Global History Cours 3

Global History (course 2)
Early modern politics :
Europe and Russia with
Monarchy and Religion
Monarchy
Dynamic state: the state as a dynasty’s patrimony. At the time, monarchy

was the definition of State. Very different from the vision we have today.
God => royalty (dynasty) => head of society
Sovereignty: they had power over all the state’s politics and activities.
Heritage, the power lies in the hands of a family, king’s legacy to his son
(death or abdication ex Georges Vth).
Women were excluded from power, France and Austria forbade it. Their
purpose was to provide an heir. They could become queen (Elizabeth of
England) if the king died, and the heir was too young and installed the
regency. Marriage was a strategic and powerful diplomatic tool: it served
for forging alliances and territorial expansion. Britanny became a property
of France because the queen married the French king. After generation of
marriage alliance, quarrel.
The king has absolute power: can make all important decisions, is above
all people, above justice, commander in chief of the army, head of the
church in some countries (the pope, king of England). People didn't
question/contest the legitimacy of the power become the king was under
god’s mandate, his power came from divine right.
Despite all that, the European states were a prelude to modern states in
several way, modern States in the making:
 Complex state apparatus: bureaucracy, administration, functioning

became more advanced and closer to modern states than to
medieval states.
 System of law and justice: judges, solicitors, common law which all
the people had to respect.
 Kings were more interested in state affairs so in practice, they
delegated much of their power to ministers, council, advisors,
assemblies.
 Period of intellectual blooming -> printing, texts and state

administration relied on printed documents and archives that had to
be managed. Adds complexity. Early modern states’ decisions had to
be based on precedents.
 Border control became more apparent, control of the territory,

police.
So, monarchies were an anticipation of the States of the 19 and 20 th

centuries. Most of the states were monarchies but some were republics
(not as we understand them today) and some were empires. Ex: Venice
governed by the Doge elected by a council; United Provinces (now
Netherlands). Ex: holy roman empire. The catholic church only recognizes
the roman emperor, no others. Elected monarchies: Polish Lithuanian
commonwealth was elected by the aristocrats; same for Holy Roman
Empire in theory 7 roman princes elected the emperor, in practice always
the same family; the pope is nowadays still the only real elected
monarchy.
Europe in 1570 map
Religion: earthquake in global history
Christian reformation =
 Lutheran: Martin Luther, 95 theses, Wittenberg. Revolted because

you had to pay to confess and be forgiven by the church.
 Calvinist (Huguenot)
Islam expansion (Ottomans)
Roman Catholicism
Christian orthodox
Judaism =
 Ashkenazi (Yiddish)
 Sephardic (Ladino)
War in Italy
Controverses about the morality of the clergy because of their spending,

and of the leading figures. Pope Alexander the VI th (gorgias) had children.
These controversies lead Martin Luther to write his 95 Theses to call
for a reformation of the church. The Church asked him to retract his thesis,
he refused and was excommunicated. Schism and split, his ideas opened
the gate to new communities. Anabaptists -> refused baptism at birth,
claimed that the saved souls could be baptized at adulthood based on
their actions. ML had many supporters among German nobles and rulers
who converted. War between catholic princes and Calvinists because
Catholics tried to repress Calvinists.
Monarchy and religion determined geopolitics in early modern

Europe: dynastic claims over foreign lands, catholic sovereign chasing the
reform, ottoman expansionism led to war.
Politics and religion often intermingle during conflicts.
Behind all these considerations lied a struggle for global hegemonies:
 Continental hegemony: Holy Empire, France and Spain
 Commercial hegemony: Portugal, Spain, France, Netherlands
 East: Habsburg, Ottoman Empire, Poland-Lithuania, Russia
 Mediterranean: Ottoman Empire, Spain, Venice
Examples of early modern European conflicts:
 Italian war, 1494-1559 = rival powers within Italy between France

and Spain for sovereignty over southern Italy, sack of Rome 1527.
Mercenaries at the service of Charles the IVth entered Rome and
looted, sacked the city, almost killed the pope.
 German wars of religion, 1524-25/1546-1555 = caused by the

spread of ML’s ideas, peace of Augsburg.
 French wars of religion, 1552-1598 = catholic French nobles

against the Reform and the Calvinists, former Calvinist Henry the IV th
declared tolerance with the “Edit de Nantes”. St Bartolomew’s Day
massacre, 1572.
 Wars in the Netherlands or “80 years” war, 1562-1598 = also

known as The Dutch Revolt and Dutch War of Independence was a
military conflict between the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands
and Spain, which then governed them, beginning in the reign of King
Philip II of Spain (1556-1598). Peace was concluded in 1648 with the
establishment of the Dutch Republic. The main causes of the war
were Philip II's political and religious policies in the Spanish Low
Countries (the Netherlands), particularly high taxation and
persecution of Protestants. The Protestant Reformation had arrived
in the Netherlands through the Anabaptists and then later the
Calvinists, and by the 1560s, tensions between Protestants and
Catholics were high and increased further by the French Wars of
Religion (1562-1598), which encouraged more Protestants to
relocate to the Netherlands.
 “30 years” war, 1618-1648 = most lethal, peace treaty:

Westphalia 1648. War of religion at the beginning but evolved into
a major conflict in which religion struggles intertwined with
dynamistic claims. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Spain, Denmark,
Sweden. Peace treaty -> turning point in history because it sets
ground for notions of state and sovereignty, first international
governance. Origins of modern international relations theory:
each sovereign (state) has exclusive sovereignty over its
territory. Munster and Osnabrück.
o Principle of sovereignty
o Non-intervention
o Legal equality of sovereign/states
o Balance of powers
Political scientists love this, but historians criticize the Westphalian order:
 Sovereignty did not rely on the ‘State’ but on the prince: still a
patrimonial dimension, sovereignty referred to monarchies and
dynastic rights, not direct identification with the nation in early
modern times. No real State sovereignty, historians did not use the
term nation before the French revolution.
 Balance of powers was not really intended, but rather containment

of imperial power was. Historians consider this unintended, but they
just wanted to contain the power of the HRE and implicitly Spain and
France.
 Respect of internal affairs did not imply ‘non-intervention’.

