The French Revolution & Napoleon, 1789-1815

“I object to violence because when it

appears to do good, the good is only temporary;

the evil it does is permanent.” Mahatma

Gandhi

What famous people have said about violence…

“Democracy don’t rule the world, You’d better get that in your head; This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that’s better left unsaid.”—Bob Dylan

“Violence isn’t always evil. What’s evil is the infatuation with violence.”—Jim Morrison

“There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.”—Napoleon Bonaparte

Think, share, respond, & debate

Would you join the mob??

Turn to page 192

The Climate in France

Absolute rulers dominated Europe--Enlightenment thinkers began questioning why so few held so much power. The French Revolution was an

attempt to put power in the hands of the many.

In the 1700s France was considered the most advanced country of Europe. As the center of the enlightenment, France’s culture was widely praised and

emulated by the rest of the world.

The appearance of success was deceiving. There was great unrest in France.

The success of the American Revolution inspired the French, some of whom even participated in it. The French people were deeply affected by

the colonists’ overthrow of the British. 

In the 1770s, the system of feudalism left over from the Middle Ages—called the Old Regime—remained in place, dividing the people of France

into three large social classes, or Estates.

The Old Regime: A system of feudal class

Step 1:Work with your partner to create a graphic organizer that reflects The Old Regime

Step 2: How is this different from the political cartoon on page 194?

What does this political cartoon foreshadow about the Old Regime & the French Revolution?

Graphic Organizers\old regime graphic organizer.docx

Forces of change in FranceGrowing resentment of the

lower classesEnlightenment ideas

The success of the American Revolution

Failing EconomyA Weak Leader

Economic Woes

In this cartoon, Louis is looking at the chests and asks "where is the tax money?“

The financial minister, answers: “The money was there last time I looked.”

While the King and Queen of France lived in luxury and splendor at the magnificent Palace of Versailles, the government of France, was bankrupt and facing a serious financial crisis.

Burden of taxes, crop failures, severe shortages people face starvation, national debt rises while King Louis XVI takes part in extravagant spending

A Weak Leader Louis XVI = indecisive & paid little attention to

government advisors

King’s wife, Marie Antoinette= member of the royal family of Austria. As France’s long-time

enemy, she became unpopular.

Rather than cutting expenses and increasing taxes, Louis put off dealing with the emergency

until France faced bankruptcy.

Then Louis decided to tax the aristocrats.

The Second Estate responded by forcing Louis to call a meeting of the Estates-General, an assembly

of representatives from all three estates. It was the first meeting in 175 years.

The Palace of Versailles

Did living at Versailles make it harder for Louis XVI to be a good King?

History through Art

A Woman of the Revolution (1795), Jacques Louis David

Complete the questions on your handout

Be honest and use your imagination!Activities\History through Art Activity.doc

Connect to Today—The Gap Between Rich and Poor

Look for magazine images of homeless people, victims of floods or tornadoes, richly dressed people in elegant homes

etc.

Make a collage with your group which demonstrates the gap between rich and poor that exists in our society today.

On the back, reflect on this gap:

-how do you feel about the gap between rich and poor that exists?

-should we try to decrease this gap?

The Revolution DawnsThird Estate delegates in

the Estates-General demand more rights.

In the first deliberate act of revolution, the Third Estate delegates vote to establish the National Assembly, a

body that would pass laws and reforms in the name of

the French people.

Create a Story MapFollow the directions on the Story Map worksheet

..\story map.pdfThe setting/time/place :A meeting of the Estates-

General, May 1789 at VersaillesShould end with : Tennis Court Oath

*

Troops & RumorsIn response to the Tennis Court Oath, Louis tried to make piece with the 3rd Estate by yielding to the National Assembly’s demands. What was the National Assembly?

Louis ordered the nobles and clergy to join the Third Estate in the National Assembly.

Louis stationed Swiss guards in Paris since he no longer trusted the royalty of the French soldiers.How did the French people respond to this?

Rumors flew that foreign troops were coming to massacre French citizens. People gathered weapons in order to defend Paris against the king’s foreign troops.

