Historical Process of European Societies

Question

Show the historical process of European societies turning into ethnic nations with the ambition to create national states. Start with Enlightenment and point out various stages, events, and even earlier inventions/changes that are relevant for this development and how they relate to each other. Which aspects are most important and why? I had  this question on an exam and I have gone over it with the professor but it is very confusing to be so if somebody could just help talk me through it.

Answer 1

Look for these concepts in your text, or an online resource.

 

Enlightenment:  French & Latin American Revolutions

 The enlightenment was an 18th century European movement in which thinkers attempted to apply the principles of reason & the scientific method to all aspects of society. 

Role of reason & logic:  Newton used reason to explain the laws governing nature.  The philosophes, French social critics, advocated reason which could be applies to all aspects of life.

Reason:  Truth could be discovered through logic

Nature:  natural laws of motion, economics, politics

Happiness:  wanted well-being on earth & believed it was possible, not only in the hereafter (after Earthly misery.)

Progress:  a scientific approach would perfect society & humankind

Liberty:  through reason French society could be set free as the Glorious Revolution & Bill of Rights did in England.

Despot means absolute ruler.  An enlightened despot was a monarch who was convinced to rule justly and respect people’s rights.  They reformed.

Frederick the Great – Prussia:  He called himself:  “The first servant of the state.”

Joseph II – Austria:  Abolished serfdom & ordered that peasants be paid for their labor with cash.

Catherine the Great – Russia:  modernized & reformed law.  Allowed religious toleration, abolished torture & capital punishment

Voltaire advocated tolerance, reason, freedom of religious belief, & freedom of speech.  “Crush the evil thing!”

 Principles of Capitalism by Adam Smith

1776:  The Wealth of Nations:  Defended the idea of a free economy, or free markets.  Economic liberty guaranteed economic progress.  Government need not interfere in the economy. If individuals freely followed their self-interest, the world          would be an orderly, progressive place.