chapter 16 beneath the exterior of leading european power, discontent was growing within french...

Chapter 16

• Beneath the exterior of leading European power, discontent was growing within French society among the aristocracy and the middle class, both of which wanted more rights and political power, and a long-suffering peasantry.

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“A Great Ferment:” Trouble Brewing in France

• The Financial Crisis Weakens the Monarchy– The Taxation System

• France lacked an adequate banking system

– Reform Efforts• Louis XVI appointed Jacques Turgot as his minister of

finance in 1774• He was dismissed and his reform measures were rescinded

• The Underlying Causes of the Revolution– Revolt of the Nobility

• The nobility was the monarchy’s chief rival for power

– Middle Class Demands


– Enlightenment Ideas and Language• Salon meetings and new publications spread key ideas of the

Enlightenment• Nobles often used language and ideas that attacked

monarchical absolutists– Disappointed Expectations

• In 1788 the countryside suffered unusually bad harvests, and in May and July hailstorms wiped out crops throughout France, then the price of bread soared.

– Demands for Political Participation• In Poland, independence from Russia influence surfaced

between 1772 and 1792• American Revolution• The Dutch Republic erupted into open revolt in 1787, and the

Austrian Netherlands elites rose against reforms by Joseph II


– Unpopular Kings• Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI had no alliance with the

nobility, nor did they succeed being “enlightened” monarchs

• The “Tennis Court Oath”– The Estates General

• Louis XVI summoned the Estates General in 1788, and the delegates met in Versailles on May 5

• The first estate; the clergy, the second estate; the nobility, the third estate; commoners

• All men age 25 who paid taxes could vote

– The National Assembly• The third estate took action and declared itself the National

Assembly of France on June 17


• Storming the Bastille– Peasant Revolts

• July and August, peasants throughout France revolted against their lords

– The “Great Fear”• Many nobles fled France and became known as the emigres

• The End of the Old Order– Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen

• On August 26, the Assembly proclaimed the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen

– March to Versailles• Parisian women infuriated by high bread prices and food

shortages, marched to Versailles, surrounded the palace, and forced the king back to Paris

Chapter 16

• When the old regime fell, the French National Assembly, guided by Enlightenment principles, created a new central government and enacted widespread reforms.

The Constitutional Monarchy: Establishing a New Order

– Liberty, Equality, Fraternity• Liberty meant freedom from arbitrary authority and freedom of

speech, press, conscience, assembly, and profession• Equality meant equal treatment under the law and equality of

economic opportunity• Fraternity meant comradeship as citizens of the nations

– Constitutional Monarchy• The National Assembly served as legislature, and the king its

chief executive officer

– Civil Constitution of the Clergy• The Assembly dissolved all convents and monasteries and

people would elect the clergy and the state would pay their salaries

The Constitutional Monarchy: Establishing a New Order

• The King Discredited– Flight of the Royal Family

• On June 20, 1791, the royal family escaped from Paris and headed by coach to France’s northeastern frontier.

• Officials arrested the royal family and returned them to Paris

• Reactions Outside France• Edmund Burke – Reflections on the Revolution in

France (1790)

Chapter 16

• Although the bourgeoisie and peasantry had gained much from the revolution, the urban populace, or sans-culottes, pushed for a more radical turn in the revolution under the leadership of the Jacobins.

To the Radical Republic and Back

– Sans-Culottes• The most politically active came to be known as the sans-

culottes because they wore long pants

– The Jacobin Club• Formed to debate and plan political matters• Most important political organization

• War and the Breakdown of Order– Panic and Massacre

• Frightened and enraged people began murdering members of the nonjuring clergy and nobles held in the prisons of Paris

– National Convention• Republicans won a sweeping victory


• Radical Republicans Struggle for Power– Girondins and Jacobins

• The Girondins had come to be known as “the Left”• Jacobins came to be called “the Mountain”

– The Republic• On September 22, 1792, the National Convention declared

France a republic– Execution of the King– Internal and External Enemies

• Britain, the Dutch Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, and Naples joined Austria and Prussia against France

• The peasants of the Vendee region in western France rebelled against the republican government


• The Terror– Committee of Public Safety

• Two main tasks: to secure the Republic against its enemies, and to carry out a radical republican program

– Reign of Terror• To protect the Republic from its internal enemies and to

satisfy demands from the sans-culottes for immediate action, the Committee of Public Safety instituted a Reign of Terror.

