Unit 5: French Revolution & Napoleon Flashcards
American Revolution - Causation
-French & Indian War=super expensive=taxes
-Differing views of empire
*Brit: single empire, Parliament = supreme power
*Colonies: own representation, Parliament no power with consent of representatives
-Various protests against actions of Parliament (Boston Tea Party, Boston Massacre)
-July 4, 1776-the ultimate break up letter (Declaration of Independence)
-WAR! 1776-1781
*Colonists victorious (thanks to the French)
-New country
*Articles of Confederation: severely limited federal govt, state govt have most power
*United States Constitution (Sept 17, 1787): created govt with 3 separate branches (heyyy Montesquieu)
*Bill of Rights added during first Congressional Session (1789)
Impact of American Revolution
-News quickly spread (for the time)
-New international & diplomatic relations/powers
-Provided example of Enlightenment ideas in practice (not just utterances of intellectuals)
-Marquis de Lafayette (& other soldiers) bring back stories
France in the 1780s- Causation
-Intellectual Influences:
Enlightenment → ideas circulated amongst nobels, bourgeoisie, elite; after Revolution philosophes often quoted
-Extravagance of crown
*Crown continued to spend and went into increasing debt
*Wars, opulence, etc
*No central bank to finance, turned to taxes→ mostly on peasants
France in the 1780s- Causation : Financial Crises
-Bad harvests, manufacturing depression = economic recession in 1787-1788
*Food shortages, increased prices, unemployment (⅓)
-Parlaments (French courts responsible for registering royal decrees) often blocked decrees (saw themselves as protectors of “liberty” against monarchy) but often refused to raise taxes = more economic issues
-Depression of 1788-1789
*Continued issues with crops, loss of overseas markets (which war?), & lack of ability to collect taxes
*Peasants faced increasing uncertainty (rent increasing)
*Urban poor faced intense food shortages
French Revolution - Background (1787-1789)
-First Estate
Clergy & elite
130,000 people
Owned 10% land
Exempt from taille (TY), main tax
Generated 300 million livres (½ income of royal crown)
French Revolution - Background (1787-1789)
-Second Estate
Nobility
350,000 people
Owned 25-30% land
Held positions in military, govt, law
Limit monarchy, promote own interests
French Revolution - Background (1787-1789)
-Third Estate
*Peasants: 75-80% population,
Owned 30-35% land (½ no land), Serfdom
*Artisans: Wage laborers in cities, Price increases=cannot afford to live, Play important role in Rev.
*Bourgeoisie: Middle class (8%, 2.3 mil), Owned 20-25% land, Merchants, bankers, control trade, Some excluded from second estate & privileges
Estates General - Causation
-Estates General (first meeting for 175 years)
-Each estate has representatives who were elected
-Third Estate had double the representatives as 1st & 2nd (97%) ~600 delegates –> Many of these delegates came from bourgeois backgrounds (lawyers, urban)
-2nd Estate ~282 delegates, 90 liberal & urban minded
-Debate over voting by head or by order
-Nobles wanted vote by order (more power to protect their interests)
-“Lovers of liberty” wanted vote by head (more likely to make changes)
-Ultimately, decided that voting would be by order
-Cahiers de doleances (statements of local grievances) : Advocated for constitutional govt that would abolish fiscal privileges of nobility & church
French Revolution - Phase 1 (1789-1791) National Assembly
-Eventually King Louis XIV agrees to give the third estate 2 votes, but they still vote by order & he requires that they follow very strict rules on behavior
-Third Estate & “lovers of liberty” worked together to counter vote of First Estate –> Called themselves National Assembly & promised to work together until a constitution was created
-National Assembly
Come for meeting, but they are locked out so they move to a nearby Tennis Court & create a Constitution, Tennis Court Oath
*First steps in creating change, nothing crazy (constitutional monarchy)
*King sided w/First Estate & threatened to dissolve Estates General, more action coming…
-Bastille Day, July 14, 1789!
*Common people join the fight of the Third Estate
*Common people would now be used by all sides in the fight; Had their own interests in taking down the rich→often invoked the name of the 3rd Estate, but was not part of what 3rd Estate originally wanted
*Attack the Bastille (royal armory & prison), surrendered to attackers
*Symbol of triumph over despotism
-Peasant revolts: Inspired by events in cities & weakening of King; Burned contracts, renounced duties & taxes
*The Great Fear→ fear of revolts & attack from foreign countries
French Revolution - Phase 2 (1791-1792) Legislative Assembly
-Declaration of the Rights of Man & Citizen Aug 26, 1789: *Enlightenment ideas, ideological foundation for revolution
*End feudalism & fiscal privileges
-Women: Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Women→ ignored by assembly
*Women’s March on Versailles
*King refused to recognize decrees ending feudalism & was in hiding in Versailles
*Women (marching for bread) turn to Versailles & demand King’s attention
*King returned to Paris (and brought flour) following demands of women
-Defeat of the Catholic Church: Civil Constitution of Clergy = officials elected by ppl, + swear oath to constitution -> some refused so enemies!
