the french revolution part 2: robespierre to napoleon

7/23/2019 The French Revolution Part 2: Robespierre to Napoleon

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Robespierre“The Incorruptible”



Before we speak aboutRobespierre…

• Who were the Jacobins? – Most of the people involved in the governmental

changes in September 1!" were members of aradical political organi#ation$ the Jacobin %lub&

– 'ne of the most prominent Jacobins was Jean-PaulMarat&

– (e wrote a newspaper called L’Ami du Peuple )*riendof the +eople,&

– -n his .er/ editorial he called for death of those whocontinued to support the king& )We0re backtracking abit here& But Marat is important&,

– What happens to Marat?



What0s happening outside of *rance?

• he 2ational %onvention also had tocontend with the continuing war with3ustria and +russia& -n earl/ 1!4$

however$ 5reat Britain$ (olland$ and Spain 6oined 3ustria and +russia against *rance&

• -n *ebruar/ 1!4$ 477$777 *rench citi#ensbetween the ages of 18 and 97 aredrafted& he arm/ grew to 877$777 andincluded women&



Maximilien Robespierre

• :mbraced Rousseau0s idea of the generalwill as the source of all legitimate law&

• (e promoted religious toleration and

wanted to abolish slaver/&• (e is ;uoted in sa/ing$ <=ibert/ cannot be

secured unless criminals lose their heads&>

•

(e set out to build a <republic of virtue>b/ wiping out ever/ trace of *rance0s past&



%ra#/ %alendar %hanges

• *irm believers in reason$ the/ changedthe calendar$ dividing the /ear into 1"months of 47 da/s and renaming each

month& his calendar had no Sunda/sbecause the radicals considered religionto be oldfashioned and dangerous&

•

he/ even closed all churches in +aris$and cities and towns all over *rance soondid the/ same&



• -n Jul/ of 1!4$ Robespierre governed *rancevirtuall/ as a dictator and the period of his rule

became known as the Reign of Terror&

•

he %ommittee of +ublic Safet/0s chief task wasto protect the Revolution from its enemies&

• Robespierre 6usti.ed his use of terror b/suggesting that it enabled *rench citi#ens to

remain true to the ideals of the Revolution&• (e saw a connection between virtue and terror&



Reign of Terror

• Robespierre was one of the leaders ofthe Reign of error&

• <(ail the Republic@>

• <Aeath to the traitors@>

• 'ver 477$777 people were arrested

during the Reign of error&Seventeen thousand were eecutedvia guillotine&



• he enemies of the Revolution whotroubled Robespierre the most werefellow radicals who challenged his

leadership& -n 1!4 and 1!9$ man/of those who had led the Revolutionreceived death sentences& heir onl/

crime? Being less radical thanRobespierre&

• 1!9C 5eorges Aanton is eecuted&



• Some cra#/ eecution stories? 3n 18/ear old was sentenced to death forcutting down a tree that was planted

as a s/mbol of libert/& 3bout 8Dpercent of those eecuted werepeasants of the poor or middle class

Ethose for whose bene.t theRevolution had been launched&



:nd of the error

• -n Jul/ 1!9$ fearing for their ownsafet/$ some members of the2ational %onvention turned on

Robespierre& Auh& (ow is he killed?

• *rench public opinion shifteddramaticall/ after Robespierre0s

death& +eople of all classes hadgrown wear/ of the error&



• -n 1!D$ the moderate larders in the2ational %onvention drafted a newplan of government$ the third since

18!$&

• -t placed power in the hands of theupper middle class and called for a

twohouse legislature and aneecutive bod/ of .ve men known asthe Airector/&



• :ven so$ the/ gave their troubledcountr/ a period of order& he/ alsofound the right general to command

*rance0s armiesE2apoleonBonaparte&



Revolution BringsChange

• 2ationalismC a strong feeling of pride inand devotion to one0s countr/

• Revolutionaries pushed for social reform

and religious toleration& he/ set up stateschools to replace religious ones andorgani#ed s/stems to help the poor$ oldsoldiers$ and war widows&

• Slave revolt occurred in (aiti and thegovernment also abolished slaver/ in*rance0s %aribbean colonies&



TI!" # T$P%

• &RIT% $'(R 'BJ%CTI)% *!+%,,%!TI* .(%,TI'! /'R T'+*$0

• 'b1ective0 SWB3 understand2apoleon0s rise to power and wh/ the*rench supported him&

• %ssential .uestion0 (ow did 2apoleonrise to power? (ow was he able to keep it?



