the french revolution and napoleon

1550-1789Chapter 6

Enlightenment and Scientific

Revolution

The Scientific Revolution

● Renaissance, Reformation broke down medieval world view, traditional beliefs

● Shift in scientific thinking● By early 1600’s new approach based on hypothesis, observation

and experimentation (scientific method)● Mathematics key to understanding truths, used to convert data

into information and scientific laws

● Christianity taught that God had placed the earth at the center of the universe● Earth- centered view (geocentric) idea came from Aristotle

● Beginning in mid-1500’s ideas were challenged by scientists

● Change was called the scientific revolution

● It was a new way of thinking based on observation and willingness to question accepted beliefs

● Combination of discoveries and inventions led to Scientific Revolution◦ Discovery of new lands challenged old truths, led to new

observations that questioned world around them

◦ Ideas spread by printing press

Changing Thought

Medieval

● Earth centered solar system

● Limits set by the Church and theology, faith

● Destiny is already set from birth

● Time, society, world seen as natural and organic

● Scientific Revolution

● Sun centered solar system

● Limits set by rational, logical thought and experiments

● Everything can be explained and improved- engineered

● Time, society and the world seen as a machine, mechanical, a clock

The Enlightenment

● Philosophers and scholars also began to question reason and order and began to question long held beliefs about the human conditionA. Wanted to change the ideas of rights and

liberties of ordinary citizens

B. Challenged relationship between government and people

C. Brought new insights in government, religion, economics and education

D. Stressed using reason and thought to solve human problems

The Enlightenment

● Enlightenment reached height in France in mid-1700’s

● Paris was center of Enlightenment ideas

● Social critics were known as philosophes

● Characteristics◦ Used methods of science to understand and improve society

◦ Believed reason could reform government, law and society

◦ Wanted social justice, equality

● Met in salons, informal gatherings, brought together writers, artists, thinkers to discuss and spread ideas

The Enlightenment Spreads

● European art in 1600’s and early 1700’s was dominated by a style known a baroque (had grand, ornate, design)

● Enlightenment influenced change

● Simple, elegant style influence by classical Greece and Rome called neo-classical developed by late 1700’s

● Simple structure and decoration reflected order and reason

● Music styles changed lighter, elegant style of music developed known as classical music

● Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven were classical composers

The Enlightenment

● Many philosophes thought the best form of government was a monarchy

● They wanted rulers to respect individuals rights

● Some monarchs made reforms that reflected the Enlightenment (known as enlightened despots)

● They did not want to give up power, but made changes for two reasons:1. To make their country stronger

2. to make their own rule more effective

● Best examples of enlightened despots were Fredrick the Great of Prussia, Joseph II of Austria and Catherine the Great of Russia

The Enlightenment

Legacy of the Enlightenment

● Enlightenment thinkers challenged long held ideas about society from religion to the role of government

● Theories inspired the American and French Revolutions

● Three other long term effects of the Enlightenment1. Belief in progress- idea that human thought, logic and

reason could solve social problems

2. More secular outlook- more non-religious viewpoint, questioned the ideas of the church and promoted religious tolerance

3. Importance of the individual- people looked to themselves to solve problems, not government, or church

The French Revolution and

Napoleon1789-1815

Chapter 7

THE FRENCH

REVOLUTION BEGINS

Section 1

The French Revolution Begins

● 1700’s France considered to be the most advanced country in Europe

● Large population, worldwide trade and the center of the Enlightenment

● Late 1700’s-France’s social system stuck in Middle Ages (ancient regime)

● Three social classes (estates)

● First Estate- clergy

● Second Estate- nobles

● Third Estate- merchants, professionals, peasants (majority of population)


● FIRST ESTATE

◦ Clergy

◦ Enormous wealth and

privilege

◦ Owned 10% of land

◦ Pay no taxes

◦ Provided some social

services- hospitals,

schools

◦ Target of philosophers

reform

◦ Thought Enlightenment

undermined moral order

● SECOND ESTATE

◦ Nobility

◦ 2 % of population,

owned 20% of land

◦ Owned land had little

income

◦ They thought

Enlightenment ideas

threatened their status

◦ Did not pay taxes


● Third Estate

● Most diverse- the rest of society (97%)

● Urban professionals to rural peasants

● Poorest members urban workers

● Third Estate resented the other classes

● Burdened by heavy taxes

● Influenced by Enlightenment ideas, began to question old ways, thought privileged should pay share


Forces of Change

A. Enlightenment ideas and the success of the American Revolution inspired those that wanted change in France

▪ Quoting Rousseau and Voltaire lower classes demanded equality, liberty and democracy

