Enlightened Monarchs: Crash Course European History #19

Last time we learned about the Enlightenment, and the philosophers and thinkers whose ideas would shape governance for hundreds of years. This week, we’re learning how monarchs across Europe were influenced by those ideas. Adoption of Enlightenment ideas across Europe was…uneven, to say the least. In this episode, you’ll learn about Catherine the Great of Russia, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Maria Theresa of the Habsburg Dynasty, and Joseph II, her successor. We’ll also get into the impact the Enlightenment had on a series of Louis in France.

Sources

-Elliot, John H. Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America, 1492-1830. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

-Judson, Pieter M. The Habsburg Empire. A New History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016.

-Hosking, Geoffrey. Russia: People and Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.

-Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth, 2009.

-Vermes, Gábor. Hungarian Culture and Politics in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1711-1848. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2014.