HIST 274 Lecture 1: Part 1: Factors Leading up to 1750
21 Jan 2017
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Week 1 lecture part 1: factors leading up to 1750. 1750: france was the most populous country in europe. The large population with the country"s size, france essentially controlled entry into europe from the west side. France was one of the great military powers of europe. Neighboring states feared that france would politically dominate the continent. French society was no longer futile but also was not modern. The dominant class was the nobility/aristocracy (300,000 people in 1750). Some nobles were conservative and some were liberal. The peasantry population made up the majority of the french population and lived in villages/countryside. There were middle groups involved in professions (artisans, lawyers, manual workers) and lived in towns/cities. Members of the upper middle class were able to enter the aristocratic class through their wealth. Literacy ranged from the nobility through the social groups to the wealthier peasantry.
