French Revolution

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French Revolution
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• One of the biggest turning points in European
  history

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Background

• Unlike the Russian Revolution or The Chinese
  revolution
• France was the most advanced country of the age
• 24 million people

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The Three Estates

• 1. Church
• 2. Nobility
• 3. Third Estate

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• Church 100 000 people
• Deeply involved in the prevailing social system
  in France
• They owned between 5 and 10 percent of the land
• Church was the greatest of all landowners
• Church wealth concentrated in the hands of few

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• Nobility 400 000
• They had enjoyed great resurgence since the death
  of Louis XIV
• Army, parlements, government offices all
  monopolized by the nobility
• Had blocked any plan at taxation
• Middle class bourgeoisie, not part of this
  estate, didnt enjoy the same privelidge
• MC taxed

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• Third Estate disgruntled
• In the 40 years prior to the rev, prices rose
  65, whereas wages rose 22
• 4/5 of the population
• Not like serfdom in Russia they worked for
  themselves
• Noble still had rights hunting, collected fees
  for mills, bakeshop, wine press

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Feudal Reaction

• The manorial lord performed no economic function
• He lived not by managing his land, but by
  collecting a series of dues
• During the 18th century, lords were faced with
  rising living costs, and consequently, collected
  their dues more vigorously
• They also revived the old ones that had
  previously been ignored

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• Leases and sharecropping also became less
  favorable to the peasants
• Additionally, peasants began to resent the feudal
  dues because they saw themselves as the true
  owners of the land

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Enlightenment Spirit

• We remember the culture that promoted social and
  political criticism
• People began to question the idea of ancient
  aristocratic priviledge
• Underlying discontent King trying to suppress
  the nobility unsuccessfully, Nobility trying to
  maintain its priviledge, peasants beginning to
  express discontent, and bourgeois class angry at
  social hierarchy

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Financial Crisis

• As we saw, France struggling with financial
  burden
• Upkeep of army, and servicing debt
• Revenues falling short of expenditure
• Nobility and church avoiding taxation
• Louis XVI, also had appointed Jacques Necker, a
  Swiss Banker also dismissed

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• His successor, Calonne, proposed a general tax to
  replaced the taille - a tax on all landowners
• He wanted to pass it by an Assembly of Notables,
  Louis wouldnt allow it
• dismissed

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• He wanted to pass it in an Estates General,
  because he knew parlement wouldnt accept it
• Additionally, they tried to replace the
  parlements
• Nobles angered fillibusters wouldnt do
  anything, like a strike
• Louis called the Estates General and various
  classes were called to elect representatives

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What is the Third Estate?

• Estates General hadnt met since1614-1615
• It is an assembly of representatives elected from
  the three estates
• Each estate voted seperately on an issue
• Then the rep from estate would vote
• Nobility and clergy 2

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• Rift between old and new nobility reps for the
  EG had to be from long established noble lines
• Angered new nobility , and pushed them toward 3rd
  estate
• 3rd estate thought the voting system was unfair
• Led by Abbe Sieyes
• They demanded that double the number of reps be
  given to the third estate
• Louis gave the 3rd more reps, but it was still
  rep by estate

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Cahiers

• Demands of the estates
• Fairer tax system
• End to feudal dues

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Estates General

• Louis missed his chance to be a strong leader in
  the EG
• Main issue was the 3rd refused to do anything
  until there was a unicameral legislature
• Even disgruntled parish priests left the first
  estate and joined the third
• June 1789 Third Estate called itself the
  National Assembly urged the other estates to
  join

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• Tennis Court Oath on June 20th the kings
  officials locked the 3rd out of the hall
• The 3rd thought the EG was being dissolved, and
  met at a Tennis court
• They vowed to stay together even against the
  kings will bc they were the nation, not the king
• First assertion of power by the 3rd
• Louis calls for a constitution shortly after
• Led to the revolutionary myth, united people

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• Louis eventually capitulates June 27
• National Assembly formed
• Why did Louis do it? He was scared

