Unit 1:

The 18th Century

The Enlightenment
Background
⦿ Abundance in Europe from Colonies
previously it was famine and barely survive
⦿ Travel was widerspread
⦿ Constant Warfare
– Muslims vs Christians
- Protestants vs Catholics (30 years war)
1. THE 18TH Century: THE ENLIGHTENMENT
TIMES OF CHANGE

Before the French Revolution

THE OLD REGIME (ANCIEN REGIME)
⦿ Political system: absolute monarchy
⦿ Economy: agriculture (very basic/small farms/feudalism).
⦿ Rigid social stratification (classes/three estates).
⦿ Religion in all aspects of life.

After the French Revolution

THE ENLIGHTMENT
• Faith in HUMAN REASON + INTELLIGENCE

• SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES

• Criticism of the old regime: absolutism and social stratification were

criticized and religious intolerance was condemned. New moral based on
reason promoted DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE, EDUCATION AND
CULTURE independent from religious influence.
Confidence in Reason

“Our hope for the future of the human species

can be reduced to three important points: the
destruction of inequality among nations, the
progress of equality within a same people,
and finally, the authentic improvement of
man. Thus, the day will come when the sun
will shine on the earth only on free men who
have no other master than their own reason”
N. Condorcet,
defending reason and
human rights
 Great Minds
⦿ Montesque- Persian Letters, separation of power
⦿ Voltaire- Candide, Sent to Bastille Prison, valued
honesty
⦿ Rosseau- education reform, natural living
(middle class values: honesty, hard work,
practicality)
⦿ David Hume, belief in things you cannot
undertand is superstition
⦿ Deistists – God exists but doesn´t influence
everyday life. (Religious Tolerance)
⦿ Encyclopedia, Newspapers, Salons
Lisbon Earthquake 1755: 30,000 people died: God Punishment?
2. POLITICAL CHANGES
FROM ABSOLUTISM TO ENLIGHTENMENT DESPOTISM
⦿ Enlightenment intellectuals: CRITICIZED ABSOLUTE MONARCHY
⦿ Voltaire: power of the king must be limited by the parliament.
⦿ Montesquieu: division of powers: legislative, executive and judiciary.
⦿ Rousseau: sovereignty resides in the people.
⦿ ENLIGHTENMENT DESPOTISM:
⦿ Form of government: IDEA OF ABSOLUTISM + IDEAS OF ENLIGHTENMENT
“Everything for the people but without the people”. (King had absolute power
but followed the will of the people”.

NEW INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

17TH C: Spanish empire was the dominant power in Europe due to the expansion of its
territories. Spain lost its hegemonic position to France.

18TH C: the victories of Great Britain established it as the new colonial empire.
“Sovereign power lies only in my person, and
its character is the spirit of counsel, justice
and reason; it is to me that my courtiers owe
their existence and authority; the plentitude
of their authority which they exercise in my
name only… legislative power belongs to only
me without dependence and without division;
it is with my authority that the officials of my
Court proceed not to inform but to register,
publish and enforce the law; public order
emanates from me and the rights and interests
of the nation… are united necessarily to mine
and rest only in my hands.”
Louis XV, 1766
“I would like for a prince to have no other
thought save that of making his people happy.
A happy people are more afraid of losing their
prince, who at the same time is their
benefactor than the sovereign himself may
fear regarding the decline of his power….
There is but one good, that of the state in
general. The sovereign represents the state,
he and his people form but one body… the
prince is for the society that he governs that
which the head is for the body; he must see,
think, act for the whole community, in order
to secure all the benefits that it is entitled to
achieve.”
Frederick II of Prussia
Make a timeline of these events in your
notebook:
⦿First articles of the Encyclopaedia are published
⦿The old regime

⦿A Wealth of Nations (Adam Smith) is published

⦿The Maximes Générales of F. Quesnay is published

⦿The Letters on the English by Voltaire are

published
⦿The War of the Spanish Succession

⦿The Treaty of Rastatt

⦿Death of Charles III

⦿The Nueva Planta Decrees

⦿The Family Compact

⦿The Treaty of Versailles

Difference in reform and
revolution?
Reform?
VS
Revolution?

