French Revolution
King Louis XVI
Married age 15
 Crowned age 19
 Introverted
 Uninterested in government

Queen Marie Antoinette
Princess and
Archduchess of the
Hapsburgs house of
Austria
 Married at age 14
 Lavish in dress
“Madame Deficit”
 Scandals

Government/Social Class

General Estates First
Estate-Roman Catholic clergy (1% pop.)
 Second Estate-Nobility (2% of pop.)
 Third Estate-Bourgeoisie, Artisans, Peasants
 Bourgeoisie-Middle
Merchants)
class people (Doctors, Lawyers,
Estates
Clergy
Nobles
Bourgeoisie
Artisans
Peasants
Causes of French Revolution

Causes
 1756

Seven Years War
under previous King Louis XV
(French and Indian War in American)

National debt
 Enlightenment
ideas-
“Social Contract”


John Locke
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Causes

Causes
 American
Revolution
 Crop failures
 Bread

Shortages
King Louis XVI calls Estates General
 Needs
money for debt must tax need vote
 Estates General must vote
Stop day1
The National Assembly
June 17, 1789
 Third Estates created
new governing body

Tennis Court Oath-Wrote Constitution

Storming the Bastille

Bastille-Prison in Paris
 Symbol
 July
of monarch’s power.
14, 1789 riot and took over the Bastille
 Common
People
 Sign King was losing power

The Great Fear
 Peasants
(July)
raising up against Landlords
Declaration of the Rights of Man
1789 Aug
 Slogan of French Revolution:
“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”-Rousseau
• Modeled after U.S. Declaration of
Independence

•
Written by Marquis de Lafayette with help
of Thomas Jefferson
Women’s Cry
Women's march on Versailles Oct 5th
 mobbed and armed
 Fighting for bread
 Forced King to return to Paris and deal
with the people

Church and State

National Assembly 1790 confiscates and
sells off church lands to pay for
government debt

Civil Constitution of the Clergy
 Clergy
elected
 Government employees
 Weakens
power of Catholic Church
The Almost Great Escape
1791

Royal Family attempts to escape France

Caught near the border at Varennes, Fr.
Call for Help

Declaration of Pillnitz -Austria and Prussia
willing to aide French royal family


(Aug 27, 91)
Austrian Emperor Leopold II is Queen’s brother
French response: Declared war on Austria
What did the European countries fear?
September Massacres

Aug 1792
 Paris
mobs attack and kill nobles and priests
whom they accused of political crimes
 Radicals
 Call
take over the National Assembly
for new constitution
New Constitution

Constitutional monarchy

Factions within the Assembly
 Royalist
(e’migre’s)-nobles wanted to restore
monarchy
 Sans – Culottes (“those without knee breeches”)
“common people” upper middle class Bourgeoisie who
wanted to have influence within the government
(Radicals/mobs)
The French Republic

National Convention (Sept. 1792)
 Wrote
first democratic constitutions
 Monarchy
(another one)
abolished
 Extend vote to all males with or without property
 Metric
 New
system
calendar
Factions

Jacobins vs. Girondists
 Girondists
too far
 Middle
 Jacobins

– moderates, felt Revolution went
class
– radical
“Mountains” – most radical Jacobins
 Calls for the execution of the King
Political Leaders





Maximilien Robespierre
Jacobin
Lawyer
Most Controversial figure
of the French Revolution
National Convention:
Committee of Public
Safety

Marquis de Lafayette
Girondist
Military commander in
America during American
Revolution

Wrote: Declaration of the


Rights of Man and of
Citizens
Political Leaders

Georges Danton

Jacobin
New Republics:
Minister of Justice

Jean-Paul Marat

Jacobin
National Convention
member
“Friend of the People” –
public paper



Hated by Girondists
OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

Jan. 1793 King Louis XVI was beheaded
 Tried
before the National Convention and
convicted of conspiring against the liberty of
the nation
The Reign of Terror
WAR
France vs. Austria, Prussia, Great Britain,
Holland, Spain (1793)
 National Convention instituted draft

 18-25
army
 First draft on European continent
 1796
French armies commanded by young
Napoleon Bonaparte
Reign of Terror
Revolution gone bad!
The Committee of Public Safety

Created by National Convention

Duties

Draft people into the army

Famous Leaders : Danton, Marat, Robespierre

Robespierre

used committee to get rid of enemies of the cause

Took control of National Convention so The Committee of Public
Safety had more power

Dictator power
Reign of Terror
Committee Public Safety
 Lead by Robespierre

July 1793-July 1794

Guillotined
 Enemies
of the Republic
 40,000+
people executed
 Danton
 Marie
Antoinette
Jean Paul Marat

Jacobin

Spoke out with “Friend
of the People”

Killed in his bathtub
 Stabbed by
Charlotte Corday –
Girondist
 Was guillotined
for death of
Marat
Terror turns inward

Danton




Charged with trying to
over throw the
government
Robespierre and
followers guillotined

Arrested and convicted
by the National
Convention
Charged by radicals
Giullotined
Public Safety
committee dismantled
 Jacobin clubs closed

The Directory
1795-1799

New Legislative body “The Directory”



New Constitution


Two house parliament
Executive head 5 men
Only upper middle class men could vote
only 20,000 men
Army put down riots under leadership of Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte

Commander of French forces fighting the
Austrians in Italy
 moved
up through the ranks
 Marriage

helped his status
Improved soldiers conditions
 Gains
soldiers support
Coup d e’tat

Background
 Napoleon
in Egypt fighting the British
 Defeated
at the Battle at the Nile
 Flees back to Paris
 Hero’s welcome the people

Coup
 Napoleon
and armed soldiers march into the
Directory kick out legislators
 The new Reign beginnings
Napoleon’s France

1799 Napoleon’s Dictatorship
 Restoring
Order
 Napoleon
appoints officers
 Bank of France

Everyone pays taxes
 Made business loans
 Controlled inflation
 Created Schools
 Secondary schools, Technical schools, Universities
(step towards public schools)
Napoleon’s France

Napoleonic Code Enlightenment
ideas that all citizens were
equal before the law
 Religious tolerance
 State more important than the individual
 Limited
freedom of speech
 Censorship
 Women’s rights limited (Men were head of house)
Napoleon’s France

The Church
 Made
peace with Catholic Church
 Napoleon
still appointed bishops and paid clergy
 Pope forgave
taken church lands
Emperor Napoleon

1804 named himself Emperor

Crowned himself

Road to Napoleonic Europe

France vs. Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Italy, (Russia)


Trade, ports, and economics
conquered: Spain, Italy, “Germany”

Attempts: Russia and Great Britain
 Lessons
not learned from History are bound to be
repeated-Who did not learn their history?
Napoleon’s Down Fall

Napoleonic Wars 1799-1815
 French
in 1792

fighting since Declaration of War on Austria
Invasion of Russia
 600,000
soldiers from all over Europe
 Russia “Scorched Earth policy”
 Russian Winter, no food, no shelter
 400,000 soldiers die
(wounds, starvation, exposure)
Napoleon’s Down Fall

March 1814 Napoleon forced to surrender

Foreign monarch’s return France to
King Louis XVIII (brother of Louis XVI)

Napoleon exiled to Elba, off Italy


Raises an army and comes back as Emperor
Defeated at Waterloo, by British


Exiled to the island of Saint Helena under house arrest
Dies 1821
You Decide
Napoleon
Tyrant or Uniter?
Ex Credit

20 points

Napoleonic Civil Code
 1.
Select a chapter from the Civil Code
 2. Select 5 sub-sections of the chapter to put
into your own words.
 3. Finally, reflect on these codes and explain
how this could impact France.