It's called a price revolution. Price revolution" and its consequences
The first consequence of the Great Geographical Discoveries was the “price revolution”: As cheap gold and silver poured into Europe from overseas lands, the value of these metals (hence the value of money) fell sharply, and the yen on goods rose accordingly. The total amount of gold in Europe in the 16th century. increased by more than twofold, silver - threefold, and prices increased by 2-3 times.
First of all, the price revolution affected those countries that directly plundered new lands - Spain and Portugal. It would seem that the discoveries should have caused economic prosperity in these countries. In fact, the opposite happened. Prices in these countries increased 4.5 times, while in England and France - 2.5 times. Spanish and Portuguese goods became so expensive that they were no longer bought: cheaper goods from other countries were preferred. It must be taken into account that as prices rise, production costs also increase accordingly.
And this had two consequences: gold from these countries quickly went abroad, to the countries whose goods were purchased; handicraft production fell into decline because its products were not in demand. The flow of gold went bypassing the economy of these countries - from the hands of the nobles it quickly floated abroad. Therefore, already at the beginning of the 17th century. There was a shortage of precious metals in Spain, and so many copper coins were paid for a wax candle that their weight was three times the weight of the candle. A paradox arose: the flow of gold did not enrich Spain and Portugal, but dealt a blow to their economy, because feudal relations still prevailed in these countries. On the contrary, the price revolution strengthened England and the Netherlands, countries with developed commodity production, whose goods went to Spain and Portugal.
First of all, the winners were the producers of goods, artisans and the first manufacturers, who sold their goods at increased prices. In addition, more goods were now needed: they went to Spain, Portugal and overseas in exchange for colonial goods. Now there was no longer any need to limit production, and guild craft began to develop into capitalist manufacture.
Those peasants who produced goods for sale also benefited, and paid their dues with cheaper money. In short, commodity production won.
But the feudal lords lost: they received the same amount of money from the peasants in the form of rent.
9. Holland is a leading country of merchant capitalism.
It was no coincidence that Russian Tsar Peter I went to study European-style farming not just anywhere, but to Amsterdam. Then it was the capital of the most economically developed European country, a country that competed with England.
Already by the beginning of the 16th century. The Netherlands was called "country of cities" because almost half of the population were city dwellers.
But in terms of their economic development, the northern and southern parts of the Netherlands differed significantly. The most developed was the southern part - Flanders and Brabant - the old region of the cloth and linen industry. Already by the beginning of the 16th century. dominated in these industries capitalist manufacture of a dispersed type. It developed in rural areas because in cities its development was hampered by guild restrictions. In addition, the production of soap, glass, weapons and carpets developed here. The center of the southern part of the Netherlands was the city of Antwerp.
The northern part of the Netherlands - Holland and Zeeland - lagged behind in economic development. Fishing and shipbuilding were mainly developed here. Dutch fishermen caught herring « and supplied Catholic Europe with this “pious” product during Lent.
However, the north of the country had significant advantages, which created more opportunities for further development.
If the development of manufactories in the south was hampered by guild regulations, then in Holland the guilds did not receive full development, and the conditions for the development of manufactories were better. Therefore, although manufacturing arose here later, it developed faster: the manufacturers of the south gradually moved to the north.
The north of the Netherlands was an exception in economic history - there was practically no feudalism here: the peasants of Holland were never subject to feudal dependence. One of the reasons was natural conditions: Holland is a marshy country, flooded by the sea. The feudal lords did not seek to capture this swamp flooded by the sea. And the absence of feudal lords accelerated the development of productive forces. Free peasants not only drained the swamps, but also tripled the territory of their country by building dams and reclaiming large areas of land from the sea - polders. And when the enemy invaded the country, the Dutch destroyed dams and drowned enemy soldiers in their fields.
In the 16th century Agriculture in the north of the Netherlands was no longer subsistence: all products were sold to the city. It was a commercial farming area that supplied butter, cheese and wheat to the market.
These circumstances made it inevitable that the economic centers of the Netherlands would move from the south to the north. But the Netherlands in the 16th century. were part of the Spanish possessions and were subordinate to the Spanish king. At first it was even beneficial for the Netherlands, because, taking advantage of the backwardness of Spain, the Netherlands established trade with the Spanish colonies, receiving huge profits. By the middle of the 16th century. the situation deteriorated sharply. The Spanish king increased taxes on the inhabitants of the Netherlands so much that 4 times more income began to flow into Spain than from all overseas colonies. The Spanish Inquisition entered the Netherlands, the Duke of Alba came here, executed about 120 thousand Dutch and introduced a new trade tax - alcabala:
a tenth of the value of any product upon its sale went to the Spanish treasury. Since goods were often resold several times before reaching the consumer, alcabala paralyzed the country's economy.
All this caused the bourgeois revolution, which took place in the form of a national liberation war against the rule of Spain. It should be noted that the bourgeois revolution often takes the form of a struggle with an external enemy. In the Netherlands, the role of the feudal elite, which hampered the economic development of the country and oppressed the local population, was played by the Spanish, essentially colonial administration. The war lasted almost the entire second half of the 16th century. and ended with the formation of an independent bourgeois republic in the north of the Netherlands. Dutch Republic(we will simply call it Holland for simplicity) then experiences a rapid, albeit short, economic takeoff. In the southern part of the Netherlands, which later formed the basis of Belgium, the revolution was defeated and Spanish dominance continued.
Holland begins active colonial expansion. At the beginning of the 17th century. The Dutch capture some Spanish and Portuguese colonies and create their own colonial empire. The exploitation of the colonies was carried out by the East India Company, organized on a joint stock basis. This company became a “state within a state”: it had its own troops, minted coins, and entered into agreements with other states.
The main colonies of this company were the Sunda Islands (present-day Indonesia), and it had strongholds in the surrounding seas, in India, Indochina and Japan.
On the islands the company created plantations of spices: pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg. Slave labor was used on the plantations, which, however, was common at that time. In order to replenish the number of slaves on the plantations of the island of Java, the company captured children on the island of Celebes. The kidnapped were kept until a certain age in secret “nurseries”, and then sent to plantations.
In order to maintain high prices for spices, the Dutch mercilessly destroyed part of the tracts of these plants and left only that part that provided the maximum profit. Moreover, some of the spices already delivered to Amsterdam were burned right there in the port to prevent prices from falling.
Spices were sold in Europe for 8-10 times more than the company cost, but shareholder returns were not as great as one might expect: the colonies had to maintain an entire army and a huge staff of officials. The average dividend on shares was about 20% per annum.
After the victory of the bourgeois revolution in the economy of Holland itself, in addition to shipbuilding and fishing, the textile industry (silk, cloth and linen) developed:
Manufacturers from the southern part of the Netherlands, which remained under Spanish rule, began to move here intensively. The tobacco and sugar industries using colonial raw materials are also developing here.
But the main role in Holland was played not by industrial capital, but by commercial capital. Holland became a world center of trade. It owned 60% of the world's merchant fleet. It controlled most of the trade traffic in the North and Mediterranean seas.
Wine was produced mainly in France and Spain, but the main wine warehouses were in Holland and Holland traded wine. Timber was mainly harvested in the Baltic countries, but the main timber warehouses were in Holland and Holland supplied Europe with timber. In Holland, up to a thousand ships were built annually, although all the country's products could be exported on one hundred ships. Holland has become a global trade intermediary, all countries traded through Holland on Dutch ships. Holland became the richest country, a banking country. There was more money in Holland than in the rest of Europe. The Amsterdam Bank became a pan-European credit center and provided loans to all states.
The world's first stock exchange was born in Amsterdam, i.e. an exchange where they no longer traded goods, but securities - shares, government bonds. At first, these securities were sold on the commodity exchange, and then the stock exchange became an independent body.
But from the beginning of the 18th century. Holland is gradually losing its global significance. This was explained by the fact that its commercial dominance did not correspond to its industrial potential.
