Download chapter 19 – state building and society in early modern europe

CHAPTER 19 – STATE BUILDING AND SOCIETY IN EARLY
MODERN EUROPE
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
•
How did European states resemble those in other parts of the world in the mideighteenth century? How did they differ?
•
What was the relationship between military technology, especially naval power,
and the growth of European colonial empires?
•
What factors led to the political and economic transformation of western Europe
and its emergence as a region that would eventually (for a time) dominate much
of the world?
CHAPTER 19 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
European Political Consolidation
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Note the two primary models of European political development that emerged
during the late sixteenth century
•
Analyze the causes of the English civil war
•
Summarize the events and the consequences of the Glorious Revolution
•
Define the concept of “divine right of kings”
•
Sketch the reasons for the emergence of Russia as a European power and the
consequences of that emergence
•
Discuss the importance of the Pragmatic Sanction and of the rise of Prussia as a
military power in Europe
European Warfare: From Continental to World Conflict
•
Outline the motivations for and importance of the European wars of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
•
Explain the political goals of the protagonists in the wars fought by Louis XIV
between 1667 and 1714
•
Analyze the causes for the War of Jenkins’s Ear and the consequences of that war
in both Europe and the Americas
The Old Regime
•
Define the term “Old Regime” in the context used in this chapter
•
Define “hierarchy” and discuss how its meaning changed over the course of the
eighteenth century
•
Outline the respective roles of peasants and aristocrats in eighteenth-century
European society
Family Structures and the Family Economy
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Define the family economy, and discuss its elements
•
Analyze the role of women in the family economy
The Revolution in Agriculture
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Outline the reasons for the instability of the food supply
•
Describe what was revolutionary about changes in agricultural production
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Analyze the importance of enclosures
•
Note the reasons for and the consequences of the population expansion
The Eighteenth-Century Industrial Revolution: An Event in World History
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Analyze the causes of the Industrial Revolution
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Summarize the consequences of the Industrial Revolution
•
Explain why the Industrial Revolution originated and centered in Britain
•
Discuss the importance of the steam engine
European Cities
•
Summarize the changing patterns of urbanization in Europe during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
•
Note the social divisions that existed in European cities
The Jewish Population: Age of the Ghetto
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Describe the status of Jews living in Europe before 1800
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed transformations in both England and
France, but developments were very different in these two countries. In England, a limited
(parliamentary) monarchy, parliamentary government, and measured religious toleration
prevailed. France, meanwhile, experienced absolute monarchy and closed Catholicism. The
chapter also focuses on Russia’s entry into the European political arena under Peter the Great,
developments in central and eastern Europe, and the rivalries between the Habsburgs in
Austria and the Hohenzollerns in Prussia.
James I set the tone of English politics in his troubled reign (1603–1625). Beset by a large
royal debt, a fiercely divided church, and a Parliament restive over his predecessor’s claims to
royal authority, James worsened his own situation by lack of tact and an unpopular proSpanish foreign policy. His son, Charles I (1625–1649) fought even more openly with
Parliament (which he dismissed) and the Puritans. For eleven years, Charles tried to rule as
an absolute monarch, exploiting neglected laws and extending existing taxes to raise money.
In the 1640s, however, an invasion from Scotland forced Charles to recall Parliament, and the
resulting quarrels over taxation and conflict with the Puritan opposition led to civil war.
Two factors led to Parliament’s final victory: alliance with Scotland and the reorganization
of the Parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell. In 1649, Charles I was executed. For the
next eleven years, England was officially a Puritan republic under Cromwell’s leadership. In
reality, it was a military dictatorship, made unpopular by its harsh rule, expensive foreign
policy, inattention to trade and commerce, and stern regulation of moral life. In 1660, after
Cromwell’s death, Charles’ son was restored as King Charles II (1660–1685). Politically and
religiously, he returned England to the status quo of 1642.
Charles favored religious toleration, but the strict Anglican Parliament excluded Catholics
and Puritans from English religious and political life. Charles launched a bold new foreign
policy, challenging the Dutch for the commercial leadership of Europe.
