The French Revolution

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The French Revolution
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Consider the Following

• Questions to Consider
• What is a just and fair society?
• How much violence is justified in achieving a
  just society?
• Do people have the right to overthrow what they
  see as an unjust system? To replace it with what
  people are convinced is a more just system.

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On the Eve of Revolution

• Under Frances ancien regime, there were three
  social classes, or estates. The First Estate was
  the clergy, who enjoyed great wealth and
  privilege. The Second Estate was the titled
  nobility. They held top jobs in government, the
  army, and the courts. The vast majority of the
  population, including the bourgeoisie, formed the
  Third Estate. The bulk of the Third Estate
  consisted of rural peasants. The poorest members
  of the Third Estate were urban workers. Members
  of the Third Estate resented the privileges
  enjoyed by their social betters. The First and
  Second Estates were exempt from most taxes, while
  peasants paid taxes on many things, including
  necessities. The Enlightenment ideas led people
  to question the inequalities of the old social
  structure. The Third Estate demanded that the
  privileged classes pay their share. Economic
  troubles added to the social unrest. Deficit
  spending had left France deeply in debt. In the
  1780s, bad harvests sent food prices soaring.
  Louis XVI chose Jacques Necker as an economic
  advisor. Later, the king was forced to dismiss
  Necker for proposing to tax the First and Second
  Estates. The crisis deepened. Powerful nobles and
  clergy called for a meeting of the
  Estates-General to try to control reform. Louis
  XVI finally set a meeting at Versailles.
  Beforehand, the king asked all three estates to
  prepare cahiers listing their grievances. Some
  lists demonstrated the high level of resentment
  among the classes. The Estates-General met in May
  1789. After weeks of stalemate, delegates of the
  Third Estate abandoned the Estates-General and
  formed the National Assembly. Later, when they
  were locked out of their meeting place, the
  members took the Tennis Court Oath which desired
  a constitution. On July 14th, 1789, 800 Parisians
  assembled outside the Bastille, demanding
  weaponry. When the commander refused, the enraged
  mob stormed the Bastille, sparking the French
  Revolution.

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3 Estates (Classes) in France

• First Estate--Roman Catholic Clergy 1
• Do not pay taxes
• Second Estate--Nobility 2
• Do not pay taxes
• Third Estate--The Rest (bourgeoisie and the poor)
  97
• Pay taxes

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Causes

• Financial
• Debt from American Revolution
• Seven years war
• Soaring food prices
• Deficit spending
• Nobles refused to pay taxes
• Banks refuse to loan France money

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Phase 1

• 1789 With the nobles still refusing to pay
  taxes, Louis calls an Estates General meeting
• 1) Each of the three estates attend and get one
  vote
• 2) The 3rd estate fears that the first two
  estates will gang up on them and control the
  vote in their favor.
• 3) The 3rd estate decides to meet on their own
  The National Assembly, where they attempt to
  voice some of their complaints

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National Assembly is Created

• Abolished feudal dues
• Nobles agree to pay taxes
• ALL male citizens would hold government, army, or
  church positions

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• Reasons
• Taxes
• High food prices
• Low wages
• Reaction
• Storm the Bastillesymbol of royal power
• Looking for weapons but find nothing

• The 3rd Estate
• Response, Reasons, Reaction

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• July 14th 1789
• Storming of the Bastille (medieval fortress)
• The storming and subsequent fall of the Bastille
  was a wake-up call to Louis XVI.
• This event challenged the existence of Louis XVI
  regime.
• Since 1880, the French have celebrated Bastille
  Day annually as their National Independence Day.

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Review Questions

• How was society structured under Frances ancien
  regime?
• What economic troubles did France face in the
  1780s?

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The French Revolution Unfolds

• In France, the political crisis of 1789 coincided
  with a terrible famine. Peasants were starving
  and unemployed. In such desperate times, rumors
  ran wild. Inflamed by famine and fear, peasants
  unleashed their fury on the nobles. Meanwhile, a
  variety of factions in Paris competed to gain
  power. Moderates looked to the Marquis de
  Lafayette for leadership. However, a more radical
  group, the Paris Commune, replaced the citys
  royalist government. The Storming of the Bastille
  and the peasant uprisings pushed the National
  Assembly into action. In late August, the
  Assembly proclaimed all male citizens were equal
  before the law. Upset that women did not have
  equal rights, journalist Olympe de Gouges wrote a
  declaration that provided for this. The Assembly
  did not adopt it. Nor was King Louis XVI willing
  to accept reforms. Much anger was directed at the
  queen, Marie Antoinette, who lived a life of
  great extravagance. The National Assembly
  produced the Constitution of 1791. This document
  reflected Enlightenment goals, set up a limited
  monarchy, ensured equality before the law for all
  male citizens, and ended Church interference in
  government. Events in France stirred debate all
  over Europe. Some applauded the reforms of the
  National Assembly. Rulers of other nations,
  however, denounced the French Revolution. Horror
  stories were told by emigres who had fled France.
  Rulers of neighboring monarchies increased border
  patrols to stop the spread of the French Plague
  of revolution. In 1791, the newly elected
  Legislative Assembly took office, but falling
  currency values, rising prices, and food
  shortages renewed turmoil. Working-class men and
  women, called sans-culottes, pushed the
  revolution in a more radical direction, and
  demanded a republic. The sans-culottes found
  support among other radicals, especially the
  Jacobins. The radicals soon held the upper hand
  in the Legislative Assembly. Eager to spread the
  revolution, they declared war on Austria and
  other European monarchies.

