AP Euro Unit 6
National Guard
led by Lafayette at one point French National Army
Montagnards
"the Mountain"; extremists who wanted to kill the king; want to run France directly from Paris a political group during the French Revolution whose members, called ______________, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly. The term, which was first used during the session of the Legislative Assembly, did not come into general use until 1793.
Holy Alliance
(also called the Grand Alliance) was a coalition created by the monarchist great powers of Russia, Austria and Prussia. It was created after the ultimate defeat of Napoleon at the behest of Czar Alexander I of Russia and signed in Paris on 26 September 1815.
Battle of Leipzig
AKA Battle of the Nations fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, at the namesake place in Saxony. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine. The battle marked the culmination of the autumn campaign of 1813 during the German campaign and involved over 600,000 soldiers, making it the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I. Being decisively defeated for the first time in battle, Napoleon was compelled to return to France while the Allies hurried to keep their momentum, invading France early the next year. Napoleon was forced to abdicate and was exiled to Elba in May 1814.
Olympe de Gouges
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791) challenged the practice of male authority and the notion of male-female inequality. She was executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror for attacking the regime of the Revolutionary government and for her close relation with the Girondists.
Elba
Following the Treaty of Fontainebleau, French emperor Napoleon I was exiled here after his forced abdication in 1814 and arrived at Portoferraio on May 3, 1814 to begin his exile there. He was allowed to keep a personal guard of six hundred men. Although he was nominally sovereign of this place, the island was patrolled by the British Royal Navy. During the months Napoleon stayed on the island, he carried out a series of economic and social reforms to improve the quality of life, partly to pass the time and partly out of a genuine concern for the well-being of the islanders. Napoleon stayed there for 300 days. He returned to France on February 26, 1815 for the Hundred Days.
Leopold II of Austria
He was also Holy Roman Emperor Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa, thus the brother of Marie Antoinette. He was a moderate proponent of enlightened absolutism. allied with Prussia to try to help Louis XVI during French Revolution (?)
Declaration of Independence
July 4th 1776; listed reasons why the colonies were breaking away from England; Jefferson was one of the writers
Louis XVI
King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, after which he was subsequently King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before his deposition and execution during the French Revolution. His father, Louis, Dauphin of France, was the son and heir apparent of Louis XV of France. Due to the Dauphin's death in 1765, Louis succeeded his grandfather in 1774. The first part of his reign was marked by attempts to reform France in accordance with Enlightenment ideals. These included efforts to abolish serfdom, remove the taille, and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics. The French nobility reacted to the proposed reforms with hostility, and successfully opposed their implementation; increased discontent among the common people ensued. From 1776 he actively supported the North American colonists, who were seeking their independence from Great Britain, which was realized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the ancien régime which culminated at the Estates-General of 1789. Discontent among the members of France's middle and lower classes resulted in strengthened opposition to the French aristocracy and to the absolute monarchy, of which he and his queen Marie Antoinette were viewed as representative. In 1789, the Bastille was stormed during riots in Paris, and the French Revolution began.
George III of Britain
King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. He was concurrently Duke and prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg ("Hanover") in the Holy Roman Empire until his promotion to King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, but unlike his two Hanoverian predecessors he was born in Britain, spoke English as his first language, and never visited Hanover. His life and reign, which were longer than those of any previous British monarch, were marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places farther afield in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, many of its American colonies were soon lost in the American Revolutionary War. Further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. known for insanity
Frederick William II of Prussia
King of Prussia, from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel. Pleasure-loving and indolent, he is seen as the antithesis to his predecessor, Frederick II. Under his reign, Prussia was weakened internally and externally, and he failed to deal adequately with the challenges to the existing order posed by the French Revolution. His religious policies were directed against the Enlightenment and aimed at restoring a traditional Protestantism. However, he was a patron of the arts and responsible for the construction of some notable buildings, among them the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin. (supported Louis XVI during Revolution?)
Charles XIV of Sweden (Bernadotte)
King of Sweden (as Charles XIV John) and King of Norway (as Charles III John) from 1818 until his death. Before he became king, he was also the Sovereign Prince of Pontecorvo, in Southern Italy, between 1806 and 1810. served a long career in the French Army. He was appointed as a Marshal of France by Napoleon I, though the two had a turbulent relationship. His service to France ended in 1810, when he was elected the heir-presumptive to the Swedish throne because the Swedish royal family was dying out with King Charles XIII. Baron Carl Otto Mörner (22 May 1781 - 17 August 1868), who was a Swedish courtier, and obscure member of the Riksdag of the Estates, advocated for the succession.
