The 17th century was the period of unrest, war, and revolution throughout the world. The Thirty
Years War left Europe devastated, causing the death of millions via war, hunger or disease.
The largest state in Europe, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth went through one of the worst events
in its history - the Deluge. The first global empire of the world and arguably the most powerful
European state of the XVI century Spain was on the decline, losing some of the territories belonging
to the crown. Britain saw a series of revolutions and rebellions in England, Scotland, Ireland, and
even its American colonies. Russia and France were going through internal unrest too. The monarch of
England was executed after a revolution, while the Ottoman Sultan was killed after a military coup.
The most populous state of the world China had become a ground of bloody civil war
leading to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. The Mughal Empire, one of the richest countries of
the world, also experienced a civil war leading to the killing and imprisonment of its former rulers.
While these events do not seem interconnected, as they have happened in different parts of
the world for seemingly unrelated reasons, some historians view these events of the 17th century
as the General Crisis of humankind. In this episode, we are going to view the events of
the 17th century through the lenses of the theory of the General Crisis.
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The idea to view the 17th century as an extraordinarily dramatic and destructive period
emerged gradually in the mid-1950s. In 1954, the French historian Rolan Mousnier
wrote about 17th century Europe, with crisis being the central theme: “the century was mere trouble,
agitation, chaos. Europe’s societies seemed to be headed toward anarchy, dissolution.” But the topic
truly entered the mainstream historiographical discourse after the articles of the British
historian Eric Hobsbawm in which he argued that the dramatic events of the 17th century
should be understood as a single, transformative social crisis comprehensively covering all aspects
of European life regardless of the country. Five years later British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper
also claimed that there were common underlying reasons behind the chaotic events of 17th century
Europe and it would be reasonable to label them a “general crisis”. Trevor-Roper argued that
the 17th century was a period when the conflict between monarchies and societies was reaching the
high point and the circumstances of the 17th century created ground for various incidents
of confrontation between the sides in Europe. Indeed other historians have made similar claims
that the 17th century was the period of the birth of global modernity. Renaissance and reformation
of the previous century had a powerful long-term impact on the masses, especially the new rising
bourgeoisie, which sought more power, and as the power in Europe was shifting to the increasingly
capitalist Northern countries like the Netherlands and England at the expense of Spain.
The 17th century became the period of the birth of global modernity, as Europe was transitioning from
feudalism to capitalism, from agrarian economy to industrialization. In that sense, the General
Crisis of the 17th century was transformational in nature. Hobsbawm argued that the seventeenth
century was the key moment in history, as England became the world's first bourgeois society.
Initially, the General Crisis theory was Eurocentric in nature,
but British historian Geoffrey Parker added additional elements to this theory.
He described similar chaotic events outside of Europe in the same period and made the Crisis
theory truly global while arguing that the Little Ice Age - the short-term climate change coinciding
with the 17th century was a common reason for boosting momentous societal events of the century.
Let us look at the events of the 17th century to understand why historians have called its
events the General Crisis. First of all, the 17th century witnessed almost non-stop war in
Europe. The Thirty Years War raged between 1618-1648 and involved virtually all major
European powers of the time, but even beyond that different conflicts took place in Europe.
In the six decades between 1618-1678 Poland was at peace for only 27 years, the Netherlands for
only 14, France for only 11, Spain for only 3. Beyond Europe, the Ottoman Empire had only 7
peaceful years, while China and Mughal Empires continuously fought external and internal wars.
The mid-17th century is the period, which saw more wars, than any other period until the
1940s. War brings death, long-term devastation of economic life, disease, decrease in trade causing
millions to die for war-related reasons. Popular revolts and internal conflicts
also peaked in the 17th century. 25 major peasant revolts were recorded in Germany and Switzerland.
England saw two revolutions, a civil war, the beheading of the king, alongside more than 50
food riots. France witnessed two Frondes, civil wars, where part of the aristocratic elite joined
forces with the bourgeois attempting to limit the King’s authorities in the mid-17th century.
