French Wars: Impact on the Economy

Question 1

What was the name of the system Napoleon imposed in 1807 to prevent defeated nations from trading with Britain?

Answer 1

The Continental System

Question 2

Which new areas did Britain turn to compensate for reduced trade across the Mediterranean?

Answer 2

Northern Europe, North and South America, Asia

Question 3

What measure did George III issue against any countries that tried to exclude the ‘British flag’

Answer 3

Orders in Council

Question 4

When was the war with the US which was caused by trading tensions?

Answer 4

1812-1814

Question 5

What impact did the French wars have overall on the number of exports?

Answer 5

The number of exports doubled

Question 6

What year did France’s trade war ease, allowing the importation of British goods?

Answer 6

1812

Question 7

Name two nations which continued to trade with England despite France’s ban

Answer 7

Russia and Sweden

Question 8

How much did the French Wars cost Britain overall?

Answer 8

£1.6 billion

Question 9

Name two countries which Britain funded coalitions with.

Answer 9

Prussia and Austria

Question 10

What percentage did the number of stock traders increase by over the course of the war?

Answer 10

70%

Question 11

How many banks did Britain have by the end of the war?

Answer 11

600

Question 12

What was the period of agricultural change that proceeded the French Wars known as?

Answer 12

The agrarian revolution

Question 13

How much higher was output in Britain per worker than other European countries?

Answer 13

50%

Question 14

Name the law the government introduced to artificially increase the price of wheat, protecting growers from cheap foreign imports.

Answer 14

The Corn Laws of 1815

Question 15

What relief system was put in place that linked the size of families to the price of bread?

Answer 15

Speenhamland system

Question 16

What proportion of the country’s workforce was away in the forces during the French laws?

Answer 16

1/6

Question 17

What new agricultural method was being used rather than leaving fields fallow to restore fertility?

Answer 17

Crop rotation

Question 18

During what two years were there particularly bad harvests?

Answer 18

1809-1810

Question 19

What new method was used to increase the production of meat and wool per animal?

Answer 19

Selective Breeding

Question 20

What was the name of the new threshing machine developed that required fewer horses/oxen and men?

Answer 20

Meikle’s threshing machine

Question 21

Which new government department was set up in 1793 to make surveys of farming?

Answer 21

Board of Agriculture

Question 22

How many enclosure acts were there between 1760 and 1820, consolidating smaller farms into bigger ones?

Answer 22

Over 3,000

Question 23

How was the land in Britain available for cultivation increased?

Answer 23

Wetlands drained, ancient woodlands burned down

Question 24

Which 2 new machines were invented for cloth-making that changed the textile industry?

Answer 24

Crompton’s spinning mule, powered looms

Question 25

How many cotton spinning mills were there in Britain by 1818?

Answer 25

337

Question 26

What new routes were used to continue the cotton trade in Europe?

Answer 26

Spain, Portugal, smuggling

Question 27

How did cotton mills defy the law, increasing their exports?

Answer 27

Made uniforms for the French (as well as the British)

Question 28

Factories, set up in 1807, making which item for the Royal Navy is seen as the world’s first mass-production line?

Answer 28

Sailing blocks (wooden components of a ship’s rigging)

Question 29

Demand for which cannons and other weaponry meant that which industry boomed?

Answer 29

iron-working

Question 30

Which ironworks in South Wales was producing 20x more iron per year over the course of the war?

Answer 30

Cyfartha Ironworks

Question 31

How much had the population of Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales grown by over the course of the war?

Answer 31

20 times

Question 32

Which transport system was developed to move heavy materials over the course of the war?

Answer 32

canals

Question 33

What bodies were developed to improve and maintain road transport?

Answer 33

Turnpike trusts

Question 34

Which type of engine was developed for industrial use, signalling the age of railways?

Answer 34

Steam pumping machines

Question 35

Which coastal construction project was the government involved in to prevent French invasion?

Answer 35

Martello Towers

Question 36

Which 3 main counties did Luddism flare up in?

Answer 36

Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire

Question 37

Which new laws were passed to prevent workers from forming trade unions?

Answer 37

The Combination Acts of 1899 and 1900

Question 38

When did the government suspend habeus corpus?

Answer 38

1794

Question 39

How many Luddites were hanged in 1913?

Answer 39

17