Peter The Great Like Louis XIV example essay topic

Research Essay Absolute rulers like Louis xiv and Peter the Great strengthened there countries but weakened them economically. They made great improvements to the armies and social aspects of the kingdom. But when they were improving all of these things it ended up costing them a great deal of money. Was it good to have a great army and government if everyone had no money?

Absolutism is a political theory holding that all power should be vested in one ruler or other authority. Both Louis xiv and Peter the Great considered themselves to be absolute rulers and they had divine right. Louis xiv changed France in many ways. He helped and hurt the growing nation. In order to become a true absolute ruler Louis xiv needed to make sure that ll the power was contained in himself. So he did a very clever thing, he took the nobles power out of the government.

And to make sure they didnt realize that their power was being taken away slowly he gave them positions in the army (doc. 7). This now made france a true absolute monarchy. All the power was now in louis xiv. He made all the decisions and no one could stop or disagree with him. Unlike the middle ages where the system of government was the feudal system and the nobles contained a great deal of power this is a radical idea and change.

One of the many focuses of louis xiv was to strengthen the army. Louis xiv made Marquis de Louvois his Grand Marshall of the army. Louvois attracted soldiers with descent pay, bonuses, medical care, decorations and opportunity for advancement (doc. 7). This was very unusual for the army. This helped the army tremendously.

His army was the largest and most modern in europe. This helped and hindered france. It helped if france waged war or needed to defend itself. Or even for intimidation. But all these bonuses and the descent pay for 100,000 men took its toll on frances economy. Peter the Great was an absolute ruler of Russia.

He obtained his power through succession. he was declared Tar in 1682. But due to political forces he was forced to share his power with his brother and sister. But his sister Sophia was overthrown and his brother Ivan died. Now peter had the sole power of ruling Russia (web) Peter maintained his power by keeping the people happy and giving them new benefits. He improved the economy when he opened Russia up to western europe.

It helped the economy because now people were able to trade with western europe. He modernized Russia and brought it into the society of the western world which it was disconnected from. Peter as Louis xiv had many things to change to his new empire. One of his main goals was to regain access to the baltic sea and baltic trade routes. This was the cause of the Northern war with Sweden. It started in 1700 and lasted for 21 years (web).

This was a smart move... Like Louis xiv Peter the great used his army to gain power and intimidation. Peter the great was the first tear to create a russian army and navy (web). Considering that Peter was at war during most of his reign it was a good idea for him to have a strong and modernized army.

As Absolute rulers Peter the great and louis xiv both realized that they needed to have a large army to have a great empire. The army is the foundation of the empire it protects the nation and also gives power to it. Peter the Great also reorganized the whole government system. The senat was now the highest government institution. Also now there was a new poll tax which gave Peter the funding that he needed for boosting national manufacturing and trade and for an active foreign policy (web). Peter the Great, like Louis xiv, took the nobles out of the government and placed them in less important places where they wouldnt know theyre power was being lessened right in front of them.

The true question is did absolutism do more good for its nation or did it hurt it more. Based on the ideas and actions of Louis xiv and Peter the Great it balanced out Because of the two leaders their countries became great empires. They brought trade, prosperity, massive armies, and a great deal of power to their countries. Though to build these empires it cost a lot of money. The creation and modernization of both countries armies was very expensive. Not to mention the keep up and salaries of all the soldiers.

And because of the wars both of the countries were in there was a loss of population due to all of the men fighting and dying. And after all of these wars the lands that they fought on were lands that crops were grown on, so these lands were no longer able to grow food. Which eventually led to famine. Overall it did balance out, one thing cancelled the other one out.