Define enlightened despotism.

Rule by an absolute monarch who justifies his power by reason and the welfare of his subjects, reforming law, religion and administration without surrendering any authority.

Frederick's summer palace at Potsdam, built in the 1740s, where he wrote, played the flute and dined with men of letters.

Give three arguments against calling Frederick an enlightened ruler.

Serfdom survived on noble estates, the Junkers' privileges were deliberately reinforced, and he began an unprovoked war of conquest in Silesia.

How did Frederick's treatment of the peasantry fall short of Enlightenment principle?

He accepted that hereditary subjection was the basis of the estate economy and of the canton system, and would not risk the Junkers' loyalty by abolishing it.

WJEC A-Level History 601-5817-7

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Topic overview Henry VII and the establishment of the Tudor dynasty The revolution in government under Henry VIII Wolsey, Cromwell and Cecil as chief ministers Elizabeth, the privy council and Parliament The Henrician Reformation Religion under Edward VI and Mary I The Elizabethan Church Settlement The Pilgrimage of Grace and the Tudor rebellions Trade, industry and the growth of towns The rise of the gentry and social change Poverty, vagrancy and the poor laws The Acts of Union and the government of Wales Religion, the Welsh Bible and Welsh identity

Government, Revolution and Society in Wales and England c.1603-1715Period study

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Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880Period study

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Topic overview The Catholic Church in the early sixteenth century Exploration, the New World and its impact on Europe The growing power of the nation states Renaissance culture and humanism Luther and the challenge to Rome The spread of Lutheranism: printing, towns and social pressures From the Schmalkaldic League to the Peace of Augsburg The Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent Francis I and the French monarchy Habsburg-Valois rivalry Charles V and the government of the Holy Roman Empire Philip II: finance, government and foreign policy Suleiman the Magnificent and Ottoman expansion The Christian reaction and the battle of Lepanto

Europe in the Age of Absolutism and Revolution c.1682-1815Period study

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Europe in an Age of Conflict and Co-Operation c.1890-1991Period study

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The Mid Tudor Crisis in Wales and England c.1529-1570Depth study

Topic overview Lawlessness in Wales and the Council in the Marches The Acts of Union 1536 and 1543 The King's Great Matter and the royal supremacy Thomas Cromwell and the dissolution of the monasteries Opposition to religious change and the Pilgrimage of Grace Edward VI's minority: Somerset, Northumberland and faction The Edwardian Prayer Books and Acts of Uniformity The rebellions of 1549 and the response of authority Mary Tudor's accession, marriage and the Wyatt rebellion Catholic restoration and persecution under Mary Society, the economy and the Welsh gentry after the Acts of Union The Elizabethan Church Settlement and the Welsh Scriptures Puritanism and the Catholic threat to 1570

Royalty, Rebellion and Republic c.1625-1660Depth study

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Reform and Protest in Wales and England c.1783-1848Depth study

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Politics and Society in Wales and England c.1900-1939Depth study

Topic overview Population change and the surveys of Booth and Rowntree Conservative government to 1905 and the 1906 election The Liberal welfare reforms 1906-1914 The People's Budget and the Parliament Act 1911 Heavy industry, agriculture and the Welsh economy before 1914 Industrial unrest in Wales: the Penrhyn lockout, Tonypandy and Llanelli Trade unions and the rise of the Labour Party Women, the vote and war work Religion, education and Welsh culture Wales and the Great War: voluntarism, conscription and the home front Industrial decline, the coal disputes and the General Strike of 1926 The Depression in Wales: unemployment, migration and government response Politics between the wars: from the Lloyd George coalition to the National Government Society, leisure and popular culture between the wars

The Religious Reformation in Europe c.1500-1564Depth study

Topic overview The Church in Europe in 1500: power, wealth and daily life Criticism of the Church: anticlericalism, heresy and the humanists Indulgences, Tetzel and the Ninety-Five Theses From Leipzig to Worms: Luther's break with Rome The development of Lutheran doctrine The Knights' Revolt and the Peasants' War Zwingli, the radicals and division among the reformers Printing, princes and cities: the spread of Lutheranism The Augsburg Confession and the Schmalkaldic League Charles V, the Schmalkaldic War and the Peace of Augsburg Anabaptism and the Münster rebellion John Calvin, Geneva and the spread of Calvinism The Catholic revival: Paul III, the Inquisition and the Council of Trent Loyola, the Jesuits and the reforming orders

