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What were the causes of the French Revolution?

What were the causes of the French Revolution?

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What were the causes of the French Revolution?
concerned with observation, experiment, precise measurements, mechanical devices, and practical commercial applications. This kind of science played a role in the invention and improvement of the steam engine,which helped remove water from coal mines.(inventor James Watt's sketch embedded). The British Royal Society, an association of "natural philosophers" (scientists) established in 1660, saw its role as promoting "useful knowledge." To this end, it established "mechanics' libraries," published broadsheets and pamphlets on recent scientific advances, and held frequent public lectures and demonstrations. The integration of science and technology became widespread and permanent after 1850, but for a century before, it was largely a British phenomenon. Finally, several accidents of geography and history contributed something to Britain's Industrial Revolution. The country had a ready supply of coal and iron ore, often located close to each other and within easy reach of major industrial centers. Unlike China, whose large coal deposits were located further inland and not easily accessible by natural or man-made waterways. Although Britain took part in the wars against Napoleon, the country's island location protected it from the kind of invasions that so many continental European states experienced during the era of the French Revolution. Moreover, Britain's relatively fluid society allowed for adjustments in the face of social changes without widespread revolution. By the time the dust settled from the immense disturbance of the French Revolution, Britain was well on its way to becoming the world's first industrial society.
Transcribed Image Text:concerned with observation, experiment, precise measurements, mechanical devices, and practical commercial applications. This kind of science played a role in the invention and improvement of the steam engine,which helped remove water from coal mines.(inventor James Watt's sketch embedded). The British Royal Society, an association of "natural philosophers" (scientists) established in 1660, saw its role as promoting "useful knowledge." To this end, it established "mechanics' libraries," published broadsheets and pamphlets on recent scientific advances, and held frequent public lectures and demonstrations. The integration of science and technology became widespread and permanent after 1850, but for a century before, it was largely a British phenomenon. Finally, several accidents of geography and history contributed something to Britain's Industrial Revolution. The country had a ready supply of coal and iron ore, often located close to each other and within easy reach of major industrial centers. Unlike China, whose large coal deposits were located further inland and not easily accessible by natural or man-made waterways. Although Britain took part in the wars against Napoleon, the country's island location protected it from the kind of invasions that so many continental European states experienced during the era of the French Revolution. Moreover, Britain's relatively fluid society allowed for adjustments in the face of social changes without widespread revolution. By the time the dust settled from the immense disturbance of the French Revolution, Britain was well on its way to becoming the world's first industrial society.
Contextualizing the European Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution has long been a source of great controversy among scholars. Why did it occur first in Europe? Within Europe, why did it occur first in Great Britain? Earlier explanations that sought the answer in some unique and deeply rooted feature of European society, history, or culture have been challenged by world historians because such views suggest that only Europe was destined to industrialize. This approach is both Eurocentric and deterministic but also goes against recent research. Historians now know that other areas of the world had experienced times of great technological and scientific flourishing. Between 750 and 1100 C.E., the Islamic world generated major advances in shipbuilding, the use of tides and falling water to generate power, papermaking, textile production, chemical technologies, water mills, clocks, and much more. India had long been the world center of cotton textile (fabric) production, the first place to turn sugarcane juice into crystallized sugar, and the source of many agricultural innovations and mathematical inventions. More than either of these, China was clearly the world leader in technological innovation between 700 and 1400 C.E., prompting various scholars to suggest that China was on the edge of an industrial revolution by 1200 or so. For example, the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) encouraged Christian Jesuit missionaries in China "not to worry so much about getting things European to the Chinese but rather about getting remarkable Chinese inventions to us." China also contained the expansive labor force necessary to sustain industrialization. For reasons much debated *Copyright: Achievement First. Unless otherwise noted, all of the content in this resource is licensed under a Creatin Commons Attrih (CC BY) among historians, all of these flowerings of technological creativity had slowed down considerably or stagnated by the Early Modern Era, when the pace of technological change in Europe began to pick up. But these earlier achievements certainly suggest that Europe was not alone in its capacity for technological innovation. If the Industrial Revolution was a Western European phenomenon generally, it clearly began in Britain in particular. The world's first Industrial Revolution unfolded spontaneously in a country that concentrated some of the more general features of European society. It was both unplanned and unexpected. Why Britain? With substantial Enclosure Movement imperial possessions in the Caribbean, in North America, and, by the late eighteenth century, in India as well, Britain was the most highly Before After APPLEBY APPLERY ENCLOSURES MEATH commercialized of CROSS WELL Europe's larger countries. Its landlords (landowners, usually aristocrats) "enclosed" much agricultural land. FILD Those landowners enclosed their land with fences or hedges, concentrating landholdings under fewer people and privatizing that land (making it the property of those individuals only). The increase in their landholdings enabled them to cultivate larger fields. Within these larger fields, called enclosures, landowners experimented with more productive seeding and harvesting methods to boost crop yields. Enclosing land pushed out the small farmers. A series of agricultural innovations – crop