In 1559, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, which ended the Habsburg-Valois Wars and France had to acknowledge Spanish dominancy in Italy Before 1559, Spain and France had fought for control of Italy and after 1559, the two Catholic powers aimed their guns at Protestantism Warfare of the 16th and 17th centuries was different from earlier wars Armies were larger and more expensive (government reorganized administration) Use of gunpowder altered the nature of war (killing and wounding from a distance) and popular attitudes toward war (not an ennobling process) Late-sixteenth-century conflicts fundamentally tested the medieval ideal of a unified Christian society governed by one political ruler, the emperor, to whom all rules were theoretically subordinate, and one church, to which all people belonged The Origins of Difficulties in France (1515-1559) The population losses caused by the plague and the disorders accompanying the Hundred Years’ War created such a labor shortage that serfdom had disappeared Francis I and his son Henry II governed through small but effective councils In 1539, Francis issued an ordinance that placed the whole of France under the juris-diction of the royal courts and taille, a tax on land, provided strength to monarchy The Habsburg-Valois Wars, waged through the first half of the sixteenth century, were financed by Francis I selling public offices (tax exempt class called the “nobility of the robe” -- beyond jurisdiction of crown) Francis I worked out a treaty with the papacy called the Concordat of Bologna in which Francis gained the power to appoint bishops and abbots in France giving the monarchy money in return, Francis agreed to recognize the supremacy of the papacy over a universal council -- main reason why France did not later become Protestant
Britain’s commercial leadership in the eighteenth century had its origins in the mercantilism of the seventeenth century—European mercantilism was a system of economic regulations aimed at increasing the power of the state Practiced by Colbert under Louis XIV, mercantilism aimed at creating a favorable balance of foreign trade in order to increase a country’s stock of gold What distinguished English mercantilism was then idea that government economic regulations could and should serve the private interest of individuals and groups as well as the public needs of the state—others put needs of state ahead of individuals The result of the English desire to increase both military power and private wealth was the mercantile system of theNavigation Acts passed under Oliver Cromwell The acts required that goods imported from Europe into England and Scotland be carried on British-owned ships or on ships of the country producing the article Acts gave British merchants and shipowners monopoly on trade with the colonies The colonists were required to buy almost all of their European goods from Britain and people believed that they were be a guaranteed market for products The Navigation Acts were a form of economic warfare in that their initial target was the Dutch, who were far ahead of the English in shipping and foreign trade and three Anglo-Dutch wars between 1652 and 1674 damaged Dutch commerce Late in the seventeenth century, the Dutch and English became allies to stop the expansion of France’s Louis XIV and the Netherlands followed Spain into decline From 1701 to 1763, Britain and France were locked in a series of wars to decide, in part, which nation would become the leading maritime power (share of profits)
Marx predicted the proletariat would conquer the bourgeoisie in a revolution as the poorer proletariat was constantly growing in size and class consciousness Communist Manifesto ends with “Working Men of All Countries, Unite!” Marx united sociology, economics, and human history in a vast and imposing edifice Marx, following Ricardo, argued that profits were really wages stolen from the workers and incorporated Engels’s charges of oppression of the new factory workers Marx’s theory of historical evolution was built on the philosophy of the German Georg Hegel who believed that history was “ideas in motion”: each age is characterized by a dominant set of ideas, which produces a synthesis Marx retained Hegel’s view of history as a dialectic process of change but made economic relationships between classes the driving force; Marx believed it was the bourgeoisie’s turn to give way to the socialism of revolutionary workers (secular) The Romantic Movement Romanticism’s Tenets The romantic movement was in part a revolt against classicism and the Enlightenment Romanticism was characterized by belief in emotions, unrestrained imagination, and spontaneity in both art and personal life (“Storm and Stress” 1770-80s in Germany) Romantics lived lives of tremendous emotional intensity (suicides and strange illnesses common); many led bohemian lives, wearing hair long and uncombed Romantic artists rejected materialism and wanted to escape to lofty spiritual heights through their art (full development of one’s unique human potential)