Words that you may find difficult:• Contempt: to look down on something or someone.• Calamity: an unfortunate event.• Inalienable: something that cannot be changed.• Redound: contribute greatly• Auspices: something coming from heaven• Imprescriptible: something that cannot be planned or

changed.• Promulgate: to announce something.• Inviolable: something that cannot be disturbed.• Indemnify: to pay off a damage or loss

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

• How is the 'nation' defined in the document?

• What do the words, "liberty," "equality," and "fraternity" actually mean, according to the document?

The French Revolution starts rolling

The “Age of Montesquieu”(Constitutional

Monarchy)1789-1792

The “Age of Rousseau”

(The Republic)1792-1799

The “Age of Voltaire”

(Napoleon’s Empire/ Enlightened Despot)

1799-1815Nat’l Assembly: 1789-1791 Tennis Court Oath Storming of the

Bastille Great Fear and

abolition of feudalism Civil Constitution of

the Clergy Declaration of the

Rights of Man

Nat’l Convention: 1792-1795 Creation of the

Republic Execution of Louis XVI Committee of Public

Safety Reign of Terror Thermidorian Reaction

Consulate: 1799-1804 Code Napoleon Concordat of 1801 War of the 2nd Coalition

Legislative Assembly: 1791-92 Jacobins vs. Girondins War of the First

Coalition Commune September Massacres

The Directory: 1795-99 Ruling bourgeoisie vs.

aristocracy and sans-culottes

Coup d’etat Brumaire

Napoleonic Empire: 1804-15 Confederation of the Continental System Treaty of Tilsit Peninsular War Russian Campaign

National Assembly, 1789-1791• June 17, the Third Estate declared itself the true National

Assembly of France.a. When locked out of their meeting place by Louis XVI they met instead in an

indoor tennis court.b. Tennis Court Oath: The Third Estate swore to remain together until it had

given France a constitution.c. Third Estate thus assumed sovereign power on behalf of the nation.

In response, Louis XVI brought an army of 18,000 troops to Versailles

d. Defections from the 1st and 2nd Estates caused Louis XVI to recognize the National Assembly on June 27, after he dissolved the Estates General.

e. National Assembly dominated by the bourgeoisief. Point of no return: the king was now allied with the

nobles while the Third Estate now feared the nobles more than ever.

g. July 11, Necker was removed, infuriating millions of French people who saw him as an ally among the nobility. King was forced to bring him back

Storming the Bastille, July 14, 1789

• A rumor that the king was planning a military coup against the National Assembly.

• 18 died.

• 73 wounded.

• 7 guards killed.• began in response

to food shortages, soaring bread prices, 25% unemployment, and fear of military repression.

The Great Fear: Peasant Revolt

(July 20, 1789)

Y Rumors that the feudal aristocracy [the aristos] were sending hired brigands to attack peasants and pillage their land.

The Path

of the“GreatFear”

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Posed New Dilemmas

1. Did women have equal rights with men?

2. What about free blacks in the colonies?

3. How could slavery be justified if all men were born free?

4. Did religious toleration of Protestants and Jews include equal political rights?

5. How did the king fit in?

The National Assembly begin to Unravel

• National Assembly also moved to Paris and was intimidated by the Parisians.– King’s power reduced to temporary veto in

lawmaking process.– King and Assembly made sure bread was

available to the masses.• The more conservative revolutionaries

began to drop out of the Assembly due to disillusionment by mob violence.

How to Finance the New Govt.?

1. Confiscate Church Lands (1790)

One of the most controversial decisions of the entire revolutionary period.

2. Print Assignats2. Print

Assignats

V Issued by the National Constituent Assembly.V Interest-bearing notes which had the church lands

as security.

Depreciation of the Assignat

V Whoever acquired them were entitled to certain privileges in the purchase of church land.

V The state would retire the notes as the land was sold.

V They began circulating as paper currency. Government printed more INFLATION [they lost

99% of their value ultimately]. Therefore, future governments paid off their

creditors with cheap money.

New Relations Between Church &

StateV Government paid the salaries of the French clergy and maintained the churches.

V The church was reorganized: Parish priests elected by the district

assemblies. Bishops named by the

department assemblies. The pope had NO

voice in the appointment of the French clergy.

V It transformed France’sRoman Catholic Churchinto a branch of the state!!

Pope Pius VI[1775-1799]

The French Constitution of 1791:

A Bourgeois GovernmentV The king got the “suspensive” veto

[which prevented the passage of laws for 4 years].

He could not pass laws. His ministers were responsible for their

own actions.

V A permanent, elected, single chamber National Assembly.

Had the power to grant taxation.

V An independent judiciary.

The French Constitution of 1791:

A Bourgeois GovernmentV “Active” Citizen [who pays taxes

amounting to 3 days labor] could vote vs. “Passive” Citizen.

1/3 of adult males were denied the franchise.

Domestic servants were also excluded.V A newly elected LEGISLATIVE

ASSEMBLY.

GOAL Make sure that the country was not turned over to the mob!

