Transcript Unit 7B

Unit 7B
World History
Mrs. Bell
French Revolution

French Society
 All
French people belonged to one of
three estates or orders of society.
French Revolution
First estate – This group was made up of the
Roman Catholic Clergy (1% of the population;
included two groups:
 higher clergy {bishops, archbishops, and
cardinals - noblemen by birth; they controlled the
money, much of which came from a10% tithe or
tax on income from each church member;
controlled 5-10% of the land};
 and lower clergy {priests; often living in poverty;
recorded births and deaths; were educated; fit in
more with the third estate}).
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French Revolution
Second Estate – The Nobility (2% of the
population;
 owned 25% of the land in France) made up the
second group.
 Like the first group, they enjoyed privileges and
high standards of living. They held high posts in
government and the military.
 Their main income came from the peasants.
Nobles were free from major taxes.
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French Revolution
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Third Estate- This was the largest group during the late
1700’s (97% of the population:
 the Bourgeoisie the middle class which was made up
of doctors, lawyers, merchants, and business managers;
many lived in town; and they had few rights or privileges
 san culottes {lower workers, shop keepers
 artisans who lived in the slums of the city; endured low
wages and poor working conditions;
 peasants lived in rural areas, were taxed so much they
remained poor}).
French Revolution
 They
paid a tithe to the clergy, feudal dues
to the nobles, land taxes to the king, and
had no voice in the government.
 The Bourgeoisie and peasants hated
each other.
 As the cost of living increased, the anger
of the peasants rose. Artisans faced
higher prices while wages stayed the
same.
French Revolution
The government’s financial crisis because of
debts from war added to the country’s problems.
 In 1774, Louis XVI was on the throne with his
wife Marie Antoinette.
 Supporting the American Revolution also
increased France’s debt; and the King
consequently decided everyone should pay
taxes. The nobility and clergy refused.
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French Revolution

Louis called the Estates-General to meet in May,
1789, in Versailles so he could get additional
taxes. The Estates-General had not met since
1614.
 Members of the First and Second Estates
hoped to take over the government, keep their
privileges, and weaken royal power.
 The Third Estate only had one vote. The Third
estate said they should have more votes since
they represented the majority of the people.
French Revolution

The Third Estate was kicked out and they met
on their own at a nearby tennis court (The
Tennis Court Oath bound the members to
remain until they had written a new constitution).
 They called themselves the National Assembly.
Soon, members of the other two estates joined
them.
 The king recognized the danger of this and
called for troops.
French Revolution
 Debates
raged as the third estate wanted
equal rights and the others wanted to keep
their privileges.
 In response, the king called in more
troops. The third estate, fearing he would
dissolve the Assembly, attacked the
Bastille, a Paris Prison, in an attempt to
steal weapons.
French Revolution
 July
14 (1789) became a French national
holiday known as Bastille Day.
 This incident caused a great wave of
violence known as the Great Fear,
primarily rural uprisings of peasants
motivated by hunger and fear.
 Bread was their main food and it was both
scarce and expensive. The attack on the
Bastille began the French Revolution.
Constitutional Government

The National Assembly struggled to form a new
government from royalists, moderates, and
radicals.
 Royalists still favored an absolute monarchy.
 The moderates were led by Lafayette, the
general who helped the colonists during the
American Revolution.
 A radical group called the Paris Commune won
control of Paris’s city government and pushed
for an end to the monarchy.
Constitutional Government
 On August
4, 1789, the National Assembly
voted to end the privileges of nobles.
They also composed the Declaration of
the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,
which is in the French Constitution today.
 It incorporated the ideas of Montesquieu,
Rousseau, and Locke.
Constitutional Government
 The
people wanted Louis to move from the
palace in Versailles to Paris to show his
support for the National Assembly.
 In October, 1789, thousands of women
(6000) demanding bread because they
were starving marched on the King and he
moved to Paris.
 The king and the National Assembly were
now both in Paris.
Constitutional Government
 The
government faced financing problems.
With the help of the bishop, Talleyrand, the
National Assembly took over Church
lands.
 They then decided to sell church lands to
pay off the debt (angers the clergy).
 The image of the revolution was
somewhat atheist.
Constitutional Government
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The National Assembly also passed a Civil
Constitution of the Clergy in 1790,
 which placed the French Church under
government control and turned the clergy into
elected, salaried officials.
 Most of the clergy refused to swear an oath to
the constitution, lost their jobs and were placed
in jail.
 Pope Pius VI was against it and many
conservative peasants disliked government
control of the Church.
Constitutional Government

In the Constitution of 1791, the National
Assembly presented a new constitution to the
people.
 It kept the monarchy, but limited its powers.
 Set up a unicameral legislature, a one-house
assembly whose members were to be chosen by
voters.
 Equal rights were declared for all, but the right
to vote was limited to male citizens who paid a
minimum tax.
Constitutional Government
 The
moderates were happy with the
constitution because it guaranteed basic
rights, limited the monarchy, and freed
them from the power of the Church.
 The Legislative Assembly eventually met
and members were seated in the following
manner: royalists on the right; moderates
in the center; and radicals on the left.
Constitutional Government
 Louis
XVI and Marie Antoinette In June of
1791, attempted to flee to Austria.
 They were recognized, however, arrested
and brought back to Paris where they
were basically placed on house arrest.
 Louis was forced to accept the limited
monarchy.
Constitutional Government