– Levee en masse• General call-up of all men, women, and children to serve the

nation


• The Republic of Virtue– Attacking the Catholic Church

• Represented the worst of the Old Regime, the Catholic Church

• Angry radicals disfigured religious statues– Family Life and Education

• The National Convention took the rules governing family life and education away from the church and placed them in state hands

– Revolutionary Symbols• The figure of Liberty replaced royal symbols on everything

from coins and statues to plates and posters• Officials promoted festivals that featured revolutionary

symbols


• The Revolution Spreads Outside of France– Sister Republics

• Holland, Switzerland, and Italy

– Outside Opinion• Many intellectuals and liberal political groups continued to

uphold the ideals of the Revolution, until 1793 when the Revolution took a more Radical Turn

– Uprisings• Ireland• The Caribbean slaves in St. Domingue revolted

• Resistance to the Republic Rises

Chapter 16

– Thermidorian Reaction• On July 27, 1794 the Convention overthrew Robespierre

• Reaction: The “White” Terror and the Directory

• This ambitious and skilled military officer utilized the opportunities opened by the revolution to become emperor of France and spread French and spread French revolutionary ideals throughout the world.

Napoleon Bonaparte

• Napoleon’s Rise to Power– Italian Campaign

• Napoleon used his growing prominence to secure command of the French army

• Napoleon’s successes in Italy established his reputation as a brilliant military leader and able statesman

– Expedition to Egypt• The expedition failed, Admiral Nelson destroyed the French

fleet at the Battle of the Nile on August 1, 1798

– Coup d’etat• Abbe Sieyes conspired with him to overthrow the Directory

on November 9, 1799

Napoleon Bonaparte

• Napoleon Consolidates Control– First Consul

• Napoleon named himself “first consul” and assumed the powers necessary to rule

– The Concordat• Declared the Catholic religion the religion of the majority of

the French people, but ensured freedom for Protestants

• Reforming France– Napoleonic Code

• Affirmed the Enlightenment-inspired legal reforms that the early French revolutionaries had sought

Napoleon Bonaparte

– Finance and Education• Napoleon established the Bank of France to handle

governmental funds and issue money• He created a long-lasting system of secondary schools tied

to the University of France, and actively supported scientific research

• Creating the Empire– Emperor Napoleon

• Napoleon formally established France as an empire and then crowned himself emperor

– Need for Conquests

• War and Conquest

Napoleon Bonaparte

– Battle of Trafalgar• Nelson annihilated the combined French and Spanish fleets

off Cape Trafalgar

– Military Strengths• His success stemmed from his independent units that could

move quickly and then join in a mass attack

– The Continental System• Preventing the importation of British goods into continental

Europe

– The New European Order

• The Impact Overseas

Napoleon Bonaparte

– Revolt in Latin America• By 1810, many Spanish colonists were in revolt

– England’s Overseas Expansion• Sea power enabled it to capture and take over French and

Dutch colonies in Africa, Asia, and America

– Adopting the Napoleonic Code• Some of the ideals of the Enlightenment and the French

Revolution would be translated to many areas around the globe

• Decline and Fall– Flawed Policies

• The Continental System was not working well enough

Napoleon Bonaparte

– Growing Resistance• On May 3, 1808 unwilling subjects rose up against

Joseph Bonaparte

– Overextension• Napoleon overextended his imperial reach

– Invasion of Russia• Napoleon decided to invade Russia• The French army may have won the battle, but it

failed to destroy Russia’s forces• Of the original 600,000 who marched into Russia,

fewer than 100,000 struggled home

Napoleon Bonaparte

– Defeat at Leipzig• At Leipzig in October 1813, allied armies defeated

Napoleon• Napoleon escaped back to France

– Waterloo• Napoleon escaped back to France• He was defeated in June 1815 by British and

Prussian forces at Waterloo

chapter 16 beneath the exterior of leading european power, discontent was growing within french...

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