Was the development of absolutism a response to the rising capitalist class and/or republicanism? My knowledge of late medieval history is really not as strong as it could be so I’m interested to hear what people think
Was the development of absolutism a response to the rising capitalist class and/or republicanism? My knowledge of late medieval history is really not as strong as it could be so I’m interested to hear what people think
A good example is to contrast Colonial Spain to Colonial England. One was locked in the decaying form of colonial conquest due to an over-reliance on Gold/Silver and religious control (Spain), while the other headed full speed into the Industrial Revolution and capitalism despite it ravaging and destroying their society and populace (England).
Spain valued stability and good conditions for Spaniards in the core over adapting new industrial developments because they had a de-centralized feudal-like structure with powerful conservative aristocracy, whereas England had no qualms about feeding the English population into the meatgrinder via mass proletarianization and going full speed into the void, and had the centralized system to enforce it.
This obviously came to a head when the Spanish sail armada was destroyed by English steam ships.
When did that happen?
I was conflating two different things in my head, the 1588 battle of gravelines where the Spanish armada was heavily damaged by British fire ships and storms and British naval power in the age of steam. This was a bit before the age of steam, which was more around 1770, 200 years later. Britain did adapt to the age of steam a lot better than the Spaniards did but I was incorrect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada