The French Revolution

1789-1815

The Old RegimePeasant Distress• More than 4/5 of France’s

26 M people• Taxes paid:

– Paid ½ income in taxes– Feudal dues to nobles– Tithes to church– Royal taxes– Land Taxes (taille)

• Forced labor (corvee)• Grain shortage led to

increase in price of bread: major cause of discontent

The Old Regime• Government Debt• Economic Troubles

– High cost of fighthing Seven-Year war– Cost of financing American Revolution– King Louis XIV& Marie Antoinette spend

money extravagantly – Louis XVI doubles nation’s debt; banks refuse

to lend more money

The Old RegimeAristocratic Resistance

• Exempted from paying taxes• 1st Estate is the Catholic clergy, they are < 1% of

population, own 10% of land• 2nd Estate, rich nobles, 2% of population, own 20% of

land

The Old RegimeRoyal Weakness• Louis’ XV (1715-1774)

weak and indecisive• Luis XVI (1774-1792)

and Marie Antoinette spent money extravagantly

• The Parliament (high court of Paris) assumed the right to approve or disapprove the king’s decrees.

Hall of Mirrors /Peasant Home

Cost of Versailles is disputed by historians. Anywhere from $2 billion to $300 billion

Size of Versailles/ Peasant Life

The King’s Chapel

The Estates General

• Calling The Estates– Spring 1789 the French Government was

almost bankrupt– The Assembly of Notables refused to support

Louis XVI’s program of tax reform– The king called a meeting

The Estates GeneralThe Three Estates• First Estate: Clergy

– Catholic Church had 20% of land– Paid no direct taxes. Gave government a ‘free gift’ of

2% of income• Second Estate: Nobles

– 2-4% of the population– Owned 25% of land

• Third Estate: everyone else– 95% of the population: Peasant, farmers, merchants,

lawyers– Resented Aristocracy

The Estates General

The Tennis Court Oath June 1789• Fearing dismissal by Louis XVI, members of the

delegation swear an oath to establish a constitution on a nearby tennis court.

• Original voting system: each estate had 1 vote. The 3rd estate was always outvoted by the other two.

• Third Estate, led by Abbe Sieyes, wanted the votes counted by number of people and requested a general meeting

• King refused and the Third Estate declared itself the true National Assembly and met in a Tennis Court

The Tennis Court Oath

Marked the beginning of the French Revolution

The National Assembly 1789-1791• The Storming of the Bastille

– Louis XVI ordered Swiss mercenaries to march to Paris

– Political crisis combined with famine in 1789– Peasants were starving and left their homes

• Price of bread rose • Rumors told of government troops seizing peasants crops• Peasants panicked, attacked homes of nobles, destroyed

feudal records, and stole grain – Mob attacks and seizes Bastille killing guards on July

14, 1789. – Symbolic Act. – Paris as the forefront of Revolution

The National Assembly Reforms France

• Declaration of Right of Man and The Citizen, August 1789– Modeled on U.S. Declaration of Independence – All men were “born and remain free and equal in

rights”– Right to property, liberty, security and resistance to

oppression– Freedom of religion, from arbitrary arrest, speech and

press and right to petition government

The Right of Women

• Gained increase rights to inherit property and to divorce

• Mary Wollstonecraft in A Vindication of the Right of Women” appearance of inferiority because of lack of education

• In October 1789, Parisian women revolt over the price of bread

• They demand action, forcing Louis XVI to return to Paris from Versailles.

• The National Assembly also moved to Paris

National Assembly Reforms…• Create a constitutional Monarchy • Divided France in 83 departments

governed by elected officials• Established the metric system• Abolished internal tariffs• Abolished guilds• The Assembly DID NOT

– Give women the right to vote– Abolish private property

Slogan of the French Revolution“Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité”

The Legislative Assembly, 1791-1792

RadicalLeft: Jacobins and Girondists

ConservativeRight

ModerateCenter

The Legislative Assembly, 1791-1792

France vs. Austria and Prussia• Leopold II of Austria and Frederick William II of Prussian

issued the Declaration of Pillnitz (August 791): restoration of absolutism in France is of common interest to all European sovereignties. Austrians and Prussians want Louis in charge of France

• The Legislative Assembly ()Radicals in declare war: War of the First Coalition

• Prussian forces threaten Paris• The war went on from 1792 to 1815

The Legislative Assembly, 1791-1792The Second French Revolution• With Prussians threatening the capital, Parisian mobs

are able to stop the Austro-Prussian army.• During the Summer of 1792, Radicals (sans-culottes)

took control of the Paris Commune (city government).• Pressured by the mob, the Legislative Assembly

deposes the king and call for election of a National Convention

• The National Convention takes office in December, forming the French Republic

• Radicals start the “September Massacres” marking the beginning of the Second French Revolution.

