The General Crisis

The General Crisis is a term used by some historians to describe an alleged period of widespread regional conflict and instability that occurred from the early 17th century to the early 18th century in Europe, and in more recent historiography in the world at large.

The concept of a general 17th-century crisis was by 1990 thought by historian Niels Steensgaard to be part of a superseded historiographic debate lasting from 1954 to 1978.