The nobles not only reformed themselves, but also played an important role in the industrial revolution that affected the world, creating a strong political and social environment for the development of the British industrial revolution.
However, this does not mean that all nobles are representatives of positive progressives. English aristocrats are divided into new noble and old aristocrats. The upstart is the main driver of the industrial revolution, and together with the bourgeoisie, it has opened the way for the industrial revolution.
Before the industrial revolution, British nobles actively carried out enclosure movement and transformed traditional agricultural land into commercial land. Individual farmers are no longer regular customers of land, and land production is market-oriented. Land can be produced as long as the market needs it.
In the industrial revolution, nobles used their powerful power to buy machines, develop large-scale industrial production machines and improve productivity. Therefore, when the nobles supported the industrial revolution, the industrial revolution also promoted each other for their interests.
The enclosure movement was the pioneer of the British industrial revolution. The enclosure movement provided the necessary labor and land for the industrial revolution and transformed the peasant class into the working class. Therefore, the development of industrial revolution can not be separated from enclosure movement.
The early enclosure movement was mainly the spontaneous movement of businessmen and nobles, especially those engaged in wool production. With the participation of nobles with political status, the enclosure movement gradually evolved into an official behavior.
/kloc-in the 0/8th century, under the impetus of aristocratic politics, "parliamentary enclosure" developed rapidly. "Parliamentary enclosure" means that the parliament promotes and guarantees the enclosure movement through various legislation.
In the enclosure movement, nobles and businessmen often encounter some thorny problems. For example, the landlord class wants to keep its own land rent and does not want to give up its land. Parliament can solve these problems through relevant subsidy bills.
Shen Han pointed out in the History of British Land System: "In the past 20 years, the British government has occupied more than 500,000 mu of land through enclosure law. It can be seen that the "parliamentary enclosure" mainly promoted by the aristocratic bourgeoisie played a role in the British industrial revolution. Both workers and land are ready for the rise of the industrial revolution.
The land occupied by enclosure movement is not only used for wool production, but also for other development fields. First of all, the mining industry has developed, and the surplus labor force in the enclosure movement has become the main force of the mining industry.
Second, there is enough labor and land for road construction, and the narrow roads in the past can no longer meet the needs of society; Finally, machine production has become a new field, and skilled workers have become leaders in promoting machine production.
These different social developments benefited from the enclosure movement in the pre-industrial era, and the enclosure movement benefited from the economic and legal support of the nobles.
In the traditional sense, aristocrats may have nothing to do with technological innovation, but they may be regarded as obstacles to a technological revolution and representatives of stubborn conservatives. However, British aristocrats, especially new noble, played an important role in technological innovation.
There are two main reasons why British aristocrats played a role in the technological innovation of the industrial revolution. First, British aristocrats are rich in assets, which can meet the capital demand of scientific and technological innovation.
Secondly, as a typical representative of the old society, the British aristocracy's willingness to innovate in technology swept away all obstacles to social change, because before the industrial revolution, no class was stronger than the aristocracy.
During the industrial revolution, the main class forces in Britain could not compete with the British aristocratic bourgeoisie for parliamentary seats. The struggle of the working class is two kinds of bad urban life, modern history and aristocratic class struggle. When all power is limited, the support of nobles for technological innovation becomes a very important factor.
Yan said in the History of British Aristocracy that the composition of British aristocrats has changed greatly. With the development of the industrial revolution, the power of the land aristocracy is gradually weaker than that of the industrial and commercial aristocrats, and these industrial and commercial upstarts have become the main force to promote the British industrial revolution.
Aristocratic technological innovation not only existed in the industrial revolution, but also realized the innovation of agricultural technology and methods as early as the enclosure movement.
For the traditional land aristocracy, land rent, tenant farmers and land are inseparable components and become the source of life for the land aristocracy. However, after the opening of the new route, a large amount of gold and silver was introduced into Europe, which triggered a "price revolution".
As a result, the currency depreciated and prices rose, but the fixed rent depreciated, which could not meet the wealth needs of the land nobles. Therefore, nobles need to change agricultural techniques and methods to improve the productivity of the land, such as innovative farm tools and farming methods.
The nobles supported the industrial revolution because the development of the times needed the support of the nobles. First of all, although the bourgeoisie developed during the industrial revolution, it lacked the advantages of parliamentary legislation and traditional public opinion enjoyed by the nobility. It was not until the middle of19th century that three parliamentary reforms were completed.
