18th century Europe was a period of turbulence and a period of rapid development of science and technology. On the one hand, the war caused losses, and it also promoted the progress and development of science and technology. Due to years of feud, Britain and France continued to fight.
The intermittent between Britain and France actually lasted for a hundred years, and it is known in history as the "Hundred Years of War between Britain and France".
The main reason for the constant war between Britain and France is that they belong to different national systems.
18th century was a war between Britain and France, and it was a period when the European continent changed from being the main battlefield to becoming an overseas colony as the main battlefield. The United States, the world's strongest country, was able to successfully independence because of the war between Britain and France. India also caused its subsequent -South Asian subcontinent due to the war between Britain and France.
British-French War
British and France face each other across the sea, but they do not belong to the same system.
This fundamentally caused the two countries to have extremely low mutual trust, leading to their century-long war and contradictions.
France is the strongest force on the European continent except Russia. It not only has the second largest land area, but also has the largest population. In the early 18th century, the population reached 20 million, twice that of Britain.
France had already formed a monarch's control over big cities at that time. French monarchs could control the rights of the nobles through the management of big cities. The advantage of this is that France can have strong local control through the king's control over the nobles.
The French monarch's ability can surpass the nobles and can use more resources to engage in large-scale wars.
, and compared with France, the United Kingdom is another state. Because the United Kingdom is a country that wanders outside the European continent, the United Kingdom mainly relies on foreign trade to survive.
, and the British aristocrats gradually became entrepreneurs through trade means. As the trade capabilities of British aristocrats increased, British aristocrats gradually undermined the British king. After the glorious revolution , Britain ushered in a major development. The British nobles passed the United Parliament and began to turn their goals overseas. In the following seven years of the British-French War, Britain won the status of "maritime overlord". The road to sea colonization began.
British quickly became powerful through continuous colonization, while France colonized overseas a little later than Britain. However, France, which is not inferior to Britain in industry, also demonstrates France's strong capabilities. However, France eventually made wedding dresses for the United States.
The main reason why Britain quickly won the overseas colonial war was that it was on the European continent, and Britain's development was firmly restricted by France. Britain can only seek breakthroughs through overseas colonization.
The technological progress of Britain also happened to be a necessary condition for his success.
Because France occupied the European plains, the monarch formed a stable state of domestic resources. It was not until the Louis XVI period that France began to compete for overseas power with Britain.
to compete for America and India
Britain almost gained hegemony on the ocean after defeating the "sea coachman" Netherlands . Because the French national system is more inclined to the European continent, the French king also needs to control internal forces and is unwilling to allow the nobles to expand greatly, France's colonial power overseas is weaker than Britain.
A large part of the benefits gained by France in overseas colonization belong to the French king.
In addition, France's overseas colonization actually has a more important role, which is to suppress the development of Britain overseas.
Due to the turmoil in France within the internal political situation, these forces were gradually taken away by Britain.
Why is Britain stronger than France in foreign colonization? This is because compared with French aristocrats, British aristocrats have great autonomy outside. After the Glorious Revolution, Britain began to continuously replicate the British parliamentary system in the colonies.
After each colony operates the British system well, interests will form a stable distribution relationship, resulting in the rapid expansion of the British colony.
. France seems to own a large area of land in the Americas, but all the chiefs of its colonies are accepted by Paris.
This leads to the interests generated by the colonies being directly linked to the king, not directly linked to the French colonists. Therefore, the French colonies are all officials sent by France to distant places and do not have the motivation to develop the colonies. In this way, British colonies outside the country will develop rapidly, while France will have to gradually lose control of the colonies.
However, the rise of the British aristocratic power overseas is not only a good thing for the UK. Due to long-term autonomy, the North American mainland has a tendency to be independent. As the strength of the North American colonists continued to increase, they were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with Britain.
Finally, with the help of France, in the 18th century the United States independent . Later, the United States became the terminator of British hegemony. Many people think that British colonies are similar, but in fact they are not.
The UK's control over India and the Americas is actually very different, and the reason for the difference is actually due to the British system.
If we look at the degree of colonization, Britain's colonization of India was the main colonization of Britain, while the colonization of America was secondary. However, the UK did not expect that America had good geographical conditions, and India and Asia also had many complex problems.
18th century, whether in Europe or Asia, they believed that Asia was the "rich place". The purpose of Europe's " voyage " was to find "India". India and China were the most important bases of spices, tea and silk in Europe at that time. When buying these goods, the UK consumed a lot of silver.
And Britain cannot produce more machines to compete with such a large amount of trade, so Britain wants to make India and even China his commodity production base through war.
But although Britain can defeat China and India, it is very difficult for Britain to colonize China and drive them to work for Britain.
Why did Britain achieve great success in the Americas colonization, but it was difficult to develop in India and China?
The reason is very simple. Chinese goods and Indian goods are controlled by a complete system. As long as the UK interrupts one of the links, the entire system will lose control and eventually lead to chaos.
In order to generate benefits in India, the British king settled for the second best to establish the "East India Company" in India. The "East India Company" is actually a product formed by the UK in order to trade in India.
Because the East India Company belongs to the King of England directly, the king of the Kingdom has much greater control over India than the Americas.
However, the UK's income in India is also part of the Indian local nobles. Since Britain and the Indian upper nobles were of cooperative nature, by the time France colonized, France could only have a little marginal place to colonize.
At the peak of Britain's development, France had no advantage over Britain, whether in America or India, but France could still make a fuss behind the scenes. For example, helping the colonies become independent. The United States was established by France's support. Without France's help, the United States would not be independent so quickly.
English-French Contest Summary
The success of Britain was first and foremost the success of the British aristocrats, not the success of the British king. Due to the glorious revolution, the British king lost control over the British aristocracy, and the British transformed into a country dominated by aristocratic rights, and the king gradually became a "virtual king".
France is a mainland regime, and the French king gained control of the big city of Paris. France suppressed the rise of the nobles well and formed a system centered on royal power, but the king was not interested in foreign colonization, or the king was worried that a large number of foreign colonization would lead to the rise of the nobles and weaken his control over the country.
The beginning of the British-French War was that Britain failed. Britain could not defeat France in Europe and finally had to go to sea. During the process of going overseas, Britain unexpectedly formed a new form of trade.
is the transformation from the original Asian-European continental trade to maritime trade.
A large number of foreign colonies have made the British aristocracy increasingly powerful, and the king has long become a Void King. Britain also formed the earliest parliamentary system. Through the parliamentary system, the British aristocracy was given the protection of interests in Britain, making the nobles pay more attention to external colonization.
However, control is always two-way. British aristocrats colonized abroad for a long time and gradually began to form their own ideas.
There are also some colonized areas that have suffered unfair treatment for a long time and are eventually independent in the national awakening trend.
References: "The Hundred Years of War in Britain and France"
