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Apr 18, 2021 · by CrashCourse. published on 18 April 2021. Last time we learned about the Enlightenment, and the philosophers and thinkers whose ideas would shape governance for hundred of years. This week, we're learning how monarchs across Europe were influenced by those ideas.
- Enlightened Despotism
- Frederick The Great
- Catherine The Great
- Maria Theresa
- Joseph II of Austria
Major thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment are credited for the development of government theories critical to the creation and evolution of the modern civil-society-driven democratic state. Enlightened despotism, also called enlightened absolutism, was among the first ideas resulting from the political ideals of the Enlightenment. The concept was ...
Enlightened despotism was defended in an essay by Frederick the Great, who ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1786. He was an enthusiast of French ideas and invited the prominent French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire to live at his palace. With the help of French experts, Frederick organized a system of indirect taxation, which provided the state with ...
Catherine II of Russia was the most renowned and the longest-ruling female leader of Russia, reigning from 1762 until her death in 1796. An admirer of Peter the Great, she continued to modernize Russia along Western European lines but her enlightened despotism manifested itself mostly with her commitment to arts, sciences, and the modernization of ...
Maria Theresa was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg.She implemented significant reforms to strengthen Austria’s military and bureaucratic efficiency. She doubled the state revenue between 1754 and 1764, though her attempt to tax clergy and nobility was only partially successful. Nevertheless, her ...
Maria Theresa’s oldest son, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790, was at ease with Enlightenment ideas. Joseph was a proponent of enlightened despotism, but his commitment to modernizing reforms engendered significant opposition, which eventually culminated in a failure to fully implement...
Enlightened despots, also called enlightened absolutists or enlightened monarchs, are defined by Lynn Hunt as: “Rulers – such as Catherine the Great of Russia, Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Joseph II of Austria – who tried to promote Enlightenment reforms without giving up their own supreme political power.” 3
Enlightened absolutism or enlightened despotism is a term used to describe the reigns of several 18th century European monarchs. Under "enlightened absolutism," the monarch retains...
Mar 1, 2022 · Enlightened Absolutism is basically the belief in Enlightenment-era rationality and the concern for social problems, but intermixed with the belief in an absolute monarchy or despotism. FYI, it’s also been called Enlightened Despotism and Benevolent Absolutism.
Aug 26, 2022 · The Enlightenment was a philosophical movement that lasted about one hundred years, neatly corresponding to most of the eighteenth century; convenient dates for it are from the Glorious Revolution in Britain to the beginning of the French Revolution: 1688 - 1789.
enlightened despotism: Also known as enlightened absolutism or benevolent absolutism, a form of absolute monarchy or despotism inspired by the Enlightenment. The monarchs who embraced it followed the participles of rationality.
