Absolute Monarchy

     The Enlightenment was all about how everyone was equal and had the right to make their own decisions, and not always trust what the government was telling them. The monarchs wanted everyone to obey and not question their orders. For the people living in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, an absolute monarchy appeared to be the only way to dealing with the problems that disturbed it. “France, for example, had been torn apart from religious wars, the citizens hade no respect for law and order, the feudal nobility had seized control and the finances of the central government were in chaos.” After the development of a strong national government and powerful monarchy, in countries such as Prussia, Austria, and Russia, strengthened their standing armies, gained new territories, improved commerce, dealt accordingly with religious problems, and made important compromises with the nobility and aristocracy. The differences between monarchies and democracies are monarchies are a form of government where the King or Queen, decide everything for the people while a democracy is a form of government where the people have much more freedom and the right to choose and vote on things related to government.