A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

The Modern State 283

death (although they were rescued from the fire). On his deathbed, Louis
confessed with uncharacteristic insight that perhaps he had “loved glory too
much.”

The Modern State

As they established absolute rule, the sovereigns of continental Europe con­
structed the modern state. While extending authority over their subjects and
expanding their dynastic territories, they developed state bureaucracies and
established large standing armies. They broke noble resistance to absolute
rule, confirming their privileges in exchange for loyalty to the throne. This
relationship between rulers and nobles thus remained essential to the func­
tioning of most European states in the eighteenth century.
Following a period of relative stability, the structure of Western European
society then began to change as the European economy entered a remark­
able period of dynamic growth, particularly during the second half of the
eighteenth century. This was the case above all in Britain, where the expan­
sion of capital-intensive agricultural techniques, population growth, and a
boom in manufacturing combined to begin the Industrial Revolution. The
changing structure of society, in turn, would affect states by encouraging
demands for political reform that began in the 1760s and 1770s and chal­
lenged the monopoly on political power by oligarchies and absolute rule
itself. Traditional assumptions about science also came under attack. The
methodology, discoveries, and culture of the Scientific Revolution helped
create modern science.