Maintaining the BALANCE OF POWER in Europe [AP Euro Review—Unit 3 Topic 6]

so back in the previous period of AP Euro States fought each other all the dang time and that is not going to change in this period but the reason for the tension between states and all the fighting is going to change the last period it was religion that got everybody all hot and bothered but in this period states are going to engage in diplomacy and go to war in order to maintain a balance of power in Europe so if you're ready to get them brain cows milked let's get to it oh and if you want

note guides for this video link in the description so after the piece of Westphalia effectively ended the religious motivation for Warfare in 1648 a new reason for tensions among states arrived namely the maintenance of the balance of power States during this period operated largely on the principle of self-interest and the main goal was to make sure that each state held roughly the same amount of power so that no one state could dominate the rest however that makes it sound like European states were all about seeking Peace during this period but at noon in order to

maintain that balance of power rulers began building up their armies and they would say that they did it for defensive purposes but they often use them offensively as well and you know we'll talk about that in a moment but this effort to maintain the balance of power not only led to war it also led to new efforts and diplomacy in case you don't know diplomacy is when States come to agreements by talking instead of shooting lead into each other's bodies on the battlefield diplomacy during this period was largely focused on dynastic interest which is to

say rulers motivations for making agreements was to secure power and land for their air now in general those states that were able to consolidate power under the Monarch and raise large standing armies fared better in this period than those that did not occasion point the partition of Poland this idea of maintaining the balance of power sealed the fate of Poland and essentially wiped it off the map for 150 years the Commonwealth of Poland was massive and included Lithuanian Belarus and Latvia and more about despite being the largest Territorial state in Europe at the time Poland

had some problems Poland itself was a constitutional monarchy but it was riddled with weaknesses the landed Nobles exploited the peasantry and made a habit of defying the king additionally they did not have the robust bureaucracy like Britain to unite the country and they had been weakened by almost constant Decades of War now add to that the Commonwealth of Poland's Monarch was relatively weak when compared to the absolute states that surrounded it which were Russia led by Catherine II Prussia led by Frederick II and Austria led by Joseph II if there's anything you don't want to

be in this period is a weak State situated right in the middle of three strong states with expansionist appetite now the balance of power between those three states was initially unbalanced by Russia's Victory against the Ottoman Empire which made Russia the stronger nation in this central European sphere so Frederick II of Prussia about pooped his pants at this development it could see that the more Turkish territory Russia gobbled up the stronger they would become and so his proposal to Russia was that they should expand into Poland instead of continuing expansion into the Ottoman Empire so

in 1772 Russia Austria and Prussia signed a treaty which was ratified by the Polish legislature because you know what else could they do that granted about half of Poland's territory to be divided among these three paths a similar agreements took place over the next 25 years and eventually all of Poland was annexed into these three rival powers and disappeared from the map bad for Poland but it was an example of States using diplomacy instead of War to maintain the balance of power in Europe now this need to maintain the balance of power across Europe also

increasingly led to war among various States and I reckon we ought to talk about a few of them first let's consider the Ottoman Empire the Ottoman Empire was massive in the 17th century and held possessions in Southeastern Europe they had Ambitions to push further into Central Europe and so they attempted to invade Austria in the Battle of Vienna which was the capital of the Habsburg Empire in 1683 in order to secure better trading routes along the Danube River now in order to keep this expansion from happening and upsetting the balance of power in Europe the

Austrian habsburgs and then Poland before they got all gobbled up by Russia Prussia and Austria and the Holy Roman Empire United to stop The Invasion and did so successfully this became a major turning point in European history because after this defeat the Ottomans officially ceased their expansion into Eastern Europe but it wouldn't be a complete explanation of maintaining the balance of power through War if we didn't talk about the French monarch Louis XIV dude engaged in almost constant Warfare in order to pursue his own dynastic and state interests there are three reasons Louis did this

first because he wanted to expand the territory of France second he wanted to weaken Habsburg influence across Europe prior to this period Habsburg empowered dang near everywhere in Europe and that's no bueno for the balance of power and third the man just wanted to increase his own glory and that's crazy to me because if that hair don't make your cup overflow with personal Glory I don't know what else would anyway Louis fought the Dutch War to gain territory in the Spanish Netherlands and to weaken the habsburgs which was ultimately unsuccessful but that didn't keep Louis

XIV from remaining the most powerful Monarch in Europe then Louis fought the nine years war in which he tried to push into the Holy Roman Empire to gain territory there seeing how Louie's Relentless expansionism would seriously disrupt the balance of power shifting it in Louie's favor several states formed the Grand Alliance to oppose the Grand Alliance included the habsburgs in the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic in England and Spain and Sweden and Portugal and with that kind of stiff resistance the nine years war did not go so well for Lewis but the most

significant of Louie's Wars concerning the balance of power was the war of Spanish succession fought from 1701 to 1713 and this war was less about territorial expansion than it was about Louie's dynastic interest so in Charles II of Spain died it was a range that Philip V would succeed the Saucy part was that Philip was actually Louis xiv's grandson several European nations feared this Arrangement because it meant that potentially France and Spain could be combined and ruled by a single Throne namely Louis xiv's throne and that would mean that the balance of power in Europe

would be to use the technical term wonky as hell like not only with the consolidation of France and Spain be worrisome on the European continent but then throw in all the colonial Holdings across the world that belonged to these two states and well you know not good if that consolidation happened there will be no one in Europe who could stand against that magnificently quaffed tights wearing absolutist Monarch Louis XIV and so War immediately broke out to prevent the scenario with England the United provinces Austria and Prussia against France Spain and Bavaria now up against all

those other states you would think that France would lose quick fast and in a hurry but this is Louis we're talking about and although he lost a few decisive battles he was able to fight well enough to bring the rest of those states to the negotiating table in what was ultimately a draw the war ended in 1713 in the Treaty of Utrecht which did a lot of things but for our purposes we just need to point out that the treaty stipulated that Philip the fifth would remain on the Spanish throne but that France and Spain

must remain separate entities so the Treaty of Utrecht maintains the balance of power in Europe now I've been dancing around this key development for a few minutes now so let's talk directly about how the military of various States changed during this period prior to this period States would declare war on each other and then go raise their arms but now States commissioned and paid for professional standing army what was especially notable was the increasing size of these armies Louis XIV gets the prize here for the largest standing army coming in at nearly 400 000 soldiers

which is something that had never been seen before but every absolute estate increased the size of their army as well notable during this period was the military Genius of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Adolphus built a massive professional standing army which was highly organized into ascending rank so that the hierarchy of authority was clear additionally new military technology was developed from Firearms to mobile Canon to more elaborate fortification all this expansion of course had to be paid for Adolphus and other military expansionists in Europe paid for these armies with increased taxes and an expanding bureaucracy to

administrate that in increased Revenue altogether this development was something of a military Revolution across Europe this is important to understand because it affected the balance of power in Europe significant it was those Nations who expanded their military in the ways that I just mentioned that found themselves on the winning side of that balance of power okay for more unit 3 videos click right over here and keep watching if you need even more help click right here and grab my AP Euro review pack which is going to help you get an A in your class and

a five on your exam in May I'll catch you on the flip-flop I'm larouche