The french revolution

Causes of the French
Revolution
1.Increasing taxation = hardship
and oppression for many families.
2.Harvest crisis and rising food
prices before 1789.
3.Inability of the monarchy to
deal with desperate financial
situation.

❖Louis XVI tried to increase royal
revenues, but was opposed by
privileged elite.
❖He and his ministers summoned
the Estates General as an
emergency measure.
Causes of the French
Revolution

❖Louis XVI reign was riddled with
crisis after crisis.
❖Nobles disagreed with a
centralized government.
❖Felt the king could not arbitrarily
change the system and wanted to
return to a France based on tradition
and custom (including the Church).
Failure of the Monarchy

❖First and second estates asserted
themselves through traditional
bodies such as the parlements
(based on old medieval law courts).
❖Claimed that according to custom
the parlements had to register royal
edicts before they could become
laws.

❖In the reign of Louis XVI, the
government often bypassed the
parlements, and the nobility
complained that the king was
abandoning the “ancient
hereditary rights” of the French
people in favour of “royal
despotism.”

❖By 1788, French society was becoming
increasingly less mobile.
❖Both old and new members of the
nobility were determined to keep
certain state and Church offices for
themselves.
❖It was becoming more and more
difficult for Frenchmen in the third
estate to move upward.

❖Calling the Estates-General was an
admission that traditional absolutism had
failed.
❖King announced that the Estates-General
would meet in May 1789 at Versailles.
❖Set off the first public discussion of
politics in the history of France!
From Estates-General to
National Assembly

❖Louis had the estates draw up a list of
grievances (cahiers de doleances).
❖Most asked for constitutional government
and freedom of speech and the press.
❖Some members of the first and second
estates even said they were willing to give up
their tax privileges!
❖Cahiers of the third estate called for a new
constitution embodying the ideas of the
Enlightenment about freedom and social
equality (mainly daily life concerns vs.
government/political philosophy issues).

❖Yet, the talks led to a clash as the
nobility wanted the Estates-General
to meet as the Estates-General of
old (each estate would sit separately
and vote by estate, not individual
representative).
❖Thus, the first two estates could
always outvote the third (even
though the third had more votes
because they had more people!)

❖Most radical position for reform was
taken by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes
(1748-1836), priest of bourgeois (middile
class).
❖In What Is the Third Estate?, he
proclaimed:
1. What is the third estate? Everything.
2. What has it been in the political
order up to the present? Nothing.
3. What does it demand? To become
something…

“Who would dare say…that the third estate does not
contain in itself all that is necessary to constitute a
complete nation?…What is a nation? A body of
associates living under a common law and
represented by the same legislature.
Is it not all too certain that the noble order has
privileges, exemptions, and even rights separated from
the rights of the great body of citizens? It departs in
this respect from the common order, from the common
law. …

“The third estate…includes everything that
belongs to the nation; and everything that is
not the third estate cannot be regarded as
being of the nation. What is the third
estate? Everything.”

❖Few representatives of the third estate
were peasants or workers.
❖They were all male and generally
members of the bourgeoisie - lawyers,
government officials, businesspeople,
doctors, etc.
❖Represented by a literate, well-informed,
politically aware body.
❖Hostility was not directed toward Louis
XVI - they just wanted full representation
and a monarchy limited by a constitution.

❖As the Estates-General talks did not
move in the direction the third estate
wanted, they declared themselves a
National Assembly.
❖The king responded by locking the
third estate out of its meeting hall.
❖Confused, they moved to a nearby
indoor tennis court and vowed the
National Assembly would continue to
meet until France had a constitution.

The People Rise Up: The
Tennis Court Oath
❖Tennis Court Oath: momentous event.
❖First extralegal action taken by the third
estate!

❖Economic situation was so bad
in 1789 that bread riots became
common in cities, many led by
women who were unable to feed
their families.
❖Uprisings in rural areas as well -
culture of fear throughout the
country.

The Storming of The Bastille
❖The Bastille was a large fortress
which doubled as a prison; to the
revolutionaries it was a sign of
oppression.
❖On July 14th, 1789 the people and
some soldiers stormed the
fortress looking for prisoners (of
which there were only seven) and
weapons to fight back against the
Kings army.
❖This had become the turning
point where reform turned into
the full forced revolution.