France in Revolution c.1774-1815Depth study

Topic overview The three estates: privilege and burden under the Ancien Régime Government, finance and the ideas of the philosophes Turgot, Necker and Calonne: the failure of reform The Assembly of Notables, the cahiers and the Estates General 1789: the National Assembly, the Bastille and the Great Fear The October Days and the reforms of the National Assembly The Church, refractory priests and the Constitution of 1791 Varennes, the Legislative Assembly and the coming of war The fall of the monarchy and the September Massacres The Convention, the execution of Louis and the Vendée The Terror: government, Robespierre and the factions Thermidor, the Directory and the rise of Bonaparte Napoleon's reforms as Consul and Emperor War, the Continental System and the fall of Napoleon

The Crisis of the American Republic c.1840-1877Depth study

Topic overview North and South: two societies by 1840 The institution of slavery in the South Manifest Destiny, the Mexican War and the Wilmot Proviso The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law Abolitionism: Garrison, Stowe and John Brown The Kansas-Nebraska Act and Bleeding Kansas The Republican party and the Dred Scott decision Lincoln and the Lincoln-Douglas debates Harpers Ferry, the election of 1860 and secession The resources, commanders and strategy of North and South Campaigns, the home fronts and the defeat of the South Lincoln's war presidency and emancipation Johnson, Congress and the Reconstruction amendments Radical Reconstruction, the Klan and Redemption

Germany: Democracy and Dictatorship c.1918-1945Depth study

Topic overview The revolution of 1918 and the Weimar Constitution The Treaty of Versailles and its impact on Germany The Spartacists, the Kapp Putsch and the threats to the republic Reparations, the Ruhr and the hyperinflation of 1923 The early Nazi party and the Munich Putsch Stresemann, the Dawes and Young Plans and Locarno The Nazi party 1924-1932 and the growth of its support The Depression and the collapse of parliamentary government Hitler's consolidation of power 1933-1934 Propaganda, terror and the extent of Nazi control Nazi racial policy and the persecution of the Jews Young people, women, workers and the churches under the Nazis The Nazi economy: recovery, rearmament and total war Nazi foreign policy and the Second World War

Wales: Resistance, Conquest and Rebellion c.1240-1415Breadth study

Topic overview Welsh law and the legal system of the princes Society, the rural economy and the Church before 1282 The princes of Gwynedd and the road to 1282 The Edwardian conquest and settlement Resistance and rebellion 1294 to 1345 The Black Death and economic change in Wales Owain Glyndŵr and the revolt of 1400 Change and continuity in Wales 1240 to 1415

Poverty, Protest and Rebellion in Wales and England c.1485-1603Breadth study

Topic overview Population, inflation and the growth of poverty Enclosure and the consolidation of estates Charity, the towns and local schemes for relief The Church, the monasteries and the merchant classes Vagrancy, the sturdy beggar and punishment Government legislation from 1495 to the Poor Law of 1601 Change and continuity in the treatment of poverty Henry VII, Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck Wales, Rhys ap Gruffydd and the marcher lordships The Henrician religious changes and the Pilgrimage of Grace The Western Rebellion and Kett's rebellion Lady Jane Grey and Wyatt's rebellion Mary Queen of Scots, the northern earls and the plots against Elizabeth The Essex rebellion and the changing pattern of rebellion

Reformation and Discovery: Europe c.1492-1610Breadth study

Topic overview The condition of the Catholic Church around 1500 Luther and the challenge to Rome The early reaction of the Catholic Church The spread of the Reformation in the 1520s and 1530s Zwingli, Calvin and the Reformed tradition The Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation Religious war and schism in France, the Netherlands and central Europe Change and continuity in European religion 1500 to 1600 Motives for exploration and the role of monarchs The early explorers: Columbus, da Gama, Cabot and Magellan Spain, Portugal, England and the Netherlands overseas The Spanish Main, colonisation and indigenous peoples Merchants, science and the changing world 1492 to 1610

Royalty, Revolution and Restoration in Wales and England c.1603-1715Breadth study

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France: Ancien Régime to Napoleon c.1715-1815Breadth study

Topic overview The three estates and the structure of French society Absolutism, Versailles and the machinery of the state Taxation, finance and the fiscal crisis The Enlightenment and the challenge to authority From monarchy to republic 1789 to 1792 Terror, the sans-culottes and the Directory Napoleon: power, administration and the Concordat Society, economy and the balance sheet of the period