The textile industry, which occupied a leading place in Holland, depended on foreign raw materials, for example, the wool industry - on English wool. When England began to process all the wool itself, the Dutch manufactories were left without work. In the 18th century Heavy industry acquired particular importance in the economy, but for its development in Holland there was neither iron ore nor coal. But the main thing is that Holland transported other people's goods on its ships, and when the owners of these goods began to transport them themselves, having built their own merchant ships, the Dutch had nothing to transport.
In short, the capital accumulated in Holland remained in the sphere of accumulation, in trade, and did not flow into industry, and therefore Holland was defeated in the competition with England and lost its leadership.
This made it possible to significantly reduce the cost of mining precious metals from low-grade ores. This led to a significant increase in silver mining in Central Europe (Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany), where production increased fivefold between 1460 and 1530. But it was precisely with the influx of silver from the colonies that the peak of price growth was associated. In the 50 years since the beginning of the 16th century, silver production increased more than 60 times. Thus, if in 1493-1520 the average annual production of silver was 151 thousand troy ounces (4500 kg), then during the period 1545-60 its production increased to 10 million troy ounces (300,000 kg) on average per year. This caused an increase in commodity prices by the end of the century by 2.5 - 4 times. It was observed only in Europe and closely related regions of the world.
2. After the development of Californian (and then Australian) gold mines began in the late 40s of the 19th century. At the same time, gold production increased more than 6 times, and prices increased by 25-50%. Has been observed all over the world.
Quantity theory of money
The rise in prices as a result of the influx of large quantities of gold and silver is directly related to the emergence of the quantity theory of money, according to which an increase in the amount of money in circulation causes prices to rise. In reality, an increase in the money supply reflects a decrease in the value of precious metals, since the value of goods is expressed in more gold or silver.
The impact of the first price revolution on individual countries and regions
Spain
Since Spain belonged to Mexico and Peru and was the main recipient of colonial wealth (1600 - 83%), it was the country that experienced the price revolution first and to the greatest extent. A huge amount of precious metal entered the state treasury directly from the metal mined in the colonies (the royal fifth) and indirectly through enormously inflated taxes (Alcabala). These funds were spent on maintaining huge mercenary troops and numerous Habsburg wars around the world and, in general, were withdrawn from the country's economy. The other part of the valuables was received by merchants from Seville, who had a monopoly on trade in India, as the New World was called in Spain. Despite numerous prohibitions, these funds also left the country's economy through the import of goods, including those intended for the colonies (Spain itself did not have any large-scale industrial or even handicraft production), and through smuggling. In addition, the possibility of easy enrichment in the colonies attracted all economically active segments of the population, of which there were few anyway. This, along with incessant wars and immeasurable (and also regressive) taxes, ruined independent peasant households (since taxes were collected from property), artisans and all those who were not associated with colonial trade, American mines and Mesta (which had significant tax privileges). Paradoxically, the consequence of the exorbitant enrichment of the country was the collapse of monetary circulation and economic degradation.
Western Europe
Unlike Spain, the rest of Western Europe was dominated by the policy of mercantilism and taxes were not so ruinous for the townspeople. The biggest beneficiaries of the price revolution were the Netherlands (then the economic center of the Spanish Empire), to a lesser extent England, the Hanseatic League, northern Italy (especially the Republic of Genoa, which was the main creditor of the Spanish Habsburgs) and the High German trading houses. The rise in prices of consumer goods led to a fall in the real incomes of people living on wages, the growth of which did not keep pace with the rise in prices. Thus, in England during the 16th century, prices for goods increased on average by 155%, and wages of hired workers - by only 30%. But the emerging bourgeoisie benefited a lot from the price revolution: labor became cheaper, and manufactured products, on the contrary, became more expensive. In addition, with the influx of cheap money, loan rates have dropped significantly (the success of the Netherlands is primarily associated with this). The price revolution also turned out to be beneficial for the dependent peasantry, since with the fall in the purchasing power of money, the real size of the monetary dues decreased, and prices for peasant agricultural products increased fabulously. But as a result of rising prices, the feudal lords seriously lost, the amount of their cash rent was fixed, and their life became more expensive. In addition, the reduction in price of precious metals, which in the 16th-18th centuries were the main export item from Europe to Asia, made it possible to sharply intensify trade with the East Indies. Creeping inflation became the stimulus that ultimately led to the industrial revolution.
Eastern Europe and Baltics
The countries located north of the Danube and east of the Elbe had their own characteristics of price revolutions. First of all, these countries were not directly connected with either America or Spain (the main supplier of silver to Europe). Therefore, inflation here began much later (only from the end of the 16th century) and was not so fast and strong. In addition, the feudal system of these countries not only did not decline, as in the West, but had not even yet acquired a complete form. Manufacturing production, which began to develop in northwestern Europe, required raw materials (grain, wool, flax, hemp, ship timber, iron), which became the main export item from Eastern Europe. The predominantly agricultural focus of exports contributed to the “development” of these particular industries. A certain economic relapse occurred, which can be called the agrarianization of the economy, the expansion and strengthening of the corvee regime (since feudal duties were not fixed here). Only in Sweden, which from that time became the main supplier of iron and ship timber, did a serious rise in metallurgy occur. This, along with the ineffectiveness of the corvee economy here, greatly contributed to the further military and political strengthening of the Swedish monarchy. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the strengthening of the corvee system led to the degradation of cities and the excessive strengthening of the szlachta. The result was a weakening of royal power and a protracted political and economic crisis.
Ottoman Empire and Balkans
In Turkey and the lands it conquered, the impact of the price revolution was not so significant. Rather, it intensified already existing problems, which include the decomposition of the timar system and the degradation of the empire’s finances. The fatal blow for finance was the Great Geographical Discoveries, which undermined the Porte's monopoly on transit trade between Europe and India, and the resulting decline in the importance of Mediterranean trade. The result was that the huge budget deficit could not be covered either by the deterioration of the coin or by an increase in taxes of more than 5 times. The collapse of the military-feudal system was historically inevitable due to the imperfection of this form of military organization. The acceleration of the process lies in the fact that payments from peasants to timariots were fixed. As a result, the military expenses borne by the sipahis ceased to be repaid by taxes from the timars, and the feudal lords increasingly began to lose interest in their possessions and service.
Russia
Unlike other countries, the fall in the value of precious metals did not occur in the second half of the 16th century, but in the first half of the 18th century. This was due to the isolation of Russia from the rest of Europe right up to Peter the Great. As in Western Europe, it was expressed in the depreciation of the monetary metal and a huge increase in the money supply, as a result of which there was a rapid and significant increase in prices for all goods. On average, prices over the century have increased approximately fivefold, and the main reason was the leveling of the almost 10-fold gap in prices that existed at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries in Russia and Western European countries. This price revolution had a huge impact on the country's economy, with the greatest impact being felt in the second half of the 18th century. As in Eastern Europe, the agricultural orientation of the national economy prevailed. It began to deepen, developing towards the production of grain, hemp and flax. In Russian exports, the share of agricultural products in 1710 was 92%, by 1725 it dropped to 52 percent, and then began to grow again and reached 72% by the beginning of the 19th century. The export of grain especially progressed. The most important factor in the specialization of the Russian economy in the production of agricultural products, in addition to Russia’s inclusion in the international division of labor, was the uneven increase in prices for various groups of goods during the price revolution: prices for agricultural goods increased more (especially for grain) than for handicrafts and industrial goods. This had a negative impact on the growth rate of industry and the migration of peasants to the cities. Hence the slowdown in urban growth. A faster rise in prices for agricultural goods forced many city residents to hold on to their vegetable gardens and arable land until the last. In the second half of the 18th century, agriculture and cattle breeding provided a means of subsistence for approximately half of the urban population. A permanent state budget deficit emerged.