Egyptian Campaign
Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Orient, ostensibly to protect French trade interests, undermine Britain's access to India, and to establish scientific enterprise in the region.
Infernal Regiments
No idea what this refers to. Sorry
Lord North
Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the American War of Independence. He also held a number of other cabinet posts, including Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
National Assembly
a transitional body between the Estates-General and the Legislative Assembly 1789 - 1791
Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson
a British flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of decisive naval victories. He was wounded several times in combat, losing one arm in the unsuccessful attempt to conquer Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the sight in one eye in Corsica. Of his several victories, the best known and most notable was the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during which he was shot and killed.
Duke of Wellington
a British soldier and statesman, a native of Ireland from the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century. rose to prominence as a general during the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, and was promoted to the rank of field marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the allied army which, together with a Prussian army under Blücher, defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
Marquis de Lafayette
a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France. He was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a leader of the Garde nationale during the French Revolution. During the French Revolution, he attempted to maintain order—to the point of ordering the Garde nationale to fire on demonstrators at the Champ de Mars in July 1791—an action for which he ultimately was persecuted by the Jacobins. In August 1792, as the radical factions in the Revolution grew in power, he tried to flee to the United States through the Dutch Republic. He was captured by Austrians and spent more than five years in prison.
Talleyrand
a French diplomat. He worked successfully at the highest level (usually as foreign minister) for the regime of Louis XVI, through several governments of the French Revolution and then for Napoleon, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe. Most of them distrusted him but, like Napoleon, found him indispensable.
Maximilien Robespierre
a French lawyer and politician, and one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Estates-General, the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club (Jacobin leader during the Reign of Terror), he advocated against the death penalty and for the abolition of slavery, while supporting equality of rights, universal suffrage and the establishment of a republic. He opposed war with Austria and the possibility of a coup by the Marquis de Lafayette. As a member of the Committee of Public Safety, he was an important figure during the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended a few months after his arrest and execution in July 1794.
Napoleon Bonaparte
a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the French Revolution and its associated wars in Europe. he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814. He undertook many reforms across Europe, ending feudalism for example. In 1799, he took power in a coup d'état on November 9, 1799 ("the 18th Brumaire" according to the revolutionary calendar) and installed himself as First Consul. In 1804 he made himself emperor of the French people. He fought a series of wars —the Napoleonic Wars—that involved complex coalitions for and against him, but Britain was always his great enemy.
Jacques Necker
a French statesman of Swiss birth and finance minister of Louis XVI, a post he held in the lead-up to the French Revolution in 1789. summoned and dismissed multiple times under Louis XVI dismissal of this guy made Third Estate think that King was wary of Estates General first to publish financial figures forgets to include war debt recommended that taxes should be fairer; wanted nobility to pay share (dismissed after that; summoned later)
Grand Duchy of Warsaw
a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. It was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony. Following Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia, the duchy was occupied by Prussian and Russian troops until 1815, when it was formally partitioned between the two countries at the Congress of Vienna.
Field Marshall von Blucher
a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall (field marshal) who led his army against Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington. The honorary citizen of Berlin, Hamburg and Rostock bore the nickname "Marschall Vorwärts" ("Marshal Forwards") because of his approach to warfare.
Nationalism
a belief, creed or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with, or becoming attached to, one's nation. (very strong with French?)
Directory
a body of five directors that held executive power in France following the National Convention and preceding the Consulate. The period of this regime (2 November 1795 until 10 November 1799), commonly known as the namesake era, constitutes the second to last stage of the French Revolution. 1795 - 1799
Confederation of the Rhine
a confederation of client states of the First French Empire. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon after he defeated Austria and Russia in the Battle of Austerlitz. The Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the creation of this. It lasted from 1806 to 1813.
Congress of Vienna
a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September 1814 to June 1815. The objective was to provide a long-term peace for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The leaders were conservatives who sought to achieve long-term peace in Europe by a balance of power, and to restore traditional rulers to Napoleon's puppet states.
