French Revolution- Lombardi

Failures of the Revolution

- No freedom of speech: censored or could be killed - Law making: no fair trials, people would be arrested and then killed the next morning - Religion: Robspierrare made his own religion and destroyed others: no church, got rid of the calender: people destroyed icons - Directory: got too powerful and greedy

Successes of the Revolution

- No monarchy: estates equal: taxes equal, no financial priviledges - Religious tolerance - confescated church property - People elected Clergy: more secular - Men with property and over 25 could vote more representation - More schools - No slavery

Napoleon's Domestic Policies

- Strengthened the central gov by consolidating his power. Order, security, and efficenticy replaced liberty, equality, and fraternity as slogans for the regime. - Restored economic prosperity: controlled prices, encouraged new industry and built roads and canals. - Public schools but with strict gov control - Made peace with the Catholic Church - Opened jobs to all based on talent - Napoleonic Code- embodied Enlightenment principles such as, equality for all before the law, religious toleration, and abolition of feudalism. - Women had no rights- men had all the authority over wives and children.

St. Helena

In 1815, the British government selected Saint Helena as the place of detention for Napoleon Bonaparte.

GREAT FEAR

In the countryside, peasants and farmers revolted against their feudal contracts by attacking the manors and estates of their landlords. Dubbed the "Great Fear," these rural attacks continued until the early August issuing of the August Decrees, which freed those peasants from their oppressive contracts.

Republic of Virtue:

-No religion -killing people in the regular -no rights -closing Church - no church authority -no slavery -spread of schools and education -everyone has to be actively involved in the state -anyone suspected of not supporting was killed for treason -spies everywhere, paranoia spread towns and cities -no icons or street signs reminding of the old regime -associates terror with virtue, both are the others support and success. -route of all problems were priests and religion -reinstates censorships -calendars changed - no sundays- start the beginning of the day the FR started not the day JC was born.

Describe France's social structure (3 Estates)

1st: Clergy - The Church owned 10% of the land, collected tithes, and paid no taxes to the state. - They lived very wealthy. - Provided some social services: nuns, monks, and priests ran schools, hospitals and orphanages. 2nd: Nobility - They had jobs in the government, army, courts, and church. - Received decent to little amount of money even though they owned lots of land. - Hated absolutism and resented the royal bureacracy that employed middles class men in positions that were reserved for nobility. - Feared losing their traditional priviledges and freedom from paying taxes. 3rd: Majority (Middle class and peasants) - This class included bankers, manufacturers, doctors, professors, and lawyers. However, there were also a lot of peasants. - Many urban workers became unemployed and resorted to begging or crime. Extremely low wadges for hard workers. - Even the smallest price in bread sales sparked the threat of hunger and later the revolution.

TENNIS COURT OATH

A June 20, 1789, oath sworn by members of the Third Estate who had just formed the National Assembly and were locked out of the meeting of the Estates-General. Meeting at a nearby tennis court, these members of the Third Estate pledged to remain together until they had drafted and passed a new constitution.

COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY

A body, chaired by Maximilien Robespierre, to which the National Convention gave dictatorial powers in April 1793 in an attempt to deal with France's wars abroad and economic problems at home. Although the committee led off its tenure with an impressive war effort and economy-salvaging initiatives, things took a turn for the worse when Robespierre began his violent Reign of Terror in late 1793. the Commitee of Public Safety to ensure that the government remains "Revolutionary until the Peace". Membership in the Committee was renewed every month by votes in the convention and they were an executive body of 12 Men, charged with revolutionary dictatorship.

MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE

A brilliant political tactician and leader of the radical Jacobins in the National Assembly. As chairman of the Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre pursued a planned economy and vigorous mobilization for war. He grew increasingly paranoid about. counterrevolutionary opposition, however, and during the Reign of Terror of 1793-1794 attempted to silence all enemies of the Revolution in an effort to save France from invasion. After the moderates regained power and the Thermidorian Reaction was under way, they had Robespierre executed on July 28, 1794.

