is lead to many conflicts over ideas of authority and religion, such as the Thirty Years War. When new religious orders (Calvinism, Lutheranism) were created during the Protestant Reformation, each state wanted their religion to dominate, and began to impose their ideas through force. These types of conflicts ravaged Europe, killing thousands upon thousands of soldiers and innocent citizens. The philosophes believed that the greatest crimes committed by humans, have been committed in the name of religion; and for a just and constructive society to exist, religious tolerance is absolutely necessary. The philosophes, a leading group of intellectuals, believed that to solve these conflicts, a central government must be established. Even though the social and political theories introduced during the Enlightenment supported new ideas such as checks and balances and individual rights and liberties, most of the philosophes believed in a monarchical government or enlightened despotism. This meant that there would be a centralized authority (King or Queen) to control a state, but which would combine principles of reason, tolerance and liberty to carry out change and instigate progress. Although liberty and knowledge were the basis of the Enlightenment, it was mainly intellectuals who understood these concepts. It is for this reason that intellectuals such as Voltaire, feared giving too much power to the large majority of the uneducated population, in turn, supporting enlightened despotism. Enlightened despots such as Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine II of Russia, used principles and ideals of the time to improve and further unify their countries. Frederick II is quoted as saying "The sovereign is the first servant of the state,
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