CHAPTER ONE: ABSOLUTISM
Last Unit,
we traced the beginning of the age of European global influence and the
resulting spread of European political power, economic control, and many
elements of Western culture. European influence intensified over the ensuing
centuries. One significant consequence of this global presence was that events
taking place in
Before we can discuss the
turbulent and sometimes bloody waves of change about to wash over
Europe, we must first outline the background and roots of
The conditions for most
Europeans during the 16th - 18th centuries were rooted in
the dominant political and social system - absolutism. Absolutist
power and traditions determined political, social and economic conditions for
European societies during the early Modern period. Most European states
between the 1500's - 1700's were ruled by absolutist monarchies; societies such
as
An absolutist state was
based on an extremely repressive political system; key features were the
almost unlimited power of the monarch and deep social/economic
inequality. Absolutism enabled tremendous state power through control of
money and troops. In many cases an absolutist system did create
stability through repression; however, it was a hated system which spawned
violent protest and revolt. The inherent flaws and problems of absolutist
states in fact sowed the seeds of the "Age of Revolution" - the
profoundly revolutionary ideas of equality and liberty emerged in direct
response and as challenges to the abuses and oppression of European
absolutism. To understand the Age of Revolution, therefore, you must start with
the realities and problems of absolutist societies.
ABSOLUTISM
We cannot detail the
political and social experience of each absolutist European state; that is the
focus of a European History course. We can, however, outline in broad strokes
the characteristics of an absolutist state. The harsh realities of living
in an absolutist society were the bitter experience for the majority of
Europeans, millions of people, for centuries. There were several defining
features of an absolutist state:
UNLIMITED POWER
First of all, in an
absolutist state, the monarch had no institutional or structural
limits. There were no civil laws that s(he) was bound by, no constitution
checked the power of the ruler. With the exception of religious strictures
enforced by the Church, the absolutist ruler was above the law.
Since there were no legal limits or constitutional guarantees, subjects in an
absolutist society had no protected rights; without an established and
supreme law to guarantee protections and liberties, rights are given - and
usually taken away - at the will of the monarch.
An absolutist monarch did
not share power and thus was not limited by the input of other voices in the
society. In a truly absolutist state, there were no powerful
representative assemblies; if assembles did exist - they were weak and easily
ignored. The dominant Church in an absolutist state (whether Catholic, Orthodox
or Protestant) did not have independent power. The state church was
subservient to the monarch, for example the Russian Orthodox Church was totally
obedient to the wishes of the Tzar. In some societies, the dominant Church
formed an alliance with the state. The Roman Catholic Church, for example,
closely cooperated with the French and Austrian monarchs in return for
protection and privileges. The Church did not have independent power and
did not share or compete with the monarch; the power of the monarchy was
unchecked.
The aristocracy in
an absolutist state, which would seem the most likely group to oppose and check
the power of the monarch, was kept away from real power -- usually the
aristocracy was bought off. In return for special privileges, the
aristocracy supported and did not challenge the monarch. Some of the privileges
secured by an obedient noble class included:
* tax immunities - thus
increased wealth for the aristocracy
* legal immunities -
elites were not bound by the same laws as the common folks
* exclusive right to
certain professions - for example, only aristocrats could be officers in
the military or have high Church positions.
In short, in return for
secured wealth, and obvious social and legal privileges, aristocrats in countries
such as
The groups who suffered the
most in an absolutist state were the middle class and the poor (both urban poor
and the peasantry.) These lower classes had no rights and
no power and no privileges. In fact, the lower classes bore the triple
burden of a repressive monarchy, a heavier tax burden (since they were the only
ones paying) and suffered from being socially subordinate to a protected state
church and a privileged aristocracy; these elite paid few taxes, monopolized
status and job opportunities, and escaped legal accountability. The growing
frustrations of lower classes, not surprisingly, finally led to forceful
challenges and fueled often violent revolutionary movements.
