1) His father, Charles V retired, leaving Phillip II with Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, and the American colonies. 2) 1555. 3) He had very bad trust issues, so he didn’t allow anyone to help him. 4) He conquers Portugal, broke the power of the Turkish in the Mediterranean 5) The empire had severe inflation, lost many valuable artisans and business people, and never developed a middle class. 6) He was deeply religious, very hard working, and extremely wealthy. 7) He maintained a powerful army to control his subjects. 8) He had a self-policy to not trust anyone. His own court historian wrote, “His smile and his dagger were very close.” 9) He was a defender of Catholicism. He went to war against the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire, and European Protestants to defend Catholicism. 10)
Section 2) France- Louis XIV
1) After his father, Louis XIII died he became ruler. 2) 1643 3) Cardinal Mazarin, government agents called intendants who collected taxes and administered justice, and his minister in finance Jean Baptiste Colbert. 4) He helped France attain economic, political, and cultural brilliance. Also, he made opera and ballet more popular, and gained a region called Franche- Comté. 5) He cancelled the Edict of Nantes, which made thousands of Huguenot artisans and business workers flee the country. 6) He lived in absolute luxury, fought many wars, and had many of his people happy over his death. 7) He had nearly 500 cooks, waiters, and other servants to satisfy his every need. He also kept about 100 of the most privileged nobles in his court. 8) Edict of Nantes protected the religious freedom of Huguenots, which he later cancelled in 1685. He controlled nobility by keeping about 100 nobles in his court. He excluded nobles from council in 1661. 9) Edict of Nantes was in place until he cancelled it in 1685, which took away the freedom of the Huguenots. The empire was Catholic. 10) He died in 1715, depressed because he knew that his wars had ruined France. Although, he left France ranking above all others in the arts, literature, and statesmanship.
Section 4) Russia- Peter the Great
1) Peter I and his brother Ivan became co-tsars after the death of their eldest brother, Fedor Alexeyvich. However, in 1696 Peter became the sole ruler of Russia and was named Peter the Great. 2) 1696 is when he became absolute ruler, before he shared the throne with his half brother. 3) Only his half brother, Fedor Alexeyvich who ruled alongside Peter I before 1696. 4) The foundation of St. Petersburg, he transformed Russia from weak, to one of the most powerful states in Europe. He also built Russia’s first real Army and Navy. 5) There’s not much, but he died with an army of over 200,000 men, which caused Russia to be heavily taxed. Also he didn’t really leave anyone to take his place, so there were harsh times after he passed. 6) He was a pretty unique ruler. The only thing that I found similar to other rulers was