83 Revolutionary Departments

February 26, 1790

Louis XVI “Accepts” the Constitution

& the National Assembly. 1791

Understanding Radicalization

Radicalization

Foreign Monarchs

The King

Catholic Peasants

who resisted

Revolutionary Bourgeois

Paris Commune

Attitudes & actions

of monarchy& court

Fear ofCounter-Revoluti

on

Religious

divisions

Political

divisions

War

Economic

Crises

The Causes of Instability in France

1792 - 1795

March of the Women,October 5-6, 1789

We want the baker, the baker’s wife and the baker’s boy!

A spontaneous demonstration of Parisian women for bread.

The “October Days” (1789)

The king was thought to be surrounded by evil advisors at Versailles so he was forced to move to Paris and reside at the Tuileries

Palace.

The Royal Family Attempts

to Flee• June, 1791

• Helped by the Swedish Count Hans Axel von Fusen [Marie Antoinette’s lover].

• Headed toward the Luxembourgborder.

• The King wasrecognized atVarennes, nearthe border

Legislative Assembly, 1791-17921. A completely new group of legislators replaced the

National Assembly in the new government. a. Members of the National Assembly had agreed that

no one in that group would take part in the new gov’t.b. New gov’t reflected emergence of political factions

in the revolution competing for power—most important were republican groups.

c. Members were younger and less cautious than members of the National Assembly.

d. Jacobins, named after their political club, came to dominate the Legislative Assembly The Girondins, a group of Jacobins, became the left or

advanced party of the Revolution in the Legislative Assembly and led the country into war.

All passionately committed to liberal revolution.

The JacobinsJacobin Meeting House

They held their meetings in the library of a former Jacobin monastery in Paris.

Started as a debating society.

Membership mostly middle class.

Created a vast network of clubs.

The Sans-Culottes:The Parisian Working Class

Small shopkeepers.

Tradesmen.

Artisans.

They shared many of the ideals of their

middle class representatives in

government!

The Declaration of PillnitzDeclaration of Pillnitz issued by Prussia and Austria in

August, 1791. Émigrés, French nobles who fled France beginning in 1789,

influenced Prussia and Austria to declare the restoration of the French monarchy as their goal.

o Preached a kind of holy war. The Austrian Emperor, Leopold, would be willing to take military

steps to restore order to France if all other powers joined him.o He did not expect to receive unanimous agreement among all

the Great Powers The Declaration was really a bluff intended to slow down the

revolution and rid himself of French émigrés. Leopold misjudged French revolutionary sentiment and

Republican sentiment in France gained strength in response to the Declaration

b. Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria in April, 1792. Fueled by ideological fervor and anti-Austrian sentiment. Girondins became the party of international revolution.• Claimed the Revolution could never be secure in France until it

spread to the world.

The First Coalition &The Brunswick

Manifesto(August 3, 1792)

FRANCE 1792-1797

1792-1797 AUSTRIA

PRUSSIABRITAINSPAINPIEDMONT

Duke of Brunswick if the Royal Family is harmed, Paris will be leveled!!

This military crisis undermined the new Legislative Assembly.

Wars of the First Coalition French revolutionary forces were soundly defeated by

the Austrian military. Only the conflict between eastern monarchs over the

division of Poland saved France from defeat. Intensified existing unrest and dissatisfaction of

unpropertied classes.• Jacobins blamed their defeat on Louis XVI, believing

him to be part of a conspiracy with Prussia and Austria.

• e. July 25, 1792: Brunswick Manifesto issued by Prussia and Austria and threatened to destroy Paris if the royal family was harmed.

In response to Brunswick Manifesto, Jacobin-incited mobs seized power in Paris.

Revolutionary sentiment was stoked by Robespierre, Danton, and the journalist, Marat

The Storming of the Tuilieres:

August 9-10, 1792

This was triggered in part by the publication in Paris of the August 3 Brunswick Manifesto,

which confirmed popular suspicions concerning the king’s treason.

The September Massacres, 1792

(The dark side of the Revolution!)

Rumors that the anti-revolutionary political prisoners were plotting to break out & attack from the rear the armies defending France, while the Prussians attacked from the front.

Buveurs de sang [“drinkers of blood.”] over 1000 killed!

It discredited the Revolution among its remaining sympathizers abroad.

The “Second” French Revolution

The National Convention:

Girondin Rule: 1792-1793

Jacobin Rule: 1793-1794[“Reign of Terror”]

Thermidorian Reaction: 1794-1795

The Directory 1795-1799

The National Convention

(September, 1792) Its first act was the formal abolition of the monarchy on September 22, 1792.

The Year I of the French Republic.

The Decree of Fraternity it offered French assistance to any

subject peoples who wished to overthrow their governments.

When France sneezes, all of Europe catches

cold!

The Political Spectrum

Jacobins

Montagnards

(“The Mountain”)

GirondistsMonarchíe

n(Royalists)

1790s:The Plain

(swing votes)

TODAY:

The Politics of the National Convention (1792-

1795)Montagnards

Girondists

Power base in Paris.

Main support from the sans-culottes.

Would adopt extreme measures to achieve their goals.

Saw Paris as the center of the Revolution.

More centralized [in Paris] approach to government.

Power base in the provinces.

Feared the influence of the sans-culottes.

Feared the dominance of Paris in national politics.

Supported more national government centralization [federalism].

French Expansion: 1791-1799