Chapter 5 Europe and the Americas in an Age of Science, Economic Growth, and Revolution
•••
From Mercantilism to Laissez Faire
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, European governments pur­
sued a policy known as mercantilism, a system of economic regulation designed to
strengthen the state and increase its gold and silver supply by encouraging indus­
try, the growth of commerce, and self-sufficiency in agriculture and the produc­
tion of raw materials. Although Europe's national and local governments had
regulated economic activities since the Middle Ages, mercantilism was a new
approach to regulation that reflected the growing competitiveness of the Euro­
pean state system and the authority of the absolutist state. Mercantilists viewed
economic activity as a form of warfare in which each nation competed for eco­
nomic advantages that would augment tax revenue, increase the amount of gold
and silver in circulation, maintain high employment, and sustain a favorable bal­
ance of trade, all at the expense of its rivals. On balance, its early impact was posi­
tive, with government encouragement of commerce and protection of industries
contributing to Europe's economic expansion.
By the eighteenth century, however, mercantilism had many critics who argued
that it inflated prices, stifled innovation, and smothered the entrepreneurial spirit.
In addition, mercantilism was opposed by many intellectuals connected with the
Enlightenment who prized individual liberty, deplored government intrusiveness,
and were convinced that a nation's economy, like nature itself, worked best when
its own "natural laws" operated without interference. The critics of mercantilism
in France were known as Physiocrats, a term rooted in the Greek words meaning
the "rule of nature."
The most famous critic of mercantilism was a Scot, Adam Smith, whose Wealth
ofNations (1776) called for free trade, the end of government regulation, and eco­
nomic competition at every level. His disciples, the economic liberals of the nine­
teenth century, sought to convince governments to abandon mercantilism, and by
doing so, freeing thousands of investors and entrepreneurs to take advantage of
the unparalleled opportunities provided by industrialization.
The Advantages of Mercantilism
..,...,...,.
38..,. Jean-Baptiste Colbert;
IIMEMORANDUM ON ENGLISH
ALLIANCESII and IIMEMORANDUM
TO THE KING ON FINANCES II
Born to a family of merchants in Reims in 1619, Jean-Baptiste Colbert was the
best known and most powerful minister of Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715). During the
1660s Colbert held several positions in the royal administration, the most impor­
165
166
A World in Transition
tant of which was controller-general of finance. Colbert's goal was to strengthen
the French economy to provide Louis the resources necessary to fight his wars. No
statesman better represents the policies of seventeenth-century mercantilism; for
the French, the words mercantilisme and Colbertisme are virtually synonymous.
The following selection consists of excerpts from two memoranda Colbert pre­
pared for King Louis XlV. The first, which dates from 1669, was written while
French and English diplomats were secretly negotiating a possible Anglo-French
alliance against their common commercial rival, the Dutch. The second, written
in 1670, describes the goals and achievements of Colbert's economic policies dur­
ing his tenure as controller-general.
QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS
1. Why is Colbert convinced that French commercial expansion can come only
at the expense of France's economic competitors?
2. To what degree are Colbert's policies motivated by a wish to improve eco­
nomic conditions among the French people?
3. What social and economic groups in France would stand to benefit most from
Colbert's policies? Who would be hurt?
4. What is the basis of Colbert's conviction that international commerce is a
form of war?
5. What industries is Colbert especially interested in encouraging? What do his
choices reveal about the general purposes of French rnercanrilism?
MEMORANDUM ON ENGLISH
ALLIANCES (1669)
The commerce of all Europe is carried on by
ships of every size to the number of 20,000, and
it is perfectly obvious that this number cannot
be increased, because the number of people in all
states remains the same and the consumption of
goods also remains the same ....
It must be added that commerce causes a per­
petual combat both in peacetime and during war
among the nations of Europe as to who will win
the most of it .... Each nation works incessantly
to have its legitimate share of it and to gain an
advantage over other nations. The Dutch cur­
rently are fighting this war with 15,000 to
16,000 ships, a government of merchants, all of
whose principles and power are directed solely
toward preservation and increase of their com-
merce, and more dedication, hard work, and
thrift than any other nation.
The English fight with 3,000 to 4,000 vessels,
less industriousness and attention, and more ex­
penses. The French fight with 500 to 600 ships.
The last two cannot improve their commerce
except by increasing their number of vessels, and
cannot increase this number except from the
20,000 that carryall the commerce, and conse­
quently by cutting into the 15,000 or 16,000 of
the Dutch.
