French Wars: Economy And Finance Flashcards
When were the French wars?
1793-1815
How did the French wars put financial strain on Britain’s economy?
Increase in national debt:
•1793 - national debt £292 million
•End of wars - £862 million
When was the income tax introduced by William Pitt the Younger and what did it do?
• 1799
• Levied at a rate of 10% on incomes over £60 per year to fund war
• major innovation in British policy
• meant to be temporary, but reinstated several times throughout 19th century
How was trade disrupted and thrive during the French Wars?
• Britain combatted disruption by using its naval dominance to secure trade routes to colonies
• Despite European markets being closed off by Napoleon’s continental system, the East India Company thrived by maintaining access to Asian markets and found new markets in South America
What was Napoleon’s continental system?
Countries in Europe were prevented from trading to Britain by Napoleon
Taxes were introduced on how many items?
21
Tax burden increased by 7x
How much did the economy grow annually?
6%
What was the result of the introduction of the power loom in 1807?
• reduced the demand for cloth produced by handloom weavers
• wages reduced from 21 shillings in 1802 to 14 shillings in 1809 despite over 130,000 singing a petition in favour of minimum wage
What industrial action took place after power looms were introduced?
• Workers began to break the power looms (Luddite Movement)
• As a result, Frame Breaking Act 1812 made it a capital offence
How did Britain combat the continental blockade?
• France’s allies continued to trade with Britain
• Britain was able to find new markets in Northern Europe
• Britain became a leading exporting nation - textiles from British factories and mills, and re-export of goods from one part of the Empire to another (e.g India to West Indies)
British exports by end of war
Exports almost doubled
Impact of the French wars on the poor
• The low paid were hit by rising food prices - especially bread whilst wages stagnated
• 1/6 of male workforce were at war - meant hard times for many families
London as a financial centre during French wars due to trying to avoid Continental blockade
• more than 600 banks by the end of the war - e.g Rothschild family. Government took loans from these banks to fund war.
• London Stock Exchange established 1802 - number of stock market traders increased 432 to 726
How did war have a commercialising effect on agriculture?
• output per worker was 50% higher than other European countries
How did farmers benefit from higher wartime prices?
Resulted in the Corn Laws of 1815 to protect wheat growers from cheap foreign imports
Agrarian Revolution
• enclosures, crop rotation, selective breeding, new lighter ploughs which required fewer horse, oxen, and men
How did the creation of enclosures hurt the poor?
Many small farmers became landless labourers as their land was consolidated into larger farms
How was the cotton industry revolutionised?
• The Spinning ‘Mule’ introduced
• By 1818 there were 337 cotton mills, used to make uniform
How did war stimulate infrastructure change?
• canals created to transport goods, roads better maintained by turnpike trusts
How did Britain replace imports from Sweden and Russia that were blocked by the continental blockade?
• produced iron domestically - production of pig iron increased by 3x in the years 1793 to 1815
• Carron Iron works opened
New technology
In the North East new coal fields were opened using the steam engine development pioneered by Boulton and Watt
British dominance in India
East India Company the ‘Jewel in the Crown’
