Finish stages of the French Revolution HW#4

Spain and Britain invasion

In September 1793 British navy blocked the colony and invading British troops captured French territory on the island. For Spain and Britain, the revolutionary chaos provided a tempting opportunity to capture a profitable colony. Desperate for forces to oppose France's enemies, National Convention promised to free all those who fought for France. By October 1793, they had abolished slavery throughout the colony. On February 4, 1794, the Convention ratified the abolition of slavery and extended it to all French territories, including the Caribbean colonies of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

The War of Haitian Independence

L'ouverture was acting as an independent ruler of the western province of Saint-Domingue. Another general Andre Rigaud (1761-1811) set up his own government in the southern peninsula. Tensions mounted between them. While L'Ouverture was a freed slave of African descent, Rigaud belonged to the the free colored elite. This elite resented the growing power of former slaves like L'Ouverture who in turn accused them of adopting the racism of white settlers. Civil war broke out between the two sides in 1799 when L'Ouverture's forces invaded the south. Victory over Rigaud in 1800 gave L'Ouverture control of the entire colony. Napoleon had his own plan for re-establishing slavery and using the profits as a basis for expanding French power. Napoleon ordered his bother in law (General Charles Victore-Emmanuel Leclerc) to lead an expedition to the island to crush the new regime. Leclerc arrested L'Ouverture and deported him and his family to France. L'Ouverture died of pneumonia in French prison near Swiss border. Independence of Haiti in 1804 brought fears to slaveholding societies in the Caribbean and the United States. They were concerned about potential reversal of their power and privilege to life. President Jefferson refused to recognize Haiti as an independent nation. The liberal proponents of American Revolution thus chose to protect slavery at the expense of revolutionary ideals of universal human rights. French government imposed crushing charges on Haiti to compensate for the loss they suffered. This did not help Haiti economy to grow. Haiti independence help spread the idea that liberty, equality and fraternity must apply to all people.

The Haitian Revolution 1791-1804

Prior to 1789 Saint-Domingue, the French colony reaped huge profits through a ruthless system of slave-based plantation agriculture. News of revolution in France led to contradictory aspirations among white planters, free people of color and slaves. While revolutionary authorities debated how far to extend the rights of man on Saint-Domingue, first free people of color then enslaved people took matters into their own hands, rising up to claim their freedom. A massive slave revolt on 1792 ultimately succeeded in ending slavery and winning independence from France. in 1804 Haiti became the first nation in history to claim its freedom through slave revolt.

The Treaty of Tilsit in 1807

Prussia lost half of its population while Russia accepted Napoleon's reorganization of western and central Europe and promised to enforce Napoleon's economic blockade against British goods.

Revolutionary Aspirations in Saint-Domingue

Social tensions in Saint-Domingue due to variety of social groups who resented and mistrusted one another. There were French colonial officials, wealthy plantation owners and merchants and poor immigrants. Individuals of French or European descent born in the colonies were called "creoles" and they developed their own interests at times distinct from those of metropolitan France. Free people of color were free people of African and mixed African and European descent . Most of the island's enslaved population performed grueling toil in the island's sugar plantations. The planters used extremely brutal methods such as beating, maiming and executing slaves to maintain their control. The 1685 Code Noir (Black Code) that set the parameters of slavery was intended to provide minimal standards of humane treatment but they were rarely enforced. The plantation master would replace slaves who died rather than try to keep their slaves healthy. Despite their brutality, slave holders freed a large number of their slaves, mostly their own mixed-race children thereby producing one of the largest populations of free people of color. The Code Noir granted free people of color the same legal status as whites; they could own property, live where they wanted and pursue any education or career. From the 1760s on, the rising prosperity and visibility of the free people of color provoked resentment from the white population. In response, colonial administrators took away some of their rights and by the time of the French Revolution, they were under discriminatory laws. The news of abolitionist movements in France led to hopes that the mother country might grant them freedom. Free people of color looked to reform in Paris as a means of gaining political power and reasserting equal status with whites. The Creole elites looked to revolutionary ideals of representative government for the chance to gain control of their own affairs as had the American colonists before them. National Assembly disappointed all of them. They were concerned that support for free people of color would result in slave insurrection and independence, the Assembly refused to extend French constitutional safeguard to the colonies. The Assembly also reaffirmed French monopolies over colonial trade thereby angering Creole planters as well. So all citizens of Saint-Domingue were unhappy with the mother country just like Americans were of Britain.

