Background to the Revolution
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First Estate
 Clergy; 130,000 people; 10% of land
 Exempt from taxation
Second Estate
 Nobility, 350,000 people, 30% of land
 Nobles of Robe vs. Nobles of Sword
 Businesses, local governments, military,
etc
 Exempt from taxation
Third Estate
 Commoners, 97% people
 Divided
▪ Peasants (80%)
▪ Skilled artisans (11%)
▪ “Upper” third state: Bourgeoisie (8%)
80
70
60
50
1787
1788
40
30
20
10
0
% of Income Spent on Bread
Causes of the Revolution
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Old View: Marxist: Third Estate vs. First &
Second Estate
Other Issues:
 (1) Frustrated by privileges & order of
old (Acien) regime
 (2) Political Grievances
 (3) Ideas of the Philosophes: widely
circulated among urban Bourgeoisie
 (4) Failure of make Reforms:
Parlements (legal courts) pushed own
agenda
 (5) Financial Crisis:
▪ 1788: HALF of budget on interest
▪ Charles de Calonne: Call EstatesGeneral (1614) to revise tax laws
▪ Representatives from 3 Estates
▪ Issue Gov’t no major reform-immediate solution
First Estate: 300 Reps
Second Estate: 300 Reps (young,
urban, Enlightened)
 Third Estate: 600 Reps (young,
bourgeois, legal, Enlightened)
 Cahiers de doleances (local
grievances): constitutional
government, abolish financial
privileges of 1st & 2nd
 Division: Vote by Order or Vote by
Person?
 3rd Estate* withdraws & becomes
the National Assembly &
constitutionalize
 June 20, 1789: Oath of the Tennis
Court
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July 14, 1789: Storming of the Bastille
 Louis XVI orders troop increases throughout Paris (inflame)
 Organized attacked a royal armory (Bastille)
 Rioting in Paris
 The Great Fear (July 19- August 3)
 5 major areas throughout France (forced churches, local offices to burn
records)
 Agrarian Rebellions: Droughts had forced grain high (80% of food)
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Declaration of Rights of Man & Citizen
 August 26, 1789
 Charter of basic liberties
 End to exemptions, equal rights, equal opportunity
 Declaration of Rights of Women (…ignored by the National Assembly)
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October 5, 1789: Women (1,000s) march from Paris to Versailles
National Guard demand Louis XVI returns to Paris
 LXVI forced to accept National Assembly demands
Catholic Church viewed as Ancien
July 1790: Civil Constitution: bishops & priests elected by people; paid
by state; 46% refused to agree; enemy of Rev
1791: National Assembly creates new constitution:
Gov’t Structure:
 Constitutional Monarchy w/ Legislative Assembly (French
Parliament)
 Voting IS LIMITED to PROPERTY OWNERS
 KING WAS NECESSARY TO THE STATE
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Jacobins: radical party based in Paris
 Called for a REPUBLIC (abolition of the monarchy)
 Begin to petition
 Nat’l Assembly orders troops to break up (50 Jacobins KILLED)
Opposition: Austria & Prussia-restore monarchy
 France declares war (Aug 1792)
 Why? Conservatives: Restore old order; Reactionaries: expand
 Result: Early defeats led to chaos
▪ Radicals emerge begin scapegoating
▪ Take Nat’l Assembly and King hostage
▪ Sans-culottes & revolutionary groups emerge
“Untouchables rarely revolt.”
-Brinton, 1938
Impossible Gov’t
Demands
Unsuccessful
Attempts
Revolutionaries
Gain Power
Unity Dissolves
Moderates
Gain Power,
but Fail
Lunatic Fringe
Gains Control
Strong Individual
Emerges
Extremists Create
“Heaven on
Earth”
Period of Terror
Moderates
Regain Power
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Radicals:
 (1) Revenge on domestic (Royalists) and foreign enemies
 (2) Created Nat’l Convention (September 1792)
▪ (a) Purpose: (1) Draft NEW constitution (2) serve as sovereign
body
▪ (b) Composition: Young, wealthy, lawyers, anti-King
▪ (c) Results: (1) abolish monarchy, establish republic; (2) Split:
Girondins (fearful of radical Parisian mobs, keep King alive) vs.
Mountain (supported radical Parisian mobs, kill King)
January 21, 1793: King Louis XVI assassinated
Radicals in Paris push for more extreme gov’t reforms
 Invade Nat’l Convention & arrest leading Girondins
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Alliance of Monarchial Nations band together to
suppress rebellion
 Great Britain, Prussia, Austria
 National Convention creates organization to
prevent foreign subversion:
▪ (1) Committee of Public Safety: Robespierre
▪ Organized Reign of Terror: Courts
established to protect Republic from
internal, foreign enemies (Royalists,
peasants, Marie Antoinette)
▪ Expunge France from “enemies of liberty” &
create “republic of virtue”
▪ (2) Nation in Arms: CPS declared universal
mobilization (1.2 million soldiers) pushed
coalition back across Rhine into Prussia
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CPS (Robespierre) grows distrustful of Parisian Radicals and
executes leaders
 Effects:
▪ (1) CPS becomes distrustful of Robespierre (July 28, 1794)
▪ (2) Thermidorean Reaction:
▪ (a) Nat’l Convention disbanded CPS
▪ (b) Churches allowed to reopen
▪ (c) New Constitution written (Conservative)
 (1) Legislative: Bi-Cameral National Assembly
 (2) Executive: Directory (5 directors)
▪ (3) Radical Revolution OVER
•While on a campaign in Egypt, Napoleon learned that Joséphine was having an
affair and wrote a distraught letter to his brother. The letter was intercepted by
the British and published in newspapers, causing Napoleon great embarrassment.
