Week 7: Triumph and Crisis of the Old Regime

Textbook readings: Birn, Chapter 9-10. This week we examine the impact of Enlightenment on European politics, from two vantage points. First, we study a series of efforts to reform society from the top down in an enlightened mold; then we look at the complex relationship between Enlightenment, the “public sphere,” and popular protest. Along the way, we'll revisit the balance of power in Europe as it transformed during the second half of the eighteenth century.

The Era of Enlightened Reforms

I. “Enlightened Absolutism”

A. Four Characteristic Goals
1. Toleration for Religious Minorities
2. Reforming Criminal Justice
3. Sponsoring Industry, Trade, and Agriculture
4. Consolidating the Power of the State
B. Case in Point: The Abolition of Judicial Torture

Image: Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)
Image: Dei delitte e delle pene (1764)
Excursus: Instruments of Judicial Torture
Excursus: The Constitutio Criminalis Theresiana (1768)

II. Three Reformers

A. Prussia: The Reforms of Frederick II (r. 1740-1786) 1. Frederick as Aufklärer 2. Frederick and Religion: Pluralism and an Open Door 3. Reform of the State: Equity and Alacrity in the Legal System Image: Antoine Pense (1683-1757), Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia (1730) Image: Adolf von Menzel (1815-1905), The Flute Concert (1852) Image right: Johann Georg Ziesenis (1716-1776), Frederick II, King of Prussia (1763). The only portrait of King Frederick for which he is known to have posed. Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

B. The Reforms of Joseph, the “People’s Emperor” (Emperor 1765-1780; Ruler of the Habsburgs Lands, 1780-1790) 1. The Reform of Religion 2. Reforming the Justice System 2. Agrarian Reforms: The Abolition of Serfdom Image: Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702–1789), Maria Theresia of Austria (1762) Image: Coronation Dinner for Joseph II (1780) Image: Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787), Emperor Joseph II and Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany (1769) Image: Joseph II helps out with plowing in Moravia, 1769 (1799) C. Enlightened Reform in Spain under Charles III (r. 1759-1788) Image: Charles III, King of Spain (r. 1759-1788) III. The European State System in the Age of “Limited War” A. The Habsburg Succession and the Dawn of “German Dualism” B. The Wars of Frederick II and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 C. Russia and the Extirpation of Poland Map: The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) Map: Global Alliances in the War of the Austrian Succession Map: The Seven Years War (1756-1763) as Global Conflict Image: Catherine II, Empress of all the Russias (r. 1762-1796) Map: The Russian Campaign of 1756-1760 Map: The Partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795) Image left: Emperor Joseph II (1765-1790), the “People’s Emperor”. Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Image right: An allegory of the Miller Arnold affair (1770-1779), in which Frederick II intervened on against his own judiciary on behalf of a poor miller, whom the king believed had been the victim of socially biased justice.

Privilege and Protest in Old Regime Europe I. Alexis de Tocqueville and the Crisis of the Old Regime Image: Théodore Chassériau (1819–1856), Alexis de Tocqueville (1850) Big Thinkers: Alexis de Tocqueville's Explanation of the French Revolution II. The American Experiment A. Enlightenment, Reform, and the American Revolution B. European Perceptions of the American Experiment C. The American Revolution and Popular Politics in Britain Image: John Trumbull (1756–1843), The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, 19 October 1781 (1826) Image: The Marquis de Lafayette as a Major General in the Continental Army Image: A French Perception of Revolution in France Image: A Franklin Etching from Germany

Image above left: A late eighteenth-century snuffbox, showing Benjamin Franklin together with icons of the Enlightenment, Voltaire and Rousseau. For many in France, Franklin attained a stature that equaled their cultural icons Rousseau and Voltaire. When he died in 1790, he joined them in a kind of triumvirate: three sacred advocates of liberty. Above their heads is a motto: Le Flambeau de l'Univers (The Light of the Universe). In a narrow band around the edge of the image are their names, and their birth and death dates. The engraving is colored in sober tones: buff, brown and russet. The print is protected by a shallowly convex glass disc held in place by a gilt metal ring stamped with a line of running ornament in relief Image source: Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary.Image above right: William Hogarth, John Wilkes Esqr. Hogarth's satirical engraving of Wilkes shows him with a demonic-looking wig, crossed eyes, and two editions of his The North Briton, numbers 17 (in which Wilkes attacked Hogarth, among others) and the famous number 45.

III. Privilege and Protest in the Late Eighteenth Century
A. The Return of Agrarian Rebellion
B. Economic Factors: Famine and Protest in the 1770s

Image: Yemelyan Pugachev (c. 1740-1775)
Map: The Pugachev Rebellion, 1773-1775
Mapping History: Grain Riots in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Chart: Protests in Eighteenth-Century France
Chart: The Price of Rye in Metz, 1700-1787

Image above: Flag of the Belgian Revolution, 1789

C. Political Factors: Rebelling Against Oligarchy & Tyranny 1. The Esquilache Insurrection in Spain (1766) 2. The Flour War in France (1775) 3. The Belgian Revolution (1789) Map: The Esquilache Riots, March-June 1766 Image: Francisco de Goya, The Esquilache Riots (1766) Image: Né pour la peine--The Poor French Peasant (late 18th century) Map: The Habsburg Dominions (to 1815) Image: Paul-Jacob Laminit, Fighting in the Streets of Ghent, November 1789 (1790)

IV. Society and Politics in Hanoverian England

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Image left: Cornelius Gijsbrechts (1630-1675), Quodlibet (1675). Oil on canvas. Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne. Image source: Web Gallery of Art. Image right: William Hogarth (1697-1764), John Wilkes, Esq. (1763). Engraving, 14 x 9 1/16 in. Image source: Artchive. Image right: Justus Chevillet (1729-1802), Benjamin Franklin, née de Boston, en Angleterre le 17 Janv. 1706 (1778), after a portrait by Joseph-Siffrède Duplessis (1725-1802). Image source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographic Division.