Impact of the second price revolution
The second wave of noticeable price increases was observed after gold production increased sharply in California and Australia. If during the period 1821-50 the total gold production was 28,698,375 troy ounces, then in the next 30 years (1851-80) it reached 181,250,894 troy ounces, that is, it increased more than 6 times. The increase in labor productivity in the gold mining industry, and consequently the decrease in the cost of gold, caused an increase in commodity prices over the specified period by 25-50%. This led to an increase in the cost of living and a deterioration in the position of the proletariat, and also played a certain role in the processes of concentration of industrial production. The degree of this impact on the economy, however, is not as significant as during the first wave of inflation.
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See what “Price Revolution” is in other dictionaries:
- “PRICE REVOLUTION”, a sharp increase in prices for goods due to an increase in the production of gold and other precious metals and a decrease in their value. “Price revolutions” were noted in European countries in the 16th century after the discovery of America and in the mid-19th century after the discovery... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
A sharp increase in commodity prices due to an increase in the production of gold and other precious metals and a decrease in their value. In the history of the world economy, two cases of price revolutions have been noted: in European countries in the 16th century. after the discovery of America; in the middle of 19... Modern encyclopedia
A sharp increase in commodity prices due to an increase in the production of gold and other precious metals and a decrease in their value. Price revolutions were noted in European countries in the 16th century. after the discovery of America and in the middle. 19th century after the discovery of gold deposits in... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
A sharp increase in commodity prices due to an increase in the production of gold and other precious metals and a decrease in their value. “Price revolutions” were noted in European countries in the 16th century after the discovery of America and in the mid-19th century after the discovery of deposits... ... Political science. Dictionary.
“Price Revolution”- “PRICE REVOLUTION”, a sharp increase in prices for goods due to an increase in the production of gold and other precious metals and a decrease in their value. In the history of the world economy, two cases of “price revolution” have been noted: in European countries in the 16th century. after opening... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
English revolution, price; German Preisrevolution. A sharp increase in prices for goods due to a fall in the cost of precious metals, which serve as a universal equivalent. R. c. accompanied by an increase in the cost of living and a deterioration in the situation... ... Encyclopedia of Sociology
16th 17th centuries a sharp increase in commodity prices as a result of a fall in the value of gold and silver (universal equivalent). After the discovery of America and until mid. 17th century celebrated means. the influx of precious metals into Europe, mined by the cheap labor of the enslaved... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia
Artem Efimov
Notes of an economic historian
What is the “price revolution” of the 16th–17th centuries
Western Europe first encountered serious inflation in the mid-16th century, when the amount of precious metals exported by the Spaniards from the New World exceeded all reasonable limits. But was the uncontrolled influx of gold and silver the only cause of the price revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries? Read about this in the new issue of historian Artem Efimov’s blog and subscribe to his telegram channel, where there are many other interesting notes.
Spanish galleon of the mid-17th century. It was these ships that were part of the Spanish Silver Fleet, which delivered precious metals mined in America to Seville
Wikimedia Commons
One of the most exciting stories in world economic history is the “price revolution” of the second half of the 16th - first half of the 17th centuries. Several generations of Europeans lived in conditions of continuous inflation. Everything became more expensive, but primarily bread and other food. The largest and richest cities suffered the most: Seville, Marseille, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Cologne.
The rate of inflation was, by today's standards, ridiculous: about 600 percent over a century - that's an average of 1–1.5 percent per year, here and there with surges of up to 4 and even up to 7 percent, but never and nowhere more than 10 percent in year. For comparison, when prices were relaxed in Russia, inflation in 1992 alone amounted to 2508.8 percent; in 2016 it was 5.4 percent - and this is a record low figure in the modern history of Russia.
But the 16th–17th centuries are an era of much more stable money. Even one percent annual inflation for several years in a row was a serious shock for Europeans. A separate question is how appropriate it is to call a “revolution” a phenomenon that has been observed for a century, but somehow it just happened that way.
The question of why prices are rising occupied the best minds. At the very beginning of the “price revolution,” he was approached by scientists from the University of Salamanca - theologians from the Dominican Order, who were interested in completely mundane questions: what is the difference between a just war and an unjust one? Do Christian rulers have the right to enslave the American Indians simply because they are pagans? How to reconcile the Christian prohibition of usury with the spread and undoubted economic benefits of bank lending?
One of the scientists of the “Salamanca School”, Martin de Azpilcueta, reasoned as follows in 1549. The cost of any product is determined, among other things, by its availability. The main coin metal - silver - is also a commodity, and when there is a lot of it on the market, its prices fall. Accordingly, the purchasing power of silver money decreases (they are devalued) - prices for other goods rise relative to silver.
This idea was picked up by the French thinker Jean Bodin and in 1568 he proposed this explanation for the “price revolution.” From the middle of the 16th century, silver began to flow into Europe, and primarily into Spain, in huge quantities from American mines (the richest were the mines on Mount Potosí in the Andes, in what is now Bolivia). This provoked the devaluation of European silver money - and, accordingly, inflation. Thanks to this idea, Bodin is considered the founder of the quantity theory of money. The same idea was developed by the Scottish philosopher and historian David Hume in his book Political Discourses (1752).
In its most complete form, the concept of a “price revolution” due to the influx of American silver was developed by the American historian Earl Hamilton in his book “American Treasures and the Price Revolution in Spain” (1934). The largest historical and economic thinkers of the 20th century relied on this explanation, including Fernand Braudel, Immanuel Wallerstein and Milton Friedman.
However, already in the 1970s, alternative explanations began to appear. Nowadays, most scientists admit that the influx of American silver was an important factor in the “price revolution,” but not everyone agrees that it was its root cause.
American economist Irving Fisher at the beginning of the twentieth century was able to describe monetary circulation in strict mathematical language. There should have been a run through about the equation of exchange MV=PQ, but I value my readers and will immediately translate from econometric to human.
Prices, according to Fisher, can rise for three reasons: 1) growth in the money supply, 2) acceleration of money circulation, 3) fall in production. The classic explanation of the “price revolution” boils it down to the first reason: they brought silver from America, made money from it, and other indicators remained more or less the same - hence inflation.
In the 1970s and 1980s, American scientists Harry Miskimin and Jack Goldstone suggested paying attention to the second reason. The 16th–17th centuries were a period of population growth and urbanization in Europe. As a consequence, this is a period of commercialization - the intensification of commodity-money relations. And, accordingly, the acceleration of money circulation - simply put, money is increasingly changing hands. This leads to higher prices. Rising prices, in turn, creates an additional burden on the state budget, and the state begins to make new money - this is where the influx of silver from America comes in handy. As the money supply grows, prices rise again. So much for the “price revolution.”
The dispute about the causes of the “price revolution” is part of a huge dispute about the causes of inflation, one of the main disputes in world economic science. Among other things, the “price revolution” spread: inflation in Seville and other large trading centers led, with some delay, to inflation in other regions that gravitated towards these trading centers. Quite quickly, inflation was “imported” into the Ottoman Empire - and led to great financial troubles there (in particular, the Janissary revolt of 1589, which we will talk about next time). It also reached Poland: since bread became more expensive in Western Europe, it became especially profitable for Polish land magnates to export it; Poland became the breadbasket of Europe, its agricultural economy was mothballed, and it missed out on the industrial revolution.
Russia was hardly affected by the “price revolution” of the 16th–17th centuries: trade ties with Europe were not too intense. Our “price revolution” happened already in the 18th century.
Polyansky quoting K. Marx: “To the extent that we came to decline class of landowners and class workers, feudal lords and people, to the same extent exalted Class capitalists and the bourgeoisie."
10. Consequences of the Great Geographical Discoveries.
1. Trade routes moved from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean . Trade was dominated by Portugal and Spain. The main producers of industrial goods were the Netherlands, England and France, which made it possible for the bourgeoisie of these countries get rich quick, pumping gold and silver from the Iberian countries in exchange for manufactured goods. Gradually they ousted competitors from sea routes, and then from their overseas colonies. After the defeat of the Invincible Armada (1588) Spanish-Portuguese the power was dealt a crushing blow hit.
