Renaissance to Revolution: The Transformation of the West

1. Chapter 17: The Transformation of the West Ms. Sheets AP World History

2. I. The First Big Changes: Culture and Commerce • II. Science and Politics: The Next Phase of Change • III. The West by 1750

3. Italian renaissance • Renaissance challenged medieval intellectual values • Focused on humanism • Idea that humankind is the center of intellectual and artistic endeavors, not God • Leonardo da Vinci • Niccolo Machiavelli • Francesco Petrarch

4. Northern renaissance • Italian Renaissance began to decline around 1500 CE • Northern Renaissance: France, the Low Countries, Germany, England after 1450 • Northern humanists were more religious than Italian humanists, focused on nature • Renaissance literature produced a new set of classics for literary traditions • Most lives went unchanged by the Renaissance

5. Culture and Commerce, 1450-1650 • Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press in Germany • Expanded Renaissance ideas • European-style family patterns • Later marriage ages • Emphasis on nuclear families • Limit family birth rates • Access to property

6. Religious changes • 1517- Martin Luther posts “95 Theses” on church door in Wittenberg, Germany • Protesting the church’s use of indulgences, Bible in Latin, celibacy for priests, idea of Pope • Holy Roman Emperor remained Catholic, German princes turned to Protestantism • Henry VIII and the Anglican church • Jean Calvin in Geneva: Calvinism • Pre-destination • Catholic Reformation • Jesuits

8. End of Christian unity • 1618-1648 - Thirty Years War • Ended with Treaty of Westphalia • 1640’s- English Civil War • Religious toleration granted to Protestants, not Catholics • Religious change promoted greater concentrations on family life with Protestantism • Growing literacy and the spread of the printing press, spread of new religious ideas

9. commercial revolution • Inflation in western Europe caused by gold and silver imports • Production could not keep pace with wealth • Trading companies were backed by governments • Agricultural specialty areas • Wine, cheese, wool, shoemaking, metalwork • Prosperity increased for ordinary people

11. Inflationary surplus: Tulip Mania, 1637

12. Social protest • Beginning of the proletariat in the West • People without access to wealth-producing property • Population growth and rising food prices • Social tension and new ideas of equality • Witchcraft persecution • 60,000-100,000 suspected witches killed • New resentment against poor • Role of women? Religious tension?

13. Science and Politics • Scientific Revolution, 17th c. • New ideas in science that laid foundations for modern scientific thought • Copernicus- 16th century Polish monk • Planets revolve around the sun, not the other way around like previously thought • Galileo- 17th century scientist • Formulated a comprehensive heliocentric theory • Condemned by the Catholic church

14. Science and Politics, cont. • William Harvey • Circular movement of blood in animals= heart as “central pumping station” • Rene Descartes • “Father of Modern Philosophy” • Skeptical of received wisdom • “I think, therefore I am” • Isaac Newton • Defined forces of gravity • Basic principals of motion • John Locke • People could learn everything they needed to know through their senses and reason; faith is irrelevant

15. Science and Politics, cont. • Scientific institutes were established to advance research • Growing belief that people could control and calculate environment • Insurance companies • Doctors attack healers • Deism- there might be a divinity, but its role was only to set natural laws in motion • The West becomes a leading center for science research

16. Absolute and parliamentary monarchies • French kings built up power in 17th century • Stopped convening parliament and passed their own laws • Sent direct representatives to provinces • Professionalized army • King Louis XIV (r. 1638-1715) • Eventually became an absolute monarch: “I am the state” • Standardized French language • Patron of the arts • Palace of Versailles

17. Absolute and parliamentary monarchies, cont. • King Louis XIV, cont. • Created state-run manufacturing • Government that promoted internal economy to improve tax revenues • Limited imports from other nations; uses colonies to provide raw materials • Absolute monarchies set up in Prussia, Spain, Austria-Hungary

18. Absolute and parliamentary monarchies, cont. • Britain and the Netherlands built a parliamentary monarchy • King shared power with representatives selected by the nobility and upper urban classes • Glorious Revolution • Overthrow of King James II • Parliament won sovereignty over the king • New political theory • Right of revolution • Monarchs should be restrained by institutions that protect public • Right to freedom and property

19. The West by 1750: Political patterns • English politics were parliamentary and political groups competed for influence • French absolute monarchy was less effective • Aristocrats refused to give up tax exemptions • Frederick the Great expanded economic functions in Prussia • Encouraged better agricultural methods • 1756-1763 France and Britain fight in the Seven Years War • Conflict focused on battle for colonial empires

20. Enlightenment • Scientific Revolution led to the Enlightenment • Continued scientific advance • Applied scientific methods to study society • Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations • People act in self-interest but through competition, promote economic advance • Government should avoid regulation in favor of the operation of individual initiative and market forces

21. Popular culture • Enlightenment produced basic principles about human affairs: • Human beings are good but can be educated to be better • Reason is the key to truth • Religions that rely blindly on faith and do not tolerate diversity are wrong • Changes in popular outlook • Attitudes toward children • Swaddling declined • Educational toys and books • Emotional bonds in marriage

22. Ongoing Change in commerce and manufacturing • Economic change • Commerce continued to spread • Europeans began to buy processed goods • Paid professional performers • Agricultural change • Three-field system declined • Draining swamps for more land • Seed-drills, use of scythes • Use of the potato • Capitalism spread • Investment in funds in hopes for larger profits • Domestic manufacturing