In Spain, the Catalans rose against the monarchy, while Portugal fought to gain its independence.
In Russia, a wave of rebellions in 1648-1649 caused significant trouble to the central
government. In China, 80 major rebellions were registered in the 1630s, involving over 1 million
people. Revolts would rock the political landscape of Eurasia and while the majority
of revolts did not result in long-term changes, the combination of the impact of them was leading
to such a variety of results as increased mortality, more devastation, and increased
tension between the crown and the society. Death and destruction caused by wars, rebellions,
diseases, and lack of supplies caused an unprecedented increase in human mortality in the
17th century. According to some claims, over half of the Chinese population perished in the 17th
century. Modern German historians claim that the 17th century took 20-45% of the German population.
The lands, where the Fronde was active in France, saw a decrease of about one-fifth
of the population. In the Mediterranean region, famines, plague and wars decreased the Italian
population by 16 percent until 1650, and by 14 percent in Spain. Recent estimates claim
30-45 percent of the population in the Holy Roman Empire perished. All in all, the population of
Europe decreased by 5 percent since the Northern European countries like Holland and England
had smaller mortality in comparison with the aforementioned European countries.
The chaos and destruction of the 17th century were expressed by Thomas Hobbes in his famous Leviathan
in 1651 in the following manner: “There is no place for industry, because the fruit
thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation,
nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea: no commodious building no arts no letters;
no society. And, which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of
man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. What was the reason for the General Crisis?
Destruction, wars, and revolts have been common occurrence throughout human history.
So, what makes the 17th century events so special and interconnected to call it the General Crisis?
Even during the 17th century people were looking for reasons behind the widespread misery going on
in the world. As usual, many contemporaries attributed it to the wrath of divine forces
due to the sins committed by humankind. The Welsh historian James Howell wrote in 1649
that “God Almighty has a quarrel lately with all mankind, and given the reins to the ill
spirit to compass the whole earth”. The religious sentiment was even reflected in the parliament of
the British countries, as the preamble to an act passed by the English Parliament in 1642
called “for all possible means to appease and avert the wrath of God” to end the distress,
blood, and civil war in England and Ireland. The Scottish parliament blamed the drought, war,
and increase of prices in 1649 on witchcraft and issued some five hundred commissions to persecute
suspected witches in Scotland. The contemporaries also linked the General Crisis with astrological
reasons. The Spanish almanac published in 1640 blamed eclipses and comets for the disasters,
while prophesying that the solar eclipse of 1639 was going to produce political
instability and misery for ordinary people. But other contemporaries blame the poor weather
and economic problems coming with it for the dramatic events of the discussed period,
an argument developed by modern historians as well to explain the General Crisis with climate change
and economic reasons. English philosopher Francis Bacon called people to pray for good
weather to overcome the problems experienced by the government and the society in his essay titled
Of Seditions and Troubles. In Spain, the statesmen Juan Chumacero blamed the lack of bread in Madrid
on rain making the roads to the capital impossible to pass and bring more flour. He
blamed the weather on hunger and poverty running ravage in Spain. The Ottoman traveler in Egypt
complained of the weather and lamented the need to wear furs because of the cold. In Ireland, judges
took depositions from the population regarding the killings of the Protestants and it was said
that three failed harvests caused Catholics to harass, rob, and kill their Protestant neighbours.
This demonstrates how bad weather and failed harvests ignited the existing enmities
and grievances from mere complaining and distrust into large-scale chaos.
Indeed, the climate of the 17th century was unfavourable. Telescopes in France
observed only 100 sunspots for 8000 days during the reign of Louis XIV. In comparison,
it is fewer than a single-year average of the 20th century. Later in the 20th century,
a solar physicist Jack Eddy stated that there had been virtually no sunspots between 1645 and 1715.
