Chapter 6 The French Revolution and Napoleon

General Causes  Large gap between the rich and the poor  Heavy tax burden on the Third Estate  Large number of poor and unemployed in the cities  Growth of a strong middle class (bourgeoisie)  Development of Enlightenment ideas  Weak leadership of Louis XVI  Lavish lifestyle of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette plus war debts had govt. deep in debt

Specific Events leading up to:  Louis XVI calls a meeting of the Estates General to raise money  Louis XVI sided with the first and second Estates to meet separately and each have one vote  Third Estate declares itself to be the National Assembly  Louis XVI orders Swiss mercenaries to march toward Paris  Storming of the Bastille. Free prisoners, amunitions

Phases of the Revolution  I Establishment of a Constitutional Monarchy  II Jacobin revolt and establish a Republic  III Reign of Terror  IV Establishment of the Conservative Directory  V Age of Napoleon

Phase I  Louis XVI orders all three estates to negotiate together in the National Assembly  Marquis de Lafayette heads a national guard  The “Great Fear” - Mob violence and threat of anarchy encourages clergy and nobility to follow significant reforms of Third Estate (National Assembly)  The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen  Step towards a constitutional monarchy and natural rights for all citizens

Phase I Continued  Many unhappy with the Constitution  Too far or not far enough  radicals (sans-culottes) wanted true republic  Royal family moved to Paris (held hostage)  French Catholic Church placed under state control  Failed escape and outside monarchs threaten to intervene  National Assembly declares war on Austria  French rally around threat and revolution cry:  Liberty, Equality, Fraternity  Jacobins - radicals in the National Assembly

Phase II  Because of the war the Jacobins were able to seize control of the assembly and remove the King from office  Jacobins kill counter-revolutionaries  Radicals call the National Convention to rewrite the Constitution  National Convention abolishes monarchy and declares France a Republic  National Convention convicts Louis XVI of treason and executes him in 1793

Phase III  The First Coalition – European alliance against France  Counter-Revolutionaries plot against the National Convention  National Convention forms the Committee of Public Safety  Deals with threats led by Maxmilian Robespierre  Reign of Terror (within)  Mass Mobilization (without)

Phase III Continued  Fall of Robespierre and Committee of Public Safety  Want an end to fears and bloodshed  Jacobins lose control and Reign of Terror comes to an end  Members of the wealthier bourgeoisie take control of the National Convention

Phase IV  The Convention puts into effect a third Constitution  Middle and upper class control  Voters selects electors who select the legislative assembly who selects the Directory  Directory – 5 man executive body  Faces growing discontent  Revival of the royalist  Emergence of Napoleon

Age of Napoleon  Napoleon Bonaparte starts his rise to power as a young officer  By 1804, he is the emperor of France  At each step on his rise to power he held a plebiscite (people voted him in to absolute power)

Napoleon’s Achievements  Made the central government stronger  All classes supported his economic and social reforms  Napoleonic Code - Enlightenment principles  Equality and religious tolerance  creates a vast French empire

Questionable Decisions  Continental System - closed European ports to British goods  1812 invasion of Russia  Scorched-earth policy left the French without food and shelter through the Russian winter

A Damaged Napoleon  1813 defeated at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig  Exiled to Elba, escapes the Island and returns for 100 days  British and Prussian forces crush the French at the Battle of Waterloo (1815)  Exiled to St. Helena  Revolutionary Hero or Traitor?  Congress of Vienna restores order in Europe