Modern Era: Transformation and Revolution
The Dawn of Modernity (15th-18th Centuries)
From Absolute Monarchy to New Ideas
The modern era emerged from the 15th century (marked by the discovery of America in 1492) to the 18th century (culminating in the French Revolution of 1789). Initially, absolute monarchy, where power resided solely with the king, was the dominant political system. However, the 18th century witnessed the rise of new artistic and intellectual currents, leading to concepts like the separation of powers and popular sovereignty.
Religious and Intellectual Shifts
The 16th century saw the Religious Reformation, challenging established religious authority. This period also marked the rise of anthropocentrism, placing humans at the center of intellectual and philosophical inquiry. The Scientific Revolution, aided by the invention of printing, further transformed thought.
The Rise of the Bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie, the merchant and artisan class, began its ascent to power. A specialized bureaucracy developed alongside the existing estate system of nobility, clergy, and the commoners (Third Estate). The mercantilist economic system, focused on accumulating precious metals, fueled the rise of commercial capital. This era also witnessed the Europeanization of the world, a process of cultural exchange and influence.
Economic and Political Transformations
Economic Liberalism
Economic liberalism, championed by Adam Smith, gained traction in England, led by the burgeoning bourgeoisie. This philosophy emphasized human labor as the source of wealth and advocated for minimal state intervention in the economy. The state’s primary roles were limited to internal security, external defense, and upholding natural rights like liberty, private property, and legal equality.
The Evolution of Liberalism
Radical liberalism in the first half of the 19th century favored constitutional monarchy. Political power was largely restricted to those with economic power. Moderate liberalism, emerging in the latter half of the 19th century, advocated for a representative republic with universal male suffrage. The 20th century saw the expansion of suffrage to women in many countries. The welfare state, with its focus on providing social services like healthcare, housing, employment, and education, also emerged.
Physiocracy
France (Francois Quesnay) physis = nature Kratos = power. Power of Nature. Land: Agriculture, Mining: source of wealth. Removing economic barriers between nations. Disappears economic protectionism.
Bourgeois revolution: designation given to all revolutions that ended the old regime in the ages 17, 18 and 19 establishing a new ruling class: the bourgeoisie and the capitalist system of production (is modeled rev. French the political and the English in the industrial field).
Revolution 13 colonies North America. The causes of the American Revolution were economic, political, religious and intellectual. The pro-independence sentiment was also encouraged by the strong individualism of the Puritans who took an active part in the founding and development of the English colonies in this continent. In North America, four European states were involved in the establishment of colonies:Spain, England, France and Holland, the English colonies applied a different regime than did the others, were in total thirteen British colonies established between 1607 and 1700, Virginia (1607), New York (1614), New Jersey (1614 -1621), Massachusetts (1620), New Hampshire (1623), Delaware (1631), Georgia (1632), Maryland (1634), Connecticut and Rhode Island (1636), North Carolina and South Carolina (1663), Pennsylvania (1681), each of which had a governor appointed by the king in some colonies and the wealthy owners and all the people in others. Also in each of those small states had a power legislature composed of representatives of the king and the colonists. These were mostly true that in certain areas only worth the royal orders, but others, like taxes for example, representatives of the people were asserting their opinions and votes were decisive, we can say that the English colonists actively involved in the government local. As for the economic system, the English colonies had a farming prosperous trading very well with the metropolis, which reserved the exclusive manufacturing.
Each of the colonies became very individuality, because the people voted for their own taxes and ardently defending the freedoms that they have accrued in the metropolis. So it was the middle of the eighteenth century, these colonies were, as to the progress of its internal affairs, practically independent of England. In the beginning of 1776 British troops sent to America well equipped to quell the rebellion, and then the Americans they played all out. In Congress in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, declared solemnlyindependence of the United States of America. Representatives of the new republic in France immediately began negotiations to seek the support of that power in the fight against England, but the leaders remained reluctant Gauls especially the negative course of the operations of war. The American Revolution involved a series of huge intellectual and social changes in early American society, such as the new republican ideals that were assimilated into the American population.
The Glorious Revolution: After the death of Cromwell, the most powerful bourgeoisie, who needed peace and order for their businesses, reached an agreement with the nobility and in 1660 the monarchy was restored in the person of Charles II Stuart. For his part, King accepted that the development was for the Parliament’s approval of laws and taxes.
But the agreement between the monarchy and Parliament broke when James II came to the throne, Catholic and absolutist tendencies. The new king found no support to restore the absolute monarchy, the nobility was not Catholic, and also knew that most of society would not accept a return to the past. This was leading to a new agreement between the nobles and burghers, who agreed on the need to dethrone the king justified his purpose in the ideas of English philosopher John Locke.
