Late-1700s to mid-1800s A Century of Transitions, 1815-1914.
The French Revolution 1789-1815. 1700s France Background 24,000,000 citizens – most in Europe...
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Transcript of The French Revolution 1789-1815. 1700s France Background 24,000,000 citizens – most in Europe...
1700s France
Background• 24,000,000 citizens – most in
Europe
• Political and social order dating back to the Middle Ages
• Wealthiest and most powerful country in Europe
• Unequal distribution of wealth
Social Order• Society broken up into three estates
• 1st Estate • Clergy
• 2nd Estate• Nobility
• 3rd Estate • Everyone else
Causes• Enlightenment
• American Revolution
• Unfair tax system and land distribution
• Poor harvests
• Royal spending
Stages of the Revolution
The Liberal Phase 1789-1792
The Radical Phase 1792-1795
The Directory 1795-1799
Age of Napoleon 1799-1815
The Liberal Phase – 1789-1792
• June 1789 • Estates General convene at Versailles
• Third Estate declare themselves legislative body: National Assembly
• Goal is to create a constitution
• King does not intervene
• July 1789• Parisian citizens storm the Bastille gathering arms and munitions
The Liberal/Moderate Phase
• August 1789 • Titles of nobility and feudal obligations terminated, tax system
abolished
• Great Fear: Peasants attack feudal lords throughout countryside
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen written
• November 1789• Civil Constitution of the Clergy: Church lands seized, tithe abolished
• 1791 • Constitution completed, creation of a limited monarchy
War Prompts Radicalism - 1792• Austria, Prussia, Spain and England at war with France
• Constitutional Monarchy abolished
• Radicals abolish Legislative Assembly and create the National Convention – republic declared
• Moderates not achieving enough
• Louis XVI imprisoned in Paris
1793• Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette executed
• Foreign armies continue to attack
• Committee of Public Safety formed
• 12 member group led by Robespierre charged with protecting the country and revolution
• “Terror is the order of the day”
Reign of Terror The Directory
• Guillotine drops until foreign armies are repealed • Terror ends with
Robespierre's execution
• Over 12,000 officially guillotined
• Thousands more still unofficially executed
The Directory 1795-1799
• Five member governing body elected from the upper house of the legislative body
• Largely inefficient and corrupt body of government• Doesn’t end the bread crisis
• Doesn’t end the foreign wars
• Doesn’t create a sense of stability within France
Napoleon
• Common born, successful general
• Rules as a member of the Consulate (1 of 3) in 1799
• Declares himself emperor in 1804
• Create political stability in France
• Expands some of the ideals of the French Revolution through war• Conquer territory in Spain,
Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Egypt, Prussia, and Russia
Effects
• New code of law in conquered lands• Napoleonic Code
• Abolished titles of nobility and serfdom
• Eliminated medieval law and customs
• Abolished church privileges
• Equal rights for male citizens
• Eliminated primogeniture
The “Host”Prince Klemens von Metternich (Aus.)
Foreign Minister, Viscount Castlereagh (Br.)
Tsar Alexander I (Rus.)
King Frederick William III (Prus.)
Foreign Minister, Tallyrand (Fr.)
Key Figures at Vienna
Congress of
Vienna
• Objectives
• Establish long lasting peace between the great powers
• Turn back the clock/return to the status quo to 1789
• Politically, socially, and territorially
• Principles
• Compensation
• Create a balance of power
• Principles of legitimacy
• “Concert of Europe” and intervention
• Key Figures
• Metternich
• Alexander I
• Talleyrand