French Revolution and Napoleonic Era

• The Long 19th Century took place from 1789 to 1914.
• The French Revolution began in 1789.
• Napoleon Bonaparte ruled France from 1799 to 1815.
• The Age of Metternich was from 1815 to 1848.

French Revolution

• The Enlightenment was to the French Revolution as the Renaissance was to the Reformation.
• Enlightened thinkers did not want women or urban workers to have the same rights as those on which the Revolution was based.
• Louis XV replaced his great grandfather (XIV) in 1774 when he was 5 years old.
• France was in an economic and political crisis.
• Louis XV's regent was his cousin.
• The Mississippi Bubble involved the French government and aristocrats buying stock in the Mississippi Company.
• They were prompted by an explorer's claim that it would be the richest land in the world.
• The Mississippi Company failed, leading to widespread financial losses when everyone wanted their money back.
• France experienced a severe economic depression due to the Mississippi Bubble's collapse.
• Louis engaged in the Seven Years War where France fared poorly in Europe and worse in America.
• All French American territories, except Louisiana, fell to the British.
• Southeast Asian territory was also lost.
• Louis XV was hated but not revolted against because he was old.
• On his deathbed, Louis XV said “apres moi, le deluge" meaning "After me, the flood".
• In 1774, Louis XVI inherited a very bad situation, including the aftermath of the Seven Years War, an empty treasury, and no money.
• Louis XVI funded the American Revolution and was the first to recognize American independence.
• He hoped America would then support the French and trade with them.
• The Treaty of Paris in 1873 led to British recognition of American independence.
• Britain and America agreed to trade.
• Relations with Britain resumed instead of with France.
• Appointed new financial ministers agreed that France would not make it if they continued on their current path.
• Ministers said they needed to tax the nobility.
• Marie Antoinette had PR issues, she was into fashion and parties and refused to repeat an outfit.
• She played pretend peasants and had a peasant village built for her.
• Louis XVI tried to improve agricultural production, but France did not approve and it faced agricultural issues.
• Four consecutive bad harvests led to starvation and financial loss.
• Peasants went into debt to landlords and theft and crimes increased, leading to rioting.
• People blamed the government and the old regime.
• Louis XVI called the Estates-General into session for the first time since 1614 in 1789 because the third estate wanted input on taxing the nobles.
• The Estates-General election was held to appoint representatives.
• The first estate was the clergy, about 1% of the population, controlling 20% of the wealth in France, and was not necessarily unified.
• The second estate was the nobility, about 2% of the population, controlling about 30% of the wealth in France, and was divided into older nobility and new nobility.
• The third estate was everyone else, about 97% of the population, including the bourgeoisie, with peasants making up 90%, facing intense suffering due to inflation and stagnant wages.
• The first and second estates had an equal number elected, the third estate had an equal number to both combined (100, 100, 200).
• Cahiers des Doleances were notebooks of grievances brought by each member of the estates general to complain about the king in 1789.
• An impasse occurred when neither side wanted to concede power.
• The third estate formed the National Assembly as a new representative body.
• The National Assembly acted like the true government of France, but the estate general did not accept it.
• The National Assembly consisted of 97% from the 3rd estate and 3% from the 1st and 2nd.
• The National Assembly was formed in 1789 without official authority.
• On June 20, 1789, the National Assembly arrived to their normal meeting room at Versailles, but the king had locked them out.
• The National Assembly found an indoor tennis court in Versailles and used it as their meeting place.
• They swore the Tennis Court Oath on June 20, 1789, which some mark as the beginning of the revolution.
• The National Assembly wanted to write a constitution that permanently limits the power of the king.
• The king called for a joint meeting of the National Assembly and the Estates General, legitimizing the National Assembly.
• Louis XVI called in troops due to concerns about bread riots, but the people saw this as a threat to end the National Assembly.
• Parisians decided to riot before the troops arrived; on July 14, 1789, they stormed the Bastille, marking the start of the French Revolution.
• The Bastille was a physical representation of the way the king kept rights from the people.
• Parisians attacked with sticks, killed the leaders of the Bastille, paraded their heads around the city, and released prisoners.
• There were only a few prisoners held at the Bastille and not many weapons, making this more of a symbolic victory.
• The National Assembly knew that they could keep meeting, as the people in France felt chaos and fear.
• Peasants revolted in the countryside and killed nobles.
• Nobles fled France during The Great Fear of July-August 1789 and were known as emigres.
• The National Assembly abolished feudalism.
• On August 26, 1789, the National Assembly drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
• The declaration was inspired by enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and the Declaration of Independence.
• The declaration's first article stated that men are born and remain free and equal in rights
• "Liberty, equality, fraternity" was the motto of the French Revolution.
