French Revolution Flashcards
Estates-General
June 17, 1789: vote to establish National Assembly
End of the monarchy
Beginning of a representative government(Constitutional Monarchy)
Locked out of meeting room, broke down a door to an indoor tennis court.
Tennis Court Oath - Pledge to stay until they come up with a new constitution.
Clergy and Nobles who favored reform joined
Louis XVI stations guards around Versailles
Storming of the Bastille
Rumors flew that Louis was going to use military forces to dismiss National Assembly; foreign troops were coming to Paris to massacre French Citizens.
Gathered weapons, needed gunpowder
Mob storms Bastille on July 14
Killed guards, paraded around with their heads on pikes.
Symbolic act of revolution (Bastille Day)
Great Terror
A wave of senseless panic that rolls through France
Peasants become outlaws
Broke into noble manor houses, destroyed papers, burned houses
Oct. 1789: Parisian women, angry over the price of bread, break into Versailles
Kill guards
Demand king and queen move to Paris; king agrees
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Statement of revolutionary ideals
Influenced by the Declaration of Independence
“Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights”
“Liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression”
Equal justice, freedom of speech, freedom of religion.
Flight to Varennes
June 1791: royal family tries to escape from France to the Austrian Netherlands.
Apprehended near the border and returned back to Paris.
This action seals Louis’s fate
Order of Forms of Governments
National Assembly
Legislative Assembly
National Convention
Committee of Public Safety
The Directory
Legislative Assembly
A Limited Monarchy
September 1791: National Assembly completes new constitution; Louis reluctantly approves
Creates limited constitutional monarchy ; strips king of authority
Legislative Assembly = create laws; approve/reject declarations of war
Split into radicals, moderates, conservatives
Emigres
Nobles and others who fled France, hope to undo revolution and restore the Ancien Regime.
Sans-culottes
“those without knee breeches” - Wanted to separate themselves from aristocracy. Working class radicals.
National Convention
Radical Republic
Legislative Assembly set aside Constitution of 1791 due to pressure from radicals.
Declared the king deposed, dissolved assembly, called for an election of new legislature.
Sept. 21: National Convention took office
Abolished monarchy
Declared France a republic
Adult male citizens granted right to vote and hold office
Jacobins
Radical Political Organization
Took Control of National Convention
Jean-Paul Marat
Prominent member; author of Friend of the People
Death to all who still supported the king
Supported executions of anti-revolutionaries.
George Danton
Talented and passionate speaker
Devoted to rights of Paris’ poor people
Death to Louis XVI
National Convention reduces Louis to a common citizen/ prisoner.
Tried for treason; found guilty and sentenced to death.
January 21, 1793: Louis XVI executed via guillotine.
Enemies of Jacobins
Peasants horrified by king’s execution
Priests who would not accept government control
Rival leaders stirring up rebellion in the provinces
Maximilien Robespierre
Determined to build a “republic of virtue”; wipe out all traces of France’s past
July 1793: Becomes leader of the Committee of Public Safety (protect the Revolution from its enemies)
Governs France as a dictator during the Reign of Terror (most violent phase)
Confiscated church and noble land
Abolished slavery
Everyone addressed as “citizen”
As many as 40,000 executed
End of Reign of Terror
July 1794: Committee turns on Robespierre (feared for their own safety)
Demanded his arrest and execution
July 28, 1794: Reign of Terror ends
Robespierre executed via guillotine
The Directory
1795: Moderate leaders in National Convention drafted a new plan of government.
Power to the S middle class.
Two-House (bicameral) legislature
Executive body of 5 men (Directory)
3 Ideals of French Revolution
Equality, Liberty, Fraternity
Napoleon Early Years
Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 on the French territorial island of Corsica in the
town of Ajaccio.
Napoleon was born to Carlo and Letizia Romalino Buonaparte in 1769. Though his family was not overly wealthy, they did claim ancestry to the Corisican nobility.