The dominant position of nobles in parliament is given by them. Land aristocrats can directly enter the House of Lords by virtue of their status, and emerging industrial and commercial aristocrats can enter the House of Lords by conferring aristocratic status, but these aristocrats are often despised by traditional "sword-dancing aristocrats".
Second, the working class is weak, unable to match the social role of the British aristocracy, and can only become the gear of the industrial revolution, not the leader.
At that time, the working class was a new class and lacked strong leadership. The strength of trade unions is still weak. Only when the theory of serving the working class emerges can the powerful power of the working class be brought into play.
During the industrial revolution, the working class was the most important force to participate in socialized mass production. Working day and night in the factory, playing gears, has not caused social development and changes, so the working class has not been able to shoulder the heavy responsibility of the times.
Finally, the British aristocracy was the most suitable class during the first industrial revolution. As Xu Fei said in The Relationship between Queen Mary of England and the Bourgeois and new noble: "The stronger the influence of the bourgeoisie and new noble, the weaker the influence of the old feudal aristocracy."
Both the traditional British land aristocrats and the emerging industrial and commercial aristocrats have sufficient capital advantages. The former also has the advantage of parliamentary legislation, and even some nobles can influence the direction of national policies.
In addition, these nobles also have a mass base, which can dispel ordinary people's doubts about the industrial revolution, just as China people once suspected that trains were monsters.
From the whole historical stage, the nobility and the bourgeoisie are often incompatible. Take Britain as an example. /kloc-the three parliamentary reforms in the 0/9th century were all the struggles of the bourgeoisie for parliamentary seats, and finally the bourgeoisie successfully occupied a large number of seats.
As a result, the influence of nobles on parliamentary legislation has decreased, so they often fight for seat allocation and constituency division. In addition, the bourgeoisie will join the ranks of the working class and strive to abolish parliamentary privileges that hinder the bourgeoisie from obtaining benefits.
However, the struggle between these noble bourgeoisie mainly occurred later, and there were struggles during the industrial revolution, but cooperation was still the main thing because they needed each other.
During the industrial revolution, the alliance of the noble bourgeoisie mainly included joint production and traditional marriage. Joint production mainly means that the nobility provides the bourgeoisie with the capital, policy basis and labor force needed for production, and the bourgeoisie is responsible for specific production and finally distributes it according to a certain proportion.
The industrial and commercial marriage between the old aristocracy and new noble was unimaginable in the past, but it became a reality during the industrial revolution.
The nobility and the bourgeoisie have maximized their own interests in this alliance, but this does not mean that there is no contradiction between them.
For the old aristocrats, in the process of interacting with the bourgeoisie, they still carefully retain their privileges, which is an immovable "cheese".
The bourgeoisie did not give up, because they opposed the abolition of aristocratic privileges by nobles, so the contradictions that could not be solved could only be temporarily weakened based on the common interests of * * * to a certain extent. History shows that the bourgeoisie was finally won, the working class began to rebel against the bourgeoisie, and the traditional aristocrats were pushed into the past history.
The promotion of industrial revolution by British aristocrats refreshed people's understanding of traditional aristocrats. The enclosure movement jointly carried out by nobles and bourgeoisie not only reformed agricultural technology, but also promoted the transformation from farmers to workers.
The nobility actively participated in commercial development and provided funds for the development of the industrial revolution, which is also the natural advantage of the nobility to support the industrial revolution.
The status of aristocrats in parliament can be achieved through some laws that are conducive to the development of the industrial revolution, thus forming a social cognition of the industrial revolution and gaining the support of ordinary people.
The relationship between the British aristocracy and the industrial revolution is mutual promotion and support. The nobility provided various favorable conditions for the development of the industrial revolution, and the industrial revolution also gave the nobility wealth and reputation, and the two realized each other.
However, the British aristocracy did not always play a leading role in the industrial revolution. Especially after the decline of British aristocrats, with the industrial bourgeoisie occupying an important position in wealth and parliament, the influence of aristocrats on the industrial revolution gradually weakened.
Although the nobles are willing to unite with the bourgeoisie, they are unwilling to give up their dominant position. When the working class unites, the aristocratic class seems to have bred its opposite in the industrial revolution.