How did France manage to avoid the fate of Spain and keep the status of an European powerhouse after the emergence of capitalism?
I mean, the other two major European powers (Great Britain and Germany) had the mindset that helped to succeed in capitalism: work ethic, rationalism, entrepreneurship (for Brits). But Frenchies were stereotypically viewed as rebellious leftists. Or were they good at capitalism too?
Embrace modernization instead of avoiding it.
Keep empire instead of lose it
In case of Empire loosing, get another one.
>But Frenchies were stereotypically viewed as rebellious leftists
The first time the left came to power in France was in 1981. And the guy was pretty much traditionalist. The only real leftist president was Hollande and he lasted 5 years.
It's a country of knowledge, until today they always managed to have cutting-edge industries, though it won't last long imo. Also they have a worldwide territory.
>Hollande
>real leftist
I chuckled loudly.
We were okay at capitalism, as proven by the fact that industrialization went okay.
Why do you think with stereotypes instead of facts ?
>I chuckled loudly.
Chuckle as loud as you can, he's the most leftist (by far) president of the 5th Republic. There were only 2 presidents from the left, Mitterrand and Hollande.
Capitalism was the left alternative to feudalism, until Britain and Germany became so efficient at working their population dry that they realized their armies were weak because of it. Also socialism was becoming more popular because of the atrocious capitalist conditions. So to survive, the capitalist institutions granted more breaks and higher pay to the workforce, which had the unintended of increasing their wealth even more.
*unintended consequence
>muh droit de grève
>muh 35 heures
>muh retraite à 60 ans
>muh service public
Everyone is a leftycuck i this country, from the far left to the far right.
Droit de grêve is as old as industrial era. The rest is a leftist legacy yes, though the service publique has its roots in the monarchy.
Hollande is much closer to Macron than to Mitterand. But being a leftist is not a relative thing anyway. Hollande defended liberal capitalism so he's not a leftist.
The industrial era began by outlawing of unions and strikes : loi Le Chapelier 1791
Hollande was close to Miterand during the campagne and at the begining it's After that he became more liberal
The French are an exceedingly rational people, they just tend to marry that with not actually giving a shit, thus why you have the most bureaucratic and powerful state in Europe and constant turmoil in their society. Far more rational than the Germans, the Germans are a very emotional and unstable people.
>they just tend to marry that with not actually giving a shit,
>mfw reading on how French people were still wasteful of their food during the first world war so the government had to limit/control French food consumption to prevent any serious shortages
The definition of "Je m'en fous"
It's that mix of Mediterranean passion for life and that gallic austere "matter of factness". The only problem with the French is that they go too far into rationalism and completely abandoned Catholicism as an institution, which was extremely important in the formation of their culture.
Almost certainly they have nothing in common with the German, whose soul is clouded in misty and undefined darkness. The FRench are systematizers while the Germans go off the rails.
Geography, close to the UK and Germany, good political and social stability, strong leadership... idk what more you want.
One thing I was reading the other day about the history of the industrial revolution, was that the French unlike the British and the Germans did not so much invest in great and big industry, but in even up until the advent of the 20th century most of their economy came from higher end commodities, such as handicrafts, chinaware, and other luxury items. Retail was a huge part of their economy where these more specialised commodities were sold back into the market. In a sense the French did not need the huge factories and industries the British had, and their economy was way more local based. Full scale Industrialization in France did pick up after WWI, but that was after they had a great and big prosperous bourgeoisie that involved itself in mostly trade from the colonies.
Geopolitically speaking France always wanted to become a great continental power, the colonies were less a vital economic resource, but more a strategic issue in denying them to the British, or late the Germans. Even today French strategic operations are done in order to unify the african part of the mediterranean with France.
It always gets emphasized in talking about French troops (such as The Franco-Prussian War : The German Conquest of France, or The Arming of Europe and the Making of the First World War) how anarchic French soldiers were, perhaps in relation to their German opponents. Terrible discipline, didn't march in line well, lack of appropriate decorum, poor capabilities in most regards etc. etc.... but they had top of the line rifle results, and the troops always were emphatic that that's what really mattered. When I was in France some French people occasionally mentioned that to me, how they considered themselves the most petite bourgeois people in the world, independent to a fault.
It wasn't so much that they made a choice to invest or not invest in heavy industry, they encouraged and desired that, but there wasn't the coal supplies which enabled the industrial revolution to progress in such sectors as in Germany and the UK. Since coal dictated the cost of everything, it really was a huge drag on the French economy for heavy industry growth.
It's thanks to Napoleon III for the XIXs and DeGaulle and Pompidou in the late XXs
No, you stereotypically view them as leftists because you are uneducated. Like many americans it seems like history begins after ww2 to you people
P*mpidou let in the *nglos into the EU, literally worst leader of France ever for that
France was clearly a second-rate industrial power at its best.
>Jacobins are not left wing
He was dying , i think this and la loi de 1973 is more on VGE
Lad…