Absolutism To Reform: Catherine The Great Of Prussia

Enlightened Absolutists were interested in true reform to the extent of of applying the principles of enlightenment to their kingdoms. The absolutists believed that going from the top to the bottom was the way to rule and the society didn’t need to rule with bureaucracy. These absolutists included Catherine II of Russia, Frederick II of Prussia, and Joseph ll of Austria. They followed the acronym of TRAP where, “T” stands for religious views, “R” for reform of institutions, “A” for absolutism, and “P” for patronage of the philosopher. Each of these philosophers had different views on the consolidation of power from each other. Catherine the Great was very light to reform, Frederick the Great was the most successful in the terms of enlightenment, …show more content…
His father was more of a despot and built the Prussian army. Therefore being more successful made him to be reformed. Frederick reformed the Prussian bureaucracy, allowing men of non-noble birth to fill senior government posts. He was a very good example of an enlightened despot, as his job was to be a concerned person for his subjects. Frederick the Great reformed the idea of civil service, where people started to get selected from the middle class and higher ranks. In this reformation what happened was the idea of meritocracy where it didn’t matter what noble family you come from to serve Fredrick to serve in the civil service. However, his support for ideals like religious tolerance led to lasting changes in Europe, and he paved the way for the complete abolition of feudalism in 1848. Additionally Frederick the Great also believed that Machiavelli was wrong about saying that the prince should do whatever he needs to be compared to what Fredrick believed. He believed that the king or prince should be least concerned about the well being of his subjects. Both of these theories which were flawed as Machiavelli was dependent as a leader on the society and Frederick the II was reliant on only caring about himself as a leader. Although he was the most successful in having the best religious toleration at the time, he was very reserved as …show more content…
In the time of Catherine the Great there was not as much reformation, but more consolidation of power. This individual was more dependent on the nobility. At the time of the death of her husband, she reversed all the rules from her husband and called all the Russian troops home as she wanted to set an era of neutrality, where Russia didn’t fight on either side of the Seven Years War. Whole look at reports that would come to her everyday, she found out that Russia was in debt, while the grain prices kept increasing, and I owe you were sitting in a treasury. Ending all wars at the time did seem like a good idea, but having no money, causing Russia to become penniless. Most of the wealth was locked up in Church land (10%). She went back and forth between officials of one of the Church that had more than one property, and what she did was threatening them. After threatening these individuals of the Church she claimed that all properties of the Church would now belong to the state, making all Church official to become peasants, and now has to pay taxes, changing their names from Church officials to state employees. Catherine the Great then wrote the Nakaz, which was a huge amount of guidelines for rewriting the laws of Russia. To do this she then called upon the society to tell her what issues they have encountered from every group of people expect