Worksheet: Central and Eastern Europe: Political Power Shifts

Name:______

Worksheet: Central and Eastern Europe: Political Power Shifts

During the 1700s

Directions: Use pages 490-501 to answer the following questions AND note that it MUST be handwritten.

1.  Generally speaking, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe had several characteristics that distinguished them from the countries of Western Europe (The Maritime Nations). Listed below are some of these characteristics. Discuss the consequences of each.

1)  The countries of Central and Eastern Europe were more landlocked and had little coastline.

2)  The economies were almost exclusively agrarian (little if any industry and manufacturing).

3)  Fighting between the countries occurred primarily at home rather than at sea.

4)  Most of the regions in Central and Eastern Europe lacked centralized governments.

2.  What were the three countries (and the families that ruled them) that were able to centralize during the 1700s?

3.  What were the three countries in Central and Eastern Europe that fell from power during the 1700s? What characteristics did they have in common?

4.  Who was Charles XII?

5.  What were millets? Who were zimmis? How did these things distinguish the Ottoman Empire from the rest of Europe?

6.  What was the title given to the leader of the Ottoman Empire? What was the capital of the Ottoman Empire?

7.  What was the Sejm? What was the liberum veto and how did it contribute to the decline of Poland as a political power in Eastern Europe?

8.  Did the Habsburgs try to centralize the Holy Roman Empire? Why or why not? What did they do instead?

9.  What group within the Austrian Empire provided the greatest opposition to the Habsburgs and their efforts to centralize their territories?

10.  What did Leopold I do to increase the power of the Habsburgs and help centralize their holdings?

11.  Who was Charles VI? What was the Pragmatic Sanction and how did it weaken the Habsburg monarchy?

12.  What were the problems faced by the Hohenzollerns in their quest to centralize Prussia?

13.  Explain how the Hohenzollerns used the army to centralize Prussia.

14.  Who were the junkers?

15.  Discuss the objectives and accomplishments of the following Hohenzollern rulers.

Frederick William, the Great Elector (r. 1640-1688)

Frederick I, "King in Prussia" (r. 1688-1713)

Frederick William I (r. 1713-1740)

Frederick II (r. 1740-1786)