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CAMBRIDGEASHISTORYREVISION
FRANCE17891917
1.2 THEINSTABILITYOFFRENCHGOVERNMENT17911799
REVOLUTIONARY WARSEconomic problems: France still in debt; inefficient tax collection; peasants and working class suffered.Divisions among revolutionaries: radicals wanted complete state control over property; moderates objected to seizure of property.Threats from abroad: foreign monarchies alarmed by events in France; Austria, Prussia, Britain and Holland threatened to invade France to restore Louis XVI; France at war with Austria and Prussia.
Return of the Royal Family to Paris following the failed attempt to flee, June 1791
NEW RULING BODIESLegislative Assembly: replaced National Assembly in 1791.The Convention: replaced the Legislative Assembly a few months later.
GIRONDINS AND JACOBINSGirondins: originally from south of France; encouraged negotiation with Louis XVI (not popular with other revolutionaries).Jacobins: Paris-based extreme radicals; controlled the Convention; led by Maximilien Robespierre.
THE REIGN OF TERRORCommittee of Public Safety: supervised military and legal affairs.Revolutionary Tribunal: put on trial anyone suspected of being an enemy of the revolution.Republic established September 1792: monarchy abolished; king put on trial and executed.Robespierre: attacked the power of the Church; used extreme measures against opponents.The Law of Suspects: people could be arrested merely on suspicion rather than evidence; an estimated 40,000 killed.
THE FALL OF ROBESPIERREOpposition to Robespierre: many groups were angered by Reign of Terror and Robespierre’s dictatorial rule.Thermidorian Reaction: Robespierre arrested and executed 1794.
THE DIRECTORYNew constitution August 1795: Directory established with two councils; representation was from the middle class.Problems facing the Directory: France’s financial debts; wars against foreign monarchies; internal divisions; riots due to food shortages; Directory only survived because it controlled the army.Jacobin opposition: Jacobins felt Directory had betrayed the revolution; 1796 – Babeuf Plot failed.Collapse of the Directory 1799: weakened by internal divisions; November 1799 Napoleon led a coup and overthrew Directory; Consulate established, with Napoleon the chief of three consuls.
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