The French Revolution & Napoleon
LIBERTY, EQUALITY & FRATERNITY: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
I.
FRENCH REVOLUTION 1789
A. GENERAL REMARKS
1. complex chain of events
2. if rule of Napoleon is included,
3. Revolution lasted an entire generation
4. has become "Mother" & model of all revolutions
5. at one point French Revolution all countries of Europe at war w/France
6. what brought France to the revolution?
7. historians still don't agree on causes
8. French Rev. still subject of great study
9. agreed structure of 18th c. France major factor
II. SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF FRANCE
A. BACKGROUND
1. structure of 18th c. French society on eve of Revolution gives us starting point
2. called Ancien Regime = old regime
3. age of great social contrasts & social tensions
4. realities of social & power contrasted sharply w/ideas of individual liberty, equality
a. their ideal - Glorious Revolution 1688 England
B. FRENCH MONARCHY
1. death of Louis XIV in 1715 began least glorious era of French monarchy
2. Louis XV (1715-74) & Louis XVI (1774-93) continued absolutism of sun king Louis XIV
a. but lacked his personal capabilities
3. Like the first 2 Georges in England, 18th c French kings had no interest in politics of govt
4. but whereas England had strong parliamentary system & able ministers
5. Estates General had not met for 175 yrs on eve of Revolution
6. to operate effectively, absolutism required a strong ruler
a. willing to take vigorous action on issues
7. France was not to see this kind of leadership until Revolution
8. Louis XV ruled under a regency for 8 yrs then allowed his minister Cardinal Fleury
9. & then his mistress Madame de Pompadour to rule for him
10. he spent more time organizing erotic entertainment
11. but he had foresight to recognize problems
a. Apres moi le deluge - his attitude
12. New ruler - Louis XVI inept
13. king's devotion to his Austrian wife Marie Antoinette resulted in scandalous extravagances
14. when her 2nd child was born he gave her a palace that cost him 6 million lives
15. she became known as "Madame Deficit"
16. rumors about her own lavish spending & romantic intrigues together w/her being an Austrian
a. always traditional enemy of France
17. made her perhaps most unpopular woman in France
C. 1st Estate - Church 1. France divided into 3 estates
2. 1st estate - church
3. 170,000 clergy
a. 1/2 of 1% of French people
4. top officials of church enjoyed large incomes
5. from property willed to church over centuries
6. church owned 10% of land
7. church collected tax - tithe- on all land under cultivation
a. 1/10-1/15 of annual harvest
8. income from tax not equally distributed among ranks of clergy
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a. top officials & monasteries took lion's share
b. peasants saw their poor parish clergy receiving little
9. well-to-do peasants & townspeople coveted these rich estates
10. bourgeoisie came to accept anti-clericalism of Enlightenment
a. Voltaire's pleas "to crush infamous thing"
b. interpreted as mandate to strip church of wealth & power
D. 2nd Estate - nobility
1. 400,000 or nearly 2% of French people
a. 1.72% of French society
2. but controlled 20-25% of all land
3. exempt from taxes
4. steadily increased their power since death of Louis XIV
5. aristocracy not a single unit - stratified
6. top - hereditary "Nobles of the sword"
7. inherited title from royalty or feudal lords in Middle Ages
a. traced lineage back to 1400 at least
8. viewed lower nobles as vulgar upstarts
9. dreamed of ruling France again as in MA
10. ill-fitted either to rule or earn public pensions the king gave them
a. educated chiefly in swordsmanship & gallantry
b. only sons of bourgeoisie attended university
11. men who loved their wives & found fidelity satisfying
