By : Isha
Recovery : Taxes and Armies
- increase in population led to increased in income from the people
- maintenance of large standing armies helped support state funds
Italy
- Profits from industrial revolution and trade helped major cities prosper
- Italian States : city states of Milan, Venice and Florence ; the papal state based in Rome; kingdom of Naples
- The city states needed many officials to administer their affairs, also ready access to a military to protect them.
- Principal Italian states strengthened their authority within their boundaries by levying direct taxes and issuing long term bonds that they repaid from treasury receipts.
- the taxes and bonds were similar to sakk and flying cash
The map to the right is one of Italy in 1494 C.E.
The map of Italy in 1494 C.E shows all of the pricipal states and you can see the changes that occured over the time period.
Map of Italy in 1000 C.E. :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historic_states_of_Italy
Map of Italy in 1494 C.E. : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_War_of_1494%E2%80%9398
As you can see in the maps above, the 1st map is one of Italy in 1000 C.E. you can see how Italy before all the principal Italian States were formed. The second map shows the changes being made. The area highlighted in red later becomes the kingdom of Naples, the area highlighted in blue becomes the Papal states. The area highlighted in green becomes the city-state of Milan. The area highlighted in yellow becomes the city-state of Venice. The third map shows Italy in 1494 after the principal states formed.
France and England
- Kings of French and England began to levy taxes
- French kings taxed sales, hearth and salt
- English kings instituted annual taxes on hearths, individual governments and plow teams
- Both the French and English asserted authority over feudal nobility
- the English kings didn't establish standing order, but were able to raise powerful forces when rebellions threatened public order
- King Louis XI (french king), maintained an army of 15,000 troops
- The cost to maintain such a vast army led to subordinates challenging the royal authority of Louis and his successors
- France and England constantly fought which lead to the Hundred Years' War.
Spain
- The marriage in 1469 of Fernando of Aragon and Isabel of Castile united the two wealthiest and most important Iberian realms was the beginning of the recovery for Spain
- Sales tax was the primary source of royal income. This supported a large army
- Fernando and Isabel were known as the "catholic kings"
- They completed the reconquista by conquering the kingdom of Granada.
- After being attacked from surrounding countires, they seized southern Italy and some parts of France
- By 1559 Spanish established hegemony* throughout most of the Italian peninsula
The above pic-collage shows major factors that helped Spain recover and the land conquered during the reconquista.
Analysis:
- Taxation led to having standing armies with an increase in funds due to the taxes.
- As they had more funds to spend there was an increase in the standing armies, which led to increase in protection in the European region.
- Standing armies led to greater military influence. The standing armies allowed countries in the regions to conquer areas and protect themselves from outside conquests. Standing armies also discouraged others to attempt attacks on them in the first place.
- Power and protection that led to European Greatness was possible because of the strong government and economy which developed because of proper taxation.
The picture above is a flow chart of how collecting taxes in turn led to stronger governments and Economy which led to the recovery of the European states.
Technological Advancements
- Competition between European states increased as they recovered.
- This competition led to frequent small-scale wars between the states
- As each state was constantly striving to expand their territory, technological advancements in military and and naval technology came into place.
- This led to improvement of weapons, ships, and sails
- As one state acquired more powerful technology, neighboring states sought more advanced technology than their counterparts. This consistent cycle led to technological innovations that vastly strengthened European armies as they began to venture into the larger world.
Analysis : As taxes increased, states could maintain armies. This led to increase in technology. Each state sought to acquire better technology than their neighbors. As competition between states increased, the constant rivalry led to rapid development of technology throughout the European region, which led to strenghtened European armies.
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The pic-collage above shows some of the technological advancements that developed in the European states like ships withe cannons, personal firearms... etc..
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The above video I created is an in-depth analysis of the European states recovery. It covers information about the means of their recovery.