Toussaint L'Ouverture (1743-1803)

A freed slave who had joined the revolt was named a Spanish officer. Since the beginning of the slave insurrection, the Spanish colony of Santa Domingo, just the east of Saint-Domingue, had supported rebel slaves. The Spanish began to bring slave leaders and their soldiers into the Spanish army. The tide of battle began to turn when he switched sides, bringing his military and political skills along with 4000 well trained soldiers to support the French war effort. By 1796, the French had regained control of the colony and L'Ouverture had emerged as a key military leader. In May 1796 he was named commander of the western province of Saint-Domingue. The increasingly conservative nature of the French government during the Thermidorian reaction, threatened to undo the gains made by former slaves and free people of color.

Napoleon's expansion in Europe

After coming into power, he sent peace feelers to Austria and Great Britain. When they rejected his overtures, Napoleon's armies decisively defeated the Austrians. In 1802 Napoleon was secure but driven to expand his power further. He aggressively redrew the map of Germany to weaken Austria and encouraged the secondary stated of southwestern Germany to side with France. He tried to restrict British trade with all of Europe. He then plotted to attack Great Britain but his Mediterranean fleet was destroyed by Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 1805.

Napoleonic Code

Also known as the Civil Code of March 1804 reasserted two of the fundamental principles of the Revolution on 1789; equality of all male citizens before the law and security of wealth and private property. It also restricted the rights given to women by previous revolutionary laws.

Treaty of Luneville (1801)

Austria accepted the loss of almost all its Italian possessions and German territory on the west bank of the Rhine was incorporated into France.

The Third Coalition

Austria, Russia and Sweden joined with Britain to form the Third Coalition against France shortly before the Battle of Trafalgar. They felt that Napoleon was a threat to the European balance of power. They were no match for Napoleon who scored a brilliant victory over them at the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805. Alexander I decided to pull back and Austria accepted large territorial losses in return for peace as the Third Coalition collapsed.

Treaty of Amiens 1802

British agreed and allowed France to control the former Dutch Republic (known as the Batavian Republic since 1795), the Austrian Netherlands, the west bank of the Rhine and most of the Italian peninsula. This treaty was a diplomatic triumph for Napoleon and peace with honor and profit increased his popularity at home.

Jean Jacques Dessalines

L'Ouverture's lieutenant who united the resistance and he led it to a crushing victory over French forces. On January 1, 1804 Dessalines formally declared the independence of Saint-Domingue and the creating of the new sovereign nation of Haiti. The Haitian constitution was ratified in 1805.

After the collapse of the Third Coalition

Napoleon proceeded to reorganize the German states. In 1806 He abolished many of the tiny German states as well as the ancient Holy Roman Empire and established the German Confederation of the Rhine, a union of 15 German states minus Austria, Prussia and Saxony. He named himself "protector" of the confederation, Napoleon firmly controlled western Germany. Prussia was alarmed with Napoleon's intervention in Germany sent armies against France. Napoleon attacked and won two more brilliant victories in October 1806 at Jena and Auerstadt. The war with Prussia, now joined by Russia continued into the following spring. After Napoleon's large armies won another victor, Alexander I of Russia was ready to negotiate the peace.

Concordat of 1801

The pope obtained the right for French Catholics to practice their religion freely, but Napoleon gained political power, his government now nominated bishops, paid the clergy and exerted great influence over the church.