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New Political Field

• The political field now consisted of
• Those wanting a new French government
• Those supporting Louis XVI and his God-given
  right to rule (Royalists)
• Nobles still refusing to give up rights

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Declaration of the Rights of Man

• August 1789 Inspired by
• The American Revolution
• The Declaration of Independence
• The English Bill of Rights
• All people are equal before the law
• Guaranteed freedom of speech, press, religion,
  and arbitrary arrest and punishment.
• These principles did not include women

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Women March on Versailles

• Marie Antoinette flaunts her lavish lifestyle in
  front of the French people
• The French people are starving
• French women stormed the palace demanding to see
  the King
• Women refused to leave Versailles until the King
  agreed to return to Paris
• Massacre of Guards
• 60,000 Return King to Paris

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New Constitution

• 1791 the National Assembly presented a new
  constitution to the people.
• Kept the monarchy, but limited its role
• Set up a unicameral legislature (one house
  assembly
• members chosen by voters (men paying taxes)

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Radical Days of the French Revolution

• Monarchy is abolished
• King Louis VXI is executed by the guillotine
• RobespierreCommittee of Public Safety

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Robespierre

• Lawyer politician
• Promoted religious tolerance
• Wanted to abolish slavery
• Hated the old regime
• Used terror and fear to achieve the goals of the
  Revolution

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Reign of Terror

• Used the guillotine to execute anyone who went
  against the ideas of the revolution
• Quick trials
• Death to traitors
• Who determines?

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Outcomes of the French Revolution

• Nationalism spreads throughout Europe
• 2 House Legislature created
• Monarchy is abolished
• Old social order is gone
• State controlled the church

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The Age of Napoleon
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Rise to Power

• Ambitious Captain in the French Army
• Victories in the French port of Toulon
• Captured most of northern Italy against Austrians
• Egyptian expedition Success? Napoleon controls
  the message back to France.
• Used popularity to go from Military General to
  political leader
• Overthrows Directory to set up a Consulate
• Named himself first consul for life.

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Napoleon

• Popularity Napoleons rise to power came by
  successes culminating in the title Emperor of the
  French.
• Plebiscite popular vote by ballot.
• Democratic Despotismvoting gave people a say in
  government, but Napoleon had absolute power.
  Napoleon valued Order and Authority over
  Individual Rights.
• Reforms NAPOLEONIC CODE
• Enlightenment principlesequality of all
  citizens, religious tolerance, abolition of
  feudalism.
• Women lost rights of citizenship.

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Napoleons Empire

• Napoleon ANNEXED much of Europe
• Netherlands, Belgium, parts of Italy and Germany,
  Holy Roman Empire, Prussia.
• Napoleon vs Great Britain
• Continental System closed European ports to
  English trade. Britain responded with its own
  blockade. This would eventually lead to conflict
  involving the United States and triggered the War
  of 1812.
• From Rome to Madrid to the Netherlands,
  NATIONALISM unleashed revolts against the France.
  

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Russian Disaster

• Napoleons Grand Army is outwitted
• Scorched-earth policy tactic to avoid
  battlesRussians retreated eastward, burning
  crops and villages. This left the French hungry
  and cold as winter came.

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Napoleons Fall From Power

• Napoleon abdicated (stepped down) power and Louis
  XVIII was recognized as king of France.
• Napoleon returns to challenge and again abdicates
  after a brief 100 day reign after the Battle of
  Waterloo.
• Legacy Spread the ideas of the revolution and
  sparked nationalist feelings across Europe.
• Sold Louisiana Territory to US bringing in the
  age of American Expansion. (1803)

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Congress of Vienna

• 1814 Europe's leaders met to settle differences,
  re-establish alliances, and work towards a
  peaceful Europe.
• Emperor Frances I of Austria, Prince Clemens von
  Metternich of Austria, Tsar Alexander I of
  Russia, and Lord Robert Castlereagh of Britain,
  Prince Charles Maurice de Talleyrand.
• Principal of legitimacyrestoring hereditary
  monarchies that the French Revolution or Napoleon
  had unseated. This occurred in France, Portugal,
  Spain, and Italian states.