What it covers: French absolutism under Louis XIV, mercantilism, absolutism in Central/Eastern Europe, the English Civil War, and the Glorious Revolution's constitutional alternative.
Exam weight: About 10–13% of the AP European History exam.
The big question: Why did some European states centralize power in an absolute monarch while England developed a constitutional model limiting royal authority?
Themes covered: States & Other Institutions of Power (SP), Economic Development (ECD), Cultural & Intellectual Developments (CID).
Key topics at a glance
Louis XIV & French Absolutism
Divine right, Versailles as political theater, and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685).
Mercantilism & Colbert
State-driven economic policy tying national wealth to trade, manufacturing, and colonial empire.
Absolutism in Central & Eastern Europe
Habsburg Austria, Hohenzollern Prussia, and Peter the Great's westernization of Russia.
The English Civil War
Charles I vs. Parliament, his execution, and Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth.
The Glorious Revolution
William and Mary, the English Bill of Rights (1689), and parliamentary supremacy.
The Dutch Republic
A constitutional, commercial alternative built on joint-stock companies and the Amsterdam Exchange Bank.
Joint-Stock Companies & Finance
The Dutch and English East India Companies, plus the Bank of England, financed overseas trade and state debt.
Baroque Art & Legitimacy
Grand, dramatic art and architecture projected the power and divine sanction of absolutist rulers.
The key terms you must know
Divine right of kings — the doctrine that a monarch's authority comes directly from God.
Louis XIV & Versailles — the model of absolutism, with the palace as a tool of political control and propaganda.
Mercantilism — economic policy tying state wealth to a favorable balance of trade and colonial commerce.
Peter the Great — forcibly westernized Russia's military, bureaucracy, and culture.
Glorious Revolution (1688) — the bloodless overthrow of James II by William and Mary.
English Bill of Rights (1689) — codified parliamentary supremacy over the monarchy.
Constitutionalism — government in which the ruler's power is legally limited and shared with representative bodies.
Joint-stock companies — pooled-investment ventures that financed overseas colonial trade.
Key themes to remember
Absolutism and constitutionalism were competing answers to the same problem. Both tried to stabilize the state after decades of conflict, but through opposite means.
Religion and political power remained intertwined. Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes used religious uniformity to reinforce absolutist control.
Economic policy was a tool of state power. Mercantilism wasn't just economics — it was a strategy for building the resources behind absolutist and constitutional states alike.
Art and architecture carried political meaning. Baroque style at Versailles wasn't decoration; it was deliberate propaganda for royal legitimacy.
Common exam traps
Don't treat absolutism as totally unlimited power in practice. Even Louis XIV had to negotiate with nobles, the Church, and regional institutions — absolutism was an ideal, not always the reality.
The Glorious Revolution was largely bloodless — don't confuse it with the violent English Civil War decades earlier.
Peter the Great's reforms were about military and administrative power, not democratic change. Russia remained autocratic even as it westernized.
The Dutch Republic was prosperous without absolutism, showing commercial success didn't require centralized royal power.
Mercantilism is not the same as free trade. It depended on state regulation and colonial monopolies, the opposite of free-market economics.