-The French Revolution1789-1814
-French Monarchy in CrisisI. Louis XIV made France a tremendous power,
but put the French in debt by helping to finance
wars and making extravagant purchases
II. Louis XV said, “After us, the
deluge (flood).” By this he was
saying that he did not care what
happened to France after he died
A. He saw the trouble
ahead but did not attempt
to stop it
III. The French people were divided
into three estates
A. The Clergy were members of the
First Estate
1. The First Estate made
money by collecting the
Tithe and through their
immense land holdings
2. Property owned by the First
Estate was not taxed by the
Monarchy, but the Church
charged taxes to people who
lived on their land
B. The Nobles were members of the
Second Estate. Nobles had several
unique privileges
1. Only Nobles could be
officers in the army
2. Only Nobles could fill
high Church positions
3. Nobles did not have to
pay taxes
C. The Third Estate was made up of the Commoners of France. Not all Commoners
were poor, some were very wealthy
1. The French middle class was known as the Bourgeoisie
2. Members of the French middle class were heavily influenced by the Enlightenment
3. Under the Old Regime, members of the Bourgeoisie paid most of the taxes
4. French peasants faced several hardships
a. They paid heavy taxes
b. They could not hunt
5. In the late 1700’s, inflation decreased the value of city worker’s labor
IV. Several factors were hurting the French
economy and pushing the country toward an
economic crisis
A. Debt owed to bankers doubled
after the American Revolution
B. Poor harvests led to famine
C. Tariffs and customs made trade
difficult
D. Guilds restricted new businesses
V. Attempts at reform
A. Louis XVI’s first finance minister
was Robert Turgot
B. Turgot was influenced by the
Enlightenment
1. He attempted to improve
the French economy by
cutting government
spending, limiting the power
of guilds, and reducing
customs
C. Turgot made the radical suggestion that Nobles be taxed
D. Turgot began to suggest to Louis XVI that if he did not act, he would be
overthrown
E. As the economic situation grew worse in the 1780’s, Louis XVI was forced to
call a meeting of the Estates General
-The Revolution BeginsI. In 1789 Louis XVI summoned the Estates General to a meeting
A. Louis was attempting to win support for reforms he hoped would improve the
French economy
1. This was the Estates General’s first meeting in 175 years
B. When the Estates General met, the Third Estate immediately
demanded reform of the voting system
1. Each Estate voted as a whole; this meant that the first and
second Estate always out-voted the third
C. The Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly and
wanted to write a constitution
D. After Louis XVI banished the National Assembly, many members
made a promise not to leave the palace until France has a Constitution
1. This pledge became known as the Tennis Court Oath
II. In the summer of 1789 uprisings occurred in both urban and rural areas of France
A. On July 14th, 1789 citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille and released its prisoners
1. This was the symbolic start of the French Revolution and is known as
Bastille Day
B. Peasants feared the French army was
going to storm the countryside
1. Instead of fleeing, the
peasants attacked rural nobles
and held them as leverage
2. A large scale attack never
came and this series of events
became known as the Great
Fear
III. After Bastille Day, the French
Revolution began
A. The Declaration of the
Rights of Man outlined the
basic rights that all individuals
should have
B. In the fall an angry mob of
women went to Versailles and
took the royal family back to
Paris as prisoners
C. The National Assembly began religious reforms
1. Freedom of worship
2. Bishops were no longer appointed by the King but were elected
3. Church lands were confiscated and sold to raise money
D. The National Assembly wrote the Constitution of 1791
1. France was to become a limited monarchy with three
branches of government
IV. Responses to the Revolution
A. Many French people did not like the
Constitution of 1791
1. Radicals thought the constitution
gave too much power to the king and
wanted the monarchy eliminated
2. Nobles thought the constitution
went too far
B. After the National Assembly presented
the constitution, Louis XVI and is family
attempted to flee France
C. The new Legislative Assembly met in
October of 1791
1. Their seating arrangement
reflected political divisions
a. Radicals on the left
b. Moderates on the
right
D. The radicals were also divided among themselves
1. The most radical group in France was known as the Jacobins
-The Revolution gets MessyI. Defense of the Revolution
A. Many European rulers were concerned about the situation in
France
1. They were afraid it would inspire the people of
their countries to rebel
2. Nobles in exile were lobbying Austrian and Prussian rulers to take action
a. These nobles in exile were called Émigrés
B. In April 1792, France declared war
on Austria and Prussia
1. Initially, the war went
poorly
2. It ended up helping the
Revolution because the threat
of defeat caused many French
to unite behind the new
Revolutionary leaders
C. In August 1792, the Radicals overthrew the new government
1. Louis XVI and his family were imprisoned
2. The Radicals called for a new constitution
3. This was the second Revolution in France
II. The Second Revolution in France
A. The new governing body in France was known as the National
Convention
B. Radicals were elected to the Convention
C. The National Convention abolished the monarchy and voted to make
France a Republic
D. The Jacobins demanded Louis XVI be
tried for treason
1. After discovering several
letters written to émigrés and
European kings asking for help,
Louis XVI was convicted and
executed
III. Attacks on the Revolution
A. In March 1793; Britain, the Netherlands, and Spain all
joined Austria and Prussia in the war against France