Fall of the Bastille

On July 14th, a mob tried to get gunpowder from the Bastille, a Paris prison.

The Bastille fell into the control of the citizens. This effectively starts the Revolution (1789).

The fall of the Bastille became a great symbolic act of revolution to the French people.

Is this similar to any U.S. holiday?

A Great Fear Sweeps

Across France…

Rebellion spread from Paris into the countryside, as rumors spread that the nobles were hiring outlaws to terrorize the peasants.

The Great Fear rolled through France with a senseless panic.

When the peasants met no enemy bandits, they became outlaws themselves.

What did the peasants do?

The Women’s March

They triumphantly returned with flour and the entire royal family.

6,000 Parisian women rioted over the rising price of bread and marched to Versailles.

They broke into Versailles, killed 2 guards, and demanded that Louis and Marie Antoinette come to Paris.

Page 196-Daily Life Read

Opinions…

Do you think that Revolution was inevitable? (3-5 sentences)

Think about Louis VXI, the national debt, Enlightenment ideas, other world revolutions

Also, think about whether or not you think violence is necessary.

Class Vote

The Old Regime Dies!Fear motivates the nobles and

clergymen to put an end to the Old Regime.

Feudal privileges are swept away & male commoners are made equal

to nobles and clergy.

The National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of

Man, influenced by Enlightenment ideas and the Declaration of

Independence.

Olympe questions.docx

A State -Controlled Church

The National Assembly took over church lands and declared that church officials and priests were to be elected by property owners and paid as state officials.

Delegates were willing to sell church lands to help pay off France’s large debt.

What kind of reaction did this meet?

oAngered devout peasantsoDrove a wedge between peasants and the bourgeoisie oPeasants often opposed further revolutionary changes

Meanwhile…Louis tries to escape!

Louis tries to take his family to the Austrian Netherlands A postmaster recognizes his face and he is sent back under

military guard Imagine President Obama doing something like this…

Louis returns to Paris after his failed escape.

A Limited Monarchy

Louis is still King, but his power is limited. The power is really in the hands of the legislative assembly,

who create laws and approve or prevent war.

Conflicting goals for the revolution causes splits in the assembly (radicals, moderates, conservatives,

émigrés, sans culottes).

Class analogyCurrent US factions

War and Extreme Measures

Austria and Prussia want to preserve monarchy. They insist that the French put Louis back in charge.

Legislative assembly declared war on Austria (Prussia joins in later).

•Prussian commander threatened to destroy Paris if the revolutionaries harmed any member of the royal family.

•Outraged, Parisians invade the Tuileries, the royal palace where Louis and his family were staying. The mob brutally massacred the Swiss guard stationed there and imprisoned Louis, Marie Antoinette, and their children.

As bands of French volunteers get ready to go and fight, rumors flew around Paris that royalist prisoners were planning to take over in their absence Parisians raid the prisons and kill thousands of prisoners (the September massacres)

A New Government•Legislative Assembly gave up the idea of a limited monarchy.

•Constitution of 1791 set aside, declared the king deposed, and

dissolved their assembly, calling for the election of a new legislature.

•The new government called itself the National Convention.

Mobs on the streets have more power than any government assembly. Although made up of the poor, the leaders came from the bourgeoisie.

The middle class join political clubs like the radical Jacobin Club. Their goal was to remove the king and establish a republic.

National convention abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic.

Radicals Execute the King

•National Convention reduces Louis XVI’s role from that of a king to that of a common citizen and prisoner.

•Guided by Jacobins, the Convention tried Louis for treason

and found him guilty.

• Louis is beheaded by the guillotine.

Earlier Forms of Punishment Stations **

The Terror Grips France

Maximilien Robespierre assumed control after the King’s execution.

He set out to build a “republic of virtue”. Tried to wipe out all traces of monarchy and nobility.

During the summer of 1793, Robespierre became the leader of the Committee of Public Safety. He decided who should be considered

enemies of the republic.