a. forced to keep official mistresses in imitation of French court
12. fashionable women looked on as odd if they did not take lovers
13. to keep from having bastards women had abortions
14. there were 1200 wigmakers in Paris
a. styles ranged from "Voltaire" to "sleeping dog" to "chivalrous despair"
15. fashionable to look old
a. powered hair added 20 yrs even to young faces
16. mania for fine clothes dyed in subtlest of colors led to new fads every season
17. orders for dresses & coats in such shades as
a. young puce, old puce, puce belly, sick Spaniard, small pox & constipation
18. kept luxury industries of Paris growing
19. nobility of letters next level
a. noble families that had purchased their titles relatively recently
(1) during past 200 or 300 yrs
20. middle - "Nobles of the robe"
a. purchased nobility
b. public offices w/incomes & titles attached
c. justices of parlements & other key offices
d. intermarried w/nobles of sword
e. these most tenacious holders of ancien regime
f. monopolized army commissions & appts to high church offices
g. many men from this group played prominent roles in Revolution
(1) Montesquieu, Mirabeau, Lafayette
(2) moderate noble who advocated constitutional monarchy
21. at bottom of nobility class = poor gentry
a. this group needed tax exempt status to survive
b. insisted on feudal & manorial dues from peasantry
E. 3rd estate - commoners
1. everyone else not in first 2 estates
2. 98% of French society
3. no social unity
4. from wealthiest merchants down to beggars & peasants
5. industrial & commercial leaders from 3rd estate
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most influential group in Rev
familiar w/works of philosophers
anti nobility & high clergy
liberal professions vast spokesmen for rev
a. especially lawyers
(1) 1st hey day of lawyers in politics
these lawyers together w/shopkeepers, craftsmen, professional men
a. petite bourgeoisie
(1) or true middle class
urban workers
a. small group
b. lived on marginal existence
(1) bread riots occurred frequently from 1750's on
(a) 1 writer prophesied hunger can drive men farther than kings
c. women earned half as much as men or less
d. urban workers influential in radical dev of rev -as concentrated in cities esp in Paris
peasants
a. largest group within 3rd estate & France
(1) 21 million = 3/4 population of France
b. while 3 of 4 owned land
c. only controlled about 1/3 land of France
d. average holdings small
e. in poor crop yrs starvation real presence
f. many poor people France
g. English traveler to France Arthur Young noted poverty of France
h. many women & children without shoes- & -stockings
i. women & children first to succumb to starvation or malnutrition
j. one can only imagine desperation of mothers of Masannay
k. who in May 1794 demanded elimination of all people over 60 so that young might be fed enough to
survive
l. peasants employed backward farm methods
m. efficient techniques of agricultural rev had not come to France on eve of Rev as in England
(1) large fallow areas
n. constant increase in rural pop could not find steady employment
o. owed heavy tax burden
(1) tithe to church (dime)
(2) feudal & manorial dues to nobility
(3) state
(a) land tax - taille
(b) income tax
(c) poll tax
(d) gabelle - salt tax
p. Fr - long history of peasant unrest from days of MA
q. peasants did not want to change Govt
r. also ignorant of Enlightenment ideas
s. wanted more land
(1) land from nobility, church
t. wanted end to obsolete manorial dues
u. wanted relief from unfair tax burden
3rd estate's goal was to destroy privileges of first 2 estates
Abbey Sieyes in a 1789 pamphlet best sums this up
a. "what is the 3rd estate? Everything. What has it been in the political order up to the present? Nothing.
What does it ask? To become something."