Navigation Acts
a continuation of laws that restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England (after 1707, Great Britain) and its colonies. It is a process which had started in 1651. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the Netherlands, France, and other European countries. The original ordinance of 1651 was renewed at the Restoration by Acts of 1662, 1663, 1670, and 1673 subsequently subject to minor amendment. These Acts also formed the basis for British overseas trade for nearly 200 years. on the whole, these acts were obeyed, except for the Molasses Act of 1733, which led to extensive smuggling because no effective means of enforcement was provided until the 1750s. Irritation because of stricter enforcement under the Sugar Act of 1764 became one source of resentment by merchants in the American colonies against Great Britain. This in turn helped push the colonies to start the American Revolution.
Battle of Yorktown
a decisive victory by a combined force of American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington and French Army troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by British lord and Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis. The culmination of the Yorktown campaign, the siege proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War, as the surrender by Cornwallis, and the capture of both him and his army, prompted the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
a fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human rights, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of "natural right", the rights of man are held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. (one written in 1789; another in 1793)
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government. completed the destruction of the monastic orders, legislating out of existence "all regular and secular chapters for either sex, abbacies and priorships, both regular and in commendam, for either sex", etc. It also sought to settle the chaos caused by the earlier confiscation of Church lands and the abolition of the tithe.
Battle of the Nile
a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off Egypt from 1 to 3 August 1798. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had ranged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under then General Napoleon Bonaparte. In the battle, the British forces, led by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson (later Lord Nelson), defeated the French.
Estates-General
a meeting of the three estates; not called in a very long time; conditions of the meeting caused problems; started to set up French Revolution a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobles (Second Estate), and the common people (Third Estate). summoned in 1789 by King Louis XVI to propose solutions to his government's financial problems, it sat for several weeks in May and June 1789 but came to an impasse as the three estates clashed over their respective powers. It was brought to an end when many members of the Third Estate formed themselves into a National Assembly, signaling the outbreak of the French Revolution.
Bourgeoisie
a member of the French upper class or upper-middle class
Peninsular War
a military conflict between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war started when French and Spanish armies occupied Portugal in 1807, and escalated in 1808 when France turned on Spain, its ally until then. It lasted until the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon in 1814, and is regarded as one of the first wars of national liberation, significant for the emergence of large-scale guerrilla warfare.
Louis XVIII
a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1814 to 1824 except for a period in 1815 known as the Hundred Days. He spent twenty-three years in exile, from 1791 to 1814, during the French Revolution and the First French Empire, and again in 1815, during the period of the Hundred Days, upon the return of Napoleon I from Elba.
Mercantilism
a national economic policy that says that a nation benefits by accumulating monetary reserves through a positive balance of trade, especially of finished goods; dominated Western European economic policy and discourse from the 16th to late-18th centuries. reason for frequent wars (e.g. American Revolution)
Battle of Trafalgar
a naval engagement fought by the Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies, during the War of the Third Coalition (August-December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). The battle was the most decisive naval victory of the war. Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve off the southwest coast of Spain, just west of the namesake cape. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost.
Kingdom of Westphalia
a new country of 2.6 million Germans that existed from 1807-1813. It included territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire and was ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte.
Reign of Terror
a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution". The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with 16,594 executed by guillotine (2,639 in Paris), and another 25,000 in summary executions across France.
First Treaty of Paris (1814)
ended the war between France and the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, following an armistice signed on 23 May between Charles, Count of Artois, and the allies. It established peace between France and the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, who in March had defined their common war aim in Chaumont, and was also signed by Portugal and Sweden. Spain signed later in July. restored Bourbon Monarchy to France set up Congress of Vienna
Jean-Paul Marat
a physician, political theorist and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution. His journalism became renowned for its fierce tone, uncompromising stance toward the new leaders and institutions of the revolution, and advocacy of basic human rights for the poorest members of society. He was one of the most radical voices of the French Revolution. He became a vigorous defender of the sans-culottes, publishing his views in pamphlets, placards and newspapers, notably his "L'Ami du peuple", which helped make him their unofficial link with the radical, republican Jacobin group that came to power after June 1793. He was assassinated by Charlotte Corday, a Girondist sympathizer, while in his specialized bowel room. In his death he became an icon to the Jacobins, a sort of revolutionary martyr, as portrayed in David's famous painting of his death.
