Ch. 23 Notes
The French Revolution and
Napoleon (1789 – 1815)
E.Q. What were the causes and
effects of the French Revolution?
How did Napoleon become the
emperor of France?
Bastille – French prison, Paris
bourgeoisie – merchants, skilled workers,
3rd Estate
Committee of Public Safety – Robespierre,
executed enemies of Revolution
conservatives – traditional
Declaration of the Rights of Man –
Revolutionary statement
delegates – representatives
deserted - AWOL
emperor – absolute ruler
First Estate – Catholic clergy
mob – unpredictable crowd
radicals – extreme reform
representative government – will of people
royalists – monarch supporters
Second Estate – French nobles
stability – order, secure
Third Estate – other than clergy, nobles
Versailles – French palace
FRENCH REVOLUTION BEGINS
1. Old Order – Old Regime, estates
- Privileged estates – 1st (clergy),
2nd (Nobles)
- 3rd estate (3 groups – bourgeoisie,
workers, peasants)
2. Forces of Change
- Enlightenment ideas
- economic trouble – Louis XVI, Marie
Antoinette
- weak leader – Louis XVI calls
Estates – General meeting to
approve tax
3. Dawn of the Revolution
- National Assembly (Third Estate) >
Tennis Court Oath
- Storming the Bastille – July 14, 1789,
Paris
4. A Great Fear sweeps France > peasant
revolt; attack Versailles; King – Queen
left Versailles
REVOLUTION BRINGS REFORM AND
TERROR
5. Assembly Reforms France – radical
changes
- Rights of man > “Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity” not for woman
- State-controlled Church – sells to
pay debt, peasants upset
- Louis tries to escape
6. Division Develops
- Limited monarchy – legislative
assembly
- Factions split France – radicals,
moderates, conservatives – emigres,
sans - culottes
7. War and Execution
- France at war – September
massacres > National Convention
(republic) > Austria, Prussia
- Jacobins take control – radicals,
Marot – Louis XVI faced the
guillotine
8. Terror grips France
- Robespiere assumes control > Reign
of Terror
9. End of the Terror > death of
Robespierre > Directory government >
Napoleon
NAPOLEON FORGES AN EMPIRE
10. Napoleon seizes power
- hero of the hour – commander of the
army
- Coup d’ Etat
11. Napoleon rules France – plebiscite vote
- Restoring order at home – lycees,
economy, concordat with Pope
Pius VII, Napoleonic code
- Napoleon crowned as emperor
12. Napoleon creates an empire
- Loss of American territories – Saint
Dominique (Haiti), Louisiana
Territory (economy, punish British)
- Conquering Europe – (Austria,
Prussia, Russia) largest since Romans
- Battle of Trafalgar – lost to British
(Nelson)
- French Empire – huge, unstable, 5 yrs.
NAPOLEON’S EMPIRE COLLAPSES
13. Napoleon’s costly mistakes
- Continental system – blockade Britain
- Peninsular War (Iberian) – Spain –
guerrillas
- Invasion of Russia – MISTAKE >
Russian scorched-earth policy
14. Napoleon’s Downfall – everybody at
war with Napoleon
- Napoleon suffers defeat > Elba
- Hundred Days > Waterloo, Belgium
(British, Wellington) > St. Helena
CONGRES OF VIENNA
15. Metternich’s Plan for Europe (Austria)
- Containment of France
- Balance of power
- Legitimacy
16. Political changes beyond Vienna
- Conservative Europe – Holy Alliance
(Prussia, Austria), Concert of Europe
- Revolution in Latin America – Mexico
- Long-term legacy – nationalism >
revolutions > democracy