The National Convention, 1792-1795• The Execution of Louis XVI

– Abolishment of Monarchy and declared France a Republic.• The Jacobins (more radical): demanded execution• Girondist: imprisonment

– After a close vote, Louis XVI is found guilty of treason • European Reaction

– At first Liberal supported Revolution– Edmund Burke: conservative critique– Mob rule= anarchy and military dictatorship

• Foreign and Domestic Threats– In 1793, Britain, Spain, & Netherlands join forces against

France– Girondists and Royalist Catholics rebelled against Jacobins

The National Convention, 1792-1795

Robespierre assumes control–Jacobin leader rules France for a year–Becomes leader of the Committee for

Public Safety. –Robespierre = dictator– “Liberty cannot be secured unless

criminals lose their heads!” – Robespierre

The National Convention, 1792-1795The Reign of Terror• National Convention established the Committee

of Public Safety to defend France and Safeguard the Revolution.

• Led by Robespierre, the Committee exercised dictatorial power as it carried ot the Reign of Terror

• In the name of creating the Republic of Virtue, Robespierre executes the queen, rivals and thousand of ‘enemies’

The Reign of Terror• Revolutionary committees conduct hasty trials and issue

thousands of death sentences to “traitors to the revolution.”

End of the Terror• The Nation in Arms:

– Robespierre turned to the danger posed by the First Coalition

– 1793: Levee en Masse (compulsory military service)• National military based ion mass participation

– Motivated by Patriotism, and led by young officers (Napoleon Bonaparte), France defeated the First Coalition

• The Thermidorian Reaction– National Convention: arrests and executes

Robespierre in July 1794– Terror results in public opinion shifting away from

radicals

The Directory, 1795-1799• Bourgeoisie Misrule

– Moderate leaders write new constitution– Two house legislature and 5 man known as the Directory restore

order– Middle class and professional people of the bourgeoisie were

now the dominant force in government. – Proved to be corrupt and unpopular

• Fall of the Directory– France made peace with Prussia and Spain, but war with

England and Austria continued– Bread prices rose causing sans-culottes to riot– Émigrés returned to France, reviving reactionary, royalist

feelings in peasants– Peasants upset about church reforms– During the election of 1797 Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the

Directory and seized Power.

Napoleon and the Consulate 1799-1804• The First Consul

– As first Consul he held power and made all the decisions– Popularity continue to raise as he restored order, stimulated

prosperity and defeated the Second Coalition– Voters endorsed Napoleon’s rule. He successfully used all

democratic process to destroy democracy– Transformed France into a modern state– Enlightened despot

• Napoleonic code– Consolidation of hundreds of local laws codes into a uniform

code that is still the basis of the French Law– Guaranteed equality before the law, freedom of religion, abolition

of privilege, protection of property rights– Increased authority of husbands within the family

• Women and children were legally dependent on their husband or father

Napoleon and the Consulate 1799-1804• Concordat of 1801

– Ended strained relationship of church and state– Special status granted to Catholic Religion as the religion of

‘majority of Frenchmen’– Pope regained the right to confirm church dignitaries. – Church recognized government and accepted property loss

The Napoleonic Empire, 1804-1815• Europe was at my feet

– Between 1805 and 1807, Napoleon defeated Austria, Prussia and Russia

– Victory is Austerlitz solidified his reputation as a military genius– By 1808, French rule extended from the North Sea to Spain and

included much of Italy– Lord Nelson’s naval victory at Trafalgar stopped Napoleon form

controlling the seas and invading Great Britain.• The Reorganization of Germany

– Dissolution of the Holy Roman empire– Independent German states become confederation of the Rhine– Abolished feudalism– Unwilling acceleration of German Unification

The Napoleonic Empire, 1804-1815• The Fall of Napoleon

1. Aura of Invincibility: Believe in his own power led him to make three tactical error.

2. The continental System– In 1806 closed all European ports to British ships and goods– He hoped this would cause an economic depression in Great Britain and

prosperity in France3. Guerilla warfare in Spain– In 1808 he deposed Spain’s Bourbon rulers and installed his brother

Joseph.– Guerrillas ambushed French troops. France lost almost 300,000 men.

Eventually contributed to Napoleons defeat

4. The Invasion of Russia– Continental System prevented Russia from exporting grain to GB. Tsar

Alexander (1801-1825) refused and Napoleon invaded.– Russia did not surrender. Napoleon retreated and LOST

Napoleon Final Battles• Napoleon enemies took advantage

– Britain, Prussia, Russia and Austria formed Grand Alliance• Defeated napoleon at the Battle of Nations

October 1813– Allied armies entered Paris in March 1814. Napoleon

abdicated and was sent to Elba– In March 1815 escaped and formed a new army. Lost

at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815– Abdicated a second time and was sent to St. Helena.

He died in 1821