CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Introduction

II. The Structures of Government: Monarchy

A. The Evolution of Government: Parliaments,

Ministers, and Cabinets

III. The Rise of Parliamentary Government in

Hanoverian England

A. Britain and the Struggles of Empire

IV. The Vulnerable Monarchy of Bourbon France

A. The French Financial Crisis and the

Resurgent Aristocracy

V. The Habsburg Empire in the Age of Maria

Theresa

A. The Habsburg Monarchy and the

Enlightened Despotism of Joseph II

VI. The Army, the Bureaucracy, and the Rise of

Hohenzollern Prussia

A. The Prussian Monarchy of Frederick the

Great

VII. Catherine the Great and Despotism in

Romanov Russia

១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១

CHAPTER 19

THE POLITICAL EVOLUTION OF THE OLD

REGIME, 1715–89

T

his chapter examines European politics dur-

ing the last age of monarchical domination.

Several varieties of monarchy emerged

during the late seventeenth century—from

limited monarchies, restricted by constitutions, parlia-

ments, or aristocracies, to autocratic monarchies, with

few restraints on despotic powers. In most of them,

royal advisers slowly became cabinets of ministers led

by a prime minister; in some, parliaments began to gain

control over the cabinet system.

A prominent example of the latter was England un-

der the Hanoverian kings, a monarchy severely limited

by the strength of Parliament and the restrictions of the

unwritten constitution. Under the first prime minister,

Sir Robert Walpole, a cabinet system controlled by

Parliament had emerged by the 1730s. In France,

the Bourbon monarchy weakened after the death of

Louis XIV, whose successor faced a resurgence of

aristocratic power based upon control of the high

courts or parlements.The costs of war and an inadequate

system of taxation produced a financial crisis that

helped precipitate the French Revolution.

Autocratic Prussia, meanwhile, emerged as a great

power in the eighteenth century owing to the strength

of its army. Frederick the Great tried to balance despo-

tism and militarism with ideas of enlightened reform.

Austria, however, is a better illustration of enlightened

despotism, partly in the reign of Maria Theresa,

but chiefly under Joseph II, the most advanced of

eighteenth-century autocrats. Chapter 19 concludes

with a discussion of Russia, where the monarch had

despotic power and few restraints. Catherine II pre-

served autocracy in Russia by enlisting the support

of powerful aristocrats.

349