The Enlightenment of Governments of Austria and Russia During the Eighteenth Century

The Enlightenment of Governments of Austria and Russia During the Eighteenth Century

Between 1690 and 1795 a wave of criticism of the government’s style of

ruling spread across Europe. There was varied response from different

countries, particularly in the second half of the C18th, when the

Enlightenment or ‘Age of Reason’ forced rulers to re-evaluate their

style of rule. Significantly however, neither the Austrian or Russian

governments had become wholly enlightened by the end of the C18th.

In 1796 Peter the Great’s aim was to make Russia a strong self

sufficient European power. Although he travelled throughout Western

Europe and declared in an enlightened way that it was “good to hear

subjects speaking truthfully and openly to their king” he was only

doing so to compete with Sweden after losing a war to them in 1700. In

1722 Peter created the Table of Ranks which set out for the nobility

how they had to serve the monarch and fulfil their duties, showing his

lack of enlightened thought as he still believed in hierarchy,

expecting the nobility to serve him. In 1699 he divided the Russian

government into Chancellerys or ‘Prikazy’ but he did not delegate any

power to them. A C20th historian, Sumner summarises Peter’s reforms to

show “a broadening of Peter’s outlook and a changing realisation of

the functions of the state” but most historians believed that Peter

was trying to transform Russia into a society where people followed

orders and conformed to rules and regulations. Peter enforced his laws

with the police force, saying that they were “the soul of civil

society and of all good order.” Catherine the Great said that Peter

“did no...

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...“did

not amount to complete emancipation or civil and religious equality”

for all.

In conclusion, the rulers in the second half of the C20th- Joseph II

and Catherine the Great were more enlightened than their predecessors

Maria-Theresa and Peter the Great, who realised that they had not done

the good that they could have done. But Catherine and Joseph’s reforms

cannot be said to be wholly enlightened as they were generally due to

fiscal and political reasons in order to make their country more

revenue and more of a great power. Although the reforms were more

humanitarian in Catherine and Joseph’s reign this was often for

utilitarian and Cameralist reasons. Both Catherine and Joseph felt

that reforms which went further than the partially enlightened ones

which they had enforced would be very likely to cause havoc.