French History: Napoleonic Era and Ancien Régime

Napoleon and the French Revolution

• In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia, which led to a grouping of European countries against France.
• The French military was the strongest in Europe at the time, but Russia lured them into a trap.
• Napoleon's empire/dictatorship marked a shift from the Ancien Régime's absolute monarchy.

French Provincial Parlements

• Parlements were provincial courts that held the right to appeal to the King's edicts.
• They were a source of resistance against absolutist rule, allowing them to appeal some of the King's decisions.

Legacies of the French Revolution

• Economics: [study the slide]
• Politics: [study the slide]
• Inequality: Napoleon's focus on stability and security led to inequality, and women were granted important civil rights during the revolution.
• Inequality: The Enlightenment ideas didn't transcend to everyone equally, as seen in the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Citizen.

The Treaty of Amiens

• The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom, marking the end of the French Revolutionary Wars.
• It set the stage for the Napoleonic Wars.

Anti-Royalism

• The French Revolution was an anti-royalist movement, aimed at reversing the changes of the Revolution and restoring the royal House of Bourbon and the Catholic Church to its pre-1789 authority.

The French Revolution: Theories and Causes

Marxist Interpretation

• The French Revolution was a class struggle, with the industrial proletariat pushing the bourgeoisie to more left-wing positions.
• The economy and governance affect social structure and dominant beliefs and ideology.

The National Assembly

• The Third Estate broke off and declared themselves as the National Assembly in the tennis court of the King.
• They vowed to reassemble until a new constitution was established, and would only leave by the force of the bayonets.

The Bastille and the Revolution

• The masses joined the elites and stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789, marking the beginning of the revolution.
• The Bastille was a prison where many political prisoners were held.
• The peasants joined in and revolted due to inequalities, such as the price of bread.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

• The Assembly's Declaration proclaimed that individual rights and freedoms were fundamental to human nature and government existed only to protect them.
• It abolished the feudal system and introduced a radical idea for the time.

Key Events and Figures

• Women's March on Versailles (October 5, 1789)
• Olympe de Gouges wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Citizen