French Revolution
And Napoleon
Chronology
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1788-1789—Financial Crisis and Estates
General
1789-1792--Liberal Revolution
1792-1794—Radicalization
1794-1799—Reaction
1799-1815--Napoleon
Causes
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Intellectual
Social
Political
Intellectual
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Natural Rights
Laissez faire
Religious tolerance
Social contract
Tabula rasa
Branches of government
Sovereignty of the
people
Social Causes
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Estates System
First Estate
Second Estate
Third Estate
First Estate
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1% of population
100,000-130,000 people
Owned 10% of land
Tax-exempt
Levied tithe on peasants
Most money supported
distant bishops or
monasteries
Second Estate
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Nobility
2-5% of population
350,000 members
Owned 25-30% of land
Held many government
positions
Tax-exempt
Expanded power at
expense of monarchy
Third Estate
Everyone else
25 million people
75-80% of population
peasants
Collectively owned 35-40%
of land
Over half had no land
Peasant taxes
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Feudal obligations
Dues on use of mills,
granaries, wine presses,
and ovens
Corvee—labor dues
Gabelle—salt tax
Cloth taxes


Only the third estate paid
these taxes, all others
were exempt.
The third estate did not
have a say in the
government nor in the
taxes that were paid by
them
Third Estate, continued

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Bourgeoisie
8% of population
Owned 20% of land
Exploited peasants on
the land
Educated, but no
involvement in
government
Urban Poor of Paris
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Artisans, factory
workers, journeymen
Very poor
Most politicized group
Highly literate
Political Causes
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Louis XV 1715-1774
Succeeded Louis XIV at
age 5
Poor education
Much time with
mistresses
Nobles regain power that
was lost under Louis XIV
Louis’ mistresses
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Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson
Friends with Voltaire and
Montesquieu
Met king at masked ball
9/15/1745—King’s mistress
Became duchess, Oct 12,
1752
Influenced king to remove her
enemies from office and make
treaties
Madame Du Barry
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Jeanne Becu
Educated in Paris
1763, met Jeane du Barry—
became his mistress (he was
a pimp)
1768, met Louis XV
She had to marry to be king’s
mistress, so she married
Jeane’s brother
After king’s death, took other
lovers
Guillotined 1793
Parlements of France

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French kings had taken all power from nobility
13 Distinct regions in France—controlled by a
Parlement
Parlements had 50-130 members
–
–
–
–
–
Local judges
Legal elites
Tried cases for theft, murder, forgery, libel
Public censors
Fixed bread prices
Parlements, continued
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Hated by everyone, including king
Intendents were selected by king to head
parlements
Intendents arbitrarily taxed and arrested
peasants
Parlement of Paris began to claim right of veto
over king
Financial Problems
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1787-1788—poor harvests led to food shortages, rising
prices, unemployment
Richest people not taxed
28% increase in taxes, including gabelle and taille (but
only affected third estate)
Dependency on foreign loans
Seven Years’ War—losses of India and Canada
American Revolution—France paid for it
Cost of Versailles—only 5% of state revenue
By 1780s, government was bankrupt—1/2 of income
paid on debts (debt was 4 Billion livres)
Let Them Eat Cake!
Y Marie Antoinette NEVER said that!
Y “Madame Deficit”
Y “The Austrian Whore”
The French Urban Poor
80
70
60
50
1787
1788
40
30
20
10
0
% of Income Spent on Bread
Financial Problems
in France, 1789

Urban Commoner’s
Budget:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Food
80%
Rent
25%
Tithe
10%
Taxes
35%
Clothing 20%
TOTAL 170%

King’s Budget:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Interest
50%
Army
25%
Versailles
25%
Coronation 10%
Loans
25%
Admin.
25%
TOTAL
160%
Efforts to fix finances

