The French Revolution

Liberty


Equality
Fraternity
1
Ingredients for Revolution

1688: Glorious/Bloodless Revolution in England removes
James II
◦ William and Mary take over
 No more Catholic kings or queens
 No more absolute monarchy
◦ Parliament
◦ Bill of Rights



Enlightenment ideas
American Revolution (1776) and Constitution (1789)
The Estates in France (Old Regime)
◦ 1st Estate = clergy = wealthy/no taxes = privileged
◦ 2nd Estate = nobles = wealthy/few taxes = privileged
◦ 3rd Estate = everybody else
 Bourgeoisie/middle class = some wealth = high taxes
= some rights
◦
◦
◦
◦
Bankers
Merchants
Professionals
Business owners
 City workers
 Peasants (80% of people)
2
Ingredients for Revolution…

Monarchy: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
◦ Put country in debt
 Supporting American Revolution
 Personal luxuries
◦ Louis XVI
 Weak leader
◦ Couldn’t control country’s spending
◦ Couldn’t control wife’s spending
 Needed more money = taxes on the 2nd Estate
◦ 1789: 2nd Estate forces Louis to call a meeting of
Estates-General
 First such meeting in 175 years
 First two estates could out vote the 3rd
Estate, even though the 3rd Estate had
more people.
◦ Louis sides with 1st and 2nd Estates
3
The Fuse Is Lit!
◦ Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes gets 3rd Estate to declare themselves
the National Assembly and become government of France
 National Assembly locked out of their meeting room by king
 Tennis Court Oath: National Assembly breaks down door to
tennis court and vows to stay until a constitution is created
◦ Some nobles and clergy join

Painting of the National
Assembly in the tennis
court at Versailles
4
The Revolution Goes Off!

Rumors
◦ King to use military against National Assembly
◦ King to send troops to Paris to massacre French citizens


Citizens arm themselves with whatever they can
July 14, 1789: The Bastille prison is stormed by a mob
looking for weapons
◦ Release prisoners
◦ Take some guards hostage and killed others
5
The Great Fear Spreads

Rumor
◦ Nobles hiring outlaws to attack peasants

Citizens break into houses of nobles
◦ Destroy legal papers (can’t owe
king or lord what can’t be
proved)
◦ Kill nobles
◦ Burn houses

A chateau burns as peasants
riot in the countryside
6
The Great Fear Spreads…

October 1789: Women riot at
Versailles over cost of bread
◦ Demands:
 National Assembly provide bread
 King and queen return to Paris

August 1789: Great Fear spreads to
clergy and nobles, more of whom now
(out of fear) support National
Assembly
◦ National Assembly ends Estate
system
◦ Commoners/peasants now equal to
clergy and nobles
7
Statement of Revolutionary Ideals

August 1789: National Assembly adopts Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen
◦ Influenced by Enlightenment & U.S. Declaration of
Independence
 “Men are born and remain
free and equal in rights.”
◦ Rights included







Liberty
Property
Security
Resistance to oppression
Equal justice
Freedom of speech
Freedom of religion
 Revolutionary leaders adopt

“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
as motto (fraternity = brotherhood)
Illustration of Declaration
of the Rights of Man and
of the Citizen
8
State-Controlled Church

National Assembly goes
after Catholic Church
◦ Takes lands
 Sale of church lands
helps pay off French debt
◦ Declares clergy will be
elected and paid as state
officials
◦ French peasants (mostly
Catholics) take offense
 Creates division in  Cartoon: “The Zenith of French Glory;
The Pinnacle of Liberty.” A French
revolution
revolutionary watches a beheading
while resting his foot on the head of a
hanging clergyman.
9
Royals Arrested

June 1791: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette try to
sneak out of country
◦ Arrested near Austrian border
◦ Attempted escape made revolutionaries even angrier at
royalty

Arrest of Louis
XVI and his
Family,
Varennes,
1791
10
Divisions Develop



1791: National Assembly creates a new constitution
◦ Creates a limited constitutional monarchy
 Strips king of most authority
 Creates a Legislative Assembly
 King Louis XVI agrees (no choice!)
Old problems still exist
◦ Food shortages
◦ Government debt
◦ Poverty
Factions split revolutionaries
◦ Radicals/Left: get rid of king,
redo government
◦ Moderates/Center: wanted some
changes in government
◦ Conservatives/Right: wanted to keep
a limited monarchy with few changes in government
11
Divisions Develop…


Émigrés (the rich who fled France during the
revolution) took actions to try to undo the
revolution to get back their land
Sans-culottes (the lower-class in Paris) wanted
even more radical change
◦ They had no power in the assembly (but that didn’t
stop them!)

Movie poster for A Tale of Two Cities, based
on the novel by Charles Dickens about the
French Revolution and an émigré

Two illustrations of sans-culottes
12

War and Execution
Austria and Prussia fear revolution will spread.
◦ They pressure France to restore monarchy.
◦ 1792: France responds by declaring war.
Prussian commander warns that he will destroy
Paris if royal family is harmed.
 August 10, 1792: Parisians furious at threat.

