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Frederick the Great of Prussia and Joseph II of Austria adopted the newfound ideas of the Enlightenment to different extents with Frederick the Great advancing the ideas by implementing religious toleration, freedom of speech and press, and setting a single code of laws for all of his subjects and not advancing them by not abolishing serfdom for fear of upsetting the “Junkers”, or Prussian nobility; Joseph II advanced the ideas of the Enlightenment eagerly by completely abolishing serfdom paying no heed to what it could cause socially and politically and he didn’t advance these ideas in the end because his many reforms caused alienation of the church and nobility and radical changes in social hierarchy.
Frederick the Great of Prussia advanced the ideas of the Enlightenment by adapting them to his scenario politically and socially to propitiate his subjects after his father’s reign. He was rightly branded as the first “servant to the state” because of his firm belief that all of his decisions as a monarch should be to benefit his subjects not to force his subjects to benefit him. Some of his most important enlightened decisions include abolishing torture and requiring the death penalty to be used in only extreme cases, advocating general education, enforcing agricultural reforms, establishing complete religious toleration, the professional construction of buildings that housed the arts, and the removal of guilds. Agricultural reforms were necessary in order to feed the vast population of his empire. Enacting religious toleration was not hard for Frederick because he did not have a religion and it improved immigration giving him more men to place in his army. The buildings that housed the arts, such as the Opera House, were very imp...
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...lienated the church and nobility. Therefore, much more than half of Joseph’s empire was unemployed and confused of where to go next causing a great economic depression.
Overall, Joseph II was a much more enlightened thinker than Frederick the Great, but Frederick reached the goals of the Enlightenment while Joseph did not. Frederick more so clothed absolutism with the robes of the Enlightenment and consequently advanced the ideas of the Enlightenment successfully. Joseph II was more rushed in his applications of these new ideas on the unprepared society he ruled and therefore did not advance Enlightenment ideas.
Works Cited
"The Enlightened Despots." The Enlightened Despots. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
Spielvogel, Jackson J. "Chapter 18." Western Civilization. 8th ed. Australia: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2009. 546-54. Print.
"Utilitarianism." Utilitarianism. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
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The question then was, why did areas of economic development and growth respond positively to a revolution in the Church?... ... middle of paper ... ... The only other source with the resources available to commit to this type of investment would have been the state, which would not necessarily have seen the need to invest in this manner when they already had possession of large quantities of wealth.