To What Extent Did Catherine The Great Change Russia

Vincent Vo
Period 3
Unit 4 and 5 Reflection HW
Unit 4
How did Peter the Great and Catherine the Great change Russia?
Both Russian rulers largely reformed their country by introducing ideas and customs from Western Europe. Peter the Great was especially known for his trip to Western Europe and bringing back knowledge of finance, politics, military, etc. Through his reform of the military system and the nobility and construction of many factories, Peter brought Russia up to the surface from its longtime submersion under the ice. Catherine the Great was known for her adoption of Enlightenment ideas, even if she wasn’t able to get far in applying those ideas in Russia.
How did significant persons such as Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Voltaire, and Condorcet
contribute to the development of ideas during the Age of Absolutism?
Montesquieu believed in no gender equality, a government with 3 branches, and religious toleration. He also had no quarrel with slavery. Adam Smith believed that each person should pursue his or her own interests. He is also unsupported of the laissez-faire system of economics. Voltaire’s ideas conflicted with other philosophies, the government, and the church. He despised prejudice and believed that everyone has equal freedom. Condorcet believed in equality of nations, and economic freedom. He supported a republic as the basis of government and the French Revolution. Hobbes, another important person, believed that people were innately evil. That without a government, people would become corrupt and society would progress towards anarchy. Locke, on the other hand, believed that people are innately good. It is from the ideas of Locke that our country based the creation of the Declaration of Independence off of.
How did the Catholic Church and European monarchs react to the ideas of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment?
The Church and the monarchs responded with strong disapproval. Those who believed differently from the established beliefs, such as geocentrism versus heliocentrism, were targeted and encouraged to leave the country. The ruling authorities also expanded the established censorship system and banned publications that spoke of ideas and beliefs that went against the Church. Galileo, who is famous for being the first to use the telescope to look up at the sky, was forced, by the Church, to recant his advocating of heliocentrism.
Unit 5
What was one significant result of the French Revolution?
One of the most notable results of the French Revolution was the shift of power from the nobility to the bourgeoisie.
Before the revolution, the bourgeoisie, or the wealthier and working part of the middle class, belonged to the Third Estate. The Third Estate, out of the Estates, had the almost no rights and the largest tax burden. However, after the new National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and drafted a new constitution for France, the nobility was eliminated and the bourgeoisie gained a massive amount of political power.
How did the new scientific view regarding authority change during the Scientific Revolution?
Before the Scientific Revolution, scientists were performing data tests based off of previously established data rather than test data of their own. However, during the later sixteenth century, attitude towards authority was changing. Men were no longer content to rely on previous authority for the truth. Instead, they started to do their own observation and experimentation. Such as The Royal Society, instituted the method of scientific inquiry known as laboratory experimentation.
What was a significant law that changed the lives of the French people after the French
Revolution?
Probably one of the most important laws that came to be during the French Revolution would be the aforementioned Declaration of the Rights of Man. In the Old Regime, all cultural activities, such as theater and plays, and written material, such as books and newspapers, could only be published and performed after they had been approved by the King. The Declaration of the Rights of Man declared freedom of speech and expression to be a natural right, thus eliminating the censorship of the Old Regime.