3rd estate found it galling to be snubbed by nobility,
a. treated as 2nd class subjects by the king,
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b. excluded from posts of power in govt, church, army
16. middle class realized their growing economic importance
17. and they wanted social & political rights to match
18. but basic issue was personal equality
F. ECONOMIC REASONS
1. unfair taxation of 3rd estate
2. 3rd estate owed taxes without political privileges
3. when France lost her empire in the new world & India to England in 1763
a. 1763 Peace of Paris ending Seven Years' War
b. an important source of govt revenue ended
4. trade barriers in France permitted some provinces to suffer famine while others produced surpluses
5. as one foreign ambassador remarked
a. in France nine tenths of the population die of hunger & one tenth of indigestion
6. under Louis XVI financial crisis worsened
7. king went through a series of ministers for 15 yrs of his reign,
a. attempting to solve financial problems
8. but they were hampered by inadequate tax structure
9. reforms blocked by nobility
10. now new expenses added to financial burden
a. support of America War of Independence
11. debts were estimated to be nearly 700,000,000 francs
a. yet treasury held only 360,000 francs
b. debts were now increasing geometrically
12. only solution- to borrow money
13. for a few years it seemed that would suffice
14. eventually govt couldn't even borrow money
15. in year before outbreak of Rev drought stunted French wheat crop
16. then severe hailstorms destroyed what poor yield that was left
a. led to scarcity of foods
(1) prices skyrocketed
17. then there was very cold winter 1788-9
a. churches, charities, private persons tried to alleviate hunger by distributing food
b. but many did not survive
18. survivors had tendency to blame on monarch
G. INEQUALITY BEFORE LAW FOR 3RD ESTATE
1. 3rd estate assessed very severe penalties in comparison to 1st & 2nd estates
2. over 350 different law codes
3. overlap of roman & feudal law
4. led to different punishments same crime
a. included torture, branding, mutilation
H. MISCELLANEOUS REASONS
1. ideas of Enlightenment
a. freedoms & liberties to be enjoyed by all
2. together with American Revolution gave to Frenchmen the mindset revolution possible
3. war of independence in many ways struggle to realize ideals advocated by Enlightenment
4. example of Americans a potent force for French
5. people disconcerted by France's lost of grandeur
6. hard to pin-point but evident to people in light of downward trend from age of Louis XIV
7. Napoleon used this aspect for his rise to power
8. for want of a good mechanic
9. machinery of centralized royal absolutism gradually falling apart
III. DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT REGIME - REVOLUTION ITSELF
A. ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES
1. Louis XVI appealed to his advisors - Assembly of Notables
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2. to change tax structure to help solve his financial problems
3. they refused to cooperate & approve his new financial edicts
4. so Louis called the Estates-General
B. ESTATES GENERAL BECOMES NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
1. when 3rd Estate proposed to change voting system to give more influence to them
2. leaders of clergy & nobles refused to acquiesce
3. delegates of 3rd estate split off & formed National Assembly
a. said they real representatives of French
4. 3rd estate took 1st steps toward revolution
5. when locked out by king's order from their meeting hall moved to indoor tennis court
6. swore not to disband until gave France a constitutional monarchy
7. Tennis court oath June 1789
a. one of real beginnings of French Revolution
8. if nothing further had occurred it is probable 3rd Estate would have transformed France into a
Constitutional Monarchy
9. but new forces intruded
10. & the Fr rev took off for a long course of terror, destruction & complicated power machinations
C. FALL OF BASTILLE
1. Louis XVI's decided to circumvent National Assembly’s move to form a constitutional monarchy
a. wanted to retain his absolutism
2. he mustered royal troops near Paris
3. rumor spread that 30,000 troops had already begun to massacre inhabitants of poor part of Paris
4. populace of Paris reacted w/looting, etc.
5. why?
6. economy was dreadful in Paris
a. poor harvests had led to soaring bread prices
b. half a person's wages going for bread
c. classic depression
d. with food so expensive demand for manufactured goods collapsed
e. led to 25% unemployment for artisans, small shopkeepers, laborers = sans-culottes
7. rumors abounded that aristocracy didn't care about plight of poor
a. poor should eat grass, like my horse
b. let them eat cake - Maria Antoinette
8. people feared starving to death
9. there followed 3 popular uprisings showing extent of unrest in France
a. urban poor, peasants & women rose up in arms
10. first uprising Fall of Bastille
11. people began to seize arms for defense of city
12. to form their own militia
13. rallying cry to the bastille for gunpowder
14. BASTILLE represented Old Regime
a. old medieval castle guarding 1 of entrances to Paris
b. Bastille symbol of absolute monarchy & repression by the state
c. a prison for persons of influence & substance
(1) political & aristocratic prisoners
d. prisoners had been taken there secretly w/o charges (letters of cachet)
(1) & left for days, months, years
(2) even Voltaire spent 1 year there
15. so crowd decided to demolish it
16. people successful
17. marked entry of urban masses into Fr Rev.