Tennis Court Oath
a pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution. It was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789. The only person who did not sign was Joseph Martin-Dauch, a politician who would not execute decisions not sanctioned by the king. They made a makeshift conference room inside a tennis court located in the Saint-Louis district of the city of Versailles, near the Palace of Versailles. pledged "not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established".
Monroe Doctrine
a policy of the United States introduced on December 2, 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention. At the same time, the doctrine noted that the United States would neither interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. some say that it was inspired by the Napoleonic Wars
Girondins
a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution. They campaigned for the end of the monarchy but then resisted the spiraling momentum of the Revolution. They came into conflict with The Mountain (Montagnards, a more radical faction within the Jacobin Club). This conflict eventually led to the fall of them and their mass execution, the beginning of the Reign of Terror. Prominent ones included Jacques Pierre Brissot, Jean Marie Roland and his wife Madame Roland. They had an ally in American Founding Father Thomas Paine. Brissot and Madame Roland were executed with the guillotine and Jean Roland (who had gone into hiding) committed suicide when he learned what had transpired. Paine was arrested and imprisoned but narrowly escaped execution.
Metternich
a politician and statesman of Rhenish extraction and one of the most important diplomats of his era, serving as the Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire from 1809 until the liberal revolutions of 1848 forced his resignation. One of his first tasks was to engineer a détente with France that included the marriage of Napoleon to the Austrian Arch-Duchess Marie Louise. Soon after, however, he engineered Austria's entry into the War of the Sixth Coalition on the Allied side, signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau that sent Napoleon into exile and led the Austrian delegation at the Congress of Vienna which divided post-Napoleonic Europe between the major powers. In recognition of his service to the Austrian Empire he was raised to the title of Prince in October 1813. (known for diplomacy and namesake system)(?)
Principle of Legitimacy
a principle stating that the rulers who were dethroned by Napoleon should get their countries back and reign the same territories that they reigned before Napoleon
Thermidorean Reaction
a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the National Convention to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, and several other leading members of the Terror. This ended the most radical phase of the French Revolution.
French Revolutionary Wars
a series of major conflicts fought between the French Republic government and several European Monarchies from 1792 to 1802. Marked by French revolutionary fervour and military innovations, the campaigns saw the French Revolutionary Armies defeat a number of opposing coalitions. They resulted in expanded French control to the Low Countries, Italy, and the Rhineland. The wars depended on extremely high numbers of soldiers, recruited by modern mass conscription.
Flight to Varennes
a significant episode in the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI of France, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution. They desired to hide in Austria due to Marie's heritage, and hoped they would find safety in their newly found French Austrian agreement. Their escape only led them as far as the namesake small town, where they were recognized and immediately arrested.
Paris Commune
a socialistic government that briefly ruled Paris starting from the middle of March 1871. Though elected as the city council, it eventually proclaimed its own authority to govern all of France.
Piedmont-Sardinia
a state in Europe from the early 14th century until the mid-19th. It was the predecessor state of today's Italy. A small state with weak institutions when it was acquired by the House of Savoy in 1720, the Savoyards united their insular and continental domains and built it into one of the great powers by the time of the Crimean War (1853-56).
Women's March to Versailles
also known as The October March, it was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. It began among women in the marketplaces of Paris who, on the morning of 5 October 1789, were near rioting over the high price and scarcity of bread. Their demonstrations quickly became intertwined with the activities of revolutionaries who were seeking liberal political reforms and a constitutional monarchy for France. The market women and their various allies grew into a mob of thousands and, encouraged by revolutionary agitators, they ransacked the city armory for weapons and marched to the Palace of Versailles. The crowd besieged the palace and in a dramatic and violent confrontation they successfully pressed their demands upon King Louis XVI. The next day, the crowd compelled the king, his family, and most of the French Assembly to return with them to Paris. These events effectively ended the independent authority of the king.
Battle of Austerlitz
also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition. On 2 December 1805 (20 November Old Style, 11 Frimaire An XIV, in the French Republican Calendar), a French army, commanded by Emperor Napoleon I, decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army, commanded by Tsar Alexander I and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, after nearly nine hours of difficult fighting.
Thomas Jefferson
an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801-1809). He was a spokesman for democracy and the rights of man with worldwide influence. At the beginning of the American Revolution, he served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia and then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779-1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 he served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France.
