The century continued the dynamic transformations of
society and politics initiated in the previous period by
the Renaissance and Reformation. However, the unsettling
impact of these humanistic and religious transformations
helped trigger the Thirty Years' War (1618–48) between
the Catholic and Protestant powers. It involved all European
states and brought massive destruction, famine, and epidemics—especially
in the Germanies. In the end, France, Holland, and Sweden
emerged victorious and far more powerful, while the Habsburg
empire, the German states, Spain, and Poland entered into
decline.
Sweden emerged as clearly the most powerful state
in northern Europe, and took advantage of the chaos produced
by Russia's
Time of Troubles (1598–1613). Novgorod was sacked, and
in 1610, Swedish troops led by Count Jacob de la Gardie (1583–1652)
reached Moscow. A tentative attempt was made to install a son
of King Charles IX (r. 1604–11) as monarch of Russia,
but the prince traveled to Vyborg (located on the modern-day
border between Finland and Russia) and refused to venture farther.
Following several military reversals at the hands of the Russians,
and after annexing a great swath of territory extending from
modern-day Estonia to Finland—cutting off the Tsardom
from the Baltic Sea—the Swedes proved content to control
territories around the Gulf of Finland. Internally, Sweden
experienced on-again, off-again tensions between the monarch
and an aristocracy that desired certain rights and a greater
voice in state decisions. These tensions would ultimately resolve
themselves in the first quarter of the 18th century.
England
experienced domestic turmoil culminating in a revolution that
brought King Charles I (r. 1625–49) to the scaffold and
strengthened the role of the gentry in Parliament. The revolution
was a significant milestone in the consolidation of the individual
rights and freedoms of both nobility and urban bourgeoisie.
On the European continent, the wars resulted in strengthening
the absolutism of monarchs and their state apparatus. To bolster
their public image and show their power, princes and monarchs
engaged in lavish displays and building projects. They patronized
the baroque and neoclassic styles in the arts and letters.
The high cost of war, court, and cultural life stimulated manufacturing
and trade, while imposing ever-growing tax burdens on the peasantry. |
|
© 2003-2004
The New York Public Library
are
specific to Muscovy/Russia's internal development.
are
important world historical or cultural events.
indicates
specific points of sociocultural or military
engagement between Muscovy/Russia and foreign
powers or individuals. 