MEMORANDUM TO THE KING
ON FINANCES (1670)
... The well-being and economic recovery of the
people depend on apportioning what they pay
into the public treasury with the amount of
money that circulates in commerce. This ratio
1~.
~
Chapter 5 Europe and theAmericas in an Age of Science, Economic Growth, and Revolution
167
has always been 150 million livres' to 45 million
livres. At present it is at 120 million to 70 mil­
lion. As a result, it is in excess by a wide margin,
and as would be expected, the people are falling
into great misery.
It will be necessaryrto do one of two things to
stop this evil: either lower tax impositions and
expenditures, or increase the amount of money
in public commerce. For the first, impositions
have been lowered already.... For the second, it
consists of three parts: increase money in public
commerce by attracting it from other lands; by
keeping it inside the kingdom and keeping it
from leaving; by giving the people the means to
make a profit.
In these points consist the greatness and the
power of the state and the magnificence of the
king, ... and this magnificence is all the greater
in that it weakens at the same time all the
neighboring states, because, there being only a
given quantity of money circulating in all of Eu­
rope, and this quantity is increased from time to
time by what comes in from the West Indies, it
is certain and clear if there is only 150,000,000
livres that circulate publicly in France, that one
cannor succeed in increasing it ... without at
the same time taking the same quantity from
neighboring states; which is the cause of the
double success of the past few years, the one in­
creasing the power and greatness of your majes­
ty, the other abasing that of his enemies and
those who are jealous of him.
Thus in these three areas was concentrated all
the work and attention to finances since the be­
ginning of your majesty's administration; and
since it is commerce alone and what depends on
it that can produce such a great result, it was a
task to introduce it into the realm because nei­
ther the general population nor individuals have
applied themselves to it, and in a way it is even
contrary to the genius of the nation.... For this,
it was necessary to see what was done to attract
money into the kingdom and to keep it
there; ...
The Dutch, English, and other nations take
from the kingdom wine, brandy, vinegars, linen,
paper, articles of clothing, and wheat when
needed .... But they brought us woolen cloth
and other goods made of wool and animal hair;
sugar, tobacco, and indigo from the Americas;
all the spices, drugs, [illegible word] in oils,
silks, cotton cloths, leather goods, and an infin­
ity of other goods from the East Indies; the same
merchandise from the Levant.? ... All the mer­
chandise necessary for ship construction, such as
wood, masts, iron from Sweden and Galicia,'
copper, tar, cannons, hemp, rope, tin coated
sheet iron, brass, navigation instruments, mus­
ket balls, iron anchors, and generally everything
necessary for the construction of vessels for the
fleet for the king and for his subjects.
Gunpowder, fuses, muskets, cannon shot,
lead, pewter, clothes, serge" from London, silk
and wool stockings from London, barracans,
damask, camlet, and other fabrics from Flanders,
lacework from Venice and Holland, trimming
from Flanders, camlet from Brussels, carpets of
Flanders; beef and mutton from Germany, hides
and horses from every land, silk fabrics from
Milan, Genoa, and Holland ....
By these means ... the Dutch, English, mer­
chants of Hamburg, and others bring into the
kingdom a quantity of merchandise much great­
er than they take away, withdraw the surplus in
cash, which produced both their prosperity and
the poverty of the kingdom, and as a result,
unquestionably, added to their power and our
weakness.
It is necessary next to examine the steps taken
to change this fare. First, in 1662, your majesty
sustained the right to 50 SO/55 for ton of freight
carried on foreign vessels, which has had the
'The livre was the basic unit of French money.
'Lands along the easrern shore of rhe Medirerranean.
'A region of northwestern Spain.
<Serge is a fabric, as ate barracan, damask, camler, dimities,
and twills, all mentioned later in Colbert's memorandum.
'A sol was a French coin equal to one-twentieth of a livre.
Colbert is referring to the royal rariff of 1662.
