The General Crisis In The 17th Century History Essay

The General Crisis In The 17th Century History undertakeThe period of crisis that happened in Europe in the s counter vestibular senseteenth century was whiz of the toughest in history. After the process of amplification and growth experienced during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Europe found itself in a deep crisis that lasted close to a century. A crisis that was characterize by various features, foremost the demographic, beca persona later on the late Middle Ages the population had increased steadily until it stops dead in the sixteenth century even to recede in many an(prenominal) an(prenominal) places. Other reasons that were attri scarceed for causing this crisis included hunger, fights, revolts, politics, plagues and climate changes. Eric Hobsbawn argues that on the big picture, it was economic and accessible forces that created this mid 17th century crisis. On the other hand, Trevor rope-maker emphasized that the main set abouts for this crisis were the spiritual and policy-making conflict. Although both arguments tush be valid and were present in this disaster, I believe that the root causes of this crisis were spectral and semi presidential termal differences, which ultimately led Europe to have economic and tender conflicts as well.One important employment of this crisis is the thirty years contendfare. It was a contend that took place in central Europe (especially in Germany) among 1618 and 1648, in which the majority of the great European warrants intervened. This war would mark the futurity if the European continent in the centuries to follow1. The origin of this war goes hind end to the Peace of Augsburg, which essentially stated that the religion of the ruler of the land leave be the religion of the people. This resolved the conflicts between the Catholics and the Protestants for a while, but overdue to the diverse religions practiced in the German states, it did not solve the fundamental unearthly issues definitively. Just by analyzing the phrases above, we automatically get the sense that it was religious conflicts the root cause of this war. This is confirmed by the event that sparked the war, the revolt in Bohemia. In this revolt, member of the predominantly refuseant bohemian legislature threw devil Catholic government officials pot the window, as a sign of protest against the religious policies of the newly elected female monarch, the catholic Ferdinand II2. However, the Catholics defeated the Protestants, and this leads us to another example of religion causing the 30 years war the intervention of the Danish and then the Swedish. This happened because of the fear of these kingdoms that their sovereignty as protestant lands was peril by the Catholic success in the war, and also because the declarations of the king Frederick V, where he said that all Europe should be back to Catholic. Nevertheless, at this point the Catholics are still winning the war, and this catches the awareness of Cardinal Richelieu, who was the honcho minister of King Louis XII of France. From this point on, this religious war becomes political, because even though he was catholic, France decides to join the war and help the Protestants. The reason for this was simple, balance of baron the French felt that Habsburgs have gained too often power and they did not want just one great power to curtail Europe3.This war is a great example of how religious and political reasons shaped this European crisis, and how these events led to the economic and mixer problems that a war brings, in order to fund the war with money and men. After all, this war was ended with the Treaty of Westphalia which ironically ended up being same(p) the treaty of the peace Augsburg that stated that the religion of the prince is the religion of the people. The political effects of this war were rattling traumatic as well, first it weakened the power of the empire, and the individual territories of the G ermany gained more autonomy even than before the war4.another(prenominal) problem that rose during this crisis was the war of the three kingdoms. This is another great example to argue that Trevor Roper was correct in explaining the main cause of the crisis. This war happened afterward England, Ireland and Scotland became united under the power of only one ruler. This was attainable because, since Queen Elizabeth of England had no adopt heir to her throne, the next in stress was mob Stuart, the king of Scotland5. So what types of problems this created? First, James was a firm worshipper of the divine right monarchy, which basically means that he was placed on that point by god and does not have to report to anyone else. This belief did not bring many problems to other nations however, the fact that England had a sevens created a caboodle of political tensions in this era. Expanding upon this, the wealth that the members of the parliament had acquired from the agricultural i nnovation, the expansion of their land and sheep count, increased this problems even more, because they now wanted to match their political power with their economic power. The fact of this happening brings us back to our thesis, and shows a religious problem becoming political, which ultimately becomes cordial. I argue this because the parliament starts to have power from the clock times of King Henry, when he needed their cheers to separate from the Catholic Church (religion). Years after, this backfires to King James, because it gave more authority to the