British East India Company
an English and later (from 1707) British joint-stock company formed for pursuing trade with the East Indies but which ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent, North-West Frontier Province and Balochistan. taxes on its tea helped lead to the American Revolution
Castlereagh
an Irish and British statesman. As British Foreign Secretary, from 1812 he was central to the management of the coalition that defeated Napoleon and was the principal British diplomat at the Congress of Vienna. He was also leader of the British House of Commons in the Liverpool government from 1812 until his death by suicide in August 1822. Early in his career, as Chief Secretary for Ireland, he was involved in putting down the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and was instrumental in securing the passage of the Irish Act of Union of 1800. His foreign policy from 1814 was to work with the leaders represented at the Congress of Vienna to provide a peace in Europe consistent with the conservative mood of the day. Much more than prime minister Lord Liverpool, he was responsible for the repressive domestic measures.
Invasion of Russia, 1812
began on 24 June 1812 when Napoleon's Grande Armée crossed the Neman River in an attempt to engage and defeat the Russian army. Napoleon hoped to compel Tsar Alexander I of Russia to cease trading with British merchants through proxies in an effort to pressure the United Kingdom to sue for peace. The official political aim of the campaign was to liberate Poland from the threat of Russia. Napoleon named the campaign the Second Polish War to curry favor with the Poles and provide a political pretense for his actions. This was ultimately a failed effort for Napoleon
Grand Armee
first entered the annals of history when, in 1805, Napoleon I renamed the army that he had assembled on the French coast of the English Channel for the proposed invasion of Britain. It never achieved its primary goal, as Napoleon had to re-deploy it east in order to eliminate the threat of Austria and Russia, which were part of the Third Coalition assembled against France. Thereafter, the name was used for the principal French army deployed in the Campaigns of 1805 and 1807, where it got its prestige, 1809, 1812, and 1813-14. In practice, however, this term is used in English to refer to all of the multinational forces gathered by Napoleon I in his campaigns of the early 19th century.
Marie Antoinette
born an Archduchess of Austria, was Dauphine of France from 1770 to 1774 and Queen of France and Navarre from 1774 to 1792. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa. In April 1770, upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France, she became Dauphine of France. She assumed the title of Queen of France and of Navarre when her husband, Louis XVI of France, ascended the throne upon the death of Louis XV in May 1774. After seven years of marriage, she gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, the first of four children. Initially charmed by her personality and beauty, the French people generally came to dislike her, accusing "L'Autrichienne" (meaning the Austrian (woman)) of being profligate, promiscuous, and of harboring sympathies for France's enemies, particularly Austria, her country of origin. The Diamond Necklace incident damaged her reputation further, although she was completely innocent in this affair. She later became known as Madame Déficit because of her lavish spendings during famine times. The royal family's flight to Varennes had disastrous effects on French popular opinion: Louis XVI was deposed and the monarchy abolished on 21 September 1792; the royal family was subsequently imprisoned at the Temple Prison. Eight months after her husband's execution, she was herself tried, convicted by the Convention of treason to the principles of the revolution, and executed by guillotine on 16 October 1793.
National Convention
comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly of France and sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 (the 4th of Brumaire of the year IV under the French Republican Calendar adopted by the Convention). Robespierre and Danton Committee of Public Safety 1792 - 1795
Battle of Saratoga
conclusively decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army in the American War of Independence and are generally regarded as a turning point in the war. News of Burgoyne's surrender was instrumental in formally bringing France into the war as an American ally, although it had previously given supplies, ammunition and guns, notably the de Valliere cannon, which played an important role in Saratoga. Formal participation by France changed the war to a global conflict. This battle also resulted in Spain contributing to the war on the American side.
Committee of Public Safety
created in April 1793 by the National Convention and then restructured in July 1793, formed the de facto executive government in France during the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), a stage of the French Revolution. It succeeded the previous Committee of General Defence (established in January 1793) and assumed its role of protecting the newly established republic against foreign attacks and internal rebellion. As a wartime measure, it was given broad supervisory powers over military, judicial, and legislative efforts. It was formed as an administrative body to supervise and expedite the work of the executive bodies of the Convention and of the government ministers appointed by the Convention. As it tried to meet the dangers of a coalition of European nations and counter-revolutionary forces within the country, it became more and more powerful. Jacobins eventually took over; Robespierre was an effective dictator
Decree Abolishing the Feudal System
declared with the idea of calming the populace and encouraging them towards civility. paved the way for the Assembly to make the Declaration of the Rights of Man. a decree that does the titular action; makes everyone pay taxes; everyone can hunt freely; etc.
