Another installment in this continuing series.
European monarchs and emperors, ' enlightened ' or not,
' despots ' or not, contrary to popular scholarly belief, did not want to expand, or to reform, the state itself, or the established social order, for the sake of doing so, or for themselves.
They wanted, at most, to keep the state at its current size, and to preserve the established order, the ancien regime, rather than change it, and even to reverse changes, if anything.
They did want to expand their military, and defend their state, and their dynastic rights, as they saw the need; but for them, at least, this did not necessarily entail anything more regarding reforming or expanding the state for its own sake.
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