Enlightenment and
Revolution
Enlightenment
Enlightenment
 A philosophical
movement of the 18th
century where logic
scrutinized long-held
doctrines and traditions
 Advocated the reason
and thinking
 Result of the Scientific
Revolution
 People would meet and
discuss ideas in salons
 Looked especially at
government
Locke vs. Hobbes
Locke
Hobbes
 English
 English
 Humans have basic
rights
 People naturally live in
anarchy
 Life
 Liberty
 Property
 “blank slate” at birth
 Social contract
 People give up all
freedoms (except to
protect life) for safety
Baron de Montesquieu
 Limited government
 Separation of powers
 Checks and balances
 How is this different from
absolutism?
Voltaire and Rousseau
Voltaire
Rousseau
 French
 French
 Criticized government for
 Intolerance
 Suppression of freedom
 People are born good but
society makes them bad
 Government based on
popular sovereignty
 Distrusted reason
Legacy of the Enlightenment
 Human Rights
 Limited Government
 Trust reason
 There are moral and natural laws
 Documents protecting freedoms
English Civil War
Houses of Parliament
House of Lords
House of Commons
 Burgesses
 Nobles
 Sympathetic to the
crown
 Dominated by Puritans
 Wanted more religious
reform in England
 Argued with the crown
Charles I
 Son of James I
 Anglican
 Thought the monarchy should have more
power
 Needed funding for agenda
 Parliament refused
 Parliament sent the Petition of Rights
 Dismissed Parliament
Scottish Rebellion
 Charles I needed money to defeat the Scots
 British defeated in England
 Charles I forced to call Parliament
Long Parliament
 1640-1660
 Parliament met on and
off
 Little compromise
Irish Rebellion
 Parliament wanted
control of army
 Charles I tried to have
them arrested
 Start of the English Civil
War
Groups of the English Civil War
Cavaliers
Roundheads
 Puritans
 Royalists
 Named after their haircut
 Supported Charles I and
the monarchy
 Led by Oliver Cromwell
 Wanted a new
government
How the War Was Won
 Oliver Cromwell created a “New Model Army”
 Defeated Charles I in battle (twice)
 Created a Rump Parliament (not legal, but still controlled
government)
 Abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords
Oliver Cromwell
 Became “Lord Protector” of England
 Ruled like a dictator
 Established religious tolerance
 New constitution (first in Europe)
 Navigation Act of 1651
“Lord Protector” & English Commonwealth
 1653-1658
 Commonwealth means
republic
 Oliver Cromwell was the
“Lord Protector”
 Ruled like a dictatorship
 After his death, his son
(Richard) ruled England
Charles II
 Richard lost the favor of the army
 He was forced out
 Charles II was restored to the throne
 Well-liked by the people, Charles II was known as the
“Merry Monarch”
 Worked with Parliament to achieve his ends
James II
 Son of Charles II
 Did not work well with Parliament
 Catholic
 Married a Catholic princess
 People feared having a Catholic heir
Glorious Revolution
 William and Mary of Orange were asked
to take the English throne
 Mary was the daughter of James II
 William invaded England with troops
 James II fled
 Change of government and no
bloodshed!!!
Legacies
 English Bill of Rights
 Limited Government
 People should choose who rules them
Mercantilism
Main Idea
 The idea that a country’s
economic power depends
on the amount of gold
and silver in its treasury
 Which means…?
Examples
 British East India Company
 Colonies made for the benefit of the mother
country
 Navigation Acts
American Revolution
Why Revolution?
