Chapter 11: The French Revolution &

Napoleon

Section 1: The French Revolution Begins• Background to the Revolution:

– The French Revolution tried to create both a new political and social order.

– The Three Estates:• There were 27 million people in France;

society had been based on inequality since the middle ages; long-term cause of the revolution

First Estate:

» consisted of clergy; about 130,000 people

» owned 10% of the land» exempt to taxes (taille)» higher clergy: members of aristocratic

families; shared interest of nobility» lower clergy: parish priest; poor; from

lower classes

Second Estate:» consisted of nobility; about 350,000

people» owned 25 – 30% of the land» held leading positions in the

government, military, courts, and church offices

» exempt from taxes

Third Estate:» commoners of society; overwhelming majority

of population» peasants: 75 – 80 % of population; owned 35 –

40% of land; over half of peasants have no land; peasants had obligations to landlords including fees for the use of village facilities

» City Workers; poor; worked for poor wages in poor conditions

» Bourgeoisie: middle class; 8% of population; owned 20 – 25% of land; were educated and had read the ideas of the Enlightenment; upset with the monarchical system resting on privilege and the old social order

Financial Crisis:- immediate cause of the French Revolution was the collapse of government finances.

- bad harvest or two years; a slowdown in manufacturing; rising prices for food; high unemployment; by the eve of the revolution one-third of the population was at a crisis point

- The French government continued to spend enormous amounts of money on court luxuries and costly wars including the American Revolution

- Therefore, Louis XVI was forced to call the Estates- General to raise new taxes.

From Estates-General to National Assembly

– Estates-General:• representatives from all three estates• third estate wanted to set up a constitutional

government that would abolish tax exemptions for the first and second estates

• controversy over voting – traditionally each estate had one vote; first and second estate all voted together therefore third estate was always left out; third estate wanted each member to vote; king was in favor of the current system

National Assembly:• third estate reacts by calling a meeting of

themselves to draw up a constitution; the National Assembly

• When they arrived to find their meeting doors locked; they meet on a tennis court; take Tennis Court Oath; promise not to disband until a constitution is written

STORMING OF THE BASTILLE• July 14, 1789, the common people storm

the Bastille; royal troops helped them; Louis XVI could no enforce his will therefore the National Assembly was saved

Great Fear• Revolutions break out all over France;

becomes known as the Great Fear; citizens formed militias and attacked nobility; many French nobles flee France

The Destruction of the Old Regime– King forces member of the first and second estate to meet in the

National assembly

– Third Estate made huge progress when they voted to abolish the rights of landlords and abolish tax exemptions for the clergy and nobility

– National Assembly finally adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man; reflected Enlightenment thoughts; charter of basic liberties; proclaimed freedom and equal rights for all men; access to public office based on talent; all citizens get to take part in making laws, and freedom of speech and press were affirmed.

• Olympe de Gouges wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen; in it she insists that women should have the same rights as

men

The King Concedes: Louis XVI refused to accept the National

Assembly’s decree; so thousands of women armed with broomsticks, lances, pitchforks, swords, pistols, and muskets march to Versailles

A delegation of the women meet with Louis XVI and described how their children were starving and force the king to accept the new decrees; they forces the royal family to return to Paris with them; the Royal family become virtual; prisoners in Paris

Church Reforms:

The Catholic Church was seen as a part of the old order therefore the National Assembly reformed it too.

The Assembly seized and sold Church lands

Civil Constitution of the Clergy was passed; it made bishops and priest elected by the people and paid by the state

Many Catholics become enemies of the revolution

A New Constitution and New Fears:• The Constitution of 1791 set up a limited monarch; still be a

king put the Legislative Assembly would make the laws; put an end to the old order

• Legislative Assembly consisted of 745 representatives; only men over 25 who paid a specific amount of taxes could vote

• Many opposed the New Order: Catholic priest and nobles, lower classes hurt by the rise in the cost of living, and radicals who wanted even more drastic changes

• Louis XVI and his family tried to flee France; they were recognized and brought back to Paris

War with Austria: • European rulers began to fear the revolution would

spread to their countries; Austria and Prussia threatened force to restore Louis XVI to full power

• Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria; Marie Antoinette’s brother Joseph II is ruling there

