Absolute Monarchs Of Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely" - Lord Acton, a famous quote from Lord Acton 1834 - 1902. But, does this quote truly apply to every leader holding ultimate power over their state? These absolute monarchs are the kings and queens who had held all the power. They created laws as well as maintaining them, compared to the standard monarchy which had the parliament to create laws and the monarchy to maintain it. As one studies history, one may encounter absolute monarchs that abused their power and oppressed their people. However, there is another group of absolute monarchs that is completely different, using their ideas and power in order to improve the lives of their people. Monarchs like Frederick II and Maria Theresa had created new laws and legislations that helped improve life for their people and helped organize, modernize, and

As an absolute monarch, she had used her army to protect Austria from invasions and wars like the Seven Years war, and the Austrian Succession, while juggling internal events of her troubled country such as widespread hunger and taxes, some had been present even before she had ascended to the throne. So in order to tackle these, she had launched multiple domestic improvements and reforms for her people. Austria had not Maria Theresa moved people to rural areas where no one had lived. The area of land slowly developed into farmland, promoting agriculture and increasing produce. One other major improvement happened when Theresa had won the right to set taxes; she had recognized how unfair the taxes were for the peasants as they had paid the majority of the tax, so in order to balance it, she issued laws that made the system better and fairer by limiting the power of large landowners and taking away their tax exemptions. It may look like much, however, it truly only scratches the surface of what efforts Maria Theresa had done as a great absolute