Transcript Chapter 19 - Northern Highlands

Chapter 19
A Revolution in Politics:
The Era of the French
Revolution and Napoleon
Aftermath of Seven Years’ War
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Peace of Paris (1763) made Britain the world’s
greatest colonial power, with control over Canada and
lands east of the Mississippi in North America.
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Inevitable conflict came from 2 different views of
governing the empire:
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This was costly!
Brits’ perspective
Stamp Act (1765)
Brits vs. American perspectives on governing?
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
The conflict escalated through the 1770’s
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1776 Second Continental Congress’s approval of Thomas
Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence
Enlightenment’s emphasis on the natural rights of “life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness”
GAME ON!
American Revolutionary War
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A huge gamble for the colonists
Between 15-30% of the American
population was comprised of loyalists!
Patriots had to win support from a diverse
group
Foreign aid was also key: France eager to
help – why?
Defeat of Cornwallis by combined
American and French forces led to Brit
surrender under Treaty of Paris 1783
North America, 1763-1783
©2003 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
Forming a New Nation
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Americans feared a strong central government:
more of the same?
Articles of Confederation ratified in 1781
prevented strong central government, but this
was problematic
To solve this issue, Constitution –with MANY
compromises – fully ratified by 1791
Bill of Rights also in effect by 1791 – many of
these amendments based on work of French
Philosophes
Impact of American Revolution
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Coincidence?
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Ideas of the philosophes were attainable
goals!
Returning French soldiers: popular
sovereignty and republicanism were
workable realities!
Marquis de Lafayette
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Sexy Lafayette
1789: new United States of America solidified
1789: French Revolution erupts
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French general who helped American
revolutionaries
Lafayette became a member of the Society of
Thirty a club comprised of salon dwellers
They were instrumental in the early days of the
Revolution
Background to the French Revolution
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Giddy up…and get
me a croissant!
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I don’t like this
game…
Aristocracy, clergy and judges ride
the back of the enslaved Third
Estate. What does this image
mean?
When Louis XVI took
over, France still the most
rich and influential nation
in continental Europe, so
what caused it?
OLD ORDER (Ancien
regime) was one source
of frustration
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Estate System
1ST = ?
 2ND = ?
 3RD = ?
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Why was this unworkable?
The Three Estates – First Estate (Church)
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Population: 130k of 24 million total
Owned 10% of the land
Income = half of the state’s
Exempt from taxes – “contributions” to state every 5
years
Control of education and censorship of the press
Enforced religious conformity when most embraced
religious tolerance.
Divided
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Bishops and abbots were wealthy with political power
priests and monks were poor and not influential
The Three Estates – Second Estate (Aristocracy)
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350k of 24 million total population
Owned 25-30% of the land
Under Louis XV and XVI, grew in strength holding key positions
in government, military, courts and high church offices
The wealthiest lived at Versailles “playing” and enjoying
leisurely activities.
Divided:
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Nobility of the Robe
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Nobility of the Sword
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new aristocrats
rose from ranks of bourgeoisie to purchase judgeships and become nobles
traced noble roots back to medieval nobility
tried to limit ambition of the new nobles through passage of Segur Law
(1781), which limited sale of military officerships to 4th generation nobles.
Closed group – intermarried
Exempt from all direct taxation – especially the dreaded taille
(household tax based on land)
The Three Estates – Third Estate (everyone else)
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Bourgeoisie, proletariat, peasantry = roughly 96% of the population
Vastly divided
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Peasants
 75-80% of total population/Owned 35-40% of land
 Over half had little or no land
 Not serfs, but feudal obligations persisted
Skilled urban artisans, shopkeepers, wage earners
 Impact of price revolution on this group?
 This meant bad times for this group: just trying to survive!
 Revolts correspond with spike in price of bread, their main staple (1/3 to 1/2
of their diet!)
 Crowded together in cities, where discontent grew – esp. in Paris!
