The Old Regime

The Old Regime

Systems of goverment
1. Absolutism
  1. Was the system of government in most Europe in the 18th Century
  2. Monarchs held legislative, judicial and executive power
  3. Merchantilism was the economic policy absolute monarchs were based on
2. English parlamientarism
  1. In the 17th Century, Britain was tried to be ruled by an absolute monarchy by the King of the Stuart dynasty
    1. This caused conflicts which ended in the English Civil War
      1. Royalities were defeated and Charles I executed
  2. Under the new parliamentary monarchy system, the monarch was not above the law
  3. The Bill of Rights in 1689 , declared certain rights and liberties, including the separation of powers
3. The Dutch Republic
  1. In 1648, 7 provinces in northern Netherland were named independent, this was the Dutch Republic
    1. They held most of the political power in Europe
    2. Each province had its own parliament
    3. Representatives joined together at the Estates General
Main characteristics
1. Society
  1. Clergy
    1. High clergy and low clergy, archbishops,bishops,monks...
  2. Nobility
    1. High nobility and low nobility, wealthy people, vats lands, special judgements...
  3. Commoners
    1. Bourgeoisie and the commoners, include doctors, merchants,artisans, pesants... they payed lots of taxes
2. The agrarian sector
  1. Crop agriculture and livestock farming were the main economic activities of the 18th Century.
  2. Peasants practice subsistence farming
  3. Most of the land belonged to the Nobility and the Clergy
3. Artisanal activity and trade
  1. Guilds controlled most of the artisanal activities.
  2. The domestic system was a new system of production
  3. Royal factories produced luxury products
  4. Foreign trade increased and some companies were granted trade monopolies
  5. The triangular trade was developed between Africa, Europe and America
The Enlightenment
1. Enlightenment thinkers
  1. Rousseau
    1. Defended freedom and equaiity
  2. Voltaire
    1. Defended a strong monarchy with respect for civil liberties
  3. Montesquieu
    1. Defended the separation of powers
2. Reason should be applied to all areas of life
3. Enlightenment despotism
  1. Reformed
    1. Land: to improve the economy they started using unused lands
    2. Goverment: modernised bureaucracies, strenghtened the central administration....
    3. Education: founding new educational institutions
4. Natural rights belonged to allhuman beings
5. Knowledge was the key to happiness, great importance to education
6. Tolerance was the basis of existence
Enlightened despotism in Spain
1. The enlightened despotism of Carlos III
  1. Carlos III started a wide-ranging reform that made him the greatest spaniard enlightened despot
  2. He tried to modify Spanish traditional clothing which led to the Esquilache Riots
    1. Esquilache was deposed and Carlos III appointed several spanish ministers which attempted to reform:
      1. The church
      2. Economic development
      3. Education
      4. Economic Societies of Friends of the Country
2. Carlos IV and the end of the reform
  1. Carlos IV became king in 1788.
    1. The counts of Carlos III were replaced by Manuel Godoy
    2. Spain was in war with revolutionary France and in 1795 they agreed to make peace
    3. In 1805 the British army destroyed the Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar
    4. He abdicated in 1808 in favour of his son Fernando VII
The War of the Spanish Succession
1. Early Bourbon rule
  1. Felipe V
    1. He centralized the Spanish administration following the French model
    2. He issued the Nueva Planta decree because the opposition of the Crown of Aragon
    3. Imposed Castillian institutions throughout the country
    4. He tried to recover territories in Utrech
      1. Also recovered italian dukedoms
      2. Spain recovered Naples and Sicily
    5. He created a new figure which was the "Minister"
  2. Fernando VI-1746-1759 (Felipe V successor)
    1. In 1749 the Catastro of Ensenada was a large scale census
    2. Continued with Felipe V reforms
2. Began in 1701 and finished in 1713 by the Utrecht treaty
3. Habsburg King Carlos II died without children
  1. Bourbon candidate Philippe, Duke of Anjou
  2. Habsburg candidate, Archduke Charles

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	Created by Juan Blanco over 7 years ago