Short Term Causes - Economic Crisis Flashcards
What was the economy largely based on?
Agriculture
Between which years had the agricultural sector grown steadily?
1730s and 1770s
Why had good harvests meant there been an increased in population?
Food surpluses, people were fed and healthy and more able to withstand diseases
What came suddenly to an end during the 1780s?
The general agricultural prosperity
What brought about the sudden end to the general agricultural prosperity?
A series of disastrous harvests between 1778 and 1787
Why was there a major disaster in 1788 that resulted in a very poor harvest?
Very wet spring
Freak hailstones in many areas in July
What did peasants produce as a cash crop?
Wine
What did a poor harvest in a pre-industrialised society always lead to?
Massive unemployment
What did the resulting rise in the price of food lead to?
A lower demand for manufactured goods
A significant increase in the price of bread - a key staple food
Why was there a lower demand for manufactured goods?
More income had to be spent on food
Over the period from 1726 to 1789, what % did wheat prices increase by?
60%
% of a labourer’s daily wage spent on bread in normal times compared to the severe winter of 1788-79
50%
88%
% that production and employment in textile industries fell by in 1789?
50%
What accounted for half of industrial production?
Textile industries
What treaty had the textile industry been badly hit by?
Eden Treaty of 1786
What did the Eden Treaty allow?
Imports of British goods, including textiles, at reduced rates of import duties
Why was the market for wine also very poor?
Rising bread prices meant that there was less money to spend on this and other goods
What two things were rising at the same time?
Unemployment
Cost of living
Why were workers unable to increase their wages?
Unemployment was rising at the same time as cost of living
Production was either stagnant or falling
Who did many ordinary people blame for worsening the situation?
Tithe-owners
Landowners
What were tithe-owners and landowners accused of that contributed to the lack of food?
Hoarding grain and speculating on prices rising during times of shortage
What happened in many areas as people attacked grain stores?
Food riots and disturbances
Why were food riots and disturbances most frequent in the spring and summer of 1789?
Grain prices were at their peak as it was before the new harvest had been collected
Many ordinary people in urban and rural areas blamed the economic crisis partly on who?
The nobility