Women's Bread March:

A combination of break shortage and high prices angered many women, who relied on bread sales to make a living. Poor harvests for several years grain was scarce, the price of bread increased beyond the affordability for poor residents. Caused 6000 women to march while shouting "bread" and the need to see the king. They also seized more weapons and food in the City Hall, they want to situation of scarcity to end. This forced the royal court to move from Versailles to Paris where the king could be responsible to both the people and reforms that have been passed. The marchers invasion of the palace removed all doubt that the monarchy was was subject to the will of people and was a major defeat for the old regime.

DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND OF THE CITIZEN

A document, issued by the National Assembly on August 26, 1789, that granted sovereignty to all French people. The declaration, which drew from the ideas of some of the Enlightenment's greatest thinkers, asserted that liberty is a "natural" and "imprescriptible" right of man and that "men are born and remain free and equal in rights."

Republic definition

A revolutionary republic is a form of government whose main tenets are popular sovereignty, rule of law, and representative democracy.

REIGN OF TERROR

A ten-month period of oppression and execution from late 1793 to mid-1794, organized by Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety to suppress any potential enemies of the radical Revolution. The Reign of Terror ended with the fall of Robespierre, who was arrested and executed in July 1794. Robespierre's execution ushered in the Thermidorian Reaction of 1794-1795 and the establishment of the Directory as the head of France's executive government.

Louis XVI's Flight

Louis XVI and his family attempted to escape to the Austrian border, where they were supposed to meet the Austrian army and arrange an attack on the revolutionaries. However, the runaway party was caught just before reaching the border and brought back to Tuileries in Paris. This escape attempt considerably weakened the king's position and lowered his regard in the eyes of the French people. The king's attempt to run away, however, made it clear to skeptics that he was a reluctant associate at best and would turn his back on the constitution and its system of limited monarchy at any moment.

Nationalism

Loyalty to one's own country - became a powerful weapon against Napoleon

War Against Austria and Prussia

Although the Girondin leader, Brissot, wanted Louis XVI to remain in power, he felt threatened by the Declaration of Pillnitz and rallied the Legislative Assembly to declare war against Austria on April 20, 1792. Austria and Prussia had anticipated this kind of reaction and already had their troops massed along the French border. The French army, unprepared as it was for the battle, was trounced and fled, leaving the country vulnerable to counterattack. In the wake of the embarrassing French defeat, Louis XVI saw to it that Brissot was removed from command. In response, a mob of Girondins marched on Tuileries on June 20 and demanded that Brissot be reinstated. The demand was ignored.

Church reform

Because the government needed to pay off the huge debt, the assembly voted to take over and sell churchlands. Church is placed under state control: . under the civil Constitution of the clergy, bishops and priests became elected, salaried officials. It also ended papal authority and dissolved convents and monasteries.

Politics

Before the Storming of the Bastille, King Louis XVI had been losing power within the French government. He was a weak king and didn't realized how bad the situation was for the commoners in France. The members of the Third Estate formed the National Assembly to force the king to make reforms. Not only was the king in conflict with the commoners, but the king and the nobles could not agree on reforms.

The Bastille

Blaming him for the failure of the Estates-General, Louis XVI once again dismissed Director General of Finance Jacques Necker. Necker was a very popular figure, and when word of the dismissal reached the public, hostilities spiked yet again. In light of the rising tension, a scramble for arms broke out, and on July 13, 1789, revolutionaries raided the Paris town hall in pursuit of arms. Citizens on the side of the National Assembly stormed the Bastille, a medieval fortress and prison in Paris. Although the weapons were useful, the storming of the Bastille was more symbolic than it was necessary for the revolutionary cause. By storming one of Paris's most notorious state prisons and hoarding weapons, however, the revolutionaries gained a symbolic victory over the Old Regime and conveyed the message that they were not to be trifled with.

What led people to question the inequalities of the old regime?

Enlightenment ideas.

Famine and Bread Prices

France was experiencing famine at the time. The common people mostly ate bread to survive. The deregulation of the grain market, advocated by liberal economists, resulted in an increase in bread prices. In periods of bad harvests, it would lead to food scarcity which would prompt the masses to revolt.

