FRENCH REVOLUTION

1
FRENCH REVOLUTION

• LOUIS XIV Sun King
• Wars (most go badly for France)
• LOUIS XV
• 7 Years War (F I War)
• Death bed prediction of great change in France
  Deluge
• LOUIS XVI m. Marie Antoinette

2
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
3
Why are the people of France upset?

• Poor Leadership
• Louis XVI indecisive and was a poor judge of
  character (Marie Antoinette)
• Spend lavishly while country is in financial
  trouble
• Economic crisis
• Brought on by debt (War) Large tax burden on
  middle and lower classes
• Structure of society

4
Estates Order of Society

• First Estate Roman Catholic Clergy
• Higher Clergy, Lower Clergy
• Second Estate Nobility
• Government officials, Military leaders
• Third Estate Everyone else
• Bourgeoisie, Artisans, Peasants

5
Adding fuel to the fire

• Enlightenment Ideas
• Ideas of Locke and philosophes like Voltaire,
  Montesquieu, and Rousseau
• Salons social gatherings (ideas discussed)
• American Revolution (Successful example)

6
Revolt Begins!!!

• Louis calls Estates together (Estates General) to
  raise tax revenues
• Each Estate had one vote
• Fair to 3rd Estate?
• Want a greater voice
• King locks them out of meeting place
• National Assembly
• Some members of 1st and 2nd Estates join the 3rd
  Estate
• Tennis Court Oath
• -swear to meet (not adjourn) until new
  constitution in place

7
Revolt Begins!!! (Cont.)

• Bastille
• Forced way into fort
• Why?
• Gunpowder for weapons to defend themselves
• Why symbolic?
• Represents injustices of the monarchy

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La MarseillaiseFrench National Anthem

• Let's go children of the fatherland,The day of
  glory has arrived!Against us tyranny'sBloody
  flag is raised! (repeat)In the countryside, do
  you hearThe roaring of these fierce
  soldiers?They come right to our armsTo slit the
  throats of our sons, our friends!
• Refrain
• Grab your weapons, citizens!Form your
  batallions!Let us march! Let us march!May
  impure bloodWater our fields!

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Revolt continues

• The Great Fear
• Peasants fearing retaliation from nobles begin
  raiding and destroying nobles property
• Womens March on Versailles
• Why?
• Rising price of bread
• King and family forced to move to Paris

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End of Old Order

• Violence forced Nobles to give up privileges
• Ends Old Order (feudal society)
• Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
• Still in French Constitution today
• States all people are equal before the law
• Freedom of speech, press, religion, habeas corpus
• Who is left out?
• Women

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End of Old Ordercontinued

• Church
• Forced to give up land to pay debts
• Each parish would elect a priest
• (representation) local control
• Royal family caught trying to flee
• Constitution of 1791
• Limited Monarchy
• Louis forced to accept
• Publicly supports but privately is against

12
Political Division in Assembly

• Jacobins (The mountain)
• Considered themselves voice of the people,
  upholders of the revolution
• Moderates (the plain)
• Girondins (more conservative)
• Moderates are eventually persuaded to side with
  Jacobins
• -Leads to a more radical stage in Revolution

13
Radical Stage of Revolution

• 1792 National Assembly suspends Monarchy
• Believe it or not, this is a radical idea for
  those living in 18th century France
• -France becomes a Republic
• Why is monarchy suspended?
• King cannot be trusted (plots with Émigrés)
• 1792 King Louis XVI sentenced to the death
  executed in Jan. 1793

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Reign of Terror

• Committee of Public Safety
• 12 member group who runs France
• Robespierre
• Essentially a dictator
• At least 17,000 people executed
• Why?
• Enemies of the state
• Ironically they are mostly members of the Third
  Estate
• Enlightened thinking?

15
Reign of Terror Ends

• Robespierre is executed
• The Directory replaces the Committee of Public
  Safety
• Doesnt solve Frances problems however
• Who Does?
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• What contributes to Napoleons rise to power?
• Instability (chaos creates opportunity)
• Takes over France even though he is neither
  French nor nobility
• What role does the Enlightenment play?
• The man or Man of the times?

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Napoleon Bonaparte

• Is Napoleon Enlightened or a Tyrant?
• Many Contradictions
• Elected leader through plebiscite but
• then becomes first consul (1800), consul for
  life (1802), and eventually emperor (1804)
• Brings many needed reforms to France
• Napoleonic Code
• All citizens equal before the law
• Citizens have right to choose own profession
• Abolition of serfdom and all feudal obligations
• Religious toleration and more access to education
• merit system people able to serve in
  government/military positions based on merit (how
  well they do their jobs)
• But Napoleon also rules as a dictator and
  eventually censors the press and puts limits on
  freedom of speech
• Napoleons armies invade and take over large
  amount of European territory - brings glory to
  France but ultimately violates peoples
  sovereignty in areas he takes over

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Napoleons defeat

• Napoleon established extensive empire by 1812
• Grand Empire (1807-1812)
• French Empire, dependent states, and allied
  states (Pg. 364)
• Never able to defeat British (naval superiority)
• Continental System
• Ultimately fails
• Russian Invasion
• lays siege to St. Petersburg but ultimately
  defeated. Why?
• Troops exposed to harsh climate (General
  Winter)
• Tactics used by Russians
• Hit and run (guerrilla)
• Scorched Earth Policy
• Forced to retreat French forces return to
  France decimated (approximately 1/5 of military
  force returns)

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Napoleons defeat (Cont.)

• Paris captured in March 1814
• Napoleon exiled to Isle of Elba (house arrest)
• 100 Days
• Napoleon returns to France rallies troops
• amazing feat able to raise 100,000 man army
  (unfortunately mostly young, old, or very
  inexperienced)
• Battle of Waterloo 1815 (June 18th)
• Final defeat of Napoleons forces
• Napoleon sent into exile on St. Helena where he
  dies in 1821 (May 5th)
• Legacy Congress of Vienna (1815)
• Attempted to restore the balance of power in
  Europe. (solve problems brought on by
  revolutions, etc...)

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Latin American Independence

• Colonial empires begin to unravel in late 18th
  century
• By 1830 a large majority of Latin American states
  are independent of colonial rule
• Why?
• 1. Effect of Enlightenment Ideals
• - Resent colonial control
• -Rigid class structure in many Latin American
  States.
• Peninsulares, Creoles, Mestizos, Mulattoes,
  Native, and Africans
• 2. American and French Revolutions