Wood And Appleby Analysis

Wood, also further’s Appleby’s point regarding England as the prime deliverer of Capitalism to the rest of the world upon it’s rise. The English in the late 16th century, transferred their domestic product of agrarian capitalism and militarily imposed an “economic hegemony” instilling their new found capitalist system upon the Irish during the Irish potato famine. (Wood 2002, p. 153) This imposition of capitalism, “impoverished the vast numbers” of Irish who were dispossessed and forced to the margins of a new economic system via military coercion. Despite this, Wood and Appleby come together to illustrate that Capitalism, had a clear origin of distribution and concentration in England, and could be spread around the world when countries such as Ireland was weakened by famine, or previously authoritarian France had the door opened post French Revolution to a new socio-economic system. (Wood 2002, p. 169)
In the medieval period, through the destruction of feudal lands, peasants were empowered as the seigneurs of Europe were weakened. Peasants showed early signs of discomfort with established socio-economic norms and relations, far prior to 16th century age of exploration with which both Appleby and Wood use to describe Capitalist development. Although, both Wood and Appleby make strong arguments to capitalist origins and more specifically, progression, their argument could only serve to be enhanced at the very least via the introduction of environmental impacts of the Middle Age periods on the development of the seeds of capitalism. This inclusion, does not require an acceptance of the commercialization model, but would only serve to enhance the changes in social property relations, they both argue for post 16th