Enlightenment, French revolution

1. 1550-1789
Chapter 6
Enlightenment and Scientific
Revolution

2. 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

3. 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

4. The Enlightenment
● Philosophers and scholars also began to
question reason and order and began to
question long held beliefs about the human
condition
A. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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 Enlightenment
1. 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

9. The French Revolution and
Napoleon
1789-1815
Chapter 7

10. THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION BEGINS
Section 1

11. 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)

12. The French Revolution Begins
● 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

13. The French Revolution Begins
● 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

14. The French Revolution Begins
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

15. The French Revolution Begins
● 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

16. The French Revolution Begins
● 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

17. The French Revolution Begins
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

18. The French Revolution Begins
The 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.

19. REVOLUTION BRINGS
REFORM AND TERROR
Section 2

20. 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

21. Revolution Brings Reform and Terror
● 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

22. Revolution Brings Reform and Terror
● 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

23. Revolution Brings Reform and Terror
● 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

24. Revolution Brings Reform and Terror
● 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

25. Revolution Brings Reform and Terror
● 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

26. Revolution Brings Reform and Terror
● 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

27. Revolution Brings Reform and 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

28. Revolution Brings Reform and Terror
● 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

29. Revolution Brings Reform and Terror
● 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

30. NAPOLEON FORGES AN
EMPIRE
Section 4

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. Napoleon Forges an Empire
● 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

36. Napoleon Forges an Empire
● 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)

37. NAPOLEON’S EMPIRE
COLLAPSES
Section 4

38. 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

39. Napoleon’s Empire Collapses
● 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

40. 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

41. Napoleon’s Empire Collapses
● 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

42. Napoleon’s Empire Collapses
● Napoleon and his French empire caused
many changes in France and Europe
A. 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.

43. THE CONGRESS OF
VIENNA
Section 5

44. 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

45. 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

46. The Congress of Vienna
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)

47. The Congress of Vienna
● 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