Constitution of the United States
drafted during the namesake convention in Philadelphia; replaced the Articles of Confederation
Treaty of Paris, 1783
ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on one side and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements. Its territorial provisions were "exceedingly generous" to the United States in terms of enlarged boundaries.
Battle of Waterloo
fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815, near namesake place in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. An Imperial French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon was defeated by the armies of the Seventh Coalition, comprising an Anglo-allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington combined with a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher. It was Napoleon's last battle. This defeat ended his rule as Emperor of the French, marking the end of his Hundred Days return from exile.
Stamp Act
imposed a direct tax by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America, and it required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies.
St. Helena
island to which Napoleon was exiled for the last time; it is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British Overseas Territory of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, which also includes the Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha. The British used the island as a place of exile, most notably for Napoleon I, Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo and more than 5,000 Boer prisoners.
Declaration of Pillnitz
joint agreement by Austria and Prussia saying that they would help the French king if necessary a statement issued on 27 August 1791 at the namesake castle near Dresden (Saxony) by the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and Frederick William II of Prussia. It declared the joint support of the Holy Roman Empire and of Prussia for King Louis XVI of France against the French Revolution.
Frederick William III
king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He ruled Prussia during the difficult times of the Napoleonic wars and the end of the old German Empire. Steering a careful course between France and her enemies, after a major military defeat in 1806, he eventually and reluctantly joined the coalition against Napoleon in the Befreiungskriege. Following Napoleon's defeat he was King of Prussia during the Congress of Vienna which assembled to settle the political questions arising from the new, post-Napoleonic order in Europe.
The 100 Days
marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815. This period saw the War of the Seventh Coalition, and includes the Waterloo Campaign and the Neapolitan War.
Great Terror
occurred at the end of the Reign of Terror; increased repression during June and July 1794; caused the coup of 9 Thermidor Year II (27 July 1794), leading to the Thermidorian Reaction, in which several instigators of the Reign of Terror were executed, including Saint-Just and Robespierre.
Great Fear
occurred between 17 July - 3 August 1789, in France at the start of the French Revolution. A series of peasant rebellions helped cause a subsequent general panic known as _________. Rural unrest had been present in France since the worsening grain shortage of the spring, and fueled by the rumors of an aristocrat "famine plot" to starve or burn out the population, peasant and town people mobilized in many regions. In response to rumors, fearful peasants armed themselves in self-defense and, in some areas, attacked manor houses. The content of the rumors differed from region to region -- in some areas it was believed that a foreign force were burning the crops in the fields while in other areas it was believed that bandits were burning buildings. Fear of the peasant revolt was a deciding factor in the decision to abolish feudalism.
Benjamin Franklin
one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, he was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, a namesake stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He facilitated many civic organizations, including a fire department and a university.
Bastille
prison famously stormed by angry French citizens on July 14th, 1789; was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a crowd on 14 July 1789 in the French Revolution, becoming an important symbol for the French Republican movement, and was later demolished
French Empire
refers to Napoleon's territory...
Radical Revolution
refers to revolution under Jacobins (?)
First Consul
refers to the position Napoleon held before becoming Emperor of France (?)
Parlements
regional legislative and judicial bodies in Ancien Régime France. (maybe they were destroyed during French Rev?)
sans-culottes
revolutionaries who dominated the National Convention; known for not wearing breeches the radical left-wing partisans of the lower classes; typically urban labourers, which dominated France. Though ill-clad and ill-equipped, they made up the bulk of the Revolutionary army during the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Tsar Alexander I
served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania. He succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered, and ruled Russia during the chaotic period of the Napoleonic Wars. In the first half of his reign he tried to introduce liberal reforms, while in the second half his conduct became much more arbitrary, which led to the revocation of many earlier reforms. In foreign policy he gained some successes, mainly by his diplomatic skills and by winning several military campaigns. (lost to Napoleon at first; later beat Napoleon in 1812)
Second Treaty of Paris (1815)
signed on 20 November 1815 following the defeat and second abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte. In February, Napoleon had escaped from his exile on Elba; he entered Paris on 20 March, beginning the Hundred Days of his restored rule. Four days after France's defeat in the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was persuaded to abdicate again, on 22 June. King Louis XVIII, who had fled the country when Napoleon arrived in Paris, took the throne for a second time on 8 July.