Who starts what? Which one is violent and

radical? Which one changes the law? Which
one deals with more radical changes?
New International relations
⦿ In the Old Regime, the European States fought
to achieve supremacy..
⦿ 15th to 17th century Spain was supreme.
⦿ By the 17th century, the Spanish monarchy lost
European supremacy to France and colonial
supremacy to the United Provinces, England
and France
⦿ In the 18th century, the principle of balance
spread under the impulse of Great Britain.
⦿ Principle of balance = no one can dominate
completely
MERCANTILISM (17TH C)
Accumulation of precious metals
3. ECONOMIC CHANGES
PHYSIOCRACY (18TH C)

WEALTH OF A NATION = LAND (agriculture and mining). Adam Smith: A Wealth of Nations (1776).
The economy should be controlled by supply and demand.
:
Raw material to be manufactured and transformed into products.

Francois Quesnay “ LET IT BE, LET IT HAPPEN”.

ECONOMIC LIBERALISM (18TH C)

Francois Quesnay Origin of wealth = INDIVIDUAL EFFORT to obtain maximum profit without
regulations.
The state should not interfere.
SUPPLY + DEMAND will regulate production and price is determined by the relationship between
supply and demand.
General Maxims
“Let the sovereign and the nation never lose
sight of the fact that the earth is the sole
source of all riches, and that it is agriculture
which multiplies riches. For it is the
augmentation of riches that assures the
wealth of the population…”
Francois Quesnay, 1758
A Wealth of Nations
“the actual price at which any commodity is
commonly sold is called its market price… the
market price of every particular commodity is
regulated by the proportion between the
quantity which is actually brought to market
(supply) and the demand of those who are
willing to pay the natural price of the
commodity (demand)
Adam Smith, 1776
Law of Demand
⦿As price rises, people will buy less
⦿As price falls, people will buy more

Law of Supply
⦿As price rises, suppliers will supply more
⦿As price falls, suppliers will supply less
Mercantilism
New economic policies

Policy Main Ideas

Mercantilism Wealth of a country is based on The underlying principles of

precious metals. Characteristic of the mercantilism included (1) the belief
Old regime that the amount of wealth in the
world was relatively static; (2) the
belief that a country's wealth could
best be judged by the amount of
precious metals or bullion it
possessed; (3) the need to
encourage exports over imports

Physiocracy Wealth of a nation based on the land Whereas mercantilists held that each
Who: Quesnay nation must regulate trade and
manufacture to increase its wealth
and power, the physiocrats
contended that labour and commerce
should be freed from all restraint.

Economic Wealth of a nation based on Adam Smith's economic theory is

individual work the idea that markets tend to work
liberation Who: Smith best when the government leaves
them alone.
Rejects public ownership of business
 4. Economic changes
Agricultural transformations

New crops (maize and potatoes)

Technical improvements: crop rotation
Feudal regime remained

Changes in craftsmanship
🡪 Handicraft production grew,
new production methods
were developed

-cottage industries
-manufacturing
 4. Economic changes
Agricultural transformations

THE STATE

Regulated commerce = restricting foreign imports and encouraging exports.

EUROPE: exported to the colonies

COLONIES: providers of raw materials.
4. ECONOMIC CHANGES
INTERNAL COMMERCE

Products transported BY CART / poor conditions

AGRICULTURAL + ARTISANAL products sold in markets

EXTERNAL COMMERCE

NEW WORLD = external commerce = around important ports.

18th Century: COLONIES

provided raw materials + precious metals + plantation products.
demanded manufactured products + slaves.

Commercial capitalism: development of credit, banks and stock exchange markets.

