World civilizations in eighteenth century - Term Paper Example

?World Civilizations The eighteenth century was a period of great changes in every sphere of human life. It threw up some great thinkers, whose ideasof enlightenment contributed to social progress, in the spheres of equal rights and freedoms for all people. These thinkers wanted to bring about changes in society through the promotion of education and scientific thinking. In some European countries, a system of government called “Enlightened Despotism” came into being, where reforms for promoting agriculture, industry and education were established. However, all these changes were resisted by the church and the nobility who stood to lose their hold over the common people. Despite the stiff resistance of the nobility and the church, the idea of enlightenment was a source of inspiration, and social reforms caused changes in agriculture, trade, industry and finance. Karl Marx remarked “Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.” (Marx, Theses On Feuerbach) The revolutions of the eighteenth century changed the world in ways that touched people in most of the civilized world. The revolutions in the eighteenth century were a result of the increased demand for the basic necessities of life - namely food and clothing. The disappearance of the menace of the plague and improved methods of sanitation, led to a growth in population. The need to feed the growing population, led to a transformation in agricultural systems like improved machinery, scientific methods of breeding and introduction of new crops and crop rotation. Low yielding crops like rye were replaced with higher yielding varieties like barley and wheat, and more land was reclaimed for agriculture. Land was reallocated making farms more compact, efficient and easier to manage. The discovery of the turnip was another factor that reduced the extent of fallow land. Farmers discovered that the land that grew turnips in rows could be weeded while the turnip was growing. Before this farmers would leave some areas for weeding while other areas were sown. The arable land therefore increased and this led to a spurt in agricultural output. The agricultural revolution not only succeeded in producing more food, but it also led to more food being produced per worker. Therefore the workforce required for agriculture decreased and this led to a migration of this workforce to the field of industry, which in turn led to the industrial revolution. Before the industrial revolution, goods were manufactured using basic hand tools or machines in homes. The introduction of powered machinery that could mass produce goods in factories, led to the need for new markets for these goods, as well as new means of transportation to carry them. Mechanization of the textile industry coupled with improved techniques for making iron, and the invention of the steam engine, that revolutionized the transport system, in turn led to improved systems of trade and finance. Engines and machines that could do away with the physical labor of man, besides cutting down the time taken to accomplish it was a blessing indeed! Britain was the first to begin mechanized spinning and weaving because she was blessed with the moist weather conditions that helped in this industry. Besides, the fast moving streams supplied hydropower for these mills. As the economy moved from manual to machine based manufacturing, the manufacturing time was slashed and new markets were needed for these goods. The mechanization of spinning was followed in quick succession by the development of techniques for making iron. The introduction of the steam engine was the final triumph that revolutionized the transport system and increased the use of refined coal to power these steam engines. Britain being an island nation, her ports enabled her to trade in these goods and at this time Britain indeed ruled the waves. The efforts of British entrepreneurs were rewarded due to the fact that they had a large and ready market for their goods. Growing trade and commerce in overseas markets attracted merchants to provide the ships and goods, to be shipped overseas to colonies first in America and then in India. The spurt in population growth in North America increased demand for textiles and metal ware. The slave trade provided further stimulus for trade, with growing demand for clothing and utensils for slaves and the estates on which they worked. The demand for goods provided British manufacturing with the impetus to introduce new technologies and further increase production. In fact during the mid eighteenth century, an integrated Atlantic economy was established through which merchants in British American and West Indian ports joined hands to establish commercial ties and establish new enterprises to make money through trade. In the last decades of the eighteenth century Britain was undeniably the center of world industry and trade. According to David Simpson, Francis Bacon’s key insight was that “Knowledge is Power and when embodied in the form of new technical inventions and mechanical discoveries, it is the force that drives history.” (Simpson, Francis Bacon, The idea of Progress) Britain demonstrated this amply through the might of her scientific power as her engines and machines revolutionized progress and spread her influence to every part of the world from Europe to America and Asia. England, Europe and America witnessed a shift from manual labor and an agrarian economy to one based on the capitalist principles and ideas of an industrialized economy. Innovations in transport and communications allowed faster movement of goods and services. Trade systems were dominated by those who held sway over the seas, and expansion of trade depended on the acquisition of colonies and the superiority of naval power. The transformation of agriculture, industry and transport systems; necessitated a change in the financial systems of the time too. The Bank of England that worked as a government bank as well as a commercial operation, led to the setting up of a number of private banks throughout the country. A network of banks enabled mobilization of funds and credit generation for economic activities. Most importantly, they provided the necessary capital to industrialists to fund new ventures and cover the costs of goods in transit. The government and the private sector joined hands to formulate an economic policy to maximize benefits to the nation. However when the government’s support was no longer needed, it relinquished its hold to allow entrepreneurs to fuel maximum growth and expansion. Farming systems based on organic agriculture were replaced by methods that depended on energy intensive inputs. Farmers began to consider agriculture a science and experimented with new manures and fertilizers to increase yields. The iron and textile industries together with the steam engine played a pivotal role in improving transportation systems, which in turn led to improvement in trade and banking services. This industrial revolution transformed the lives of people in every stratum of British, European and American society. Building on the ideas of enlightenment of thinkers such as Voltaire and Rousseau, the eighteenth century saw the overthrow of despotic rule through the American and French revolutions and sowed the seeds of many more such upheavals in the centuries that followed. As Harold Perkin has observed, "the Industrial Revolution was no mere sequence of changes in industrial techniques and production, but a social revolution with social causes as well as profound social effects" (Perkin, Quoted from Lecture 17 The Origins of the Industrial Revolution in England, The Origins of Modern English Society, 1780-1880 (1969) Works Cited Marx Karl Theses On Feuerbach, Thesis 11 Translated: by Cyril Smith 2002, based on work done jointly with Don Cuckson. web 25 February 2013 Perkin Harold The Origins of Modern English Society, 1780-1880 (1969) The History Guide Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History “Lecture 17 The Origins of the Industrial Revolution in England” web 25 February 2013 Simpson David Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - A Peer reviewed Academic Resource “Francis Bacon” Thought and Writings, The Idea of Progress. web 25 February 2013 Read More