 Colonies left alone for 200 years, then expected to
comply with mercantilism
 Rights as British citizens had been violated
 Britain sent troops
 Declaration of Independence
New Government
 Articles of
Confederation
 Constitution
 Bill of Rights
Estates of France
1st Estate- Clergy
 Often chosen by the king
 Owned land
 Paid no taxes
 Influenced policy in France
 1% of population
2nd Estate- Nobility
 Most important government jobs
 Owned land
 Only paid taxes in war (and sometimes not even then)
 2% of the population
3rd Estate- Peasants, Artisans,
Bourgeoisie
 Resented the privileges of the aristocracy
 Paid most of the taxes in France
 Most members were peasants
 97% of the population
Louis XVI
 Married to Marie Antoinette (a foreign princess)
 Inherited debt from his predecessors
 Forced to call the Estates General to find a solution to
the economic crisis
France in Trouble
 French aid during the American Revolution caused
France to go into debt
 Financial crisis
 Owed 113 million livres
 Over 20 trillion by today’s standards
 Louis XV borrowed heavily from bankers
 Louis XVI tried to tax nobles, but they led riots
Estates General
Tennis Court Oath
 Estates General met
 Each estate got 1 vote, so the third estate was often
outvoted
 The representatives of the third estate met in the Tennis
Court and invited the other estates to join them
 Asked Louis XVI to give each representative a vote
 He didn’t respond
 They formed the National Assembly
Spread of Revolution
Fall of the Bastille
 Bastille was a prison
 Represented the power
of the monarch
 Peasants stormed the
Bastille for its weapons
“Great Fear”
 Third estate was afraid
the aristocracy would try
to stop the Revolution
 Manor houses and
monasteries destroyed
 Nobles fled to other
countries
Women march on Versailles
 Urban women were
upset by the price of
food
 They marched to
Versailles and demanded
that the monarchs come
live in Paris
Constitution of 1791
 Split up France into
departments
 Limited the power of the
king
 Land-owning males
voted for members of
the Legislative Assembly
Death of the King
 King Louis XVI plotted
with émigrés and foreign
powers to stop the
revolution
 Tried to escape France,
but was caught
 Sent to the guillotine
National Convention
What was it?
 A legislative body elected through universal manhood
suffrage
Political Leaders
Girondins
Jacobins
 Wanted domination by
Paris
 Feared domination by
Paris
 conservatives
 Liberals
 Danton
 Robespierre
 Marat
Accomplishments
 Wanted a “Republic of Virtue”
 Opened new schools
 Universal elementary education
 Wage an price controls
 Metric system
 New Calendar
 New constitution
 500 person lower house
 250 person upper house
 5 directors
Reign of Terror
What happened?
 Committee of Public
Safety
 Guillotined those who
opposed the Jacobins
 Led by Robespierre and
Danton
 Both were later sent to
the guillotine
Why?
 Jacobins wanted more
change
 Kept people supportive
of the Jacobins
Results
 Leaders of the revolution
went too far
 They were executed
 Led to a reactionary type
of government
Napoleon
Background of Napoleon
 Gained fame as a
brilliant military
commander
Coup d'état
 1799- Napoleon took his army to Paris
 The Directors either fled or supported him
 He claimed control of France by force
 Ruled France like a dictatorship
 Much like Julius Caesar
French Empire
 The French voted themselves out of a Republic
 Napoleon crowned himself emperor
 Created peace and stability in France
Napoleonic Wars
 Napoleon invaded the rest of Europe to seek unity
 France controlled much of the HRE, Italy, Poland, and
Spain
 Allied with Austria and Prussia
 Defeated in Russia
 More by the winter than by the Russian troops
Exile, Escape, and Waterloo
 Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba
 He escaped and came back to France for 100 Days
 Defeated by a British and Russian alliance at Waterloo
Exile (Again)
 Sent to Saint Helena
 Died less than 6 years later
Legacies of Napoleon
 Napoleonic Code
 Reforms and stability in France
 Changes of boundaries in Europe
 Sold Louisiana to the Americans
 Increased nationalism in territories he conquered.
Congress of Vienna
The Players (Diplomats)
 Talleyrand (France)
 Metternich (Austria)
 Wellington (Great
Britain)
 Hardenburg (Prussia)
 Nesselrode (Russia)
Results
 Antebellum status quo
 Concert of Europe
 A way of solving problems with balance of power and
discussion
 Serious war avoided until WWI
 Alliances
 Holy Alliance- Russia, Austria, Prussia
 Quadruple Alliance- Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and
Prussia (later included France in the Quintuple Alliance)
 Reactionary in Nature