In studies of the Pacific Ocean and southern seas at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. the initiative passed to Netherlands, and in the 40s of the 17th century. bourgeois revolution in England brought this country into the arena of struggle for markets, dominance of the seas, and colonial possessions.
2 . Strengthening new trends in the economic policy of European absolutism. Has acquired a pronounced mercantilist character. The ruling dynasties in Spain, France, and England encouraged trade, industry, shipping, and colonial expansion in every possible way. Mercantilism was generated by developing capitalism, but it also met the interests of the nobility.
3. They expanded and followed new paths of relations between Europe and India. Relations between Europe and the New World were established and expanded. The opening of new trade routes and previously unknown countries and continents, the establishment stable connections between Europe and other parts of the world in a relatively short period of time allowed European countries to acquire huge resources.
4. A system has appeared colonial rule and colonial operation. Initially, the main method of exploitation of the colonies was open robbery. Subsequently, the tax system became widespread. But the main income from the exploitation of the colonies came from trade. The rise of Spain and Portugal was relatively short-lived. The wealth received from the colonies was spent unproductively by the feudal nobility
The positions of England, France and the Netherlands in the colonial markets were strengthened. They were able to more make effective use of geographical discoveries for the development of capitalism and the creation of their own colonial empires.
5. The most important consequence of the discovery and colonization of new lands was “ price revolution", which gave a powerful impetus initial capital accumulation in Europe and accelerated the formation capitalist way of life on the farm. This “revolution” was expressed in an unusually rapid increase during the 16th century. prices for agricultural and industrial goods. Contemporaries associated such price movements either with a large influx of precious metals into Europe or with their leakage. The real reason for the “price revolution” was drop in value precious metals as a product. It contributed to the enrichment of the industrial bourgeoisie that was emerging in this era and the impoverishment of manufacturing workers. The standard of living of wage workers declined as rising prices for agricultural products and consumer goods led to a fall in real incomes. The “price revolution” contributed to the accelerated enrichment of the wealthy part of the peasantry and the formation of the rural bourgeoisie, since the real wages of agricultural workers decreased, and with the fall in the purchasing power of money, the real amounts of cash rent or rent collected by landowners decreased, while prices for agricultural products rose. Seriously at the same time feudal lords suffered who received a fixed cash annuity. The result of the “price revolution” was a general deterioration in the economic situation of feudal lords and wage workers and a strengthening of the positions of the bourgeoisie. So she accelerated the formation of a capitalist economy And fall of the feudal system.
6. Sailing allowed us to establish stable economic communications between the most remote parts of the world. Colonial possessions were used as the economic periphery of European capital and served as the basis for the expansion of external trade which became world.
7. The successes of the European Sciences And technology. Navy: the carrying capacity has increased, the sailing equipment has become more advanced, the best caravel ship (a three-masted vessel for sailing on the ocean). Navigation: compass, wider use of the astrolabe (an astronomical instrument for determining time, length of day and night, measuring horizontal angles on the Earth's surface, mathematical calculations and astronomical predictions), clarification of geographical maps.
8. Created the basis for the emergence international division of labor, world economy and market.Grew volume And assortmenttrade. Tobacco, coffee, cocoa and tea appeared. Rice and sugar became important import products. In the struggle to conquer new markets, trading companies began to form that regulated the trade of merchants with a certain region of the world. Gradually, merchant capital began to unite into trading corporations. The most powerful of the combined companies were the East India Companies in the Netherlands and England, which managed to monopolize the Indian market.
9. Came to declineItalian cities, rose up new centers world trade – Lisbon, Seville and especially Antwerp, which has become a world trade and financial center. However, Antwerp was also a major trading center in Europe at the end of the 15th century. With the opening of new countries, all trade in colonial goods and spices moved to Antwerp.
In the 16th century Commodity and stock trading arose in Antwerp exchanges- centers of world trade in goods and securities. Developing speculation- a new type of profit. Commodity prices and securities prices are influenced by a variety of factors. Agents of trading companies collected all the news and wrote detailed reports to their patrons => rudiments future newspapers.
11. Agrarian revolution in England (preconditions, course and consequences)
time XIV-XVI
1. Prerequisites : happening growth of commodity-money relations, a view of land as an object of purchase and sale
· Dissolution feudal squads lands belonging to vigilantes are released lands become the subject of purchase and sale.
· Land obtained by epidemics, which cleared large areas of land from population, also became the subject of private bourgeois property.
In the XIV-XV centuries. The UK economy is undergoing significant changes due to development of cloth making:
· cloth-making centers move from the city to the countryside and trading places.
· Exports of English wool increase to the continent after the Hundred Years' War
· Favorable conditions for the export of English wool were created development of cloth making in the Netherlands And increase in wool prices
· Peasants turned out to be unnecessary, because Sheep farms required much less labor.
Because the demand for wool increased, English lords and gentlemen needed expanding pastures and began to seize not only communal lands, but also arable plots of peasants.
There was a radical break in feudal relations - Agrarian revolution
XV century. – actual disappearance of serfdom
End XV V. Has begun capture peasant plots
Forms of expropriation:
ü Fencing- appropriation by lord almendas(land owned by community members) . The peasants were excluded from the right to use the almenda; they were fenced off and became the private property of the lord.
ü Conversion– transformation of arable land into pastures
ü Secularization– alienation of church property
ü Cleaning of manors- demolition of villages. Complete land management in a new way.
Peasant category | Description | How did the AP influence |
Cotters | The most poor | Couldn't use almendas, steel the first victims agrarian revolution |
Leaseholders | Short term land holders. Their rights were not protected by the royal courts | The lords got rid of them by raising rents |
Copyholders | Paid the landowner money rent. Initially, the rights of copyholders to a plot of land were formalized in writing | Upon expiration of the holding period or upon entering into inheritance rights, the lords increased " admission fee"to the allotment. Peasants had to give up their land |
Freeholders | Available holders, protected by the royal court | It was the hardest thing to drive them away |
The enclosures led to the fact that a huge mass of the peasantry became in beggars and vagabonds – pauperism- started in 1st half of the 16th century
from 1489 and throughout the 16th century statutes against fencing are adopted (almost were not fulfilled)
Laws against the poor begin to be passed - "Bloody legislation"
1495 - prison conclusion beggars and vagabonds for a term<=3 дней
1530 - prohibited everyone except those unable to work from collecting alms, for violation - whips and prison.
1547 g. - law on branding tramps
From the late 40s of the 16th century For purely police reasons, a number of poor laws. For example, 1576 - Elizabeth passed a law creating several workhouses.
Accepted labor laws:
For example, 1495 – limited fee for holidays, allowed deductions for careless work, installed maximum wages
16th century price revolution=> strong a fall real wages boards
Hunger, fencing, crop failure, high prices, low wages => national uprisings.
One of the largest is the uprising Roberta Keta V 1549 (was depressed).
Results
ü A huge army of workers. => AP contributed to the development of capitalist industry
ü The rise of English cloth making. Scattered manufacture, based on capitalist work, predominated
ü Decomposition of the workshop building
ü Agricultural rebuilt, it established a three-level model: landowners rented out land farmers and received rent. Farmers farmed for profit
ü Catastrophicsocial consequences
! The 16th century is the era of primitive accumulation, the essence of which was the expropriation of direct producers. The decomposition of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism took place.
12. Economy of Holland at the end of the 16th century. – XVII century
By the middle of the 16th century. development capitalism in Holland there has been significant progress. Rivalry between North and South, the rise of the North at the end of the 16th century. led to the movement of economic centers to the north. After the defeat of Antwerp by the Spaniards in 1576, its role as a center of international trade passed to Amsterdam.
At the end of the 16th century. Holland entered a period of turbulence colonial And trade expansion. The economic basis of Holland in the 17th century. consisted of East Indian and European trade.