Bourgeoisie or middle class
 8% of total population/Owned 20-25% of land
 merchants, industrialists, bankers, professionals like lawyers, doctors, writers
 excluded from social and political privileges despite wealth and education
Several thousand at the top of this group did buy their way to aristocracy this is significant!
Problems Facing the Monarchy:
Civil Discontent and Enlightenment Ideas
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I’m
BAAAACK!
In addition to shortcomings of the
Old Order, other issues cropped up
in 1780s
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Ideas of the Philosophes
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Rousseau
Bad harvests 1787, 1788 – rising food
prices – impact on peasants/urban
poor?
Manufacturing depression – layoffs and
unemployment
Poverty – nearly 1/3 of population!
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Increasing criticism of existing
privileges, social and political institutions
Literate bourgeoisie and noble elites
read enlightenment texts
During revolution, Enlightenment writers
often quoted – particularly Rousseau
Problems Facing the Monarchy: No Reform
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French Parlements blocked reforms
and royal edicts by not registering them
Louis XIV had suppressed them, but
under XV and XVI they gained new
strength along with their noble judges
Made “arbitrary” decisions to bolster
their own position – especially the
blocking of new taxes that they might
have to pay!
Under Louis XIV, king could arrest and
imprison at will, but under the noble-run
Parlements, commoners could not get a
fair trial vs. nobility
King had ruled by decree for nearly 2
centuries – Estates General had not
met in 2 centuries!
Problems Facing the Monarchy: Financial Crisis
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Monarchy was weakening at
hands of aristocracy
Louis XV weak and unpopular lost 7 Years’ War
In 1780s Louis XVI inherited a
throne that was in major debt
with no way to directly tax the
nobility or clergy
No effective national banking
system to help organize financial
matters
Tax collection was inefficient
Problems Facing the Monarchy:
The Parade of Financial Ministers…
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Louis XVI appointed Turgot, a physiocrat friend of Voltaire’s (1774)
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Necker (1777)
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Replaced taille with a general tax on ALL landowners and confiscated church lands
Called Assembly of Notables to reform taxation but they are unwilling to embrace
measures that will cost them
Calonne dismissed (1787)
Brienne appointed (1787)
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Drove up debt to fund war effort in America
Wanted to expand taxation to include the first 2 estates
Popular among the masses for keeping price of bread down but..
He was dismissed in 1781
Calonne (1783)
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He argued against mercantilism and for more free-trade
Tax all estates
Stay out of American Revolution
Unpopular and soon dismissed
Tries again to restructure taxation
Parlement of Paris rejects his reforms
They say only Estates General can modify taxes
Louis and Brienne tried to replace the parlements with a new system that could override
them
Nobles revolt; intendants refuse to act; government at standstill
Necker recalled to service in 1788, and…
Louis forced to call Estates General to meet in May 1789
Calling the Estates General
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Early 1789 – Elections held
for representatives at the
Estates General
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What is the Third Estate?
EVERYTHING! -Sieyes
As a concession to 3rd Estate,
Louis doubles their
representation
Each estate compiles cahiers
(ka-YAY) de doleances or
grievance lists
Pamphlets circulate calling for
reforms e.g. Abbe Sieyes (ca-YES) What is the Third
Estate?
Something to think about…
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Who then shall dare to say that the Third Estate has not within itself all that is
necessary for the formation of a complete nation? It is the strong and robust man
who has one arm still shackled. If the privileged order should be abolished, the
nation would be nothing less, but something more. Therefore, what is the Third
Estate? Everything; but an everything shackled and oppressed. What would it be
without the privileged order? Everything, but an everything free and flourishing.
Nothing can succeed without it, everything would be infinitely better without the
others.
Abbe Sieyes
What is the Third Estate (1789)
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When, in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all
production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole
nation, the public power will lose its political character. Political power, properly so
called, is merely the organised power of one class for oppressing another…In place of
the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an
association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free
development of all.
Marx and Engels
The Communist Manifesto (1848)
Third Estate Cheated!
