Absolutism: Peter The Great And Catherine The Great

Many absolute rulers have been terrible throughout the history of Europe. Absolutism, a pattern of failure. Peter the Great and Catherine the Great had many improvements in Russia such as inviting the west. Absolutism is a government in which the ruler has total control over politics and the military. Peter and Catherine are examples of absolutism in Russia. Wars in Russia allowed people in Europe to get ports along the Black Sea, but the war was expensive. Absolutism has a wide history, but there are many aspects that have the potential creation of a peaceful country like Russia. Russia would be a desirable place to live in for the commoners.
Russia was a feudal past country when other countries were living in the present. Without Peter
the Great, Russia would not have been introduced to the West. Peter had gone to the west and had lived there for several years, learning about the culture, technology, and ideas. When he came back to Russia, he did not forget about the advancements he had learned about and applied them to Russia. He brought European experts to Russia to have more influence. Additionally, Catherine also puts western influence into Russia. She learned French resulting in french poetry and plays. This is good for the commoners because they started to gain more knowledge and become more productive in receiving an education. Without the introduction to the western culture, Russia would still have been in the feudal past for several years
Territory was hard to receive in Europe.
Many countries would have arguments and go to war for many years to get a piece of land. Peter and Catherine had the same ideas of expanding Russia. They wanted to expand the borders of Russia. Peter, had a strong military which helped him expand the borders of the West and South. His army also defeated Sweden and got land along the Baltic Sea. Peter built St. Petersburg, a palace on his land, that he won. Peter also did things more sufficiently. He signed a treaty with Qing,China which defined the common border and the rights of Manchuria. However, Catherine was more brilliant. She was able to achieve what Peter was not able to do, get the warm-water port by going to war with ottoman. Catherine also took steps in seizing parts of Poland later, disappearing from the map. This created opportunities for the commoners because land equals more power and the more expansions and land Russia got, the more opportunities there were for commoners to get a job even if it was labor. Many Countries did not own as much land as Russia, which was disadvantaged in many
factors.
All the Countries had good and bad factors for commoners.
Austria and Spain are two countries that are not well for commoners to live in. Even though Russia had serfdom, Austria and Spain had negativity that did not help the commoners. They had strong leaders to guide them, but many became selfish and put their country into grief. Austria is a undesirable place to live in because it had the thirty year war, which caused depopulation and the draining of wealth which would not help the commoners because now they have to pay taxes and help the war go on for thirty years. Spain is also a bad country because in the beginning, Spain had a wealthy military, but as time went by they became bankrupted and had a poorly thought out military. Having a poor military would mean that your military would be losing many times with other powerful militaries. Living in Austria or Spain would not have been fortunate.
Many countries have different types of absolute rulers. Russia had two strong ones; Peter and Catherine. They did not only introduce the lifestyle of the West, but they also expanded territory, made education important to learn, and had the largest standing army in Europe. These are benefits that the commoners are getting even with some work. Austria and Spain are two other Countries that lack what Russia had. They did not have a strong military, and when they did many wars made them uneasy. Russia would be a desirable place to live in based on the opportunities it
provided.