personal characteristics, they were held in awe simply because they were monarchs.One thing the two monarchies held in common was the drive for hegemony, a political situation in which one state might subordinate all others to its will. During the new monarch era, the Habsburg family was perhaps the best example of this theory. After the defeat of the Hungarians at the battle of Mohacs, the Habsburg family had established their sphere of power in central Europe, the Netherlands, Spain, the Mediterranean, South Italy, and America. During the absolute monarch era, Louis XIV was the best example of "universal monarchy". His goal was to make France the strongest country in Europe and push French borders eastward to the Rhine, annexing the Spanish Netherlands and France-Comte which involved the further dismemberment of the Holy Roman Empire. The main difference between these two universal monarchies was the way in which they were controlled. During the earlier monarchies, "universal monarchy" was checked by various dynastic and religious wars between nations. For example, the wars between Muscovy and Poland kept each nation in balance. If there was a stronger nation, it would receive the dominating power. During the 17th century, however, there came to be a system of balance of power through alliances. The purpose of this balance of power was not to preserve peace, but to preserve the sovereignty and independence of the states of Europe against potential aggressors. The basic rule was to ally against any state threatening domination. The weaker countries would seek alliance with the other weaker states. They would thus create a balance or counterweight against the state whose ascendancy they feared.Overall, the goals of the monarchies remained mainly the same but as the social and political conditions changed and monarchs learned from past experience, the methods of attaining these goals became quite different. In addition, mona...