1602 - founding of the Dutch East India Company as a result of the merger of several trading companies.
GOIK rights:
· Monopoly right trade with countries along the Indian and Pacific oceans,
· Endowed with the rights of a sovereign states,
· Law conclude contracts with other countries on behalf of the Dutch States General.
The Dutch merchants created trading posts in India, formed colonies in North America, the Dutch began to penetrate South Africa.
The economic policy of GOIK was reduced to predatory exploitation of the population And I'm robbing natural resources. Unequal trade with the aborigines flourished.
In the 17th century Holland became the center of European and world trade, centered in Amsterdam. Predominated intermediary trade with the North and East of Europe.
Has acquired great importance fishing.
Holland has become global carrier of goods.
Developing shipping And shipbuilding, in the 17th century. a powerful shipbuilding industry has been created.
Development of others industries wore limited character.
In the middle of the 17th century. heyday Leiden clothier, which, however, could not withstand competition from England and fell into decay in the 2nd half of the 17th century.
Netherlands – birthplace of manufacturing capitalism. Small enterprises predominated, often just workshops, scattered manufactories. Centralized manufactories arose in new industries: sugar industry, soap making, beer production, silk weaving, production of ribbons, lace, upholstery, etc.
In the 2nd half of the 17th century. Dutch manufactory begins to lag behind English.
· 1578 – act of restoration of workshops and all their privileges.
· Lack of protectionist protection of domestic industry,
· Cancellation of duties for foreign goods,
· Strong Dutch dependence on the political and economic situation in Europe,
· 1651 – Navigation act O. Cromwell.
The development of Dutch industry was restrained; the dominance of merchant capital did not have a powerful industrial base. Decline in the 2nd half of the 17th century. => in the 18th century. Holland lost its status as a great power.
13. The policy of mercantilism (main features, stages)
The essence of mercantilism: the wealth of the nation is money, and the source is foreign trade (above other sectors of the economy). Mercantilism also met the interests of the nobility, because maintaining the feudal state means maintaining the social dominance of the nobles.
2 stages: Early mercantilism arose before the great geographical discoveries and became obsolete in the middle of the 16th century. (representatives W. Stafford in England, G. Scaruffi in Italy). Late, developed mercantilism covers the 2nd floor. XVI century and ser. XVII century, representatives T. Men (England), A. Serra (Italy), A. Montchretien (France).
Early mercantilism is a monetary system developed mercantilism- manufacturing or commercial system.
Early mercantilism. Merchants must part of the revenue bring from goods sold abroad in cash. Foreign merchants were forced to spend all the money received from trade on purchasing goods of national production. Required control from the outside states.
As it turned out, using $ for foreign trade, you can increase the reserves of $ in the state.
Late or developed mercantilism. Main idea - active trade balance.
1) through the export of finished products from their country and import bans items luxury; 2) using intermediary trade, in connection with which the export of money abroad was allowed. The main principle: buy cheaper in one country, sell more expensive in another. Policy protectionism(high customs duties on foreign goods, export of national goods could be achieved through the establishment of manufacturing). The state provided manufactoriesprivileges and monopoly rights, subsidies, export bonuses, and exemptions from taxes. Stimulated influx foreign specialists, laws were passed to lower wages. Shipping was subject to various restrictions. Encouraged speculation colonial goods (tea, coffee, fabrics, spices, tobacco, etc.).
Differences (1)-early, (2)-late:
Foreign trade level:
1) Trade relations between countries are poorly developed, episodic character;
2) Trade between countries is quite developed and regular character.
1) Setting the highest possible prices for exports of goods;
2) Relatively low prices for export are allowed, including for the resale of goods from other countries abroad;
1) comprehensive restrictions on the import of goods;
2) the import of goods (except for luxury goods) is allowed, subject to a positive balance in foreign trade;
2) the export of money is allowed for the purposes of profitable trade transactions and mediation and maintaining a positive trade balance.
Positions in the field of monetary theory:
1) The nominalistic perception of the theory of money prevails; the government, as a rule, damages the national coin, reducing its value;
2) Price revolution” of the 16th century. led to the transition to the quantity theory of money (the value of money is inversely proportional to its quantity; the level and weight of prices is directly proportional to the amount of money; an increase in the supply of money, increasing the demand for it, stimulates trade);
1) a fixed ratio in the circulation of gold and silver money is established (bimetallism system;
2) a monometallism system is established
1) statement of the monetary essence of gold and silver due to their natural properties;
2) a statement of the commodity nature of money, but still due to the supposedly natural properties of gold and silver;
1) the functions of money are recognized as a measure of value, the formation of treasures and world money;
2) among the known functions of money, the determining one is no longer the function of accumulation, but the function of the medium of exchange.
Monetarist positions:
1) The idea of “money balance” dominates;
2) The position of “trade balance” prevails.
See the table for whomever is more convenient.
Differences | Early mercantilism | Late mercantilism |
Foreign trade level | Trade ties between countries are poorly developed, episodic character | Trade between countries is quite developed and regular character |
Recommended ways to achieve a trade surplus | Establishment highest possible prices for the export of goods | Allowed relatively low export prices, including the resale of goods from other countries abroad; |
every possible way import restrictions goods | import allowed goods (except luxury goods) subject to a positive balance in foreign trade; | |
ban on the export of gold from the country and silver as monetary wealth; | export of money is allowed for the purpose of profitable trade transactions and mediation and maintaining a positive trade balance. | |
Positions in the field of monetary theory | Prevails nominalistic perception of the theory of money; the government, as a rule, is engaged in damaging the national coin, reducing its value | Revolution of prices" XVI century. led to the transition to quantity theory of money(the value of money is inversely proportional to its quantity; the level and weight of prices is directly proportional to the quantity of money; an increase in the supply of money, increasing the demand for it, stimulates trade); |
a fixed ratio is established in the circulation of gold and silver money ( bimetallism system) | system is being installed monometallism | |
statement monetary essence gold and silver due to their natural properties | statement commodity essence money, but still due to the supposedly natural properties of gold and silver | |
functions of money are recognized as: measure of value, treasure formation and world money | Among the known functions of money, the determining one is already recognized not a function of accumulation, but a function of a medium of exchange | |
Monetarist positions | The dominant idea is “ cash balance"; | The prevailing position is “ trade balance". |
14. Features of the emergence of a market economy in France, the USA and Germany.
The market economy arose in the period of the 18th – early 19th centuries.
In France main role played state. Originated here Colbertism– the ideology of active state intervention in the economy in the spirit of the ideas of mercantilism. Colbertism also contributed to the development of manufactories.
The peasants were not personally dependent, but at the same time there was land dependence. Until the revolution there were state monopolies, for example, a state monopoly on the trade in bread. . The state prohibited the export of grain, its transportation from one province to another and its sale outside the market.
In the period preceding the revolution, the country developed quite actively market atmosphere, invention, the first steam engines appear, foreign trade develops. In the north, a layer of peasant market farms is emerging. But the revolution was still necessary.
Role under Napoleon states in the economy significantly intensifies, especially under conditions of continental blockade. Production is being created in France, but it still lags noticeably behind England.
Peculiarities the emergence of a market economy in France:
1. The uniqueness of the forms of the process of capital accumulation in France:
A) Not was characteristic massive expropriation peasants;
b) The process of property stratification and landlessness of the French peasantry due to growth royal waist and other taxes, as well as strengthening usurious operation;
c) Unlike the English bourgeoisie, in France the bourgeoisie preferred usury and buyout operations.
In accelerating the processes of the so-called primitive accumulation of capital in France, the widely practiced system played an important role government loans.
The accumulation of capital in the hands of the bourgeoisie pushed some of its layers towards entrepreneurial activities.
2. Manufacturing construction had certain peculiarities. If in England the development of manufactures became a matter of bourgeoisie, then in France these enterprises arose with different shares of participation states:
French absolutism supported manufactures monopoly rights, privileges, subsidies.
