The French Revolution Part II: The Rise and Fall of Napoleon Bonaparte

Chapter 18

Hero, Dictator, Conqueror, Menace?

Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David, 1801

The French Revolution Stage 31795-1799: A Republic without Leadership—Enter Napoleon

New Constitution of Year III & The Directory

• August 22, 1795: Citizens vote to approve newest constitution• Created a Directory of 5 citizens • Created a legislature of 2 houses (Bicameral Legislature)• Directory members did not trust democracy• Indiscriminate killings continued though in smaller numbers and mostly

against groups who had participated in revolts in the provinces

Military Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte

• 1793, Captured Toulon from Royalists and the British and promoted from Captain to Brigadier General at 24• Rebuffed an uprising against the Directory (group of 5 men that

replaced the Committee of Public Safety)• Marched into Italy and defeated Austrians, forcing them to withdraw.• Attacked British forces in Egypt. Escaped from British by leaving his

army surrounded.

Coup d’etat

• Abbe Sieyes (“What is the 3rd Estate”) conspired with Napoleon to replace the Directory.• Napoleon becomes “temporary consul” on 9 November 1799.

• “confidence from below, authority from above”

• Napoleon rose to lead the French army through merit. In pre-revolutionary France he would have had to purchase his rank. • Napoleon was able to rise on his own merits—making him a son of

the Revolution.• Napoleon was unwilling to wait for the democratic process.

• First Consul• Second Constitution

• White male suffrage for literate men• Indirect elections• 1802 Consul for Life ratified by Plebiscite

• Centralized authority

“The Revolution is Over”

• December 15, 1799• French citizens vote to adopt another constitution• This constitution is not preceded by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and

the Citizen • New Preface:• “Citoyens, la Revolution est fixee aux principes qui Pont

commences: elle est finie”

• “Citizens, the Revolution is established upon its founding principles: the Revolution is over”

The French Revolution Stage 4:Napoleon’s Rule and Defeat

Domestic Reforms Under Napoleon

• Napoleonic Code• Affirmed “natural authority” of husband over wife

• Married women required husband’s permission to sell property, own a business or enter a profession

• Unequal divorce: men- adultery of wife. Women: only if a man moved his mistress into the family home.

• No paternity suits to establish male parentage of illegitimate children• Criminal Code

• Citizens are equal before the law• Outlawed arbitrary arrest and imprisonment (required independent determination of

reasons for arrest)• Abolished cruel punishments like branding and cutting off hands

• Educational Reform• Established “lycees” (high schools) in every major town.• Institute of France• Military Academy• Teacher Education

Concordat with Pope

• 1801• Pope had right to appoint and depose Bishops and discipline French clergy• Pope would forego claims to French land once owned by church and seized

during French Revolution• Did not revoke principle of religious freedom• Did ease worries of religious conservatives whose support Napoleon needed

to remain in power

Emperor Napoleon I

• 2 December 1804 Napoleon crowns himself Emperor at the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Napoleonic Wars

• 1805 Russians, Prussians, Austrians, Swedes and British allied to contain France.• Napoleon’s military advantages

• Conscript army • Revolutionary Militias• Promotions based on talent and merit not birth or patronage• Domestic economy geared to support of military

• Battle of Austerlitz 5 December 1805• Napoleon defeats combined forces of Austria and Russia• Rules the continent from Portugal to Russia

• Allies and client states• Rome, Papal states, Confederation of the Rhine (principalities in Germany and part of

Poland); Dalmatian territories (Croatia)• Spain, Naples, Holland: Napoleon’s brother, brother-in-law and general installed as

monarchs.

Napoleon’s Empire by 1811

Consequences of Empire

• Brought the practical consequences of French Revolution to Europe• Powerful, centralizing state and an end to old systems of privilege• Changed terms of government service: merit vs. patronage or birth• Ended nobility monopoly on officer corps• State sponsored military

• Training• Support beyond pay (food, clothing, armaments) • Defense taxes “liberty and requisitions”• Universal conscription

• Elimination of feudal and clerical courts• State support for education on a broad scale

Continental System: Beginning of Napoleon’s Fall

• 1806 Napoleon sought to starve the British into submission by and embargo on continental trade in British goods• 1807 British Navy blockades the continent• Continental trade was hurt more than British trade