168
A World in Transition
impressive result that the number of French
ships has increased every year, and in seven or
eight years the Dutch have been almost excluded
from port-to-port commerce .... Finally, after
carefully considering the matter, your majesty
ordered the tariff of 1664, in which the duties
are regulated by a completely different principle,
that is, all the merchandise and manufactured
goods of the realm were notably favored, and the
prices of foreign goods increased; ... this change
began to offer the opportunity to manufacture
these same items in the kingdom; and to this
end:
The fabric manufacture of Sedan was re­
established, and the number of looms increased
from 12 to 62. New establishments have been
built at Abbeville, Dieppe, Fecamp, and Rouen,
at which there are presently more than 200
looms; the factory for barracan was established at
Ferte-sous-Jouarre with 120 looms; a factory for
small Brussels damask at Meaux, composed of
80 looms; a carpet factory in the same city with
20 looms; for camlets at Amiens and Abbeville
with 120 looms; dimities and twills of Bruges
and Brussels at Montmorin, St. Quentin, and
Avranches, with 30 looms; for fine Dutch linens,
at Bresle, Louviers, Laval, and other places, with
200 looms; serge of London at Gournay, Aux­
erre, Autun, and other places with 300 looms;
English woolen stockings ... in 32 towns and
cities; that for tin in Nivernois; that for French
lace in 52 towns and cities, in which more than
20,000 workers toil; the making of brass estab­
lished in Champagne; brass wire in Burgundy;
gold thread of Milan in Lyons; the manufacture
of silks in the same city.
The search for saltpeter," and at the same time
the manufacture of gunpowder; that of match;
the establishment of the manufacture of muskets
and weapons of all sorts ... ; the distribution of
stud horses, which has produced and certainly
will continue to produce the re-establishment of
stud farms and will considerably decrease the
import of foreign horses....
6pocassium niccace, used in making gunpowder.
And since your majesty wished to work hard
for the restoration of his navy ... it was abso­
lutely necessary to try hard to find within the
kingdom, or to establish everything needed for
the great design.
To this end, the manufacture of tar was estab­
lished at Medoc, Auvergne, Dauphine and Pro­
vence; iron cannons in Burgundy, Nivernois,
Saintonge, and perigord; anchors in Dauphine,
Nivernois, Brittany, and Rochefort; sailcloth in
Dauphine; cloth for banners at Auvergne; pilots'
instruments at Dieppe and la Rochelle; wood
cutting for ships ... ; wood for masts, which was
unknown in the kingdom, has been found in
Provence, Languedoc, Auvergne, Dauphine, and
in the Pyrenees. Iron, which was obtained from
Sweden and Biscay, is now made within the
kingdom. High quality hemp for rope, which
came from Prussia and Piedmont, is now ob­
tained from Burgundy, Maconnais, Bresse, and
Dauphine.
In a word, everything needed for the construc­
tion of vessels is at present established in the
kingdom, so that your majesty can do without
foreigners for the navy, and even in a short time
can supply them with what they need and
extract their money....
In addition, to prevent the Dutch from profit­
ing from American commerce, which they have
gotten hold of and excluded the French, with
annual profits of a million livres in gold, your
majesty has established the West India Company
and invested in it almost 4 million livres; he has
also had the satisfaction of taking away from the
Dutch that million livres per year that main­
tained more than 4,000 of their subjects who
continually sailed among these islands on their
200 ships.... In addition, to prevent the same
Dutch from taking more than 10 million livres
out of the kingdom thro~gh all the goods they
bring from the East Indies and the Levant, your
majesty formed companies for the same areas, in
which he has invested more than 5 million
livres....
Chapter 5 Europe and the Americas in an Age of Science, Economic Growth, and Revolution
All these great undertakings, however, and an
infinity of others that are in a sense innovations
... are still in their infancy and can be carried to
perfection only with work and stubborn applica­
tion and can exist only with the resources of the
state, since considerable expenditures are always
necessary to support all of this great system....
(
Capitalism's Prophet
'Y'Y'Y
39'Y Adam Smith;
169
THE WEALTH OFNATIONS
Surprisingly few biographical details are known about Adam Smith, the
economist famed for his devastating critique of mercantilism in The Wealth of
Nations. Born in 1723 in a small Scottish fishing village and receiving his univer­
sity education at Glasgow and Oxford, between 1751 and 1763 he held chairs in
logic and moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow. The publication of his
Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759 ensured his literary and philosophical reputa­
tion. In 1763 he became the tutor of an English aristocrat's son and lived for three
years in France, where he met many prominent French intellectuals. From 1767 to
1776 he lived in serniretiremenr in Scotland and finished The Wealth of Nations,
published in 1776. In 1778 he became commissioner of customs in Scotland and
died in Edinburgh in 1790.