Colbert's policy => favorable conditions for the construction of manufactories due to ruin of the peasantry=>products of manufactories were intended for foreign market
4.Bourgeois reforms carried out in the first period of the revolution (July 14, 1789 - August 10, 1792) in the field of trade => liquidation all kinds of monopolies and privileges destruction internal customs, freedom of grain trade.
5. Through the Napoleonic wars, history moved “forward from feudalism - to “ free» capitalism" Napoleon "opened with bayonets, through the plunder of the continent" new markets
November 21, 1806 - decree on continental blockade, according to which all states dependent on France were prohibited from trading with England => acceleration the development of some industries that used local raw materials, and decline cotton, sugar and other industries that relied on imported raw materials.
IN Germany the development of market relations proceeded with belated. Before the Napoleonic War it was pure agricultural country, and its industrial development began only after the defeat in the war.
The German government is on its way catching up development. And the role states The bull is very important here, and besides, power always remained in the hands of the ruling aristocracy. The English state is opposed, wanting to introduce feudal orders.
Decomposition of feudal relations and origin capitalism has become a pattern for Germany.
He played a decisive role in establishing capitalist relations there. industrial revolution.
The Great French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars in Europe brought significant changes into the social and economic system of Germany.
Prussia's defeat in the war with France (1806) was evidence of its backwardness. “The Tilsit peace,” noted V.I. Lenin, “was the greatest humiliation Germany and at the same time a turn towards the greatest national rise."
Peculiarities development of capitalism in Germany:
1. Slow expropriation the peasantry, who were losing part of their land to the Junkers.
2. A unique method of the so-called primitive accumulation of capital was redemption payments, which were used by the junkers for the capitalist reorganization of the economy
Revolution of 1848 scared the cadets. To save large landholdings, they took further measures to liquidation of feudal relations
With the fall of feudalism in Germany there was a significant improvement of agriculture.
The growth of specialization of agriculture and the rise of areas of “commercial agriculture” reflected progressive trends in economics. The development of agriculture was accompanied by an increase livestock farming.
Industrial Revolution :
Took place in conditions political fragmentation and agrarian reforms that led to the slow expropriation of the peasant masses.
The origin of the factory system in Germany is associated with the widespread use English technology.
Received the greatest development in textile industry, especially in the production of cotton fabrics.
IN USA capitalist relations are emerging " in an open field", however, their origin
open. Are developing manufactories, and then factory work.
The USA is born as democratic state, but democracy, as is known, is a “relative concept.”
The development of the American continent began Great geographical discoveries.
But colonization North America began only in the 17th century
By 1760, there were 13 English colonies in North America with a population, in addition to Indians, of more than 2.5 million people. Most of the population was engaged agriculture.
Northern Colonies(New England):
1651 - navigation act, which allowed trade with the colonies only on English and colonial ships.
Beginning of the 18th century - the main industry of New England shipbuilding =>
basis for the development of fisheries.
Development slave trade. 1644 - first voyage to Africa for slaves. XVIII century - " triangular trade": molasses (West Indies) => rum (New England) => negro slaves (Africa) => sale of slaves (West Indies)
Central colonies - districts free farming colonization.
Southern Colonies:
Since 1616 - production tobacco.
Peculiarities the birth of capitalism in the USA:
1. If in England there was a process of separation of producers from the means of production, then in its North American colonies it tried prevent turning poor migrants into farmers..
England tried to plant in the colonies feudal order. . But the feudalization of the colonies was doomed to failure. Squatters moved west, buying or seizing land from the Indians.
2. Widespread forced labor servers, and then black slaves became the most striking feature of the history of American capitalism.
"White slavery" (servents) - mainly " voluntarily contracted” (usually for a period of three to seven years) people who did not have the means to move to America. “Black slavery” became the basis for the prosperity of the tobacco plantations of the South.
3. Widely used slavery to accelerate the so-called initial accumulation of capital.
“Slavery,” noted K. Marx, “gave value to the colonies, the colonies created world trade, world trade is a necessary condition for large-scale industry.”
15. Industrial revolution in England (preconditions, progress, significance).
Prerequisites:
1) Significant capital accumulation:
a) in the hands few
b) development trade
V) exploitation India
G) triangular trade(coast of the Gulf of Guinea - West Indies - Europe)
2) English bourgeois revolution(removed obstacles to development capitalist relations -> growth of productive forces, bourgeois ownership of land, national market)
3) Foreign competition(Russia, Sweden, India) -> needs to be established factory production
4) Capturing new colonies(increase in colonial wealth)
Hod (4/4 XVIII – ¼ XIX centuries)
Stage I (calico, weaving)
Turned around mechanization of cotton industry. Inventions made it possible to mechanize production and move to the creation of a new type of enterprise - factories based on machine system.
1733 g. – Jay Kay’s “flying shuttle” spinning machine (x2 labor productivity)
1765 g. - “Spinning Jenny” by James Hargreaves (impetus for the creation of spinning wheels with an increase in the number of spindles)
1767 g. - Thomas Hayes spinning machine, Arkwright created the first spinning mill
1785 g. – Cartwright’s mechanical loom (x40 > productivity of a handloom), the chemist Bartole used chlorine for bleaching, Bell proposed a method of dyeing fabrics using a roller with a pattern
Stage II (steam engine)
Mechanization was a revolution in the field of working machinery, but the transition to a system of machines also required revolutions in the field of motive power and in the field of structural materials
1774 – 1784 gg. – J. Watt develops and creates a steam engine (a universal engine for industry)
1784 g. - Cort proposed the method of puddling - from cast iron to iron (mass production of iron as a structural material)
Usage gland needed improvement techniques his processing and manufacturing of metal products
Beginning XIX V. – Maudsley metal-cutting screw-cutting lathe
1735 g. - Abraham Derby - smelting cast iron by adding coal and quicklime to iron ore
Stage III (mechanical engineering)
The final stage was the creation of the machine-building industry. The process has begun production of machines by machines. Construction of railways, steam engines, textile machines
1794 g. – Maudsley designed the first metal-cutting machines
1825 g. – railway line in England
(+ part of stage II)
Meaning:
1) Magnification technical armament and labor productivity
2) Industrialization
3) Urbanization
4) The growth of political self-awareness of industrial proletariat
5) Magnification quality and level life(controversial issue)
16. Industrialization of leading Western countries (France, USA, Germany)
France:
In France, the industrial revolution took place between 1815 and 1870.
The Industrial Revolution developed rather slowly.
1814 law, allowed the export of wool from France => the rise in price of wool on the domestic market was extremely unprofitable for cloth factories.
High duties on iron imports=> significant increase in the price of metal and limitation of its use in the country.
Industry remained predominantly craft And manufacturing=> increased activity of financiers, stockbrokers, merchants, speculators, moneylenders.
Englishfactory industry slowed down development French industry: increasing exports only through the export of agricultural products, luxury goods, silk, wine, etc. But the industrial revolution in France gradually gained momentum:
1) Wide using machines and displacement of manual labor
By the end of the 20s in cotton production- the leading branch of the manufacturing industry - produced about 28 million kg of yarn.
Grew quickly silk industry.
2) Development metallurgy.
The industrial revolution in France was characterized by slow introduction of steam engines.
30-40 years of the XIX century:
Fragmentation of small land properties, prolongation of expropriation small producers, high imported duties on raw materials and fuel significantly inhibited growth manufacturing industry in the country.
An important event in the French economy of the 30-40s. became railway construction, which began in 1831.
After the revolution of 1848 - decisive stage industrial revolution.
Taking root in France large industry.
Industrial boom of the 50s and 60s. in France occurred most intensively in industries heavy industry.
Germany:
In Germany, the industrial revolution began in the 1830s and 1850 -1860 development has been going on for years especially active. It took place in conditions political fragmentation and agrarian reforms that led to slow expropriation peasant masses.
