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Part 2:The French Revolution

I. The French Revolution

Begins

A. The Old Regime: Three Estates

1. First Estate: Roman Catholic Clergya. Owned 10% of land and paid 2%

of income in taxes2. Second Estate: Rich Nobles

a. Owned 20% of land and paid almost no taxes

A. The Old Regime: Three Estates

3. Third Estate: Bourgeoise (middle class), urban lower class, and peasant farmers

a. Embraced Enlightenment ideasb. Resented 1st and 2nd Estate

c. Had no power or influence d. Paid high taxes

B. The Forces of Change

1. Voltaire and Rousseau’s ideas of liberty, equality, and democracy influenced the

Third Estate.2. France’s economy started to decline by the 1780s. Involvement in the American

Revolution made the national debt worse.

B. The Forces of Change

3. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette made matters worse by their weak leadership

and extravagant spending.4. Louis XVI imposed taxes on the nobility,

which led the Second Estate to call a meeting of the Estates-General.

C. Dawn of Revolution

1. Members of the Third Estate voted to form the National Assembly on June 17,

1789 (1st act of revolution). 2. The NA’s pledge to meet to form a new constitution was the Tennis Court Oath.

C. Dawn of Revolution

3. A mob stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789. The fall of Bastille became a

symbolic act of the revolution.

D. A Great Fear Sweeps France

1. A wave of panic and rebellion known as the Great Fear spread through France.

2. The royal family left Versailles, marking the beginning of radical reforms.

II. Revolution Brings Reform and Terror

A. The Assembly Reforms France

1. The NA eliminated the Old Regime (estates) in Aug. 1789, and adopted the Declaration of Rights of Man and of Citizen.2. Revolutionary leaders adopted the expression “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”

A. The Assembly Reforms France

3. The church soon lost its lands and political independence. The royal family tried to leave France to the but got caught.

B. Divisions Develop

1. The NA completed a new constitution in Sept. 1791 that created a limited constitutional monarchy and a Legislative Assembly.

B. Divisions Develop

2. Many problems, like debt and food shortages, continued.

2a. Three groups formed in the LA: radicals, moderates, and conservatives.

B. Divisions Develop2b. Nobles seeking the return of the Old Regime, Emigres, fled France.

Parisian workers and shopkeepers called sans-culottes, wanted more change.

C. War and Execution

1. By 1792, France was at war with Prussia and Austria.

C. War and Execution

2. The Sept. Massacre in 1792 claimed over 1,000 lives.

Jacobin Jean-Paul Marat called for the execution of the king’s supporters.

C. War and Execution

3. The monarchy was abolished, and a National Convention was put in place. In Jan. 1793, Louis XVI was found guilty of treason and was beheaded by the guillotine.

D. The Terror Grips France

1. Jacobin Maximilien Robespierre took control as a dictator and set to build a “republic of virtue.”

D. The Terror Grips France2. Robespierre launched a Reign of Terror to protect the Revolution from its enemies. About 40,000, many of whom were poorer, were executed from 1793-1794.

Marie Antoinette was also beheaded.

E. End of Terror

1. The Reign of Terror ended when Robespierre was beheaded by the guillotine in July 1794. The NC drafted a new plan of government.

III. Napoleon Forges an Empire

A. Napoleon Seizes Power

1. The Directory, which led France after the Reign of Terror, appointed Napoleon Bonaparte to lead the French Army against Austrian and Sardinian forces in 1796.

A. Napoleon Seizes Power

2. By 1799, Napoleon’s troops drove out members of the national legislature. Remaining members dissolved the Directory. Napoleon assumed the powers of a dictator and seized France.

A. Napoleon Seizes Power

3. Austria, Britain, and Russia wanted to drive Napoleon from power, but Napoleon led his troops against them. By 1802, Europe was at peace.

B. Napoleon Rules France

1. Napoleon received almost total power through a constitution the people voted for. He soon created an efficient tax collecting system, national bank, and lycées (gov’t-run public schools).

B. Napoleon Rules France

2. Napoleon signed a concordat, agreement, with Pope Pius VII, restoring the position of the Church in France and gaining allies for himself.

B. Napoleon Rules France

3. Napoleon created the Napoleonic Code which gave France a uniform set of laws but limited liberty and promoted order and authority over individual rights.