18. & committee of citizens appointed Lafayette commander of city's armed forces = national guard
19. Paris now lost to the king
20. who was forced to rescind his edicts against National Assembly
21. uprising of masses had saved National Assembly
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22. July 14, 1789 Bastille stormed
a. considered by French their independence day
GREAT FEAR
1. consequences of storming of Bastille
2. "great fear" of king's army swept through countryside as well as in Paris
3. peasants convinced nobles sending armed men to devastate rural population
4.peasants went on warpath
a.destroying manors, tax rolls
b.burning fields & records showing their owing lord labor
5. peasants goal to destroy last vestiges of feudalism
6. this revolt of peasants forced National Assembly to abolish feudal dues
7. peasants never paid feudal dues again
a. ended corvee - labor on roads, etc.
b. ended aristocratic monopoly on hunting rights
c. ended fee for justice
WOMEN'S MARCH ON VERSAILLES OR BREAD MARCH OF WOMEN
1. after fall of Bastille
2. many French nobles fled France
3. resulting in unemployment for Parisian women who supplied their luxurious items
4. had terrible repercussions for family as women's work & income necessary
5. even though women earned half as much as men
6. on Oct 5, 7000 desperate women marched 10 miles or so from Paris to Versailles to demand action to
their plight
7. they centered their hatred on the Queen, Marie Antoinette
8. Only intervention of Lafayette & National Guard saved royal family
9. Louis & Marie forced into captivity in Paris to watch over them
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS OF MAN & CITIZEN 1789
1. meanwhile National Assembly completed its new constitution
2. landmark in social transformation of France
3. issued Declaration of Rights of Man & Citizen
4. established a constitutional or limited monarchy
5. w/separation of powers into executive, legislative & judicial
6. w/governing body - Legislative Assembly
a. like Parliament in England
7. the Declaration stated
a. all men are free and equal & are true source of all political authority
b. governments exist to preserve individual freedom & private property
c. law exists to protect citizens rather than restrict their freedom
d. among the basic rights of citizens are free speech, equal taxation & scrutiny of govt officials
8. used political principles from
a. British Bill of Rights
b. US Bill of Rights & Constitution
c. ideas of Enlightenment
9. in fact, Lafayette discussed his draft in detail w/Thomas Jefferson
a. American ambassador in Paris at time
10. king forced to sign on
11. next 2 yrs National Assembly completed France’s first constitution
12. all France's institutions & governing bodies reorganized
13. National Assembly abolished French nobility
14. major problem remained
15. by nationalizing the church & requiring clergy to take loyalty oath to new govt
16. many people both clergy & laity failed to comply
17. attack on church turned many people against Rev.
WORLD'S REACTION TO REVOLUTION UP TO THIS POINT
1. what about reaction of those outside France to Revolution?