For an entire year, Robespierre led as a dictator and had people deemed enemies and killed.

Marie Antoinette was the most famous victim.

3,000 people executed, about 40,000 all together—85% of which were peasants or commoners.

A Voice from the Past Robespierre justified the Reign of Terror by suggesting that it enabled French citizens to remain true to the ideals of the Revolution.

Activities\Robespierre Reading Activity.docx

The End of the Terror• During the terror, thousands were sent to death on the

flimsiest of charges. Example-a tavern keeper was executed because he sold sour wine to the defenders of the country.

•The National Convention knew that none of them were safe from Robespierre. To save themselves, they turned on him,

demanded his arrest, and beheaded him.

• The Reign of Terror, the radical phase of the French Revolution, was over when Robespierre lost his head, July

28, 1794.

A New Government

• French public opinion shifted dramatically to the right after Robespierre’s death. People of all classes had grown weary of the Terror.

• Moderate leaders in the National Convention drafted a new plan of government.

• The third since 1789, the new constitution placed power firmly in the hands

of the upper middle class and called for a two-house legislature and an executive body of five men, known as the Directory.

• These directors were moderates, not revolutionary idealists.• Despite their corruption, they gave their troubled country a period of order.

The Directory chose Napoleon Bonaparte as the general for France’s armies. ***

The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815)

•European heads of government were looking to establish long-lasting peace and stability on the continent after the defeat of Napoleon.

• Their goal was collective security and stability

• A series of meetings in Vienna, known as the Congress of Vienna, were called to set up policies to achieve this goal

Main players: Prussia, Russia, Austria, Britain, France

Most influential figure was the foreign minister of Austria, Prince Klemens von Metternich, who distrusted the democratic ideals of

the French Revolution.

He felt that Napoleon’s expansionist dictatorship had been a natural outcome of experiments with democracy

Why would aristocrats be against democracy?

Goals of Metternich To prevent future French aggression by surrounding France with strong

countries To restore a balance of power so that no country would be a threat to

others To restore Europe’s royal families to the thrones they had held before

Napoleon’s conquests

Metternich remarked, “The first and greatest concern for the immense majority of every nation is the stability of laws—never their change.”

The Containment of France

The Congress made the weaker countries around France stronger:

Austrian Netherlands and Dutch Republic united to form the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Group of 39 German states were joined as the German Confederation, dominated by Austria

Switzerland became an independent nation

Kingdom of Sardinia in Italy was strengthened by the addition of Genoa

Allowed the countries of Europe to contain France and prevent it from overpowering weaker nations.

Balance of Power

The victorious powers were easy on the defeated nation.

The French were required to give up the territories Napoleon had taken, but France remained intact.

This was done so that there was a balance of power in Europe; no country could easily overpower another.

Would you have done the same if you were one of the influential players at the Congress?

Legitimacy

The great powers affirmed the principle of legitimacy—agreeing that as many as possible of the rulers whom Napoleon had driven

from their thrones should be restored to power.

The participants in the Congress of Vienna believed that the return of the former monarchs would stabilize political relations among the

nations.

King Louis XVIII returns to power in France and rules in a constitutional monarchy.

How successful was the French Revolution?

Congress of Vienna: A

Political Triumph

Settlements were fair so that no country would be left bearing a grudge.

For the first time, nations of an entire continent were cooperating to control political affairs.

Congress created a time of peace in Europe. None of the five great powers waged war on one another

until 1853.

Congress of Vienna Invitation Activity

Conservative Europe

The Congress was a victory for Conservatives, who wanted the political situation to return to what it had been before the French

Revolution.

Kings and princes were restored in country after country. They were jittery about the legacy of the French Revolution, especially

the threatening ideals of liberty and equality. Page 214.

A series of alliances, called the Concert of Europe, allows nations to help one another in case of internal revolutions.

Long-Term Legacy•Rulers could not contain the ideas that had emerged during

the French Revolution.•Although the revolution failed democratic experiment, it had

set new political ideas in motion.• Ideas about power and authority had changed permanently

as a result of the French Revolution.