How significant was the impact of the French Wars on the British economy? Flashcards

1
Q

What became a priority for governments after the French revolution of 1789?

A

Social order, they feared unrest in changing times.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What were signs that the British government was becoming more restrictive in its attitudes towards the poor and labour?

A

1799 and 1800 Combination Acts, Suppression of machine breaking or ‘Luddism’

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

1799 and 1800 Combination Acts

A

Outlawed trade unions

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Why was ‘machine breaking’ or ‘Luddism’ suppressed?

A

Protests against industrial change were seen as offences against private property

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What put great strain on the British economy?

A

Wars lasting more or less continuously for over 20 years.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

When was the first income tax imposed and by who?

A

1799 by PM William Pitt

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What did economists such was Malthus (1789) fear? (groundless fears)

A

That Britains rising population would increase more rapidly than food supplies leading to mass starvation.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What did Britains own blockade in Europe and on the high seas do?

A

Stopped neutral ships as well as effectively shutting off key French ports. Trade was a key weapon.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Order in Council

A

Issued by George III and his ministers in 1807, aimed not just at countries allied to Napoleon by any that tried to exclude British business

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Despite the cost of war, what happened to Britains economy?

A

It survived and grew, able to trade worldwide due to navy and stay at war (unlike Austria, Prussia and Russia)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Why did Napoleons Continental System from 1807 fail?

A

Smugglers and neutral merchants continued to carry goods across the Channel and the French suffered more.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What did Britains retaliatory measures against France in their economic war cause?

A

war with the USA due to the Navy boarding and searching any ship to France

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What did Americans do that led to war in 1812 with Britain?

A

USA banned British trade, hurting Americans more, it was a pointless distraction for Britain until it ended in 1814

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What happened to the value of British exports during the wars?

A

Overall they rose

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What happened to exports to Europe between the 1790s and the end of the war?

A

almost doubled

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What did the French start to allow, after the trade war had eased by 1812?

A

legal importation of British colonial items such as cotton, sugar and tea.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What experienced a financial squeeze?

A

private spending and household incomes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What were wages like between 1796 and 1814?

A

Stagnated

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

How much did the Seven years war (1756-63) cost Britain?

A

£160 million

20
Q

How much did the French wars (1793-1815) cost Britain?

A

£1,600 million

21
Q

How did Britain finance their wars?

A

Borrowing

22
Q

What did the Corn Laws of 1815 do?

A

protected home wheat-growers from cheap foreign imports.

23
Q

What did the Corn Laws provoke?

A

fierce post-war arguments between protectionists and advocates of free trade

24
Q

Parliamentary Enclosure Acts

A

consolidated small landholdings into larger more efficient farms

25
Q

How many acts similar to the Parliamentary Enclosure Acts were there between 1760 and 1820?

A

3000

26
Q

Why did small farmers become landless labourers?

A

Small farms were absorbed by large landowners

27
Q

What effect did enclosures have?

A

Resentment among the poor but boosted output

28
Q

What boosted farming output?

A

Enclosures and draining wetlands

29
Q

Why did British farms had to produce more food during wars?

A

To make up for a reduction of imports caused by wartime restrictions on trade.

30
Q

How much did imports fall between 1807 to 1808?

A

114,000 tons to 14,000

31
Q

What shortages threatened the war effort and why was this?

A

Timber for shipbuilding because the ancient royal oak forests has been neglected due to landowners planting wheat instead of trees.

32
Q

Why did Pitt and Melville reverse St Vincent’s reforms in 1804?

A

to appease merchants

33
Q

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

A

337

34
Q

What innovations took place during the French wars?

A

Industrial lathe by Henry Maudslay (1797) and improved power loom by William Horrocks (1813)

35
Q

What boomed in British industry during the French wars

A

Textiles and Iron making

36
Q

What wartime construction project was the government directly involved in?

A

Martello towers

37
Q

Martello towers

A

1805-8, small coastal forts built along the southern and eastern coasts of england against threat of french invasion.

38
Q

Martello towers

A

1805-8, small coastal forts built along the southern and eastern coasts of england against threat of french invasion.

39
Q

What was Machine-breaking caused by?

A

fear held by skilled workers as traditional craft jobs disappeared

40
Q

Where did Luddism (named after Ned Ludam) flare?

A

Nottinghamshire in 1811, spreading to Yorkshire and Lancashire among textile workers fearful of mechanisation.

41
Q

How did the government respond to Luddism?

A

sending troops to keep peace and bringing new laws to prevent trade unions

42
Q

When did the government suspend habeas corpus?

A

1794

43
Q

When did the breaking of machines become a capital offence?

A

1812

44
Q

When were 17 Luddite’s hung?

A

1813

45
Q

What new vein of political radicalism emerged after the war?

A

March of the Blanketeers in 1817

46
Q

What did ideals of the French Revolution influence?

A

Industrialists like Robert Owen and reform (abolition of slave trade)

47
Q

Who campaigned for the abolition of the slave trade?

A

Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce