Chapter 18
The French Revolution and Napoleon
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France’s Three Estates
◦ Estate – Societal groupings
◦ First Estate – Clergy (people who work for the
Church) 10% of Land 0.5% of population
◦ Second Estate – Nobility (people with a title) 25% of
Land 1.5% of population
◦ Third Estate – Everyone else from poor to rich 65%
of Land 98% of population 100% of Taille (taxes)
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Most were peasants but many were middle
and upper class, but had to suffer as the third
estate because they had no title
Peasants had to pay a fee to use the mill and
presses of the local lord
Prices of consumer goods increased much
faster than wages
Bourgeoisie – middle to upper class
(merchants, bankers, lawyers etc.)
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The economy collapsed
◦ Bad harvests
◦ Food shortages
◦ Spent vast amounts of money on American
Revolution
◦ King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lived in luxury
◦ People did not like living in poverty when the
government was spending so much on America and
living in palaces
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Each estate had only one vote as a group
The 1st and 2nd always voted together
The 3rd estate wanted a constitutional
government and make all estates pay tax
Third estate vowed to create a constitution
and not leave until it was completed. They
met on a tennis court. This was known as the
tennis court oath
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Cost of bread was so high people were
protesting…Marie Antoinette is misquoted as
saying “let them eat cake”
Louis XVI prepared to use force against the
3rd estate
3rd estate stormed the Bastille (old fortress
used as a prison and armory)
There were no weapons, but they released
some prisoners and cut off the wardens head
The Guards joined the revolutionaries
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Inspired by the English Bill of Rights and
American Declaration of Independence
All men are created equal
All should pay tax
All should participate in government
Women were not included “women do not
hope to exercise political rights and
functions”
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King and Queen were basically taken
prisoners in their own palace
A new constitution in 1791 set up a limited
monarchy
Paris Commune
◦ Popularly elected city council
◦ Attacked the royal palace and legislature
◦ Sans-culottes – without breeches because they
wore long pants and were apparently proud of it
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Georges Danton – minister of justice attacked
the palace and the royal family had to flee
The First Republic – 1792 the monarchy was
abolished and a new republic was
established.
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Various political clubs were established
Girondins- represented those outside of Paris
Mountain (Jacobins) – represented those
inside of Paris.
Faction – dissenting group of people on
different sides of an issue.
King was beheaded in 1793
The kings execution pushed the revolution
into a new radical phase
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France seemed unstable and weak due to the
revolution.
After Louis XVI was executed, a coalition of
Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Britain and
the Dutch took up arms against France.
The Committee of Public Safety was
established with broad powers to protect
France from domestic and external forces
Led by Maximilien Robespierre
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Reign of terror is the name given to the
actions of the Committee of Public Safety to
defend France from domestic threats and
foreign invaders.
Revolutionary courts were set up to prosecute
counterrevolutionaries and traitors.
15% of those killed in the reign of terror were
from the 1st and 2nd estate the rest were from
the 3rd.
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The Republic of Virtue – a democratic
republic composed of good citizens. As
outward signs of support for the republic, the
titles “Citizen” and “Citizeness” replaced
“Mister” and “Madame”.
Women founded the Society for Revolutionary
Republican Women
De-Christianization – changed the calendar to
begin on Sept 22 1792 and had 12 months
but with 3 - 10 day weeks.
