Editing History of Catalonia (section)

=== The 18th century ===
Despite the harsh internal situation, including military occupation, bandrity, new heavy taxation and the mercantilist policy of the House of Bourbon, Catalonia resumed the economic growth of the last third of the 17th century after the parentesis of the war, achieving a successful process of [[proto-industrialization]] in the course of the 18th century. The population and the economy both grew, agricultural production increased, and trade increased, complemented during the last quarter of the century with the opening of trade with America; all of these transformations tended, as in France, to undermine the [[Ancien Régime|Old Regime]] and lay the groundwork for the rise of industrialization, the first signs of which appeared in the 18th-century manufacture of cotton goods and other textiles. By the end of the 18th century, the popular classes began to experience the first effects of [[proletariat|proletarianization]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rosés |first=Joan R. |date=February 2009 |title=Subcontracting and vertical integration in the Spanish cotton industry |journal=The Economic History Review |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=45–72 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.2008.00428.x |hdl=10016/11165 |s2cid=16264608 |url=https://e-archivo.uc3m.es/bitstream/handle/10016/11165/subcontracting_roses_EHR_2009.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref>

In the 1790s, new conflicts arose on the French border, due to the [[French Revolution]] and the [[French Revolutionary Wars]]. In 1793, after the execution of [[Louis XVI of France]], Spain signed with Great Britain his adhesion to the [[First Coalition]] against the [[First French Republic|French Republic]], and soon after, France declared war on Spain.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Durant |first1=Will |last2=Durant |first2=Ariel |title=The Age of Napoleon. |date=1975 |publisher=MJF Books |location=New York |isbn=1-56731-022-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/storyofcivilizat00dura_0/page/53 53] |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofcivilizat00dura_0 |url-access=registration }}</ref> The [[War of the Pyrenees]], known in Catalonia as the ''Guerra Gran'' ("Great War") has two main fronts: the eastern and the western Pyrenees. At first, the Spanish army entered in the [[Roussillon]], reaching Perpignan, but the French army reacted and defeated them in [[Le Boulou]] and Colliure, penetrating in Catalonia and occupied the Empordà. The [[Sant Ferran Castle]] in Figueres (the largest fortress of the border) fell to the French after a brief siege. In 1795, after the stagnation of the front, France and Spain signed the [[Peace of Basel]], restoring the status quo.<ref>Giménez López, Enrique (1996). ''El fin del Antiguo Régimen.'' pp. 58–60</ref>