The Wealth of Nations went through five English editions and was published in
several European translations in the eighteenth century. Its importance lies in its
general approach to economics, which brought systematic analysis to wages,
labor, trade, population, rents, and money supply, and in its unrelenting assault on
mercantilism. Unlike mercantilists like Colbert, who believed that wealth and
overall economic activity were essentially fixed, Smith believed in economic
growth, which could best be achieved not through regulation but through free
competition among individuals and nations.
QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS
1. Smith denies that a nation's wealth consists of the amount of gold and silver it
controls. What arguments does he present to defend his position, and what
are their implications for trade policy?
2. Smith proposes that each individual by pursuing his or her own self-interest
promotes the general welfare of society. What examples of this paradox does
he provide? What implications does this paradox have for government policy?
3. What groups in society would you expect to be most enthusiastic about
Smith's ideas? Why? What groups might be expected to oppose them?
4. The novelty of Smith's ideas can best be understood by comparing them with
those of Colbert (source 38). How do the two men disagree about the follow­
ing issues: (a) the benefits of government economic regulation, (b) economic
competition among nations, and (c) the meaning of the balance of trade?
170
A World in Transition
SELF-INTEREST AND
THE FREE MARKET
1. This division of labor, I from which so many
advantages are derived, is not originally the effect
of any human wisdom, which foresees and
intends that general opulence to which it gives
occasion. It is the necessary, though very slow
and gradual consequence of a certain propensity
in human nature which has in view no such ex­
tensive utility; the propensity to truck," barter,
and exchange one thing for another.
2. . . . It is common to all men, and to be
found in no other race of animals, which seem to
know neither this nor any other species of con­
tracts .... Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair
and deliberate exchange of one bone for another
with another dog. Nobody ever saw one animal
by its gestures and natural cries signify to an­
other, this is mine, that yours; I am willing to
give this for that.... In almost every other race
of animals each individual, which it is grown up
to maturity, is entirely independent, and in its
natural state has occasion for the assistance of no
other living creature. But man has almost con­
stant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it
is in vain for him to expect it from their benevo­
lence only. He will be more likely to prevail ifhe
can interest their self-love in his favor, and show
them that it is for their own advantage to do for
him what he requires of them. Whoever offers to
another a bargain of any kind, proposes to do
this. Give me that which I want, and you shall
have this which you want, is the meaning of
every such offer; and it is in this manner that we
obtain from one another the far greater part of
those good offices which we stand in need of. It
is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the
brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner,
but from their regard to their own interest. We
'This section follows Smith's discussion of the division of
labor. He uses this term in reference to economic specializa­
tion, both in terms of different professions and in terms of
the separate tasks carried our by different individuals in rhe
process of manufacruring or preparing commodities for the
market.
address ourselves, not to their humanity but to
their self-love, and never talk to them of our own
necessities but of their advantages ....
PRICES AND THE FREE MARKET
... It is the interest of all those who employ
their land, labor, or stock,' in bringing any com­
modity to market, that the quantity never
should exceed the effectual demand; and it is the
interest of all other people that it never should
fail short of that demand.
If at any time it exceeds the effectual demand,
some of the component parts of its price must be
paid below their natural rate. If it is rent," the in­
terest of the landlords will immediately prompt
them to withdraw a part of their land; and if it is
wages or profit, the interest of the laborers in the
one case, and of their employers in the other, will
prompt them to withdraw a part of their labor or
stock from this employment. The quantity
brought to market will soon be no more than
sufficient to supply the effectual demand. All the
different parts of its price will rise to their natu­
ral rate, and the whole price to its natural price.
If, on the contrary, the quantity brought to
market should at any time fall short of the effec­
tual demand, some of the component parts of its
price must rise above their natural rate. If it is
rent, the interest of all other landlords will natu­
rally prompt them to prepare more land for the
raising of this commodity; if it is wages or prof­
it, the interest of all other laborers and dealers
will soon prompt them to employ more labor
and stock in preparing and bringing it to mar­
ket. The quantity brought thither will soon be
sufficient to supply the effectual demand. All
the different parts of its price will soon sink to
their natural rate, and th) whole price to its nat­
ural price....
ZA synonym for barter.
lMoney or capital invesred or available for investment or
rrading.
4In this sense, the cost of land; payments made by tenants to
their landlord.
