The 17th century was the period of unrest, war,
and revolution throughout the world. The Thirty Years War left Europe devastated, causing the
death of millions via war, hunger or disease. The largest state in Europe, the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth went through one of the worst events in its history - the Deluge. The first global
empire of the world and arguably the most powerful European state of the XVI century Spain was on the
decline, losing some of the territories belonging to the crown. Britain saw a series of revolutions
and rebellions in England, Scotland, Ireland, and even its American colonies. Russia and France were
going through internal unrest too. The monarch of England was executed after a revolution, while the
Ottoman Sultan was killed after a military coup. The most populous state of the world China
had become a ground of bloody civil war leading to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. The
Mughal Empire, one of the richest countries of the world, also experienced a civil war leading to
the killing and imprisonment of its former rulers. While these events do not seem interconnected,
as they have happened in different parts of the world for seemingly unrelated reasons, some
historians view these events of the 17th century as the General Crisis of humankind. In this
episode, we are going to view the events of the 17th century through the lenses
of the theory of the General Crisis. You know what a modern crisis looks like? The
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forget to use the coupon code KingsAndGenerals! The idea to view the 17th century as an
extraordinarily dramatic and destructive period emerged gradually in the mid-1950s. In
1954, the French historian Rolan Mousnier wrote about 17th century Europe, with crisis being
the central theme: “the century was mere trouble, agitation, chaos. Europe’s societies seemed to be
headed toward anarchy, dissolution.” But the topic truly entered the mainstream historiographical
discourse after the articles of the British historian Eric Hobsbawm in which he argued
that the dramatic events of the 17th century should be understood as a single, transformative
social crisis comprehensively covering all aspects of European life regardless of the country. Five
years later British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper also claimed that there were common underlying
reasons behind the chaotic events of 17th century Europe and it would be reasonable to label them
a “general crisis”. Trevor-Roper argued that the 17th century was a period when the conflict
between monarchies and societies was reaching the high point and the circumstances of the 17th
century created ground for various incidents of confrontation between the sides in Europe.
Indeed other historians have made similar claims that the 17th century was the period of the birth
of global modernity. Renaissance and reformation of the previous century had a powerful long-term
impact on the masses, especially the new rising bourgeoisie, which sought more power, and as the
power in Europe was shifting to the increasingly capitalist Northern countries like the
Netherlands and England at the expense of Spain. The 17th century became the period of the birth of
global modernity, as Europe was transitioning from feudalism to capitalism, from agrarian economy
to industrialization. In that sense, the General Crisis of the 17th century was transformational
in nature. Hobsbawm argued that the seventeenth century was the key moment in history, as England
became the world's first bourgeois society. Initially, the General Crisis
theory was Eurocentric in nature, but British historian Geoffrey Parker
added additional elements to this theory. He described similar chaotic events outside of
Europe in the same period and made the Crisis theory truly global while arguing that the Little
Ice Age - the short-term climate change coinciding with the 17th century was a common reason for
boosting momentous societal events of the century. Let us look at the events of the 17th century
to understand why historians have called its events the General Crisis. First of all, the
17th century witnessed almost non-stop war in Europe. The Thirty Years War raged between
1618-1648 and involved virtually all major European powers of the time, but even beyond
that different conflicts took place in Europe. In the six decades between 1618-1678 Poland was
at peace for only 27 years, the Netherlands for only 14, France for only 11, Spain for only 3.
Beyond Europe, the Ottoman Empire had only 7 peaceful years, while China and Mughal Empires
continuously fought external and internal wars. The mid-17th century is the period, which saw
more wars, than any other period until the 1940s. War brings death, long-term devastation of
economic life, disease, decrease in trade causing millions to die for war-related reasons.