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2. many Europeans excited about apparent success of the ideas of liberty, equality & fraternity
a. but some people concerned
3. Edmund Burke 1790 published
a. Reflections on the Revolution in France
(1) he against such radical changes as doing away with aristocracy
(2) & he predicted no good would come of it
(3) that a dictator would eventually take over after chaos
4. Mary Wollstonecraft
a. Vindication of the Rights of Women
(1) reaction to Burke's work
b. she wanted equality for women now
c. not just for men of the 3rd estate
d. considered radical even for feminists until recently
H. WAR WITH EUROPE
1. rulers & nobility now began to feel threatened about revolutionary ideas
2. feared ideas might spread to their countries
3. Declaration of Pillnitz
a. Austria & Prussian rulers issued this
b. willing to intervene in France if got ok from other great powers too
4. in retaliation France declared war on Austria
5. Prussia came in to support Austria
6. war did not go well for France
7. when rumors of treason by king & queen spread in Paris,
8. revolutionary crowed attacked royal palace at Tuileries
9. king & queen fled for their lives 1791
10. 5 days into flight recognized at Varennes
11. they were arrested & brought back to Paris
12. Legislative Assembly suspended king from all his functions
13. Constitutional monarchy was dead
IV. SECOND REVOLUTION OR COUNTER-REVOLUTION:RADICALIZATION OF REVOLUTION
A. SEPTEMBER MASSACRES
1. fall of monarchy led to radicalization of Revolution
2. leading to thousands of unnecessary killings & much terror & fear
3. which historians often call second revolution
4. gave Revolution bad name to its supporters
5. September Massacres 1792
a.1st step in this radical movement
6. when news of Prussia & Austria victories over France hit Paris
7. wild stories seized the city
8. panic swept Paris & crowds of angry people went on warpath
a. killing nearly 1000 people
B. FRANCE BECOMES A REPUBLIC BY KILLING ITS KING
1. new assembly ( National Convention) now declared France a Republic in 1792
a. from 1792-1804
2. if you are a republic you don't need a king
3. large majority condemned Louis of treason
4. next sentenced him to death by 1 vote
a. guillotine - 1793
b. his wife Marie Antoinette followed him 9 months later
c. when revealed she had been conniving w/her Austrian countrymen to subvert French Revolution
d. she too declared a traitor & guillotined
C. WAR WITH EUROPE EXPANDS
1. international tensions mounted as France now declared war on Britain, Holland & Spain
a. in addition to Prussia & Austria
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2. this great war will last almost without interruption until 1815 Battle of Waterloo
D. POWER STRUGGLE BETWEEN GIRONDISTS & MOUNTAIN MEN
1. meanwhile republicans struggled for political power
2. as they were now divided
a. Girondists
(1) more moderate
b. Mountain (formerly called Jacobins)
(1) more radical
3. then as increasing hardships came down on sans-culottes in Paris
a. sans-culottes = without breeches
(1) wore trousers instead of knee breeches of aristocracy
b. artisans & shop keepers & laborers
c. rapid inflation, unemployment & food shortages again
4. sans-culottes allied w/Mountain men
5. Girondists not able to solve problems &
6. so radicals - Mountain men took over
7. they expelled less radical group from govt
8. became a dictatorship of small group of men
a. known as Committee of Public Safety
b. granted dictorial power to deal with national emergency
c. of waging total war w/Europe & aiding poor
d. fixed prices on goods & food,
e. issued ration cards & rationing
9. they told people what to produce & how much to produce of armaments & other necessary things
10. scrapped much of gains of Constitution of 1791
11. leader Robespierre (1758-94)
a. his slogan virtue & terror
E. REIGN OF TERROR 1793-4
1. once economy & war needs dealt w/Robespierre began a campaign to exterminate enemies of Revolution
2. under Law of Suspects everyone who criticized govt seized along w/all relatives
3. "Watch Committees" in every neighborhood ordered to keep lists of suspects & arrest them periodically
4. local courts ignored normal legal procedures & judged severely
a. no defense counsel
b. no preliminary questioning
(1) ie grand jury
c. courts could only hand down 2 verdicts
(1) acquittal or death
5. from fall 1793-summer 1794 (nearly 1 yr)
6. most famous or infamous period of Revolution
7. at least 40,000 French men & women executed or died in prison
8. another 300,000 suspects imprisoned & came close to death
9. who were victims?
