ABSOLUTISM

1
ABSOLUTISM

• The Rise of National Monarchies

2
Mercenaries

• Hired Soldiers serving only for wages
• A soldier hired by a foreign country to serve in
  its army

3
Absolutism

• Absolute monarchy or absolutism meant that
  sovereign power or ultimate authority rested in
  the hands of a king or queen who claimed to rule
  by divine right the idea that rulers received
  their power from God and were responsible to no
  one (including parliaments) except God.

4
Absolutism

• Sovereign power consisted of
• the authority to make laws
• tax
• administer justice
• control the states administrative system
• often established bureaucracies complex
  governmental structure in which civil servants
  carry out many specialized tasks
• determine foreign policy.

5
Gunpowder

• The increased use of gunpowder, combined with
  greater mobility on the battlefield, demanded
  armies that were better trained and disciplined.
  This required governments to fund regularly paid
  armies, based partly on conscription, instead of
  mercenaries hired for a single campaign. This
  required changes in the way government was
  designed with ever-larger bureaucracies and
  increased taxes.

6
Mercantilism

• The dominant economic theory of the 16th to the
  18th centuries that said the wealth of a nation
  depended on a nations supply of gold and silver
  bullion
• As a result, nations sought to run a favorable
  balance of trade in which the value of the goods
  they exported was greater than those imported.
  This would bring in more bullion.

7
Mercantilism

• To encourage exports, governments stimulated and
  protected export industries and trade. They
  granted subsidies to new industries and improved
  transportation networks by building roads,
  bridges, and canals.
• In placing high tariffs on foreign goods, they
  could be kept out of the country. Colonies were
  considered an important as a source of raw
  materials and markets for finished goods.
• The government, mercantilists believed, should
  play an active role in economic affairs.

8
Summary

• How did the economic policies of Colbert support
  the absolutist goals of Louis XIV?