Modern History Part II

The development in Italy on the threshold of modern times

In the battles over Italy, the modern European state system came to an initial conclusion. Italy was not only rich at that time, but had already achieved a degree of development in its political, social, cultural and economic conditions that in many ways became generally characteristic of the modern age. The advanced level of political conditions in Italy did not consist in the external power of the five middle states (Milan, Florence, Venice, Papal States, Naples), which partially neutralized each other, but in the new method of structuring the relationships between these middle powers in their modern internal social and economic constitution. The modern idea of ​​the balance of power in external relations was first introduced in Italy in the 15th century. Century developed into a theory. The Peace of Lodi (1454), in which the Italian situation had been brought to a certain state of equilibrium, was subsequently regarded as a prime example of a balanced foreign policy.

According to Clothingexpress, the tendency towards increased functional rationality, which is characteristic of the modern era, as expressed in these methods of shaping foreign political relations, also grew out of the changed way of thinking and working, as was already evident in the Italian urban communities at the beginning of the 15th century had developed. Above all in Venice and Florence, and in part also in Milan, Rome and Naples, a high level of commercial and economic techniques was achieved, which in turn was the result of greater rationalization and mathematization of commercial and commercial activity. The prerequisite for this was the adoption of Arabic numerals, which was carried out in Italy as early as the 14th century. From this new basis, the commercial procedure of double-entry bookkeeping developed in Italy (first in Venice). This rational economic practice was carried out by the urban upper class, who, especially in Florence, also had the technical level of handicrafts and trades, v. a. textile production, developed considerably. At that time, Flanders also had a highly developed textile industry and modern economic technologies. The peculiarity of the Italian development lay in the close connection between economic life and politics and in the relationships between the upper bourgeoisie and scholars. a. to the humanists of the time. which especially in Florence also the technical level of handicrafts and trades, v. a. textile production, developed considerably. At that time, Flanders also had a highly developed textile industry and modern economic technologies. The peculiarity of the Italian development lay in the close connection between economic life and politics and in the relationships between the upper bourgeoisie and scholars. a. to the humanists of the time. which especially in Florence also the technical level of handicrafts and trades, v. a. textile production, developed considerably. At that time, Flanders also had a highly developed textile industry and modern economic technologies. The peculiarity of the Italian development lay in the close connection between economic life and politics and in the relationships between the upper bourgeoisie and scholars. a. to the humanists of the time. The peculiarity of the Italian development lay in the close connection between economic life and politics and in the relationships between the upper bourgeoisie and scholars. a. to the humanists of the time. The peculiarity of the Italian development lay in the close connection between economic life and politics and in the relationships between the upper bourgeoisie and scholars. a. to the humanists of the time.

The socio-economic constitution of Florence was due to the structure of the guilds, which in part was still late medieval, but on the other hand also shaped by the modern element of the early capitalist bankers. Both components worked together in the political constitution of Florence. Even if the Florentine patrician population (emerged from the seven “upper” guilds) was not as exclusive as the Venetian nobility in their “republic”, the gap between them and the 14 “lower” guilds widened in the 15th century. It was actually the leading families who – even if without the army of 30,000 to 40,000 manufacturing workers and their labor unthinkable – sustained the early development of Florence. Even the more advanced states of the early modern period were still characterized by this political structure. – The leading families were also which considerably promoted the cultural upswing of the Renaissance in Italy. The connection between state office and scholarly existence was an important characteristic of this first phase of a new era. The spirit of analytical and scientific consideration was applied to both new art and the world of politics. The reality of the domestic power struggles of the parties and the complicated web of foreign relations of the 15th century are of N. Machiavelli was first analyzed and mapped into a theory. The modern idea of ​​the raison d’état is substantiated in his work “Il principe” from 1513 (printed in 1532). For the first time, politics was seen as autonomous. The ruler’s morality (»virtù«) was not tied to an ethical canon of virtues, but to the ability to gain and maintain political power as a prerequisite for a stable state. This purposeful rationality of an autonomous politics has determined the political theory of the modern age, but also politics itself lastingly.