rotation, selective breeding of animals, lighter plows, higher-yielding seeds – increased agricultural output, kept food prices low, and freed up labor from the countryside. The guilds, which earlier had protected Britain's urban artisans, had largely disappeared by the eighteenth century, allowing employers to run their manufacturing enterprises as they saw fit. Coupled with a rapidly growing population, these processes guaranteed an available supply of industrial workers who had few alternatives available to them. Furthermore, British aristocracy, had long been interested in the world of business, and some took part in new mining and manufacturing enterprises. British joint stock companies traded around the world, its large merchant fleet protected by the Royal Navy. The wealth of empire and global commerce were not enough for sparking the Industrial Revolution. Spain, the earliest beneficiary of American wealth, was one of the slowest-industrializing European countries into the twentieth century. British political life encouraged commercialization and economic innovation. Its policy of religious toleration, formally established in 1688, welcomed people with technical skills regardless of their faith, whereas France's persecution of its Protestant minority had chased out some of its most skilled workers. Checks on royal power - trial by jury and the growing authority of Parliament, for example - provided a freer arena for private enterprise than elsewhere in Europe. Europe's Scientific Revolution also took a distinctive form in Great Britain in ways that promoted technological innovation. Whereas science in continental Europe was largely based on logic, deduction, and mathematical reasoning, in Britain it was much more
Transcribed Image Text:Contextualizing the European Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution has long been a source of great controversy among scholars. Why did it occur first in Europe? Within Europe, why did it occur first in Great Britain? Earlier explanations that sought the answer in some unique and deeply rooted feature of European society, history, or culture have been challenged by world historians because such views suggest that only Europe was destined to industrialize. This approach is both Eurocentric and deterministic but also goes against recent research. Historians now know that other areas of the world had experienced times of great technological and scientific flourishing. Between 750 and 1100 C.E., the Islamic world generated major advances in shipbuilding, the use of tides and falling water to generate power, papermaking, textile production, chemical technologies, water mills, clocks, and much more. India had long been the world center of cotton textile (fabric) production, the first place to turn sugarcane juice into crystallized sugar, and the source of many agricultural innovations and mathematical inventions. More than either of these, China was clearly the world leader in technological innovation between 700 and 1400 C.E., prompting various scholars to suggest that China was on the edge of an industrial revolution by 1200 or so. For example, the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) encouraged Christian Jesuit missionaries in China "not to worry so much about getting things European to the Chinese but rather about getting remarkable Chinese inventions to us." China also contained the expansive labor force necessary to sustain industrialization. For reasons much debated *Copyright: Achievement First. Unless otherwise noted, all of the content in this resource is licensed under a Creatin Commons Attrih (CC BY) among historians, all of these flowerings of technological creativity had slowed down considerably or stagnated by the Early Modern Era, when the pace of technological change in Europe began to pick up. But these earlier achievements certainly suggest that Europe was not alone in its capacity for technological innovation. If the Industrial Revolution was a Western European phenomenon generally, it clearly began in Britain in particular. The world's first Industrial Revolution unfolded spontaneously in a country that concentrated some of the more general features of European society. It was both unplanned and unexpected. Why Britain? With substantial Enclosure Movement imperial possessions in the Caribbean, in North America, and, by the late eighteenth century, in India as well, Britain was the most highly Before After APPLEBY APPLERY ENCLOSURES MEATH commercialized of CROSS WELL Europe's larger countries. Its landlords (landowners, usually aristocrats) "enclosed" much agricultural land. FILD Those landowners enclosed their land with fences or hedges, concentrating landholdings under fewer people and privatizing that land (making it the property of those individuals only). The increase in their landholdings enabled them to cultivate larger fields. Within these larger fields, called enclosures, landowners experimented with more productive seeding and harvesting methods to boost crop yields. Enclosing land pushed out the small farmers. A series of agricultural innovations – crop rotation, selective breeding of animals, lighter plows, higher-yielding seeds – increased agricultural output, kept food prices low, and freed up labor from the countryside. The guilds, which earlier had protected Britain's urban artisans, had largely disappeared by the eighteenth century, allowing employers to run their manufacturing enterprises as they saw fit. Coupled with a rapidly growing population, these processes guaranteed an available supply of industrial workers who had few alternatives available to them. Furthermore, British aristocracy, had long been interested in the world of business, and some took part in new mining and manufacturing enterprises. British joint stock companies traded around the world, its large merchant fleet protected by the Royal Navy. The wealth of empire and global commerce were not enough for sparking the Industrial Revolution. Spain, the earliest beneficiary of American wealth, was one of the slowest-industrializing European countries into the twentieth century. British political life encouraged commercialization and economic innovation. Its policy of religious toleration, formally established in 1688, welcomed people with technical skills regardless of their faith, whereas France's persecution of its Protestant minority had chased out some of its most skilled workers. Checks on royal power - trial by jury and the growing authority of Parliament, for example - provided a freer arena for private enterprise than elsewhere in Europe. Europe's Scientific Revolution also took a distinctive form in Great Britain in ways that promoted technological innovation. Whereas science in continental Europe was largely based on logic, deduction, and mathematical reasoning, in Britain it was much more
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