The bourgeoisie became stronger and politically awakened to an unprecedented level. The British Revolution and the form of the state system had a huge impact on Europe. The citizens ruled by the bourgeoisie gradually replaced the feudal monarchy, and the social nation-state became the development trend.

The capitalist economy has developed rapidly. Advanced capitalist countries have completed the accumulation of original capital at the first level. Overseas trade has prospered, the use of machines, the industrial revolution, market expansion, the disintegration of feudal production relations, and the transformation to the capitalist mode of production.

The atheistic ideas and simple materialist philosophy of Bacon, Descartes and others became popular, and people began to believe that rationality could be used to promote social progress, which had an impact on the original political, religious and other systems.

Natural science developed rapidly in the 17th and 18th centuries. In particular, Newton's mature physics and astronomy profoundly influenced European people's ideas and triggered the scientific revolution in Europe.

In the 18th century, Britain was already an advanced capitalist country. The task faced by the Enlightenment Movement was to consolidate the constitutional monarchy established by the "Glorious Revolution", eliminate the feudal remnants, and at the same time expose the shortcomings of the new system. Their revolution is more conservative and moderate, unwilling to take extreme actions and inclined to compromise.

The French Enlightenment Movement began in the 1720s, reached its climax in the 1850s, and lasted for more than half a century. The overall goal was to overthrow French feudal rule and the Catholic Church, which hindered the development of a capitalist economy. French Enlightenment writers often used literature to promote their views on social life, religious systems, political systems, etc. The basic ideas of the French Enlightenment are: belief in eternal progress, worship of reason and science, criticism of religion and autocratic kingship, and demand for personal freedom.

The German Enlightenment lacked a political and economic foundation and did not form a large-scale social movement. Its main purpose was to oppose feudal separatism and strive for the national reunification of Germany, rather than directly creating public opinion for the bourgeois political revolution like France did. Therefore, the German Enlightenment thought had strong national characteristics. The German Enlightenment evolved into the Sturm und Drang movement in the mid-1870s. This was the first climax of the German Enlightenment and a literary liberation movement.

The Enlightenment was the continuation and development of the Renaissance. The Enlightenment inherited the ideals of humanism and went further than the humanists to directly target the superstructure of feudal society. The Enlightenment Movement was not only an anti-feudal ideological movement, but also a violent political revolutionary movement.

In terms of historical background, the Renaissance was in the nascent stage of capitalism, while the Enlightenment arose when capitalism was developing. The guiding ideology of the two is different. The Renaissance took humanism as its core and emphasized the value and dignity of human beings; the Enlightenment upheld rationalism and focused on the use of rational thinking. In terms of the object of criticism, the Renaissance mainly targeted the corruption of the Catholic Church, while the Enlightenment not only criticized the clerical power, but also pointed the finger at the monarchy. The Renaissance promoted human discovery by drawing on ancient culture, while the Enlightenment got rid of religious constraints and vigorously promoted reason. The Renaissance mainly achieved achievements in the fields of literature and art, while the Enlightenment focused on politics and thought. From the perspective of influence, the Renaissance promoted the birth of literature, art and modern natural science, while the Enlightenment provided ideological mobilization and theoretical preparation for bourgeois revolution and bourgeois rule.