(^98) › STEP 4. Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High
Rapid Review
In the eighteenth century, Great Britain and France continued down their respective
paths toward constitutionalism and absolutism. Concurrently, they came to dominate the
lucrative Triangular Trade Networks, which allowed valuable raw materials from North
America and the Caribbean to be imported to Europe in exchange for serving as a market
for manufactured goods and for slaves acquired from Africa. The influx of capital gener-
ated by the colonial trade served as a spur for unchecked population growth made pos-
sible by an agricultural revolution and the creation of a system of rural manufacturing.
The changes in agricultural and manufacturing production destroyed the last vestiges of
an economic system (manorialism) and a social system (feudalism) that dated back to the
medieval period. In that process, both the traditional European peasantry and the guilds-
men were converted to wage labor.
The intensifying rivalry between Great Britain and France, and the growing ambition
of their eastern European counterparts, led to a series of mid-century wars, including the
War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years’ War. Rivalries also led to a series of
innovations in diplomacy and warfare.KEY IDEA14_Bartolini_Ch14_089-098.indd 98 27/04/18 1:54 PM