!apoleon Bonaparte



2apoleon *orges an :mpire

• M*I! I+%*C 2apoleon Bonaparte$ amilitar/ genius$ sei#ed power in*rance and made himself emperor&

• &$ IT M*TT%R, !'&C -n times ofpolitical turmoil$ militar/ dictatorsoften sei#e control of nations&



!apoleon ,ei2es Po3er

• 2apoleon Bonaparte was born in1F! on the Mediterranean island of%orsica& When he was nine /ears old$

his parents sent him to militar/school&

• When the Revolution broke out$

2apoleon 6oined the arm/ of the newgovernment&



%oup d0:tat

• B/ 1!!$ the Airector/ had lost control ofthe political situation and the con.denceof the *rench people&

• When 2apoleon returned from :g/pt$ hisfriends urged him to sei#e political power&

• 2apoleon took action in earl/ 2ovember

1!!& (is troops surrounded the nationallegislature and drove out most of itsmembers&



• he remaining members voted to dissolvethe Airector/&

• -n its place$ the/ established a group of

three consuls$ one of whom was 2apoleon&• (e ;uickl/ took the title of .rst consul and

assumed the powers of a dictator&

•

3 sudden sei#ure of power like 2apoleon0sis known as a coupEfrom the *renchphrase coup d0etat or <blow to the state&>



• 3t the time of 2apoleon0s coup$ *rance was still

at war& -n 1!! $Britain$ 3ustria$ and Russia 6oined forces with one goal in mind$ to drive2apoleon from power&

• 'nce again$ 2apoleon rode from +aris at the

head of his troops&• :ventuall/$ as a result of war and diplomac/$ all

three nations signed peace agreements with*rance&

• B/ 187"$ :urope was at peace for the .rst timein ten /ears&



• 2apoleon was free to focus hisenergies on restoring order in *rance&



2apoleon Rules *rance

• 3t .rst$ 2apoleon pretended to be aconstitutionall/ chosen leader of a freerepublic& -n 1877$ a plebiscite$ or vote of

the people$ was held to approve a newconstitution& Aesperate for strongleadership$ the people votedoverwhelmingl/ in favor of the

constitution&• his gave all real power to 2apoleon as

.rst consul&



• 2apoleon did not tr/ to return thenation to the da/s of =ouis GH-&-nstead$ he kept man/ of the changes

that had come with the Revolution&

• -n general$ he supported laws thatwould both strengthen the central

government and achieve some sort ofthe goals of the Revolution&



*irst ask of 2apoleon

• (e wanted to get the econom/ on a solidfooting& 2apoleon set up an eIcientmethod of ta collection and established a

national banking s/stem&• -n addition to ensuring the government a

stead/ suppl/ of ta mone/$ these actionspromoted sound .nancial management and

better control of the econom/&• 2apoleon also took steps to end corruption

and ineIcienc/ in government&



• 2apoleon also took steps to end corruption andineIcienc/ in government&

• (e dismissed corrupt oIcials and set up l/ceesEgovernment run public schools& he/ wereopen to male students of all backgrounds&

• 'ne area where 2apoleon disregarded changesintroduced b/ the Revolution was religion& Boththe clerg/ and man/ peasants wanted torestore the position of the %hurch in *rance&



• 2apoleon signed a concordat oragreement with +ope +ius H--& hisestablished a new relationship

between church and state&

• he government recogni#ed theinuence of the %hurch$ but re6ected%hurch control in national aKairs&



2apoleonic %ode

• 2apoleon thought his greatest work was hiscomprehensive s/stem of laws$ known as

!apoleonic Co4e5

•

his gave the countr/ a uniform set of laws andeliminated man/ in6ustices&

• (owever$ it actuall/ limited libert/ and promotedorder and authorit/ over individual rights& *or

eample$ freedom of speech and of the press$established during the Revolution$ wererestricted under the code& he code also restoredslaver/ in the *rench colonies of the %aribbean&



!apoleon Cro3ne4 as%mperor



2apoleon %reates an :mpire

• 2apoleon was not content simpl/ to bemaster of *rance& (e wanted to control therest of :urope and to reassert *rench power

in the 3mericas&• (e envisioned his western empire to include

=ouisiana$ *lorida$ *rench 5uiana$ and the*rench West -ndies&

• (e knew that the ke/ to this area was thesugarproducing colon/ of Saint Aomingue)3L3 (aiti, on the island of (ispaniola&



• -n 18!$ when the ideas of theRevolution reached the planters inSaint Aomingue$ the/ demanded that

the 2ational 3ssembl/ give them thesame privileges as the people of*rance&

• :ventuall/$ enslaved 3fricans in thecolon/ demanded their rights tooEinother words$ their freedom&