◦ They storm the Tuileries (place where the royals were
under arrest).
 Mobs massacre royal guard, takes royal family
prisoners

Storming of the Tuileries
Palace, Paris
13
War and Execution…
 Rumor: King’s supporters in Paris prisons are
going to break out and retake Paris
◦ Mobs raid prisons, and murder over 1,000 nobles
 = September Massacres

Radicals force

New government
◦ Legislative Assembly to set aside the 1791 Constitution
◦ Creation of a new government, National Convention
◦ Abolishes monarchy
◦ Declares France a
republic
◦ Adult males given
right to vote

Illustration by Armand Fouquier
of the September Massacres
14
War and Execution…

National Convention, led by radical Jacobians put
Louis XVI on trial and sentence him to death
◦ January 21, 1793: Louis beheaded by guillotine.

War with Prussia continues.
◦ Prussia and Austria are joined by
 England
 Holland
 Spain
◦ National Convention
takes extreme step of
ordering a draft of men
and women

Illustration of the
execution of Louis
XVI
15
Reign of Terror


Many groups in France fighting for power
◦ Peasants loyal to Catholic Church and/or king
◦ Clergy resisting government control
◦ Rival leaders in different regions of France
1793: Maximilien Robespierre gains power
◦ Vowed to build a “republic of virtue” by erasing
France’s past.
 Changed calendar
◦ Eliminated Sundays
 Closed churches

Reign of Terror = Robespierre = leader of
Committee of Public Safety and virtual dictator
◦ Goal = protect revolution from its enemies
 Bogus arrests, trials
 Lots of torture and death
◦ Many “enemies of the revolution” = personal
enemies of Robespierre because of their
challenges to his power
 Top: Robespierre
◦ Apprx. 40,000 killed
 Bottom: Poster for movie
◦ 85% = peasants or middle class, those
version of the Scarlet
Pimpernel, a story of
who were supposed to benefit from the
intrigues and love during
revolution
the Reign of Terror
16
End of Terror

1794: Fearing for own safety, members of
National Convention turn on Robespierre
◦ Demand his arrest and execution
 Reign of Terror ends on July 28, 1794
with Robespierre’s execution
◦ Public opinion shifts
 Tired of terror
 Tired of inflation for necessities
◦ 1795: National Convention creates third
government since 1789
 Gives more power to upper middle class
 Creates two-house legislature (like U.S.
Congress)
 Created Directory = five men acting as
executive body (like U.S. president)

Directory gives command of France’s armies
to Napoleon Bonaparte


Top: Illustration of the execution of Robespierre
Bottom: Painting of Napoleon Bonaparte
17
Napoleon Forges an
Empire
18


Sent to military
school at age 9,
finished and
became a lieutenant
in the artillery at
age 16
When revolution
broke out, joined
the army of the new
governmnet
Napoleon Bonaparte
19
October 1795- was told to defend the
delegates of the National Convention
against royalist rebels
 Within minutes, the attackers fled
Napoleon's cannonade
 He was hailed throughout Paris as the
savior of the French people

Hero of the Hour
20




Sept into Italy, won
a series of
remarkable victories
Led an expedition
to Egypt
Unable to repeat
the successes he
had in Europe
But… kept stories of
his setbacks out of
the newspapers
Building His Image
21
By 1799, the Directory had lost control of
the political situation & confidence of the
French people
 Napoleon is urged to seize political power
 He took action in November 1799surrounding the national legislature &
driving out most members
 Those remaining voted to dissolve the
Directory & establish a group of three
consuls- one of whom was Napoleon

Coup d’Etat
22
Napoleon quickly took the title of first
consul & assumed the power of a dictator
 Sudden seizure of power = coup

◦ From French word Coup d/Etat meaning “blow
the state”
Coup d’Etat
23
Britain, Austria, & Russia join forces to
drive Napoleon from power
 He rides from Paris at the head of his
troops
 As a result of war & diplomacy, peace
agreements are signed
 Europe is at peace for the first time in 10
years

European Peace
24
Vote was held to approve the new French
Constitution (1800)
 People voted overwhelmingly in favor
 This gives all real power to Napoleon as
first consul

Napoleon Rules France
25
First task- get economy on solid footing
 Set up an efficient method of tax
collection & established a national banking
system
 Took steps to end corruption & inefficiency
in the government
 Set up lycees (government run schools)open to male students of all backgrounds

Restoring order at Home
26
Established a new relationship between
church & state
 Government recognized the influence of
the Church…. But rejected Church control
in national affairs
 Gained Napoleon the support of the
organized Church as well as the majority
of the French people

Restoring order at Home
27



Comprehensive
system o flaws
Eliminated many
injustices but…
Limited liberty &
promoted order &
authority over
individual rights
Napoleonic Code
28



1804- Napoleon
decided to make
himself emperor, &
French voters
supported him
During ceremony,
Napoleon took the
crown from the pope &
put it on his own head
Signaling that he is
more powerful than the
Church
Napoleon Crowned as Emperor
29
Napoleon is not content to be master of
France
 Wants to control the rest of Europe &
reassert French power in the Americas
 After a loss in Saint Dominique, cuts his
losses in the Americas