Important terms
⦿Aristocracy: the highest class in certain
societies, the nobility
⦿Guilds: medieval association of craftsmen or
merchants, often with a lot of power
controlling the work in workshops etc.
⦿Fallow land: a piece of land used for
farming but that is left with no crops on it
for a season in order to allow it to recover
⦿Feudal regime: legal and military customs
where society was structured around
relationships derived from those who owned
land in exchange for service of labour
External commerce
⦿Inventions
which improved external
commerce before and after 18th century
⦿External commerce was centered around
important ports. During the 18th century,
colonies provided raw materials, precious metals
and plantation products (cotton, tea, cocoa,
sugar), also created a demand for manufactured
products and slaves. The development of
credit, banks and stock exchange markets
increased commercial capitalism.
Changes in trade and
commerce
⦿Domestic and foreign trade in the 18th
century improved
❑Improvement of roads, waterways
❑Increase in production
❑Colonies provided precious metals and
plantation products (cotton, tea, cocoa, sugar)
❑Colonies demanded manufactured products and
slaves
❑Boosted commercial capitalism, credit, trading
companies, banks and the stock exchange
5. Society and Everyday life
⦿Society in the Old Regime
• Stratified society
• Three estates/tiers
• Privileged class and unprivileged class
⦿Social changes in the 18th century
• Enlightened individuals criticized the privileged classes
• Bourgeoisie considered themselves producers of wealth
and complained about their lack of social recognition,
triggered The French Revolution in 1789
⦿Everyday life
• Nobility lived in mansions, elaborate clothing and
meals
• Common people lived in small houses, wore cheap
fabrics and ate “vulgar” food like potatoes, soup etc.
Justifying a stratified society
“It is necessary that there be order in all
things… it is necessary that some command
and others obey… Sovereign lords command
all within their state, addressing their
commands to the great, the great to the
middling, the middling to the small and the
small to the people… Some are dedicated
particularly to the service of God, others to
protecting the state by their arms, others to
nourishing and maintaining it through
peaceful occupations. These are our three
Estates General of France”
-Charles Loyseau
Criticizing a stratified society
“As trade enriched the citizens in England, so
it contributed to their freedom, and this
freedom on the other side extended their
commerce, whence arose the grandeur of the
State… Such circumstance as this raises a just
pride in an English merchant…
In France a nobleman may look down upon a
trader… and the trader is fool enough to blush
at it. However I need not say which is most
useful to a nation, a lord powdered… or a
merchant who enriches his country… and
contributes to the felicity of the world”
-Voltaire
What are some of the arguments for and
against a stratified society?

FOR AGAINST
There has to be people The third estate is the
in the lower classes to wealth of a country. The
do the work. By birth, work of peasants is more
some are fortunate, respectable than the work
of nobles. Birth should
some are not, that is
not determine wealth or
just the way of life. status.
6. The 18th century in Spain. The Bourbons.
THE END OF THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA
1700: KING CARLOS II died without any heirs (end of
the house of Austria). He designated Philip of Anjou as
his successor. (start of the house of Bourbon in Spain).

European countries opposed

Fearing the union between Spain and France.
Supported: Archduke Charles of Austria.

THE WAR OF SUCCESSION (1700-1713) (The war had a

double aspect)

Civil war in Spain:

CASTILE: Philip of Anjou = Philip V

CROWN OF ARAGON: Archduke Charles of Austria.

European war:
Spain and France vs. Holy Roman Empire, United Kingdom,
the United Provinces, Savoy, Portugal, Catalonia.
Europe 1700
The Family of Philippe V by Von Loo
Spain in the War
⦿ the Anglo-Dutch fleet had captured Gibraltar
and defeated a Spanish fleet at the Battle of
Málaga 1704
⦿ Allied forces had also landed in Catalunya
where they captured Barcelona in 1705. The
Catalans largely supported and many joined the
Allied armies. 11 September 1714, Bourbons
take it back end of the Principality of
Catalonia. Diada Nacional de Catalunya.
⦿ 1708 Menorca taken by the UK until 1802
⦿ Many Campaigns
Battle of Cadiz
◼ Cadiz was the capital of trade in Spain.
◼ Intended to garner support in Spain for an insurrection
Admiral Rooke commanded 50 warships (30 English, 20
Dutch), and transports, totalling 160 sail in all; Ormonde,
commander of the troops, had under him 14,000 men in
total – 10,000 English (including 2,400 marines) and 4,000
Dutch vs. 350 Spanish
◼ Looting of Rota and Puerto
◼ No advances, decide to rembark
◼ Absolute Failure
◼ Help came from Sevilla
and Cordoba
End of the war
⦿ Victories for both sides but the deaths of the
German emperor and his eldest son were
decisive. The war ended with the Treaties
of Utrecht and Rastatt (1713–1714). As a
result of these agreements:
⦿ Austria gained lands from Spain, including
Milan and the Spanish Netherlands, while
Great Britain gained Gibraltar and Menorca.
⦿ Philip of Anjou became Felipe V, King of
Spain. This was the start of the Bourbon
dynasty in Spain.
The Bourbons in Spain
⦿The establishment of the Bourbons
- Charles II died without heirs, ended the House of Austria
- Philip Anjou was successor (Philip V)
- French House of Bourbon was established with his rule

⦿Danger of a possible union between Spain and

France, European powers feared that this would ruin
the balance of powers

⦿The War of the Spanish succession (1700-1714)

- Dual nature: international and civil war
- Philip V as King of Spain
- Treaty of Utrecht (1713) and Treaty of Rastatt (1714)
The Bourbons.
Enlightenment and Reforms
- First Bourbons in Spain were:
Philippe V (1700-1746)
Fernando VI (1746-1759)
Carlos III (1759-1788).