wealthy parliament, and clash with his ideals of divine right and absolutism (Politics). Subsequently, creating a lot tension and confusion among the people of the three kingdoms, whose laws and taxes kept changing as the power of the monarchy and the parliament would fluctuate (Social)6.To make headway support our point, we can note the historian Paul Hazard, who coined the term crisis of the European consciousness to defi ne an ideological crisis that could be found in the intellectual ambient of Europe after the wars of religion7. This is a valid argument since it is logical to believe that religious conflicts could rupture the emotional stability of a society that is very much influenced by god and religion. The raise and growth of new religions that differed in many matters with ancient Catholicism brought into the map many thinkers that challenged even more the tralatitious beliefs. Intellectuals such as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke and Newton share a common time, it can even be dated astronomically with the famous Halleys comet of 1680 which allowed Pierre Bayle out grapevine its Charter, and use this to make fun (in a way) at the Religious superstitions and offer that knowledge must be constantly proven and updated8. However, this eventually created approximately social problems, since most of the universities and teaching centers were controlled and had the patronage of the perform , being either catholic, alike(p) the Jesuits, or protestants. This is another example of how religious conflicts (Trevors argument) happened first and the led to social problems (Hobsbawn argument)Possibly the best example of the religious and political causes of this crisis was the glorious revolution. press release back to the origin of the problem, old King James II was a Catholic that had already irritated the parliament by relaxing the restrictions on the Catholics and allowing them to hold positions in public offices9. Nevertheless, James was old and next line for the throne was his daughter Mary, a protestant that was married to William of Orange so the parliament does not really take any action. However, things turn noisome after James II has a son that would mean the tenacity of Catholic rule in England, which the parliament would not allow. This caused the glorious revolution, and causes James to escape to France with his son, and William of Orange is invited to be ki ng of England10.It is interesting to distinguish how the biggest political problem that King James II had was the fact that he was catholic once again religion. In addition, the fact that the parliament is the one that invites William to be king summarizes the amount of power that he would have, which as we can see, was very secureed. He was given many restrictions, such as the obligation to be an Anglican, he was not allowed to have a standing army, he was not allowed to veto a parliament act and there was no capricious arrest11. Based on this, comes a liberal social motility that will support the ideas of the parliament in a way, and moves England even further away from absolutism. A leader of this movement is John Locke. We can see in his Two treatises to the government his idea of the natural right to live, which basically states that we all have a right to liberty and the possession of property. Moreover, if the government does not protect the natural right to live of the p eople, they can make merry and a demand a ruler who does not violate their rights12.Trevor and Hobsbawn use the Fronde in France as another example of the general crisis. It begun because of general dissatisfy of the people. His beginnings were based on the economic crisis and increasing the tax burden generated to orchestrate the cost of participation of France in the Thirty Years War. Its most direct cause, however, can be found in the means used by the monarchy to raise taxes. With the arrival of the regent the people expected the monarchy to cut rates, but not so Cardinal Mazarin thought that France could support the war and did not let up the pressure. In addition, the Parliament of Paris tried to limit the power of King Louis XIV and also the nobility felt threatened by the king and wanted more of a voice in the government. All of the causes of the Fronde have political implications to it. Even If it is argued that the raise of the taxes was a social problem, it was a polit ical decision to raise the taxes for war and specially to very enter the war, with the ideals of balance of power13.In conclusion, the general crisis was characterized by a series of wars, revolts, decline of population and political and social changes that in many cases could have been avoided if the right precautions would have been taken. However, the fact Europe was undergoing a time political absolutism (at least that is what the rulers intended) and the close relation between church and government, made it impossible to avoid the conflicts. The numerous wars that happened (all for political and religious reasons) assist by plagues and diseases, caused the first decline in the population after the snapper ages, therefore creating social and economic problems in the region. This is the reason why I believe that Trevor Roper was right by saying that the root cause of the crisis was political and religious (decisions to go to war, monarchs selected for their religion, etc) whic h then led to economic and social problem(increase of taxation, price revolution, and decline in population), aggravating even more the situation.