◦ Sells Louisiana territory to U.S.
◦ Gains cash needed for war & punishes Britain
◦ “The sale assures forever the power of the
United States… and I have given England a
rival who, sooner or later, will humble her
pride.”
Creating an Empire
30



Fearful of Napoleon’s
ambitions, British
persuaded Russia,
Austria, & Sweden to
join against France
In a series of brilliant
battles, Napoleon
crushes his
opponents
In time, France’s
only enemy left is
Britain
Conquering Europe
31



Only major battle
Napoleon lost
1805- off SW coast
of Spain
British Commander
Horatio Nelson split
the French fleet,
capturing many
ships
Battle of Trafalgar
32

Two Major Results:
◦ Ensured
supremacy of
the British Navy
for the next 100
years
◦ Forced Napoleon
to give up his
plans of invading
Britain
Battle of Trafalgar
33

By 1812 the
only areas
free of
Napoleon’s
control:
◦
◦
◦
◦
French Empire
Britain
Portugal
Sweden
Ottoman
Empire
◦ The French
Empire is
large… but
UNSTABLE.
34
Napoleon’s policy of setting up a blockade
to prevent all trade & communication
between Britain & Europe
 Purpose:

◦ Make continental Europe more self-sufficient
◦ Destroy Britain’s commercial & industrial
economy
The Continental System
35
Napoleon’s blockade was not nearly tight
enough
 Smugglers got through

◦ Some were allies and even family of Napoleon

Britain responded with it’s own blockade
◦ Stronger navy = they were better at it
◦ Led to U.S. vs Britain in War of 1812
The Continental System
36




Napoleon sent an invasion force through
Spain (to get to Portugal)
Spanish people protested
Napoleon removed their king & put his
brother on the throne
Spanish guerrillas, aided by the British,
proved difficult to fight
Peninsular
War
37
Napoleon's most disastrous mistake
 1812
 Breakdown in Russian-French Alliance

◦ Russia refused to stop selling grain to Britain
◦ French & Russian rulers suspected each other
of having competing designs on Poland

Napoleon decided to invade Russia
Invasion of Russia
38
June 1812, Napoleon & his Grand Army of
more than 420,000 soldiers marched into
Russia
 As Napoleon advanced, Alexander pulled
back- refusing to be lured into an unequal
battle
 On retreat,
Russians practiced
a scorched-earth
policy

39
Armies finally met in battle in September
 Russians fell back, allowing Napoleon to
move on Moscow
 Russians burned the city rather than let
Napoleon have it
 By mid-October, Napoleon decided to turn
back to France…

40



Russian raiders attacked Napoleon’s army
Soldiers were killed in clashes, died from
wounds, dropped in their tracks from
exhaustion, hunger, & cold
Only 10,000 soldiers were left after they
reached France
◦ Remember, he started with 420,000
41





Napoleon’s enemies were quick to take
advantage against him
Britain, Russia, Prussia, & Sweden joined
forces
Austria declared war against him
All of the main powers of Europe were at
war with France
By 1814, Prussia & Russia had conquered
Paris
Napoleon’s Downfall
42
 Napoleon
accepts terms
of surrender
 Gives up his
thrown
 Is banished to
the island of
Elba (off Italian
coast)
Napoleon Defeated
43




New French King,
Louis XVIII (Brother
of Louis XVII) is
unpopular
Gives Napoleon
incentive to try to
regain power
Escape from Elba
Welcomed by
French people &
reinstated as
Emperor
Escape & Back in Power
44
European allies marshaled their armies
 June 1815- Napoleon attacked the British
near Waterloo, Belgium
 Prussian Army arrived
 Napoleon’s army gives, is chased from the
field by British & Prussians

Battle of Waterloo
45
The Hundred Days, Napoleon’s last bid for
power, is ended with the defeat at
Waterloo
 British shipped Napoleon to St. Helena, a
remote island in the South Atlantic
 Lived in lonely exile for 6 years, writing
his memoirs
 Died in 1821 of a stomach ailment
(possibly cancer)

The Hundred Days
46



Military genius &
brilliant
administrator
But millions of lives
lost
Napoleon’s defeat
opened the door for
the freed European
countries to
establish a new
order
“He was as
great as a man
can be without
virtue.”
Alexis de Tocqueville
Napoleon’s Legacy
47
Series of meetings in Vienna to set up
policies that would ensure collective
security & stability for the entire European
continent
 Originally planned for 4 weeks
 Lasted 8 months

Congress of Vienna
48

Most decisions made by the 5 “great
powers”
◦ Russia
◦ Prussia
◦ Austria- MOST INFLUENTIAL
 Prince Metternich destrusted the democratic ideals
of the French Revolution
◦ Great Britain
◦ France
Congress of Vienna
49

Containment of France
◦ Make weak countries
around France stronger

Balance of Power
◦ France remains a power
(but diminished)
◦ No European Country
can easily overthrow
another

Legitimacy
◦ Restore the rulers
Napoleon overthrew
Congress of Vienna
50


Created a time of peace in Europe
None of the five great powers waged war on
one another for nearly 40 years
Congress of Vienna
51