In the eighteenth century, the new accumulations of wealth and knowledge among Europeans resulted in an ever-widening gap between elite and popular culture. Bourgeois and aristocratic wealth merged in this period. At the same time, the opening of the Atlantic brought European powers into conflict with each other as they competed for trade, colonial holdings overseas, and territorial acquisitions within Europe itself. The Dutch continued to flourish economically, but their commercial prosperity was overshadowed by the growth of France and England. The global economy brought Asia, the Americas, and Africa into greater contact with Europe, which sometimes involved these areas in their wars over trade and territory. In France, the aristocracy reappeared in government, while in England, the two parties, Whigs and Tories, continued to struggle over the issues of constitutional government raised during the Glorious Revolution of 1688. War absorbed the continent throughout the mid-eighteenth century, with the main conflicts taking place between Austria and Prussia, and France and Britain. |
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education