Unit I overview and essential questions (Transformation of Political Thought: Absolutism, Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment)

OVERVIEW

A common theme in European history is that of transformation.  It is this theme that unifies our first unit, how European political thought was transformed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  We will first look at the rise of absolutism and how the rule of a single, all-powerful monarch transformed Europe, contributing to the rise of the nation-state.  Then we will turn to the Scientific Revolution, a movement that challenged absolutism's power by demanding that reason, not faith, be the basis of understanding.  Lastly, we will turn to the Enlightenment and discover how this movement's desire to impose freedom on social and political institutions also challenged absolutism's iron grip on power.  By the end of this unit, we will see how the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment responded to absolutism and in turn transformed Europe. 

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

1.  How did Louis XIV use absolutism to maintain power?

2.  How did the Scientific Revolution transform Europe and challenge absolutism?

3.  How did the Enlightenment transform Europe and challenge absolutism?

• Official Versailles Web site
• Versailles with panoramic views
• Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Louis XIV (1701)
• Louis XIV on horseback