*Take lands ($$$) & Secularize church
*Gave fervor to counter-revolution
-Final Constitution
*King of the French - limited power
*745 representatives, indirect election, affluent population more control
*Active v passive citizens: Active = pay taxes that equal 3 days labor, elect electors (taxes equal 10 days) who get to vote for legislative reps
-Opposition
*Reforms the result of strong bourgeoisie class, did not appeal to other groups
*King Louis XVI attempts to flee France
*Threats from abroad: European monarchs feared example being set in France, threatened to intervene on behalf of royalists, France declared war on Austria
-Legislative Assembly begins meeting 1791 (new elected leaders, several from more radical groups)
-Sans-culottes capture king & legislative assembly & demand a vote to decide the future of government
French Revolution - Phase 3 (1792-1795) Radical Revolution
-National Convention began (estab. Republic) meeting to write another new constitution to respond to the more radical demands sweeping France (cities) BUT split into factions
-Girondins v Mountains (both Jacobins)
*Girondins: feared mobs; keep King alive
*Mountains: supported by Paris, cities; execute King
-King Louis XVI executed Jan 21, 1793 (guillotine)
-GB, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Dutch coalition against France → nation in arms, largest army in Europe:
*Conscription of army to fight against foreign invasion→ nationalism
-Committee on Public Safety & Reign of Terror
Maximilien Robespierre: Eliminate counter-revolutionaries, must protect the revolution
*16,000 people officially killed, 250,000 victims total
-Republic of Virtue: (political theory presented on February 5, 1794 by Maximilian Robespierre that advocated for use of terror if it was defending democracy)
*Women: removed from political influence during radical period
*de-Christianization: Notre Dame = Temple of Reason, created more enemies than friends; New calendar: not Catholic, new years & dates based on revolution–start Sept. 22, 1792
-Slavery: Eliminated in France in 1791, Colonies (west Indies) still had slavery
*Haitian Revolution, Toussaint L’Ouverture led slave uprising (1791) & revolution, 1801, success in 1804, first Latin American Revolution
French Revolution - 4th Phase - Directory (1795-1799)
-End of Committee on Public Safety : National Convention reduces their power
*Reign of Terror: too much bloodshed, Robespierre executed, 1794
* Attempted to centralize rule & bring revolution under control → Thermidorian Phase/Reaction; shut down more radical parts, allowed churches to reopen, etc. (Against radical stuff!)
-Fighting ongoing French Wars of Revolution: Focus on wars & attempts to fix economic issues (cut inflation)
-Establish Directory: New Government!!
*(NEW) Constitution of 1795
*Bicameral legislature = 2 houses of representatives –> Council of 500 (they initiate legislation, so bills etc) + Council of Elder (widowed or married, over 40 ) –> (they approved or rejected stuff) All these are voted for (any man 21 & older that pays some kind of tax can vote)
*Executive Committee of 5 appointed by legislature (like 5 presidents sort of, head decision makers of gov)
French Revolution - 4th Phase - Directory (1795-1799)
-Religion: Churches reopened for public worship, religious toleration
-Opposition from Paris put down by strong military:
*Paris = driving force/supporter of revolution (know what they want!) bc home of a lot of ppl and radicals! BUT under directory, Paris’s influence is avoided
*Showed that the Directory had to use military force for survival, DEPENDENT on military, Shut down attempts by Paris to impose wishes on govt
-Opposition : Royalists wanted a return to monarchy, Jacobin hopes for power–able to earn 2 seats on directory, led to even more confusion ; Politically divided, continued economic issues, rely even more on military
Napoleon
-Napoleon rose to rank of general in 1794 (glowing rep during rev. for leadership of french army in Italy –> so successful that directory send him to fight British & Egypt –> failed! B4 news spread, returned to France & led coup
-Domestic Reforms:
*Instituted Napoleonic code which reasserted 3 key principles = equity of all citizens (men), issued protections for wealth & private property, & introduced degree of religious tolerance
*Centralizing government & bureaucracy: implemented tenants of Napoleonic code, awarded offices on bases of merit (most qualified)
*Religious reform that came in Concordat of Bologna (1801): Napoleon rectified animosty of Catholicism & asserted French Catholic could worship freely
French Revolution - Napoleonic Phase (1799-1815)
Napoleonic France
-Napoleon leads Coup d’etat 1799
*New Constitution→ 3 consuls, but only needed decision of 1 “to suffice”, Napoleon was appointed First Consul in 1802
-1804: crowned Emperor of France, Napoleon I
*Brought stability to very chaotic France
-Extension or Limitation on ideas of Liberty
*Claimed to preserve liberty
*Catholicism restored, but power & authority of Pope limited, not state religion
*Centralized administration, systematic collection of taxes w/no exemptions (finally), new opportunities for social movement, equality under single law code –> Englightened idea!
-Growing Despotism (Government controls info out!)
*Censored press, desire for empire, super restrictive for women –> not enlightenened
-Continental System
*French Empire, dependent states, & allied states–attempted to use to weaken British, prevent goods from getting to England
*Brought Revolutionary/Enlightenment ideas to these areas
*Growing nationalism (citizen militia of Napoleon to beyond France)
