AP EURO: LECTURE OUTLINE pp. 534-537
A NEW CONSTITUTION:
The Constitution of 1791 1. The National Assembly writes a new constitution then disbands
2. France becomes a constitutional monarchy
3. King has few powers under the new constitution
4. Legislative Assembly = the new national parliament of France
5. Active Citizens = those who could pay a tax and vote/Passive Citizens = those who couldn’t vote
The Legislative Assembly 1. Administrative restructuring = France is divided into “83 departments” which were local districts
2. Election of local councils and officials
3. Bourgeoisie /lawyers now control local government
4. Assignats = new revolutionary paper currency - hit by inflation
5. Massive financial problems for the govt - tax evasion
The Jacobins =
1. members of a Paris political club which spread throughout France
2. they wanted more radical changes
June 1791 - The king tries to escape to Austria and is captured at Varennes near the border
The National Assembly begins governing in Oct. 1791 with a discredited and disloyal king heading the
govt
OPPOSITION FROM ABROAD:
Old Regime/Absolute monarchs in Europe opposed the French Revolution
1. Feared the rev would set a bad example
2. Feared that it might spread to their states
3. The Declaration of Pillnitz = Austria and Prussia call on all monarchs to join together to restore
King Louis to absolute power
4. The D. of P. angers the Nat. Assembly - France Declares war on Austria in April 1792
THE SUMMER OF 1792:
1. France does badly at the start of the war against Austria
2. Economic shortages
3. Radicals in Paris begin to demonstrate and protest - blame the king for all problems
4. The Paris Commune = radical leaders in Paris form their own city govt to overthrow the existing govt
5. August 1792 - Radical mobs attack the Tuileries (the king’s palace in Paris)
The kings guards are slaughtered and the king and family flee to the Nat. Assembly
Radical mobs attack the National Assembly
King is captured and imprisoned
National Assembly is forced to suspend the monarchy and create a new government
6. The new government will be created by the “National Convention” whose members will be elected on
The basis of universal male suffrage (all males have right to vote)
7. The National Convention will write a new constitution = create a republic/no more monarchy
THE RADICAL REVOLUTION:
August 1792 -
1. Marks the end of the monarchy
2. The end of the National Assembly
3. The end of the moderate phase of the revolution
4. The beginning of a new radical phase of the revolution
5. These events are sometimes called “the second revolution”
San-culottes - ordinary people without fine clothes/they wore pants not knickers or breeches
1. These people are the dominate force in the Paris Commune
2. These people demand that the revolution go farther and make more radical changes
The September Massacres - massive numbers of suspected “enemies of the revolution”, counterrevolutionaries, supporters of the king and the national assembly are arrested…then the crowds seize the
prisons and murder the prisoners
September 1792 - The National Convention begins meeting/they vote to abolish the monarchy & est a
republic
The Girondins and the Mountain = two different factions of the Jacobins in the National Convention
DOMESTIC CRISES:
The Girondins 1. They represented provinces in Western France
2. Georges Danton = leader of the Girondins
3. Opposed the radical Paris crowds
4. Wanted the king kept alive for insurance
The Mountain 1. They represented the people of Paris
2. More radical
3. Wanted the king executed and the old regime destroyed
January 1793 - the king is put on trial then executed by the guillotine
June 1793 - radical mobs backed by the Paris Commune invade the National Convention and force the
arrest
execution of the Girondins
The Revolt of the Vendee = peasants in Western France revolt against the military draft and then grows
into
Counter -revolution
Major cities like Lyons and Marseilles also revolt against the revolutionary radicalism of the government of
the National Convention in Paris
The National Convention sends armies against rebellious regions - major fighting and horrible atrocities
France 1793 = major domestic chaos and turmoil
FOREIGN CRISES:
The First Coalition = after Louis XVI is executed the old regime states of Austria, Prussia, Spain,
Portugal, Britain, and the Dutch form an alliance against revolutionary France
The war goes badly for France in the beginning in the Spring of 1793
The 1st Coalition prepares to invade France
The National Convention forms an executive committee to run the government =
The Committee of Public Safety
1. Made up of twelve members of the National Conv.
2. Led by Maximilien Robespierre
3. Given total authority/power to deal with the crises facing France
4. Save the revolution from domestic counter-revolution
5. Save the revolution from foreign enemies
A NATION IN ARMS:
Levee en masse =
1. universal mobilization of the French people/national military draft
2. Had never been done before/first time in modern European history
3. France create a million man army - the largest ever in Euro history
4. France begins to push back and defeat its foreign enemies/the 1 st coalition begins to crumble
5. France’s “people’s army” ties the French people together
6. The new French army is ideologically motivated = fighting for something they believe in
7. All the people of France were expected to help the cause = total war