-
Random History
- Burgundians and Armagnacs, 1380-1467 | The Rise of the Nation
- Eating Well in the Nineteenth Century
- Racism | The Industrial Society
- The Battle of Britain | The Second World War
- The Persian Wars | The Greeks
- The Coffeehouse
- Philip the Fair, 1285-1314 | The Beginnings of the Secular State
- Music in The Baroque Era | The Problem of Divine-Right Monarchy
- The Society and its Economy | Church and Society in the Medieval West
- Hitler's Dictatorship | Between The World Wars
-
Recent Comments
- Scozyjof-online on Le Grand Monarque
- Agnes on Nobles and Serfs, 1730-1762 | The Enlightenment
- Rolanda on Nobles and Serfs, 1730-1762 | The Enlightenment
- Denali on Twentieth Century Thought and Letters
- LOL on A Second Step: German Rearmament, 1935-1936 | The Second World War
- Bree on France After World War One | The Democracies
- Chumani on Music | The Renaissance
- Finn on Dazzling the Barbarian
- Suki on Conflict in Asia, 1953-1970 | The Second World War
- Marmara on Oliver Cromwell
Tags
Between The World Wars Byzantium and Islam Church and Society in the Medieval West European Exploration and Expansion Judaism and Christianity Modern Empires and Imperialism Romanticism, Reaction, and Revolution The Beginnings of the Secular State The Democracies The Early Middle Ages in Western Europe The Enlightenment The First Civilizations The First World War The French Revolution The Great Powers in Conflict The Greeks The Industrial Society The Late Middle Ages in Eastern Europe The Late Twentieth Century The Modernization of Nations The Non-Western World The Old Regimes The Problem of Divine-Right Monarchy The Protestant Reformation The Renaissance The Rise of the Nation The Romans The Russian Revolution of 1917 The Second World War The Written Record Twentieth-Century Thought and LettersPages
Enlightened Despots | The Enlightenment
The concept of an enlightened despot has proved attractive in many cultures.
Those rulers who were versed in the thought of the Enlightenment, may have realized that great social and economic changes were at hand, but some were more adept than others in their understanding of these changes and of how best to prepare their states for the future.
Of course, a bookish knowledge of Enlightenment thinkers was not always translated into enlightened actions.