Lecture 9: Revolutionary & Napoleonic Wars & 19th Cen. De-Escalation Flashcards
Preliminary Comments on Revolution
- 2 elements
1) Industrial Revolution; use of fossil
- full impact felt in 19th cen but came into full effect in 20th
2) entry of the people –> revolution means entry of…
- classes
- nations
Background Info
- Breakdown of old regime history/ why France crumbled
- ingredients for revolution (2 things)
History
- Fr vs Br battling
- Br wanted to take over European kingdoms, exhaust French in Europe - then take over colonial areas
- British state power; taxed rich (vs. French didn’t - faced bankruptcy in 18th cen)
- French geopolitically disadvantaged
Revolutions need:
a) state breakdown
b) revolutionary party to seize power
(ex. Russian state breakdown in 1905; 1917 party emerges to take power)
French Revolution
- Jacobins, 2 gr.
- Austrian war
- revolutions attacked
- Battle of Valmy
Jacobins composed of:
- Girondin moderates & Montagnard radicals
- Girondins in charge of foreign policy; waged “war vs Austria” to stay in power
- once revolutions are attacked, they solidify
- Battle of Valmy –> sig. French victory; new regime solidified; First French Republic established; threatened old European regimes; - Austrian invasion of France
- Girondins sidelined; radical Montagnards come to power
Reign of Terrors begins
-
Stage 1: Revolutionary Wars (1792-1799)
- nation at war
- Bonaparte
- nationalism
- volunteer armies + mass conscription as new changes
- Bonaparte’s military dictatorship; new strategies + charismatic authoritarianism
- Battle of the Nile –> Br. destroy French fleet tho
Stage 2: Napoleonic Wars (1802-1813)
- hegemony struggle
- French empire
- French navy
- continental system
- shifting alliances
- Sruggle between Br/Fr
- Napoleon as an emperor/desire for empire
- ignored realism; military efficacy > practicality, calculation
- 1805 –> French navy destroyed
- continental system –> tried to block Br. access to continental ports to diminish trade
- shifting alliances; guerrilla resistances in Spain/Portugal (1807-1809) against French presence
- Br start to fight Fr
Stage 2: Napoleonic Wars cont’d
- Russian Campaign
- 2 Russian components
- Napoleon’s overconfidence; 700,000 men invade Russia in 1812
- 2 things
1) Russian bred horses
2) scorched earth policy - less than 40,000 Grand Armee men survived
ultimate defeat
- battle of nations in Leizpig; 1813
- 1813-15 compromise?
- Napoleon not in control?
- battle of waterloo; 1815
Nations, 1813 –> Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Br, vs France; realism at work
1813-1815
- during 19th cen –> homogenous system forms against Napoleon
- one big european family
- Napoleon not in control bc… not in control of state anymore, populated relatives in power thru europe who wanted him to keep fighting
Waterloo, 1815 –> final defeat.
19th cen. De-Escalation
- relative peace
- concert
- congress in berlin; 1878
- rise of germany
- some wars but no great casualties
- relative peace!
- concert of great powers (old regimes together suppressed potential uprisings) - br ends this
- 1878 Berlin congress –> great powers persuade Russia to change altho concert was half-intact
- rise of germany + Br. calculations
- Bismark’s cautious reunification to not incite fear in anybody
Charting Rationality/Homogeneity of:
- France 1813 (end of Napoleonic period)
- Revolutionary wars
- 19th cen. Europe/de-escalation
Napoleonic/1813 era:
- fragile + homogenous state
revolutionary wars
- fragile + heterogenous state
19th cen. de-escalation:
-rational + homogenous state
