Revolution

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Revolution!

• The French Revolution

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The French Revolution

• Roots of the French Revolution
• The beginning
• The moderate phase
• The radical phase
• The slow decline

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Absolutism

• the political doctrine and practice of unlimited,
  centralized authority and absolute sovereignty,
  as vested especially in a monarch. The essence of
  such a system is that the ruling power is not
  subject to regularized challenge or check by any
  other agency, be it judicial, legislative,
  religious, economic, or electoral. Louis XIV, who
  ruled France during the late 17th and early 18th
  centuries, furnished the most familiar assertion
  of absolutism when he said, L'état, c'est moi
  (I am the state).

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The roots of the revolution

• Absolutism
• the French society and economy
• Enlightenment
• American War of Independence
• Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

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Population

• From 1700-1789 population grew from 21,8 million
  to 28 million people, growth was about six times
  faster in towns than in the countryside
• 1 Estate Clergy 130.000
• 2 Estate Nobility 110.000
• 3 Estate the rest

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Capital in economic sectors

• 2/3 in agrarian sector
• 14 in trade
• 14 in finance sector
• 1 in manufacturing

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Land distribution

• Clergy 10
• Nobility 25
• Other non-peasants 25
• Peasants 33
• Common land 5-10
• HEUVEL

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Enlightenment

•  a European intellectual movement of the 17th and
  18th centuries in which ideas concerning God,
  reason, nature, and man were synthesized into a
  worldview that gained wide assent and that
  instigated revolutionary developments in art,
  philosophy, and politics. Central to
  Enlightenment thought were the use and the
  celebration of reason, the power by which man
  understands the universe and improves his own
  condition. The goals of rational man were
  considered to be knowledge, freedom, and
  happiness.

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Main Thinkers of Enlightenment

• Montesquieu
• Diderot
• Rousseau
• Voltaire
• Locke
• Kant

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Enlightenment

• Montesquieu developed the theory of the
  separation of powers
• Because men are by nature free, Rousseau argued,
  the only natural and legitimate polity is one in
  which all members are citizens with equal rights
  and have the ability to participate in making the
  laws under which they live. Rousseau developed
  the idea of a volonté gèneral (general will)
  Rousseau's defines civil society as an artificial
  person united by a general will, or volonté
  générale. The social contract that brings society
  into being is a pledge, and the society remains
  in being as a pledged group. Rousseau's republic
  is a creation of the general willof a will that
  never falters in each and every member to further
  the public, common, or national interesteven
  though it may conflict at times with personal
  interest

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American War of Independence

• Enlightenment ideas of the American Revolution
  bounce back to France and are extremely popular
• French soldiers who fought in America are
  influenced by those revolutionary ideas
• War leads to a financial crisis in France that
  will directly lead to the French revolution

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Immediate Reasons

• Assembly of Nobles in 1787 brings no solution to
  the problems of France
• Bad harvests and coldest winter for years lead to
  food shortages in 1789 and foot riots start
• Necker convinces Louis to convey the Estates
  General to deal with the crisis

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Estates General

• Convene on the 5. Mai 1789 in Versailles
• 300 Representatives of clergy
• 300 Representatives of nobility
• 600 Representatives of commons
• Debate on whether to vote per head or per estate

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Main Events

• 17. June Third estate declares itself the
  national assembly
• 20. June Tenniscourt oath
• 9. July 1789 Constitution of the National
  Constituent Assembly
• 14. July Storming of the Bastille
• July La grande peur
• 4./5. August Abolition of Feudalism
• 26 August Declaration of Human Rights

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Abolition of Feudalism
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Media during the Revolution

• Newspapers
• 1788 4 daily newspapers in Paris
• 1790 335 daily newspapers in Paris
• Songs
• During the old regime around 100 per year
• 1791 300 new songs per year
• 1793-94 1000 new songs per year

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Main Events

• Formation of revolutionary clubs all over France
• King declines to sanction the main decrees of the
  National Assembly
• 4./5. October March of Women to Versailles
  king is moved to Paris
• 2. November Confiscation of church property
• December 1789 Introduction of Assignats
• January 1790 Administration reform
• 19. June 1790 - abolition of nobility
• 12. July 1790 - civilian constitution for clergy

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Revolutions reforms regarding peasantry

• August 1789
• Leads to abolition of feudal dues on a
  progressive scale
• Abolition of feudal obligations resting on the
  person
• Equality before the law
• Equality of punishment
• Abolition of the sale of offices

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Religion and the revolution I

• 4.8.1789 Clergy abolishes church tax
• 2.11.1789 all church-property becomes state
  property
• 13.2.1790 abolition of monestaries
• 12.7.1790 civilian constitution of clergy
• 27.11.1790 national assembly asks oath on the
  constitution of all priests

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Civilian constitution of clergy

• Church organisation is made the same as state
  organisation according to the 83 new departments
• Clergymen are elected by their communities and
  other clergymen
• Clergy is paid by the state
• Clergy is subjected to the state and no longer
  under the jurisdiction of the pope

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Main Events

• 21. June 1791 King flees to Varennes
• 15. July 1791 King is reinstated
• 3. September 1791 New Constitution is passed
• 14. September Louis swears an oath on the
  constitution
• 1. Oktober 1791 Legislative Assembly is
  convened
• September Olympe de Gouges publishes the
  Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la
  citoyenne