• WHY?• British global colonies• Trade with South America

Napoleon Dreams of Rome

• Napoleon’s ambition• Recreate Roman empire• Rule Rome from Paris

• Divorces Josephine • Marries Marie Louse (great niece of Marie Antoinette)• Loses support of former revolutionaries in France, enlightenment thinkers on the continent,

and liberals at home and abroad

New Militaries Emerge

• Prussia• Demand for rigorous practical training• Citizen army– no mercenaries• Support from State

• Effect of Napoleon’s defeats on allies• Defeat at Trafalgar 1805 led to rift with Spain

• Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808• Peninsular Wars

• British and Spanish insurgents• French atrocities

The Third Of May 1808Francisco Goya

Invasion of Russia 1811

• Tsar Alexander I turned blind eye to Russian trading with Britain• Napoleon collected “Grande Armee” of 600,000 soldiers to invade Russia• Russian army was outnumbered and withdrew deep into interior of

Russia, burning land which Napoleon’s army might use• Russian partisans burned Moscow rather than allow it to be conquered

by Napoleon.• Insurgent strikes on sick and demoralized army of France• By December 1812 French army had dwindled to a few thousand

Last Battles

• Battle of Nations, Leipzig October 1813• Austrians, Russians, Swedes and Prussians defeat Napoleon

• March 31 Tsar Alexander & King Frederick William III of Prussia marched into Paris• Napoleon sent to exile on Elba

Brief Return, Final Defeat

• Victorious Allies restore a Bourbon King to throne of France, Louis XVIII (brother of Louis XVI)• Napoleon escaped from Elba and Louis XVIII flees France.• Allies meeting at Congress of Vienna hastily organize and army against

Napoleon.• Battle of Waterloo June 15-18, 1815

• Napoleon defeated by Britain and Prussia• Exiled to Saint Helena and died in 1821

Haitian Revolution

• Caribbean Islands & French sugar plantations• Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint-Domingue• Intense competition with British and Spanish

• Saint-Domingue• 40,000 whites of different social classes• 30,000 free people of color• 500,000 slaves

• 1790 Delegation of Free People of Color to Paris asking to be seated in the General Assembly.• Refusal to seat delegation caused unrest in Saint-Domingue• Vincent Oge` and other leaders of delegation

• Broken on the wheel and decapitated

• August 1791 Largest slave rebellion in History?• Spanish and British poised to take over the island• French promised citizenship to Free People of Color and freedom to slaves

Toussaint L’Ouverture

• Leader of indigenous forces for independence• Defeated French planters in 1797• British 1798• Spanish 1801• Haitian Constitution• Abolished slavery• Established Christianity• Toussaint –governor for life• Allegiance to France but French cannot interfere in Haiti internal affairs

• 1802 Toussaint captured • 20,000 French troops• Yellow Fever• Insurgency• Atrocities

• French troops recalled in 1803• Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares independent state of Haiti in 1804

Touissaint L’Ouverture

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

What Did the French Revolution Mean?Observations

Representative Government or Authoritarian Government

• Revolutionary Situation occurs when the existing government has lost authority and legitimacy in the eyes of the people• In a Revolutionary Situation, more than one authority has legitimacy

and multiple authorities refuse to share power • A Revolutionary Situation continues until one authority reestablishes

power over the other authorities or multiple authorities agree to share power• How does a Representative Government establish power?

• Force?• Collaboration and compromise between competing interests?

• Authoritarian Government establish power?• Force • Repressing dissent

A Different Model of Government

• Whether representative government or authoritarian government controlled• No monarchy• No hereditary rule• Church not necessary for legitimacy

• The French Revolution brought new forms of government to Europe

Destruction of the Ancien Regime

• The French Revolution not only rejected hereditary monarchy• The French Revolution violently overthrew feudal structure of France

• Taxation no longer based on birth but on income• Creation and Extension of new civil rights (with exclusions)• Careers in military and government—opened to talent not ability to pay • Single set of laws applied to all: Napoleonic Code • Increase in size and influence of Bourgeoisie through purchase of Church

property• France as militantly secular

• A Revolutionary Tradition• Belief that revolution is a means for bringing about progressive change and

extension of popular sovereignty• Gave people a sense that their participation mattered and that they could

change their government• Liberty, Equality and Fraternity

Questions to Consider

• Given the violence of the French Revolution and the disruption to France, was the revolution worth it?• Costs and benefits: what were they?

• Is violence the nature of a Revolution?• Is authoritarian rule necessary following a revolution to restore order

to society?