Chapter 5 Europe and theAmericas in an Age of Science, Economic Growth, and Revolution
The monopolists, by keeping the market con­
stantly under-stocked, by never fully supplying
the effectual demand, sell their commodities
much above the natural price, and raise their
emoluments.' whether they consist in wages or
prof t, greatly abovertheir natural rate.
The price of monopoly is upon every occasion
the highest which can be got. The natural price,
or the price of free competition, on the contrary,
is the lowest which can be taken, not upon every
occasion, indeed, but for any considerable time
together. The one is upon every occasion the
highest which can be squeezed out of the buyers,
or which, it is supposed, they will consent to
give: The other is the lowest which the sellers
can commonly afford to take, and at the same
time continue their business.
The exclusive privileges of corporations,
statutes of apprenticeship," and all those laws
which restrain ... the competition to a smaller
number than might otherwise go into them,
have the same tendency, though in a less degree.
They are a sort of enlarged monopolies, and may
frequently, for ages together and in whole classes
of employments, keep up the market price of
particular commodities above the natural price,
and maintain both the wages of the labor and
the profits of the stock employed about them
somewhat above their natural rate.
171
... A rich country, in the same manner as a rich
man, is supposed to be a country abounding in
money; and to heap up gold and silver in any
country is supposed to be the readiest way to
enrich it. ..
In consequence of these popular notions, all
the different nations of Europe have studied,
though to little purpose, every possible means of
accumulating gold and silver in their respective
countries. Spain and Portugal, the proprietors of
the principal mines which supply Europe with
those metals, have either prohibited their expor­
tation under the severest penalties, or subjected
it to a considerable duty. The like prohibition
seems anciently to have [been] made a part of
the policy of most other European nations.
When those countries became commercial, the
merchants found this prohibition, upon many
occasions, extremely inconvenient....
They represented [stated forcefully], first, that
the exportation of gold and silver in order to
purchase foreign goods, did not always diminish
the quantity of those metals in the kingdom....
They represented, secondly, that this prohibi­
tion could not hinder the exportation of gold
and silver, which, on account of the smallness of
their bulk in proportion to their value, could
easily be smuggled abroad ....
Those arguments ... were solid .... But they
were sophistical in supposing, that either to pre­
serve or to augment the quantity of those metals
required more the attention of government, than
to preserve or to augment the quantity of any
other useful commodities, which rhe freedom of
trade, without any such attention, never fails to
supply in the proper quantity....
A country that has no mines of its own must
undoubtedly draw its gold and silver from for­
eign countries, in the same manner as one that
has no vineyards of its own must draw its wines.
It does not seem necessary, however, that the
attention of government should be more turned
towards the one than towards the other object. A
country that has wherewithal to buy wine, will
always get the wine which it has occasion for;
and a country that has wherewithal to buy gold
and silver, will never be in want of those metals.
They are to be bought for a certain price like all
other commodities, and as they are the price of
all other commodities, so all other commodities
are the price of those metals. We trust with per­
fect security that the freedom of trade, without
any attention of government, will always supply
us with the wine which we have occasion for:
'The returns from employmenr, usually in the form of com­
pensanon.
6Laws rhar restricted rhe number of individuals who could
receive rraining in trades rhrough apprenticeship.
MERCANTALIST FALLACIES
172
A World in Transition
and we may trust with equal security that it will
always supply us with all the gold and silver
which we can afford to purchase or to employ,
either in circulating our commodities, or in oth­
er uses.
......
By restraining, either by high duties, or by
absolute prohibitions, the importation of such
goods from foreign countries as can be pro­
duced at home, the monopoly of the home
market is more or less secured to the domestic
industry employed in producing them.... But
whether it tends either to increase the general
industry of the society, or to give it the most
advantageous direction, is not, perhaps, alto­
gether so evident....
Every individual is continually exerting him­
self to find out the most advantageous employ­
ment for whatever capital he can command. It is
his own advantage, indeed, and not that of the
society, which he has in view. But the study of
his own advantage, naturally, or rather necessar­
ily, leads him to prefer that employment which
is most advantageous to the society.
First, every individual endeavors to employ
his capital as near home as he can, and conse­
quently as much as he can in the support of
domestic industry, provided always that he can
thereby obtain the ordinary, or not a great deal
less than the ordinary, profits of stock.
Secondly, every individual who employs his
capital in the support of domestic industry, neces­
sarily endeavors so to direct that industry, that its
produce may be of the greatest possible value....