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Over 1 million soldiers in a few years
Robespierre was obsessed with ridding
France of all corrupt elements
He became too power hungry and was having
many people killed
The National Convention voted to have
Robespierre guillotined
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New Government established – allowed
churches to re-open; restricted power of
committee of public safety
Members of both houses chosen by electors
(qualified voters)
Council of elders chose Directors from a list
presented by the Council of 500
It was all very complicated and corrupt
General Napoleon Bonaparte lead a coup
d'état (a sudden overthrow of the
government)
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Napoleon Bonaparte – Born in 1769 on the
Island of Corsica in Italy but controlled by
France
Father was low level nobility
Won a scholarship to French military school
Not well liked spoke with an Italian accent
Studied the French philosophers and major
military campaigns
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Famous for speed surprise and decisive
action
Took over much of Northern Italy
Returned to France a Hero
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Took part in the coup d'état that overthrew
the directory and set up the new government
the Consulate
Napoleon was in charge of most of the
government and 2 years later he declared
himself emperor
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Recognized Catholicism as the religion of the
majority of the people
Church could continue, but the lands that had
been taken remained in the hands of the
takers.
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France had almost 300 different law systems
Napoleon created the Civil Code aka
Napoleonic Code
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Equality of all citizens
Right of individuals to choose their profession
Religious toleration
Abolition of serfdom and feudalism
Women lost some rights to property, courts, and in
court.
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Officials were promoted based on ability not
who they were or their status
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Napoleon shut down 60 of the 73 newspapers
Banned books
Made all future books be evaluated by the
government before being published
Government opened all mail
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Napoleon controlled most of Europe
Empire had 3 sections
French empire - total control
Dependent states – kingdoms controlled by
napoleon’s relatives
Allied states – countries that pledged alliance
to napoleon
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Napoleon developed the continental system
which prevented British goods from entering
the mainland of Europe.
Nationalism – sense of identity based on
common language, religion and national
symbols.
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Russia did not follow the continental system
and Napoleon wanted to punish them
Napoleons Grand Army of over 600,000 men
invaded Russia.
The Russians did not fight instead they
retreated and burned everything so the
French would have no resources while
chasing them.
The French eventually retreated back to
France an many soldiers died on the way
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Other European countries invaded weakened
France
Napoleon sent to exile in Island of Elba
Louis XIII becomes king
Napoleon escaped exile back to France
He reunited with the Army and said would any of
you kill your emperor and they rallied behind him
Europe called him the disturber of tranquility in
the world
At waterloo in Belgium Napoleon was again
defeated and that was that.
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The Industrial Revolution – dramatic increase
in industry and product output including the
rise of factories.
Causes:
1. increase in agriculture allowed people to
move off farms, sell extra crops, buy
manufactured goods, and population increase
2. Enclosure movement – fenced off lands
were more efficient and needed less labor
than common farms
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3. Capital – the supply of money increased
and Entrepreneurs – seekers of new business
opportunities increased
4. Plentiful natural resources and means to
access those resources
5. Supply of markets gave British businesses
an outlet for their goods.
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Cottage industry – manufacturing goods on a
very small scale from homes.
Inventions that created mass production:
1. flying shuttle – made weaving faster.
2. Spinning Jenny – made spinning much
faster.
3. Water powered loom – lead to the first
factories. Needed to be near rivers
4. James Watt – Steam engine allowed
factories to be built anywhere.
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Seemingly endless supply of coal in England
for steam engines
Higher quality Iron was produced through the
process of puddling
This removed impurities that weakened the
iron.
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Shift work was invented to keep factories
running around the clock
Children often beaten and forced to work in
dangerous conditions.
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Railroads were particularly important to the
success of the revolution.
Allowed raw materials and finished products
to be transported faster and opened new
markets.
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Britain became the richest nation in the world
European population went from 140 million
to 266 million in 100 years (better fed and
more resistant to disease)
Thomas Malthus wrote that when there is an
increase in food, the population increases as
well, but too fast for the food to keep up.
Large numbers of people moved to cities to
work in factories
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Industrial capitalism – economic system
based on industrial production – created a
new middle class.
