During the 15th century, feudal
power in Europe came to an end because the kings centralized political power;
thus, Portugal, Spain, France and the United Kingdom, were built as monarchical
nation-states under an absolutist regime, while in Italy the City-States were
consolidated. At the same time, the bourgeoisie was strengthened by the
discovery, conquest and colonization of America, Africa and Asia. The merchants
achieved considerable economic gains by marketing various products of the new
continent, including tobacco and silver; and also Asian items, such as spices
and silk.
The period between the last quarter
of the 17th century and the first half of the 19th century was the era of
liberal revolutions in Europe and America, such as the English Revolution (1642-1689),
the independence of the Thirteen Colonies (1776-1783), the French Revolution
(1789-1804), the independence in Ibero-America (1810-1824) and the European
revolutionary movements of the decades of 1820 and 1830, as well as those of
1848.
The revolutions reflected the
interest of the bourgeoisie for a political transformation. This social class,
which had been financially strengthened by commercial and financial activities,
considered that it should have social recognition not only through the purchase
of titles of nobility. In Europe, political institutions such as the British
Parliament, the States-General in France and the Spanish Cortes limited
political participation and the defense of their rights. In America, the
political centralism of British and Spanish monarchs and politicians also failed
to respond to the interests of regional bourgeoisies in their colonies. During
the first lustrums of the 19th century, the French bourgeoisie took the model
of the political transformations of its revolution to other European
territories, and for that it used the Napoleonic wars. Subsequently, the
oppositionists of liberalism, would react to these movements seeking to restore
the old power of the monarchies.
In 1830, the French bourgeoisie
sought greater political participation and achievement to establish a liberal
monarchy. In contrast, in Belgium, Poland, Italy and Germany, the bourgeoisie
had nationalist demands, struggled for its independence against foreign
occupation and for establishing liberal governments. Belgium achieved its
independence.
In 1848, the ideas of universal
suffrage and rights for all clashed with absolutism and moderate liberals. In
the movements against the regime the bourgeoisie and the workers were allied,
and the latter claimed, for example, their right to strike and the reduction of
the working hours in a day. The revolutionary movements took place in France,
the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy and the German confederation, where the
unification of the German nation was sought.
Parallel to the political
revolutions, economic transformation was promoted through liberalism and
industrialization. The bourgeoisie resumed the economic thought of Adam Smith
(1723-1790), who claimed that the development of the economy should be based on
supply and demand; In addition, he suggested opening the borders for the free
exchange of goods. The industrialization that was derived from the First
Industrial Revolution (1780-1840) was financed with the profits obtained from
the commercialization of sugar produced in America and sold in Europe, implied
the transformation of society. In short, between 1776 1848 the bourgeoisie
promoted political and economic revolutions that affected the European and
American countries, which led to the beginning of the Contemporary Age.
All these changes reflected the
demands of political and economic freedom of the bourgeoisie, the social group
most strengthened by the transformations, since other groups, such as the
nobility and the guilds, lost most of their privileges.
