THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
1789-1815
What circumstances can lead to a
REVOLUTION?
Think back . . . See what you can remember
from 8th Grade U.S. History . . .
AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1775-1781)
• War broke out between the 13 colonies
and the British Gov’t
• Reasons: British wanted to control
colonial trade and manufacturing as well
to increase taxes
• Colonists felt their British rights were
being abused by the king
The Outbreak of the Revolution
What problems did France face in the late
1700’s?
1st: American Revolutionaries freed
themselves from British rule, yet they
kept many British ways of gov’t
2nd: In France, the revolutionaries wanted
to create a new French society
. . . so, widespread unhappiness w/the old
regime produced a revolution that
shook the continent
def: old regime: the French political &
social system in the years before 1789
What was the social structure
of the Old Regime?
The Old Regime: the Three Estates
. . . Since the middle ages, everyone in
France belonged to one of the three
social class
1. FIRST ESTATE -- Clergy
* enjoyed enormous wealth & privileges
* paid NO taxes to the state**
* owned about 10% of land
* included bishops
2. SECOND ESTATE – Nobility
included only* paid almost no taxes
about 2% of *held highest offices in gov’t
total
population of* received generous gifts from the king
*owned about ¼ of land (France)
24 mill.
* jealous of king’s power
*feared to lose privileges (tax)
3. THIRD ESTATE – everyone else
Bourgeoisie (middle class: merchants,
lawyers, doctors, intellectuals, gov’t
bureaucrats)
* peasants, city workers, middle class
* peasants were the largest group;
struggled to make a living
9 out of 10
people were * most owned no land
peasants
* worked as day laborers
Why did peasants live in poverty?
1. old fashion ways of farming
2. taxation
paid to who?
church and king
from land
to soap to
salt
. . . Sometimes taxes took more
than half of a peasant’s family
income
IF YOU ADD ‘EM UP ALL TOGETHER:
By 1789, France faced several crises:
- Peasants were hungry; they wanted a
fairer tax system
- 1788 bad harvest followed by bad winter
food prices rise, people are starving
- ENLIGHTENMENT ideas led people to
question the old regime
WHY should the first two estates have privileges
at the expense of the majority?
. . . it just didn’t meet the test of reason!
EVERYWHERE, THEY CALLED FOR THE
PRIVILEGED CLASSES TO PAY THEIR
SHARE!!
1789 – France faced several crises:
-- cause: deficit spending (gov’t spending
more $ than it takes in )
Why?
* Seven Yrs. War
* Am. Revolution
left country in debt
. . . So how are they going to solve the
problem?
by INCREASING TAXES
Nobles & clergy resisted any attempt to end
their exemption from taxes.
. . . looking back – 1788
What just went on in 1788?
* bad harvest, prices increased
* high unemployment
* people are hungry, they’re rioting for food
* widespread famine, malnutrition, disease,
death
* Rise of Enlightenment ideals
Louis XVI (1774) did little to make gov’t work
better
* Peasants (3rd Estate) cannot pay taxes
* No other choice but to tax the nobles.
This financial crisis touched off the
FRENCH REVOLUTION IN 1789
def: the rebellion of the French people
beginning in 1789 against the monarchy
and the old regime structure
3rd Estate v. 1st & 2nd Estates
Bourgeoisie v. Nobles/Clergy
How did the people of France push for reforms?
Crisis and Revolt:
* Nobles refused to be taxed
* Louis XVI calls on a meeting of the Estates
General (an assembly for all France) to talk
about the approval of a plan to tax the 1st &
2nd Estates
* So they met and they couldn’t decide
* The 3rd Estate’s delegates were mostly from
the Bourgeoisie and wanted the 3 estates to
meet w/each delegate having one vote.
* Since about ½ of the 1,200 delegates were
from the 3rd estate there would be a better
chance of reform
The National Assembly – the 3rd estates
delegates decided to force the estates to
meet as one body
--- saying they represented the people of
France
June 17, 1789 – the 3rd estate declared
themselves a National Assembly and
invited the other estates to join them.
• Against the king, they ALL joined together
and demanded a constitution for France
and swore not to leave until they achieved
this goal
• They chose the delegates.
Tennis Court Oath
• They took an oath, vowing not to disband
until they had drawn up a constitution
for France.
• Louis had no choice – he had to accept it!
• Troops gathered outside Versailles
--Rumor: King wanted to dissolve the
assembly
. . . CRISIS DEEPENED
Storming of the Bastille
** July 14, 1789: tired of the oppressive
brutality of the French monarchy, an
angry mob captured the Bastille (prison
for political prisoners)
* They searched for guns/gunpowder
* Guards opened fire – 100 shot dead
* King is frightened, troops are
ordered out
People of Paris won!!
July 14, Bastille Day!