Monarchs in surrounding countries began to
worry about the stability of their own
governments, particularly in the German States
and Austrian Empire.
 French émigrés, nobles who had fled France,
wanted to restore Louis XVI to full power.
 Because of a fear of Austria trying to restore
Louis to the throne, France declared war on
Austria in 1792.
 Austria was supported by other monarchies in
Prussia and Sardinia.
Constitutional Government
 In
September, 1792, the September
Massacres, bloody uprisings led by
revolutionary leaders who stormed prisons
in Paris killing nobles and priests,
occurred.
 At that time, the guillotine (p. 659) is set
up for political criminals. This new
technology is named after a doctor and not
so personal.
Constitutional Government
 Radicals,
backed by Paris crowds, took
over the Assembly.
 They set aside the Constitution of
1791and created a new legislative body
called the National Convention.
 All men could now vote and hold public
office.
National Covenant
 In
December, 1792, Louis XVI was tried
and in January, 1793, he was beheaded
on the guillotine.
 The Jacobins were supporters of the san
culottes and the radicals (Robespierre,
Danton, Marat).
 Girondists were moderates who wanted to
protect the middle class from radical
attacks.
National Covenant

The National Convention formed the Committee
of Public Safety (led by Robespierre) to direct
the entire war effort.
 In 1793, the Committee adopted conscription
(or the draft) of men ages 18-45.
 Charlotte Corday killed Marat in his bathtub. He
was a Jacobin leader.
 During the Reign of Terror (July 1793-July 1794),
the Jacobins wanted to squash any opposition in
France.
National Covenant

The Committee set up a Republic of Virtue.
 Established universal elementary education,
abolished slavery in France, created price
controls, encouraged religious toleration, and
taught farmers agriculture skills.
 40,000 people were killed, including Marie
Antoinette.
 Robespierre had Danton executed and
eventually Robespierre was executed as well.
National Covenant
 The
Convention then set up the Directory,
an executive council with five men and a
two-house (bicameral) legislature.
 Napoleon in 1795 ousted an uprising
against the directory known as the Whiff of
Grapeshot.
 He also fought the British in Egypt, but
British Horatio Nelson defeated the French
fleet.
National Covenant
 Napoleon
used propaganda to make
himself sound better than he was.
 He left his army, went back to France in
1799 and took over the Directory.
Napoleonic Code
 A new
constitution set up a dictatorship
 The executive branch was made up of
three members, but he called himself the
First Consul.
 He appointed government officials. put
education under the national government,
and created technical schools,
universities, and secondary schools,
 Secondary schools were called lycees.
Napoleonic Code
 He
also changed the financial system by
creating the Bank of France and requiring
that every citizen pay taxes to help the
government to make loans to businesses.
 In 1802. Napoleon named himself Consul
for Life.
Napoleonic Code
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Napoleonic Codes
His Concordat of 1801 with Pope Pius the VII
acknowledged Catholicism as France’s main
religion.
Napoleon defeated both Italy and Austria and
persuaded Russia to withdraw from the war.
Britain and France signed the Treaty of Amiens
1802.
At the Battle of Trafalgar off the coast of Spain,
Nelson defeated Napoleon.
Napoleonic Code
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Napoleon then decided to attack them
economically.
In 1804, Napoleon declared himself French
Emperor.
By 1812, Napoleon controlled most of Europe.
Trouble developed when Spain, Britain, and
Prussia joined against Napoleon with their
forces under the Duke of Wellington.
Russia joined and this spelled the end of the
empire. Czar Alexander I saw Napoleon as a
threat to Russia.
Napoleonic Code
 Napoleon
invaded Russia in 1812 with
600,000 men (400,000 died of wounds,
starvation, and/or exposure to weather).
 In March, 1814, Napoleon was
overthrown by Britain, Russia, Prussia,
and Austria;
 and Louis XVIII was restored to the throne.
Napoleonic Code
 Sent
to the Isle of Elba, he came back to
France for what is known as the Hundred
Days and was again defeated (at the
battle of Waterloo).
 Napoleon was then exiled to Saint Helena
where he died in 1821 of a stomach
ailment, possibly cancer.
Congress of Vienna
 The
Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) - A
series of meetings, European leaders
brought the French royal family back to
power and met at Vienna to redraw the
map of Europe.
 The Great Powers (Britain, Russia,
Austria, & Prussia) restored former rulers
and borders.
Congress of Vienna
 They
also redistricted Western Europe
somewhat to form a balance of power
between them.
 Metternich presided over the Congress to
rebuild Europe.
Birth of Nationalism
 Birth
of Nationalism -Metternich and the
Congress ignored the spirit of nationalism
(the belief that each nation or ethnic group
should have its own country and
government).
 For 30 years after the Congress of Vienna,
Europe experienced repeated revolutions
caused by nationalism and economic
unrest.
Birth of Nationalism
– The Carlsbad Decrees imposed
strict censorship on all publications and
suppressed freedom of speech.
 Greece won independence in 1829
 1819