Rise of the Paris Commune• Defeats in war and economic shortages in France

led to radical political groups declaring themselves a commune; they attacked both the royal palace and the Legislative Assembly

• Paris Commune took the king captive; forced the Legislative Assembly to suspend the monarch and called for a National Convention with full universal male suffrage to decides the nation’s future form of government

• Power passed from the

Legislative Assembly to

the Commune or sans-culottes

sans-culottes

STUDY THE PAINTING BELOW AND CONSTRUCT A 1 PAGE ESSAY: DISCUSS THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THREE ESTATES USING THE NARRATIVE MODE OF WRITING (5 PARAGRAPH ESSAY)

11.2 Radical Revolution and ReactionThe Move to Radicalism: - Georges Danton: led Paris Commune; appointed minister of justice

- sans-culottes sought revenge on those who aided the king

and resisted the popular will; thousands arrested and massacred

- Jean Paul Marat; published journal called Friend of the People

The Fate of the King

• National Convention’s first major step was to abolish the monarch and establish the French Republic

• The Convention split into two factions over the fate of the king.

Girondins represented rural areas; feared the radical mobs; supported keeping the king alive

The Mountain; represented the radicals of the cities; supported putting Louis XVI to death

• The Mountain won; The Convention beheaded Louis XVI on the guillotine in Jan. 1793

GIRONDINS & MOUNTAIN

Crisis and Response

• The execution of Louis XVI Outraged royalty all over Europe; Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Dutch Republic took arms against the French

• If the coalition was successful, then the old regime would be reestablished.

• To meet this crisis, the National Convention created the Committee of Public Safety; had broad powers; defend France from threats were to direct the war effort; was dominated by Maximilian Robespierre, Georges Danton, and Jean-Paul Marat

Maximilian Robespierre Georges Danton Jean Paul Marat

Committee of Public Safety

The Reign of Terror- a year period from 1793 – 1794 when the Committee of Public Safety was in control

- The Reign of Terror: revolutionary courts were set up to prosecute enemies of the republic; close to 40,000 were killed

- Crushing Rebellion:

Revolutionary armies were to bring rebellious cities under control

Lyon: 1,880 citizens of the city were executed by guillotine or grapeshot

Nantes: victims were executed by being sunk in barges in the Lorene River

The Republic of Virtue: Committee of Public Safety took steps to create a democratic republic composed of good citizens

• titles citizen and citizeness were replaced by mister and madame

• women wore long dresses• primary education for all was passed but not widely

implemented• Slavery was abolished• Price controls were placed on necessities; not always

enforced by government• National Convention pursued a policy of

dechristianization; churches were closed; word saint removed from street signs; priest were encouraged to marry; a new calendar: years was numbered from the first day of the French Republic; eliminated Sundays and worship services; failed to work because France was overwhelmingly catholic

A Nation in Arms:- French revolutionary government raised a one million man

army; largest ever seen; pushed the European coalition

back and conquered the Austrian Netherlands

- created modern nationalism; first time the war was a peoples war therefore became more destructive

- End of Terror: By 1794, the French had defeated the European coalition; there was less need for the Reign of Terror but Robespierre kept up the killing; many began to fear they would be executed so the National Convention condemned Robespierre to the Guillotine; after his death middle class leaders took control and the Reign of Terror came to an end.

Guillotine

The Directory:- Constitution of 1795:

• established a bicameral legislative assembly; Council of 500 – initiated legislation and the Council of Elders

• accepted or ejected proposed laws legislators were chosen by electors – had to own or rent a large amount of property

• The Directory was an executive committee; consisted of 5 men elected by the legislative assembly

• The Directory had to deal with royalist who wanted to restore the monarch and continue fighting wars started by the Committee of Public Safety plus a growing financial crisis; therefore the Directory depended on the military to maintain power.

• 1799, Napoleon overthrows the government (coup d’etat) and seizes power.