• Some speculate that Napoleon had a photographic memory and could
instantly recall vast amounts of information, such as troop numbers and map
details
• Napoleon jailed 13 Catholic cardinals for not attending his second marriage.
And Napoleon’s officers kidnapped Pope Pius VII and held him captive for five
years.
• The former Emperor, who gave the country its Napoleonic Code, is still much
revered – in a way. It’s illegal for anyone to name a pig Napoleon in France.
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Dominated European politics 1799-1815
Enigma
 Brought French Revolution to an end
 “Child of the Revolution” who upheld
some principles
Born in Corsica (1769)
Prestigious military school in France
(1785-leuitenent)
 Reputation (not well liked)
 Rousseau & military campaign
Oct 1795: saves Nat’l Con from Parisian
mobs
May 1797: Defeats Austrians in Italy
 Tough on officers
 Gentle to rank-and-file soldiers
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Put in command of army to invade Great
Britain.
 Indirectly: attack India
 British cut off supply lines; Napoleon
returns to Paris
Napoleon leads coup (1799): New Republic
 Bicameral Legislature
 Three Consuls (Napoleon as first)
 Had enormous control; made military &
political appointments
 1802: Made Consul for Life
 1804: Emperor Napoleon I
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(1) Catholic Church
 Say religion as a “necessity” to
maintain morality
 Concordat of 1801:
▪ (1) Catholicism is re-allowed in
France (limited power)
▪ (2) Church lands NOT returned
▪ (3) State had the right to pay,
appoint, etc.
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(2) Napoleonic Code
 Codification of laws:
 Equality of citizens before law;
religious; property rights; no
serfdom
(2) Napoleonic Code (cont’d)
 Undid legislation that effected families
 Women, rights & divorce
 (3) French Bureaucracy
 Divided into 83 districts (Prefects=state)
 Tax collection=employed by state (no exemptions)
 Create nobility based on rank, not birth
 (4) Increased Despotism
 Shut down 60 newspapers-all manuscripts gov’t approval
 Mail opened by gov’t police
 Books are banned
 Phones are tapped
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1799: France vs. Austria, Great Britain, Russia
 Napoleon pursues…peace?!
 Amiens (March 1802): Temporary Settlement
1803: France vs. Third Coalition (Great Britain, Russia, Austria, & Prussia)
 Napoleon vastly successful
 Able to expand French empire
 Grand Empire
 French Empire; Dependent States; Allied States
 Rule
▪ (1) Obedience before him
▪ (2) Destroyed special privileges
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Collapse?
 (1) Problem of Great Britain
▪ British controlled European seas (more advanced Navy)
▪ Napoleon’s Continental System
▪ Prevent British goods from reaching continent
▪ Ultimately failed
 (2) Nationalism
▪ Common language, religion, nat’l symbols became big during
Revolution
▪ France turned into the aggressor, European countries resist
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1812: Napoleon invades Russia; force Continental System
 600,000 troops
 Russians rarely engage; retreat; scorch fields
 October: begins “Great Retreat”: 40,000 make Poland
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April 1814; defeated & sent to exile in Elba
 Louis XVIII (brother to Louis XVI)
 Napoleon slips back in March 1815
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June 1815: Leads attack against Belgium
 Crushed at Waterloo
 Saint Helena
Napoleon had a
greater impact on
European history
than Martin Luther.
Napoleon upheld
more of the
Revolution than he
destroyed.
Category
Napoleon’s Rise to
Power
Domestic Policy
Napoleon’s Grand
Empire
Engagement in Foreign
Wars
Upholding Revolutionary
Values
FINAL
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
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Section II of the AP Exam
 Part B (35 mins)
 Part C (35 mins)
You NEED to write 2 ½ pages
You NEED to understand what the question wants you to do
Question: Choosing TWO, analyze the extent to which Frederick the
Great of Prussia, Joseph II of Austria, Catherine the Great of Russia
advanced and did not advance Enlightenment ideals.
You NEED to write a thesis that answers all parts of the question
with specific information
 Bad: Frederick the Great of Prussia and Joseph II of Austria were
influenced by the Enlightenment and tried to reform their
respective countries using Enlightenment ideas. In some cases
they were successful, in some cases they were unsuccessful.
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You NEED to write a thesis that answers all parts of the question
with specific information (cont’d)
 Good: Although Frederick the Great enacted some change, granting
civil rights for citizens, his dependence on the Prussian aristocracy
hindered him from abolishing the oppressive serfdom system. Joseph
II granted certain freedoms, such as religious toleration, but his far
reaching reforms were unable to cause lasting change.
Suggestion: When asking about TWO people, try to speak of them
individually in your thesis.
Avoid “non-academic phrases”
You NEED proper nouns
 Toleration Patent, Junkers, General Directory, Instruction,
Assembly
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While you are (1) scoring the responses as a group…
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(2) Underline the thesis in BLUE
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(3) Underline the POV in GREEN
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(4) Underline the use of docs in RED
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Napoleon upheld
more of the
Revolution than he
destroyed.
Napoleon had a
greater impact on
European history
than Martin Luther.
Explain the reasons for the adoption of a
new calendar in revolutionary France
and analyze the reactions to it in the
period 1789-1806
Explain the reasons for the adoption of a new calendar in
revolutionary France and analyze the reactions to it in the
period 1789-1806
Reasons for the adoption
Reactions