Use of foreign language, especially English, technology accelerated the start of capitalist industrialization of the country. The origin of the factory system in Germany is associated with the widespread use of English technology.
1796 in Silesia - blast furnace
from 1825 it began to be used puddling.
30-40s XIX century - greatest development textile industry. Saxony became the largest center of cotton production.
In the 30s industrial started coup V linen production Silesia, but this industry was in a difficult situation, since the main importer of linen was England fenced itself off with tariffs, and the domestic market was narrow.
began to develop more intensively silk industry Krefeld, also developed woolen industry.
Some progressive changes took place in heavy industry. Railway construction(since 1835) led to the acceleration of the development of mining, metallurgy and mechanical engineering. It developed especially quickly Rhine-Westphalian industrial area.
But until the 50s. XIX century The industrial revolution in Germany did not go beyond the initial stage. The general economic backwardness countries. A railway was needed that would lead to economic and political unity Germany.
1835 - the first railway in Germany.
The development of the railway industry in Germany became the material basis for the rise of large-scale industry. As a result, a quick railway construction was liquidated economic disunity countries.
The revolution of 1848 played a huge role in the industrial development of the country.
Industrial boom of the 50s and 60s. led to victory factory system in Germany. Metallurgy, mechanical engineering, military industry and the railway industry became the main branches of social production.
As a result of the industrial revolution in Germany, a progressive structure large industry with a high share of heavy industries.
But despite all the successes of German industry, by the time of the formation of the German Empire (1871) the industrial revolution is not was completed.
In the USA, the prerequisites for capitalist industrialization are emerging after graduation wars behind independence. An important source of financing capitalist industrialization became income from foreign trade. Played a major role in accelerating the industrial revolution English capital.
1812-1814:
The merchants begin to invest heavily capitals in development industry,
Fast growth cotton production.
At the end of the second war with England began climb American industry.
In the 20s were built in the USA large factories, English competition was reduced to a minimum. Cylindrical calico-printed fabrics began to be used cars. After 1832, the mechanization of textile production accelerated even more.
Significant changes took place in wool industry. In 1810 there were 14 woolen factories in the USA, and in 1815 there were 102. A feature of the industrial revolution in the USA (as in France) was slow introduction of steam engines.
Production began in Philadelphia in 1803 steam engines.
Very slowly American developed metallurgy. Two innovations were mastered - rolling instead of forging and puddling instead of raw blast.
In the 30-40s. things got serious perestroika industry. It was caused by construction railways. Railway construction stimulated metallurgy and mechanical engineering.
Overall, the industrial revolution was extremely unevenly, captured first of all textile industry and then food(especially flour milling) industry.
After Civil War the industrial revolution begins final stage.
17. Economic development of Germany at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th
At the end of the 18th century:
o Germany was agricultural periphery Western Europe.
o Germany conglomerate 300 feudal states
o Germany Not had a single monetary system.
o remained in the territories of feudal states internal customs posts, transport restrictions and special passport procedures were in effect.
o Rational management methods were introduced extremely slowly.
Peasant question:
o In the left bank regions of the Rhine, which were transferred to France in 1801, there were liquidatedfeudal privileges and duties peasants(reason – revolutionary and Napoleonic wars)
o 1807 - edict (Stein government), according to which personal dependence was destroyed peasants from landowners, but all duties associated with land relations remained.
o 1811 - Edict “On Regulation” (Hardenberg government), peasants had to pay to his landowner 25 times annual cost annuities or cede to him from 1/3 (hereditary holders) to 1/2 (non-hereditary holders) of the cultivated land.
o liquidation peasant communities(brand). The Junkers took advantage of this to seize communal lands and pastures.
o The robbery of the peasants accelerated their delamination: “farmers with allotments” and a small layer of kulaks (grossbauers) appeared
o Edict of 1850 - allowed redeem feudal dues most categories of peasants (with the exception of gardeners and farm laborers). Feudal dues = 18 times annual cash rent. Created rental banks(for 56 years they collected payments from peasant farms to pay off the ransom) But the redemption of duties did not apply to all peasants and not in all provinces.
WITH the fall of feudalism There has been a significant improvement in Germany agriculture.
Customs Union:
Causes:
o interstate customs and barriers within individual states interfered development trade.
o the emerging large-scale industry of Germany needed protectionism
o Unification events Prussian state, which served example for the German bourgeoisie.
Taken measures:
1833 - 18 major German states agreed on unification into the Customs Union for 8 years, which began to operate in 1834. In 1842, the customs agreement was extended for another 10 years.
1838 and 1857 - concluded unification convention coin circulation and weighing systems
1868 - the introduction was legalized in 1872. metric system of measurements.
1847 - The Convention established unified bill rate.
1869 - introduced general trade charter
Result:expansion and deepening domestic market for large industry, construction promotion railways.
Industrial Revolution:
It took place in conditions political fragmentation and agrarian reforms which led to the slow expropriation of the peasant masses. Use of foreign language, especially English, technology accelerated the start of capitalist industrialization of the country, although competition from England greatly restrained the growth of large-scale industry in Germany. Maintained their positions for a long time urban craft And manufactories.
Start:
o textile industry : The largest center of cotton production has become Saxony. The center of the Saxon industrial district of Chemnitz successfully competed with Manchester. Mechanization It also captured the wool industry, which, producing finer fabrics, supplanted home cloth making. Especially fast wool industry developed in Prussia, which produced soldiers' ammunition.
o heavy industry: Railway construction(since 1835) led to the acceleration of the development of mining, metallurgy and mechanical engineering.
The beginning of the revolution was before the 50s. XIX century because of general economic backwardness of the country(the presence of remnants of feudalism in the countryside and the guild system in the city, political fragmentation and economic disunity of individual areas)
Rise of the 50-60s:
o As a result, a quick railway construction The economic disunity of the country was eliminated.
o Quick take off military industry(due to the revolution of 1848) became an important factor in the growth of many other industries.
o The main problem of German industrialists remained foreign, especially English, competition.
o Source of financing - redemption payments, robberies of the proletariat (low wages), foreign trade in bread, potato vodka, sugar, wool.
Bottom line : victory of the factory system in Germany. Metallurgy, mechanical engineering, military industry and the railway industry became the main branches of social production. Positions have strengthened " government» capitalism. Despite all the successes of German industry, by the time of the formation of the German Empire (1871), industrial the coup was not completed.
Economic situation of workers
o elongation worker day in industry
o decrease in real wages
18. Features of the formation of American capitalism in the 18th – 19th centuries.
The development of American capitalism can be divided into several stages:
1) English colonization of North America(from the first English colony (1584) – Virginia, 1607 - Jamestown in it) before the war of the North American colonies for independence of 1775-1783).
· By 1760 13 colonies with a population of more than 2.5 million people.
· USA is classified as a country settler capitalism, the distinctive feature of which is the transfer of established forms of economic organization to the new, colonized lands.
· They began to develop early in the colony shipbuilding, forestry, cloth making and linen production.
Widely used slavery to accelerate the initial accumulation of capital.
· Influx of workers: due to the fact that many people wanted to take up farming - there was a shortage of workers => workers received 30-100% more than in England.
Prerequisites for the War of Independence:
· Diktat of the metropolis (agrarian contradictions):
Ø Planting feudal order(distribution of lands to feudal lords: counts and lords)
Ø The transformation of poor settlers into farmers was limited ( restriction and prohibition of squattering– seizure of empty lands for agriculture – decree of 1763, Quebec Act of 1774)
Ø Navigation act(1651 - trade with the colonies only on English and colonial ships)
Ø England, fearing competition from the North American bourgeoisie, sought strangle colonial industry and trade: 1699 - an act of the English Parliament prohibiting the export of wool from the North American colonies. These goods were allowed to be sold only in America. The Act of 1700 abolished duties on the import of English cloth. In 1750, the “Iron Law” was adopted, prohibiting the construction of steel smelting furnaces, rolling mills, iron-cutting and forging workshops. American cast iron was to be exported only to England.