• The declaration stated that social distinctions must benefit everyone in society and that priests and lay persons can be distinguished but must be treated equally.
• The declaration talked about rights of man including liberty, property, security, and the right to resist oppression.
• The all-seeing eye symbolizes eye opening through reasoning and then can illuminate problems and fix them.
• The Phrygian cap symbolizes emancipation and was given to Roman slaves when they were freed.
• Wearing a Phrygian cap denoted a revolutionary.
• The Fasces symbolizes power.
• In October 1789, a group of women marched to Versailles because they were frustrated that they still could not provide food for their families.
• The women marched to Versailles to ensure the king knew about their struggles.
• The guards did not know how to handle the women.
• Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake" quote comes from this time.
• The women abducted the royal family, who went somewhat willingly.
• The women carried the royal family on a wooden hay cart all the way back to Paris so that they could not be out of touch with the common people's everyday struggles.
• This march was a huge step for the revolution in the direction of helping those with the most need.
• The revolution became more radical as it progressed.
• The Constitution of 1791 was a constitutional monarchy attempting Montesquieu's ideas of separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches
• Executive: king, could not declare war or change the constitution and could not handle/deal with money
• Legislative: unicameral, consisting of a 2 year term for elected members, was a legislative assembly elected by all adult male taxpayers
• Judicial: upper and lower, 6 year terms for electees, which diminished chance of corruption.
• Departments: political subunits like parishes or states, 83 created with elected sheriffs, judges, tax collectors, mayors, etc; destroyed the power of the nobility
• National Assembly: abolition of the estates, everyone is equal, economic changes to make the government back off, laissez faire to be put in place, they wanted to get rid of guilds because they are too protective and get rid of competition and influences inflation-they wanted supply and demand to open up jobs to all people
• Financial problems: tax system is now based on land and profits instead of estates
• Issue with this is that urban workers aren't taxed so they can't vote
• New form of currency: Assignat
• Their answer was to print more money and claim all of the church land in France to back their new currency-leads to slight inflation.
• This aggravated the Pope and all the French churches.
• The Civil constitution of clergy of 1790 said that the people of France were going to elect their clergy and church workers, but to be elected, they had to swear an oath on the document to the people of France
• In 1789, the National Assembly dissolved itself to become the Legislative Assembly, mainly made up of Bourgeoise.
• The winners regarding this constitution: peasants but mainly the bourgeoisie who wrote it
• The losers regarding this constitution: nobles and monarchy, the church and urban workers
• In 1791, the Flight to Varennes: Louis XVI tried to revive absolutism and escape France, but people found him and brought him back to Paris where he claimed he was kidnapped.
• Jacobin Club: supported by radical bourgeoisie who called for overthrowing monarchy and nobles and aimed to eat the rich and supported the urban workers
• Maximillian Robspierre: one of the leaders of the Jacobin Club, very radical, who wanted france in the hands of loyal people and called for violence and execution of the monarchy
• The Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the french revolution, took place from 1793-1794.
• During the Reign of Terror, 40,000 people were killed, roughly 75 a day by guillotine.
• Louis XVI was put in jail, and France was being invaded by foreign powers.
• The Leg assembly was dissolved.
• The national convention was formed, not a governing body, but an effort to write a new constitution since the initial constitutional monarchy didn't come to fruition.
• An election was held to figure out who would be on the national convention.
• Urban workers were still calling for voting rights and universal male suffrage.
• Danton took emergency control of paris and prepared people to defend themselves and take up arms.
• The people are excited by Danton because french people are ready to defend themselves.
• Rumors started to spread that this was a trick to keep them out of france and take everything that they fought for back.
• People decided that they needed to defend from inside first and wanted to make sure there were no nobles left to ruin everything while they are gone.
• September massacres: over a thousand rich people killed on the streets of paris, marking class violence.
• Jacobin power was solidified in the election of 1792- a new constitution will be radical, and only the most radical people in france were brave enough to vote, so the most radical representatives were elected
• The people began warring what type of changes should be made, thus divisions occurred within the jacobin club.
• Alliance of Convenience
• French Revolution took place from 1789-99
• Old Regime-1789
• Estates-General occurred in 1789
• National Assembly took place from 1789-91
• The Legislative Assembly occurred from 1791-2.
• National Convention occurred from 1792-1795.
• Most seats in the National Convention went to the Jacobins because they were the only ones brave enough to take to the streets.
• An alliance of convenience occurred, where all wanted change but not the same kind.
• Alliance dissolves when they all are at the NatCon because their disagreements about what change to make come out
• Montagnards: very radical and killed all nobles
• Girondins: much more conservative and wanted to get rid of nobility but not kill them