Convinced that the dethronement of the king in this case was lawful, nobles and burghers in 1688 offered the crown of England to the Dutch prince William of Orange on two conditions: it must maintain Protestantism and leave governing to Parliament. James II, abandoned by almost all social groups, left the throne. So, without violence, triumph of the Glorious Revolution (as they called the men of the time), which finally abolished the absolute monarchy in England and began the era of parliamentary monarchy.
French Revolution.
The French Revolution causes a violent transformation of the political and socio – economic Europe and determines a new configuration of world history. In the French Revolution, which begins with the success of the assault of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 and that can end with the coup of Napoleon Bonaparte on November 9, 1799 – performed the national union of thought with their own ideals of humanity. The demands of liberalism and democracy in all fields of political, economic and social development.
Causes and Background
Economic causes: climate disruption hurt agricultural production. Backward techniques. Economic waste. Differences in the system of weights and measures. Tolls and internal customs hinder commercial development. Difficulties in transportation and communication. 1787 commercial treaty with England undermines the nascent cottage industry.
Social Causes: heterogeneous and stratified society divided into estates: clergy, nobility, third estate. Predominantly young population favorable to change.
Ideological Causes: Influence of illustration. Revolution in the American colonies serves as a model.
Political causes: incompetence of King Louis 16. Government in the hands of Queen Marie Antoinette and her lovers (Ministers). Consecutive losses weaken the monarchy.
The National Assembly received the support of the people of Paris in the Assault of the Bastille (July 14, 1789) The National Assembly became the Constituent Assembly Constituent Assembly destroyed the Old Regime: Universal Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen ( August 1789): seeds of the Constitution, Rule of Law and destruction of the estate society (equality before the law). • Abolition of Feudalism (August 4, 1789). • Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790): abolition of the regular clergy, nationalization of church lands, appointment of bishops and state conversion funconarios priests in the state. The priests opposed to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy are called refractory priests. Constitutional Monarchy (1791-1792), 1791 Constitution National Sovereignty • • Division of Powers: King, Legislative Assembly, independent judges. • censitario suffrage. • Right to property and economic freedom. War of the Convention (June 20, 1792) • absolutist countries declare war on France for fear the extension of the Revolution. • England declares war on France because the revolution textile trade harms the British because Britain wants to encourage the French weakness. • The king and nobles emigrated ally with absolutist countries surrounding France (Prussia, Austria, Russia, Spain). King Louis XVI declared a traitor and dismissed him (August 10, 1792).
Causes of the radicalization of the Revolution. • Suffrage censitario prevent the petty bourgeoisie involved in politics. • Economic freedom allows speculators to drive up grain prices to benefit the hunger and need of the sans-culottes of Paris. • The war accentuated the misery and causes distrust of traitors. • Some scholars think that the Revolution is too moderate to get the support of the sans-culottes to convince the moderate revolutionaries are to blame for their misery.Division between Girondins politicians: party of the gentry. Defend censitario suffrage, the right to unlimited property and economic freedom (including freedom of prices). IES Fray Pedro de Urbina – Department of History and Geography Mountain or Jacobins: match the lower bourgeoisie. Advocates universal suffrage and that the state limits the right to property, economic freedom and prices. Victoria Convention Montañesa Support of sans-culottes (universal suffrage and limit pricing). Constitution 1793 National Sovereignty • • Division of powers: Convention Committee on Public Health, People’s Courts. • universal male suffrage. • Price control and limitation of economic freedom. Montañesa The Convention remains in power precariously by the large number of enemies, gentry, peasants, foreign powers, refractory priests, and so on. Robespierre, head of the Public Health Committee is kept in power by the dictatorship and the revolutionary terror. Reaction of Thermidor (July 28, 1794): The chaos, misery and weariness generated Terror in the French people who seek peace and economic prosperity, but lose some freedoms. Thermidorian Convention and Napoleonic Period (Directory, Consulate and Empire) (1794-1814). Moderate Revolution. Thermidorian Convention: Moderate Republic dominated by the gentry. It is threatened by radical revolutionaries and anti-revolutionary. The solution is to find a strong man with prestige in the French and the backing of the army victory of Napoleon in Italy (1797). Napoleon is an ambitious character. Brumaire coup (November 1799). Consulate and Empire. Personal dictatorship of Napoleon. • Trimming political freedoms. • Maintenance of legal equality and the abolition of feudalism. • Concordat with the Holy See. Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Empire Wins in France: the revolutionary army and military genius of Napoleon. Wars start as a defensive war and Napoleon becomes a war of imperialist expansion and export of the revolution. 1805 Austerlitz: Napoleon’s victory over Austria. Trafalgar: Napoleon’s defeat against England. 1808 Continental System 1806 invasion of the Iberian Peninsula Great Napoleonic Empire: reorganization of Europe. 1812 Invasion of Russia and Napoleon’s 1813 defeat of Napoleon at Leipzig Defeat 1814 the Allies invaded France. Apparently the French Revolution has been defeated.