- Enlightened ideas were embraced by bourgeoisie and

some lower nobility and the clergy.
- -Enlightened (Spanish) intellectuals: father Feijoo,
Jovellanos, Campomanes, Floridablanca, Aranda
- Reforms were started under Philip V and reached
their potential with Charles III but they didn’t go very
far because of several reasons.
7. The Bourbon Reforms

THE BOURBONS: ENLIGHTENMENT AND REFORM

Four Bourbon kings reigned in Spain during the 18th C.
Some important reforms that followed the Enlightenment ideas were introduced.
Impact of these ideas was very small.

A NEW MODEL OF STATE: ABSOLUTIST MONARCHY

KING = ALL THE POWER

Bourbons removed the nobles from positions of political power.

Intervened in Church issues.
Summoned the Parliament as little as possible.
Centralized state: (French model)

PHILIP V abolished the historical laws and institutions of the different territories.
Aragon, Valencia, Catalonia and Majorca lost their status with the Nueva Planta decrees.
Charles III (Carlos III)
⦿King of Spain
1759-1788
⦿Promoted science
and university
research
⦿Facilitating trade
⦿Tried to reduce the
influence of the
church
Political reforms
⦿Bourbons consolidated absolute monarchy
🡪 evolved into enlightened despotism
⦿Bourbons isolated the nobility from the
power, intervened in the Church and never
called upon the Cortes.
⦿Political and administrative centralization
was imposed by Philip V
⦿Nueva Planta Decrees
�Suppressed the laws of Aragon, Valencia,
Catalonia, Mallorca
�Only the Basque Country and Navarra remained
ECONOMIC REFORMS

SPAIN: ECONOMIC PROSPERITY: growth of the population + economic societies.

AGRICULTURE

New crops (corn and potatoes).

Irrigation was introduced

Fallow land reduced.

Farming land grew (land that belonged to the Church was ordered to be sold for farming).

INDUSTRY

Modernized, manufacturing grew.

Internal commerce: improvements in transport; new bridges, roads were paved and widened.

A radial network of roads was designed with its centre in Madrid, connecting the capital to the most important ports.

EXTERNAL COMMERCE

Freedom of commerce with the American colonies. (1778)

⦿New foreign policy
• The Bourbons wanted to recover their lost territories
in Europe and conserve the American colonies
• Family Compact (Pacte de Familie)
• Philippe V followed a policy aimed at recovering some
of his European possessions for two of his sons
• Fernando VI favored a neutral approach in foreign
policy
• Carlos III intervened in Seven Years’ War and signed
the Treaty of Paris (ceded Florida, granted Louisiana),
he supported the revolution of the thirteen British
colonies against their mother country.
8. ART AND CULTURE
•PUBLIC EDUCATION to prevent ignorance and the ideological control of the Church.
•ROCOCO ART: originated in France and little impact in Spain. it was refined, courtly, aristocratic. Rococo decoration
was used to decorate salons and small cabinets. walls and ceilings covered in stucco. (The Royal Palace in Madrid and
the Palace of la Granja in Segovia).

•NEOCLASSICAL ART: originated in France (second half of the 18th C). It was a rational and austere style conformed
to a set of rules that imitated Greek and Roman models.
•Architecture: followed Greek and Roman models. Rejected ornamentation. (Pantheon in France, the British Museum
in England, the Puerta de Alcalá by Sabatini and the Prado Museum by Villanueva).
•Sculpture: represented ideal beauty, simplicity. Mythological scenes, classical history and portraits were popular
themes. (Cibeles in Madrid).
•Painting: focused more on drawing than on colour and also used mythological and historical themes. (Ceilings of
some salons in the Royal Palace, Madrid).
Rococo – a courtly art

Neoclassical – a bourgeois art

⦿Public Education
• Enlightened individuals encouraged public education
in order to prevent ignorance and ideological control
by the Church, to achieve economic progress and
thus transform society.

“The sources of prosperity are many, but all spring

from the same source: public education… Can it be
doubted that it alone can bring to perfection these
very abundant forces of the wealth of individuals and
the power of the State? It is usually believed that this
opulence and this power can be derived from
prudence and vigilance of those being governed, but
can they look for it by any means other than that of
promoting and encouraging this kind of education?”