Paul W. answered • 11/29/19
Dedicated to Achieving Student Success in History, Government, Culture
The political systems of the two kingdoms of France and Great Britain developed in mirror opposite ways, Both were monarchies - countries ruled by royal families. But the monarchy of France grew from weakness to strength, becoming an 'Absolute Monarchy' by the beginning of the 'Age of Enlightenment' (the 18th century). By contrast, the monarchy of Great Britain had gradually lost political power by the beginning of the 'Age of Enlightenment'.
The monarchy of Great Britain developed into a 'Constitutional Monarchy', meaning that royal rulers - kings and queens - were forced to share political power with a representative (made up of elected members) legislative (had the power to create and vote on laws) institution, known as 'Parliament' (from the French word for 'to discuss', Parler).
Technically predating the 'Age of Enlightenment', though having a powerful influence on ideas concerning political systems during the Enlightenment, the 17th century English writers, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and John Locke (1632-1704), proposed theories of government that challenged the notion that kings and queens had the right to use unlimited power to rule their subjects. These political theories both inspired and justified the shift of political power from the British monarchy to Britain's Parliament that took place during the tumultuous 17th century. During the second half of the 17th century, a series of civil wars took place in Great Britain. These resulted in the increase of political power by Parliament at the expense of the political power held by the monarchy.
By the beginning of the 'Age of Enlightenment', the political power of the kings and queens of Great Britain had been so reduced that the member of Parliament who actually ran the British government, the 'Prime Minister', had as much political power as the king, if not more political power than the king.
As the name implies, the 'Absolute Monarchy' of France involved a royal family - kings and queens - holding absolute political power. In other words, in contrast with the 'Constitutional Monarchy' of Great Britain, the kings of France did not share any of their political power with anyone or anything else, such as a Parliament.
The crisis of King Louis XVI in 1789 resulted in the launch of the French Revolution by men who became its leaders who were influenced by the ideas of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, along with the French Enlightenment writer, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). But, while the British monarchy was gradually changed over time through compromise - though not without violent civil wars, the leaders of the French Revolution ultimately used the Enlightenment theories of government to justify the complete elimination of the French monarchy itself. Tragically, while the leaders of the French Revolution tried to establish a democratic form of government, their efforts ultimately failed. Instead, the successful military commander, Napoleon Bonaparte, first became the dictator of France and, from there, made himself the first ruler of a new French monarchy.