B. Economic problems- high taxes made it hard to conduct business, cost of living was going up

C. Years of deficit spending by monarchs led to economic trouble

▪ Wars, lifestyle of monarchs drained money

▪ Government borrowed money

D. Late 1780’s bad harvests caused food prices to go up, famine among lower classes


● Louis XV, Louis XVI weak kings

● 1789-All classes demand reform, Louis XVI calls meeting of Estates General (meeting of representatives from all three estates)

● Nobles hoped to gain privileges, control king

● Each group prepared list of grievances

● Demands show class resentment

● Third Estate demanded Enlightenment reform, wanted changes in government


● May 1789- Meet at Versailles● Third Estate tired of being dominated

by 1st and 2nd estates● Third Estate breaks away and

becomes National Assembly◦ Represent people of France, proclaimed

the end of the monarchy and the beginning of a representative government

● Locked out by Louis, meet on tennis court at Versailles

● Tennis Court Oath taken by Third Estate, vow to meet until reforms passed

● Many from clergy and nobility join National Assembly

● Seen as threat to Louis XVI power


Storming the Bastille

● July 14, 1789 – Rumors royal troops were going to take over city (Paris), king was going to use force to get rid of National Assembly

● 800 march to Bastille (prison in Paris), to get gunpowder that was stored there

● Bastille seen as symbol of monarchy and abuses

● Commander refused to open gate, mob stormed in

● Killed guards, released prisoners, found no gunpowder

● Challenged regime of Louis XVI

● Day is now a national holiday in France

The French Revolution BeginsThe Great Fear

● Fall 1789- Rebellions spread from Paris into the country side.

● Senseless panic called the Great Fear rolled through France◦ Peasants broke into Nobles’ manor

houses.

◦ Parisian women rioted over the rising price of bread

◦ Women marched on Versailles, broke into the palace and demanded that Louis and Marie Antoinette return to Paris.

◦ The king , his family and servants left Versailles

● Signaled the change of power and radical reforms about to take over France.

REVOLUTION BRINGS

REFORM AND TERROR

Section 2

Revolution Brings Reform and Terror

● Great Fear caused many nobles to support revolution out of fear

● National Assembly took away any of their privileges

● Made commoners equal to the clergy

● August of 1789 National Assembly issues the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (based on the Declaration of Independence) ◦ Rights guaranteed life, liberty and

freedom from oppression

◦ Gave citizens equal justice under the law, freedom of speech and religion

● Olympe de Gouges wanted these rights of women as well, they were rejected and she was later executed


● National Assembly reforms also focused on the Catholic Church◦ Took over church lands and used money to

pay off French debt

◦ Many French peasants were devout Catholics and these actions turned them against the Revolution

● 1791 Louis XVI and his family tried to escape from France but were caught at the border and returned to Paris to face trial


● September 1791 National Assembly created a constitutional monarchy that stripped the king of most of his authority

● Created the Legislative Assembly to create laws

● Legislative Assembly had to handle problems of food shortages and government debt

● Assembly split into three different groups◦ Radicals that wanted the most change

◦ Moderates wanted some changes

◦ Conservatives- wanted a limited monarchy with few changes

● Groups outside of the government wanted to control the direction of France◦ Émigrés were nobles and others that left France and

wanted to restore the Old Régime

◦ Sans-culottes- workers and shopkeepers that wanted the Revolution to bring greater change


● European leaders saw revolution as threat

● Did not want similar revolts in their own countries

● Leaders denounced the Enlightenment, condemned revolutionaries

● Threatened to intervene to protect French monarchy

● April 1792 Austria and Prussia declare war on France


● August 1792 French mob attacks palace and imprisons Marie Antoinette and her children

● September 1792 Rumors that the king was going to be freed from prison caused mobs to attack prisons and kill royal sympathizers (known as September Massacres)

● New government is dissolved and a new government founded known as the National Convention takes over◦ They abolish the monarchy and declare

France a republic

◦ Gave all men the right to vote and hold office


● Jacobins were a radical political organization that were involved in the governmental changes

● Newspaper editor Jean Paul Marat called for death to all who supported the king

● Georges Danton was a lawyer and member of the Jacobins

◦ He was devoted to the rights of the poor people of Paris

● Louis XVI was declared a common citizen by the National Assembly

● Louis was tried for treason and found guilty

● January of 1793 Louis was beheaded by the guillotine

● February 1793 Britain, Holland and Spain declared war against France

● National Convention drafts 300,000 men between 18-40 to join army and defend France