· Presence in the colonies " white slaves"(=servants - voluntarily contracted people who did not have enough money to move to America). Even after liberation, the servants were given the smallest plots (50 acres), and most of them were left without land. This part of the immigrants was especially revolutionary-minded.
ð All this ultimately led to the Revolutionary War of 1775-1783: In 1776, the Continental Congress passed the “ Declaration of Independence" The new state was created in the form of a confederation. In 1777, the royalist lands were confiscated. The fall of the feudal regime opened up space for the colonization of farmers in the western lands. Squatters flocked to the West.
2) Parallel development of North and South(from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War 1861-1865)
· Despite a number of radical events, the American bourgeois revolution (1775-1783) remained half-hearted, unfinished. The US Constitution legalized slavery. This clearly demonstrated the limitations of bourgeois democracy.
· Fund"public" western lands: as a result of political struggle in 1800, farmers managed to achieve the adoption of a law on the sale into private hands of 320 acres of land with payment of the price in 40 days, and the rest of the amount within 2 years from the date of purchase.
· Since 1808 . the import of slaves was prohibited, but in fact it continued.
War of 1812 ( Anglo-American War 1812-1815) was the result of Great Britain's desire to undermine the US economy and trade during the Napoleonic Wars. After it, the merchants began to invest large capital in the development of industry.
· In 1823, the United States came out with “ Monroe Doctrine».
· Giant growth of cotton growing in the first half of the 19th century (thanks to plantation): if in 1791 the USA produced only 0.4% of the world production of raw cotton, then in 1840 - 62.6%.
· The colonists continued without permission occupy vacant land.
· For the western lands flared up struggle between farming North and plantation farming South. The key point of controversy was slavery. There were states in the United States where slavery was prohibited, but in new states in the West, the issue of slavery caused intense conflicts.
ð Civil War (1861-1865), victory of the industrial North: 1862 – abolition of slavery, "homestead law"(every US citizen over 21 years of age could receive 160 acres of land by paying for demarcation; after 5 years the farmer became the owner of this land).
3) Victory of the industrial North and further development of capitalism(from the 1860s to the end of the 19th century).
· Active development of western lands => A developed infrastructure was required - a railway network + A capacious domestic market began to grow rapidly in the USA => Development of heavy industry (1865-1895 grew 7 times and took first place in the world) = > Centralization of capital => Transition to the stage of monopoly capitalism.
· At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The United States is experiencing rise in its economic development and come out on top in the world.
· Area of cultivated land increased from 407 million acres in 1860 to 841 million in 1900, and the number of farmers - from 2 to 5.7 million. The population of the states west of the Mississippi River increased from 7 million in 1870 to 17 million in 1890
· From 1850 to 1900 gross wheat harvest increased by 3.5 times, corn- at 3, cotton- 2.5 times. Livestock numbers for 1867-1899 has doubled.
· It went gradually class stratification of farming. It was stimulated by the agrarian crisis, which also affected America, because since the 80s. competition began with cheap Russian grain in European markets. The price of wheat fell by more than half from 1866 to 1889, and this was not compensated by an increase in labor productivity in agriculture. In 1900, 17% of farms had more than half of the land under cultivation.
· Length of railways grew with great speed; in 1865 it was 36 thousand miles, in 1900 - 190 thousand miles.
· For 1865-1895 in the manufacturing industry labor productivity increased by 4-5 times. The high cost of labor stimulated technological progress and the introduction of new, progressive production methods.
· In the 1890s. received rapid development new industries: chemical, rubber, electrical, and a little later - automotive. Oil production increased from 200 million gallons in 1870 to 2.7 billion in 1900.
History of the Middle Ages. Volume 2 [In two volumes. Under the general editorship of S. D. Skazkin] Skazkin Sergey Danilovich
THE PRICE REVOLUTION AND ITS SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES
A new trade organization has developed. financial transactions - transactions on stock exchanges, a new type of profit has also developed - speculation. All kinds of financial and credit transactions were carried out on the stock exchange: loans were concluded, bills of exchange were discounted, and monetary obligations of large banking houses and European monarchs passed from hand to hand. Speculation flourished here no less than on the commodity exchange. The prices of goods and securities prices were influenced by a variety of circumstances and events, including political ones. Therefore, merchants and financiers needed to receive quick and detailed information. Agents of trading companies carefully collected all the news and wrote detailed reports to their patrons. These reports were the beginnings of future newspapers. In Europe in the 16th and first third of the 17th centuries. There has been a significant increase in prices, conventionally called a “price revolution.” Price increases were uneven across countries and over time. In Spain, by 1601, prices increased almost 4.5 times, in England - 4 times, in France by the end of the 16th century - 2.5 times, in Italy - twice. At the same time, prices for agricultural products have risen to a much greater extent than for industrial goods, and basic necessities have risen in price more than luxury goods. It is very important that labor prices, i.e. wages, lagged far behind the rise in commodity prices. Thus, in England wages increased by only 30%, in France by 25%. Thus, real wages fell sharply.
"Price Revolution" presents... itself is a very complex phenomenon - and it cannot be associated with the gradual increase in prices that began in a number of European countries in the second half of the 15th century, when it was determined by the growth and acceleration of trade turnover, an increase in demand for agricultural goods due to an increase in the population in general and urban features, as well as a gradual increase in the number of coins in circulation. A sharp and steady growth occurred in the 16th century. with the import into Europe of large quantities of gold and especially silver, mined by the cheap labor of slaves in the newly discovered colonies, as a result of which the price of the precious metals themselves decreased. These phenomena made themselves felt with all their force around the middle of the century. Prices grew faster in those countries that earlier and more strongly experienced an increase in the amount of precious metals in them, which was associated with the emerging global commodity and money market (Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, England, Italy, the western regions of the German Empire). The emergence of the world market contributed to the gradual spread of the “price revolution” to other, less economically developed countries in Europe.
The “Price Revolution” affected the economic situation of different groups and classes of feudal society in various ways. In the village, the winners were primarily landowners who rented out their land, since rents increased greatly due to rising prices for agricultural products and significantly exceeded the size of the fixed feudal cash rent. Finally, the peasants who paid rent to their lords also benefited.
In the production of industrial goods, capitalist entrepreneurs found themselves in a better position, since the real wages of hired workers fell sharply while prices for goods rose. The merchants also benefited, sharing with the entrepreneurs the surplus value produced by the workers, and exploiting large sections of small artisans and handicraftsmen as buyers and creditors.
Broad sections of the population suffered from the “price revolution”: peasants who ran small-scale farms that did not produce for the market and were often forced to work as farm laborers or engage in auxiliary handicrafts, as well as those peasants who paid feudal rent in products or non-fixed rent. The losers were those nobles, and they were the majority, who received a fixed cash feudal rent from their holders, did not have significant domain holdings and did not conduct their own economy designed for the market.
In the city, what lost from the “price revolution” were, first of all, the broad sections of the population who lived on wages, and small commodity producers and guild foremen, who were nominally independent, but in fact were already working for buyers and manufacturers. The “price revolution” thus contributed to the expropriation of small commodity producers both in the city and in the countryside. Marx summarized the consequences of the “price revolution” as follows: “On the one hand, the depreciation of wages and land rent, and on the other, the growth of industrial profits. In other words: to the extent that the class of landowners and the class of workers, the feudal lords and the people, have declined, to the same extent the class of capitalists, the bourgeoisie, has risen.”
Everywhere, the fall in wages and the increase in capitalist income, the gap between rent and feudal rent led to an intensification of class antagonisms and an intensification of the class struggle. Between the lord - feudal owner and the peasant holder - the struggle for land intensifies, the struggle for the transformation of the feudal holding into free small property. A struggle for wages begins between labor and capital. The outcome of this struggle, which lasted for almost three centuries, depended on the specific balance of class forces and was decided differently in each country.
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