ECONOMIC CONTROL
An absolutist ruler had
economic control over his/her subjects in two ways. The first was, of course,
heavy taxation and sole decision-making power over how to spend state revenues.
The other form of economic control was the policy of mercantilism.
Mercantilism
was based on the belief that the monarch had the right, and even the duty,
to direct and intrude on the economy for the good of the state. Monarchs
enforced state priorities in the economy through regulation and direction of
economic production, for example state funding or control of commercial
enterprises. An absolutist state had a heavy-handed role in the economic
affairs of its people. Those who bore the greatest tax burden and
suffered from misdirected and meddlesome state intervention were the middle
class and the poor. Frustrations grew over the centuries.
MILITARY POWER
The absolutist state was
supported by a large army - a standing (permanent) army. The standing
army of the state vividly represented the repressive and aggressive nature of
the state; it was a force that on short notice could be sent to crush
peasant rebellions and carry out the aggressive agenda of a monarch. There
were, however, two major problems that resulted from a standing army:
1) it was very expensive
(thus requiring exhaustive and unpopular taxes from citizens);
2) a monarch with a big, expensive
standing army was tempted to use it - thus leading to constant wars of
aggression and territorial expansion. These wars were costly in terms of
lives and money (and again, hit the lower classes hardest.)
REPRESSION
An absolutist state also used
social/intellectual control to prevent rebellion and cultivate loyal and
submissive subjects. Although the technology of the 16th - 18th
centuries limited the degree to which the state could "watch"
citizens, absolutist states such as
COSTS OF ABSOLUTISM
In an absolutist state, the
justification for all of this power was simple - the state was more important
than the individual, and the monarch WAS the state monarch. In the
famous words attributed to
An absolutist state was fiscally
unstable. It was very expensive to maintain a standing army, and the
lifestyle of the absolutist monarch - those palaces and treasures that tourists
now flock to see. Yet, those with the least amount of wealth were
supporting these expenses. The elite classes who actually controlled most of
the country's wealth enjoyed the privilege of paying little in taxes. This
meant squeezing all the money needed for the expensive state from the poor and
increasingly frustrated middle class. In the short term, this meant chronic
peasant uprisings and an angry middle class. Ultimately, it meant wholesale
revolution.
An absolutist state was
built on repression - with no room for evolutionary or gradual change.
For those unhappy with the system, there were no institutional opportunities to
be heard or change the system. Real reform of political repression or social
inequalities was impossible; moderate reforms were impossible. Instead,
brewing dissent and complaints about political, social and economic injustices
were simply crushed or suppressed by the force of the state. Change,
then, will take place in the only way possible - through dramatic, escalating
violent upheaval and revolution.
EXAMPLES
Your textbook describes the
most famous examples of the absolutist system, including the most influential
states of
Far to the East, Russian
monarchs built their absolutist rule based on the historical precedent and
foundations of ancient Byzantine emperors, two centuries of Mongol repression,
and the brutal policies of the early Russian rulers like Ivan the Terrible
(1547-1584). The cost for the Russian people was immense
suffering. Russian Tzars (a Slavic word for Caesar) ruled over an
extremely repressive absolutist empire in which the Russian Orthodox Church
functioned as an arm of the state and aristocrats were nothing more than
glorified civil servants (with wealth and privilege but no real power.) There
was virtually no growth of a middle class, and Russian peasants were the most
brutalized and exploited in all of
SUMMARY
During the "Age of
Absolutism", absolutist European states built-up armed might, expanded
empires throughout the globe, and achieved great wealth and cultural
glory. However, these achievements were built on the backs of peasants
and serfs, and at the expense of an increasingly angry middle class. In
hindsight, the revolutions and dramatic upheaval that were to come were
inevitable.
Before launching the Age of
Revolution, however, we must recognize that while absolutism was the norm
for most of Western, Central and Eastern Europe, there was an
alternative political model emerging in
Interesting
Related Web Sites
ABSOLUTISM
INTERNET MOD. HISTORY SOURCEBOOK:
ABSOLUTISM