Enlightened Despots

I believe Peter the Great, Frederick the Great , Joseph II, and Catherine the Great were all very enlightened despots because they were distictively different from other monarchs of the time period. They ruled their subjects using the principles of the enlightenment. This meant that they ruled with the purpose of developing their subjects, for their well-being, not to please the nobility. They still believed they had the right to govern by birth, but what they did with their power was what was different.
<Tab/>Peter the Great was credited for westernizing Russia. He did many…