In the 17th and 18th centuries, Britain embarked on a path of liberal constitutionalism after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, while France embarked on the path of revolutionary democracy. The Seven Years’ War further deepened this divergence of developmental paths. Fundamentally, capitalist production took root in Britain following the Glorious Revolution, and the bourgeoisie’s political rights were progressively expanded. This laid the foundation for a coalition among the upper classes, which united the traditional landed aristocracy and the new commercial aristocracy and mitigated class contradictions—thus endowing Britain with favorable conditions for its victory in the Seven Years’ War. This ultimate victory further consolidated the alliance between the bourgeoisie and the state apparatus, thereby alleviating domestic conflicts and upholding the dominant position of political conservatism, thus solidifying Britain’s path to liberal constitutionalism. This allowed Britain to advance its political modernization through continuous reform rather than revolution. In contrast, France’s absolute monarchy had long provoked conflicts of interest between the monarch and various social classes, including the bourgeoisie, landed aristocrats, and financial aristocrats, prior to the war. The reduction of French colonies and increased taxes following the defeat in the Seven Years’ War further exacerbated a series of internal contradictions in France. Revolutionary democratism emerged as the inevitable consequence of these seemingly irreconcilable contradictions, leading France onto a path of political modernization driven by democratic revolution. This paper explores the manifestations, causes and impacts of the divergence between two European paths of political modernization—liberal constitutionalism and revolutionary democracy—in the mid- 18th century, with Britain and France in the aftermath of the Seven Years’ War as case studies.
Song Hongri (Thu,) studied this question.