Anacronism in the attribution of this term to the Westphalian treaty,
respect of the internal affairs of other but never vowed to non-
intervention. Late 17th century, sovereigns felt they had rights to
claim territories, so they felt entitled to invade and intervene on that
territory based on dynastic rights, and it was a frequent behavior of
European monarchies post Westphalian.
Main wars after Westphalia: the wars of religion became more and
more rare, a significant change in early modern geopolitics. The European
monarchies accepted to coexist with other religions. The wars were due to
dynastic claims and economic considerations because of more and
more apparent conflicts for control of trade, resources and industry.
 War of the Spanish succession (1700-1713) = peace of Utrecht

(1713-14)
 War of the Austrian succession (1740-1748)
 Seven Years’ War (1756-11763) = first global war. Anticipated

some characteristics of WWI (cf cours HGGSP terminale). 2 alliances:
Russia support with GB VS Austria with France
Russia finds its origin as a global during the early modern history. Began
as an isolated realm to a world power, to the world’s biggest state,
tricontinental. This is due to political changes; it became a territorial and
political empire between 1500 to 1800. It expanded greatly into unclaimed
territories (no competitors so easier) and undisputed by other powers
inhabited by nomad populations. Russia created a network of
interconnected settlements to settle russia power. The Russian monarchy
as a global power relies on the transformation put forward by 3 major
sovereigns:
 Ivan the Terrible (1547-1584) = legendary figure of Russian

history, created the russia empire, crowned himself as the first tsar.
The coronation led to the creation of the russia tsardom and created
animosity within the European monarchies of the time which refused
to recognize him as the tsar, because in catholic religion there could
be only one emperor, which was the Holy Roman Emperor. But they
did not contest it because it was a marginal power far from the
European power center. Ivan triggered Russia's east expansion
o Conquests of Kozan and Astrakhan.
o Started the conquest of Siberia which could continue until the late
18th century => origins of russia as a multicultural state.
 Peter the Great (1682-1725). Modernization => army and military

tactics inspired from European technologies and knowledge, politics
and administration, culture and fashion Europeanization. Adopted
European culture. Establish St Petersburg as the capital of the
tsardom.
o The adoption of European warfare led to the conquest of Estonia and
Karelia.
 Catherine the Great (1762-1796). Involvement in European

geopolitics became an actor => partitions of Poland. Played a part at
a politically challenging time with USA independence and French
Revolution. Disputed territories in black sea and Caucasia against
the Ottoman Empire. From an agrarian and agricultural economy to
the introduction of the industry.
These leaders marked the evolution of Russian to a global power.
The end of the early modern period was marked by the partition of Poland.
Russia annexed 3 territories of Poland leading to its disappearance as a
state in 1795 in a troublesome period of the revolutionary wars in Europe.
This geopolitical scenario will have a lasting aftermath and determine
European geopolitics more than 100 years later.

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Global History (course 2)

Early modern politics :

Europe and Russia with

Monarchy and Religion

Dynamic state: the state as a dynasty’s patrimony. At the time, monarchy

God => royalty (dynasty) => head of society

 Complex state apparatus: bureaucracy, administration, functioning

 Period of intellectual blooming -> printing, texts and state

 Border control became more apparent, control of the territory,

So, monarchies were an anticipation of the States of the 19 and 20 th

Europe in 1570 map

Religion: earthquake in global history

 Lutheran: Martin Luther, 95 theses, Wittenberg. Revolted because

Islam expansion (Ottomans)

Controverses about the morality of the clergy because of their spending,

Monarchy and religion determined geopolitics in early modern

Politics and religion often intermingle during conflicts.

Behind all these considerations lied a struggle for global hegemonies:

 Continental hegemony: Holy Empire, France and Spain

 Commercial hegemony: Portugal, Spain, France, Netherlands

 East: Habsburg, Ottoman Empire, Poland-Lithuania, Russia

 Mediterranean: Ottoman Empire, Spain, Venice

Examples of early modern European conflicts:

 Italian war, 1494-1559 = rival powers within Italy between France

 German wars of religion, 1524-25/1546-1555 = caused by the

 French wars of religion, 1552-1598 = catholic French nobles

 Wars in the Netherlands or “80 years” war, 1562-1598 = also

 “30 years” war, 1618-1648 = most lethal, peace treaty:

o Legal equality of sovereign/states

 Balance of powers was not really intended, but rather containment

 Respect of internal affairs did not imply ‘non-intervention’.

 War of the Spanish succession (1700-1713) = peace of Utrecht

 War of the Austrian succession (1740-1748)

 Seven Years’ War (1756-11763) = first global war. Anticipated

 Ivan the Terrible (1547-1584) = legendary figure of Russian

o Conquests of Kozan and Astrakhan.

 Peter the Great (1682-1725). Modernization => army and military

 Catherine the Great (1762-1796). Involvement in European

These leaders marked the evolution of Russian to a global power.

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