1. Louis XIV--by making his court at Versailles the center of society and by building the state's power through financial, domestic, and military policies--epitomized the absolutist monarchs of the late seventeenth century.
2. In related ways, absolutism grew in Austria, Prussia, Russia, and, to a lesser extent, Spain.
3. The governments of England, the United Provinces, Sweden, and Poland were dominated by aristocrats or merchants. With the exception of England, these countries suffered a decline in power and influence.
4. During the eighteenth century the states of Europe competed for power within a system that created a balance of power.
