The French Revolution

The French Revolution

• The Old Regime
• 1^st Estate – Clergy - 1% of population
• 2^nd Estate – Nobility – 1% of population
• 3^rd Estate – Remainder of population
• The Clergy
• Very wealthy and powerful
• Owned 10% of the land in France
• Did not have to pay taxes
• Enlightenment condemned the church and asked for reform

The French Revolution

• The Nobles
• Held the top positions in government, army and the courts
• Did not pay taxes
• Enjoyed endless entertainments
• They were far removed from the 3^rd estate

The French Revolution

• The 3^rd Estate
• Bourgeoisie (middle class)
• Bankers, merchants, lawyers, doctors, professors, artists and manufacturers
• Peasants - 9 out of 10 in the 3^rd estate
• Urban workers – the rest of the 3^rd estate
• Apprentices, journeymen, printers, clothing makers, servants, stable hands, porters, construction workers and the unemployed

The French Revolution

• Discontent
• 3^rd estate hated 2^nd & 1^st estate
• Small raises in the price of bread meant starvation for many in the 3^rd estate
• 3^rd estate hated taxes
• Taxed on everything from land to soap to salt
• Also taxed on road and bridge repair known as the Corvee tax
• Peasants were not allowed to hunt
• Could not even kill rabbits that ate their crops

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The French Revolution

• Enlightenment led the 3^rd estate to begin to question the way of life in France
• Economic Problems
• Deficit spending
• War debts
• Seven years’ war
• American revolution
• Half of taxes collected went to pay interest on debt payments
• Forced to raise taxes and reduce expenses

The French Revolution

• Economic Troubles
• Poor harvests
• Led to high food prices
• People began to starve
• Led to bread riots
• Failure to reform
• Louis XIV and Louis XV continued to run up debts
• Louis XVI – well meaning but weak and indecisive
• Louis XVI appointed economic genius Jacques Necker
• Necker proposes tax on 1^st and 2^nd estate
• Met with much disgust
• Nobles and Clergy force Louis XVI to dismiss Necker

The French Revolution

• May 1789 - Louis XVI calls for the Estates General – first time in 175 years
• Meeting of the estates to discuss the future of their government
• Louis XVI asked all classes to prepare a list of complaints known as Cahiers
• Each class had many complaints
• 3^rd class had the most

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The French Revolution

• Representatives of the 3^rd estate were inspired by the Philosophes of the Enlightenment
• Each estate usually got one vote – problem is 1^st and 2^nd estate always outnumbered 3^rd estate
• 3^rd estate called for a vote with each person at the estate general getting a vote

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The French Revolution

• 3^rd estate broke off and declared themselves the national assembly
• They invited members of the other estate to help write a constitution
• When the national assembly returned to the estate general the doors were locked and guarded by armed soldiers
• The 3^rd estate met on a nearby tennis court and took an oath “to never separate and meet whenever possible to write a new constitution”

The French Revolution

• Some members of the 1^st and 2^nd estate started to agree with the 3^rd estate
• Louis XVI reluctantly agreed with the new constitution
• Starvation continued and it was rumored that Louis XVI was going to dissolve the national assembly

The French Revolution

• 800 Parisians gather outside the medieval prison – The Bastille
• They demanded the weapons and gunpowder inside
• The leader of the Bastille had his troops open fire on the crowd
• The mob broke through and killed the leader and five of his men – they released several prisoners as well
• July 14^th - Bastille Day is the beginning of the French Revolution

The French Revolution

• France was experiencing the worst famine in hundreds of years
• People spent 80% of their income on bread
• The Great Fear
• Rumors that led peasants to steal food and burn noble’s manors
• Paris in Arms
• Paris was the heart of the revolution

The French Revolution

• Marquis de Lafayette
• Fought alongside George Washington in the American Revolution
• Headed the National Guard in France
• Middle Class Militia
• First to dawn the red, white, blue flag
• Fought against the Royal army
• After the storming of the Bastille the 1^st and 2^nd estate gave up many of their rights