a. majority of victims obscure men & women
b. of 14,000 whose social origin known only
(1) 1158 came from nobility
(2) nearly 2000 from upper middle class
10. actually of 400,000 nobility c 1789
a. 1158 executed, another 16,431 fled country
11. 1 known victim
a. Marie-Jeanne Philipon (1754-1793)
b. better known by her married name
(1) Madame Roland
(a) husband inspector of manufactures for province of Picardy
12. well-educated dau of Parisian engraver
13. profoundly influenced by Rousseau
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14. she became writer against ills of society
a. American Revolution fired her enthusiasm for war on Kings
b. terrible gulf between rich & poor in France
c. absence of rep govt
d. monarchy's use of force to stifle dissent
e. which in prophetic crystal ball, she denounced as reign of terror
15. Madame Roland saw revolution as only hope for France
16. From moment Rev began in 1789 she lived for little else
17. she est salon that attracted such figures as Robespierre & Thomas Paine
18. but also became embroiled in intrigue & machinations of revolution
19. eventually because of her part in revolution she condemned to guillotine
20. & as she was about to die she uttered most famous words of French Revolution
a. o Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name
21. Madame Roland became heroic figure to 19th c. historians
22. terror of guillotine created widespread popular perversion
23. but Dr. Guillotine himself appalled by it all
24. temporary guillotine-mania
25. members of revolutionary tribunal complained guillotine able to cut off only 1 head per minute
26. so enthusiastic terrorists in Bordeaux ordered a four-blade model built
27. 1 city no guillotine so drowned them
a. 2000 chained to leaky barge
28. attitudes toward decapitating machine mixture of fear, reverence & joking familiarity
29. called - people's avenger, the national razor, patriotic shortener
30. Robespierre ordered it draped in velvet during patriotic ceremonies
31. while another leading revolutionary referred to its functions as the Red Mass
32. women wore them as earrings
33. dishes & china w/guillotine motif on many dinner tables
34. but mania reached its most extreme form
a. when provincial officials found children given toy guillotines to play with using them to execute mice
& birds
35. terror left long memory & French historians don't like to mention it
a. difficult for them to accept this part
F. THERMIDORIAN REACTION & DIRECTORY 1795-9
1. finally reacting to excesses of Robespierre
2. moderate elements of National Convention arrested Robespierre & his key followers
a. sent them to guillotine
3. new dish named after this movement
a. Lobster Thermidor
4. More conservative Constitution of 1795 adopted
5. provided for new government
a. Directory
6. still another form of govt for France
7. bicameral legislature modeled after ancient Athens
8. not made up of great leaders
9. ablest political leaders had either been purged during reign of terror
10. or had been driven out of country
11. financial difficulties once more promised to ruin country
12. government increasingly incompetent
a. acute financial crisis
b. war against other nations of Europe
(1) done as much to solve unemployment problem
(2) as able to live off territories they conquered & plundered
c. threatened by conspiracies
13. sent 3 armies out against foreign foes to invade Austrian territory
a. Napoleon's army only one successful
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14. Parisian mob elements once again appeared to be getting out of hand
15. Napoleon summoned to protect National Convention
a. dispersed Parisian mob
16. coup d'etat & established Consulate
17. all happened just as Edmund Burke had predicted
a. in the weakness of authority...some popular general shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself.
Armies will obey him on his personal account...The person who really commands the army is your
master.
G. CONSULATE 1799-1804
1. govt of 3 consuls
2. consul form of govt dates back to Roman Empire
3. Napoleon then First Consul for term 10 yrs
4. other 2 consuls appointed by him & subordinated to him
5. in 1802 Napoleon became First Consul for life
6. 1804 Napoleon submitted new constitution which changed Consulate to the French Empire
7. Napoleon I proclaimed emperor of French
V. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 1769-1821
A. GENERAL REMARKS
1. he mixture of ambition, charisma, & military genius
2. it drove Napoleon from obscurity to utmost power
3. 1 of greatest military commanders of all time
4. w/in a decade conquered most of Europe in a series of military campaigns that astonished world
5. w/his grand army N built his grand empire
a. an ever-expanding France that at 1 time included Belgium, Holland, Italy, much of German territory
on East bank Rhine
6. France's victories changed map of Europe
7. est. satellite kingdoms & placed his relatives on their thrones
8. only Great Britain able to hold out against N
9. but in end all nations he had subdued aligned against him for final rout
a. Russia, Prussia, Austria, & England
B. EARLY YEARS & MILITARY TRAINING
1. born of Italian descent - Corsica
a. French won island year before Napoleon born
2. age 10-15 French military school
3. graduation at 16 & 2nd Lt in artillery regiment
4. out of 8 yrs spent nearly 5 yr on regular furloughs in Paris
5. during these 8 yrs read voraciously
a. anything at hand
b. took abundant notes on Voltaire, Rousseau, other writers Enlightenment
c. history & military tactics
6. from age 22 Lt to age 25 Brigadier General
7. age 26 - commander of Interior Army
8. age 27 - made commander of Italy 1796 by Directory
9. age 30 - Emperor
C. WHY ROSE TO POWER
1. self-confident, determined
2. high IQ - highly imaginative
3. relationship & subsequent marriage to widow Josephine,
a. she had many political connections
b. & responsible for his first military commands
4. revolutionary society open to men of talent where a gifted man could rise quickly
5. by late 1804 he proclaimed himself emperor
6. even though invited pope, crowned himself so no quarrel over investiture
7. Napoleon seen as liberator of oppressed people
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D.
