What was wrong with Feudalism?

Question

What were some of the weaknesses of the form of government, which eventually led it to its downfall?

Answer 1

Feudalism, a system of mutual obligation between lord and vassal, "worked" for centuries and continues to exist in all but name in some areas of the world even today. The major problem with feudalism is that it discourages and even prevents the development of human potential. It is a static system that reveres the status quo and is based on hierarchy. Vertical mobility is all but impossible; you grow up a serf because your father was a serf, and your trade is whatever your ancestors did. Capitalism, for all its shortcomings (and they are many) has the advantage of maximizing human striving because it allows for breaking the age-old mold of father-to-son transmission of social station. Nothing motivates behavior as much as knowing that the benefits of one's efforts accrue to oneself and not to someone else, be it the master or the state. (This is why both slavery and communism ultimately failed.) In my view, the superiority of capitalism explains why no nation that has once gone capitalist (for example, Japan) has ever reverted to feudalism...

Answer 2

It was a static system that led to stagnation. There was no incentive to modernize as the elite few reaped all the rewards off the work of the masses and the masses received almost nothing for their work.

Answer 3

Serfs had to work, like slaves, for the nobles. No one wanted to do that.