• 3 civil war erupted and enslaved3fricans under the leadership of oussaint =0'uverture sei#ed control of

the colon/&• -n 1871$ 2apoleon decided to take

back the colon/ but the *rench forces

were devastated b/ disease& Rebelsproved to be .erce .ghters&

• 2apoleon failed&



%utting (is =osses in the3mericas

• (e oKered to sell all of the =ouisiana erritor/ tothe nited States and in 1874$ +resident JeKerson0s administration agreed to purchasethe land for N1D million&

• 2apoleon saw a twofold bene.t to the sale& *irst$he would gain mone/ to .nance operations in:urope& Second$ he would punish the British&

• <he sale assures forever the power of thenited States$> he said$ <and - have given:ngland a rival who$ sooner or later$ will humbleher pride&>



%on;uering :urope

• (aving abandoned his imperial ambitions inthe 2ew World$ 2apoleon turned hisattention to :urope& (e alread/ had the

3ustrian 2etherlands and parts of -tal/& (ethen set up a puppet government inSwit#erland&

• 2ow he looked to epand further&

• he British were fearful of his ambitions andpersuaded Russia$ 3ustria$ and Sweden to 6oin them against *rance&



hink O /pe

• *ind a current map of *rance& 2owsearch for a map from 187D1814&(ow are the/ diKerent?

• =et0s take a virtual .eld trip@



o3 !apoleon "ept isPo3er

(e was a strong militar/ power$ thepeople liked that he kept winning&

When battles didn0t go so well$however$ 2apoleon had artists depictthose battles in a more positive light&



The Battle of Trafalgar

• -n his drive for a :uropean empire$2apoleon lost onl/ one ma6or battle$ theBattle of rafalgar&

•

his naval defeat$ however$ was moreimportant than all of his victories on land&

• he battle took place in 187D oK thesouthwest coast of Spain& he British

commander was a brilliant genius inwarfare at sea$ 6ust as 2apoleon wasbrilliant on land&



• he *rench eet was destro/ed&

• his was important for two reasonsC 1&-t ensured the supremac/ of the British

nav/ for the net 177 /ears& "& -tforced 2apoleon to give up his plans ofinvading Britain&

• 2apoleon0s etravagant eKorts tocrush Britain would eventuall/ lead tohis own undoing&



The /rench %mpire

• Auring the .rst decade of the 1877s$2apoleon0s victories had given him master/over most of :urope&

•

B/ 181"$ the onl/ areas of :urope free from2apoleon0s control were Britain$ +ortugal$Sweden$ and the 'ttoman :mpire&

• -n addition to the lands of the *rench :mpire$

2apoleon also controlled numeroussupposedl/ independent countries&



• hese included Spain$ the 5rand Auch/ ofWarsaw$ and a number of 5ermankingdoms in %entral :urope& he/ were all

puppets&• he *rench :mpire was huge but unstable&

2apoleon was able to maintain it at itsgreatest etent for onl/ .ve /earsEfrom

187 to 181"& hen it ;uickl/ fell topieces& -ts sudden collapse was caused inpart b/ 2apoleon0s actions…

2 l 0 : i



2apoleon0s :mpire%ollapses

• 2apoleon worried about what would happento his vast empire after his death& (e fearedit would fall apart unless he had an heir

whose right to succeed him was undisputed&• (is wife$ Josephine$ had failed to bear him a

child&

• (e therefore$ divorced her and formed an

alliance with the 3ustrian ro/al famil/ b/marr/ing Marie =ouise$ the grandniece ofMarie 3ntoinette&



• -n 1811$ Marie =ouise gave birth to ason$ 2apoleon --$ whom 2apoleonnamed king of Rome&



2apoleon0s %ostl/ Mistakes

• 2apoleon0s own personalit/ proved to bethe greatest danger to the future of hisempire&

• (is desire for power had raised him togreat heights$ and the same love ofpower led him to his doom&

• -n his eKorts to etend the *rench :mpireand crush 5reat Britain$ 2apoleon madethree disastrous mistakes&



M-S3L: P 1

• The Continental ,6stemC -n 2ovember187F$ 2apoleon set up a blockade toprevent all trade and communication

between 5reat Britain and other :uropeannations& (e intended to make :uropemore selfsuIcient and wanted to destro/5reat Britain0s commercial and industrial

econom/&• (is blockade wasn0t tight enough& +eople

de.ed this polic/



M-S3L: P"

