The Thirty Years War

Part of the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation was a series of wars that attempted to abolish Protestantism and restore the Catholic Church’s predominance. The most vicious of these was the Thirty Years War (1608-1648)’ fought mainly in Germany. While religious issues were the direct cause of the conflict, it evolved into a larger political struggle in which France and Sweden sought to reduce the strength of the Habsburg dynasty that ruled Austria. Eventually most of Europe was involved and Austria was forced into peace, while France and her allies threatened to take Prague, Munich, and Vienna.

Modern estimates are that the population of Germany declined by 20% during the Thirty Years War, in some regions the decline was 50% as entire villages disappeared. Long-term effects of the war were the establishment of Switzerland and the Dutch Republic, the emergence of France as the dominant land power of Europe, and the continued fractionalization of Germany that long delayed its unification into a state.

The Industrial Revolution

The second great human economic transformation after the rise of agriculture was the Industrial Revolution, which was basically the gradually conversion of handmade craftsman manufacturing to machine-made mass production. Industrial production required the grouping of labour, the creation of machines to do the work, and the availability of power sources to run the machines. These elements and several other factors came together first in Great Britain in the late eighteenth century, and then spread to the rest of Europe, North America, and eventually most of the world.

Historians generally point to the development of the steam engine as the spark that ignited the Industrial Revolution. This basic machine, powered by coal, could be placed anywhere and drive other machines, particularly at first powered looms for weaving. Very quickly the steam engine moved into other industries and then into transportation, where it increased the speed and efficiency of railroads, steamships, and communication.

The economic and social effects of industrialization were enormous, including rapid population growth due to increased efficiency in food production; capitalism as industry created profits but require great investment; social conflict between workers and industry owners; political change as democracy, socialism, and communism arose; scientific advance such as electricity and medicines, and increased lethality of war as conscription of mass armies and technologically advanced weapons took their toll.

The Fur Trade

Although North America was largely ignored by Europeans for a hundred years after its discovery, the area around Newfoundland was visited regularly by fishermen. These men often traded with natives, and the furs they brought back attracted a new sort of entrepreneur, the fur trader. Ships from France, Spain, England, and the Netherlands cruised the coast looking for native hunters willing to trade furs for knives and other goods. The French tried to monopolize the northern trade by placing outposts along the St. Lawrence River to intercept natives coming from the interior. The Dutch placed outposts at New Amsterdam and Albany on the Hudson for the same purpose. A beaver fur that could be obtained for a few tools and trinkets might sell for huge profits in Europe.

The demand for fur created intense rivalries on both the European and native sides. Wars were fought for control of the coasts, while native tribes fought over trapping grounds and the role of middlemen with the Europeans. As beaver populations were completely extinguished nearer the coasts, the traders and trappers had to push further inland. The French placed trading forts along the Great Lakes and eventually down the Mississippi River. The fur trade moved all the way to the Pacific Coast up rivers like the Missouri, and the Russians also sought sea otter furs.

The quest for furs was the critical factor in the early exploration and settlement of North America, but the industry had limited era of dominance. As colonies expanded in North America, changes in European tastes for hats, the growing scarcity of easily obtainable furs, and rising demand for other important resources (such as farmland, timber, and minerals) reduced the fur trade to a shadow of its former prominence.

The California Gold Rush

Gold was discovered in 1848 at Sutter’s Mill, near Sacramento, California. Far from a celebration, the discovery proved a disaster for John Sutter, who was more interested in cultivating his land. Once the word got out, waves of eager prospectors overland and by sea. Ships were abandoned in California ports as crews joined the rush. Many who made the trip were unprepared and some entrepreneurs became rich selling necessities along the westward trail or in the gold camps.

Most gold prospectors never became rich, barely finding enough gold to pay for their daily living expenses. Collectively, they were known as the 49ers. When the 49ers departed, they left behind a changed California. Mining companies owned and operated most of the productive mines. San Francisco, which had been a small port town, became a large, prosperous city. Prospectors traveled from boom town to boom town in their quest to strike it rich. The California Gold Rush was followed by similar gold strikes in New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, the Yukon, and Alaska.

