Ancient Regime

• In the 18th century, societies of the Ancien Régime in Europe were based on traditional farming, divided into social classes, and governed by absolute monarchies
• Economy:

  • Main economic activity: subsistence farming
  • Subsistence farming: low yields, traditional methods, crops grown for the farmer and his family
  • Three-field system: land divided into three open fields, one left fallow every 3 years, cattle grazed and fertilized the fallow land
  • Regular subsistence crises due to bad weather and droughts often led to popular revolts
• Society:

  • Class-based society with very unequal groups
  • Privileged classes:
  • Nobility: owned land and property associated with a noble title or house, inheritance laws favored the firstborn son
  • Church: received tithes from peasants, owned large properties, higher clergy had privileges due to noble origin
  • Non-privileged classes:
  • Third Estate: included peasants, serfs, artisans, traders, and some bourgeoisie members, shared limited rights despite economic differences
• The Enlightenment emerged from rationalism in the 18th century as a new intellectual movement in Europe, particularly in France
• Enlightenment thinkers used reason and observation, the basis of the scientific method, to analyze reality, believing that reason and science would bring progress and happiness
• The Encyclopédie, directed by Diderot and D'Alembert and published between 1751 and 1772, represented the Enlightenment thinkers' desire to educate people and their confidence in reason
• In the late 18th century, some European monarchs like Carlos III of Spain made Enlightenment-inspired reforms, known as Enlightened Despotism, which aimed to benefit the people without diminishing the monarch's absolute power
• The USA's independence from England was achieved through a series of events, including the approval of the Constitution and Bill of Rights in 1787, George Washington's election as president in 1789, and the Declaration of Independence in 1776 after the Boston Tea Party in 1773
• The French Revolution in 1789 was fueled by discontent among the third estate, inspired by the Enlightenment and the American Revolution, against the nobles and clergy who held privileges and opposed reforms and taxes
• Third Estate's requests were ignored as privileged estates outvoted them 2 to 1
• Third Estate's representatives abandoned the meeting, formed the National Assembly, and gave each delegate one vote
• The National Assembly voted for a new political system based on popular consent and vowed not to leave until a new Constitution was approved
• An angry mob stormed the Bastille in Paris, a symbol of absolutism, on 14 July and took the weapons of the fortress
• In 1799, General Napoleon Bonaparte led a coup that ended the Revolution and the Directory
• Moderate liberalism was consolidated under Napoleon's rule from 1799 to 1815
• Napoleon Bonaparte began as a consul of the new political system and became emperor in 1804
• Napoleon's goal was to affirm the greatness of a new France that had put an end to feudalism and absolutism and aspired to be the greatest European power
• The Consulate (1799-1804) was stipulated in a new constitution where freedoms were limited and censorship was imposed
• Napoleon made reforms including founding public schools to ensure the education of civil servants and re-establishing relations with the Catholic Church through the Concordat of 1801
• Napoleon Bonaparte:

  • Crowned himself emperor in 1804
  • Began the conquest of Europe with a large army using new and effective military methods
  • Created a French empire incorporating some conquered territories, while others were governed by his family
  • Invaded Spain in 1808, making José Bonaparte (his brother) King
  • Abolished absolutism and installed constitutional regimes in the territories he occupied
  • Decline started due to difficulties in occupying Russia and Spain, leading to the formation of a new European coalition that occupied Paris in 1814
  • Defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and imprisoned on the island of Saint Helena until his death in 1824
• Absolutist Restoration:

  • Powers that defeated Napoleon (Austria, Prussia, Russia, and the United Kingdom) met at the Congress of Vienna in 1815
  • Organized Europe based on their rejection of the French Revolution, restoring absolute monarchies and abolishing constitutional principles, national sovereignty, and citizens' rights
  • Period 1815-1848 known as the Absolutist Restoration
  • Congress of Vienna remodelled Europe to benefit the victors, dividing the empire among the absolutist powers
  • Created the Holy Alliance, claiming the right to intervene wherever liberal revolutions threatened
• The Rise of Nationalism:

  • Nationalism expanded throughout Europe due to opposition to Napoleonic rule in occupied territories
  • Nationalist movements steadily grew, leading to:
  • Greece gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s
  • Belgium separating from Holland in 1830
  • National revolutions spreading throughout the Austrian Empire in 1848 involving many nationalities like Hungarians, Croats, Slovaks, etc.
• Most European countries were governed by absoluta monarchies, were the monarch held all power and ruled by divine right. This is exemplified by Louis XVI of France, the Sun King