Peculiarities of Joseph II's Reforms - Essay Example

Among Joseph IIs biggest reforms was making education compulsory. He did not think that education came to a person via a vision from God. He knew it took hard work. The state could encourage this. He saw that Latin was not the language of the people and so he changed it to German. At the time, many people were furious. But this was a sensible idea: the language of the people should be the language of the state. Another major reform made by Joseph II was to encourage religious tolerance. In the past, religions, especially Protestantism and Catholicism, were at war with one another.

Under Joseph II there was a kind of peace. He understood that people had different faiths and these should be respected.Perhaps most importantly, he abolished serfdom (Spielvogel, 384). This freed hundreds of thousands of people from servitude and created a more mobile population. This was a great example of enlightened policy.For these reasons, Joseph II was the most enlightened despot of his time. He may not now be as famous as Catherine the Great, but he deserves our praise.