The outbreak of Revolt

The second stage of revolution in Saint-Domingue also resulted from decisive action from slaves. In August 1791 group of slaves held a series of night time meetings to plan a mass insurrection. Many of these slaves had fought in the civil wars of the kingdom of Congo and had military experience. The revolt began on a few plantations on the night of August 22. Within few days the uprising had swept much of the northern plain. During the next month, enslaved combatants attacked and destroyed hundreds of sugar and coffee plantations. On April 4,1792 as war loomed with the European states, the national Assembly issued a decree extending full citizenship rights to free people of color including the right to vote for men. The National Assembly hoped that this measure would win the loyalty of free people of color and their aid in defeating the slave rebellion.

What did L'Ouverture and Bonaparte have in common?

They both have military background and successful military leader. They both became powerful leaders and tried to unit their country. Both used force to eliminate their enemies. Bonaparte wanted power for himself. L'Ouverture wanted to control Saint-Domingue and rebuild the country. He was not interested in gaining more territory to control like Napoleon did.

Napoleon

He left home and became a lieutenant in the French artillery in 1785. Rising rapidly in the ew army, Napoleon was placed in command of French forces in ital. and won brilliant victories there. His next campaign in Egypt was a failure but he returned to France before the fiasco was known. His reputation remained intact. Napoleon soon learned that some prominent members of the legislature were plotting against the Directory. The plotters were dissatisfied with the weak ruling of the Directory. Ten years of upheaval and uncertainty had made firm rule much more appealing than liberty and popular politics to these disillusioned revolutionaries. Abbe Sieyes wrote that the nobility was grossly over-privileged and that the entire people should rule the French nation. The flamboyant Napoleon was an ideal figure of authority. He was revered for his heroism. On November 9, 1799 he and his conspirators ousted the Directors and the soldiers disbanded the legislature. Napoleon was named first consul of the republic and a new constitution consolidating his position was overwhelmingly approved by a nationwide vote in December 1799. Napoleon became the real ruler of France even though Republican appearances were maintained. His domestic policy centered on using his popularity and charisma to maintain order and end civil strife. He appeased powerful groups in France by giving them favors in return for loyal service. The Napoleonic Code (also known as the Civil Code of March 1804) reasserted two of the fundamental principles of the Revolution on 1789; equality of all male citizens before the law and security of wealth and private property. Napoleon and the leading bankers of Paris established the privately owned Bank of France in 1800 which served the interests of both the state and the financial oligarchy. He won over the peasants by defending the gains in land and status they had won during the Revolution. He also consolidated his rule by recruiting disillusioned revolutionaries to form a network of minsters prefects and centrally appointed mayors. He did not ignore the old nobility either. In 1800 and 1802, Napoleon granted amnesty to 100,000 emigres on the condition that they return to France and take a loyalty oath. The returning elite soon occupied many high posts in the expanding centralized state. Napoleon also created a new imperial nobility in order to reward his most talented generals and officials. He also used his diplomatic skills to heal the Catholic Church in France sot that it could serve as social stability. After much negotiations, Napoleon and Pope Pius VII signed the Concordat of 1801. The domestic reforms of Napoleon's early years were his greatest achievement. But woman lost many of the gains they had made in the 1790s. Under the Napoleonic Code, women were dependent of either their fathers or their husbands. They could not make contracts or have bank accounts in their own names. Napoleon and his advisers aimed at re-establishing a family monarchy where the power of the husband and father was as absolute over the wife and the children as that of Napoleon was over his subjects. He also limited free speech and freedom on the press and manipulated voting in the occasional elections. Political suspects were held in state prisons.

Vincent Oge (1750-1791)

Free man of color returned from Paris, determined to win rights for his people. He raised an arm of several hundred and sent letter to the new Provincial Assembly of Saint-Domingue demanding political rights for all free citizens. The Assembly refused so he and his followers attacked them. After initial victories, his army was defeated and Oge was tortured and executed by colonial officials. Revolutionary leaders in Paris were more sympathetic to Oge's cause. In May 1791, the National Assembly granted political rights to free people of color born to two free parents who possess sufficient property. The Whites in Saint-Domingue were furious and refused to enact it. Violence now erupted between groups of whites and free people of color.