Napoleon was raised in mainland France where he began to speak the French tongue and where he would go on to attend and subsequently graduate from a French military academy in 1785.
Napoleon in French Revolution
By the onset of the French Revolution, Napoleon was a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment.
It was during the Reign of Terror that Napoleon was promoted to brigadier general.
In 1795, Napoleon helped eliminate an insurrection against the revolutionary government for which he was rewarded with a promotion to major general.
Notable Napoleon Military Successes
1795: The French Government identified the cunning military prowess of Napoleon and thus offered funds to compete against the naval forces of Britain. Though he strongly believed in his abilities, Napoleon’s wisdom bled through, reallocating his forces to diminishing British trading routes, specifically in Egypt, where he defeated the Mamluks at the Battle of the Pyramids in 1798.
1796: A Napoleon-commanded army defeats those of Austria which forces the Austrian government to sign the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797.
1799: Napoleon decided to attack the much larger Ottoman Empire that led to his defeat at the Siege of Acre in the same year. Representing his ability to digest his failures was found that summer when he determined it best to return to France instead of pursuing further battles in Africa.
coup of 18 Brumaire
After the coup of 18 Brumaire, the republic Directory was replaced with a Three-Pronged Consulate. As first consul, Napoleon, a man of small stature, became France’s largest societal figure.
Actions Napoleon Took After Taking Control
In 1800, Napoleon led military conflicts against the Austrians, the greatest enemy to the country of France. At the Battle of Marengo, France not only was able to defeat the Austrians but they also were able to drive them from Italy. All of this was done at the hands of Napoleon.
Via the Treaty of Amiens (1802), after many years of grueling battle, Napoleon negotiated terms of peace with their enemies to the North, the British.
Napoleon came to power after many years of Terror held by the shaky hands of the Committee of Public Safety. One of the largest duties of Napoleon was to restore the long lost foundations of France, including a Central Government, “banking and education”, “science and the arts”, and the Catholic Church.
Napoleonic Code
Of the many accomplishments Napoleon made as First Consul, the most significant was the
creation of the Napoleonic Code. The Napoleonic Code allowed for the efficient
management of French’s legal system. The roots of his code can still be identified in France TODAY.
Based on Enlightenment
In 1802, a constitutional amendment made Napoleon first consul for life. Two years later, in 1804, he crowned himself __________ in a lavish ceremony at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.
Emperor of France
Louisiana Purchase
In 1803, France had begun to engage in the Napoleonic Wars. To raise the much necessary military funds, Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory for $15 million to the newly formed United States.
Battle of Trafalgar
After Napoleon’s aforementioned Treaty of Amiens, it could be discerned that Napoleon was capable of holding the British at bay. The Battle of Trafalgar, which saw the complete decimation of Napoleon’s fleet, was a heat check as well as a point of motivation for years to come.
Battle of Wagram
Further land gains were made in 1809 with the Battle of Wagram. The Battle saw Napoleon defeat the Austrians again.
Battle of Austerlitz
Napoleon and his French forces defeated the combined armies of Austria and Russia at the Battle of Austerlitz. This led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and the foundation of the Confederation of the Rhine.
What was ultimately the reason that Napoleon’s troops failed in their invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812?
In 1812, Russia left the Continental System, a pact between the continental European nations to uphold trade embargoes against Britain to the North. To make an example out of the Russians, Napoleon gathered 600,000 troops and attempted a full-blown invasion of Russia. Instead of battling with the larger and more well-equipped French army, the Russians continued to retreat, forcing France deeper and deeper into the Russian cold.
When Napoleon reached Moscow, he found the city burned, its citizens plundering the city before fleeing ahead of the incoming troops. Void of supplies and with a Russian winter looming, Napoleon was forced to retreat.
How many troops who began the campaign into Russia made it out?
100,000
Peninsular War
It is important to recognize that prior to his failed invasion of Russia, Napoleon was, though not perfect, a successful general. The Peninsular War, which saw the removal of French troops from the Iberian Peninsula, was yet another keg in the reel, turning revolt against Napoleon and the Continental System as a whole.
