Early Modern Central Europe

Waves of energy and intellect rippled through the SSRC after school yesterday during AP Euro review.  Fifteen students represents are biggest turnout for a session without pastry, and they dug into Early Modern Central Europe like it was a box full of Bismarcks.  Early Modern generally refers to the 15th-18th centuries, the beginning of the class to the French Revolution.

On our handy brainstorming review document, students identified the key social structure of early modern central Europe: many enserfed peasants controlled by powerful noble land owners.  This was especially true further east, and some areas, such as the Rhineland, were more urban than most of Europe.  Also, like the rest of Europe, central European families were patriarchal.

Much of the territory of central Europe was part of the Holy Roman Empire:




Prussia and Austria were both absolutist powers in central Europe, and starting in the 18th Century they competed for power in the HRE and central Europe in general.  Monarchs in both used the crisis of the 30 Years' War to enhance their power.  Frederick William the Great Elector (the Margrave of Bradenburg was one of seven electors of the Holy Roman Emperor) took power from the assembly of great nobles that traditionally shared power with the Monarch.  Think of this as the opposite of the English Civil War, where the assembly of gentry and nobles, Parliament, restrained the Kings of the 17th century.   The Great Elector's grandson, Frederick William I, used this power to build a first-rate military, including some very tall soldiers; and his son, the Enlightened Frederick II, the Great, used this powerful military to expand Prussian territory.  The Austrian Habsburgs were unable to use the 30YW to control the whole of the HRE, but they did use it to remove Protestant nobles from power in most of their lands, including Bohemia.  This made their control of their own territories more absolutist, with the exception of Hungary were the nobility retained some autonomy.

Tomorrow the review train steams into DBQ camp.  Sourcing will be the focus.