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National Assembly

• Unicameral body- set out to provide the monarchy
  with a constitution
• NA faced a series of obstacles

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Fall of the Bastille

• July 14, 1789
• The dismissal of Necker, who was a reformer,
  sparked outrage amongst the masses because he was
  seen as a reformer, and it was viewed as a
  conspiracy
• In Paris, rioters stormed a prison the high
  officials were lynched, and their heads paraded
  through the streets on a pike
• Fall of the Bastille important because it was a
  symbol of tyranny
• Its fall gave birth to a revolutionary myth of
  popular action against tyranny

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• A century later, the French republic made it a
  national holiday
• Short term, it made Louis more receptive, but
  this angered the nobles

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Back to the NA

• Now it could turn France into a constitutional
  monarchy
• 1st issue rural riots
• The NA swept away the remnants of feudalism
• August 26, 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man
  
• Highly influenced by Locke, would be the basis
  for the preamble of the constitution

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• Paris then erupted
• Bread was scarce
• Women marched into the streets of Paris, others
  joined, and it was diverted onto a march on
  Versailles
• King moved his family to the Tuileries palace in
  Paris

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• For the next two years there was no violence and
  the NA could work on reform
• A new political system based on Montesquieus
  checks and balance
• The constitution, brought in 1791, struck a
  balance between king and legislature

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The Church

• Controversial
• Civil Constitution of the Clergy
• Stripped away its priveledge, made them members
  of the state
• Church lands were sold to private buyers
• Consequence, put the pope against the revolution

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Back to Louis

• His biggest mistake is he didnt consolidate the
  new system
• June 1791, he fled with his family to Varennes
• He was forgiven, but he used his veto power far
  too often to prevent changed as a Const. Monarch
• Additionally, factions were starting in the NA,
  and if the King had been stronger, he could have
  prevented them from hindering the NA

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War

• War in 1792 against Austria and Prussia
• It was wanted by the NA now called the
  Legislative Assembly
• King wanted it to crush the experiment
• Others wanted it to show how important the
  nobility are in the army
• Others wanted it because they thought they could
  win

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• The army did disintegrate, and the king and
  officials bickered over responsibility king
  dismissed them
• August 16, 1792 Second French Revolution
• Crowd moved against royal palace, and took it by
  storm
• Assembly, led by the Jacobins, scared of the mob,
  voted for the removal of the King, and called a
  National Convention

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Climax and Relapse

• 2 years between 1792 and 1794 saw the fall of
  Louis, the rise and fall of Robespierre, and war,
  both inside and outside of France

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• After Louis was suspended, there was another
  election for a National Convention
• Constitution making was suspended
• Convention ruled absolutely, with no checks and
  balances

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• The convention was a radical body
• No more monarchists, all republicans
• Two main groups Brissotins and Mountain
• Aka Girondins and Jacobins
• Libertarian vs Egalitarian

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Revolutionary War

• The convention launched a war against most of
  Europe
• Their motivation the spread of freedom, and
  they annexed any land they took
• Also, the convention moved to execute the king
  because of a cache of letters found
• His execution would anger fellow monarchs, and
  ensure the wars would spread

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• The execution of the king, and the conscription
  of soldiers led to war within France
• All this turmoil, compounded with the failure of
  the French army, led to the most radical members
  of the convention to gain power
• Jacobins forced Girodins members out of office in
  June 1793
• The double threat lead to authoritarian rule

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• The 12 man Committee of Public Safety became the
  governing authority
• Maximillian Robespierre and his henchmen became
  the dominant faction
• Influenced by Rousseau and egalitarian ideas

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Robespierre

• Policy of repression
• Mobilized nations manpower and resources for war
• Strict economic controls
• Purge machinery executed critics
• Dantonists /Heberists shaved by the National
  Razor
• Reign of Terror

