king, one law, one faith.” He began by offering rewards for conversions but quickly began to place soldiers in each town and let them run wild. This method brought many conversions quickly. Louis also limited the Pope’s power to spiritual matters only. The lasting effect of Louis XVI was an unstable nation that had to rebuild to become what it was before.

Philip II

Philip II, the son of Charles V took power of the Spanish empire, which covered more than just Spain. Philip II believed in Divine Right, which allowed him to justify his immoral acts such as the ordering of murders. With divine right he believed that God sent him to be the sole leader of the empire. He established a regional self-government in which rulers reported to him. Philip brought an economic decline upon Spain. He killed Protestants in Spain and exterminated Native Americans. Philip believed that the Spaniards were superior to everyone else. Philip didn’t like the Italians or Germans even though he ruled them. He only used their military services while he used all of Spain’s resources. Philip died of cancer in 1598. He’s remembered as the most powerful leader during an era of war that ended with the decline of Spain’s economy.

Charles I

Charles I of England was one of the most strong-willed Kings to ever rule England. His strong will would eventually lead to his execution after some confrontations with Parliament. Charles didn’t cooperate with Parliament well at all. He essentially ruled for 11 years without assistance because of his refusal to consult Parliament. When a problem in Scotland made it’s way to England, Charles tried to force a new Prayer book upon the Scots, which didn’t work because of the lack of preparation and funds. Charles called upon Parliament to fund his plan, which wasn’t successful. Charles then tried to kill 5 members of Parliament, causing a civil war. The civil war ultimately led to his death by execution. Charles inherited a weak England economically, but didn’t contribute anything during his time as King. Charles’ legacy wasn’t a good one. He was remembered as a rebellious king that believed in absolutism. He didn’t progress England in any way, he instead began a civil war that led to his death.

Shah Abbas

Abbas inherited the Safavid Empire during a rough time. The Ottomans and Uzbecks had taken some of the Safavids land. Abbas realized that to become the absolute monarch he must weaken the power of the Qizilbash. The Qizilbash was the backbone of the Iranian army throughout the Safavid Empire. In order to weaken the Qizilbash, Abbas began to replace the Qizilbash with Georgians, Armenians, and Circassians who had been brought in to the empire as slaves, converted to Islam, and taken a place in civil administration or military. As time progressed many of the Ghulams (Georgians, Armenians, and Circassians) were in high offices of the state. Abbas’ goal was to retake the land that the Ottomans and Uzbecks had taken before his reign. He understood that in order to do this he would need to rebuild his army.

He used the Ghulams as soldiers in his army. Shah Abbas is remembered as a brilliant tactician and strategist.

Absolutism Fails

Throughout the 15^th – 18^th century’s absolutism was present. Absolutism failed in most all cases and usually sent the empire or nation into a decline. Philip II was one of the most powerful leaders at this time, which is why his nation had the longest and worst decline. Absolute Monarchs can’t run a nation without the support from their citizens. Some absolute monarch had the support of their citizens out of fear of their leader or out of the fear they would have without a leader.

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