Title: HI 112 Raffael Scheck Colby College
1HI 112Raffael ScheckColby College
- A Survey of Modern Europe
- 2
2The Origins of the French Revolution
3Absolutism in Crisis
- The impact of the American Revolution
- No taxation without representation
- Success government without kings and nobles is
possible - Problems of the Enlightened Despots
- Critique of their militarism
- Contempt for the people (the voice of the people
is the voice of the cattle)
4The Crisis in France
- Enlightened despotism was inconsistent and
disappointing Louis XVI - Half-hearted repression (lettres de cachet) -
easy target for enlightenment critique - Very dynamic, assertive society
- Rich country with a bankrupt government
5The Financial Crisis of France
- Reasons
- Wasteful court management
- Foreign war
- Antiquated trade structure
- Narrow tax base (near exemption for the clergy
and nobility) - Hence a new deal is unavoidable - but dangerous
6Three Layers of Social Tensions
- Monarchy versus aristocracy
- Privileged wealth versus unprivileged wealth
- The poor versus the rich
71. Monarchy against Aristocracy
- Aristocracy wants to go back to pre-absolutist
times but justifies its demand in enlightenment
terms (balance of power rational government
social contract - but according to Locke, not
Rousseau) - Aristocrats demand a parliament, the Estates
General (not convened since 1614). Votes by
estate. Therefore secure majority for clergy and
aristocracy
82. Privileged Wealth versus Unprivileged Wealth
- The Three Estates
- The aristocracy enjoys privileges (tax exemption
careers legal advantages) - The wealthy members of the Third Estate resent
these privileges (businessmen, merchants,
artisans, bankers) - An example the Noailles Affair
93. The Poor Versus the Rich
- Commercial downturn and bad harvests 1787-89
- Enlightenment ideas (Rousseau) among the lower
classes "we, the people, deserve better than
being poor, unrepresented, and exploited - New mindset instead of we want bread - we
want the GOVERNMENT to provide bread! - Peasants resent feudal contracts and aristocratic
arbitrariness - Hence as France is approaching a major crisis of
government, many hungry, even starving people are
waiting in the wings, particularly in the cities
10The Start of the Revolution
- Aristocratic rebellion, 1787-89. Demand for
Estates General. Tax strike - Rebellion of the Third Estate wants doublement
du tiers and voting by head, not by estate - Abbé Siéyès the third estate is the nation!
- Louis XVI concedes the demands of the Third Estate
11The French Revolution
121. Phase Toward a Constitutional Monarchy and
Abolition of Privilege
- Third Estate with allies declares itself the
National Assembly. Promise to write a
constitution - Great Fear
- Popular rebellion in Paris storm on the Bastille
(July 1789) later abduction of the royal couple
from Versailles to Paris - Constitution and Declaration of Rights of Man -
1791
13Balance Sheet for the 1st Phase
- Establishment of a constitutional monarchy and
declaration of rights of men, but not of women - Merit trumps privilege in careers, but voting is
still restricted by income no democracy - Abolition of feudalism through the Great Fear
- Centralization, rationalization, standardization
of weights and measures - Problems
- Louis XVI remains unwilling to work within the
new constitutional framework (monsieur véto
flight to Varennes) - Civil Constitution of the Clergy and confiscation
of church lands (financial measure) splits the
countryside and leads to massive unrest
142nd Phase Constitution of a Republic Civil and
Foreign War
- Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria
- As the war turns to the worse, the Assembly calls
for a democratic constitution and universal
manhood suffrage - Deposition of the king
- Random massacres of aristocrats and priests
- Decision to execute the king
15Balance Sheet of the 2nd Phase
- Commitment to democracy and a republic
- Huge mobilization of revolutionary fanatics
- Problems
- Radicalism of Paris crowds is out of the step
with much of the country at large. Declaration
of the Republic is preceded by violence - Economic crisis inflation. Exacerbated by war
- Church policy ignites civil war in the countryside
163rd Phase Reign of Terror and Mobilization of
the Nation
- The assembly, renamed as Convention, sets up
two emergency committees - These committees establish a dictatorship
(Robespierre) - Democratic constitution, to be implemented after
the war - Levée en masse
- Cultural Revolution
- Civil War (Vendée)
17Balance Sheet of the 3rd Phase
- Commitment to democracy, but at the same time
terror in the name of the people - Cultural Revolution with absurdities of
political correctness - Repression of counter-revolution and turn of the
war in Frances favor - But the terror seems increasingly absurd and
uncontrolled
184th Phase Thermidorian Reaction and Directorate
- Attempt to stabilize the revolution against both
the left and the right - Republic of property owners, ruled by 5 directors
- Bi-cameral parliament with lower house elected
along property suffrage lines - Export of the Revolution through foreign war
Sister republics
19Balance Sheet of the 4th Phase
- Precarious stability, built on a thin political
base - White terror against revolutionaries continued
uprisings from the poor - Growing dependency on foreign war and victories -
hence on the army and its most prestigeous
generals - General Napoléon Bonaparte is invited to perform
a coup détat (brumaire 1799)
20(No Transcript)
21Napoleonic Europe
22Napoleon in France
- His recipe universal manhood suffrage but
powerless parliament plebiscites (Bonapartism) - Concordat (1801)
- First Consul for life (1802)
- Code Napoléon (1804)
- Emperor (1804)
- Dependent on military glory. Increasing popular
resentment at endless wars
23Napoleon in Europe
- Conqueror and military genius
- Great victories in land battles (Austerlitz,
1805), but loss of sea power (Trafalgar, 1805) - Continental System
- From liberator to oppressor
- Downfall (Spanish uprising, Russia)
- Short comeback in 1815
24Balance Sheet Napoleon
- Conserves revolutionary ideas in France
- But he also subverts the revolution (new
nobility nepotism powerless parliament
repression of women and workers) - Brings ideas of the Revolution to much of Europe
(weights and measures rights of man
nationalism) - Romantic hero