The Rise of nations in Europe. (1977)

[Music] [Applause] these are flags that represent many nations the different nations that make up western europe what is a nation physically one nation may not differ greatly from another we could not tell now whether we are in england or france or italy or spain until we see a flag and a sign that tell us we are entering a custom station in france people have made the political boundaries that divide europe into various nations if we ask our french friend poll what makes his nation france different from others he might point out that national boundaries help separate it from neighboring nations he might point out that he shares with the people of his country a common language and cultural background in addition to a national language paul and his people have a national government a central government that administers the laws all these elements are usually found in other nations too most nations have national boundaries a national language a central government these are part of national development to trace the story of the rise of nations let's take france as an example we'll go back to feudal times about eleven hundred before france was a nation in northern france on a feudal domain will meet a man of this century this man is a cert confined to the domain he knows little about other french provinces the castle the home of his feudal lord afford some protection during the many little wars of this time clustered beneath its walls are the homes of the craftsmen who make the products that the self-sufficient community needs for in these days there are few traders or travelers the occasional trader is one of the few contacts the surf has with the world beyond this domain the laws of the domain are made and enforced by the feudal lord of the castle for the serf this is the source of the only government he knows true there is a king but to the common people he has little more importance than this statue on their church during these feudal times the french king is just another feudal lord ruling only this kingdom around it are many feudal states independent of his rule a large part of france is even ruled by the king of england when william of normandy conquered england he made all his vassals receive their lands from him as king and so england had an early start toward becoming a nation by 1300 our people were united under a strong monarchy between 1300 and 1400 feudal europe changed greatly towns grew and townsmen increased in number townsmen were a new middle class between nobles and serfs they might be artisans or merchants here is a wealthy merchant of the early 14th century in his home are many expensive furnishings and decorations how did this wealthy middle class emerge what part did it play in the rise of nations for one thing the merchant's wealth was related to an increase in travel during this period with the growing popularity of pilgrimages to holy places travel within europe was stimulated with the crusades travel to lands beyond europe was stimulated travel took europeans to far places africa the near east even the orient here they met new peoples new ideas and new products to buy these desired products europeans needed wealth where did the wealth come from the land of europe especially under more efficient methods of farming was one source the primitive methods of the medieval farmer in europe continually improved in the 14th century crude plows for example were replaced by more efficient wheeled plows such advances resulted in surplus crops there were improvements in manufacturing too in the spinning of yarn by hand for instance the spindle was replaced by the spinning wheel making it possible to spin yarn in larger quantity surplus goods created wealth in 14th century europe money was rapidly becoming important trade helped towns to grow especially on highways or waterways where merchandise could be transported some towns grew for another reason education in university towns there was a revival of learning including an increasing emphasis on the study of law under the protection of a just code of laws administered by a strong government all classes of society might find greater security for this security townsmen in particular were looking more and more to their king to the townsmen especially the merchants the monarch wisely granted privileges to encourage trade from law students the king recruited royal magistrates or baileys to administer his laws to help him rule efficiently the king had a council of noblemen for advice he also founded a supreme court the palma where trained judges handled legal problems the parliament was in paris center of the monarchy's growing power gradually the monarchy had added more lands to the royal domain so that now about 1300 the king of france ruled over this french kingdom but france was far from united there were still independent feudal states england still claimed french lands in spite of feudal survivals however the organization of the central government was highly developed the king now included the townsmen in the assembly called the estates general the townsmen represented the middle class to run the growing government the king initiated many laws dealing with finance and taxation important taxpayers were the merchants they provided more revenue for the royal government by setting aside taxes from their profits much of this revenue as in other rising nations went to the support of a royal army in the case of france the royal army was used in the tremendous struggles against england for more than a hundred years from 1338 to 1454 french soldiers went out to meet invaders from england english armies invaded france again and again and captured french provinces wars on a national scale are part of the story of the rise of nations for the french the wars with england were exhausting and difficult devastation was great a leader was needed to revive the french national spirit and a leader appeared her name was joan of arc and in 1429 she left her farm home in doremi france at the head of a victorious army joan drove out the english and became a hero a symbol of national unity in the city of ras in the cathedral joan of arc saw prince charles crowned as king charles vii of france under charles vii the french monarchy was free of english power and the monarchy continued to grow so that by 1500 most of france had come under royal control now in the early 1500s in a chateau of the french king we'll meet a soldier of france he is a captain in the royal army he and other soldiers are paid to enforce the law and defend the nation they are part of a national army that grew during the previous century during the same period the power of the feudal lords had been declining new weapons contributed to this decline feudal lords and armor were no match for armies with guns and castles once impregnable could not withstand the force of cannon and so by 1500 power had shifted to the national government employing a national army it enforced the rule of monarchs such as francis the first he was one of the first kings of a unified french nation a nation of france much as we know it today meanwhile other lands of europe had been emerging international states in spain there had been a gradual uniting of the several feudal kingdoms in 1469 ferdinand of aragon had united the bulk of spain by his marriage to isabella of castile ferdinand and isabella founded a strong spanish monarchy and in 1492 by adding granada and navarre to their kingdom completed the political union of spain under strong rulers such as charles v the kingdom of spain was expanded to include a vast empire by the early 1500s england too had grown into a powerful national state under the strong rule of tudor monarchs including henry viii and his famous daughter queen elizabeth with the rise of nations came the development of centers of royal government versailles palace became the splendid court of the kings of france the wealth and power of france continued to grow under a royal line of kings reaching a splendid climax under the government of louis xiv in the 17th century by and large france followed a pattern of development that was in many ways followed by england spain portugal the netherlands and other nations of western europe true some countries such as italy and germany remained collections of small states that were not unified until the 19th century but the pattern we have seen in france is an illustration of the rise of nations that rise began in feudal times with feudal states it continued through the growth of towns and the emergence of a middle class it continued with the growing influence of the middle class the wealth and support of the merchants for example was a factor in the rise of kings who with money could buy the services of soldiers these enforce national laws and maintain the national defense national defense was sometimes associated with a national spirit and national heroes powerful monarchs too such as louis xiv played decisive roles in the rise of nations today people of europe live in countries that emerged along patterns similar to that we have seen in france a pattern we sometimes call the rise of nations you