11.3: The Age of Napoleon

• The Rise of Napoleon

• - Napoleon Bonaparte dominated French and European history from 1799 to 1815; brought French Revolution to an end

• - Early Life:

– born in Corsica; 1769– son of a lawyer; family was Florentine nobility– studied at a military school in France; on scholarship– became lieutenant in the French army; 1785– not liked by his fellow officers because he was short, had Italian

accent, and little money

Military Successes

– rose quickly through the ranks of the French army

– at 24 was made Brigadier general

– at 26 was made commander of the French armies in Italy; gained confidence of his men

– at 27 given command of the army training to invade Britain; proposed to invade British Egypt instead; his army was cut off by the British and Napoleon abandoned his army

Consul and Emperor:

- at 30 he helped overthrow the government of the

Directory; 1799

– a consulate was proclaimed (new government); Napoleon made himself first consul and held absolute power

– at 32 was made consul for life

– at 35 crowned himself emperor

Napoleon’s Domestic Policies

- Peace with the Church:

– Napoleon made peace with the oldest enemy of the revolution, the Catholic Church; Not because of his own personal faith; he was an enlightenment believer in reason

– 1801, Napoleon recognized Catholicism as the religion of the majority ; pope agreed not to ask for the return of the church lands seized during the revolution

Codification of the Laws– Napoleon unified French laws; was 300 separate legal systems

– Most important was the Civil Code or Napoleonic Code; it recognized equality before the law, the right to chose a profession, religious toleration, the end of serfdom, protected property rights, and outlawed unions and strikes

– Napoleon’s Civil Code undid revolutionary changes especially for women: made it harder for women to divorce, husbands controlled wife’s property, considered minors in law suits and their testimony was considered less reliable

A New Bureaucracy

– Napoleon developed a powerful centralized government; government careers were open to individuals based on their ability

– Napoleon created a new aristocracy based on service to the state. More than half were military officers and from the middle class.

Preserver of the Revolution?

– The Civil Code preserved equality of citizens before the law.

– Opening government careers to talent

– Liberty was replaced by despotism

– Shut down most newspapers

– All books were censored by the government before published

– Mail was opened by government police

Napoleon’s Empire:Building the Empire:

– When Napoleon became consul in 1799, France was still at war with the European coalition; made peace in 1802, but in 1803 the war was renewed and by 1807, Napoleon’s Grand Army defeated Austria, Russia, and Prussia

– Napoleon could now create a new world order. His Grand empire had three parts:

1. the French empire (the inner core) 2. the dependent states (kingdoms that Napoleon’s relatives

ruled) 3. the allied states (Napoleon had defeated and forced to join

him in the war against Britain)

Spreading the Principles of the Revolution

– In the inner core and the dependent states, Napoleon tried to destroy the old order; he urged rulers to be constitutional kings, nobility and clergy lost their privileges, opened jobs to talent, granted equality before the law, and granted religious toleration – important factor in the development of liberal traditions in these countries

The European Response: Two major reasons Napoleon’s empire collapsed:

• 1. Britain’s Survival:– Largely due to its sea power and island location– Battle of Trafalgar: Lord Nelson destroyed a combined

French-Spanish fleet; destroyed all plans to attack militarily

– So Napoleon decides to destroy Britain economically by using the Continental System; aim was to stop British goods from being sold in Europe; failed

• Nationalism:– French aroused nationalism in two ways: 1. showed Europe what nationalism was and what a

nation in arms could do and 2. hatred of French oppressors caused patriotism to be

stirred in opposition to Napoleon

Battle of Trafalgar: Lord Nelson

The Fall of Napoleon:Disaster in Russia:

– 1812, Napoleon’s downfall begins with his invasion of Russia

– Russia refused to remain in the Continental System, therefore Napoleon decided to invade.

– Grand Army entered Russia with 600,000 men; Russian forces refused to give battle instead they responded to Napoleon by using a scorched earth policy; burned villages and countryside as they retreated

– French won at Borodino; when Napoleon reached Moscow it was on fire and lacked food and supplies; Napoleon begins the “Great Retreat”; only 40,000 of Napoleons Grand Army returned

– Europeans attacked the crippled French Army and captured Paris in 1814, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba; The Bourbon monarch was restored to Louis XVII

Disaster in Russia

The Final Defeat:– New King had little support; Napoleon slips back into

France; troops were sent to capture him; the troops came over to his side; Napoleon returns to Paris and rules for the hundred days

– European powers pledge to defeat Napoleon again; Napoleon raises another army and attacks in Belgium; at Waterloo Napoleon was finally

defeated by British and Prussian troops under the command of the Duke of Wellington; Napoleon will be exiled to the island of St. Helena

WATERLOO

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