Western+Europe

Jongwook Park, Grace Kim

The Western Europe Society in 18th century In the 18th century of Europe, a lot of political, economical, and social reforms occurred. A lot of significant events during the time had happened in Europe; the most were French Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment. The European society during the time was hierarchical and it was altered by emergence of bourgeoisie. The aristocratic had the large urban class, known as bourgeoisie. The center of bourgeois culture was the family and the home and romantic love and paternal affection replaced the unemotional households of prior centuries. The bourgeoisie had the greatest population in the urban area and it was composed of groups from: wholesale merchants and international traders, retail shopkeepers, financiers, and professionals. Most of the bourgeoisie were upper classes as people had greater wealth. Life of the bourgeoisie population had led to greater literacy and the consequent rise in the number of cheaply printed books, newspapers, and magazines. The publications ran the gamut from light entertainment to serious political commentary. http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kishlansky_brfwestciv_3/0,6558,76752-,00.html

French Revolution (French had democracy)

The French Revolution was during 1789–1799. The French Revolution was a crucial event that has happened in Western Europe. It had an impact on political, philosophical and in literature. According to Wikipedia, the cause of the French Revolution is a “significant subject of historical debate”. French was one of the most powerful nations in Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution

War of the Austrian Succession

Seven Years' War

Industrial Revolution Although the Industrial Revolution had played major roles in the 19th century of Europe, it gave major changes on Europe’s political structure during the 18th century. The Industrial Revolution had made major changes on human labor, consumption, family structure, and social structure. Europe moved from agricultural and rural economy to a capitalist and urban economy and family-based economy had changed to an industry-based economy. Social obligations and the structure of the family had greatly changed. The abandonment of the family economy, for instance, was the most dramatic change to the structure of the family that Europe had ever undergone. In the mid-18th century, European economy was owned by the wealthy aristocratic landowners and this had led to globalization of other countries. http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/ENLIGHT/INDUSTRY.HTM

Romanticism Western Europe in the 18th century has gone through an aristocratic culture. Romanticism played a big role in the aristocratic culture. Musicians like Mozart had made influential thinkers exposed their ideas to an aristocratic audience and other members of the intellectual elite. Romantic literature during the 18th century had important themes like: criticism of the past, emphasis on women and men, and respect for nature. In fact, the central theme and influence that Romanticism had was nationalism. One German philosopher asserted that geography formed the natural economy of a people, and shaped their customs and society. It was not until the French Revolution when Western Europe played a political role in society. (See more information about French Revolution). http://www.romanticism.eu/

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment was a philosophy that rapidly spread throughout Europe. It began in France and it reflected a set of attitudes critical of traditional European customs and morals. The most important philosophes (“philosophers” in French) were François-Marie Arouet (or Voltaire), David Hume, Charles-Louis de Secondat, and Baron Montesquieu. Out of the 4 philosophes, Voltaire was probably the most important. He criticized the French society, which made the Roman Catholic Church stimulate an intellectual and philosophical revival. He was exiled in France because of this and he later traveled to other European countries to spread his teachings. A political reform had embraced in the west and there were three aspects of government that was taught: law, education, and religious toleration. Religious toleration had successfully spread in other European countries like Austria. Economics also played a main role in Enlightenment. French physiocrats developed the theory that all wealth came from land, either directly or indirectly. State wealth should be based on taxation on the land. The doctrine of laissez faire proposed that state should intervene as little as possible in private economic endeavors. This idea provided the foundations for economic reform later on in the nineteenth century. http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kishlansky_brfwestciv_3/0,6558,76752-,00.html

http://faculty.ucc.edu/egh-damerow/18th_century.htm