Absolute Monarchies: An Effective Form Of Government

Absolute monarchies were an effective form of government during the 15 th and 16 th centuries.
Even through this form of government was restrictive, it really did help move countries in the direction they needed to go. Absolutism does not give people a say in their government, but
Absolute Monarchies were useful when fighting for new territory, unifying people in the territories that were conquered and ultimately spurring the people to demand a democratic system of government.
During the 15t h and 16 th centuries it was important for kings to gain new territories to grow their empires. Many absolute monarchs thought the more land you had, the more power and influence you had. That did seem to be the case, but it didn’t always turn out that

After fighting for a long time, Charles V eventually allowed the German princes to pick the religion they would follow. Philip II strengthened the Catholic church which gave him more power to strengthen Spain. Henry VI helped France by converting to
Catholicism. The strong leadership of these monarchs were what brought improvement in their countries. Absolute monarchs were much too focused on gaining more territories. There was much less attention given to the needs of the people and their day to day lives. During the age of absolutism, the royal families and the clergy had the most money. All the rest of the people were very poor. This eventually spurring people to fight for democratic system of government. The people wanted more say in the government. In time, England’s King Henry and later Queen
Elizabeth worked with Parliament and consulted them frequently. James Stuart inherited the
English throne when Elizabeth I died, but Stuart wasn’t good at working with Parliament. A century of revolution began. A Civil war broke out between Cavaliers and the Roundheads
Oliver Cromwell led the Roundheads to victory ushering in a new republic form of