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Philosophers and Prussians

Philosophers and Prussians. The Enlightenment and the European State, c. 1650-1800. Outline. Searching for a New Order Enlightenment Rationality and European Statecraft The Example of Prussia and Friedrich the Great. The Thirty Years’ War.

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Philosophers and Prussians

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  1. Philosophers and Prussians The Enlightenment and the European State, c. 1650-1800

  2. Outline • Searching for a New Order • Enlightenment Rationality and European Statecraft • The Example of Prussia and Friedrich the Great

  3. The Thirty Years’ War • A deadly mix: “power politics” + religious hostilities = disaster for Germany! • Beginnings: the Bohemian dispute • Catholic Ferdinand II (r. 1619-37) elected as king of Bohemia, 1617 • Protestant counteroffensive • The Battle of White Mountain (1620) • Friedrich V and Protestant alliance defeated, 1620-1625 • The Danish phase (1626-1629) • King Christian IV vs. Imperial commander Count Albrecht von Wallenstein • The Swedish Phase (1630-1635) • King GustavusAdolphus (1594-1632) invades Germany • First major Protestant victories: Breitenfeld, 1631; Lützen, 1632 • French phase and stalemate (1635-1643) • France enters the war (1635), on the Protestant side! • Fighting in the Spanish Netherlands, in the Empire, in the Atlantic, at home

  4. The “Military Revolution” • The “military revolution” (c. 1550-1650) • Portable firearms • Combined arms • Close-order drill and battlefield discipline • New fortifications (the trace italienne) • Innovations in gov’tfinance • Result - one of the longest and most destructive wars until the First World War! (1914-18) Swedish infantry brigade formation (pikemen and musketeers), depicted in 17th-century military guidebook

  5. Above: “Star fort” in Groningen, Netherlands Above left: Re-enactment of TYW “musketeers” Left: Imperial formations advancing at the Battle of White Mountain (Bohemia, 1620)

  6. The Cost of the War • Mass death from violence, famine, and disease • At least 8 million dead (most civilians) • Over one-fourth of the entire population of the Holy Roman Empire! • In 1600: 20.3 million • In 1700: 15 million! • Leading powers bankrupted • Permanent religious divisions • Hardships described in The Adventures of A Simpleton, by Hans Jakob von Grimmelshausen (1669) Above: Engraving from The Miseries of War, by Jacques Callot (1632) Left: Grimmelshausen in 1641

  7. 20-25 percent of Germany’s population dies as a result of the Thirty Years’ War!

  8. Permanent divisions: Europe after the Thirty Years’ War (1648)

  9. The Search for a New Order • 1648 –The Peace of Westphalia • Treaty of Osnabrück (May) • Treaty of Münster (Oct.) • Key Innovations • Religious Peace of Augsburg accepted by all participants • Toleration of minority religions required • After 1648: New interest in “rational” statecraft Ratifying the Treaty of Muenster, 1648

  10. The Enlightenment and State Power • Jean Bodin(1533-1592)– monarchical sovereignty the key to lasting order • Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) “natural law” rather than religious law. • Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) – Leviathan argues that an “absolute” ruler necessary • John Locke (1632-1704) – Government a “social contract” • Voltaire (1694-1778) suggested that government should operate on experience, • Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)believed that governments had the duty to promote the happiness of subjects! (The Social Contract)

  11. The Absolutist Solution • Key Concept: “Reason of State” • GustavusAdolphusexplains his entry into the Thirty Years’ War (1630): • Cardinal Richelieu describes France under Louis XIV • “Absolutism” • Monarchs recognize no legal limits on their power • The royalstate becomes the organizing structure for society • Growth of bureacracy and institutions – tax offices, law courts, armies and navies! • Proof: The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) and the “balance of power” system • Religion no longer determines alliances! Left: Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Right: Cardinal Richelieu

  12. “Absolute” Monarchs • France - Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715)  • “L’Étatc’estmoi” (The state, it is me!) • Russia - Peter I (“the Great,” r. 1682-1725) and Catherine I (“the Great,” r. 1725-1727) • Replaced medieval Tsarist government with bureaucracy • Westernized court culture (no beards!) • Created Russian Empire • Prussia – Friedrich II (“the Great,” r. 1740-1786) Louis XIV in 1701 Tsar and Emperor Peter I Friedrich the Great in 1780

  13. The Case of Prussia • Between 1650 and 1800, the Kingdom of Prussia grew from a small German territory into a major European power! • Friedrich Wilhelm I (“the Soldier-King”; r. 1713-1740) and rational reforms • Military expansion • Centralized and expanded state bureaucracy, (especially tax offices) • Avoided wars • Subsidies for farming and manufacture • His goal was to ensure Prussia produced everything it needed to defend itself • His rule highly personal – concerned himself with every area of government and economy Freiedrich Wilhelm I Member of the “Potsdam Giants,” Friedrich’s personal guard

  14. Friedrich the Great: an “Enlightened Monarch”? • Friedrich the Great (r. 1740-1786) - son of Friedrich Wilhelm I • Promoted education for the good of the state • Personal friend of Voltaire • Agnostic , but encouraged his subjects to hold Christian virtues (esp. obedience!) • Promoted economic and legal rationalism • Introduced reforms in agriculture (including cultivation of potatoes!) • Cut costs wherever possible • Emphasized military strength • Saw no restrictions on his power! Friedrich the Great personally inspects the potato harvest in Brandenburg • “The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudice” – Friedrich II

  15. Friedrich’s Wars • First Silesian War (1740-42); against Austria • Second Silesian War (1744-45); against Austria • The Seven Years’ War (1757-63) against Austria, Russia, France • The First Partition of Poland (1772) • War of the Bavarian Succession (1778-79); against Austria Prussian infantry advance in the First Silesian War

  16. Rational or personal rule? • The problem: Prussia’s success in the 1700s depended on the intense personal involvement of the king! • Privileged military aristocracy over civilian administration • “Junkers” = military nobility • Prussia’s strength did not last! • Under Friedrich Wilhelm III ( r. 1797-1806), Prussia defeated by Napoleon! • Legacy of Prussian militarism? Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Army enter Berlin, 1806

  17. How modern? • The Enlightenment and society • How “rational” does society and political life become? • Was the absolutism of Friedrich the Great an “Enlightened” form of government?

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