As every individual, therefore, endeavors as
much as he can both to employ his capital in the
support of domestic industry, and so to direct
that industry that its produce may be of the.
greatest value, every individual necessarily la­
bors to render the annual revenue of the society
as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither
intends to promote the public interest, nor
knows how much he is promoting it. By prefer­
ring the support of domestic to that of foreign
industry, he intends only his own security; and
by directing that industry in such a manner as
its produce may be of the greatest value, he in­
tends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in
many other cases, led by an invisible hand to
promote an end which was no part of his inten­
tion .... By pursuing his own interest he fre­
quently promotes that of the society more
effectually than when he really intends to pro­
mote it ....
What is the species of domestic industry
which his capital can employ, and of which the
produce is likely to be of the greatest value,
every individual, it is evident, can, in his local
situation, judge much better than any statesman
or lawgiver can do for him. The statesman who
should attempt to direct private people in what
manner they ought to employ their capital,
would not only load himself with a most unnec­
essary attention, but assume an authority which
could safely be trusted, not only to no single per­
son, but to no councilor senate whatever, and
which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the
hands of a man who had folly and presumption
enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.
To give the monopoly of the home market to
the produce of domestic industry, in any particu­
lar art or manufacture, is in some measure to
direct private people in what manner they ought
to employ their capital, and must, in almost all
cases, be either a useless or a hurtful regulation.
If the produce of domestic [industryJ can be
brought there as cheap as that of foreign indus­
try, the regulation is evidently useless. If it can­
not, it must generally be hurtful. It is the maxim
of every prudent master of a family, never to
attempt to make at home what it " ,ill cost him
more to make than to buy....
What is prudence in the conduct of every pri­
vate family, can scarce be folly in that of a great
kingdom. If a foreign c~untry can supply us
with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can
make it, better buy it of them with some part of
the produce of our own industry, employed in a
way in which we have some advantage....
To expect, indeed, that the freedom of trade
should ever be entirely restored in Great Britain,
~
"
Chapter5 Europe and the Americas in an Age of Science, Economic Growth, and Revolution
is as absurd as to expect that an Oceania or
Utopia should ever be established in it. Not only
the prejudices of the public, but what is much
more unconquerable, the private interests of
many individuals, irresistibly oppose it ....
The undertaker of 3( great manufacture, who,
by the home markets being suddenly laid open
to the competition of foreigners, should be
obliged to abandon his trade, would no doubt
suffer very considerably. That part of his capital
173
which had usually been employed in purchasing
materials and in paying his workmen might,
without much difficulty perhaps, find another
employment. But that part of it which was fixed
in workhouses, and in the instruments of trade,
could scarce be disposed of without considerable
loss. The equi table regard, therefore, to his
interest requires that changes of this kind should
never be introduced suddenly, but slowly, gradu­
ally, and after a very long warning.
.........
Russia and the West in the
Eighteenth Century
After two centuries of Mongol rule ended in the late l400s, Russia embarked on a
period of remarkable expansion in which the tsars consolidated their control of
European Russia, then extended their authority eastward across the Urals into
Siberia. By the l630s Russia stretched all the way to the Pacific and was the
largest nation in the world.
Russia's western border, however, remained insecure. The Livonian War
(1558-1582), involving Poland and Sweden, resulted in territorial losses, and dur­
ing the period of political breakdown known as the Time of Troubles
0604-1613), Poland and Sweden sent armies deep into Russian territory. In 1612
the Russians drove out the invaders, and for the next several decades the Thirty
Years' War 0618-1648) diverted European rulers from Russian adventures. The
Turks remained a threat, however, and in the late 1600s the Poles and the Swedes
resumed their pressure.
Russia's inability to translate its enormous size into military victories against the
Ottomans, Poles, and Swedes underscored the extent to which Russia lagged
behind the states to its south and west in almost every activity that affects state
power. Manufacturing was negligible, commerce was limited to small amounts of
trade in amber, furs, and timber, and agricultural productivity was constrained by
long Russian winters and inefficiencies inherent in a rural order based on the
labor of serfs. With little economic development and an ineffective system of tax
collection, Russia lacked the resources to match the weaponry and training of its
rivals' armies. In the 1600s Russia seemed destined to exist in a state of permanent
military and technological inferiority to the nations of Europe to the west and Per­
sia and the Ottoman Empire to the south.
How to respond to their nation's perceived vulnerability and weakness deeply
divided the Russian people in the eighteenth century. Some Russians, most