On April 6, 1814, Napoleon, then in his mid-40s, was forced to __________. With the Treaty of Fontainebleau, he was exiled to Elba, a Mediterranean island off the coast of Italy. He was given sovereignty over the small island, while his wife and son went to Austria.
Abdicate the Throne
Hundred Days Campaign
Incapable of remaining in exile, Napoleon returned to Paris, France on March 20, 1815, after a
coalition of supporters rallied around Napoleon’s escape from Elba. Fearing for his life, the King of
France, Louis XVIII, fled France and his vacancy was exploited by the power hungry Napoleon. This
began Napoleon’s “Hundred Days Campaign”.
Battle of Waterloo
Knowing that a European invasion was imminent, Napoleon chose to be the first to strike. After a successful defeat of Belgium and Prussia in June of 1815, French troops turned to Brussels and the Battle of Waterloo. Unlike the two battles that preceded it, the Battle of Waterloo led to the defeat of French troops and the forced abdication of Napoleon on June 22, 1815.
Napoleon’s Death
After his second abdication, Napoleon was imprisoned upon Saint Helena, a remote island under
British jurisdiction. On May 5, 1821, Napoleon died on Saint Helena, presumably from the stomach cancer which had cursed him most of his latter years.
Why was the Guillotine considered egalitarian
Dr Joseph Guillotine found his method of execution as egalitarian as it was humane. Unlike other methods which may have not inflicted immediate death, with a guillotine, one minute a convict was alive and the next, they had passed. It also made no distinction between rich and poor, meaning death was equal.
Estates-General Inequality
In the Anciens Regime, the Estates General was an obsolete and often abandoned form of Parliament that had not met by the late 18th century for more than 100 years. The Estates General was composed of representatives from each Estate: 300 from both the First and Second and 600 from the Third. As power was granted not by people represented, the Third Estate, though representing the far majority of the population, had an equal vote to the First and Second Estate. Thus, any political reform that would benefit the people was voted down by the minority. This caused the Third Estate to disband from the Estates General and form their own National Assembly.
Why did Louis XVI invade Prussia
Louis and the National Assembly decided to invade Prussia in order to plunder it for much needed and
much desired grain and wealth to restabilize the French economy and food shortage. When it was found
that Louis was instead aiding Prussia and Austria in the invasion of France, he was removed from office by the National Assembly and a new republican constitution was created. Louis was subsequently sentenced to death by guillotine.
Jean-Paul Marat 2.0
Called for blood-letting in France and Spread his ideas through newspapers.
Depicted as Jesus in his bathtub.
Goal of Committee of Public Safety
Eliminate Enemies of the Revolution
What two European Countries was Napoleon unable to Conquer
Great Britain and Russia
The machine used to behead enemies of the revolution
Guillotine
Impact of French Culture being forced on gained territories through Napoleonic Wars
Nationalists developed and Spread
What didn’t the Declaration of Rights not guarantee
Equal Rights for Women
Who did Louis appoint as financial advisor in 1777
Jacques Necker
Loved by the People
Along with Austria, what other kingdom declared war on France in 1792
Prussia
Causes of Revolution
Social
Growth of Industry, Rise of Middle Class, Burden of Feudal System, Increase in Poverty
Political
Absolute Monarchy
Intellectual
Influence of America
Economic
Increase in Debt, Tax Burden on Poor
What caused the French to starve
Increase in Taxes + Increase in price of Bread after harsh winter
How did Louis XVI attempt to curb debt?
Debt was caused by lavish spending of the court, support of the American Revolution, and Marie Antoinette.
Increase in Taxes
Anciens Regime
Estate System that had not changed since Middle Ages
King and Queen
Do not belong to an Estate
First Estate
Clergy
1% of People, 10% of Land
Second Estate
Nobility
2% of People, 25% of Land
Third Estate
Commoners
97% of People, 65% of Land