. . . After this, all sorts of rumors spread
out
* nobles v. peasants and troops v.
peasants
Peasants violently revolted– attacked
noble homes, burned manor records
Declaration of Rights of Man & Citizen
• nobles in danger because of peasant
uprisings; large #s fled to other parts of
Europe becoming émigrés (nobles who fled
France); Old regime was coming to an end;
No more tax collection from
Church/nobles; all gov’t positions open
regardless of birth
Aug 27 – Declaration of Rights of Man &
Citizen: (gov’t belonged to the people as a
whole; aim: gov’t was to preserve the
“natural rights” of liberty/equality; but no
political rights for women)
** Enlight. ideas created limited monarchy
How did the French Revolution move into
a more extreme phase?
radicals: people favoring drastic change
* Jacobins: radical political club
* Maximilien Robespierre (Jacobin member)
News about Fr.Rev. spread across Europe
- Europeans feared that these ideas would
spread to their countries
- In 1792, France declared war on Austria,
Prussia, Britain; it lasted 20 yrs.
Extreme Phase
-- French Revolution moved into a
radical stage willing to take
drastic actions against all enemies
**Louis and Antoinette are beheaded
for treason
Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror: a period when brutal
measures were used to eliminate enemies
and critics of the revolutionary republic
set up in France
They arrested girondins, clergy,
aristocrats, common people – anyone
who disagreed w/Jacobins
Why?
To silence the critics
1793-94: 16,000 were killed on the
guillotine; 20,000 were found guilty
RESULTS:
• End to the Old Regime
• Bourgeoisie dominates gov’t
• Promoted spirit of nationalism
End of Terror
1794 – Robespierre is guillotined; b/c he
was becoming very powerful and people
thought he was becoming obsessed w/
ridding France of all corruption and
people feared him
After his death, revolutionary fervor
began to cool; Jacobins lost power;
Moderate middle class came to power
1795 -- A new government was drafted, the
third since 1789 – the new constitution
placed power firmly in the hands of the
upper middle class and called for a twohouse legislature and an executive body
of five men, known as the Directory
The Directory also found the right general
to command France’s army –supremely
talented and young – Napoleon
Bonaparte
Rise of Napoleon
• Le petit Corporal
• ambitious; overextended his power
• Greatest military genius of his time
• Perhaps the greatest general in history
•1793 – he joined the French
Revolutionary forces and showed great
talent/leadership
•Wanted to rule all of France
• The Terror is over; Churches open for
worship; New constitution is created
(Council of Elders accept/reject laws); It is
a weak gov’t; was corrupt, couldn’t find
solutions for France’s problems; ruled by
legislature (1795-1799)
• 1799 – A coup d´état (blow of state), led by
Napoleon, overthrows the Directory to
establish his consulate
• 1800 – a new constitution gave all real
power to Napoleon; was made consul for
life (held absolute power, even though it
was a republic)
1804 – he crowned himself emperor
What does he do for France?
1. He set up an efficient tax collection
system
2. Fired corrupt officials, he trained new
officials
3. Set up government-run public schools,
even for ordinary citizens
4. New relationship between church and
state
5. Set up a new comprehensive system of
laws – Napoleonic Code
Napoleonic Code
• Most important: CIVIL CODE: all French
men were treated as equals regardless of
birth or wealth
• class privileges were abolished
• Freedom of religion
• woman could acquire property only
w/her husband’s written consent
• supported education (set up public
schools)
• reflected the ideals of the Enlightenment
Napoleon creates an Empire
• 1810 –he annexed Holland, Austria,
Netherlands, parts of Italy and France,
and much of Germany
• Built largest Empire since the Romans
How did he do it?
* He was ambitious; overextended his power;
was power hungry conqueror; won
confidence of his men w/his energy, charm,
ability to make quick decisions, keen
intelligence, ease w/words, supreme
confidence in himself; he wanted Europe to
be united under a liberal gov’t & he did this
by concentrating power in his own hands
1812 – his victories had given him
mastery of over most of Europe,
except:
* Britain
* Ottoman Empire
* Portugal
* Sweden
Napoleon’s Empire Collapses
Napoleon’s three costly mistakes:
1. Continental System:
he orders a blockade to destroy
Britain’s commercial and industrial
economy
2. Peninsular War:
he sends his army to attack Portugal
through Spain because Portugal did
not follow the Continental System
3. Invasion of Russia in 1812 (thirst for
power, most disastrous mistake!!!):
Why?
Alexander I refuses to stop selling grain
to Britain and both France and Russia
want Poland
• June– He marches into Russia
What was Napoleon’s greatest enemy in
his war against Russia?
• Sept – he lost about 60,000 men so they
retreat, Russia used their scorched-earth
policy, temperatures of -15, -35
• December – winter and starvation kills
most of his army
he began with 422,000 men and
ended with 10,000
Fall of Napoleon
• 1814 – he is exiled to Elba, but
escapes in March 1815
• 1815 - Final defeat: led by the British
Duke of Wellington, Napoleon is
defeated at Battle of Waterloo; he is
exiled to St. Helena where he dies
alone in 1821 (he was 51; a remote
island in South Atlantic)
Reasons for fall:
* Survival of Great Britain; force of
nationalism (deep devotion to one’s
country)
“ Such work as mine is not done twice in
a century . . . I have saved the
Revolution as it lay dying. I have
cleansed it of its crimes, and have held
it up to the people shining with fame.
I have inspired France and Europe
with new ideas that will never be
forgotten.”
Napoleon, quoted in
Napoleon at St. Helena