Pirates!

From the late 1500s into the 1700s, the Caribbean Sea was a hunting ground for sea pirates that preyed on ships of Spain at first, but later of all nations with colonies and trading outposts in the area. The vast treasures of gold and silver, and other wealth that Spain began shipping back from the New World first caught the attention of these pirates. Many were officially sanctioned by nations at war with Spain, but during an era of slow communication and no effective international policing, the line between official and criminal piracy was indistinct.

Pirate crew came from all walks of life, but most were seamen who wanted a chance at real freedom and wealth. Many were escaped slaves or servants with nothing to go home to. Crews were usually very democratic, with the captain elected by the crew and subject to removal at any time. They preferred small, fast ships that could fight or flee as the occasion warranted. Their preferred method of attack was to board and fight hand-to-hand. They preyed on lightly armed merchant ships, but would occasionally attack a city or large warship if the shakes were high enough. They usually lack any sort of discipline, drank heavily, and most ended up dead at sea or on a gallows after a short but wild career.

At their peak, pirates controlled island towns that were havens for recruiting crews, selling captured merchandise, refitting ships, and spending their loot. Various nations turned a blind eye to piracy, so long as their own ships were not being taken. As the Caribbean became more settled and more economically important, pirates gradually disappeared as they were hunted down by warships and their bases were taken.

Napoleonic Warfare

Warfare during the age of Napoleon was defined by several parameters: the effective range of a smoothbore musket (50-100 yards); the effective range of a cannon ball (1,000 yards); the speed of marching men and charging horses; the morale, discipline, and training of men required to stand in lines or march in columns under fire; and the ability of commanders to inspire troops and deploy them effectively.

The basic problem was how to take a position held be the enemy and the basic answer was to March at them in a dense column of infantry carrying muskets fitted with bayonets. If the column had the will and strength to march up to the enemy and keep coming, the defender would normally break a withdraw, conceding victory. Cannons fired iron balls at both defenders and marching columns, attempting to weaken morale before the moment of contact. Infantry in defensive lines fired volleys at the columns to kill officers and men, and weaken the attacker’s morale. Skirmishers out front of both sides tried to do the same. Cavalry hovered on the wings to charge in against disorganized troops and ride them down.

For most of the Napoleonic era France did everything better than its opponents. It’s cannon were the best served; its infantry had the best morale and marched faster, and its columns were rarely stopped; its cavalry was the most audacious; and its leaders were the most effective in battlefield maneuvers. By 1813, however, the other European powers had learned a great deal, had found competent leader of their own, and had a manpower advantage that was wearing down the French. At Waterloo in 1815, British lines of volley firing infantry stopped the French massed columns while the Prussian columns hit the French flank; together they brought the Napoleonic era to an end.

Colonial Revolutions

The European empires in the New World lasted in most cases for a little more than 300 years. By the early nineteenth century most European colonies had frown off their Old World masters and had became independent nations. All that remained of the great New World empires were Britain’s colony in Canada and a scattering of island colonies in the Caribbean Sea.

The first revolution by the thirteen British colonies resulted in the eventual formation of the United States. These colonies were chafing under rule by the Parliament in Britain with no American representation. They felt handicapped by British prohibitions on expanding west into Native American territories, and they disliked laws that gave advantages to British traders and shippers at the colonists’ expense. When revolution broke out, lead by General George Washington, the British were unable to win the war militarily, and made peace with France, Spain, and the Netherlands sided with the colonists.

The French occupation of Spain and Portugal in the early nineteenth century cut off those countries from their colonies in South America and set off the wars of independence. The success of these revolutions was assured when the United States stated its Monroe Doctrine, forbidding any power from further conquests or colony placement in the Americas, and Great Britain made it clear that it’s navy would not allow such action either.