Corsica
small island that is Napoleon's birthplace
Code Napoleon
the French civil code established under Napoléon I in 1804. It forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs should go to the most qualified. first modern legal code to be adopted with a pan-European scope, and it strongly influenced the law of many of the countries formed during and after the Napoleonic Wars.
Joseph-Napoleon Bonaparte
the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily (1806-1808), and later King of Spain.
Three Estates
the first was the clergy; the second was the nobility; the third was everyone else
Constitution of 1791
the first written constitution in France, created after the collapse of the Absolute Monarchy of the Ancien Régime. One of the basic precepts of the revolution was adopting constitutionality and establishing popular sovereignty, following the steps of the United States of America.
Continental System
the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against the Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. As a response to the naval blockade of the French coasts enacted by the British government on 16 May 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree on 21 November 1806, which brought into effect a large-scale embargo against British trade. This embargo ended on April 11, 1814 after Napoleon's first abdication. The Berlin Decree forbade the import of British goods into European countries allied with or dependent upon France, and installed this in Europe.
Battle of Borodino
the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia and the Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties. The French Grande Armée under Emperor Napoleon I attacked the Imperial Russian Army of General Mikhail Kutuzov near the namesake village, west of the town of Mozhaysk, and eventually captured the main positions on the battlefield, but failed to destroy the Russian army despite heavy losses. About a third of Napoleon's soldiers were killed or wounded. Russian losses were also heavy, but casualties could be replaced since large forces of militia were already with the Russian Army and replacement depots which were close by had already been gathering and training troops. The battle itself ended with the Russian Army out of position. The state of exhaustion of the French forces and lack of information on the Russian Army's condition led Napoleon to remain on the battlefield with his army instead of the forced pursuit that had marked other campaigns that he had conducted in the past. Napoleon's Imperial Guard was completely intact and available to his disposition. In refusing to commit the Guard he lost his singular chance to destroy the Russian army. This was a pivotal point in the campaign, as it was the last offensive action fought by Napoleon in Russia. By withdrawing, the Russian army preserved its combat strength, eventually allowing it to force Napoleon out of the country.
Legislative Assembly
the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792 during the years of the French Revolution. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention. It was driven by two opposing groups. The members of the first group were primarily moderate members of the bourgeoisie (Wealthy middle class in 3rd Estate) that favored a constitutional monarchy, represented by the Feuillants, who felt that the revolution had already achieved its goal. The second group was the democratic faction, for whom the king could no longer be trusted, represented by the new members of the Jacobin club. This group claimed that more revolutionary measures were necessary. 1791 - 1792
Jacobins
the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, which had recently been located in the Rue St. Jacques, Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton representatives attending the Estates General of 1789. There were thousands of chapters throughout France, with a membership estimated at 420,000. After the fall of Robespierre the club was closed. The club later became notorious for its implementation of the Reign of Terror.
Tuileries
the palace where Louis XVI and his family lived after they were removed from Versailles as a result of the Women's March a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henry IV to Napoleon III, until it was destroyed in the upheaval of the Paris Commune in 1871.
Ferdinand VII
twice King of Spain: in 1808 and from 1813 to 1833 - the latter period in dispute with Joseph Bonaparte. pretty much was king until Joseph Bonaparte was put on the throne for a brief period of time
taille
was a direct land tax on the French peasantry and non-nobles in Ancien Régime France. The tax was imposed on each household and based on how much land it held. some (such as Tocqueville) say it led to the French Revolution
Georges Danton
was a leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. His role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the First French Republic". A moderating influence on the Jacobins, he was guillotined by the advocates of revolutionary terror after accusations of venality and leniency to the enemies of the Revolution.
First Republic
was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. It lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I. This period was characterized by the fall of the monarchy, the establishment of the National Convention and the infamous Reign of Terror, the founding of the Directory and the Thermidorian Reaction, and finally, the creation of the Consulate and Napoleon's rise to power.