Chapter 14:

Absolutism, Part II
Thirty Years’ War
The Glorious
Revolution
The Sun King
 After the defeat of the Armada,
Continental Europe is at odds over
religion as well.
 The Thirty Years’ War
• All major European countries but England
became involved.
• Takes place on German soil, and Germany
was plundered and destroyed for 30 years.
• Some countries gained new
territories, and France emerged as
the dominant nation in Europe.
 Destruction of the city of Magdeburg

The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)

was a devastating religious war.
“There was nothing but beating and
burning, plundering, torture, and
murder. Most especially was every
one of the enemy bent on securing
riches... Thus in a single day this
noble and famous city, the pride of
the whole country, went up in fire and
smoke.”
Reformation & Thirty Years War
Video
The Thirty Years’ War Ends

The Peace of Westphalia

1. German states could
determine their own
religion.
2. The states that made up
the Holy Roman Empire
became independent.
3. The Holy Roman
Empire died, and
Germany would not
reunite for 200 years.
The Thirty Years’ War

The 30 Years’ War was

Europe’s most destructive.
Flintlock Musket
1. Armies had to be better
disciplined and trained.
2. Governments began to
support standing armies.
3. By 1700, France had a
standing army of 400,000.
Revolutions in England

• The 17th century saw

England’s civil war, the English
Revolution.
• It was a struggle between
Parliament & King
• James I King of England
• Divine right of kings–
that kings receive their power
from God and are responsible
only to God.
• Parliament wanted equal power
Revolutions in England

• Parliament made up of mostly

Protestants (Puritans)
• In 1628, Parliament passed a petition
prohibiting passing taxes without
Parliament’s consent.
• Civil war broke out in 1642
between supporters of the
king and those of Parliament.
Supporters of the 2 Sides -
King: Cavaliers or Royalists
Parliament: Roundheads
Revolutions in England

Roundheads - Parliament Cavaliers – Royalists/King

Also largely Protestant Also largely Catholic
“The Wounded Cavalier” by William
Shakespeare Burton.

The goal of the Roundhead

party was to give the
Parliament supreme control
over executive administration.

John Pettie – Puritan and Roundhead

Was James I a Cavalier?
VIDEO: The English Under Charles I
Charles I: James I’s
Son
Charles I: Executed by
Oliver Cromwell
Video: The English Civil War
Revolutions in England

• Oliver Cromwell led the New Model

Army
• Purged the Parliament
of anyone not loyal to
him, creating “Rump
Parliament”
• Then Cromwell
dispersed the Rump
Parliament by force.
• Ruled until his death in 1658
English Dictator Oliver Cromwell Dismisses Parliment
English Dictator – Oliver Cromwell
ruled until his death.
 The Glorious Revolution
• James II – Catholic King of England
• Protestant parliament asks William
of Orange, to “invade”
• No bloodshed & Bill of Rights
King Charles I and his son James II

James II, wife and infant

son “flee” to France
James's nephew and son-in-law, William (painted above),
was invited to "save the Protestant religion"
William The Prince of Orange lands at Torbay
The event is often called:
“The Glorious Revolution”
Revolution of 1688
War of the English Succession
Bloodless Revolution
 Henry Sydney, author of
the Invitation to William,
which was signed by six
Group portrait of the Seven Bishops whom James
noblemen (both Whigs and
ordered imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1688,
Tories) and one bishop. He
but who were acquitted of charges of seditious libel.
has been described as "the
great wheel on which the
Revolution rolled"
The Glorious Revolution
• The Toleration Act of 1689
gave Puritans, not Catholics,
the right of free public
worship.
• Few English citizens were
persecuted for religion ever
again, however.
• By deposing one king and
establishing another,
Parliament had destroyed
the divine right theory of
kingship.
What is Absolutism?
Louis XIV
French King
The best example of
seventeenth-century
absolutism is the
reign of Louis XIV
of France.
France under Louis XIV

• One response to the crises of the

seventeenth century was to seek
stability by increasing the
monarchy’s power.
• This response historians call
absolutism, a system in which
the ruler has total power.
• It also includes the idea of the divine
right of kings.
 Political Thought
• England’s revolutionary
upheavals alarmed
Thomas Hobbes.
• “state of nature,” life is
brutal and violent
because human nature
is self-interested.
• Life is not about morals,
but self-preservation.
• Believed in Absolute
Rule – to save people
from themselves
Thomas
Hobbes
• Life is brutal
and violent
• People self-
interested
• Absolute ruler
is needed
Video: 2 Treaties of Government
Political Thought (cont.)
John Locke
• Against the absolute
rule of one person.
• People lived in a state
of freedom
and equality, not
violence and war.
• In this state people
had natural rights–
rights with which
people are born.
 John
Locke
• People lived in state of
freedom and equality
• Against the idea of
Absolute rule
• People had “natural
rights”
• Ideas found in
Declaration of
Independence &
Constitution in US
Political Thought (cont.)
• Locke’s ideas were
important to the
American and French
Revolutions.
• They were used to support
demands for constitutional
government, the rule of
law, and the protection of
rights.
• Locke’s ideas are found in
the American Declaration
of Independence and the
United States Constitution.