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4/1789 Arrival of delegates
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5/1789 First Formal Meeting
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Gather at Versailles with cahiers (letters of grievance)
Almost all members (delegates) of 3rd estate were
bourgeoisie
well acquainted with Enlightenment philosophy.
Voting discrepancy
Each estate gets 1 vote (?!)
Third Estate demands voting by HEAD
6/17/1789
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3rd estate along with a handful of liberal thinkers from 1st
estate declares itself the “National Assembly of France”
invites the other 2 estates to join them.
Third Estate Triumphs!
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6/20/1789 Lock out!
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3rd estate arrives at its designated meeting hall to
find it locked
They held meeting in nearby indoor tennis court and
took “Tennis Court Oath”
swore not to disband until France had a constitution
6/23/89 – Standoff
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King meets with all three estates and commands
them to meet separately and vote in traditional
manner.
3rd estate refuses to leave the adjourned meeting
Louis gives in 3 days later: three would meet together
and vote by head
3rd estate triumphs!
The Tennis Court Oath – J. L. David
Raise da roof!
We’re not breaking this
party up until we have a
CONSTITUTION!
I’m so happy
I’m gonna hug
this victim of
the black
death!
If he thinks
I’m the Pope,
I’m just gonna
go along…
DUDE! I think it’s da Pope!
Gimme 10 down low!
HOLLA!
Coincidence Strengthens National Assembly
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Parisians and peasants join revolutionary
spirit!
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Riots and uprisings in Paris led King to call
troops from frontier garrisons back to
Versailles
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Peace out!
Poor harvests led to economic hardship for both
groups
National Assembly seen as a ray of hope for
reform.
Parisians decide to counter threat of force with
force!
7/14/89, storm Bastille, an old prison and symbol
of old regime!
In countryside, riots were also occurring
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7/20-8/5/89 Great Fear
peasants revolted against lords, burned tax rolls,
and attacked manors
thousands of nobles fled France (émigrés)
August Decrees of National Assembly
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8/4/89 National Assembly ends feudalism
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8/26/89 – National Assembly proclaims
Declaration of Rights of Man and the
Citizen
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Nobles give up feudal rights and privileges
Occurs in midst of Great Fear and flight of the
nobles from France (Night of August 4)
modeled after English Bill of Rights of 1689
2 years before American Bill of Rights
says all men are created free and equal,
basically
Secures natural rights to liberty, property,
security formally stated
Only for MEN
Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights
of Woman and the Female Citizen, 1791
9/89 King refuses to sign any of the August
decrees
October Days
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10/1789, speeches filled the air in Versailles
A river of pamphlets and newspapers flooded
Paris
Grain remained in short supply
10/5/89, several hundred women staged a protest
against the high price of bread at the City Hall.
10/5-6/89 – Women’s March on the Palace of
Versailles
Massive fish-monger forearms
We have the
baker, the baker’s
wife and the little
cook boy – now
we shall have
bread!
<3 the fish mongers
Reforms of the National Assembly
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10/10/89 National Assembly moves to Paris
Judicial Reforms
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no more parlement court system.
New system of lower and higher courts established.
Democratized system of justice.
No more torture.
Judges ELECTED for 6 year terms.
Use of juries in criminal cases.
Economic Reforms
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uphold laissez-faire doctrine and abolish guilds.
labor unions and trade associations.
All occupations were open to all classes.
No internal tolls or customs.
Reforms of the National Assembly
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Religious Reforms
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lands confiscated
monasticism abolished
clergy now elected by the people
salaries paid by the state
Bishops reduced in number and wealth
New Civil Constitution of the Clergy to guide clerics
Pope declares this heretical
many bishops and majority of clergymen follow pope’s
command to break from revolutionaries
First splinter of the ranks of revolutionaries
Financial Reforms
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No more unequal taxation
Taxes now based on land and profits from trade and industry
New paper money called assignats (a-seen-YA) established
and backed by confiscated church lands
Reforms of the National Assembly
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Political Reforms - Constitution of 1791
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3 branches of government established – executive, judicial
and legislative.