During the Revolution❖The political spectrum was
changing: the nobility became
afraid of the escalating violence
and one by one turned to join
sides and put an end to the feudal
system on August 4th, 1789.
❖After this, near the end of
August, the Declaration of Man
and of Citizen was created and
carried through reluctantly by
Louis the 16th on Sept. 14, 1791.
❖France was divided into 83
districts called departements where
one person was elected to take
care of laws, taxes, education and
poor relief.

During the Revolution
❖Declaration of the Rights of Man and the
Citizen reflected the ideas of the Enlightenment
and became the creed of the Revolution.
I. Men are born and remain free and equal in
rights. Social distinctions may be based only on
common utility.
II. The aim of all political association is to
preserve the natural and imprescriptible rights
of man. These rights are liberty, property,
security, and resistance to oppression.

III. The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially
in the nation. No body and no individual may
exercise authority which does not emanate from the
nation expressly.
VI. Law is the expression of the general will. All
citizens have the right to take part, in person or by
their representatives, in its formation. It must be the
same for all whether it protects or penalizes. All
citizens being equal in its eyes are equally admissible
to all public dignities, offices and employments…
and with no other distinction than that of their
virtues and talents.

XVII. Property being an inviolable and sacred
right, no one may be deprived of it except for
an obvious requirement of public necessity,
certified by law, and then on condition of a
just compensation in advance.
❖A new era of liberty, popular sovereignty,
and the rule of law was proclaimed!
❖However, the Constitution did not place all
French people on an equal footing (called a
bourgeois document).

❖Property was protected and full citizenship
was granted only to those meant who paid
above a certain level of taxation.
❖Women were still not treated equally.
❖But, it was by far the most democratic
political and social instrument in Europe!
❖A major shift in thinking as a result of the
French Revolution was the idea that in the
modern state there was only one loyalty - to
the nation itself.

❖In the past, many loyalties had been
recognized - loyalty to the king, Church,
lord, and locality.
❖The new state demanded total loyalty of
the people.

The End of the Monarchy and the
Beginning of the Reign of Terror
❖It was up to the National
Convention to decide what
to do with the king.
❖This dilemma divided the
representatives along party
lines: the Jacobins wanted
to kill Louis while the
Girondins wanted to delay
making any decisions.

Jacobin Control and the Terror
❖The king was tried in the Convention
and convicted of treason against the
French state.
❖On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was
guillotined.

❖No turning back now!!!
❖The Jacobins had won and secured control
over the Convention.
❖They suspended constitutional government
and ruled by “emergency decree.”
❖They put local governments in the hands
of Jacobin supporters, they took over law
courts, initiated food and price controls,
requisitioned grain and property to feed
Paris and the army.

❖Jacobins ordered conscription for all
young and old men to assist in the war
effort.
❖Democratization of the war effort was
one of the major reasons for the success
of France in waging a long war against
Europe.
❖France was able to raise huge armies,
train them, and inspire soldiers with a zeal
to win!

❖With the Jacobins in power came the
“Terror,” lasting from September 1793 to
June 1794.
❖They wanted to destroy the internal
enemies of the Revolution.
❖Jacobins were willing to go to extremes
to save the Revolution.
❖Supported social reform, but could not
tolerate dissent or neutrality in their plan
to establish an ideal society.

❖Jacobins set up a new
national educational
system to indoctrinate as
well as educate.
❖To establish their
“Republic of Virtue,”
they devised a new
calendar designating the
year in which the
Republic was established
as the “year one.”

❖They demanded conformity on all levels
- clothes, books, songs, etc.
❖A new flag, the Republican tricolour was
introduced, replacing the Bourbon fleur-
de-lis;

❖Statues were erected to Enlightenment
heroes.
❖People were now addressed in the
familiar tu rather than more formal vous.
❖Everyone was called citoyen (citizen).
❖Jacobins inaugurated a cult of the
“worship of the supreme being,” as part
of a vaguely deist religion.
❖Guillotine became the instrument of the
new Inquisition.

Robespierre
❖Maximilien Francois Marie Isidore de
Robespierre (1758-1794).
❖Defender of liberty in the early part of
the French Revolution and the leader of
the Jacobin Reign of Terror.
❖He believed France needed a strong
authority to fight the war and establish a
secure state and then to effect a transition
to a constitutional regime.

