Ruler |
What he/she Did |
Charles V   | Inherited Crown of Spain and was heir to Austrian Hapsburgs; gave up empire and divided it between brother Ferdinand and son Phillip II   |
Phillip II   | Sought to expand Spanish influence, strengthen Catholic Church, and make his power absolute; battled English fleet in Spanish Armada and lost   |
Louis XIV   | Ruled with divine right; took sun as symbol of absolute power; appointed intendents to collect taves and carry out policies; lived in beautiful, large palace of Versailles; spent too much money on costly overseas wars   |
Henry VIII   | Broke with the ROman Catholic church to form the Anglican Church; consulted parliament frequently for money; used up funds fighting overseas wars   |
Elizabeth I   | Consulted and controlled Parliament; had great skill in handling Parliament; became a popular and successful leader   |
Charles I   | Dissolved Parliament in 1629 and ruled w/out it for 11 years; Parliament became known as the long parliament, and met on and off until 1653; arrested radical Parliament leaders, but they escaped and started their own army; executed by Parliament   |
Maria Theresa   | Capable and intelligent ruler in line to rule the Hapsburgs; appealed to Hungary for military appeal in order to fight Frederick II; reorganized bureaucracy, improved tax collection, and forced nobles and clergy to pay taxes   |
Frederick II   | Trained in the art of war from an early age, but preffered playing the flute and writing poetry; seized the rich Hapsburg province of Silesia from Maria Theresa; "Frederick the Great"   |
Peter the Great   | Bent on living a western life; sent out to study western technology, explored European cities, noted Western behavior, brought back new clothes to Russia; most autocratic Russian ruler; improved education, simplified alphabet, taught math + science   |
Catherine the Great   | Efficient, energetic empress; reorganized provincial govt., codified laws, and began state-sponsored education; encouraged French language; wrote histories and plays; won war against Ottoman empire and achieved warm-water port   |