Debt and Taxes

In 1789, the French government was in a major financial crisis. The king had borrowed heavily to maintain a lavish lifestyle. Also, the government had borrowed to fight Great Britain in the Seven Years' War and to help the Americans in the Revolutionary War. With such great debt, the king had no other option than to try and raise taxes. The commoners of France (the Third Estate) had to pay the majority of the taxes. The nobles and the clergy were largely exempt from paying taxes. Higher taxes angered the common people, especially since the nobles didn't have to pay their share.

Continental system

Napoleon's policy to make continental Europe more self-sufficient; also intended to destroy Great Britain's commercial and industrial economy

TAILLE:

(in France before 1789) a tax levied on the common people by the king or an overlord.

Relics of Feudalism:

One of the central events of the French Revolution was to abolish feudalism, and the old rules, taxes and privileges left over from the age of feudalism. The National Constituent Assembly, acting on the night of 4 August 1789, announced, "The National Assembly abolishes the feudal system entirely."

Napoleon's Rise to Power

Set up a 3 man governing board- consulate Another Constitution was drawn up and then Napoleon took the title of First Consul. He later acquired enough power to assume the title as Emperor. In fact, he insisted the Pope on presiding over his cordination. However, during the ceremony he took the crown from the pope's hands and placed it on his own head, showing he owed the throne to no one but himself.

Constitution of 1795

The Constitution of 1795 established a liberal republic with a franchise based on the payment of taxes, similar to that of the Constitution of 1791; a bicameral legislature to slow down the legislative process; and a five-man Directory. The central government retained great power, including emergency powers to curb freedom of the press and freedom of association.

Nantes

The Drownings at Nantes were a series of mass executions by drowning. During this period, anyone arrested and jailed for not consistently supporting the Revolution, or suspected of being a royalist sympathizer, especially Catholic priests and nuns, was cast into the Loire and drowned.

Changes in Culture

The Enlightenment philosophy desacralized the authority of the monarchy and the Catholic Church, and promoted a new society based on reason instead of traditions. It presented new ideas such as "liberty" and "equality." Also, the American Revolution represented a new type of government where the people ruled rather than a king. The American Revolution demonstrated that it was plausible for Enlightenment ideas about how a government should be organized to actually be put into practice.

The French Monarchy and Parlements

The French royalty in the years prior to the French Revolution were a study in corruption and excess. France had long subscribed to the idea of divine right, which maintained that kings were selected by God and thus perpetually entitled to the throne. This doctrine resulted in a system of absolute rule and provided the commoners with absolutely no input into the governance of their country.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

The National Assembly took a number of progressive actions to address the failing economy and tighten up the country. A number of them targeted the Catholic Church.They confiscated all the church's land and then used it to back a new French currency called the assignat. In the beginning, at least, the assignat financed the Revolution and acted as an indicator of the economy's strength. Also, they created the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, a decree that established a national church system with elected clergy. The country was divided into eighty-three departments, each of which was governed by an elected official and represented by an elected bishop. The voting for these positions was open to anyone who met certain relatively lenient criteria, such as property ownership.

Paris Commune

The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1792 until 1795. Established after the storming of the Bastille, it consisted of 144 delegates elected by the 48 divisions of the city. The Paris Commune refused to take orders from the central French government. It took charge of routine civic functions but is best known for mobilizing extreme views and actions among the people and for its campaign to dechristianize the churches and the people.

NATIONAL CONVENTION

The body that replaced the Legislative Assembly following a successful election in 1792. As one of its first actions, the convention declared the French monarchy abolished on September 21, 1792, and on the following day declared France a republic. Though originally dominated by moderates, the convention became controlled by radical Jacobins in 1793.

Explain the taxation system in France

The first and second estate paid almost no taxes. While the peasants were taxed on everything.

Estates and Voting

The fundamental issue of poverty was aggravated by social inequality as all peasants were liable to pay taxes, from which the nobility could claim immunity, and feudal dues payable to a local seigneur or lord. Similarly, the destination of tithes which the peasants were obliged to pay to their local churches.