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Religion and revolution II

• 5.2.1791 Priests that dont swear oath are
  forbidden to preach
• 3/4 1791 Pope against civilian constitution leads
  to split in French church
• 8/1792 closure of all remaining monasteries
• The wearing of religious clothes is forbidden
• Until 1793 30.000 priests flee France, 2000 are
  deported, 300 killed

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Main Events

• 20 April 1792 Declaration of War against
  Austria
• July Prussia joins the war
• August 10 In reaction to the manifesto of
  Kobenzl - Storming of the Tuilleries,
  imprisonment of the king
• 11 August Introduction of general suffrage
• August 22 Royalist riots in Brittany, La Vendée
  and Dauphiné
• September Riots in Paris, storming of the
  prisons tolerated my the minister of justice
  Danton
• September 20 Final sessions of the Legislative
  Assembly and first meeting of the National
  Convention unanimous vote for the abolition of
  the monarchy
• 21 September Declaration of the Republic
• 21 January 1793 Execution of the king
• 3 February 1793 Declaration of War against
  England and the Netherlands

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Coalition Wars I

• 27.8.1791 Declaration of Pilnitz Austria and
  Prussia declare to be ready to intervene to safe
  the French republic
• 25.1.1792 Girodists ask Austria to abstain from
  any intervention into French politics
• Austrai and Prussia conclude an alliance
• 20. April 1792 France declares war on Austria
• 25.7. Manifesto of Koblenz by Duke Charles
  William Ferdinand of Prussia
• August Coalition forces enter France and take
  Verdun
• 20. September Valmy Advance of the coalition
  can be stopped
• October/November French Troops occupy parts of
  Germany and the Austrian Netherlands

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Main Events

• 10 March Revolutionary Tribunals are
  institutionalised
• 11 March Beginning of the Revolt in the Vendée
• 6 April Comittee of Public Safety
• 4 Mai Introduction of price controls
• 2. June Arrest of the main Girondist leaders
• 13. July Assasination of Marat
• 24. July Suspention of the old constitution
• 4 August Plebiscite for the new constitution
• 23 August Introduction of Conscription in
  France- Levée en Masse
• 4./5. September Beginning of Terror

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Revolutions reforms regarding peasantry

• 1792
• Complete abolition of feudal dues
• Villages received back their common land
  appropriated by landowners
• Sale of the land of emigrated nobles to landless
  peasants

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Execution of Louis XVI
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Marats Death
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Revolutions reforms regarding peasantry

• 1793
• Final abolition of all remaining feudal rights
• Price inflation leads government to impose price
  control on grain and to start with requisitions
  of grain to feed the towns and the armies which
  leads to an evaporation of support from large
  parts of the peasants for the radical revolution

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Main Events

• 5 October Introduction of the revolutionary
  calenar
• 9 October Victory of revolutionaries in Lyong
• 16 October Marie Antionette is executed
• 17 October Victory of revolutionaries in the
  Vendée
• 30 October Execution of the Girondists
• 25 December School Reform
• 4 February 1794 Abolition of Slavery
• 24 March Execution of the Hebertists
• 4 April Execution of Danton
• 10 June Beginning of the Great Terror
• 26 July Victory at Fleurus
• 27 July Arrest of and Execution (28 July) of
  Robbespierre

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Coalition Wars II

• 1 Febrary 1793 France declares war on Great
  Britain and the Netherlands
• 7 March Spain joins the coalition
• March-August offensive of the coalition forces
  in Germany, the Austrian Netherlands and in
  Toulon
• Coalition forces threaten to march on Paris again
• 26. July 1794 Victory of Fleurus reconquest of
  the Austrian Netherlands
• January 1795 Occupation of the Netherlands and
  foundation of the Republic of Batavia

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Religion and Revolution III

• 21.9.1793 Fouché in Nevers abolishes Catholic
  church service and instead celebrates Feast of
  the Repulic and Reason other towns follow
• Priests are first asked then forced to step down
  from their office and to marry, then forbidden to
  hold church services
• 5.10.1793 Inauguration of the Revolutionary
  Calendar
• Cult around revolutionary martyrs evolves
  (especially around Marat)
• 10.11.1793 First Feast of Reason takes place

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Religion and Revolution IV

• 6.12.1793 Convent honours freedom of religion
• 5/1794 Robespierre invents cult of the highest
  being
• 18.9.1794 after the fall of Robespierre convent
  declares to not support any religion any more
  separation of church and state religious
  services are still forbidden
• 1801 Napoleon closes concordat with the pope and
  reinitializes Catholicism as the main religion in
  France

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Main Events

• 19 November 1794 Closing of the Jacobins Club
• December End of Price and wage controls
  return to economic liberalism
• 31 October 1795 Election of the first
  directorate
• February 1797 Return to currency of coins
• 9./10. November 1799 Coup detat of Napoleon
  Bonaparte

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Coalition wars III

• 7.4.1795 Peace of Basle between Prussia and
  France
• War moves to Italy where in 1796 Napoleon
  Bonaparte takes the command of the French troops
• France wins the war and in October 1797 the Peace
  of Campo Formio is concluded Foundation of a
  Cisalpine Republic, France gains the Austrian
  Netherlands and Milan, Austria gains the province
  of Venice

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Women in the revolution

• Strong political participation of women during
  the revolution only brings few changes in the
  status of women
• Women organized in womens clubs
• Women were not allowed to vote
• Rights granted in divorce and inheritance
• Women could be witnesses in all judicial acts