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Terrible working conditions – 12 to 16 hour
days, 6 days a week
No safety features on machinery
No minimum wage
No stability in employment
50% were women and paid half that of a man
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Socialism – the government owns or controls
some of the means of production
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Congress of Vienna – European rulers moved
to create a peace settlement and return the
old order
The family before napoleon would be
restored to power
They re arranged the territories in Europe in
an attempt to balance the power
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Conservatism – is based on tradition and
social stability
Also believe that religion is crucial to keep
order in society
Concert of Europe was created to maintain
peace…somewhat like the UN
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Principle of Intervention – great powers had
the right to send armies into countries where
there were revolutions in order to restore
legitimate monarchs to their thrones.
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People should be as free as possible from
government restraint
Most liberals wanted religious toleration for
all as well as separation of church and state
Believed that the legislature should make
laws and government ruled by a constitution
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The idea that people identify themselves by
common traits such as language and not as
subjects of the same king
Loyalty is focused on the country or
community not the king
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Belgium rebelled against the Dutch in 1815
Polish attempted to rebel against Russia
Italian rebellions 1848 against Austrians
1848 French Revolution 2.0 overthrew the
king
Louis Napoleon becomes the president
(nephew of THE Napoleon)
Universal Male Suffrage – all adult men could
vote
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German Confederation – 38 independent
states allied in Germany including Austria and
Prussia
Multinational State – collection if different
people that stand together as one country
similar to America
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Breakdown of the concert of Europe
Russia invaded the Balkans
Turks declared war on Russia
France and Britain declared war on Russia
Known as the Crimean war
Destroyed the concert of Europe
Unified Italy and Germany into nations rather
than a collection of independent states.
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Camillo di Cavour – made an alliance with
Louis-Napoleon then provoked Austria to
declare war on Italy so that France would
fight Austria
France took troops out of Italy to fight
Austrians then Italy took Rome back
Known as the Franco-Prussian war
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Militarism – reliance on military strength for
defense
Otto Von Bismarck – governed Prussia
without approval from parliament
Went to war with France
William I became Kaiser of unified Germany
Politik – politics of reality not theory
Prussian Monarch and military had achieved
German Unity
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Britain gave industrial middle class the right
to vote which avoided revolution
Economic growth led to stability
Queen Victoria was in queen form 1837 to
1901. This created national Pride
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Louis-Napoleon gave himself the title
Napoleon III and declared that he was
emperor of France
Completely controlled and limited civil
liberties
Built rails, harbors, roads and canals
Iron production tripled
Gave some power to legislature
Empire fell in the Franco-Prussian war
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Made up of several different ethnic groups
Compromise of 1867 created a dual
monarchy of Austria-Hungary
Other nationalities in the region were left out.
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Freed the serfs through emancipation
Peasants had no access to land so were
almost worse off
Alexander II was assassinated
His son Alexander III went back to the old
system
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Slavery was a threat to national unity
South Seceded – withdraw from US
Civil War was a terribly bloody struggle to
maintain national unity.
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Romanticism – emphasized feelings,
emotions, and imagination as sources of
knowing
Art – reflection of inner feelings and
abandoned reason for imagination
Eugene Delacroix – famous romantic painter
Music – Ludwig Von Beethoven romantic
composer Said “I must write, for what weighs
on my heart, I must express”
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Walter Scott – Ivanhoe – clashes between
knights and medieval England
May Shelley’s Frankenstein
Edgar Allan Poe – horror stories
William Wordsworth – poems about nature
William Blake – poems about human soul
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Louis Pasteur – proposed germ theory of
disease
Mendeleyev classified the elements based on
atomic weight
Faraday made generator and first electric
current
Secularization – indifference or rejection of
religious affairs of the world
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Organic Evolution the evolution of plants and
animals from simpler forms of life
Natural selection – the idea that the strongest
individuals in a species will survive and pass
those traits down and again and again.
Eventually resulting in a new species.
Also known as survival of the fittest.
Very Controversial then and now
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The belief that the world should be viewed
realistically
Examination of social issues
Gustave Flaubert – perfected the realist novel
Charles Dickens – Oliver twist, David
Copperfield, Christmas carol
Gustave Courbet – most famous realist artist