CHAPTER
V
AFTER
NAPOLEON
I. THE
ECONOMIC AFTERMATH
HISTORY
DOES
NOT
repeat
itself
in
precise
detail
but
certain
historical
movements and
epochs
do bear
a
remarkable
resemblance
to
one
another
in
their
main
outlines*
Among
these
are
revolutions
and
post-war
periods*
During
the
long
Na-
poleonic
struggle,
lasting
almost
a
generation,
there
had
been in-
tense
distress
among
the
poor
and
working
classes.
We
have
already
noted some
of the factors
at
work,
such
as the
introduction of ma-
chinery,
the breakdown of
the
old
systems
of
agriculture
and
vil-
lage
handicrafts,
the
increase and shifts
of
population,
and
what
we
would
now
call
technological unemployment,
as
well
as the
different
relation
between
the
working
class
and
their
employers*
This situation
would
have
been
serious
enough
in
itself
and
would
have
raised
problems
calling
for the ablest
statesmanship
and
a
reforming
zeal to solve.
The
revolutions
and
wars
on
the
Continent, however,
rendered
it
yet
more
desperate.
As
a
result
of the atrocities of
"the Terror"
in France
we
have
seen
how
re-
form
was
halted.
Then the
long
wars dislocated
trade,
raised
prices
to
famine
levels without
raising wages,
and
there
chanced
to be
poor
harvests
from
1792
to
1813.
But
if
the
poor
suffered,
the
rich
grew
richer. The well-to-do
classes
had
perhaps
never been
more
prosperous
or
content. Armies
were still small and
profes-
sional.
Britain
itself was 'not invaded and death
took
only
a
slight
toll.
Property
was
still
chiefly
in
land,
and as food
prices
rose
so
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