Age of Absolutism

   The Age of Absolutism was a very exciting time for everyone. Everywhere as far as the eye could see, there was a type of rule called absolutism. Absolutism is when all of the laws and decisions were determined solely by the ruler, called the monarch. Since the rule of a monarch was called a monarchy, an absolute monarchy was the rule of one person who was in charge of everything. This means one person is making all the choices. No matter which choice was made, you can’t ever end up making everyone happy. So regardless of whether they affected you positively or negatively, someone saw achievement, someone else saw weakness, and everyone saw the end results from both sides of the coin.

    The way the achievements of the Absolutism period were put together made that time remarkable. In many ways, the best thing they could have done was expanding trade and industry. Exporting trade was Europe’s main source of  money, while importing was where all the goods were coming from. Once Europe emerged as a trading power, it brought wealth to it’s many countries. In addition to trade, a few more things that Europe achieved had to do with the arts and literature. William Shakespeare was a major influence on the new ways of writing, composing sonnets, and making plays like A Midsummer Nights Dream. In comparison to a golden age, I’d say that the achievements of the Absolutism period comes pretty close.

    Although a weakness is a negative thing, the way the weaknesses of Absolutism made everything carry along so smoothly was a great thing in itself. There were several things that made long-lasting effects on Europe during this time frame, however war was the primary downer. Wars like The War of Spanish Succession and The Thirty-Years War are the ones to blame. Spending so much money on these wars brought the countries toward debt, and eventually into bankruptcy. Another money issue was inflation, which is when goods raise in price, and the value of the currency decreases. This puts a drain on the Treasury, which obviously doesn’t sound like a good thing. One last thing that made these European countries weak was absolutism. From time to time you’d have a bad ruler, which would lead to an unpleasant rule. Since this mean guy who wouldn’t care the least bit about you is in charge of every law, every action, and every responsibility in the country, the outcome may be questionable.

    Whether you saw achievements or weaknesses along with the appropriate biased result, the absolute monarch at the time couldn’t please everyone. If you think about it, it’s really impossible to make everyone agree with you. For instance, a good thing for a rich man would be hell for a peasant. It may seem like it was all determined by social class, but other factors like religion were considered too. If a Protestant said something that the Catholics wouldn’t want to listen to, they criticized the Protestant, and often accused them of heresy. It’s objective what’s a positive aspect or a negative aspect, depending on what your view of the matter is. The frequently present lack of flexibility is what made the Age of Absolutism so memorable.