Final answer:
Absolutism refers to a system where monarchs like Louis XIV, Tsar Peter the Great, and Tokugawa Ieyasu held centralized and ultimate power, ruling by divine right and without parliamentary or nobiliary checks, shaping national strength and policies unilaterally.
Step-by-step explanation:
Absolutism in the Rule of Louis XIV, Tsar Peter the Great, and Tokugawa Ieyasu
Absolutism implies the centralization of political power in the hands of a monarch who reigns with unlimited authority over the state. Such rulers are characterized by their assertion of ultimate power and lack of checks from any parliamentary or nobiliary constraints. In the case of Louis XIV of France, also known as the "Sun King," absolutism reached its peak as he centralized the government and ruled by divine right, a concept indicating that his power to govern was given by God, rendering him unanswerable to earthly counterparts. Louis XIV's regime centralized power to such an extent that he reduced the role of nobility in governance and stopped convening advisory bodies like the Estates General, claiming direct control over laws, administration, and taxation.
Tsar Peter the Great similarly exhibited absolutist tendencies in Russia, focusing on modernization and expansion of his empire along Western lines while centralizing power and enforcing his will upon the nobility and the church. In Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate, an absolutist regime where the shogun held ultimate power over the daimyo and effectively controlled the emperor, establishing a period of peace and central governance known as the Edo period.
These monarchs are prime examples of absolute monarchies during the 17th and 18th centuries, where a single ruler held all political power based on their belief in divine providence or divine rule, making decisions to increase their personal power and leveraging it for national strength and international influence.