1. The French
Revolution

2. Old Regime
• First Estate
• 1% of population
• Mostly priests w/ many privileges
• Second Estate
• 2% of population
• Nobles who owned 25% of land
• Had many privileges as well
• Third Estate
• 97% of population
• Peasants, artists, and bourgeoisie

4. Discontent Grows
• 3rd estate began growing angry
with their social position
• Bourgeoisie wanted more
political power
• Growing population put strain
on resources and raised prices
• Previous kings had put nation
into severe debt (XIV & XV)
• Overseas conflicts (Am. Rev.)

5. Uniting the Estates
• Louis XVI tried to tax the
nobility but they refused
• In May 1789 he called an
Estates-General to have them
implement taxes
• Nobles intended to use the
council to weaken the
monarchy

6. National Assembly
(1789-1791)
• 3rd Estate wanted to meet as a
delegation to best represent
people
• They were locked out, so they
created the National Assembly
• Wanting equality, the Assembly
had heated debates and wanted
to write a constitution (Tennis
Court Oath)

7. THE GREAT FEAR
• Assembly mobs stormed the
Bastille on July 14th and freed
prisoners
• Wave of violence throughout
the country side followed, with
many nobles being driven from
their land

8. End of the Old Order
• In August 1789, nobles voted to
lose power
• Declaration of the Rights of Man
• Louis XVI refused to accept these
changes
• Louis was forced to move to Paris
• 1791 Constitution limited
monarchy and created a
unicameral legislature

9. Continued Unrest &
Violence
• Unrest on the Legislative Assembly
(Radicals, Moderates, Conservatives)
• Unrest outside the Assembly
• Émigrés & Sans-Culottes
• King & Queen failed to escape to
Austria in June 1791
• Fearing the reinstatement of Louis,
war was declared on Austria and
Prussia in April 1792 and Louis XVI
was arrested (September Massacres)

10. National Convention
Reforms (Sep. 1792-1795)
• Ended monarchy and formed a
republic
• Controlled by Radical Jacobins
• Implemented the metric system
• Beheaded Louis XVI to
legitimize the republic in
January 1793

12. Revolution
Spreads
• Radicals won control of the
National Convention
• Wanted to end monarchies
everywhere and expand France
• Monarchs of Europe became allies
• France adopted conscription to
build up the army, angers many

14. Reign of Terror
• July 1793-July 1794
• To stop the civil war in France,
Robespierre’s Committee of
Public Safety executed “traitors”
(40,000)
• Robespierre’s execution ended
the “Terror” but also Jacobin
power

15. The Directory (1795-1799)
• In 1795, the National Convention
had lost all support
• A new constitution created the
Directory, 2-house legislature
• Continued food shortages and
inflation doomed the Directory
• People began to look for one
strong leader once again

16. Rise of
Napoleon
• Napoleon Bonaparte was a
skilled general
• Gained fame by defeating the
Austrians and winning land for
France
• He was popular, so when in
Paris, he led a coup d´état

17. Napoleon’s Rule
• Established a dictatorship in
1799
• Brought order to education and
banking systems
• Passed Napoleonic Code of laws
• Made peace with the Catholic
Church (Concordat of 1801)

18. Napoleon’s Empire
• By 1812, Napoleon controlled
land all the way to Russia
• Continental System
• Peninsular War
• Angry at Russia, Napoleon
attacked with 420,000 troops
• Defeat eroded Napoleon’s power

20. Napoleon’s Legacy
• Though he was a dictator, he
spread Enlightenment ideas of
equality, toleration and
economic reform
• Nationalism
• Ended Holy Roman Empire
• Louisiana Purchase allowed
America to become a world
Power

21. Peace in Europe

22. Congress of Vienna
1814-1815
• Met in 1814 after 25 years of war
• Containment, legitimacy, balance
of power
• Restored boundaries to 1792
areas
• Restored monarchies in France,
Spain, & Portugal
• Isolated France with buffer states

23. Forces change Europe
• Reactionists hoped to stop the
spread of liberalism
• Alliances formed to prevent
spread of nationalism and
democracy
• Concert of Europe met to avoid
any more disturbances or
conflicts