Charles was succeeded in 1685 by his brother James II (1685–1688), who quickly became
unpopular because of his open Catholicism and absolute rule. In 1688, Parliament invited
James’ Protestant daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange, leader of the
Netherlands, to take over the government. James fled and the coup, known as the Glorious
Revolution, succeeded. The new rulers cooperated with Parliament and recognized a Bill of
Rights that limited the monarchy’s powers and guaranteed the civil liberties of the English
privileged classes. It also banned Roman Catholics from the English throne. The Glorious
Revolution was not a popular revolution, but provided a model for future ones.
France set out on the opposite path. Louis XIV (1643–1715) was determined to be a
strong and absolute ruler. The palace of Versailles proclaimed the glory of the “Sun King.”
In contrast to the English Puritan challenge to royal authority, Louis defended the divine right
of kings theory, which argued that God had appointed Old Testament rulers and only God
could judge them. Louis believed that political unity required religious conformity and
persecuted France’s Protestant minority by revoking the Edict of Nantes in 1685.
The chapter continues with an explanation of the events in Russia. Tsar Peter the Great
(1682–1725), an admirer of the West, organized a four-fold drive to westernize Russia. In
large measure, he succeeded in breaking the power of the nobles (boyars) and the Moscow
guard (streltsy) who had long disrupted the country. Peter the Great’s other achievements
included building a navy, founding St. Petersburg, and the Table of Ranks, which drew
nobility into public service.
Next, the chapter describes the Habsburg Empire and the pragmatic sanction, which
provided the legal basis for a single line of inheritance within the Habsburg dynasty. Charles
got the nobles of his realm and the kings of Europe to recognize his daughter, Maria Theresa
(1740–1780) as his heir. Yet when Charles VI died in 1740, he left his daughter with little
funds and a weak army. Frederick II of Prussia invaded Silesia in December of 1740. A brief
description of Prussia’s rise to power in the eighteenth century is then discussed.
The chapter continues to chronicle Louis’ wars, especially against Spain. The alliance
between England, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire kept Louis from winning the
European empire he sought. At Louis’ death in 1715, England was Europe’s great rising
power.
Britain had won the War of the Spanish Succession, but it needed a period of recovery
after 1713. France, at the conclusion of this war, was economically and politically exhausted.
This period was an era of colonial expansion and consolidation in Europe and overseas. The
Seven Years War (1756-1763) showed the military might of England, as the French lost their
West Indies colonies and their influence in India.
The chapter next discusses the ancien regime, or Old Regime—the lifestyles and political
institutions of pre-revolutionary Europe. The chapter breaks down the social structure of
European society, a hierarchical, rigid structure with power in the hands of the few
aristocrats, while the peasant population’s primary goal was the stability of the food supply.
The economy of the eighteenth century depended on the land. In the west, most of those who
lived in the countryside were free peasants; in the east, most were serfs. The landowners
subjected both of these groups to feudal dues, services and strict control, which often resulted
in peasant discontent and rebellion. The most dramatic revolt was Pugachev’s rebellion of
1771–1775 which involved all of southern Russia.
Throughout preindustrial Europe, the economy was organized around the family: the
household was the basic unit of production and consumption. People thought of themselves as
members of a family group, not as independent individuals. Historians refer to this situation
as the “family economy.” Everyone in the family performed some kind of useful labor.
Marriage was an economic, as well as a social, necessity for most women. Young women
who worked for wages typically saved her wages for a decade or more to accumulate a
dowry. Married women continued to work, often with their husbands.
A steady rise in the price of Europe’s food staple, grain, because of population growth,
encouraged a revolution in agriculture, leading to greater productivity. This included new
crops and agricultural methods such as the enclosure movement.
The industrial revolution is discussed next. Over time, the wealth produced by
industrialization upset the political and social structures of the Old Regime and led to political
and social reforms. Industrialization also allowed the European (and American) states to build
stronger militaries. The industrial revolution began in Great Britain with new methods of
textile production, the steam engine and iron production, causing Britain to become the most
powerful industrialized nation until at least the late nineteenth century.
The urban environment had changed dramatically between the sixteenth and nineteenth
centuries. Class consciousness became a significant part of society, and the intersts of the
upper class and middle class often collided.