B. Napoleon Rules France

4. In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself as an emperor at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

B. Napoleon Rules France

4 (continued). Crowning himself instead of the pope crowning him was a sign of his power.

C. Napoleon Creates an Empire

1. In 1801, Napoleon unsuccessfully attempted to reclaim the colony in Saint Domingue. He sold the Louisiana Territory to President Jefferson in the U.S. for $15 million in 1803.

C. Napoleon Creates an Empire

2. Napoleon focused on building an empire in Europe. After a series of successes against enemies, he built the largest European empire since Rome.

C. Napoleon Creates an Empire

3. Napoleon only lost the Battle of Trafalgar against Britain in 1805. This British victory established its naval dominance and caused Napoleon to give up his plans to invade Britain.

C. Napoleon Creates an Empire

4. By 1812, Napoleon controlled nearly all of Europe. Even countries directly not under France’s control were easily manipulated through alliances.

IV. Napoleon’s Empire Collapses

A. Napoleon’s Costly Mistakes

1a. Napoleon established the Continental System in 1806, which created a blockade to prevent trade between Britain and other European nations.

A. Napoleon’s Costly Mistakes

1b. Napoleon’s allies disregarded the blockade. Britain created its own blockade, leading to the U.S. declaring war on Britain in the War of 1812.

A. Napoleon’s Costly Mistakes

2a. In 1808, Napoleon sent an invasion force through Spain to get Portugal to support the Continental System. Napoleon placed his brother, Joseph, on the Spanish throne.

A. Napoleon’s Costly Mistakes

2b. Napoleon lost about 300,000 in the guerrilla warfare of the Peninsular War against Spain, who were aided by British troops.

A. Napoleon’s Costly Mistakes

3a. After a fallout with the Russian czar, Alexander I, Napoleon decided to invade Russia in 1812 with his grand army of 420,000 soldiers.

A. Napoleon’s Costly Mistakes

3b. The Russians practiced a scorched-earth policy, wiping out food supplies. During a freezing winter, Russian soldiers attacked. Only 10,000 French soldiers survived.

B. Napoleon’s Downfall

1. After Allied victories against Napoleon’s troops, Napoleon was exiled to Elba. Soon after, Louis XVI’s brother assumed the throne as Louis XVIII.

B. Napoleon’s Downfall

2a. Louis XVIII became unpopular, and Napoleon was again the emperor in 1815. Napoleon’s last bid for power was the Hundred Days.

B. Napoleon’s Downfall

2b. The British army, led by the Duke of Wellington, fought against Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo. The British victory marked the end of Napoleon’s bid for power. He was sent to a remote island and died in 1821.

V. The Congress of Vienna

A. Metternich’s Plan for Europe

1. The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), led largely by Metternich, sought to find peace and stability after Napoleon.

A. Metternich’s Plan for Europe

2. In order to contain France, the Congress strengthened neighboring countries. They created a united Kingdom of the Netherlands, a German Confederation, a stronger Kingdom of Sardinia, and an independent Switzerland.

A. Metternich’s Plan for Europe

2. In order to contain France, the Congress strengthened neighboring countries. They created a united Kingdom of the Netherlands, a German Confederation, a stronger Kingdom of Sardinia, and an independent Switzerland.

A. Metternich’s Plan for Europe

3. The leaders of Europe wanted to maintain a balance of power so no country, such as France, could easily overpower another.

A. Metternich’s Plan for Europe

4. The great powers affirmed the principle of legitimacy, restoring the ruling families of France, Spain, and several states in Italy and Central Europe to their thrones.

B. Political Changes Beyond Vienna

1a. Both the Holy Alliance (Russia, Austria, and Prussia) and a series of Alliances known as the Concert of Europe sought to combat any future revolutions.

B. Political Changes Beyond Vienna

1b. Conflicts between the conservatives who supported strong monarchies and liberals who held democratic ideals led to a series of revolutions from 1830-1848.

B. Political Changes Beyond Vienna

2. Latin American colonies claimed independence from Spain and Brazil claimed independence from Portugal.

B. Political Changes Beyond Vienna

3. The Congress of Vienna left a legacy. The balance of power, new nationalism, and ideas that stemmed from the French Revolution brought about a new era.