B. Moderates began to criticize the Radicals
1. They thought the Revolution had gone too far
IV. Reign of Terror
A. Because of the crisis the National
Convention stopped work on the new
constitution and established the
committee of public safety
1. The committee sought to
ride France of “Enemies
of the Revolution”
2. The committee was led by
Maximilien Robespierre
B. Between 20,000 and 40,000 people
were killed
1. Many by the guillotine
C. A draft was established to increase
the strength of the military
1. After France achieved
victory in war, Robespierre
was arrested and executed
-The Rise and Fall of NapoleonI. The Constitution of 1795
A. After the Reign of Terror, the French wrote the
Constitution of 1795 and established the Directory
1. This was the fourth Revolutionary government
in France
B. The Directory had two branches:
1. The Legislative branch was elected by literate
property owners
2. The Executive branch was made up of five
directors chosen by the Legislature
C. The Directory faced a number of
problems
1. Corrupt legislators were
easily bribed
2. The Directory removed
price controls and poor
city workers rioted due to
inflation
3. The Directory continued
to be aggressive in war
II. Napoleon Bonaparte
A. Napoleon rose through the ranks of the
military during the French Revolution
1. Most officers fled France early in
the Revolution; this enabled
Napoleon to become a general at the
age of 27
2. He was considered a hero in
France after key victories
against the British and Austria
3. Napoleon married a woman
named Josephine who was a
French socialite with political
connections
B. After returning from war as a military hero, Napoleon and two directors
overthrew the Directory
1. They wrote a new constitution and named Napoleon “First Council”
2. In 1802, Napoleon was elected First Council for life
C. In 1804, in a ceremony with the Pope, Napoleon named himself Emperor of the
French
1. Napoleon had absolute power, but needed to maintain Revolutionary
reforms to keep that power
III. Napoleon’s Reforms
A. As part of Napoleon’s reforms, he
created an organized law code
known as the Napoleonic Code
1. All men were equal
before the law
2. Freedom of religion
3. Eliminated laws that
extended rights to women
B. Napoleon created the Bank of France
1. This national bank deposited tax
money
2. Issued paper money
3. Made loans
C. Napoleon set up Lycees
1. These were government run
schools that trained officers
D. Napoleon signed an agreement with
the Pope known as the Concordant of
1801
1. The election of Bishops
ended
2. However, Church property
confiscated during the
Revolution was not returned
Pope Pius VII
IV. From 1807 to 1812,
Napoleon controlled most of
mainland Europe
A. While defeating
European powers at
war, Napoleon was
able to keep these
nations from uniting
against him
B. Napoleon brought the ideas of the French Revolution, as well as his own, to the
nations he defeated
1. Religious tolerance
2. An end to serfdom
3. The Napoleonic Code
C. Napoleon attempted to weaken Great Britain by establishing the Continental
System
1. Great Britain was a major obstacle to Napoleon’s plans for conquest
2. The Continental System ordered European nations to stop trading with Britain
a. In response, Britain taxed all ships bound for France
3. The Continental System hurt France and the rest of Europe more than it did
Great Britain
V. Rise of European Nationalism
A. Many European nations began to resent Napoleon for
several reasons
1. High taxes
2. Soldiers were forced to serve in Napoleon’s
army
3. Leaders wanted a return to traditional customs
B. Opposition began in several parts of Europe
1. Prussia rebuilt its army
2. Spaniards began to practice guerilla warfare
VI. The Russian Invasion
A. Russia, under Czar Alexander I,
broke the Continental System and
began trading with Britain
1. In response, Napoleon
organized an army of
500,000 men and invaded
Russia
B. The Russians refused to fight
1. They instead retreated into Russia and destroyed their
crops and livestock as they went
2. This was known as a Scorched Earth policy
C. When the Russians finally fought at Moscow, Napoleon’s troops defeated them
1. However, by this time the Russian winter was approaching
2. Napoleon had no supplies or shelter and was forced to retreat
D. The Russian army attacked Napoleon’s forces as they retreated
1. As a result of the attacking Russians and brutal conditions, only
100,000 of Napoleon’s troops made it out of Russia alive
VII. Defeat of Napoleon
A. With the French army weakened;
Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia
attacked France and defeated
Napoleon
1. Napoleon went into exile
on the island of Elba
2. Louis XVI’s brother,
Louis XVIII, became king
B. Louis XVIII kept many of Napoleon’s reforms in place
1. Religious toleration
2. Napoleonic Code
C. Louis XVIII faced several key problems
1. Returning émigrés demanded revolutionaries be
punished and things return to tradition
2. Louis XVIII needed to honor the Revolution in order to
maintain popular support
D. Napoleon used this opportunity to return to France, remove Louis XVIII from
power and form an army
1. The British and Prussians did not hesitate to act
a. They attacked quickly and defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo
2. Napoleon was sent into exile on the island
of St. Helena where he stayed until he died
in 1821
a. Napoleon’s return to power in
France is known as the “100 Days”
VIII. The Congress of Vienna – 1815
A. European leaders met to restructure Europe after the defeat of Napoleon
1. The meeting was dominated by Conservative Reactionaries
2. Prince Metternich of Austria led the meeting
B. The Congress had two major goals:
1. Legitimacy – Restore the power of royal families across
Europe
2. Balance of Power – France was reduced to its preRevolutionary boundaries
C. The Age of Metternich
1. For thirty years after
the Congress, Metternich
sought to avoid
revolution and maintain
the status quo in Europe