Robespierre
❖Dictatorship?
❖Over 36,000 people were executed, all in
the name of protecting liberty.
❖The “government of terror” had its
successes: it fought the war to victory; it
drafted laws related to the distribution of
land; it supported education; it ended
internal rebellion; it checked inflation;
and abolished slavery in the colonies.

Robespierre
❖Yet, the success of the revolutionary
government helped its own downfall.
❖People feared for their lives!
❖When the war dust settled, Robespierre
and others were arrested in July 1794.
❖He was accused of setting himself up as
a dictator.
❖Executed, along with 21 others, in a
public ceremony on July 28th, 1794.

Retrospect: 1789-1799
❖Some historians have said that in 10
years, France did away with thousands of
years of history!
❖Revolution demolished the old regime
monarchy and gave birth to constitutional
government, the idea of legal equality,
and a centralized state.
❖Also set the pattern for the liberal
revolutions of the 19th century.

NAPOLEON❖Born in 1769 on Corsica (which had been
acquired by France in 1768).
❖Sent to France at age 10 for education.
❖Prepared for career in French army.
❖Sympathized with left politically.
❖Attracted to Jacobins.
❖Appointed to general of Jacobin army.
❖1796, Napoleon, who was 27, was given
command of army to challenge Austria in Italy.

❖Led his army across
the Alps and defeated
Austrians.
❖Combined small
principalities of
northern Italy into
Cisalpine Republic,
republican
government.
NAPOLEON

❖Negotiated Treaty
of Campo Formio
which gave France
control over Austrian
Netherlands and
extended eastern
border to Rhine River.
❖Napoleon became a
national hero!
NAPOLEON

❖1797, Napoleon was given command of
army to invade England.
❖Decided against this and attacked
English interests in Egypt.
❖Egyptian Campaign of 1799 was a
failure – defeated by Admiral Horatio
Nelson.
❖French were not aware of this and his
image was not tainted.
NAPOLEON

❖Political situation in France was
deteriorating.
❖Government was headed by Sieyes
(early revolutionary leader).
❖Changed beliefs to authoritarian.
❖Wanted to overthrow the Directory.
❖Asked Napoleon for help to the
proposed coup.
NAPOLEON

❖Destruction of Directory was a
coup d’etat, replaced one ruling group
by another using force.
❖Napoleon took the title of First
Consul, along with two other
consuls.
❖Promised to implement ideals of
Tennis Court Oath to France.
NAPOLEON

❖One of his greatest accomplishments
was the consolidation of his position as
ruler of France.
❖Since the fall of Robespierre in 1794,
no leader in France had a broad national
following.
❖His greatest advantage was his
military popularity and lack of political
identity.
NAPOLEON

❖First achievement of his government
was another constitution.
❖Placed most of the power of the
state in Napoleon’s hands.
❖Had control of the legislation,
foreign affairs, and courts.
❖Gave representative institutions the
illusion of democracy.
NAPOLEON

❖People of France were willing to accept
authority of Napoleon over insecurities of
last decade.
❖Worked to unite French nation and
establish himself as symbol of unity.
❖Code Napoleon was completed in 1804 – first
uniform set of laws that French nation had.
❖Preserved principles of 1789, freedom of
conscience, supremacy of state, equality of
citizens, and individual rights.
NAPOLEON

❖Sought to maintain social order by
protecting property and family.
❖Upheld many liberal ideas of the philosophes.
❖Compromise between old and new.
❖Napoleon’s religious policy: began secret
negotiations with Pope Pius VII.
❖Agreement between Napoleon and
Church, Concordat, 1801, favoured
Napoleon.
NAPOLEON

❖French state was obliged to pay the clergy,
Catholic seminaries allowed to reopen, clergy
became responsible to papacy.
❖Papacy recognized property seized from
Church was legally the property of the French
who purchased it.
❖Essentially, Napoleon gained papal
recognition.
❖Concordat meant that Catholics in France
could give their support to the regime.
NAPOLEON

❖Napoleon’s success allowed him to revive
the principle of sole rule.
❖1802, he became “First Consul for Life.”
❖To retain loyalty of French people,
Napoleon had to overcome French enemies.
❖Coalition (England, Austria, and Russia)
formed in 1799 to stop France from gaining
more territory and spreading ideas of
Revolution throughout Europe.
NAPOLEON

