How significant was the impact of the French Wars on the British economy? Flashcards
What became a priority for governments after the French revolution of 1789?
Social order, they feared unrest in changing times.
What were signs that the British government was becoming more restrictive in its attitudes towards the poor and labour?
1799 and 1800 Combination Acts, Suppression of machine breaking or ‘Luddism’
1799 and 1800 Combination Acts
Outlawed trade unions
Why was ‘machine breaking’ or ‘Luddism’ suppressed?
Protests against industrial change were seen as offences against private property
What put great strain on the British economy?
Wars lasting more or less continuously for over 20 years.
When was the first income tax imposed and by who?
1799 by PM William Pitt
What did economists such was Malthus (1789) fear? (groundless fears)
That Britains rising population would increase more rapidly than food supplies leading to mass starvation.
What did Britains own blockade in Europe and on the high seas do?
Stopped neutral ships as well as effectively shutting off key French ports. Trade was a key weapon.
Order in Council
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
Despite the cost of war, what happened to Britains economy?
It survived and grew, able to trade worldwide due to navy and stay at war (unlike Austria, Prussia and Russia)
Why did Napoleons Continental System from 1807 fail?
Smugglers and neutral merchants continued to carry goods across the Channel and the French suffered more.
What did Britains retaliatory measures against France in their economic war cause?
war with the USA due to the Navy boarding and searching any ship to France
What did Americans do that led to war in 1812 with Britain?
USA banned British trade, hurting Americans more, it was a pointless distraction for Britain until it ended in 1814
What happened to the value of British exports during the wars?
Overall they rose
What happened to exports to Europe between the 1790s and the end of the war?
almost doubled
What did the French start to allow, after the trade war had eased by 1812?
legal importation of British colonial items such as cotton, sugar and tea.
What experienced a financial squeeze?
private spending and household incomes
What were wages like between 1796 and 1814?
Stagnated