At the same time, contemporaries complained of dust veils in the skies due to increased
volcanic activity and the dust arising from it blocked the sunshine. In 1651 a shopkeeper from
Barcelona complained of the sun not shining for a year. In Korea, royal astronomers reported that
“the skies all around are darkened and grey, as if some kind of dust had fallen”. Twelve major
volcanic eruptions happened around the Pacific between 1638 and 1644 causing volcanic dust to
rise to the skies. Lack of sunshine caused the average decrease of temperature by at least 0.5 C,
causing bad harvest and famine. It is difficult to see a direct link between some of the events
of the 17th century like the Thirty Years War for example, where the religious factor at first,
and then political, economic motivations of the states and ruling dynasties played the key role.
It is doubtful that we can explain the revolutions and rebellions in England, Scotland, and Ireland
by merely blaming the Little Ice Age and the harsh weather it brought with it as the reason.
Yet, in numerous cases, we see a direct link between the weather and the events.
The rebellion in the South of Portugal in 1637 started mostly due to a severe increase in bread
prices due to the drought. The drought was one of the main reasons behind the 1640 Catalonia revolt.
The first urban riots of Tokugawa era Japan started with rice shortages in Osaka,
the “kitchen of Japan”. Three disastrous harvests preceded the Irish Rebellion in 1641.
Similarly, extremely bad harvests of 1647 and 1648 played a major role in revolts in Sicily,
central Italy, Poland, and Russia. The worst harvest of the century in Sweden in 1650
caused various societal forces in Sweden to demand more autonomy from the monarchy.
But while the climate change of the 17th century had direct causation with bad harvests, droughts,
increased poverty and hunger, the rise of prices for bread and other food products,
and the worsened life standards moved people towards rebellion, revolution, or another
type of political activity, it would be extremely simplistic to overlook other underlying political
and economic factors. But Geoffrey Parker, the main proponent of the General Crisis theory,
does not claim that the climate was the sole or most significant reason for political upheavals
of the 17th century, rather arguing that the Little Ice Age was a common underlying factor
exacerbating existing grievances related to human activities.
Another more Euro-centric explanation of the 17th century events is related to economic
events of the age. Spain was the economic and political powerhouse of the previous century,
rising to the pedestal of European power thanks to its shipments of gold, silver, and other precious
metals from the New World into Europe through Seville. But gold and silver import caused
inflation in Spain. But in the early 17th century Spain started experiencing problems with decreased
silver shipments, increased taxation due to the wars it was fighting, and the loss of its entire
silver fleet to the Dutch West India Company, which forced Spain to devalue its currency.
This chain of events led to the collapse of the Genoa-centered banking system. The economic
decline, the demand decline due to weakened purchase capacity in the Mediterranean region,
coupled with the disruption of European trade routes due to the ongoing wars, hit the Northern
and Central Italian industrial activity and commercial leadership hard, gradually forcing it
to lose the industrial and commercial leadership to Northern Europe - the Netherlands and England.
These drastic changes were transformational in nature. The European economic power was
shifting from the South to the North, as gradually capitalistic economic relations started prevailing
over the feudal. This process could not have been peaceful and manifested itself in wars,
political upheavals, revolutions, and revolts. The theory of the General Crisis
is not universally agreed upon. Many argue that the events in Spain, Scotland, and China
could not have the same underlying reasons. The Little Ice Age obviously had a global impact,
but it was merely a factor exacerbating the existing grievances and processes,
therefore it cannot serve as the common underlying cause. Others argue that the gloom and doom of the
17th century are exaggerated as history is full of other periods with as many wars, revolutions,
and other transformational events. For example, despite the increased mortality in the mid-17th
century mainly attributed to the Thirty Years’ War-related consequences, overall the European
population declined by merely 5 percent, due to the population growth in Northern Europe.
Nevertheless, the events of the 17th century indeed seem transformational,
as Europe was transitioning from feudalism to capitalism, from dynastic monarchies to
nation-states and the theory of the General Crisis is an ambitious and compelling work trying to tie
all these global events with a common narrative. We always have more stories to tell, so make sure
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