 | Learning Objectives
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Chapter 4 teaches students about:
- The growing power of western European states in the fifty years following the Peace of Westphalia.
- The idea of the balance of power and its goals of preserving the sovereignty and independence of European states.
- Competition among European powers over matters of overseas trade and colonial holdings.
- Louis XIV's absolutism.
- The dominance of French culture throughout Europe in the seventeenth century.
- The economic reforms that increased not only Louis XIV's control but the wealth of France.
- Dutch ascendancy after their struggle with Spain, as seen in the arts and literature, their economic dynamism, and their overseas exploits.
- The mixture of religious differences and constitutional and political issues that fueled the English civil war.
- The restoration of the monarchy, Parliament, and the Church of England.
- Further upheaval in England over issues of parliamentary government, the rule of law, and the right to rebel.
- The quarrel between the house of France and the house of Habsburg, at root of which was the disposition of the Spanish empire.
- The consequences of the War of the Spanish Succession, which included Britain's rise to power.
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