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
Jacques Necker
Hid real problems from
French people—said if Am
rev. not fought, finances
would be o.k.
Introduced more equitable tax
system to fund national debt
Dismissed, then re-appointed;
Urged king to call Estates
General (first time since 1614)
Charles Alexander de Calonne
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Financial minister
Raised loans to pay debts
National spending policy
implemented—to inspire
confidence in finances of
state
Called for direct land tax
Stamp tax
Reduction of privileges of
clergy and nobility
Forced to flee—opposed by
nobility
Assembly of Notables 1787
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Upper ranks of aristocracy and Clergy
Called to outflank parlements
Wanted greater role for aristocracy
Called for re-appointment of Necker
Government could not demand new taxes, only Estates
General could do that
Etienne Charles Lomenie de Brienne was appointed
after Calonne; tried to get Parlements to accept
changes without calling Estates General; no good
1788 Coup d’etat of Parlements
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Parlement of Paris rejects King’s attempts to
force change: King abolishes parlement
Registration of laws now to be in plenary court
of France
Anarchy and revolts around France resulted
Nobles refused to modernize , so Estates
General was called
Convening the Estates General
May, 1789
Last time it was called into session was 1614!
Estates General
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Representatives from all three estates
First and second estates: 300 members
Third estate: 600 members
Third estate wanted to establish a
constitutional government to fix financial
problems and end exemptions of clergy and
nobility
Problems with Estates General
Third estate demanded that each
representative have one vote, which
would give them a majority
 King disagreed: wanted traditional
system: each estate had one vote
 Much political excitement came out of
this

The Suggested Voting Pattern:
Voting by Estates
1
Clergy
1st Estate
Aristocracy
1
2nd Estate
1
Commoners
3rd Estate
The Number of Representatives
in the Estates General: Vote by Head!
Clergy
300
1st Estate
Aristocracy
300
2nd Estate
648
Commoners
3rd Estate
“The Third Estate Awakens”
 Abbe
Sieyes published “What is the
Third Estate?”
 Cahiers de Doleances presented by
third estate
 Third estate changed its name to the
National Assembly—June 17, 1789.
Cahiers de Doleances
 laws
prepared by the States
General and sanctioned by the
king shall be binding upon all
classes of citizens
 Deputies
of the Third Estate, or
their president or speaker, shall
preserve the same attitude and
demeanor as the representatives
of the two upper orders, when
they address the sovereign.
 Personal
liberty, proprietary
rights and the security of citizens
shall be established in a clear,
precise and irrevocable manner.
More Grievances
 letters
shall never be opened in
transit
 All distinctions in penalties shall
be abolished
 All
kinds of torture, the rack and
the stake, shall be abolished.
Sentence of death shall be
pronounced only for atrocious
crimes and in rare instances,
determined by the law.
 the
establishment of the new taxes
shall be paid by the three orders
 All relics of serfdom, agrarian or
personal, still remaining in certain
provinces, shall be abolished.
Abolition of Taxes
Of the taille;
 Of the gabelle;
*of the corvee
*of the ferme of
tobacco
 Of the aides;
*of the registryduties
 Of the free-hold tax;
*of the taxes
on leather
 Of the government stamp upon iron;

 Of
the stamps upon gold and Silver;
 Of the interprovincial customs
duties;
 Of the taxes upon fairs and markets;
 Finally, of all taxes that are
burdensome and oppressive, shall
be replaced with other taxes,
“The Tennis Court Oath”
by Jacques Louis David
June 20, 1789
Tennis Court Oath


June 20, 1789, Third
Estate locked out of
meeting hall; moved to
indoor handball court
and swore to meet until
a French Constitution
was written
King opposed this, but
majority of clergy and
some nobles joined it
National Constituent Assembly
27th, king capitulated;
ordered all estates to meet and
accepts vote by head
 But, Louis tries to re-assert his
authority:
 June
Storming the Bastille,
July 14, 1789
Storming of Bastille
Rising bread prices
cause riots
Paris had been politicized
since the Estates
General had been
elected;
Citizen militia had been
organized and acted
when king attacked
National Assembly