Lawmaking given to legislative branch, a unicameral house
of 745 elected officials for 2 year term.
King could veto all but constitutional and financial bills, but
3x thru legislature could override king’s veto.
King’s budget limited by legislative assembly.
France divided into 83 departments governed by elected
local authorities.
Voting was limited to 25 year-olds+, tax paying males
Holding political office limited to what amounted to middle
and upper class (wealthier) males.
Bourgeoisie seemed to have the power!
woh woh
Legislative Assembly
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National Assembly gives way to Legislative
Assembly 10/1791
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Time for
my
bath…?
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Anyone
got a
croissant? 
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L.A. recently elected under new constitution
At this point, peasants and bourgeoisie gain
the most from the revolution, and many
wanted to stop here
Parisians, clergy, soldiers, and aristocracy
were not happy, however, and had diverse
interests they wanted to see addressed
In Paris, more radical groups met to discuss
the perpetuation of the Revolution
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I’m def the
hottest…
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This included Marat, Danton, and Robespierre
They formed the core of the radical group known as
the Jacobins
This group wanted to end the monarchy and extend
the Revolution
Triumph of the Radicals
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Foreign intervention plays into the
hands of radicals
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Austria and Prussia issue warnings to
France – they fear spread of revolution!
Both reactionaries and revolutionaries
favored international war as a means to
further their own cause
Louis XVI approaches Legislative
Assembly with a declaration of war, and
they almost unanimously support it
With emigres gone, French troops
are without officers!
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Prussian and Austrian troops close in
7/1791 Louis attempts to flee to Austria
(Flight to Varennes)
He is caught and suspected of treason
Legislative Assembly imprisons Louis
8/27/1791: By Declaration of Pillnitz
Look,
Mom!
No Knee
Britches!
Triumph of the Radicals
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International Conflict
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As fear of defeat grew, many believed royals and
even the Legislative Assembly were betraying
France
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A sans-culotte
Initially, France got butts kicked
Parisians feared occupation by Austria and Prussia
Legislative Assembly calls for 20K National Guardsmen from
the provinces to defend Paris
One group, from Marseilles, arrived singing a war song, soon
known as the Marseillaise
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Radical groups in Paris organized mob attacks on the Royal
Palace and Legislative Assembly and take King hostage
Demanded a National Convention based on universal male
suffrage to decide future of government
Sans-Culottes are among the most radical
Legislative Assembly surrenders power to these radicals, the
Paris Commune, who call for a National Convention to draw
up a NEW constitution
7/25/1792: Brunswick Manifesto issued by Duke of
Brunswick, commander of allied troops (Austrian and
Prussian) says nothing will happen to the French people if the
king is not harmed.
Triumph of the Radicals
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Paris Commune dominates political
scene
Danton assumes emergency leadership
of France during interim between
governments.
He gathered recruits to send to the front
and rumors spread that while they were
gone their wives and children would be
murdered by reactionary clergy and
nobles.
Reactions to these rumors included the
murder of nonjuring clergy and
reactionary nobles.
For 3 weeks in 9/1972, over a thousand
of these were killed.
During this time, elections for National
Convention held and reactionaries stayed
away from polls in fear!
Revolutionary representatives are elected
National Convention rules France (1792-95)
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Struggle between 2 radical
factions – the Girondins and the
Mountain, or the Jacobins
following Danton, Robespierre
and Marat.
They became the new right and
left, respectively
National Convention’s
Accomplishments:
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declaring France a republic
deposing the King and beheading
him (and later Marie Antoinette)
halting the Prussian and Austrian
armies by 9/1792
They even took offensive and took
over Austrian Netherlands!
National Convention rules France (1792-95)
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Almost all of Europe joined Austria
and Prussia against France now.
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This was too much for French forces to
take.