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8. organized new dynasty a prestige comparable to monarch's court
a. new nobility created
(1) based on military exploits or civilian services
b. est Legion of Honor 1802
(1) still in France today
9. supervised everything
a. bldg highways
b. mfg porcelain
10. his authority tighter than enlightened despotism
11. foreshadowed modern totalitarianism
PERSONAL LIFE
1. Married widow Josephine - 1796 (she 33, he 27)
2. 1810 (Josephine 46 divorced her)a. no children
b. all thru yrs, in spite of her infidelities, barrenness of their union,
c. even of his repudiation of her in 1810
d. he always had a deep & warm feeling,
e. her death in May 1814 caused him genuine sorrow
3. next married dau of Austrian emperor - Maria-Louise
a. had 1 son by her, who lived to 21
4. another son from liaison w/Polish countess
a. served in French Govt in 19th c
MILITARY CAMPAIGNS
1. Italian campaigns
a. 1796-1797 - 20 months
b. revealed his military genius
c. FR 38,000 troops - against 30,000 Austrians, 25,000 Piedmontese
d. won
2. Austerlitz 1805
a. N most brilliant & decisive victories
b. against Russians, Austrians
3. battles against Prussians & Russians next saw France victorious
CONSEQUENCES OF THESE VICTORIES
1. under this latter-day Caesar almost all Europe could be divided into three parts
2. French Empire
a. included France & territories annexed since 1789
3. Satellites
a. ruled in many cases by relatives of Napoleon
b. Confederation of the Rhine (germanies)
c. Duchy of Warsaw
d. Italy, Switzerland, Spain
4. allies
a. Austria, Prussia & Russia
(1) forced by defeat to become F allies
5. only Britain & Sweden outside this system
WHY MILITARY SUCCESSES
1. his tactics influenced European & American armies for several generations
a. generals studied his tactics for years at West Point
b. American Civil War generals studied
2. dev a citizen army non-conscriptive
a. volunteer soldiers could be trusted in skirmish lines
b. no fear they would run away
c. didn't have to be disciplined as much
3. changed officer corp
a. officers no longer just nobles but qualified people
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b. opened to non-Frenchmen
c. officer corp permanently not just in war time
d. thus generals in on dev of tactics before battles & N knew generals & could command rapidly
MAIN INGREDIENTS OF HIS WARFARE
1. planning
a. leave nothing to chance
b. 3-4 months advance planning
c. plan for worst contingencies
2. went on offensive
a. main attack must try to cut off army from supply & communication centers
b. & divide enemy's forces
3. deception
a. master at splitting army & reassembling it another place
b. catching other armies unawares
4. speed & mobility
a. Marches of 30-40 miles per day not uncommon
b. once 75 miles in 48 hours
c. I may lose a battle, but I never lose a minute"
5. summation
a. soldiers & offices devoted to N
b. followed him from one end of Europe to the other
c. often badly fed, rarely paid & blind to all but glory of continual victory
d. had flair for PR & public relations w/army
BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR
1. N decides to invade England to eliminate her
2. October 21, 1805
3. British under command of Lord Nelson who lost his life but not before he had destroyed half of his
adversaries' ships w/o sacrificing a single one of his own
4. Britain defeated combined navy forces of France & Spain
5. put end to French hope for invasion of Britain
6. guaranteed British control of sea for rest of war
CONTINENTAL SYSTEM
1. devised to stifle British economy
2. prohibited importation of British goods into Eur
a. contraband & smuggling negated it
3. Russian abandoned it when making czar unpopular
a. & declared war on Napoleon 1812
MARCH ON MOSCOW 1812
1. 600,000 FR army against 150,000 Russians
a. 3:1 odds
2. Napoleon's plan to launch frontal attack against Russian army
3. problems supply line as Russians used scorched earth policy
4. Russian army fled from attack
5. Russian’s burning of Moscow & surrounds, not able to live off Russian land
6. Russian winter destroyed all but 30,000 N's army
a. 95% army destroy
b. 1 of greatest military disasters in history
CONSEQUENCES RUSSIAN RETREAT
1. Allies invaded France & Paris
2. Napoleon agreed to unconditional abdication
3. unsuccessfully attempted suicide by poison
4. allies granted him sovereignty over island of Elba
5. 100 days there
WATERLOO
1. escape from Elba & able to garner support
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7.
