Catherine the Great and Peter the Great were both absolute rulers who had complete control over an empire. These two monarchs had many ups and downs, but achieved absolutism during their reigns. Catherine the Great had a more difficult road to her throne than Peter had. Catherine and Peter both being of different genders altered the way that they were seen as rulers. Absolutism can be defined as, “Such a form of rule was beyond the reach of early modern states, where a ruler's effectiveness was limited by poor communications, constant difficulty in mobilizing adequate resources, and, above all, the need to satisfy the interests and aspirations of the nobility.” Being an absolute ruler was beyond any other ruler and had no limitations to what …show more content…
Peter the Great accomplished a lot during his reign, yet there were incidents where he used terror to get his way with the empire. As for Catherine, she let her personal relationships impact her political decisions. “She had sent troops to help the Polish king Stanislas (a former lover) in suppressing a nationalist revolt aimed at reducing Russia's influence in Poland.” Conspiring with her lovers on official empress business, makes Catherine appear to be an unqualified ruler by letting her opinions be altered by her intimate relationships. Having secrets behind their actual official ruling leads both Catherine and Peters reputation came off as bad regardless of how they were as rulers. The differences between Catherine and Peter may seem as if they were greatly different rulers, yet were both strong rulers that helped Russia immensely, but made mistakes based on their personal use of power. Catherine the Great and Peter the Great were similar rulers yet their success differed. Genders played a large role in their difference of reigns because Peter being a male, made his rule much easier to get. Catherine did not have the same advantage, which made her road to empress much more
The honor and faith the people had for the rulers was another key factor that leads to the success of absolutism. Without their faith, many of the accomplishments of these monarchs would never have been
Peter the Great did a lot to help Russia become a great power. It took him his whole 40 years to do this for Russia. The main goal for Peter in order to make Russia a great power was to westernize it. He thought if you modernize the country then the country would be strong. Peter wanted to have a capital near the water so the navy would be strong and it would be easier for trade.
As an absolute monarch, Catherine the Great changed Russia in many positive ways; multiple historians even consider her to be one of the most enlightened rulers of her time. Catherine was the longest reigning female monarch of Russia and accomplished many things during her 34 years in the crown. She dreamed of establishing a reign of order and justice, of spreading education and of developing a national culture. By writing several books, pamphlets and educational materials, she improved Russia’s schooling system. Looking to improve the education of her people, Catherine studied the systems created by other countries.
Absolute monarchs centralize their absolute power. Louis XIV and Peter the Great are exceptional examples of an absolute monarch. Louis ruled in France from 1638 – 1715 and Peter ruled in Russia, but he was not liked by many people. They both had all four characteristics of an absolute monarch. Louis centralized his power by keeping nobles busy with court life, he increased revenue by supporting the arts and literature and reformed taxation with the help of Jean Baptiste Colbert.
Elizabeth I, Queen of England from 1558-1603, brought much success and political stability to England during her reign. However, the ideas about gender at the time greatly influenced her rule. With the views of the religious peoples during Elizabeth’s reign leaning towards negativity about a woman ruler, Elizabeth I responded to these challenges against her ability to rule wisely with sophisticated anger and strong leadership, while not responding to the challenges to her authority as a religious leader. One of the main challenges to Elizabeth’s right to rule came from the church. Document 1, “First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women” by John Knox, a Scottish religious reformer, shows the biased views of a Scot who
The Enlightenment was a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized the use of reason and individualism. It was mostly influenced by Descartes, Locke, and Newton. The idea of enlightened absolutism valued reason rather than faith. Enlightened monarchs had total control but embraced rationality. Being an enlightened ruler meant allowing religious tolerance, freedom of speech, and the right to hold private property.
Catherine the great had absolute power over Russia while Elizabeth I did not have an absolute monarch. Catherine the great had complete control over Russia nothing stopped her decisions. She not have parliament or clergy to go through when she passed a law. On the contrary Elizabeth couldn’t do anything without permission from Parliament and nothing religious without permission of the clergy.
During the 1600s and 1700s a new type of monarch emerged known as an absolute ruler. Some of these rulers were Louis XIV, the Fredericks of Prussia, and Peter the Great. These rulers believed that a monarch had a divine right to rule and should only listen to God. All these rulers had characteristics that defined them as absolutists. Louis XIV was constantly at war during his reign which resulted in a powerful army.
Peter the Great and Louis XIV were both the greatest rulers of their times. Both of them were autocrats having unlimited power and on the contrary both of them were absolutists. Louis XIV was the ruler of France and nicknamed “The Sun King” and Peter the Great was the ruler of Russia. Although Peter the Great and Louis XIV has some different successes, they had several noticeable similarities such as power, buildings, and armies/economical growths. Peter the Great and Louis XIV had similar successes in their famous buildings.
During the 18th Century, the Enlightenment was introduced in Europe. This new movement brought about modernization of thinking about government and individualism, and reevaluated previous beliefs. The Enlightenment had many new Philosophers who helped spread their views on government. Philosophers were similar in ideas about the rights of citizens and people’s choice of which government they want, however they differed on the reason government existed and governmental power. Overall, the ideas were a substantial departure from previous ideas about human equality, absolute rulers, and the court system.
Ye Yang Zhang 2016195131 UIC 1551-05 Midterm Paper “Britain never achieved absolute monarchy.” Monarchies, more often, are established based on a family being the rulers from generation to generation. In dictionaries, an absolute monarchy is defined as a Monarchy that is not limited or restrained by laws or a constitution. This system of government was widely employed in the world throughout history, especially in the French culture.
As its name implies, absolute monarchy is a type of government or political organization in which the person who has the power to concentrate everything in his person, absolutely, denying space for other independent institutions or for the division of Powers, basic characteristics of democracy. Absolute monarchy is a way of ensuring that power is not divided between several states, spheres of power and so that the person a position of power will be solely responsible for making decisions. Although there have always been various forms of this type of government, even to the present day, the period of greatest development of this form of government in the West was from the second half of the seventeenth century and all the eighteenth century
Both Catherine the Great and Peter the Great sought to enhance and further Russia’s international position. This I believe is most consistent with classical realism as they both sought to place their country in a more powerful position, through the expansion of both their state abroad and within their nation-state. These readers without a doubt westernized Russia, but were limited by the constraints of the Russian culture and power structure. The first issue I would tackles is the attempt of Peter the Great to establish Russia as a formidable regional power by taking the traditional metrics of power such as a more centralized government and modernizing the Russian military.
The concept of leadership was prevalent in the ancient world. It had a place in the way the people of ancient times governed their lives. Greece, and especially Athens, is the cradle of democracy in the western civilization. Athens owes the first penal and civil law code to Draco. An outstanding statesman and poet called Solon acted in Athens at the same time as Draco.
Absolutism is a name given to a system where all the responsibilities are given to just one person. All the decisions are made by the monarch. Therefore, it means that an absolute monarch governs alone and is not controlled by anyone. An absolute monarch has control over administration, taxes, foreign policy etc. Under the control of a monarchy there is less corruption.