Monarchy, Industrial Revolutions, and European Transformations
Absolute Monarchy
Absolute monarchy is a form of government based on heredity and linked to a dynasty. The king represented the entire state and towered above the rest of the estates. In turn, the monarch, through their representatives and administrators, created, implemented, and enforced the laws. Meetings were held in institutions such as courts or States-General to establish new taxes. The major exception was Britain. In Europe, since the 17th century, the monarchy had limited power in parliament.
Constitutional Monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which an assembly or parliament can bring down a government. The government is accountable to parliament, which oversees their actions.
Enlightened Despotism
Enlightened Despotism was a type of policy where some monarchs sought to increase their power, wealth, and income at the expense of the aristocracy, the common people, or rival powers. Examples include Carlos III, Catherine II, and Louis XVI.
First Industrial Revolution
The First Industrial Revolution was an economic transformation that had major social and cultural implications. It started in the mid-18th century and ended in the mid-19th century. The country that stood out was Britain. Key features included the invention of the steam engine, coal as the energy source, and the textile and steel industries. The main material was steel.
Second Industrial Revolution
The Second Industrial Revolution began in the late 19th century and lasted until World War II. The United States stood out during this period. Energy sources were electricity and oil. The main inventions were the electric motor and the turbine. The main industries were automotive and chemical. The main material was iron.
The Restoration
The Restoration period occurred after the defeat of Napoleon. The Allies decided to return to the political and social situation before the revolution. It lasted until 1848, when this stage was no longer feasible due to popular pressures.
Liberalism
Liberalism was seen as a doctrine destructive of social order and community, supportive of individualism and unfettered competition. It was considered social anarchy.
Revolution of 1820
The Revolution of 1820 occurred in Spain, Naples, and Greece. In 1829, the independence of Greece was recognized. Also, the colonies became independent from Spain and Portugal. The fundamental cores of independence were Mexico, Venezuela, and Buenos Aires. Most of these uprisings were promoted by a very select minority grouped into secret fraternities like the Carbonari and the Freemasons.
Revolution of 1830
The Revolution of 1830 was a revolutionary process that began in France with the so-called July Revolution or the Three Glories (Trois Glorieuses), revolutionary days in Paris, which brought Louis Philippe to the throne and opened the period known as the July Monarchy. It spread over much of Europe, especially Belgium, which gained independence from Holland, Germany, and Italy, where it is identified with unifying nationalistic movements, Poland, and the Austrian Empire.
The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment or Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual current of thought that dominated Europe, especially France and England (where it had its strongest expression), for almost the entire 18th century. It extended from the rationalism and empiricism of the 17th century to the 18th-century Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and Liberalism. The aesthetic expression of this intellectual movement is known as Neoclassicism. It was a cultural movement that had a great influence on economic, political, and social aspects. The main features that characterized Enlightenment thinkers are:
- Development of a critical vision of society
- Rejection of divine revelation and tradition
- Belief that the history of human progress led to better and more perfect societies
- The Enlightenment thought was based on the idea that the free exercise of individual talent was to be the basis of the social system, that human beings are born free and equal in rights, and that the pursuit of happiness should be their own aim.
- Institution of enlightened despotism
- Their ideas were revolutionary
British Industrial Revolution
The change that occurred in the Modern History of Europe, which was triggered by the shift from an agrarian and craft-based economy to one dominated by industry and mechanization, is what we call the Industrial Revolution. In the second half of the 18th century, in England, a profound transformation of work systems and the structure of society was detected. It was the result of growth and changes that had occurred during the last hundred years, not a sudden revolution, but a slow and unstoppable one. There was a shift from the old rural world to cities, from manual labor to machines. Peasants left the fields and moved to the cities, giving rise to a new class of professionals. Some considered the defining features of the industrial revolution to be the assembly of factories and the use of driving force, in addition to the changes brought about: a move from a workshop with several operators to large factories, from small villages of several dozen neighbors to metropolises of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. This revolution became a process of constant change and continuous growth where a variety of factors played a role: technical inventions (technology) and theoretical findings, capital and social transformation (economics), the agricultural revolution, and the rise of demography. These factors combined and enhanced each other; it cannot be said that there was one that triggered the others.
French Revolution
The French Revolution was a social and political conflict, with varying periods of violence, which shook France and, by extension, its implications to many other European nations that faced supporters and opponents of the system called the Old Regime. It designates a crucial event of universal interest in the history of France. It began with the self-proclamation of the Third Estate as the National Assembly in 1789 and ended with the coup of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. While the political organization of France ranged from republic to empire to monarchy for 71 years after the First Republic fell after the coup of Napoleon Bonaparte, it is certain that the revolution marked the definitive end of absolutism and gave birth to a new regime where the bourgeoisie, and sometimes the masses, became the dominant political force in the country. The revolution undermined the foundations of the monarchy as such, beyond their gasps, as it overthrew a discourse capable of making it illegitimate.
It is divided into two phases:
a) Prerevolutionary Phase: A stage in which the monarchy of Louis XVI was in severe financial trouble. These problems were partly due to poor harvests. Because of this, privileged groups called for a convocation of the States-General. The king had to accept the conditions.
b) Establishment of Constitutional Monarchy: The Burghers formed a National Constituent Assembly.
Italian Unification
Italian Unification was the process that led to the emergence in 1861 of a unified kingdom of Italy. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, after the Napoleonic wars, Italy was deeply divided, without any unifying institution. There were three obstacles to unity. The first was the occupation of the kingdom of Lombardy and Venice, under Austrian sovereignty, in the north and northeast of the Italian peninsula. The second was the Papal States, under the sovereignty of the pope, situated in the center of the peninsula. The third obstacle was a group of independent states. In the northwest was the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, which had been slowly spreading from the Middle Ages and was the most advanced state in Italy. A second kingdom, the Two Sicilies, occupied the southern half of the peninsula. Three smaller duchies, Tuscany, Parma, and Modena, were ruled by members of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty. All these states were absolutist.
German Unification
German Unification was the process that ended in 1871 with the union of the North German Confederation with other Germanic states to form the German Empire. Its architect was the aristocratic Prussian politician Otto von Bismarck, who in September 1862 was appointed Prime Minister of Prussia by King William I. At that time, the Prussian government and the Diet (Parliament) Prussian, based in the city of Berlin, were faced with the army reform bill drafted by the Ministry of War, which consisted of extending the period of compulsory military service and the abolition of the Landwehr, a militia composed of citizens. Prussian Liberals, who had the parliamentary majority, rejected this proposal as a series of reactionary measures aimed at increasing the powers of the Prussian crown and refused to approve the defense budget. Bismarck, determined to win, ran the country and raised taxes without the consent of Parliament.