• Revolutionary Plaza was where the guillotine was set up, and where Louis XVI was executed, which caused the end of the Bourbon monarchy.
• Austria and Prussia were still invading.
• France decided to attack Austria and Prussia in their states.
• Britain and others joined Austria and Prussia to defeat France because they didn't want the revolution to spread.
• V endee Rebellion
• NatCon sends troops to quiet down V endee, but nobles supported them because they wanted their power back and the rebellion spread beyond the V endee region
• More than 60/83 departments fighting against the NatCon
• Sans-Culottes, or urban workers in Paris, means without pants because they couldn't wear short paints because they were doing manual labor.
• Sans-Culottes were on the NatCon's side and very powerful, so the NatCon had to bend to their will
• Convention decided to create a temporary government, Committee of Public Safety, instead of implementing the Constitution of 1792.
• The Committee of Public Safety 1793-4 was the executive branch of the NatCon
• Bread prices were forced to be lowered with a max price
• Wealth was redistributed and taxes were taken from the wealthy to give to the poor.
• Girondins were expelled because they were questioning radical groups, so the Committee of Public Safety sent them out
• Revolution becomes more radical, comparable Rump Parliament.
• Revolutionary Tribunal-Reign of Terror
• Too many people to prosecute, appointed judges, no jury
• An individual could be arrested, charged, and sent to the guillotine in the same day.
• With such a judicial process, Justice is miscarried.
• Over 500,000 arrested and 40,000 killed, about 75 people a day.
• Bringing France back under control by destroying all opposition
• Robspierre, who really valued education, established a national library archive and art gallery, he desired to create Republic of Virtue.
• Weird because he was also executing thousands
• Art from the wealthy was taken and an old palace converted into the Louvre for free public access.
• France was very defending itself against all of Europe and the Vindet Rebellion was pretty crushed
• So why was Robespierre still cutting off heads and there was a decreased number who agreed with Robespierre as time went on?
• It was hard to oppose because he sent all opposition to the guillotine
• They send Danton to meet with Robespierre to try and reason with him
• Danton told him that the justification was over
• It seemed to go well and they even hugged at the end
• The next morning, Danton is arrested and brought to the guillotine
• Even one of his closest friends was not immune
• Organized group got together to plan a public arrest of all the members of the Committee of Public Safety in the summer of 1794
• Very hard because it required a lot of people, and anyone could have been a spy for Robespierre
• July 1794-all members arrested, brought to trial, and sent to the guillotine, Robespierre attempted to take his own life, but someone fought the gun away from his temple and the gun ends up at his jaw, firing upward and completely shatters the right side of his face.
• Marat Newspaper-if you were published in this, you would probably be killed
• He had a skin disease, so he had to bathe in mineral water for hours at a time and would write while in the bathtub.
• A sister (Charlotte Corday) of someone who was killed based on Marat's writing stabbed him in his bathtub, and he died
• Jacques-Louis David painted a picture of Marat's death.
• Marat is celebrated and sainted for being a great person of the revolutionary era
• July 1794-Thermidorian Reaction: conservative response to the Reign of Terror
• Pendulum swings back to the more conservative side
• Upper bourgeoisie takes control of the revolution again away from the urban workers.
• The Reign of Terror was gotten rid of and Jacobins and other key players in the Reign of Terror were harassed and arrested.
• Urban workers still want the rights they were fighting for-the revolution shifted from the bourgeoisie to the urban workers then it shifted to women and so on.
• Crane Brinton wrote Anatomy of a Revolution-coined term “Thermidorian Reaction" and thought of it as the way a revolution comes back to more conservative ideas after the most radical stage.
• Compares three revolutions to a disease Enters the body, reaches a height of sickness, comes back down to where you still feel bad but not awful.
• The metric system was developed.
• Revolutionary calendar started on September 22, 1792, when the Constitution was accepted/French Republic started.
• Every month will have exactly 30 days and will be named after the weather of that month (logical).
• Pluvios is the rainy month.
• Days of the week will named first day, second day, etc. and made ten of them instead of 7.
• 5 days are decided to have at the end of the year and every fourth year 6 days, to celebrate the republic
• The Festival of the Supreme Being reflected Deism, the concept of God as a clockmaker where God is real but miracles are not and he does not interfere with daily life and did not send Hi son and was still the primary belief.
• People were encouraged to appreciate the creation of Earth and natural laws and it was not their their job to worship God but to study creation and reason more.
• Catholicism was rejected and churches were converted into Temple of Reason.
• Religion was decided to be all myth and was stopping progression and thinking.
• Slavery was abolished in all French territories, but short lived due to the economic reliance on slavery and came back after Reign of Terror.
• English CommonWealth-1641-1660
• American Revolution-1776-83
• French Revolution-1789-99
• the French did kind of well at defending itself against all of Europe and the Vindet Rebellion was pretty much crushed
• Russian Revolution-1917