Many of the 83 departments rebelled
against the National Convention, and
invited other nations to overrun the
French government
the Girondins were often sympathetic to
departments’ beliefs while Mountain
turned to the Paris government, or the
Paris Commune - particularly to the
radical sans-culottes
With support of sans culottes, National
Convention voted for the expulsion and
arrest of 29 Girondin leaders
Thus, the leaders of the mountain
inaugurated the “reign of terror”
against political enemies (Brissot and
the Girondin sent to guillotine).
Spinning Out of Control…
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National Convention delegates
unlimited powers to newly formed
Committee of Public Safety,
comprised of 12 men working in
secret.
Robespierre was the leader
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At its call was the Committee of
General Security, a national police
force.
A Revolutionary Tribunal was set up to
try, condemn and execute political
dissidents.
Perhaps half a million were imprisoned
and 25k killed during reign of terror.
All rebellion was brutally quelled –
e.g. Vendee Rebellion
The On-Going War…
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Defense of the Republic was in
hands of Lazare Carnot.
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A levee en masse was ordered to
get all men, women and children
to contribute to the war effort
it was first national patriotic
endeavor in history
“liberty, equality, fraternity!”
Nationalism!
1794 Tricolor officially designated
the flag of France
France is Reinvented!
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Price maximums set
New measures allowed peasants
to more easily acquire land
Louvre Palace made into an art
museum
National library and archives
established
New fashions replaced old regime
ones, titles abandoned and
replaced with citizen.
New calendar created with year
one beginning at 9/22/1792,
declaration of the republic.
Jacobins still rejected women’s
participation in politics
Supreme Being replaces
Christianity
Robespierre’s Downfall
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People grew discontent with Robespierre
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Terror was intensified.
Danton advised moderation, and Robespierre
sent him to the guillotine!
Finally, the National Convention got enough
courage to send Robespierre to the guillotine
himself!
7/27/1794, Robespierre overthrown.
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This was 9 Thermidor in the new calendar, so
this was termed the Thermidorian Reaction.
The propertied bourgeoisie, who had been
silenced by Robespierre’s harsh regime, stepped
up and took over.
The Terror ended and all chief terrorists were
executed.
Armed bands of soldiers hired by bourgeoisie
killed off many Jacobins.
White Terror ensues
National Convention after Robespierre
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After Robespierre’s downfall…
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1795: National Convention finally got around to task
of drawing up a new constitution
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Power of Committee of Public Safety curtailed
Jacobin club shut down
Churches allowed to reopen
Laissez faire economic system returns
More conservative in flavor than Constitution of 1791
Only property owners could vote for legislators
Executive powers were given to 5 Directors
10/1795: National Convention turns over power to
new government, known as the Directory
The Directory
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1795-1799 Directory struggled to control
government
Under Directory, things returned to
practices of Old Order
Directory faced opposition on both sides
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Royalists longed for restoration of
monarchy
Jacobins (who remained alive) on left
searched for opportunity to take control
Babeuf’s Conspiracy of Equals (1796)
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Aimed to provoke an armed uprising of the
plebeian masses against the bourgeois regime
of the Directory and establish a revolutionary
dictatorship as a transitional stage to “pure
democracy” and “egalitarian communism.”
The conspiracy was disclosed in May 1796.
At the end of May 1797 its leaders were
executed.
The Directory: The End
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Elections in 1797 led to
more uncertainty as
economy tanked and war
dragged.
The Directory had to rely
increasingly on the
military to keep civil peace
People of France wanted
order after years of turmoil
Triggered coup d’etat that
brought Napoleon to
power in 1799
Age of Napoleon
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Hailed from Corsica, which was
recently annexed by the French
From minor noble family
Disliked by his classmates for
his height, his Italian accent and
his lack of money
Military background
Napoleon’s Meteoric Rise
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1792: made a captain and in only one
year was named brigadier general
for his skill w/artillery
1795: at the age of 26 he saved
National Convention from Parisian
mob
1796: made commander of French
army in Italy
1797: returned to France as a
conquering hero
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Given command of forces training to
invade England
Invaded Egypt and India to cut off
England’s supply
 abandoned his troops to return to Paris
 coup d’etat of unpopular Directory in
1799
Napoleon’s Military Career
Young Napoleon and the
Egypt Campaign
©2003 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
French
Conquests
during the
Revolutionary
Wars
Napoleon’s Meteoric Rise
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Hmpf!
