Absolutism in 17th Century Europe Term Paper by writingsensation

This paper explains that the growth of the absolute monarchy, referred to as the Age of Absolutism, beginning during the reign of Louis XIV and ending with the French Revolution, was the origin of the modern state. The author points out that absolutism was largely motivated as a solution to the crises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, such as the Reformation that led to a series of violent and cruel religious and civil wars, leaving thousands of innocents died. The paper relates that, during the seventeenth century, monarchs attained power and authority that were unprecedented, leading historians to use the term "absolutism" to describe these political systems; however, other historians argue that the term is misleading because neither the ambitions of the monarchs nor the results constituted political absolutism.