Popular revolts and internal conflicts also peaked in the 17th century. 25 major peasant
revolts were recorded in Germany and Switzerland. England saw two revolutions, a civil war, the
beheading of the king, alongside more than 50 food riots. France witnessed two Frondes, civil
wars, where part of the aristocratic elite joined forces with the bourgeois attempting to limit
the King’s authorities in the mid-17th century. In Spain, the Catalans rose against the monarchy,
while Portugal fought to gain its independence. In Russia, a wave of rebellions in 1648-1649
caused significant trouble to the central government. In China, 80 major rebellions were
registered in the 1630s, involving over 1 million people. Revolts would rock the political
landscape of Eurasia and while the majority of revolts did not result in long-term changes,
the combination of the impact of them was leading to such a variety of results as increased
mortality, more devastation, and increased tension between the crown and the society.
Death and destruction caused by wars, rebellions, diseases, and lack of supplies caused an
unprecedented increase in human mortality in the 17th century. According to some claims, over half
of the Chinese population perished in the 17th century. Modern German historians claim that the
17th century took 20-45% of the German population. The lands, where the Fronde was active in
France, saw a decrease of about one-fifth of the population. In the Mediterranean region,
famines, plague and wars decreased the Italian population by 16 percent until 1650, and by
14 percent in Spain. Recent estimates claim 30-45 percent of the population in the Holy Roman
Empire perished. All in all, the population of Europe decreased by 5 percent since the Northern
European countries like Holland and England had smaller mortality in comparison with
the aforementioned European countries. The chaos and destruction of the 17th century were
expressed by Thomas Hobbes in his famous Leviathan in 1651 in the following manner: “There is
no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently
no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported
by sea: no commodious building no arts no letters; no society. And, which is worst of all, continual
fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”.
What was the reason for the General Crisis? Destruction, wars, and revolts have been
common occurrence throughout human history. So, what makes the 17th century events so special
and interconnected to call it the General Crisis? Even during the 17th century people were looking
for reasons behind the widespread misery going on in the world. As usual, many contemporaries
attributed it to the wrath of divine forces due to the sins committed by humankind. The
Welsh historian James Howell wrote in 1649 that “God Almighty has a quarrel lately with
all mankind, and given the reins to the ill spirit to compass the whole earth”. The religious
sentiment was even reflected in the parliament of the British countries, as the preamble to an
act passed by the English Parliament in 1642 called “for all possible means to appease and
avert the wrath of God” to end the distress, blood, and civil war in England and Ireland.
The Scottish parliament blamed the drought, war, and increase of prices in 1649 on witchcraft and
issued some five hundred commissions to persecute suspected witches in Scotland. The contemporaries
also linked the General Crisis with astrological reasons. The Spanish almanac published in 1640
blamed eclipses and comets for the disasters, while prophesying that the solar eclipse
of 1639 was going to produce political instability and misery for ordinary people.
But other contemporaries blame the poor weather and economic problems coming with it for
the dramatic events of the discussed period, an argument developed by modern historians as well
to explain the General Crisis with climate change and economic reasons. English philosopher
Francis Bacon called people to pray for good weather to overcome the problems experienced by
the government and the society in his essay titled Of Seditions and Troubles. In Spain, the statesmen
Juan Chumacero blamed the lack of bread in Madrid on rain making the roads to the capital
impossible to pass and bring more flour. He blamed the weather on hunger and poverty running
ravage in Spain. The Ottoman traveler in Egypt complained of the weather and lamented the need to
wear furs because of the cold. In Ireland, judges took depositions from the population regarding
the killings of the Protestants and it was said that three failed harvests caused Catholics to
harass, rob, and kill their Protestant neighbours. This demonstrates how bad weather and failed
harvests ignited the existing enmities and grievances from mere complaining
and distrust into large-scale chaos. Indeed, the climate of the 17th century
was unfavourable. Telescopes in France observed only 100 sunspots for 8000 days
during the reign of Louis XIV. In comparison, it is fewer than a single-year average of
the 20th century. Later in the 20th century, a solar physicist Jack Eddy stated that there had