The chapter concludes with the religious and physical persecution of Jews in European
cities. This period in Jewish history, from the end of the fifteenth century into the eighteenth,
can be described as the “Age of the Ghetto.” In cities they usually lived in distinct districts
known as ghettos, and in the countryside, in Jewish villages. Jews could not and did not mix
in the mainstream of the societies in which they dwelled. Under the Old Regime, all of this
discrimination was based on religious separateness. Those who converted to Christianity
generally were welcomed into the major political and social institutions of gentile European
society. Without conversion, however, Jews were subject to various religious, civil, and
social disabilities.
KEY POINTS AND VITAL CONCEPTS
1. Developmental Differences Between England and France: The chapter emphasizes the
very different pathways taken by these two countries in the seventeenth century. England
was essentially a monarchy theoretically limited by Parliament. When monarchs (or
protectors) initiated absolute or despotic rule (Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, James II), the
tendency was always to return to Parliamentary government. In France, the movement
toward absolutism began under Henry IV and continued through Louis XIII. The chaotic
rule of the Fronde seemed to galvanize absolutist government.
2. Oliver Cromwell: Cromwell and his motives have intrigued historians over the years.
Some have viewed him as an intolerant, self-righteous leader who had no more regard for
the traditions and laws of England than did Charles I—and certainly as little regard for
Parliament. Others have viewed him as the “Lord Protector” who governed for right and
steered England through a difficult period in history. The decision to restore the monarchy
under Charles II is compelling proof, however, of the unpopularity of Puritan rule.
3. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes: This important edict promulgated by Henry IV in
1598, granted freedom of worship, right of assembly, and other civil rights to Huguenots
under an official policy of Catholicism. In pursuit of political unity, Louis XIVdemanded
religious conformity: Protestantism would no longer be tolerated. Still, the revocation of
this act was a blunder, since it created Protestant guerrillas at home, sent a quarter million
Frenchmen into emigration, and galvanized foreign opposition to Louis.
4. Political Centralization: During this period, those states that were able to establish or
maintain a strong monarchy, standing army, efficient tax structure, large bureaucracy, and a
more or less domesticated, divided or loyal nobility were able to emerge as major powers
until World War I. Spain, the United Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the Ottoman
Empire declined while Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia grew more powerful.
5. The Supremacy of the English Parliament: One of the major reasons for the strong
position of England from 1686–1740 lies in the Parliament. Parliament was dominated by
landowners and nobles of similar interests. The House of Commons was neither a
representative nor a democratic body. The nobility, suspicious of the royal bureaucracy,
took the initiative of serving as administrators, judges, and militia commanders.
Consequently, the supremacy of Parliament provided Britain with the kind of unity sought
elsewhere through absolutism.
6. Future Considerations: This period bequeathed two long term conflicts to the future: 1)
Britain and France competed for trade and overseas empire; and 2) Austria and Prussia
fought for the leadership of Germany.
7. The Family Economy: Adam Smith and other economists would soon describe workers as
economically rational individual actors. In this period, however, facts on the ground were
different: individuals perceived themselves as part of an economic unit – the family – and
they made decisions and took actions accordingly. Women and children were active and
productive participants in the family economy.
8. The Industrial Revolution: Population growth and increased agricultural productivity
gave Europe a boost in an era when raw demography was a more explicit measure of global
power than it is today. It was the industrial revolution, however, that bought Europe (and
later the United States) several centuries of global hegemony. New engines, new machines,
and new patterns of labor organization allowed unprecedented levels of economic
productivity.
9. Eighteenth Century European States in Global Perspective: The European states of the
eighteenth century displayed certain problems that also characterized the governments of
China and Japan during the same time. Like Japan, the problem of a balance between
centralization and decentralization arose in all European states as did the process of legal
codification and the growth of bureaucracy. However, none achieved so brilliant a group of
trained civil servants as those who administered China. European states, however, took the
lead in establishing far flung commercial empires. The industrial revolution soon gave
European nations a compelling technological edge over any global competitors.
Consequently, European states made their power and influence felt throughout the world;
this opened the way for a temporary European domination of the world until the midtwentieth century.