Eastern Europe

 Europe was pretty much the same through and through with only minor digressions in some areas... BUT then the black plague sweeps the continent causing deaths and labor shortages and West (England, France, Spain, etc.)  and East (Austria, Russia, and Prussia) begin to differ drastically.
What were the differences of Western and Eastern Europe? 

• treatment of peasants  
• the West dealt with the labor shortage by raising wages and allowing peasants more liberties including but not limited to the a say in the government 
• the East reverts to the serfdom of the past but with even more oppression including 
• being tied to one lord for ones entire life 
• serfs were tortured if they tried to escape (their ears would be nailed to a pole and then they would be given a knife and had to cut their own ear off ~very extra~)

(similar to the Christmas Story but 100x worse)

• working longer for lesser pay 
• hereditary subjugation --> the descendants of one family line all belonged to the same lord (aka if Frank had a kid his kid would be tied to the lord and so on and so forth) 
• NO say in government--> estates and representative governments were demolished (this was not just for peasants the King in Prussia did it to everyone to enhance his power and gain control over the "power of the purse" which the estate held. but it did effect the peasants)
• nobles 
• the nobles of the West were weaker because the King had more control over them (i.e. Louis XIV's court)
• the eastern nobles had more power because of the consolidating of serfdom (aka making the action of strengthening the serf system by embedding it into society or rather the nobles "sinking their claws into the serfs" 

(nobles--> bird / branch--> serfs) 

*summary--- the west had stronger serfs and weaker nobles while the east had stronger lords and weaker serfs*

• economy
• the West had a better economy because they practiced mercantilism and had a better location 
• location
• access to seaports
• affected more directly by the Renaissance 
• more civilized in thought and action because of this 
• the East did not have a strong economy because of its bad location which neglected to provided the population with a multitude of seaports (aka advantageous trade routes) and the true Renaissance which would have then sparked more development in intellectual thought   
• less civilized in thought and action because of this 

Austria

• What's it made of? 
• the hereditary provinces  
• Austria (Vienna and stuff) 
• Bohemia (Czechs) 
• Hungary

 

• ruled by the Habsburg family (famous for ruling Holy Roman Empire/ German Empire) 
• ruling characteristics:   
• imposed taxes 
• standing armies for internal and external matters 
• dealt with other states as they pleased 
• separated into separate political jurisdictions which can be boiled down to small cities -> medium-size states--> larger territories 
• the 3 regions (Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary) made the empire diverse and powerful 
• 3 separate political and social environments united under one monarch to form the empire
• Pragmatic Sanction issued by Charles VI strengthened the empire by stating it must remain in one piece and be handed down to a single heir 
• Internal conflict
• keeping the diverse regions together as one 
• external conflict
• the Austrians had to fight to defend and extend their borders and religion 
• the empire was predominantly Catholic because the ruling family was 
• the Catholics fought the Protestant Czechs and the Ottoman Turks who were Muslim 
• The Turks 
• Austria bordered the Ottoman Empire which can be seen as a help and a hinderance to the development of absolute monarchy in Austria 
• help--> common enemy that helped unite the empire 
• the Austrians feared the Turks bc of the different religion and because most captured Christian boys were put into the army in the worst rank (basically set up to be killed) 
• the Turks had an interesting rulers called Sultans who were like kings but better because they supported protected the peasants from greedy officials 
• hinderance--> time and effort that was used to fight the Turks could have been used to dissolve the internal problems 
• conflict could also be found between Austrian thought and Western European thought 
• the West was progressing into scientific and intellectual thoughts while Austria was stuck in the age old warfare over religious differences 
• Do they like art? 
• yes, they enjoyed the Baroque style that Louis XIV began 
• the Habsburg were influential in spreading it in the empire 
• the Turks destroyed some of it (bc it was Catholic) when they invaded so the Habsburg's had to rebuild it 
• mostly seen in architecture but also painting, decoration and music 

Prussia 

• What is it made of? 
• what is today the central part of Germany 

• it is oddly spread out which creates many borders and internal areas where problems could arise 

(people's thought on the Prussian Empire) 

• How did they move from German prisoners to an absolute monarchy?
• nobles with land replaced the princes- notably the Hohenzollern Family who through dukes, the elector of Brandenburg, and the Estates (representative body)
• dukes dies-- elector of Brandenburg and Estates put their ~dukes~ up for power and the elector win and then Fredrick William becomes the "Great Elector"
• Who were the absolutists? 
• Great Elector Fredrick William 
• wants unify 3 provinces (Brandenburg, Prussia, German territories along the Rhine)
• standing army 
• helped by constant war and Junkers--> nobles who were willing to give up political power as long as the go to keep special privileges 
• really gets the ball rolling for an absolute monarchy in Prussia -- he lays the cement for the foundation 
• King Fredrick  
• the king title means the absolute monarchy was in place 
• wanted to expand arts 
• he gathers the supplies to build the house (absolute monarch) on the foundation 
• King Fredrick William I 
• more into military than arts 
• created the best army in Europe
• citizens were blindly obedient, a centralized bureaucracy was created, and absolutism spread  
• calls Prussia Northern Sparta 

• he builds the house (established the absolute monarchy)