❖After 1802, Napoleon thought in terms
of universal empire with France at the
centre.
❖Used a revolutionary army – warfare
was much like a chess game,
emphasized tactics.
❖Napoleon introduced unprofessional
soldier – could move much faster and
sole aim was to defeat enemy!
NAPOLEON

❖He was not a skilled planner and often
made up strategy and tactics as he went
along.
❖Great improviser!
❖He ignored old rules in order to surprise
and demolish his opponent.
❖War resumed in 1803 as a result of dispute
between France and English.
❖Napoleon sought to establish a European
empire with France at the centre.
NAPOLEON

❖Napoleon knew he had to defeat
England to realize his imperial dream.
❖From 1803 to 1805 he massed soldiers
on the French coast and threatened to
invade England.
❖Admiral Nelson maintained its naval
superiority and destroyed part of
French navy at Trafalgar in 1805.
NAPOLEON

❖Napoleon won a series of victories on
land.
❖At its height, his empire contained eighty
million people.
❖By 1812, only Russia, Great Britain, and
Ottoman Empire held European territory
that was neither controlled by nor allied
with France.
❖To defeat England, Napoleon adopted a
plan known as the Continental System.
NAPOLEON

❖Napoleon imposed a boycott by
France’s subjects and allies on English
trade to keep out English exports,
essentially ruining English industry.
❖He expected the Continental System
would enable France to replace
England as the leading trade partner of
all European nations and bring about
England’s economic decline.
NAPOLEON

❖Continental System failed.
❖England developed other markets,
especially in Latin America, used its
wealth gained from Industrial Revolution,
to finance anti-French schemes in Europe.
❖Continental System was not a “common
market” – it favoured French goods,
causing resentment in other European
countries.
NAPOLEON

❖Wherever Napoleon gained control, he
introduced ideas and reforms of
Revolution.
❖Made governments more efficient.
❖Greatest influence was law.
❖Code Napoleon was introduced in every
conquered state, establishing equality
under law and increasing social
mobility.
NAPOLEON

❖Has a lasting effect on legal systems of
Spain, Italy, and western Germany as well
as many Latin American countries and
Louisiana.
❖Napoleon was a major force in abolishing
feudal structures throughout Europe.
❖French armies proclaimed the idea of
citizenship and spread nationalism
throughout the country.
NAPOLEON

Response to Napoleon
❖Italy viewed Napoleon as a liberator.
❖He was well received by the masses
of ordinary people.
❖Reform of the Church, including
abolishing holidays and festivals, was
seen as an affront to local traditions.
❖Violent resistance to French rule,
especially in Italy.

❖1799, uprisings known as the Santafede
(Holy Faith) drove the French from the
peninsula.
❖Also revolts in Spain from 1808 to 1814.
❖Also resistance among intellectuals in
Germany.
❖Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1827),
withdrew from public life, and Beethoven
recanted his admiration of Napoleon.

❖Roots of nationalism run deep in
European history.
❖J. G. Herder believed that each people had
a unique spirit or genius, manifested in
folkways, customs, institutions, and ideas.
❖Enlightenment philosophers proclaimed
the idea of common human nature, Herder
insisted that every nation had it own unique
and valuable contribution.

Campaign in Russia
❖Russia’s Czar Alexander I (1801 – 1825),
was not happy with Napoleon’s attempts
to re-establish independent Poland.
❖Napoleon was angry at his lack of co-
operation in the Continental System.
❖Preparations for war against Russia
began in 1811.
❖Made treaties with Prussia and Austria
to obtain neutrality.