June 18, 1815 - Belgium
England's Duke of Wellington w/Prussia's aid defeated N
died St. Helena off western coast of Africa 5500 miles from France
N survived countless battles but may have been slain by medicines provided to aid him
autopsy revealed stomach cancer to be immediate cause of death
but toxicologic studies done in 1962 on locks of his hair uncovered high levels of arsenic
a. can be detected centuries after death
8. possibility remains he died of chronic arsenic poisoning from lifelong ingestion of medicines
a. arsenic widely used in medications during Napoleonic era
9. 1840 his body brought back triumphantly to Paris
10. success of plebiscite of his nephew Napoleon III in 1851
N. LONG-TERM LEGACIES OF NAPOLEON
1. as N conquered areas
2. put an end to old regime & its feudal trappings in Western Eur
3. he took reforms of French rev w/him & placed them on the people
4. established Napoleon Code
a. code promulgated in all countries he conquered
b. & in some countries it remained long after N
c. equality of all citizens regardless or rank before the law
d. absolute security of private property
e. freedom of religion
5. N also left legacies for France in administrative & educational reforms still in effect today
a. est Bank of France
(1) fixed valuation of franc w/gold & silver
(2) standard was to last until 1926
b. rev & N cost the church its monopoly over education
c. created University of France
(1) really a ministry of education
(2) licensed teachers
(3) set the program of studies
(4) controlled examinations
d. centralized & near-monopolistic conceptions of ed has prevailed in France to today
e. civil service
(1) solidified french civil service
(2) retained till today
6. w/his military victories & domestic ordering,
7. he gave national unity to France lasted for 100 yrs.
8. French people consider N as the consolidator of French Revolution
9. legend of Napoleon is still strong in France today
10. concept of "great powers" seen today in permanent membership in the Security Council of United Nations
a. outgrowth of Napoleonic wars
11. plus Europe's view to settle international problems by series of congresses
12. his policies did much to further romanticism, individualism, & nationalism
VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS FRENCH REVOLUTION
A. general remarks
1. many historians think French Rev. ended in failure
a. w/dictatorships of Robespierre & Napoleon
2. but nobility had lost its power & prestige
3. middle class had gained political power
4. lower orders of peasants had thrown off their feudal chains
5. France in the course of 15 yrs went through 7 types of government
a. absolute monarchy
b. constitutional monarchy
c. republic
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d. dictatorship
e. directory
f. consulate
g. imperial - emperor
if nothing else France was innovative
but most important legacy of French Revolution
a. it became a modernizer of Europe
ideas of Revolution & Enlightenment will spread to rest of Europe
3 famous words of revolution will continue to inspire
a. liberte, egalite, & fraternite
(1) liberty, equality and fraternity
over course of 19th c. many areas in Europe will go through similar throes of revolt & revolution
& evolve into national states
a. i.e. Germany, Italy
& even Latin America will utilize ideas of American & French revolutions to throw off yolk of Spain &
Portugal