1799: After coup, Republic
of France (Consulate)
proclaimed - new
constitution
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Elected First Consul
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Bicameral Legislture
Executive power in hands of
three consuls
Article 42
1802: First Consul for life
1804 Crowns himself
Emperor Napoleon I
Emperor Napoleon I - Meaning of Images?
Napoleon
“shocker”
Napoleon’s Domestic Policies
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Napoleon claimed to have preserved the
Revolution - did he?
Napoleon and Concordat of 1801
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Code Napoleon or Civil Code
 Preserved some Enlightenment principles
 Curtailed rights of women
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State bureaucracy - prefects
Taxation
Meritocracy?
Depotism?
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Censorship
Germaine de Stael
Napoleon’s Conquests
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When Napoleon took power in 1799, France was battling a
coalition that included Russia, Britain and Austria
Initially, Napoleon brought peace to France in 1802, but the
peace did not last
By 1803, Napoleon was fighting a new coalition of Britain,
Austria and Russia
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Prussia entered coalition when Napoleon began
reorganizing German states
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Battle of Ulm 1805
Austerlitz
Jena and Auerstadt 10/1806
Eylau and Friedland in 1807
Napoleon had defeated all the Continental members of the
coalition, and moved to create a new European order
Napoleon’s Grand Empire
By 1810, France was an empire whose boundaries had absorbed many small states to its east. Other states were
French allies or dependencies. In all of Europe only Britain, Portugal, Sardinia, Sicily, and the Ottoman
Empire remained independent. Napoleon’s domination of Europe rivaled Charlemagne’s and ancient Rome’s.
Napoleon’s Grand Empire
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Required obedience, but also instituted
Enlightened practices
Attempted to destroy the Old Order in the
inner core of his empire and all
dependent states
Appointed family members to administer
acquired states
Trouble for the Grand Empire
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Great Britain
 Naval power
 Combined with Spanish Trafalgar off Iberian coast in
1805
 Napoleon’s continental system
Spread of Nationalism (fraternite)
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Johann Gottlieb Fichte and German
nationalism
Baron Heinrich von Stein and
Prince Karl von Hardenberg in
Prussia
Fall of Napoleon
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Russia defected from Continental
System, forcing Napoleon to invade in
1812
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600K French troops entered Russia
Russian troops retreated torching
everything
Battle at Borodino - slim but costly victory
Moscow set ablaze
only 40K troops made it back to Poland
1/1813
Starvation, desertion, typhus, and suicide
cost more men than battle!
Russian defeat triggered a war of
liberation across Europe
Napoleon’s defeat 4/1814 and
subsequent exile to Elba off Tuscan
coast
Louis XVIII, brother of executed Bourbon
king, was restored
Fall of Napoleon
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King Louis XVIII was
unpopular, however…
Napoleon got word of this and
staged his comeback, escaping
from Elba
His return to Paris in March
1815 triggered the “Hundred
Days”
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Combined force of British and
Prussian troops at Waterloo
6/18/1815
Duke of Wellington
Exiled to St. Helena, dying
there in 1821
Discussion Questions
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What role did the Enlightenment play in the
American and French revolutions?
After becoming a constitutional monarch, how did
Louis XVI’s actions affect the French revolution?
Compare the urban and rural revolutions in France.
How did nationalism affect the French Revolution?
What changes in society were brought about by the
French Revolution?
Examine Napoleon’s rise to power. What lasting
changes did his reign have on Europe?
Web Links
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American Revolution
French Revolution
Estates-General
Louis XVI
Reign of Terror
Robespierre
Napoleonic Code
Duke of Wellington