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The Western Experience, 8/e

Mortimer Chambers, University of California - Los Angeles
Barbara Hanawalt, Ohio State University
Theodore Rabb, Princeton University
Isser Woloch, Columbia University
Raymond Grew, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The Emergence of the European State System

Problems for Analysis

I. The Creation of Absolutism in France


1		In what ways did the policies of Louis XIV build the state's power? What evidences success or failure of these policies?



2		Which view of Louis XIV's reign do you find more persuasive, Albert Sorel's or John Rule's? Why?

II. Austrian and Prussian Absolutism


3		Explain the relative success of Prussia during the eighteenth century.



4		How did Austria centralize state power during this period?

III. Absolutism in Spain and Russia


5		Compare Russian absolutism to that of France and Prussia. In what ways was it similar to each? How was it different from both?

IV. Alternatives to Absolutism


6		What developments support the argument that during the late seventeenth century the gentry triumphed in England?



7		Compare the decentralization of government and society that occurred in the United Provinces, Sweden, and Poland during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

V. The International System


8		Compare the nature of war and diplomacy during the eighteenth century with that of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.



9		What role did "reasons of state" and dynastic interests play in the wars, diplomacy, and internal policies of European states during the eighteenth century? Give examples.

2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education
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