• he +eninsular WarC -n 1878$ 2apoleon made asecond costl/ mistake& o force +ortugal to acceptthe %ontinental S/stem$ he sent an invasion forcethrough Spain&

• Spanish people protested this action&

• -n response$ 2apoleon removed the Spanish kingand put his brother$ Joseph$ on the throne&

• he Spanish worried he would hurt the %atholic

%hurch as the/ were super %atholic&

• his leads to guerrilla warfare&



M-S3L: P4

• he -nvasion of RussiaC 2apoleon0s .nalma6or mistake is the invasion of Russia& hiswas his most disastrous& he /ear? 181"&

•

3leander - had become 2apoleon0s all/ butthe Russian c#ar refused to stop selling grainto Britain during the blockade&

• -n addition$ the *rench and Russian rulers

suspected each other of having competingdesigns on +oland&



• Because of this breakdown in their alliance$ 2apoleon decidedto invade Russia& )%ould /ou imagine +utin during this?

Q-L:S&,

• -n June 181"$ 2apoleon and his 5rand 3rm/ of more than9"7$777 soldiers marched into Russia&

• 3s 2apoleon advanced$ 3leander pulled back his troops$refusing to be lured into an une;ual battle&

• 'n this retreat$ the Russians practiced a scorchedearthpolic/& his involved burning grain .elds and slaughteringlivestock so as to leave nothing for the enem/ to eat&

• 3s the snowsEand the temperaturesEbegan to fall in earl/

2ovember$ Russian raiders mercilessl/ attacked 2apoleon0sragged$ retreating arm/& Man/ soldiers were killed in theseclashes or died of their wounds&



• Still more dropped in their tracksfrom ehaustion$ hunger$ and cold&

• *inall/$ in the middle of Aecember$the last survivors straggled out ofRussia& he retreat from Moscow haddevastated the 5rand 3rm/Eonl/

17$777 were left to .ght&



2apoleon0s Aownfall

• 2apoleon0s enemies were ;uick to takeadvantage of his weakness&

• Britain$ Russia$ +russia$ and Sweden

6oined forces against him&

• 3ustria also declared war on 2apoleon$despite his marriage to Marie =ouise&

• 3ll of the main powers of :urope werenow at war with *rance&



2apoleon SuKers Aefeat

• -n onl/ a few months$ 2apoleon managedto raise another arm/& Most of his troopswere untrained and ill prepared for battle&

•(e faced the allied armies of the:uropean powers outside the 5erman/cit/ of =eip#ig in 'ctober 1814&

• he allied forces easil/ defeated hisineperienced arm/ and *rench resistancecrumbled ;uickl/&

! l 7 % i



!apoleon7s %mpireCollapses

• 2apoleon was defeated in the Battle of the2ations at =eip#ig in 1814& )Russia$ Britain$3ustria$ and +russia,

• B/ 1819$ the allied armies were pushing steadil/

toward +aris&

• 2apoleon wanted to .ght on$ but his generalsrefused&

• he net /ear$ 2apoleon stepped down frompower& (e was eiled from power&

• he/ then recogni#ed =ouis GH---$ brother of =ouisGH-$ as king of *rance&



he (undred Aa/s

• When =ouis GH--- took the throne$ he ;uickl/become unpopular among his sub6ects$especiall/ the peasants&

•

he/ suspected him of wanting to undo theRevolution0s land reforms&

• he news of =ouis0s troubles was all theincentive 2apoleon needed to tr/ to regain

power& (e escaped from :lba and on March1$ 181D$ landed in *rance&

• Jo/ous crowds welcomed him back&



• Within da/s$ 2apoleon was once again theemperor of *rance&

• -n response$ the allies ;uickl/ gathered their

armies& he British arm/$ led b/ Auke ofWellington$ prepared for battle near the

village of Waterloo in Belgium&

• 'n June 18$ 181D$ 2apoleon attacked&

• he British arm/ defended its ground all da/&• =ate in the afternoon$ the +russian arm/

arrived&



• ogether$ the British and +russian forcesattacked the *rench& wo da/s later$2apoleon0s ehausted troops gave wa/

and the British and +russian forces chasedthem from the .eld&

• his defeat ended 2apoleon0s last bid forpower called the (!+R%+ +*$,& aking

no chances this time$ the British shipped2apoleon to St& (elena$ a remote island inthe South 3tlantic&



• here$ he lived in a lonel/ eile for si/ears$ writing his memoirs& (e died in18"1 of stomach cancer&

• 2apoleon0s defeat opened the door forthe freed :uropean countries toestablish a new order&

The %n45

the french revolution part 2: robespierre to napoleon

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