By the late 16th century, many influential political thinkers as well as princes and their advisors became convinced that absolutism held the only hope for the future. Pressures toward absolutism came from three needs experienced by heads of state and their advisors: 1 to bring and end to religious discord; 2 to surmount the problems created by changes in the European economy; 3 to enable their military forces to compete successfully in warfare transformed by gunpowder weapons. Without soldiers and sailors trained and equipped to employ these weapons effectively, they could neither defend thei...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate