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In 1693, he and his heirs were acclaimed as “absolute, sovereign kings, responsible for their actions to no man on earth.”

Charles XII was primarily interested in military affairs. Energetic and regarded as a brilliant general, his grandiose plans and strategies, which involved Sweden in conflicts with Poland, Denmark, and Russia, proved to be Sweden’s undoing. By the time he died in 1718, Charles XII had lost much of Sweden’s northern empire to Russia, and Sweden’s status as a first-class northern power had ended.

Sweden in the Seventeenth Century

The Ottoman Empire

After conquering Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Turks tried to complete their conquest of the Balkans, where they had been established since the fourteenth century (see Map 15.6). Although they were successful in taking the Romanian territory of Wallachia in 1476, the resistance of the Hungarians kept them from advancing up the Danube valley. From 1480 to 1520, internal problems and the need to consolidate their eastern frontiers kept the Turks from any further attacks on Europe.

The reign of Sultan Suleiman (soo-lay-MAHN) I the Magnificent (1520–1566), however, brought the Turks back to Europe’s attention. Advancing up the Danube, the Turks seized Belgrade in 1521 and Hungary by 1526, although their attempts to conquer Vienna in 1529 were repulsed. At the same time, the Turks extended their power into the western Mediterranean, threatening to turn it into a Turkish lake until a large Turkish fleet was destroyed by the Spanish at Lepanto (in modern-day Greece) in 1571. Despite the defeat, the Turks continued to hold nominal control over the southern shores along the Mediterranean.

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CHRONOLOGY Absolutism in Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe

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Brandenburg-Prussia

Hohenzollerns established in Brandenburg

1415

Hohenzollerns established in Brandenburg

1415

Hohenzollerns acquire lands along the Rhine

1609

Hohenzollerns acquire East Prussia

1618

Frederick William the Great Elector

1640–1688

Elector Frederick III (King Frederick I)

1688–1713

Austrian Empire

Leopold I

1658–1705

Turkish siege of Vienna

1683

Treaty of Karlowitz

1699

Russia

Ivan IV the Terrible

1533–1584

Time of Troubles

1598–1613

Michael Romanov

1613–1645

Peter the Great

1689–1725

First trip to the West

1697–1698

Great Northern War

1701–1721

Construction of Saint Petersburg begins

1703

Battle of Poltava

1709

Denmark

Christian IV

1588–1648

“Bloodless Revolution”

1660

Christian V

1670–1699

Sweden

Gustavus Adolphus

1611–1632

Christina

1633–1654

Charles X

1654–1660

Charles XI

1660–1697

Charles XII

1697–1718

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Although Europeans frequently spoke of new Christian Crusades against the “infidel” Turks, by the beginning of the seventeenth century the Ottoman Empire was being treated like just another European power by European rulers seeking alliances and trade concessions. The Ottoman Empire possessed a highly effective governmental system, especially when it was led by strong sultans or powerful grand viziers (prime ministers). The splendid capital, Constantinople, possessed a population far larger than that of any European city. Nevertheless, Ottoman politics periodically degenerated into bloody intrigues as factions fought each other for influence and the throne. In one particularly gruesome practice, a ruling sultan would murder his brothers to avoid challenges to his rule. Despite the periodic bouts of civil chaos, a well-trained bureaucracy of civil servants continued to administer state affairs efficiently.

MAP 15.6 The Ottoman Empire. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Ottoman Empire possessed an effective bureaucracy and military. During this period, it conquered much of the Balkans and made inroads into eastern Europe; by 1699, however, it had lost the farthest reaches of its European territory and would never again pose a serious threat to Europe.

In what region did the Ottomans make the greatest territorial gains