 Sends
18,000 troops to attack
National Assembly (Marie
Antoinette advises him to do
this)
 Two mass uprisings save
National Assembly
The Great Fear:
Peasant Revolt
July 20,
1789
Great Fear
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Massive revolts spread
throughout France
Fear that Royal troops would
be sent to countryside next
Destruction of medieval
documents, chateaus,
Refusal to pay feudal dues
Caused National Assembly to
abolish feudal dues in August
National Constituent Assembly
1789 - 1791
Liberté!
Egalité!
Fraternité!
August Decrees
August 4-11, 1789
(A renunciation of aristocratic privileges!)
V Equality & Meritocracy
Ideological Actions of National
Constituent Assembly
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All French subject to same laws
Abolished feudal regime, tithes, hunting rights,
purchased offices
Declaration of Rights of Man
–
–
–
–
–
–
Equality before the law
Due process
Natural rights
Sovereignty resides in the Nation
Freedom of religion, speech, separation of powers
Law is expression of General Will
The Tricolor (1789)
The WHITE of the
Bourbons + the RED &
BLUE of Paris.
Citizen!
The “Liberty Cap”: Bonne Rouge
Olympe de Gouges (1745-1793)
Declaration of the Rights of Woman
and of the Citizen (1791)
Rights of Women?
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Olympe de Gouges refused to accept the
exclusion of women from political rights
Wrote Declaration of the Rights of Woman and
the Female Citizen
Called for same rights as man
National Assembly ignored her pleas
King forced to move to Paris
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Louis refused to sign
Declaration of Rights of Man
October 5, 1789: Women of
Paris march on Versailles:
7,000 strong
Demanded bread, Marie
Antoinette; stayed overnight;
Louis signs Declaration, but
too late: King is forced to
return to Paris, which he does
Peace at hand for three years
National Constituent Assembly’s
Governing
 Massive
problems of control
 Would not repudiate the state debt
 Many representatives were owed
money by the State
Administration
 Provinces
replaced by 83
Departments
 Abolished parlements
 Same sort of courts and laws
applied throughout France
83 Revolutionary Departments
February 26, 1790
Economic Liberalism
 Gets
rid of tariffs
 Uniform weights and measures—
metric system
 Suppressed guilds and forbid
workers’ associations
 Chapelier Law 6/14/1791—forbid
Unions lasted 75 years
State Debt
 Attack
the Church
 Issue Printed bonds: assignats,
value based on the value of Church
lands
 Used as money
Assignats
V Issued by the National Constituent Assembly.
The Confiscation of Church Lands
1790
Church Reforms
 National
Assembly seized and sold
church lands for money
 Civil Constitution of the Clergy
implemented:
– Bishops and priests elected by
people and paid by state
– Religious orders abolished
 Assembly
required clergy to pledge
an oath to oppose the pope—only
half did
 Pope condemned the Revolution
 Catholics become enemies of the
Revolution
 Attacking the church was a serious
mistake—emigres begin to leave;
peasants do not support it
Louis XVI “Accepts” the Constitution
& the National Assembly. 1791
The French Constitution of 1791:
A Bourgeois Government
Y The king got the “suspensive” veto [which
prevented the passage of laws for 4 years].
* he could not pass laws.
* his ministers were responsible
for their own actions.
Y A permanent, elected, single chamber
National Assembly.
* had the power to grant taxation.
Y An independent judiciary.
Y “Active” Citizen [who pays taxes amounting
to 3 days labor] vs. “Passive” Citizen.
Y A newly elected LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.
New Constitution of 1791
 Limited monarchy
 Legislative Assembly created all laws
 Assembly had 745 representatives
– Only affluent could be elected
– Only men over 25 who paid enough
taxes could vote (50,000)
– Old order destroyed, many unhappy
with new order
– National Assembly Members not
eligible for election
King Destabilizes the Liberal Revolution
 King’s
attitude makes the
constitution of 1791 impossible
 No strong executive personality,
except for King’s ministers
Louis tries to escape
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Fearing mobs, Louis XVI
tries to flee to Varennes
Dressed as servants,
was almost successful
Recognized and
arrested
Entire family hauled
back to Paris
Later tried for treason
Legislative Assembly Formed
 Constituent
Assembly ended in
September, 1791; Legislative
Assembly meets October 1, 1791
 War is promoted to solve domestic
problems
 Church still controlled by State
Reaction Abroad
 Edmund
Burke: Reflections on the
French Revolution, 1790
 Thomas Paine: Rights of Man 1791
 Mary Wollstonecraft: Vindication of
the Rights of Woman 1792
Reaction Abroad--leaders
 William
Pitt: turned against reform;
curbed freedom of press
 Catherine II burned Voltaire's books
 Francis II of Austria becomes a
counterrevolutionary leader
 End of Enlightened Despotism
 Poland dismembered
War with Austria

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Leaders of other countries feared that
revolution would spread to their countries
Austria and Prussia threaten use of force to
restore Louis XVI to throne
Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria
in spring of 1792
Initial losses in war cause demonstrations in
Paris
Paris Commune

