HI 112 Raffael Scheck Colby College

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HI 112Raffael ScheckColby College

• A Survey of Modern Europe
• 2

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The Origins of the French Revolution
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Absolutism in Crisis

• The impact of the American Revolution
• No taxation without representation
• Success government without kings and nobles is
  possible
• Problems of the Enlightened Despots
• Critique of their militarism
• Contempt for the people (the voice of the people
  is the voice of the cattle)

• Catherine II

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The Crisis in France

• Enlightened despotism was inconsistent and
  disappointing Louis XVI
• Half-hearted repression (lettres de cachet) -
  easy target for enlightenment critique
• Very dynamic, assertive society
• Rich country with a bankrupt government

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The Financial Crisis of France

• Reasons
• Wasteful court management
• Foreign war
• Antiquated trade structure
• Narrow tax base (near exemption for the clergy
  and nobility)
• Hence a new deal is unavoidable - but dangerous

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Three Layers of Social Tensions

1. Monarchy versus aristocracy
2. Privileged wealth versus unprivileged wealth
3. The poor versus the rich

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1. Monarchy against Aristocracy

• Aristocracy wants to go back to pre-absolutist
  times but justifies its demand in enlightenment
  terms (balance of power rational government
  social contract - but according to Locke, not
  Rousseau)
• Aristocrats demand a parliament, the Estates
  General (not convened since 1614). Votes by
  estate. Therefore secure majority for clergy and
  aristocracy

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2. Privileged Wealth versus Unprivileged Wealth

• The Three Estates
• The aristocracy enjoys privileges (tax exemption
  careers legal advantages)
• The wealthy members of the Third Estate resent
  these privileges (businessmen, merchants,
  artisans, bankers)
• An example the Noailles Affair

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3. The Poor Versus the Rich

• Commercial downturn and bad harvests 1787-89
• Enlightenment ideas (Rousseau) among the lower
  classes "we, the people, deserve better than
  being poor, unrepresented, and exploited
• New mindset instead of we want bread - we
  want the GOVERNMENT to provide bread!
• Peasants resent feudal contracts and aristocratic
  arbitrariness
• Hence as France is approaching a major crisis of
  government, many hungry, even starving people are
  waiting in the wings, particularly in the cities

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The Start of the Revolution

• Aristocratic rebellion, 1787-89. Demand for
  Estates General. Tax strike
• Rebellion of the Third Estate wants doublement
  du tiers and voting by head, not by estate
• Abbé Siéyès the third estate is the nation!
• Louis XVI concedes the demands of the Third Estate

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The French Revolution
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1. Phase Toward a Constitutional Monarchy and
Abolition of Privilege

• Third Estate with allies declares itself the
  National Assembly. Promise to write a
  constitution
• Great Fear
• Popular rebellion in Paris storm on the Bastille
  (July 1789) later abduction of the royal couple
  from Versailles to Paris
• Constitution and Declaration of Rights of Man -
  1791

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Balance Sheet for the 1st Phase

• Establishment of a constitutional monarchy and
  declaration of rights of men, but not of women
• Merit trumps privilege in careers, but voting is
  still restricted by income no democracy
• Abolition of feudalism through the Great Fear
• Centralization, rationalization, standardization
  of weights and measures
• Problems
• Louis XVI remains unwilling to work within the
  new constitutional framework (monsieur véto
  flight to Varennes)
• Civil Constitution of the Clergy and confiscation
  of church lands (financial measure) splits the
  countryside and leads to massive unrest

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2nd Phase Constitution of a Republic Civil and
Foreign War

• Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria
• As the war turns to the worse, the Assembly calls
  for a democratic constitution and universal
  manhood suffrage
• Deposition of the king
• Random massacres of aristocrats and priests
• Decision to execute the king

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Balance Sheet of the 2nd Phase

• Commitment to democracy and a republic
• Huge mobilization of revolutionary fanatics
• Problems
• Radicalism of Paris crowds is out of the step
  with much of the country at large. Declaration
  of the Republic is preceded by violence
• Economic crisis inflation. Exacerbated by war
• Church policy ignites civil war in the countryside

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3rd Phase Reign of Terror and Mobilization of
the Nation

• The assembly, renamed as Convention, sets up
  two emergency committees
• These committees establish a dictatorship
  (Robespierre)
• Democratic constitution, to be implemented after
  the war
• Levée en masse
• Cultural Revolution
• Civil War (Vendée)

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Balance Sheet of the 3rd Phase

• Commitment to democracy, but at the same time
  terror in the name of the people
• Cultural Revolution with absurdities of
  political correctness
• Repression of counter-revolution and turn of the
  war in Frances favor
• But the terror seems increasingly absurd and
  uncontrolled

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4th Phase Thermidorian Reaction and Directorate

• Attempt to stabilize the revolution against both
  the left and the right
• Republic of property owners, ruled by 5 directors
• Bi-cameral parliament with lower house elected
  along property suffrage lines
• Export of the Revolution through foreign war
  Sister republics

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Balance Sheet of the 4th Phase

• Precarious stability, built on a thin political
  base
• White terror against revolutionaries continued
  uprisings from the poor
• Growing dependency on foreign war and victories -
  hence on the army and its most prestigeous
  generals
• General Napoléon Bonaparte is invited to perform
  a coup détat (brumaire 1799)

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Napoleonic Europe
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Napoleon in France

• His recipe universal manhood suffrage but
  powerless parliament plebiscites (Bonapartism)
• Concordat (1801)
• First Consul for life (1802)
• Code Napoléon (1804)
• Emperor (1804)
• Dependent on military glory. Increasing popular
  resentment at endless wars

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Napoleon in Europe

• Conqueror and military genius
• Great victories in land battles (Austerlitz,
  1805), but loss of sea power (Trafalgar, 1805)
• Continental System
• From liberator to oppressor
• Downfall (Spanish uprising, Russia)
• Short comeback in 1815

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Balance Sheet Napoleon

• Conserves revolutionary ideas in France
• But he also subverts the revolution (new
  nobility nepotism powerless parliament
  repression of women and workers)
• Brings ideas of the Revolution to much of Europe
  (weights and measures rights of man
  nationalism)
• Romantic hero