Chapter 18
The West on the Eve of a New World Order
Chapter Outline
I. Toward a New Heaven and a New Earth: An Intellectual Revolution in the West
A. The Scientific Revolution
1. Toward a New Heaven: A Revolution in Astronomy
2. Toward a New Earth: Descartes and Rationalism
3. Europe, China, and the Scientific Revolution
B. Background to the Enlightenment
C. The Philosophes and Their Ideas
1. Montesquieu
2. Voltaire
3. Diderot
4. Toward a New “Science of Man”
5. The Later Enlightenment
6. The “Woman’s Question” in the Enlightenment
D. Culture in an Enlightened Age
1. High Culture
2. Popular Culture
II. Economic Changes and the Social Order
A. New Economic Patterns
B. European Society in the Eighteenth Century
III. Colonial Empires and Revolution in the Americas
A. The West Indies
B. British North America
C. French North America
D. The American Revolution
1. Birth of a New Nation
IV. Toward a New Political Order and Global Conflict
A. Prussia: The Army and the Bureaucracy
B. The Austrian Empire of the Habsburgs
C. Russia under Catherine the Great
D. Enlightened Absolution Reconsidered
E. Changing Patterns of War: Global Confrontation
V. The French Revolution
A. Background to the French Revolution
1. Social Structure of the Old Regime
2. Other Problems Facing the French Monarchy
B. From Estates-General to National Assembly
C. Destruction of the Old Regime
D. The Radical Revolution
1. A Nation in Arms
2. Reign of Terror
3. Equality and Slavery: Revolution in Haiti
E. Reaction and the Directory
VI. The Age of Napoleon
A. The Rise of Napoleon
B. Domestic Policies
C. Napoleon’s Empire
1. The Grand Empire
2. The Fall of Napoleon
Glossary
rentier
a person who lives on income from property and is not personally involved in its operation.
Cartesian dualism
Descartes’s principle of the separation of mind and matter (and mind and body) that enabled scientists to view matter as something separate from themselves that could be investigated by reason.
Continental System
Napoleon’s effort to bar British goods from the Continent in the hope of weakening Britain’s economy and destroying its capacity to wage war.
cottage industry
a system of textile manufacturing in which spinners and weavers worked at home in their cottages using raw materials supplied to them by capitalist entrepreneurs.
deism
belief in God as the creator of the universe who, after setting it in motion, ceased to have any direct involvement in it and allowed it to run according to its own natural laws.
enlightened absolutism
an absolute monarchy in which the ruler follows the principles of the Enlightenment by introducing reforms for the improvement of society, allowing freedom of speech and the press, permitting religious toleration, expanding education, and ruling in accordance with the laws.
Enlightenment
an eighteenth-century intellectual movement, led by the philosophes, that stressed the application of reason and the scientific method to all aspects of life.
feminisim
the belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes; also, organized activity to advance women’s rights.
geocentric theory
the idea that the earth is at the center of the universe and that the sun and other celestial objects revolve around the earth.
heliocentric theory
the idea that the sun (not the earth) is at the center of the universe.
high culture
the literary and artistic culture of the educated and wealthy ruling classes.
laissez-faire
French for “leave it alone.” An economic doctrine that holds that an economy is best served when the government does not interfere but allows the economy to self-regulate according to the forces of supply and demand.
nationalism
a sense of national consciousness based on awareness of being part of a community—a “nation”—that has common institutions, traditions, language, and customs and that becomes the focus of the individual’s primary political loyalty.
natural rights
certain inalienable rights to which all people are entitled; they include the right to life, liberty, and ownership of property; freedom of speech and religion; and equal treatment under the law.
old order
the political and social system of France in the eighteenth century before the Revolution.
old regime
the political and social system of France in the eighteenth century before the Revolution.
patrician
great landowners who became the ruling class in the Roman Republic; in Early Modern Europe, a term used to identify the ruling elites of cities.
philosophes
intellectuals of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment who believed in applying a spirit of rational criticism to all things, including religion and politics, and who focused on improving and enjoying this world rather than on the afterlife.
popular culture
as opposed to high culture, the unofficial written and unwritten culture of the masses, much of which was passed down orally; centered on public and group activities such as festivals. In the twentieth century, the entertainment, recreation, and pleasures that people purchase as part of mass consumer society.
rationalism
a system of thought based on the belief that human reason and experience are the chief sources of knowledge.
Rococo
a style, especially of decoration and architecture, that developed from the Baroque and spread throughout Europe by the 1730s. While still elaborate, it emphasized curves, lightness, and charm in the pursuit of pleasure, happiness, and love.
scientific method
a method of seeking knowledge through inductive principles; it uses experiments and observations to develop generalizations.
Scientific Revolution
the transition from the medieval worldview to a largely secular, rational, and materialistic perspective; it began in the seventeenth century and was popularized in the eighteenth.
separation of powers
a doctrine enunciated by Montesquieu in the eighteenth century that separate executive, legislative, and judicial powers serve to limit and control each other.
world-machine
Newton’s conception of the universe as one huge, regulated, and uniform machine that operated according to natural laws in absolute time, space, and motion.
Good to Know:
1. This chapter discusses the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution in Europe. Enlightenment ideals concerning human rights appear in colonial revolutions beginning with the American Revolution and spreading to France in the late 18th century and later Haiti. Political power shifted with the rise of absolute monarchs, as well as new imperial challenges, as Napoleon attempted to create a new empire.
2. The Scientific Revolution led to significant challenges to dominant theories of geocentricism. Have students explore the shift to heliocentricism and the rise of rationalism and reason. Look at the comparative essay "The Scientific Revolution" (p 512), to be able to explain why Europe rather than China was the seat of scientific experimentation.
3. Analyze the political ideals and practices put forth by classical theorists such as Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu. Women's rights also begin to appear with the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft and Olympe de Gouges. Use the documents, "The Attack on Religious Intolerance" (p 514), "The Rights of Women" (p 516), and "The Natural Rights of the French People: Two Views" (p 529), to examine differing points of view.
4. European popular culture became more flamboyant especially in the aristocratic class since they had ready access to expensive trade goods from Asia, such as silk and cotton textiles from India. Monarchs encouraged the flourishing of Rococo art. Use the images, "Antoine Watteau, Return from Cythera" and "Vierzehnheiligen" (p 517), "The Aristocratic Way of Life" (p 519), and the film reference to Marie Antoinette on page 527 to explore the lifestyles of the nobility.
5. The chapter discusses three major revolutions from this time period: the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Haitian Revolution. Students should be able to compare and contrast the causes and effects of these revolutions. These revolutions can be taught separately, but since the French and Haitian Revolutions occurred at the same time, can be taught together. Be aware that leadership came from differing social classes.
Study Help:
1. Why did the Catholic Church condemn the theories of Copernicus and Galileo?
2. Vocab
3. "I think, therefore I am."
4. Positive enlightenment buzzwords
5. According to Locke, each person is born with what?
6. Checks & balances came from which thinker?
7. What did Enlightenment advocates of economic liberalism believe?
8. Rococo style art characteristics
9. Cottage industry
10. Elements of 18th century global trade
11. "I have made Philosophy the lawmaker of my empire".
12. Mercantilist theory
13. Rebels in the American Revolution received support from...?
14. Enlightened absolutism is based on...?
15. Joseph II reforms
16. Purpose of convening the Estates-General in 1789?
17. What did the French Revolution create?
18. How did Napoleon gain control of the French gov't?
19. Napoleonic Code & his reforms