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
Radical political groups attack
royal palace and Legislative
Assembly
King is captured
New National Convention
called, to be elected by
universal male suffrage
Power passes to Paris
Commune: sans-coulottes
By: Susan M. Pojer
Horace Greeley H. S. Chappaqua, NY
Attitudes
& actions
of
monarchy
& court
Fear of
CounterRevolution
Religious
divisions
The Causes of
Instability in France
1792 - 1795
Economi
c
Crises
War
Political
divisions
The National Convention
The Decree of Fraternity
* it offered French
assistance to any subject
peoples who wished to
overthrow their
governments.
When France sneezes,
all of Europe catches cold!
The First Coalition &
The Brunswick Manifesto
Duke of Brunswick if the Royal Family is harmed,
Paris will be leveled!!
FRANCE
1792
1797
AUSTRIA
PRUSSIA
BRITAIN
SPAIN
PIEDMONT
French Soldiers & the Tricolor:
Vive Le Patrie!
The Storming of the Tuilieres:
August 9-10, 1792
The September Massacres,1792
 Buveurs de sang [“drinkers of blood.”]
 Over 1,000 Parisians killed!
The First French Republic:
1792-1795
The Jacobins
Jacobin Meeting House
A Jacobin Club Meeting
The Sans-Culottes:
The Parisian
Working
Class
The Sans-Culottes
Depicted as Savages by a British Cartoonist.
The Political Spectrum
TODAY:
1790s:
Montagnards
The Plain
(uncommitted)
Girondists
(“The Mountain”)
Monarchíen
(Royalists)
Jacobins
The Politics of the
National Convention (1792-1795)
Montagnards
 Power base in Paris.
 Main support from the
sans-culottes.
 Would adopt extreme
measures to achieve their
goals.
 Saw Paris as the center of
the Revolution.
 More centralized [in Paris]
approach to government.
Girondists
 Power base in the
provinces.
 Feared the influence
of the sans-culottes.
 Feared the
dominance of Paris in
national politics.
 Supported more
national government
centralization
[federalism].
Attempts to Control
the Growing Crisis
1. Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris  try
suspected counter-revolutionaries.
A. Representatives-on-Mission
* sent to the provinces & to the army.
* had wide powers to oversee
conscription.
B. Watch Committees [comité de
surveillance]
* keep an eye on foreigners & suspects.
C. sanctioned the trial & execution of
rebels and émigrés, should they ever
return to France.
Attempts to Control
the Growing Crisis
2. The printing of more assignats to
pay for the war.
3. Committee of Public Safety [CPS]
* to oversee and speed up the
work of the govt. during this crisis.
4. Committee of General Security [CGS]
* responsible for the pursuit of
counter-revolutionaries, the
treatment of suspects, & other
internal security matters.
Committee for Public Safety
 Revolutionary Tribunals.
 300,000 arrested.
 16,000 – 50,000 executed.
Maximillian Robespierre
(1758 – 1794)
Georges Jacques Danton
(1759 – 1794)
Jean-Paul Marat
(1744 – 1793)
“The Death of Marat”
by Jacques Louis David, 1793
The Assassination of Marat
by Charlotte Corday, 1793
The Assassination of Marat
by Charlotte
Corday
(Paul Jacques
Aimee Baudry,
19c)
The Levee en Masse:
An Entire Nation at Arms! – 500,000 Soldiers
An army based on merit, not birth!
Legislation Passed by the
National Convention
1. Law of General Maximum
* September 5, 1793.
* Limited prices of grain & other essentials to 1/3
above the 1790 prices & wages to ½ of 1790
figures.
* Prices would be strictly enforced.
* Hoarders rooted out and punished.
* Food supplies would be secured by the army!
2. Law of Suspects
* September 17, 1793.
* This law was so widely drawn that almost anyone
not expressing enthusiastic support for the
republic could be placed under arrest!
The Reign of Terror
Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe,
inflexible.
-- Robespierre
Let terror be the
order of the day!
The Guillotine:
An Enlightenment Tool?
Oh, thou charming guillotine,
You shorten kings and queens;
By your influence divine,
We have reconquered our rights.
Come to aid of the Country
And let your superb instrument
Become forever permanent
To destroy the impious sect.
Sharpen your razor for Pitt and his agents
Fill your divine sack with heads of tyrants.
The “Monster” Guillotine
The last guillotine execution in France was in 1939.
Louis XVI as a Pig
Louis XVI’s Head (January 21, 1793)
The Death of “Citizen” Louis Capet
Matter for reflection
for the crowned
jugglers.
So impure blood
doesn’t soil our land!
Marie Antoinette as a Serpent
Marie Antoinette