Bourgeoisie:

The middle and upper classes of French society who, as members of the Third Estate, wanted an end to the principle of privilege that governed French society in the late 1700s. The bourgeoisie represented the moderate voices during the French Revolution and were represented by delegates in both the Estates-General and the National Assembly.

CONSTITUTION OF 1791

The new French constitution that in 1791 established a constitutional monarchy, or limited monarchy, with all executive power answerable to a legislative assembly. Under the new constitution, King Louis XVI could only temporarily veto legislation passed by the assembly. The constitution restricted voting in the assembly to the upper and middle classes of French society and abolished "nobility" as a legal order. It established a poll tax and barred servants from voting, ensuring that control of the country stayed firmly in the hands of the middle class.

DIRECTORY

The new executive branch established by the constitution written during the moderate Thermidorian Reaction of 1794-1795. The Directory was appointed by the legislative assembly. However, after 1797 election results proved unfavorable to elements in the Directory, it orchestrated an overthrow of the assembly and maintained dubious control over France until it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799.

JACOBINS

The radical wing of representatives in the National Convention, named for their secret meeting place in the Jacobin Club, in an abandoned Paris monastery. Led by Maximilien Robespierre, the Jacobins called for democratic solutions to France's problems and spoke for the urban poor and French peasantry. The Jacobins took control of the convention, and France itself, from 1793 to 1794. As Robespierre became increasingly concerned with counter revolutionary threats, he instituted a brutal period of public executions known as the Reign of Terror.

Lyon

The revolt of Lyon against the National Convention was a counter-revolutionary movement in the city of Lyon during the time of the French Revolution. It was a revolt of moderates against the more radical National Convention, the third government during the French Revolution. It broke out in June 1793 and was put down in December of the same year, after government forces had besieged the city.

MARIE-ANTOINETTE:

The wife of King Louis XVI and, in the French commoners' eyes, the primary symbol of the French royalty's extravagance and excess.

SANS-CULOTTES

Urban workers and peasants, whose name—literally, "without culottes," the knee-breeches that the privileged wore—signified their wish to distinguish themselves from the high classes. The mob mentality of the sans-culottes constituted the most radical element of the Revolution.

Marat

Was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist who became best known for his role as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution. His journalism became renowned for its fierce tone, uncompromising stance towards the new leaders and institutions of the revolution, and advocacy of basic human rights for the poorest members of society, yet calling for prisoners of the Revolution to be killed before they could be freed in what became known as the September Massacres. 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 periodical L'Ami du peuple (Friend of the People), which helped make him their unofficial link with the radical, republican Jacobin group that came to power after June 1793. Marat was assassinated by Charlotte Corday, a Girondin sympathizer, while taking a medicinal bath for his debilitating skin condition. In death, Marat became an icon to the Jacobins as a revolutionary martyr, as portrayed in Jacques-Louis David's famous painting, The Death of Marat.

Danton

Was a leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution, in particular as the first president of the Committee of Public Safety. Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in the overthrow of the French monarchy and the establishment of the First French Republic".

French Invasion on Russia

When he lead his Grande Armée across the Niemen River into Russia. Although it never lost a pitched battle there, the Grande Armée was almost completely wiped out within six months by freezing temperatures, food shortages, disease and Russian assaults. This proved to be the beginning of the end for Napoleon, who was forced into exile to Elba in April 1814.

Napoleonic Code

a comprehensive system of laws that gave the country a uniform set of laws and eliminated many injustices; it limited liberty and promoted order and authority over individual rights and restored slavery in the French colonies of the Carribbean

Meritocracy

a society where rank and status were defined by ability and achievement, rather than birthright and privilege. For this they looked to the newly formed United States, where a revolution had transferred government to men of talent and ability.

coup d'etat

a sudden seizure of power; a "blow to the state"--when Napoleon used the armed forces under his command to dissolve the National legislature and assume power as a dictator

Estates General

an action that led directly to the outbreak of the Revolution. Louis XVI was deposed in 1792 and executed a year later.

Church concordat

established a new relationship between church and state, the government recognized the influence of the Church , but rejected Church control in national affairs

Battle at Waterloo

when Napoleon left exile to once again take power in France, European forces quickly took up arms and ended Napoleon's last bid for power