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• With this behaviour, fear spread even amongst his
  followers (such as doubt)
• In June, more courts set up, citizens lost
  fundamental legal freedoms
• July 1794, called Thermidor
• The fear led to the arrest of Robespierrest
  leaders
• Most carted off to Guillotine

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Consequence of Thermidor

• Marked the climax of the Terror
• Marked the end of the revolution
• Twenty thousand sent to the guillotine
• Led to relaxation and moderation purge
  machinery relaxed
• The pendulum began to swing back toward the
  right

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• Royalists now had their turn
• In October 1795, Royalists led a riot in the
  streets, and the Convention called on the regular
  army to break the threat
• A young general named Bonaparte recieved the
  assignment scattered the crowd with a whiff of
  grapeshot
• Led to the establishment of the Directory in 1795

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The Directory

• 1795
• Would last four years
• Constitutional government
• Five man board of directors in charge of the
  bicameral legislature

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• Failed economic policy, always on verge of
  bankruptcy
• Foreign policy couldnt win war in Europe but
  couldnt get out if it either
• Conflict between left and right- directory had to
  violate constitution
• Eventually put power in teh hands of the military

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• With war, they coulndt face the facts
• France could have negotiated with Britain, and be
  satisfied with its natural frontiers
• But generals, particularly Napoleon, urged it on
• Great victories in Italy,
• Abandons the army in Egypt

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• Abbe Sieyes, became one of the Directors in 1799
• He wanted a government that would have a strong
  executive
• New consitution needed
• He got Bonaparte to help him

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• November 1799, coup detat
• Military dictatorship

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Age of Napoleon

• His critics call him a cynical, power hungry
  despot with a taste for brutality and tyranny
• They see him as a counter revolutionary who
  crushed liberty
• His admirers see him a a national hero, who
  preserved the essential achievements of the
  revolution, and brought their blessings to the
  rest of Europe

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• Born in Corsica, worked his way up through the
  military because of the revolution
• His brilliant campaigns of 1796-97 allowed him to
  dictate peace to the Austrians and turned
  Northern Italy into Satellites

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• The Directory wanted him to invade England, but
  he convinced them not to, instead turning to
  Egypt
• Egypt was abandoned in 1799, and he returned to
  France where he thought he was needed

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The Consulate

• Napoleon becomes first counsul
• Immediately sought peace with Austria and Britain
• March 1802 signed a Treaty of Amiens with Britain
• Peace all over Europe
• Peace of Amiens  -  1802 pact by which the
  British and French agreed not to fight. 1802 was
  the only year during all of the Napoleonic era
  when no European power was officially at war with
  another European power.

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• So great was popular enthusiasm that Bonapartes
  proposed to lengthen his ten year term to twenty.
  
• He jokingly said he would like to be consul for
  life, and the nation approved this by referendum

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• Napoleon moved rapidly to stabilize France
• He put down rebellions in the French provinces.
• He created a secret police
• He centralized the government of the various
  French departments under a system of prefects.
• To reduce the number of potential revolutionaries
  floating around Europe, he issued a general
  amnesty, allowi ng various exiles, from
  aristocrats to Jacobins, to return home.
• Napoleon ended the exclusion of the nobility from
  power that had been the trademark of earlier
  post- revolution regimes. He simply wanted the
  best men he could find

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• To reduce the number of potential revolutionaries
  floating around Europe, he issued a general
  amnesty, allowi ng various exiles, from
  aristocrats to Jacobins, to return home.
• Napoleon ended the exclusion of the nobility from
  power that had been the trademark of earlier
  post- revolution regimes. He simply wanted the
  best men he could find

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Religion-Concordat

• with the Catholic pope
• Smoothed the rift caused by the Civil
  Constitution of the Clergy
• He did not give the property back, but he did
  make Catholicism the official religion of France
• In exchange, the Vatican recognized the
  Consulate. Even under this new agreement with the
  Church, Napoleon upheld religious tolerance

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Government

• Napoleon also set about improving and modernizing
  French government
• He wanted government power to apply to everyone
  equally,
• legal class differences and hereditary government
  offices to be abolished
• salaries to be given to his bureaucrats, who
  were to be selected based on talent, not birth
• stabilized French currency by creating the Bank
  of France, and he simplified the tangle of French
  law by producing the Napoleonic Code.