The French Revolution

• Declaration of the Rights of Man
• Modeled after the American Declaration of Independence
• Inspired by the Philosophes of the Enlightenment
• Entitled to “Liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression”
• All citizens are equal before the law
• Freedom of religion
• Louis XVI was reluctant to accept these reforms

The French Revolution

• Women march on Versailles
• Thousands of French woman marched to the Louis’ palace demanding bread
• Many were angered with Marie Antoinette
• She continued to live lavishly
• When Marie heard about the starving peasants it was reported she replied, “Let them eat cake”
• This was untrue but hurt Antoinette’s image all the same
• The women refused to leave until Louis XVI returned to Paris with them

The French Revolution

• The national assembly
• Reorganizes the church
• They sell off all the church land to pay debts
• Church was now under state control and all clergy had to be elected
• Pope in Italy condemns this move
• Constitution of 1791
• Created by the national assembly
• Had a limited monarchy, legislative branch
• Eliminated church control

The French Revolution

• Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempt to flee Paris
• Louis was disguised as a servant
• They were at the edge of town put a peasant recognized Louis because his face was on the money he was holding
• He and Antoinette were dragged back to Paris while onlookers hurled insults at them
• This made Louis XVI look like a traitor to the revolution

The French Revolution

• Widespread fears
• Emigres – nobles and clergy who fled France spreading tales of the 3^rd estate taking over
• Catherine the Great (enlightened despot) heard these stories and burned Voltaire’s writings
• Joseph II (Enlightened Despot) was Marie Antoinette’s brother – He threatened to invade France to protect the monarchy
• France revolutionaries prepared for invasion from abroad

The French Revolution

• Jacobins – A revolutionary political club
• made up of the middle class and intellectuals
• through pamphlets and newspapers they were the voice of the revolution
• Aug., 1792 – a crowd of Parisians storm the Tuileries (where Louis and Antoinette were being held) and slaughter the King’s guards

The French Revolution

• Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are put on trial as traitors to France
• Louis and Antoinette are sentenced to death
• Guillotine – New execution device
• Jan., 1793 – Louis XVI is beheaded
• Oct., 1793 – Marie Antoinette is beheaded
• Louis XVII died of an unknown cause in a dungeon

The French Revolution

• Maximillien Robespierre
• Rose to the leadership role after the abolition of the monarchy
• Robespierre was a Jacobin
• Nicknamed “The incorruptible”
• His enemies called him a tyrant
• Heavily inspired by Rousseau
• Believed in freedom of religion and wanted to abolish slavery
• He hated the old regime of France
• Used terror to drive the revolution
• “Liberty cannot be secured unless criminals lose their heads”

The French Revolution

• The Reign of Terror
• Led by Robespierre
• Revolutionary courts conducted hasty trials and spectators greeted death sentences with cries of “Hail the Republic” and “Death to the Traitors”
• 40,000 killed during the Reign of Terror
• 15% Nobles & Clergy
• 15% Middle Class
• 70% Peasants and anti-revolutionaries

The French Revolution

• The Guillotine
• Invented by Dr. Joseph Guillotine
• Instant killer – more humane than the ax
• The public turns on Robespierre
• He is arrested and executed the next day for leading the Reign of Terror
• Executions slow down drastically after this

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The French Revolution

The French Revolution

• After Robespierre the revolution went into a third stage
• 5 man directory and a two house legislature
• Very weak
• Émigrés return France
• Supporters of the Monarchy win the majority of seats in the legislature
• As chaos threatened they turned to a man named Napoleon Bonaparte

The French Revolution

• The legislature thought they could use Napoleon as a puppet
• They were greatly mistaken as Napoleon soon becomes ruler of France
• France builds up a strong sense of Nationalism

The French Revolution

• Napoleon’s rise to power
• Military Lieutenant
• Favored the Jacobins – but disagreed with some of their views
• He was victorious in many military conflicts and rose through the ranks of the French Military
• Shortly after being appointed to lead France he named himself Emperor for life
• Napoleon invites the Pope to France
• Napoleon takes the crown from the Pope and places it on his own head