Parliamentary Reform and Protest in Wales and England c.1780-1885Breadth study

Topic overview The unreformed parliamentary system Early reform, the Younger Pitt and the French Revolution The London Corresponding Society and Pitt's repression Industrialisation, rural change and the Luddites Popular protest and repression 1815 to 1822 The Reform Bill crisis 1830 to 1832 The terms and impact of the 1832 Reform Act The Merthyr rising of 1831 Swing, rural protest and the Rebecca riots The aims and leaders of Chartism Chartist action, Newport and the failure of the movement Trade unionism from Robert Owen to the new model unions Public order, radical revival and the Second Reform Act Parliamentary reform 1872 to 1885 and change across the period

Social Change and Reform in Wales and England c.1890-1990Breadth study

Topic overview Education from the Welsh Intermediate Act to 1944 The working classes, poverty and the Liberal reforms c.1890-1914 Housing, health and welfare before 1939 The Depression in Wales and the National Government Beveridge, the welfare state and the 1945 government Affluence, poverty and unemployment 1951 to 1979 The Thatcher years 1979 to 1990 Women, the family and social change Consumer society, leisure and popular culture

The American Century c.1890-1990Breadth study

Topic overview Jim Crow and the erosion of Black freedom Civil rights from the New Deal to Truman Brown, Montgomery and non-violent protest King, Washington and the civil rights acts Black Power, the riots and the aftermath Civil rights after 1968 and the new South American imperialism and the road to world power Isolationism, the Second World War and the Cold War Détente, Reagan and the end of the Cold War

Changing Leadership and Society in Germany c.1871-1989Breadth study

Topic overview The Bismarckian state and the imperial constitution Bismarck, the parties and the Kulturkampf Wilhelmine Germany and the appeal of social democracy War, revolution and the Weimar Republic Weimar recovery, society and culture The Nazi political system Nazi economy and society The two Germanies and reunification Change and continuity in Germany 1871 to 1989

Changing Leadership and Society in Russia c.1881-1989Breadth study

Topic overview Alexander III and political reaction Opposition to Tsarism before 1914 The 1905 Revolution and the Duma 1917: from February to October Consolidating the Bolshevik revolution to 1924 Stalin's rise and the nature of Soviet government The planned economy: collectivisation and the Five Year Plans Russia and its people before 1914 Khrushchev, de-Stalinisation and reform Brezhnev, Andropov and stagnation Gorbachev, glasnost and perestroika Change and continuity in Russia 1881 to 1989

Europe in the Age of Absolutism and Revolution c.1682-1815

Frederick the Great as an enlightened despot

3 things to know
AS Unit 1

Overview

Enlightened despotism, frederick's relationship with Voltaire and frederick's attitude to representative institutions.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Numbers

What was Frederick's relationship with Voltaire?

Key term

What was Sanssouci?

Key term

Give three reforms cited in support of calling Frederick an enlightened ruler.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
Define enlightened despotism.
Model answer
Rule by an absolute monarch who justifies his power by reason and the welfare of his subjects, reforming law, religion and administration without surrendering any authority.
2
What was Frederick's relationship with Voltaire?
Model answer
A long correspondence and a stay of three years at Potsdam from 1750, which ended in a bitter quarrel but advertised Frederick as a philosopher king.
3
What was Sanssouci?
Model answer
Frederick's summer palace at Potsdam, built in the 1740s, where he wrote, played the flute and dined with men of letters.
4
Give three reforms cited in support of calling Frederick an enlightened ruler.
Model answer
Religious toleration, the abolition of judicial torture and the codification of the law.
5
Give three arguments against calling Frederick an enlightened ruler.
Model answer
Serfdom survived on noble estates, the Junkers' privileges were deliberately reinforced, and he began an unprovoked war of conquest in Silesia.
6
How did Frederick's treatment of the peasantry fall short of Enlightenment principle?
Model answer
He accepted that hereditary subjection was the basis of the estate economy and of the canton system, and would not risk the Junkers' loyalty by abolishing it.

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Government, Rebellion and Society in Wales and England c.1485-1603

Government, Revolution and Society in Wales and England c.1603-1715

Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880

Politics, People and Progress: Wales and England c.1880-1980

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