2. Absolutism and the State
This lecture examines the emergence of absolutist states in continental Europe following the Thirty Years' War, analyzing the motivations for consolidating monarchical power and its effects on governance, military organization, and cultural expression.
European Civilization, 1648-1945 (HIST 202)
The rise of absolutism in Europe must be understood in the context of insecurity attending the religious wars of the first half of the seventeenth century, and the Thirty Years' War in particular. Faced with the unprecedented brutality and devastation of these conflicts, European nobles and landowners were increasingly willing to surrender their independence to the authority of a single, all-powerful monarch in return for guaranteed protection. Among the consequences of this consolidation of state power were the formation of large standing armies and bureaucratic systems, the curtailment of municipal privileges, and the birth of international law.