● Jacobins created enemies within France◦ Church was not under their control,

peasants were shocked at the death of the king and rival leaders were stirring up trouble outside of Paris

● Maximillen Robespierre (a leader of the Jacobins)seized control of the government

● Wanted to build a “republic of virtue” by erasing France’s past

● Closed churches, changed the calendar (renamed each month, and took out Sundays), all people referred to each other as citizen

● July 1793 Robespierre became a dictator and this phase of the Revolution became known as the Reign of Terror


● Reign of Terror

● Robespierre created the Committee of Public Safety to protect the revolution from its enemies

◦ 12 member committee had complete control over the French government

◦ Justified use of terror to make citizens remain true to the ideals of the revolution

● To control mobs and those that disagreed with government 300,000 arrested

● 17,000 executed by guillotine

● Most that were executed came from the peasant and urban middle class (those who called for revolution in the first place)

● 1794 Georges Danton was tried and executed

● Marie Antoinette was executed

● By July 1794 many tired of executions and feared for own lives


● July 1794 many members of the National Convention feared for their own safety and turned on Robespierre

● He was arrested, tried and executed● Public opinion had shifted after the death

of Robespierre, people were tired of the revolution

● 1795 new plan of government drafted that put power in the hands of the moderates◦ There was a new legislative body and an

executive body of five men known as the Directory


● Ten year revolution- changed old social order, dissolved the monarchy, brought Church under state control◦ Gave French sense of national

identity (nationalism)

◦ Provided education to all

◦ Systems put into place to help poor, old soldiers, war widows

◦ French flag- tricolor symbol of revolution,

◦ La Marseillaise became national anthem

NAPOLEON FORGES AN

EMPIRE

Section 4

Napoleon Forges and Empire

● In four years Napoleon rose from an unknown army officer to the ruler of France

● 1796 the Directory appoints him to lead the French army against the Austrians and the Kingdom of Sardinia

● Napoleon defeats them in Italy and is seen as a national hero

● Napoleon is sent to Egypt to disrupt British trade

● He is unable to repeat his success, but he manages to keep his defeat out of the newspapers in France, he returns to France as a national hero

Napoleon Forges an Empire● 1799 the Directory had lost control and confidence of the French people

● Napoleon forces the National Legislature to dissolve the Directory and change the government

● He had the army behind his attempt to take power

● Government was a group of three consuls

● Napoleon was the first consul and he assumed the power of a dictator

● At the time of Napoleons takeover France was still at war

● Britain, Russia and Austria wanted to remove Napoleon from power

● Napoleon used war and diplomacy to sign peace agreements with all three countries

● 1802 Europe was at peace for the first time in 10 years

Napoleon Forges an Empire● Napoleon kept many of the changes from the

Revolution

● Wanted to bring order and stability to France

● Economy- set up an efficient method of tax collection, established a national banking system◦ Dismissed corrupt government officials and trained new

officials in government run schools called lycees

◦ Graduates were appointed to public office based on merit

● Religion- Napoleon wanted to restore position of Catholic Church in France◦ Signed a Concordant (agreement) that gained the support

of the church and many French people

● Laws- Napoleon developed a system of uniform laws known as the Napoleonic Code◦ It limited liberty, and promoted order and authority over

individual rights

◦ Freedom of speech and the press was restricted

Napoleon Forges an Empire

● 1804 Napoleon has himself crowned emperor of France

● Napoleon wanted to control the rest of Europe and reassert French power in the Americas

● 1801 A slave revolt on the island of Saint Domingue resulted in loss of French control

● Napoleon tried to retake control and failed

● Decided to cut losses in the Americas and sold the Louisiana Territory to the US for $15 million dollars (Louisiana Purchase)◦ Gave Napoleon money to Finance his wars

in Europe

◦ Also allowed him to keep the British from taking control of the territory


● Napoleon turned his attention to Europe

● He had already annexed parts of Austria and Italy

● Britain, Russia, Sweden declared war against France and Napoleon

● Napoleon defeated them (except Britain) and forced them to sign peace treaties

● Used rapid movement, surprise and the size of his army to defeat his enemies

● He built the largest empire in Europe since the Roman Empire

● France’s only major enemy left was England

● England had the world’s most powerful navy and France had the world most powerful army


● Napoleon lost only one major battle

● 1805 Battle of Trafalgar he was defeated by the British navy◦ French navy was destroyed

◦ Ensured the supremacy of the British navy for next 100 years

◦ Forced Napoleon to give up plans to invade Britain

● Napoleons victories across Europe gave him control over most of Europe

● Put friends and relatives in charge of defeated countries

● Areas he did not control he controlled through alliances and threats of military action