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• Made a network of prefects which carried
  decisions of Paris to every hamlet of France
• Financial reform revamped direct taxation, and
  enforced collection
• Established the Bank of France and gave it
  control over the Nations credit system
• The bank was controlled by the leading financiers
• For the next century, the Franc became the most
  stable currency in world

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Legal Changes

• He codified gains of the revolution
• Mainly equality before the law
• Also, the Legion of Honour recognized talent in
  every sphere
• Education encouraged because it would create good
  subjects and trained officers
• Streamlined education
• But, he was concerned with training leadership
  elite, not literacy

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Napoleon and War

• 1803, back at war with England
• Bonaparte used this to consolidate power even
  more, and turn the Consulate into an empire
• He wanted to ensure stability by creating a
  dynasty
• December 2, 1804, Napoleon crowns himself Emperor

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Major Victories

• December 2, 1805 Austerlitz
• Crushed an Austro-Russian force
• Late 1806, crushed the Prussians at Jena and
  Auerstaedt Marched to Berlin

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• Treaty of Tilsit Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I
  signed a pact which divided most of Europe and
  Asia amongst them
• This was all part of Napoleons Continental
  system, a plan to put a stranglehold on England
• He hoped that by closing the continent to English
  goods, Eng. Shopkeepers would be forced to sue
  for peace

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• Ultimately, England found new markets, and there
  were leaks in the blockade
• Napoleon makes a fatal mistake Portugal
• He crossed Spain to get to Portugal in 1807, but
  some soldiers settled and refused to leave
• Battles break out England backs Spain

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• By 1810, Napoleons at his zenith
• His domination of Europe was almost complete
• Many satellite states, many of them ruled by his
  brothers and brothers in law
• Most of German states fused in the federation of
  the Rhine, controlled by Paris
• Only resistance was England, and the Geurilla war
  in Spain

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• At home, things were ok Napoleonic nobility
  created
• But, liberty at home had disappeared
• Number of political journals in Paris was reduced
  from 73 to 4
• Censorship
• Many of his key men were in fear

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• Rumblings all over Europe to take a stand against
  Napoleon
• Signal came from Russia
• By 1810, the friendship was fading fast Russia
  pulled itself from the Continental system
• By 1812, Napoleon moved his largest force every
  against Russia

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• As the Russians retreat, the scorched the earth
• Forced Napoleon to rely on his own supply line
• As winter approached , he decided to continue on
  to Moscow found no one there and the city afire
• October he retreats, but discipline and morale
  were low
• Soldiers were looting or fighting over food and
  vodka
• By December, 50 000 half frozen men remained of
  500 000

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• Napoleon abandons his troops, and returns to
  paris to plot another attack on Russia
• But the Coalition against him, which now
  outnumbers him, with dissent in France, leaves
  him little hope
• The Coalition now consisted of Austria under
  Metternich, England, Russia, and Prussia
• Napoleon abdicates to Elba

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Legacy

• Military Genius Napoleon rarely beaten
• Best Example Austerlitz
• But- Critics say his opponents were rarely
  united, and he had numerical superiority
• Guilty of carelessness in his later years
• Domestic Reform he had long lasting reforms,
  such as the administrative structure and legal
  system that have survived to this day
• Some say he preserved the revolution notably
  social and civil equality

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• He prevented the restoration of the monarchy for
  fifteen years which entrenched his changes

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Foreign Policy

• Controversial some say he was never happy, and
  an aggressive expansionist who doomed Europe to
  war, he wanted to take over all of Europe
• Others say he was a patriotic Frenchman, who was
  concerned with achieving national unity and
  Frances natural frontier
• His war was a defensive struggle which attempted
  to preserve the revolution