Short Answer for BA III

Question: - What do you understand from Feudalism?
Answer: - By feudalism we mean a tradition which was popular in Medieval Europe. Under this tradition, the king retained a small portion of land under his possession and divided the rest of the land among his big feudal lords, who were also called Dukes. The Dukes retained the small part of the land received from the kings, with themselves, and divided the rest of the land among the small feudal lords who were also called Barons. The Barons gave assurance to their feudal lords of military service whenever demanded. The small feudal lords further distributed the land, awarded to them, among the peasants. The peasants served their masters with full loyalty and were the economic strength of their masters. The peasants were called serfs of their feudal lords. The feudal lords tried to maintain the peace and order in their fiefdom. The administration of the fiefdom was under their complete control. They also looked after the judicial system of their area. This tradition of medieval Europe of interdependent relations, based on land distribution, was called Feudalism.

Question: - What were the important benefits of Feudalism?
Answer: - (i) Simple Administration: - The Feudalism made available a simple and straight policy for administration, which guaranteed law and order to the barbarians of the medieval Europe. The system continued for nearly one thousand years.
(ii) Emergence of morality: - This system also raised the sense of morality. The Europeans became aware of their rights and duties.
(iii) Protection to the weak: -The Dukes of the big lords took the responsibility to give protection to the weak in their fiefdom.
(iv) A Check on King: - The king could not become despotic. He always remained under the fear of strength of his big lords. Hence, he could not oppress the people.
(v) Maintained Peace: - In the absence of means of travel, it was the best guarantee of law and order.
(vi) Freedom from raising army: - The king was free from the responsibility of raising army. The feudal lords provided him soldiers.



Question: - What were the main causes of the decline of Feudalism?
Answer: -The feudalism dominated the Europe for seven hundred years. It declined in the fifteenth century because of the following reasons.
(i) By the end of medieval period the powerful emperors acquired the rule. They crushed the power of feudal lords.
(ii) The spirit of nationalism arose among the people. The emperors devoted themselves for the welfare of the people.
(iii) During the same period the new section of business class emerged. They readily paid taxes to the emperors for the protection of their foreign trade. The emperors raised their own standing army. With their permanent standing army they crushed the power of big feudal lords.
(iv) England and France got engaged in long drawn wars. Many big feudal lords were killed in such wars especially in the Seven Years War. The emperors acquired the lands without facing any opposition.
(v) The emperors also snatched the fiefdoms of the heir-less feudal lords, which gave a big setback to the feudalism.
(vi) The invention and the full-fledged use of the gunpowder also increased the strength of emperors. They did not find the need to depend upon the support from the feudal lords.
(vii) The emperors also started demanding cash payments from the feudal lords instead of military service rendered in lieu of their obligation under feudal system. It destroyed the strength of the army of feudal lords and gave a deathblow to feudalism.

Question: - Give two main reasons for the rise of Towns.
Answer: - Use of Currency: -The towns emerged with the rise in the use of currency when the demand for the finished goods increased. The businessmen increased the production. The surplus protection found the acceptance in the export market. The foreign traders were paying in gold or silver spices. It increased the supply of coins. In the internal market, within a country the transactions were undertaken under barter system. Even there, the traders gradually shifted to the use of currency to make transaction. In this way with the increase in the use of currency the trade flourished tremendously and it helped in the rise of towns, which were the places where all the commercial activity could take place.
2. Industrialization: - The world population had only confined itself to the villages and banked on agricultural production before the coming of industrialization. Most of the economic needs were met within the limits of a village life. All the economic activities were bound to agricultural activities in one or the other way. As far as the towns or cities of the earlier times were concerned, they existed as administrative centers or a center of some specialized skill. The cities were also the center of foreign trade of a country. However, a very small number of people were involved or concerned with activities in a city or town. But a complete change took place after industrialization. The city became the vital hub of all the major economic activities. The cities, which came up with emergence of industrialization, were not the administrative center or center of specific skill but they were raised only and only by the industry. They were industrial centers. These industrial cities attracted the people towards them due to the attractiveness of their industrial activities. Hence, the importance of cities increases.

Question: - What do you understand by Capitalism?
Answer: - Capitalism is a system of an elaborate business organisation. A single individual or a group of individuals owns this business orgainsation. They have a large amount of money with which they can buy a large quantity of raw material and good tools and employ as many workers as are required for their production and commercial activity. The only aim of their activities is to earn more and more 'profit'. So, there are two fundamental basis of capitalism. Firstly, in capitalism, the produce from the industrial activities and the machinery is the personal property of the identity that employed the capital. Secondly, the aim of whole of the production process is to earn the maximum profit. As far as the workers are concerned, they only get wages and nothing else over and above that. The ultimate result of capitalism system is that, the money gets concentrated in few hands and those few people then start big corporations, which acquire monopoly in their field of business.

Question: - What were the main causes of the rise of Capitalism in Europe?
Answer: - 1. Discovery of New Lands: - The invention of compass, the use of ships of large tonnage and encouragement to the courageous sailors by the European emperors, were the main causes of the rise of capitalism in Europe. In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, sailors discovered the new lands. With the passage of time, colonies were established there and a regulated trade was started. With the increase in the export of goods, the money was generated and more capital was invested in these areas to meet the rising demand for the goods. So a cycle of capital was set in.
2. Improved Implements: - In order to meet the rising demand and earn higher rate of profit, there was need for improving the quality and efficiency of the implements. With the quality and efficient implements the production could be increased. Increased production was a surety of higher profits. It is worth considering a fact that there was a competition going on among the workshops to acquire technically improved and quality wise better implements. Therefore, everyone was putting in his best efforts to develop a better tool and thereby, increase his production and output. Such a spirit behind the competition nurtured capitalism.
3. Banking System: The banking system also promoted capitalism. The level of trade had increased with the discovery of new lands. The Trans-continental trade was not possible through coin and paper currency. Only banking system could have facilitated this Trans-continental trade. In actual practice, it is a fact that, the banking system and capitalism are fundamental basis of each other. Both of them were essential for each other for their mutual survival. Capitalists encouraged mercantilism and the commerce. Mercantilism, in itself, emerged as a big profession. Then, banks performed two major jobs. Firstly, to employ the deposits in other professions in form of loans on interest and secondly, to facilitate the financial exchange.