● Lasted for only 5 years (1807-1812)

NAPOLEON’S EMPIRE

COLLAPSES

Section 4

Napoleon’s Empire Collapses

● Desire for power led to his doom● In his efforts to crush Great Britain and extend

the French Empire he made three drastic mistakes

1. 1806 -The Continental System-• Napoleon sets up a blockade to prevent trade and

communication between the British and the rest of Europe

• Supposed to make Europe more self sufficient and destroy Britain commercial and industrial economy

• Smugglers and allies in Europe disregarded the blockade

• British put up their own blockade and because they had a stronger navy they were more successful

• Created resentment toward French by many European countries because of shortages of goods


● 1808- The Peninsular War

● Tried to get Portugal to accept the Continental System

● Sent invasion force through Spain that Spanish resisted

● Inflamed nationalistic feelings across Spain, also worried that Napoleon would weaken the Catholic Church

● For six years bands of Spanish guerillas fought against French forces

● British also sent aid to the Spanish fighters

● Nationalism (loyalty to one’s country) became a weapon used against Napoleon, they felt abused by a foreign conqueror

Napoleon’s Empire Collapses● 1812- Invasion of Russia● Czar Alexander I of Russia angry

about Continental System, withdrew support

● Napoleon’s response- assembled huge army to march on Russia (Grand Army)

● 420,000 soldiers● 1812- invaded Russia● Russian soldiers retreated to avoid

battle, used scorched earth policy (did not allow Napoleon to feed and supply army)

● Had to retreat from Russia, fewer than 10,000 soldiers returned home

● Reputation for success shattered


● All of the main powers of Europe joined forces against Napoleon

● 1813- Russia, Britain, Prussia, Austria, Sweden defeat Napoleon in the Battle of Leipizg

● Napoleon exiled to island of Elba, king restored to power in France (Louis XVIII)

● Economic depression, fear of returning to old ways- French want Napoleon back

● 1815 Escapes from Elba, returns to France

● Rules for 100 days

● June 1815 defeated at Battle of Waterloo (Belgium), sent into exile again

● Napoleon died in 1821


● Napoleon and his French empire caused many changes in France and EuropeA. The laws of the Napoleonic Code were kept in

many countries. It is the basis for many European countries laws even today

B. France became a republic with a constitution

C. French people had greater access to education and rights to property

D. Conquests spread the ideas of the French Revolution, such as equality of all men, self rule, individual rights.

E. Nationalist feelings and movements in many parts of Europe.

THE CONGRESS OF

VIENNA

Section 5

The Congress of Vienna

● After the defeat of Napoleon European countries wanted peace and stability

● 1814-1815- Great Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia and France met in Vienna, Austria

● Met before Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo

● Most influential person at the meetings was Klemens von Metternich the foreign minister of Austria

● Metternich's three goals for the Congress of Vienna

1. To prevent future French aggression by surrounding them by stronger countries

2. Wanted to achieve a balance of power across Europe so one country would not dominate another

3. Wanted to restore the royal families of Europe to their thrones

The Congress of Vienna● Containment of France

◦ Made weaker countries that surrounded France stronger by uniting them or giving them more territory

◦ France could not over power its weaker neighbors

● Balance of power◦ They did not want to weaken France too much because they did

not want them to take revenge on the rest of Europe

● Legitimacy◦ Ruling families were restored to the throne in many countries

◦ Wanted to stabilize political relations between the countries


After the Congress of Vienna,

A. European countries began to cooperate to control political affairs

B. Victory for the conservative forces because kings and princes regained their power

◦ Britain and France became constitutional monarchies (authority was controlled by a legislative body and the king had symbolic power)

◦ Russia, Prussia and Austria had absolute monarchs

C. Power of Britain and Prussia increased

D. Created a time of peace in Europe

E. There was not another great war in Europe for 100 years (World War I)


● Rulers of many countries were worried about the effects of the French Revolution (ideas of liberty, equality, democracy)◦ Rulers of Prussia, Austria and Russia signed an agreement

called the Holy Alliance to combat the forces of revolution

◦ Metternich devised a series of alliances called the Concert of Europe to insure that nations would help each other out if revolutions broke out

◦ Established to enforce rules of Congress

● Ideas of the French Revolution and nationalism did spread across Europe in the 1830’s and 1840’s◦ Areas that the Congress put under foreign control saw a rise in

nationalism

◦ Ideas about the the basis of power had changed as a result of the French Revolution

◦ Many saw democracy as the best way to ensure equality and justice for all

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