❖To divert English attention, he fostered
enmity between England and United
States.
❖June 1812, England and United States
went to war.
❖Russia was diplomatically and military
isolated.
❖Napoleon invaded Russia with an army
of over 600 000 men.
Campaign in Russia

❖Russia’s strategy was the retreat and
deprive Napoleon of supplies.
❖If Napoleon could not defeat the
Russians quickly, before winter, he would
have serious difficulty.
❖Summer 1812, as Russians retreated,
they adopted a “scorched earth” policy,
destroying crops to prevent Napoleon’s
army from living off the land.
Campaign in Russia

❖Reached Moscow on September 14, but
burned down the city, leaving Napoleon a
worthless prize.
❖By October, he realized he could not spend
the winter in a deserted city so ordered his
army to retreat.
❖Winter 1812 came early and was especially
hard.
❖Russians did everything in their power to
deny Napoleon supplies.
Campaign in Russia

❖Retreat became long nightmare!
❖Exhausted, hungry, and freezing,
army straggled back.
❖Only 50 000 survived!
Campaign in Russia

❖Also a disaster!
❖Began in 1808 with Napoleon deposing
King Charles IV and then his son Ferdinand
VII and placing his brother Joseph on the
throne.
❖Uprising in Madrid triggered widespread
popular resistance.
❖Spanish struggle with Napoleon lasted 6
years.
❖First modern guerrilla war.
Campaign in Spain

❖Bands of irregular soldiers forced
Napoleon to send more troops and
take command himself.
❖By 1813, Napoleon had been defeated
by a coalition of Prussia, Austria, and
Russia at the Battle of Nations.
❖March 31, 1814, Paris was occupied
and Napoleon dethroned.
Campaign in Spain

Restoration in France❖Problem was what to do with France.
❖Some wanted to restore “legitimate”
government, Bourbon dynasty.
❖New monarch – Louis XVIII.
❖He became constitutional monarch
and issued Charter of 1814.
❖Established parliamentary form of
government and independent judicial
system.

❖Allies negotiated peace terms with
new government of France.
❖First Peace of Paris – France given
extended boundaries of 1812 and did
not have to pay for the devastation
of the war.
❖Napoleon was sent to exile on Elba
– small island off Italian coast.
Restoration in France

Congress of Vienna
❖Great assembly of diplomats,
statesmen, kings, princes, and clergy.
❖Decisions made by statement who
spoke for great powers: Prince
Metternich of Austria, Czar
Alexander of Russia, Prince Karl von
Hardenberg of Prussia, and Lord
Castlereagh of England.

❖Believed they had the
responsibility of maintaining
stability.
❖France was initially excluded, but
great powers decided that they
needed to agree on important
decisions together if new Europe
was to be effective.
Congress of Vienna

❖“Principle of legitimacy” was key –
each state had a legal ruler.
❖Disagreements over territory
developed.
❖Difficult issue of Poland and
Saxony.
❖Russia received part of Poland and
Prussia annexed part of Saxony.
Congress of Vienna

❖Austria received territory in
northern Italy.
❖German lands were organized into
39 separate sovereignties (there were
over 300 before Napoleon).
❖German confederation of these
states was established – with no real
authority.
Congress of Vienna

❖Congress ignored desire for national
unity and independence of Italy and
Germany.
❖Germany difficult to reorganize
because both Prussia and Austria had
some claim to this region.
❖Prussia’s capital was Berlin, Austrian
Empire’s capital was Vienna.
Congress of Vienna

❖Austrian Empire – conglomeration
of different groups with many
different languages.
❖Both Austria and Prussia wished to
prevent the other from leading
Germany.
❖National German state threatened
France and Russia.
Congress of Vienna

❖All agreed that buffer states should
be established on France’s border.
❖Holland and Belgium were united
into kingdom of Netherlands.
❖Prussia received left bank of
Rhine and kingdom of Sardinia-
Piedmont was enlarged.
Congress of Vienna

❖March 1815, Napoleon escaped
from Elba, went to France, and
marched with a small army to
Paris.
❖Proclaimed renewal of his empire.
❖Powers at Vienna raised an army
under Duke of Wellington.
Congress of Vienna

❖June 18, 1815, near town of Waterloo
in Belgium, allied army won.
❖Napoleon surrendered to English
who exiled him to St. Helena in
South Atlantic, where he died in
1821.
❖Napoleon’s last military interlude,
called “Hundred Days.”
Congress of Vienna

❖Second Peace of Paris,
France lost territory and
forced to pay for war
damages.
❖France was occupied by
allied army until payment
was made.
Congress of Vienna

Legacies
❖After Napoleon,
the Congress of
Vienna kept the
peace until the first
World War
❖Symbols of
Napoleon still exist
all over France – the
Arc de Triomphe

The french revolution

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