been virtually no sunspots between 1645 and 1715. At the same time, contemporaries complained
of dust veils in the skies due to increased volcanic activity and the dust arising from it
blocked the sunshine. In 1651 a shopkeeper from Barcelona complained of the sun not shining for
a year. In Korea, royal astronomers reported that “the skies all around are darkened and grey, as
if some kind of dust had fallen”. Twelve major volcanic eruptions happened around the Pacific
between 1638 and 1644 causing volcanic dust to rise to the skies. Lack of sunshine caused the
average decrease of temperature by at least 0.5 C, causing bad harvest and famine. It is difficult
to see a direct link between some of the events of the 17th century like the Thirty Years War
for example, where the religious factor at first, and then political, economic motivations of the
states and ruling dynasties played the key role. It is doubtful that we can explain the revolutions
and rebellions in England, Scotland, and Ireland by merely blaming the Little Ice Age and the
harsh weather it brought with it as the reason. Yet, in numerous cases, we see a direct
link between the weather and the events. The rebellion in the South of Portugal in 1637
started mostly due to a severe increase in bread prices due to the drought. The drought was one of
the main reasons behind the 1640 Catalonia revolt. The first urban riots of Tokugawa era
Japan started with rice shortages in Osaka, the “kitchen of Japan”. Three disastrous
harvests preceded the Irish Rebellion in 1641. Similarly, extremely bad harvests of 1647 and
1648 played a major role in revolts in Sicily, central Italy, Poland, and Russia. The worst
harvest of the century in Sweden in 1650 caused various societal forces in Sweden
to demand more autonomy from the monarchy. But while the climate change of the 17th century
had direct causation with bad harvests, droughts, increased poverty and hunger, the rise of
prices for bread and other food products, and the worsened life standards moved people
towards rebellion, revolution, or another type of political activity, it would be extremely
simplistic to overlook other underlying political and economic factors. But Geoffrey Parker, the
main proponent of the General Crisis theory, does not claim that the climate was the sole or
most significant reason for political upheavals of the 17th century, rather arguing that the
Little Ice Age was a common underlying factor exacerbating existing grievances
related to human activities. Another more Euro-centric explanation of the
17th century events is related to economic events of the age. Spain was the economic and
political powerhouse of the previous century, rising to the pedestal of European power thanks to
its shipments of gold, silver, and other precious metals from the New World into Europe through
Seville. But gold and silver import caused inflation in Spain. But in the early 17th century
Spain started experiencing problems with decreased silver shipments, increased taxation due to the
wars it was fighting, and the loss of its entire silver fleet to the Dutch West India Company,
which forced Spain to devalue its currency. This chain of events led to the collapse of
the Genoa-centered banking system. The economic decline, the demand decline due to weakened
purchase capacity in the Mediterranean region, coupled with the disruption of European trade
routes due to the ongoing wars, hit the Northern and Central Italian industrial activity and
commercial leadership hard, gradually forcing it to lose the industrial and commercial leadership
to Northern Europe - the Netherlands and England. These drastic changes were transformational
in nature. The European economic power was shifting from the South to the North, as gradually
capitalistic economic relations started prevailing over the feudal. This process could not have
been peaceful and manifested itself in wars, political upheavals, revolutions, and revolts.
The theory of the General Crisis is not universally agreed upon. Many argue
that the events in Spain, Scotland, and China could not have the same underlying reasons. The
Little Ice Age obviously had a global impact, but it was merely a factor exacerbating
the existing grievances and processes, therefore it cannot serve as the common underlying
cause. Others argue that the gloom and doom of the 17th century are exaggerated as history is full
of other periods with as many wars, revolutions, and other transformational events. For example,
despite the increased mortality in the mid-17th century mainly attributed to the Thirty Years’
War-related consequences, overall the European population declined by merely 5 percent, due
to the population growth in Northern Europe. Nevertheless, the events of the 17th
century indeed seem transformational, as Europe was transitioning from feudalism
to capitalism, from dynastic monarchies to nation-states and the theory of the General Crisis
is an ambitious and compelling work trying to tie all these global events with a common narrative.
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