4.31 Europe: a.d. 1701 to 1800

Europe (a "french century", with a decline of religion in political affairs)

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Even before the Industrial Revolution of the last quarter of this century, there was dramatic change in Europe. Spain and Italy were declining rapidly, while England, France, Sweden (exploiting mineral resources) were developing quickly. But it was a century of almost constant warfare, with conflict going on in some area all the time and in several localities at once most of the time. (Ref. 8 ) McNeill (Ref. 279 ) emphasizes that there were four limits to the existing military organizations:

• The difficulty of controlling the movements of an army of more than about 50,000 men. New forms of communication and more accurate terrain maps were needed
• Slow transport of supplies. Food for the men and fodder for thousands of horses made a bulky and awkward supply train. Living off the countryside destroyed the tax-base and allowed the soldiers to get out of control as they became immersed in plunder, so the rulers sought to supply armies from the rear
• Organizational and tactical problems. With the long history of mercenary contingents and patronage appointments, it was difficult to organize an effective, cohesive army based on training and ability, tempered with seniority
• Sociological and psychological restraints. Peasants were needed to produce the food and townsmen to provide the money, so that it was difficult to recruit enough men for a professional army without infringing on those two necessary groups

The answer to some of the above situations was in the development of new technology in weapons, such as mobile field artillery; development of accurate small-scale mapping; the break-down of the armies to divisions, units of about 12,000 men, but complete within themselves, with infantry, cavalry, artillery and all supportive elements; and better road-building .

At the same time, in spite of the warfare, the 18th century saw the heyday of wealthy merchants all over Europe. (Ref. 292 ) The philosophers were convinced that this was an age of enlightenment and progress, but it was a time of bungling politicians, greedy nobles, of immorality and corruption also. There were other paradoxes. In spite of great scientific advancements in physics and chemistry, the practice of medicine lagged far behind and may even have declined. Bleeding, cupping and purging remained prominent treatments. (Ref. 125 ) An estimated 60 million Europeans died of small-pox in the century and early there was an extensive famine, as frost killed crops as far south as the Mediterranean coast. The winter of 1709 was especially severe, with most northern rivers and even ocean coastal waters frozen. (Ref. 222 ) Typhus fever took its own toll, with a severe epidemic in Sweden and the loss of 30,000 people in France in mid-century. Yellow fever killed 10,000 in Cadiz, Spain. (Ref. 222 )

The population of Europe went from 140 to 188 million from 1750 to 1800. The majority of the people were illiterate. In the f irst half of the century their civilization was based almost as much on wine as on wheat. Europe as a whole must have been burning 200 million tons of wood yearly up until about 1790 when coal came into more common usage. At the same time there were approximately 14 million horses, 24 million oxen, the equivalent of 4 to 5 million horsepower in the form of wood, 1.5 to 3 million horsepower potential in 600,000 watermills, 900,000 horsepower in the 50 million human workers and 233,000 horsepower in the form of sails, not counting war-fleets. (Ref. 211 , 260 )