THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION FROM 1715 TO 1815: The Rise of Liberalism and Capitalism (History of Politics and Economy)

The European monarchies embraced enlightenment ideals. Enlightened despotism was clothed itself with the light of reason and secular usefulness. A series of international wars challenged political power of absolute rulers, and Europe formed a new balance of power among the five states: France, Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. The monarchies gradually became more interested in conquering foreign lands for the wealth of nations than extreme religious inclination. They attempted to augment their revenues, limit the autonomy of political bodies, and centralize their political systems. But Britain faced colonial resistance to new taxes, which caused the American Revolution. France also failed in enlightened despotism: like Britain, under the pressure of heavy war costs, new taxes were demanded. Louis XVI was forced to call a meeting of the Estate-General to raise additional taxes; but the Third-Estate with the reform-minded nobles advocated a constitutional government that would abolish the privileges of the clergy and nobility. This was the beginning of the French Revolution, but inefficiency and anarchy of the new Republic allowed Napoleon to end the revolution and enforce law. Napoleon mobilized military forces, conquered Europe through numerous campaigns, and spread the spirit of revolution by destroying the old regime and creating the new order on the conquered lands. His painful Russian campaign finally resulted in the fall of his reign. The Napoleonic wars expedited the rise of nationalism in Europe. Foreign relations in Europe were more complicated in the eighteenth century, as shown in the alliance of various wars including the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary War, and the Napoleonic Wars.During 1650-1750, the European economy suffered from a serious recession because of war followed by disease and famine. Since then European population exploded from 140 million in 1750 to 266 million by 1850. The rising population demanded more necessities for eating, clothing, and housing. The rising demand for food increased the prices of farm produce, which made agriculture profitable, so that land lords and tenants commercialized the primary sector by maximizing revenue with minimized costs. This was the beginning of the agricultural revolution in Great Britain. More advanced cultivation promoted farm productivity, which was spread widely to the continental states. The British also led the industrial revolution, since the agricultural surplus created demand for manufacturing goods, which required more inputs of capital, labor, and technology. They imported raw materials from the colonies, produced manufacturing goods, and sold them back to their colonies in America and Asia by embracing the free trade policies. The first industrial revolution was developed in such sectors as follows: in the textile industry, John Kay and others mechanized the production process; Abraham Darby invented the process of smelting iron ore with coke for cast iron, which was further improved; James Watt invented a steam engine, and the engine and power transmission system were further improved; and the chemical industry became more important in industrial life. The European states had constantly pursued to protect their mercantile interests overseas to buy raw materials from, and to sell manufacturing products to their colonies.