• The Great Northern War
• Enlightened Despotism
• Peter I of Russia
• Charles XII of Sweden
• Friedrich Wilhelm, The Great Elector / Edict of Potsdam (1685)
• Friedrich I of Prussia (1701)
• Friedrich II of Prussia, ‘The Soldier King’
• Frederick III the Great of Prussia – ‘Old Fritz’ (r.1740-86)
• The War of Austrian Succession / Silesia (1740)
• Maria Theresa and Joseph II of Austria
• Catherine the Great
• philosophe
• diplomatics
• physiocrat
• bourgeoisie
• ‘public spirit’
• Freemasons
• Baruch Spinoza
• John Locke; Letter Concerning Toleration; Two Treaties of Government; Essay Concerning Human Understanding
• Pierre Bayle, Historical and Critical Dictionary (1697)
• John Wesley, Methodism
• The Royal Society of London (est.1662)
• Christopher Wren
• Isaac Newton; Principia (1687); Optiks (1704)
• Samuel Johnson; Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
• Tatler (1709) and The Spectator (1711)
• Daniel Defoe; Robinson Crusoe (1719)
• François Quesnay
• Adam Smith; Wealth of Nations (1776)
• London Stock Exchange
• Lloyds of London
• laissez faire
• Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
• Edmund Burke
• Voltaire; Lettres philosophiques; Candide
• Montesquieu; Persian Letters (1721); Spirit of the Laws (1748)
• Denis Diderot; Encyclopedie
• Jean Jacques Rousseau; Social Contract; Emile
• Immanuel Kant; Critique of Pure Reason (1781)
• Turgot
• Ben Franklin
• Alexander Hamilton & James Madison; The Federalist Papers (1788)
• Johann Sebastian Bach
• Georg Friederic Handel; Messiah (1742)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Die Zauberflöte (1791)
• Johann von Goethe
• Johann Christian Friedrich von Schiller; Ode to Joy (1785); On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1794)
• Fischer von Erlach
• Baron Gerhard von Swieten

larger questions to consider:

1. What exactly was so ‘revolutionary’ about 1688?
2. Were do the philosophes generally stand in the ‘Nature vs Nurture’ debate and what impact did their standing have on education in Europe?
3. What new cultural institutions appeared on the scene in the 18th century and how did they contribute to the tenor of the times?
4. How did the later generation  of 18th-century thinkers (esp. those writing after 1758) differ from those of the early Enlightenment?
5. What impact did Joseph II have on transforming Austria, and Vienna more particularly, during the second half of the 18th century?
6. How and why do the study of mathematics and history change radically during the 18th century?

AND SOME MORE:

• John Law; French Company of the Indies
• Hanoverians (George I, II, and II)
• Jacobites; The ’15; The ’45
• South Sea Bubble
• Sir Robert Walpole
• William Pitt (Pitt the Elder, Lord Chatham)
• Pragmatic Sanction
• War of Austrian Succession (Silesian War), 1740-48
• Diplomatic Revolution
• Robert Clive (British India)
• The Seven Years’ War
• The Battle of Blenheim (1704)
• The Battle of Quebec (1759)
• The Battle of Saratoga (1777)
• The Battle of Yorktown (1781)
• Edmund Burke (Whig)
• smallpox
• Taille; Gabelle; Corvee
• venal office
• Lisbon earthquake 1755
• raison d’etat
• Partitions of Poland, 1772, 1793, 1795
• Polish Constitution of 1791; liberum veto
• Edict of Toleration in Austria (1781)
• Catherine of Russia
• Peace of Küçük Kaynarca (1774)
• Crimea; Moldavia; Wallachia
• Prince Grigory Potemkin
• Thomas Jefferson; Declaration of Independence (1776); University of Virginia (1819)
• James Madison; US Constitution (1789)
• Thomas Paine; Common Sense (1776); Rights of Man (1791); Age of Reason (1793)
• Peace of Paris (1783)

Larger issues to consider:

1. What were the conditions under which the majority of Europeans lived during the 18th century? Were there substantial differences between the legal and material conditions of the French, Austrian and Russian peasantry?
2. How did issues, particularly commercial ones, in the colonies affect politics in Europe?
3. What role did slavery play in the economics of European colonies?
4. What does Gay&Webb mean by stating “America was the Enlightenment in action”?

Copy of 18th-century <– PowerPoint used in class