The French Revolution

• Napoleon strengthens the central government
• Napoleon helps improve the economy
• Makes peace with the Catholic Church
• All estates liked Napoleon
• Napoleonic code
• New law under the rule of Napoleon
• Embodied Enlightenment ideas, but valued order and authority over individual rights

The French Revolution

• Building an Empire
• Napoleon led many swift victories over European countries
• “A man such as I am cares little for the life of a million men”
• Napoleon takes over the Netherlands, Belgium and parts of Italy, Prussia and Germany
• He then put friends and relatives in charge of these new territories
• Nationalism grows even stronger

The French Revolution

• France vs. Britain
• Britain relied on its strong navy
• 1805 - Napoleon prepares to invade England
• Napoleon loses at the battle of Trafalgar and the French fleet is destroyed
• Napoleon waged economic warfare with England
• Napoleon closed all ports in Europe to England
• France and England seized neutral ships during this time
• British ships continue to sink American ships and this leads to the war of 1812
• Napoleon’s tactics did not work against Britain

Challenges to Napoleon’s Empire

• France and Napoleon sweep through Europe spreading French views on government and the role of the Church
• Napoleonic code sweeps throughout Europe as well
• French taught other European nations about nationalism
• This works against France when other nations revolt against France

Challenges to Napoleon’s Empire

• Resistance in Spain
• Napoleon made his brother king of Spain
• He also tried to eliminate the Catholic church
• Spain started to believe in Nationalism
• They challenged Napoleon and France
• French crush most rebellions
• This fuels the Spanish hatred for the French

Challenges to Napoleon’s Empire

• Guerrilla Warfare
• Style of fighting the Spanish used against France – used hit and run tactics – In Spanish guerrilla means “little war”
• Britain sends Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington) to help the Spanish fight the French
• War With Austria
• Spanish war with France encouraged Austria to revolt
• France crushes this revolt
• Napoleon divorces Josephine and marries the Austrian princess Marie Louise

Challenges to Napoleon’s Empire

• Defeat in Russia
• Napoleon’s Continental system made many unhappy
• Czar Alexander I of Russia was particularly unhappy and withdrew from the Continental system
• Napoleon reacted by assembling his grand army and heading for Russia
• 400,000 French soldiers invade Russia

Challenges to Napoleon’s Empire

• Defeat in Russia cont.
• Russians retreat constantly, never really fighting a battle
• In their retreat they used a tactic called “Scorched Earth” where they burned everything in their retreat in order to ensure that the French had no resources
• French soldiers froze and starved
• Napoleon reached Moscow but realized that he could not supply his army so he headed back home
• Only 10,000 soldiers survived out of 400,000
• Napoleon’s image was shattered

Challenges to Napoleon’s Empire

• Downfall of Napoleon
• Napoleon and his depleted army are defeated at the battle of Leipzig
• Napoleon abdicates (steps down from power)
• He is exiled to Elba, an island in the Mediterranean
• Louis XVIII, Brother of Louis XVI, takes the French throne
• Napoleon escapes the island and returns
• Louis XVIII flees

Challenges to Napoleon’s Empire

• Napoleon rules for 100 days until he is defeated by the British at the Battle of Waterloo
• British led by Duke of Wellington
• This time Napoleon is sent to St. Helena, a lonely island in the South Atlantic
• Napoleon dies in 1821
• Napoleon’s legacy
• Napoleonic code
• Spread Nationalism across Europe
• Helped create a new Germany
• Louisiana purchase – Doubles the size of the United States

Congress of Vienna

• Goal was to restore Europe’s stability and create a lasting peace by protecting the monarchy
• All major leaders from all European nations were in attendance
• Met for 10 months 1814-1815
• They redrew the map of Europe
• In doing so they contained France
• The monarchy returns in most European nations
• Germany gains a strong sense of Nationalism “Uh oh”

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