The French Revolution… and Napoleon

The Old Regime  First Estate  Clergy and the Church  Less than 1%  Second Estate  Nobility  Less than 2%  Third Estate  Everyone else in France  … 97% “What is the Third Estate”

First Estate  Church owned 15% of land in France  Collected massive amounts of taxes  But they didn’t have to pay taxes

Second Estate  Held the highest positions in government and army  Rarely paid any taxes

Third Estate  Bourgeoisie  Merchants, manufacturers, doctors, lawyers  Working Class  Artisans, city workers  Peasants  Forced to pay heavy amounts of taxes not paid by the First or Second Estate

Growing Discontent  Population Growth  Needs increase  Economic conditions  Peasants forced to pay higher taxes  Food prices increase  Wages remain the same

Growing Discontent  Bourgeoisie prospered through 1700s  Wanted better positions  Merchants and manufacturers resented paying taxes  Clergy and nobility didn’t have to pay taxes  What do they have in common  THEY ALL SHARE DISCONTENT FOR THE SYSTEM!!!  They start calling for liberty and equality

Financial Crisis  Louis XIV  Debt from wars and Versailles  Louis XVI  Debt from American Revolution  Tried to raise taxes of First and Second Estate… DENIED

Palace of Versailles

Meeting of the Estates General (1789)… first since 1614  Louis XVI called for the meeting to have all three Estates agree on new taxes  Louis XVI wanted them to meet separately with each Estate receiving one vote  Third Estate refused, broke off and created the National Assembly  Tennis Court Oath  Need new constitution  Marks the TRUE beginning of the Revolution

Spread of the Revolution  Louis XVI feels threatened and decides to bring troops into Paris  The people fear they will be used on National Assembly  Citizens take the Bastille Prison looking to free political prisoners and gain weapons (July 14, 1789)

Reforms by National Assembly  Elections for all local officials  Seized land of the Church and sold it to the public  Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790)  Places Church control under the French Government… First Time Ever!!!!!!  First Estate is now part of the Revolution

Reforms by National Assembly  Constitution of 1791  Limited authority of the king  Divided government into three branches  Executive, legislative, judicial  Tax-paying male voters elected members to new government body  This is the creation of the Legislative Assembly (New government #2)

King Louis XVI’s flight (June 20-21, 1791)  King Louis XVI leaves Paris on night of June 20-21, 1791  He gets caught  The French people no longer trust the king  They go from wanting a constitutional monarchy to a REPUBLIC  Another RADICAL change that France has never had I’m out of here!!

Legislative Assembly (Government #2)  Very weak government  Radicals, Moderates, Conservatives (Left, Middle, Right)  Where have you seen these terms before?  Could not agree on anything… sounds like Washington D.C. 200 years later  Exception is the idea of war with foreign powers in order to protect the Revolution  Who is scared?

War with Austria  April 1792 – Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria  Marie Antoinette (Louis’s wife) is Austrian  King Louis XVI sees this as an opportunity…  Louis XVI supported the foreign powers… is this treasonous?  Other monarchies around Europe are scared of revolution spreading to their countries AND they want to restore Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to their rightful throne  What idea does this represent that we talked about last week?

End of Monarchy  Legislative Assembly suspends office of the king in August 1792  The Paris Commune takes over Paris in order to protect it from foreign invaders  This is a revolutionary group that wanted to end the monarchy in France  Paris Commune decides a new constitution is needed (#2)  Elections for a National Convention (Government #3)

The National Convention  Elected by universal manhood suffrage (Voting for all men)  Girondins (moderate)  Jacques-Pierre Brissot  Jacobins (Very, very, very, very, very radical)  Georges-Jacques Danton, Maximilien Robespierre, Jean Paul Marat  Both groups want a Republic!

Jacobin Rule  Believed the Revolution should be led by the politicians of Paris  Ruled for National Convention for 3 years  They were ultra-radical, some would say fanatical, and were maybe even tyrannical #RapGame  Declare end to monarchy and write constitution

The National Convention  Brought Louis XVI to trial  Executed January 21, 1793 (ended monarchy)  Decided a new constitution was needed (#3)  Reforms  Created the Committee of Public Safety This is how we rolllll-olll-ollll!

Committee of Public Safety  Republic of Virtue or based on high morals  New society no associated with the Monarchy but society based on Virtue  Wage and price controls  We can eat!!!  Adopted the metric system  New revolutionary calendar  Started with day 1 year 1 of the Revolution

Reign of Terror  Lasted from September 1793 – July 1794  Law of Suspects (1793)  If you were suspected of treason against the state you could be executed without any evidence  Committee of Public Safety directed the Terror  Nobility, anyone “suspected” of disloyalty  Danton declares the Terror over in Spring 1794  Robespierre gets insanely scared, kills off Danton  People see Robespierre is clearly out-of-his-mind!  Ends with the Death of Robespierre

Reign of Terror  300,000 arrested  17,000 executed  10,000 estimated to have died in prison before trial  The Committee of Public Safety was willing to eliminate freedoms in order to protect the revolution

The Directory (government #4)  A group of wealthy men  Wanted something between the super-ultra-crazy radical Jacobins and the Old Regime… a healthy medium  This group creates another constitution (#4)  Bi-carmel legislature = 2 different houses to decide on laws

The Directory (government #4)  Still have a lot of the same problems as the Old Regime  Who remembers what these were?  Financial difficulties  Poor still suffered  corruption Life

The Directory (government #4)  Biggest issue is this group could not pick a policy and stick to it  This is similar to the Legislative Assembly  Having multiple people who are in charge is extremely new to France  THEY HAVE HAD A KING FOOOOORRRRRRREEEEEVVV VVERRRRRR!

Napoleon Bonaparte  “Whiff of Grape Shot”  He defended the Directory when the Tuileries was stormed  Conquest of Italy  Each victory provided him more support

Napoleon Bonaparte  The Directory is very weak  They agree to a campaign in Egypt  Napoleon is out of France  Popular move  Foreign alliances against France worried the people

Napoleon the Dictator  Supporters plot to overthrow Directory, scared of Royalists  1799 – Napoleon’s Coup d’etat