Bnvv

1. THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
1789-1815

2. What circumstances can lead to a
REVOLUTION?
Think back . . . See what you can remember
from 8th Grade U.S. History . . .
AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1775-1781)
• War broke out between the 13 colonies
and the British Gov’t
• Reasons: British wanted to control
colonial trade and manufacturing as well
to increase taxes
• Colonists felt their British rights were
being abused by the king

3. The Outbreak of the Revolution
What problems did France face in the late
1700’s?
1st: American Revolutionaries freed
themselves from British rule, yet they
kept many British ways of gov’t
2nd: In France, the revolutionaries wanted
to create a new French society
. . . so, widespread unhappiness w/the old
regime produced a revolution that
shook the continent
def: old regime: the French political &
social system in the years before 1789

4. What was the social structure
of the Old Regime?
The Old Regime: the Three Estates
. . . Since the middle ages, everyone in
France belonged to one of the three
social class

5. 1. FIRST ESTATE -- Clergy
* enjoyed enormous wealth & privileges
* paid NO taxes to the state**
* owned about 10% of land
* included bishops
2. SECOND ESTATE – Nobility
* paid almost no taxes
*held highest offices in gov’t
* received generous gifts from the king
*owned about ¼ of land (France)
* jealous of king’s power
*feared to lose privileges (tax)
included only
about 2% of
total
population of
24 mill.

6. 3. THIRD ESTATE – everyone else
Bourgeoisie (middle class: merchants,
lawyers, doctors, intellectuals, gov’t
bureaucrats)
* peasants, city workers, middle class
* peasants were the largest group;
struggled to make a living
* most owned no land
* worked as day laborers
9 out of 10
people were
peasants

8. Why did peasants live in poverty?
1. old fashion ways of farming
2. taxation
paid to who?
church and king
. . . Sometimes taxes took more
than half of a peasant’s family
income
from land
to soap to
salt

9. IF YOU ADD ‘EM UP ALL TOGETHER:
By 1789, France faced several crises:
- Peasants were hungry; they wanted a
fairer tax system
- 1788 bad harvest followed by bad winter
food prices rise, people are starving
- ENLIGHTENMENT ideas led people to
question the old regime
WHY should the first two estates have privileges
at the expense of the majority?
. . . it just didn’t meet the test of reason!
EVERYWHERE, THEY CALLED FOR THE
PRIVILEGED CLASSES TO PAY THEIR
SHARE!!

10. 1789 – France faced several crises:
-- cause: deficit spending (gov’t spending
more $ than it takes in )
Why?
* Seven Yrs. War
* Am. Revolution
. . . So how are they going to solve the
problem?
by INCREASING TAXES
Nobles & clergy resisted any attempt to end
their exemption from taxes.
left country in debt

11. . . . looking back – 1788
What just went on in 1788?
* bad harvest, prices increased
* high unemployment
* people are hungry, they’re rioting for food
* widespread famine, malnutrition, disease,
death
* Rise of Enlightenment ideals
Louis XVI (1774) did little to make gov’t work
better

12. * Peasants (3rd Estate) cannot pay taxes
* No other choice but to tax the nobles.
This financial crisis touched off the
FRENCH REVOLUTION IN 1789
def: the rebellion of the French people
beginning in 1789 against the monarchy
and the old regime structure
3rd Estate v. 1st & 2nd Estates
Bourgeoisie v. Nobles/Clergy

13. How did the people of France push for reforms?
Crisis and Revolt:
* Nobles refused to be taxed
* Louis XVI calls on a meeting of the Estates
General (an assembly for all France) to talk about
the approval of a plan to tax the 1st & 2nd Estates
* So they met and they couldn’t decide
* The 3rd Estate’s delegates were mostly from
the Bourgeoisie and wanted the 3 estates to
meet w/each delegate having one vote.
* Since about ½ of the 1,200 delegates were from
the 3rd estate there would be a better chance of
reform

14. The National Assembly – the 3rd estates
delegates decided to force the estates to
meet as one body
--- saying they represented the people of
France
June 17, 1789 – the 3rd estate declared
themselves a National Assembly and
invited the other estates to join them.
• Against the king, they ALL joined together
and demanded a constitution for France
and swore not to leave until they achieved
this goal
• They chose the delegates.

15. Tennis Court Oath
• They took an oath, vowing not to disband
until they had drawn up a constitution
for France.
• Louis had no choice – he had to accept it!
• Troops gathered outside Versailles
--Rumor: King wanted to dissolve the
assembly
. . . CRISIS DEEPENED

16. Storming of the Bastille
** July 14, 1789: tired of the oppressive
brutality of the French monarchy, an angry
mob captured the Bastille (prison for
political prisoners)

17. * They searched for guns/gunpowder
* Guards opened fire – 100 shot dead
* King is frightened, troops are ordered
out
People of Paris won!!
July 14, Bastille Day!
. . . After this, all sorts of rumors spread out
* nobles v. peasants and troops v. peasants
Peasants violently revolted– attacked noble
homes, burned manor records

18. Declaration of Rights of Man & Citizen
• nobles in danger because of peasant
uprisings; large #s fled to other parts of
Europe becoming émigrés (nobles who fled
France); Old regime was coming to an end;
No more tax collection from
Church/nobles; all gov’t positions open
regardless of birth
Aug 27 – Declaration of Rights of Man &
Citizen: (gov’t belonged to the people as a
whole; aim: gov’t was to preserve the
“natural rights” of liberty/equality; but no
political rights for women)
** Enlight. ideas created limited monarchy

19. How did the French Revolution move into
a more extreme phase?
radicals: people favoring drastic change
* Jacobins: radical political club
* Maximilien Robespierre (Jacobin member)
News about Fr.Rev. spread across Europe
- Europeans feared that these ideas would
spread to their countries
- In 1792, France declared war on Austria,
Prussia, Britain; it lasted 20 yrs.