Timeline

• Old Regime: the power goes to Monarchs, nobles, and church
• • 1789- Estates General: Bourgeoisie gaining, Monarchy called it, nobles and church still have some power
• National Assembly: Bourgeoisie gaining, Monarchy, nobles, and church are and church or nobles are losing it
• Constitution of 1791- Legislative Assembly: Bourgeoisie in charge, still the monarchy is there, and nobles and church lose
• Constitution YI Year one
• 1793-1794 R. O. T. -National Convention: Bourgeoisie in the charge and Sans Culotte Urban Workers gaining, but the monarchy is dead, Nobles and Church have little power.
• Thermidorian Reaction:
• Constitution of 1795/Y ear III: more conservative, wants to make sure Sans-Culotte cannot come back to power
• The Directory-
• Bicameral legislature: system of checks/balances, all must agree
• Elected by adult male property owners
• Financial problems
• urban workers not happy
• People on the right, nobility, church Monarchists not conservative enough
• 1795-Directory 1799
• Problems:
• made to be slow moving (slow pace causes unrest)
• Quasi war
• The Republic of Virtue
• Weird because he was also executing thousands
• Art gallery-art taken from the very wealthy, and an old palace was converted into the Louvre for free public access.
• Metric system developed during this time and the Revolutionary calendar started on September 22, 1792, when the Constitution was accepted/French Republic started
• Every month will have exactly 30 days and will be named after the weather of that month, it is logical
• Example: Pluvios is the rainy month
• the weekdays are named first day, second day, etc. and named ten of them instead of 7
• decided to have five days at the end of the year and every fourth year 6 days, to celebrate the republic
• rejection of women's rights
• Abolished slavery, but not long lasting

End of revolution

• People in france are getting frustrated with the Directory, centrist response that upsets everyone outside of that group
• They need a government and it must resond quickly and have a stronger executive1799-French revolutionaries call for a coup to overthrow the directory and they want Napoleon to lead them.
• Consulate: NOT a monarchy
• Elected person to be the Consul
• Person elected to be First Consul is granted a lot of power such as power to declare war, to appoint officials, or to initiate any legislation, however, the Legislative branch can only pass laws that have been initiated by the First Consul
• Napoleon elected First Consulvery good at it
• They want Napoleon to solve problems: France is facing HUGE problems A lot to declare ware on and take up. Napolean crossed the the Alps to invade Austria Jacques to be Louis Davids a picture of that
• Napoleon crossed the Alps to invade Austria; Jacques Louis David painted a picture of Napoleon on horseback leading his

Napoleon Crush Radicals

• France is finally at peace and they are going to focus on domestic issues such as financial and social issues

• Napoleon approved end of feudalism and Approved end of feudalism, but protected property rights of "emegries" (nobles)

Religious achievements

• Napoleon recognized the importance of religion and keeping Catholics happy and made a deal with the Pope

Other things Napoleon did.

Public education like secondary schools

• Consul for Life was enacted.
• No longer an eleted repersenative of the people and France really needed the stability of constant leader

Empire

• Named himself Emperor of the French (Suggesting to them that, he is emperor to the people, not the land
• Coronations of Napoleon painting HUGE! Jacque's Luis David, painted it Napoleon was crowned with the crown of laurels (all about Napoleon's power) Napoleon placed the crown on his own head instead of allowing the pope (taking all the power away from the church) Plebiscite Napoleon asking "ok you that I claimed myself emperer?" 95-98% approval rate They really had no choice, not asking for forgiveness but not ask permission Napoleon starts seeking ways to exand the empire...

1805- Battle of Ult

• The battle that Napoleon won next day.. Battle of Trafalger. HUGE Loss British Naval force

How do we deal with Austria?

• Napoleon wants them on his side Names him the Son King of Italy: Names his brother King of Italy Austria/PRussia got to keep their leaders, but they were pawns of apoleon! Influence is the best way Napoleon wants people to join him

• Declining and falling of Napoleon He conquered everything and spread the idea But was it Valid? Can there be any good conquest? Constant Resistence of the UK

• UK wanted by the small French islands and they naval strength HRE: Confederation
  They are going to go the opposite- and try to maintain.

• French Revolution: all the idea of the Con of Vienna

• the Bourbons get the French throne

France

• Bourbon Monarchy that's rested with Louis (something)
• All about growing liberals
• 1819-they wanted to kill him
• library all censor and professors looked out, and shut down with the "Karbod" decreee Very hard because it required a lot of people.
• V endee- send more troops to Spain and wanted the Spanish to help but they betrayed him Napoleon fought Spanish rebels and the Spanish went guerrilla, they cant be taken back down

Explore the connection between the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Learn about Napoleon Bonaparte's reign and the subsequent era. Understand the impact of the Continental System and the challenges faced during the Peninsular War.