on the Way to the Guillotine
Marie Antoinette Died in October, 1793
War of Resistance to the Revolution, 1793
Vendee Revolt, 1793
Drowning the Traitors!
Why was there a Revolt
in the Vendee?
1. The need for 300,000 French troops
for the war effort.
2. Rural peasantry still highly taxed.
3. Resentment of the Civil Constitution
the Clergy.
4. Peasants had failed to benefit from
the sale of church lands.
TARGETS:
Local gvt. officials
National Guardsmen
Jurying priests
The Contrast:
“British Liberty / French Liberty”
The Contrast:
“French Liberty / British Slavery”
Religious Terror:
De-Christianization (1793-1794)
 The Catholic Church was linked with
real or potential counter-revolution.
 Religion was associated with the
Ancien Régime and superstitious
practices.
 Very popular among the sans-culottes.
 Therefore, religion had no place in a
rational, secular republic!
The De-Christianization Program
1. The adoption of a new Republican
Calendar:
* abolished Sundays & religious
holidays.
* months named after seasonal
features.
* 7-day weeks replaced by 10-day
decades.
* the yearly calendar was dated from
the creation of the Republic
[Sept. 22, 1792]
The Convention symbolically divorced
the state from the Church!!
A Republican Calendar
The New Republican Calendar
New Name
Meaning
Time Period
Vendemaire
Vintage
September 22 – October 21
Brumaire
Fog
October 22 – November 20
Frimaire
Frost
November 21 – December 20
Nivose
Snow
December 21 – January 19
Pluviose
Rain
January 20 – February 18
Ventose
Wind
February 19 – March 20
Germinal
Budding
March 21 – April 19
Floreal
Flowers
April 20 – May 19
Prairial
Meadow
May 20 – June 18
Messidor
Harvest
June 19 – July 18
Thermidor
Heat
July 19 – August 17
Fructidor
Fruit
August 18 – September 21
A New Republican Calendar Year
I
1792 – 1793
II
1793 – 1794
III
1794 – 1795
IV
1795 – 1796
V
1796 – 1797
VI
1797 – 1798
VII
1798 – 1799
VIII
1799 – 1800
IX
1800 – 1801
X
1801 – 1802
XI
1802 – 1803
XII
1803 – 1804
XIII
1804 – 1805
XIV
1805
The Gregorian System returned in 1806.
The De-Christianization Program
2. The public exercise of religion was
banned.
3. The Paris Commune supported the:
* destruction of religious & royal statues.
* ban on clerical dress.
* encouragement of the clergy to
give up their vocations.
4. The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris
was turned into the “Temple of Reason.”
5. The deportation of priests denounced by
six citizens.
The “Temple of Reason”
Come, holy Liberty, inhabit this temple,
Become the goddess of the French people.
The Festival of Supreme Being
A new secular holiday.
Backlash to the
De-Christianization Program
 It alienated most of the population
(especially in the rural areas).
 Robespierre never supported it.
* he persuaded the Convention to
reaffirm the principle of religious
toleration.
 Decree on the “Liberty of Cults”
was passed
* December 6, 1793.
* BUT, it had little practical effect!
The Terror Intensified:
March to July, 1794
Jacques
Hébert & the
Hérbetists
Executed in March, 1794.
Danton & the
“Indulgents”
Executed in April, 1794.
 Law of 22 Prairial [June 10, 1794].
* Trials were now limited to deciding only on
liberty OR death, with defendants having no
rights.
* Were you an “enemy of the people?” (the
law was so broadly written that almost
anyone could fall within its definition!)
 1,500 executed between June & July.
French Victory at Fleurus
 June 26, 1794.
 France defeated Austria.
 This opened the way to the
reoccupation of Belgium!
The “Thermidorean Reaction,” 1794
P July 26  Robespierre gives a
speech illustrating new
plots & conspiracies.
* he alienated members of the CPS
& CGS.
* many felt threatened by his
implications.
P July 27  the Convention arrests
Robespierre.
P July 28  Robespierre is tried &
guillotined!
The Arrest of Robespierre
The Revolution Consumes
Its Own Children!
Danton Awaits
Execution, 1793
Robespierre Lies Wounded
Before the Revolutionary
Tribunal that will order him
to be guillotined, 1794.
Read More About the Revolution
Bibliographic Resources
 “Hist210—Europe in the Age of
Revolutions.”
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/courses/europe1/
chron/rch5.htm
 “Liberty, Fraternity, Equality: Exploring
the French Revolution.”
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/
 Matthews, Andrew. Revolution and
Reaction: Europe, 1789-1849. Cambridge
University Press, 2001.
 “The Napoleonic Guide.”
http://www.napoleonguide.com/index.htm