20. Extreme Phase
-- French Revolution moved into a
radical stage willing to take drastic
actions against all enemies
**Louis and Antoinette are beheaded for
treason

21. Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror: a period when brutal
measures were used to eliminate enemies
and critics of the revolutionary republic
set up in France
They arrested girondins, clergy,
aristocrats, common people – anyone
who disagreed w/Jacobins

23. Why?
To silence the critics
1793-94: 16,000 were killed on the
guillotine; 20,000 were found guilty
RESULTS:
• End to the Old Regime
• Bourgeoisie dominates gov’t
• Promoted spirit of nationalism

30. End of Terror
1794 – Robespierre is guillotined; b/c he
was becoming very powerful and people
thought he was becoming obsessed w/
ridding France of all corruption and
people feared him
After his death, revolutionary fervor
began to cool; Jacobins lost power;
Moderate middle class came to power

31. 1795 -- A new government was drafted, 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
The Directory also found the right general
to command France’s army –supremely
talented and young – Napoleon
Bonaparte

32. Rise of Napoleon
• Le petit Corporal
• ambitious; overextended his power
• Greatest military genius of his time
• Perhaps the greatest general in history
•1793 – he joined the French
Revolutionary forces and showed great
talent/leadership
•Wanted to rule all of France

33. • The Terror is over; Churches open for
worship; New constitution is created
(Council of Elders accept/reject laws); It is
a weak gov’t; was corrupt, couldn’t find
solutions for France’s problems; ruled by
legislature (1795-1799)
• 1799 – A coup d´état (blow of state), led by
Napoleon, overthrows the Directory to
establish his consulate
• 1800 – a new constitution gave all real
power to Napoleon; was made consul for
life (held absolute power, even though it
was a republic)

34. 1804 – he crowned himself emperor

35. What does he do for France?
1. He set up an efficient tax collection
system
2. Fired corrupt officials, he trained new
officials
3. Set up government-run public schools,
even for ordinary citizens
4.New relationship between church and
state
5. Set up a new comprehensive system of
laws – Napoleonic Code

36. Napoleonic Code
• Most important: CIVIL CODE: all French
men were treated as equals regardless of
birth or wealth
• class privileges were abolished
• Freedom of religion
• woman could acquire property only
w/her husband’s written consent
• supported education (set up public
schools)
• reflected the ideals of the Enlightenment

37. Napoleon creates an Empire
• 1810 –he annexed Holland, Austria,
Netherlands, parts of Italy and France,
and much of Germany
• Built largest Empire since the Romans
How did he do it?
* He was ambitious; overextended his power;
was power hungry conqueror; won
confidence of his men w/his energy, charm,
ability to make quick decisions, keen
intelligence, ease w/words, supreme
confidence in himself; he wanted Europe to
be united under a liberal gov’t & he did this
by concentrating power in his own hands

38. 1812 – his victories had given him
mastery of over most of Europe,
except:
* Britain
* Ottoman Empire
* Portugal
* Sweden

39. Napoleon’s Empire Collapses
Napoleon’s three costly mistakes:
1. Continental System:
he orders a blockade to destroy
Britain’s commercial and industrial
economy
2. Peninsular War:
he sends his army to attack Portugal
through Spain because Portugal did
not follow the Continental System

40. 3. Invasion of Russia in 1812 (thirst for
power, most disastrous mistake!!!):
Why?
Alexander I refuses to stop selling grain
to Britain and both France and Russia
want Poland
• June– He marches into Russia
What was Napoleon’s greatest enemy in
his war against Russia?
• Sept – he lost about 60,000 men so they
retreat, Russia used their scorched-earth
policy, temperatures of -15, -35

42. • December – winter and starvation kills most
of his army
he began with 422,000 men and ended
with 10,000

43. Fall of Napoleon
• 1814 – he is exiled to Elba, but
escapes in March 1815
• 1815 - Final defeat: led by the British
Duke of Wellington, Napoleon is
defeated at Battle of Waterloo; he is
exiled to St. Helena where he dies
alone in 1821 (he was 51; a remote
island in South Atlantic)
Reasons for fall:
* Survival of Great Britain; force of
nationalism (deep devotion to one’s
country)

44. “ Such work as mine is not done twice in
a century . . . I have saved the
Revolution as it lay dying. I have
cleansed it of its crimes, and have held
it up to the people shining with fame.
I have inspired France and Europe
with new ideas that will never be
forgotten.”
Napoleon, quoted in
Napoleon at St. Helena