The French Revolution - Chapter 18

Great Fear

A period of panic and riot by peasants and others amid rumors that the king and aristocracy were going to overthrow the third estate (commoners)

Bastille

Fortress in Paris used as a prison; French Revolution began when Parisians stormed it in 1789.

National Assembly

Group set up by the Third Estate because they thought they were being treated unfairly.

When did Napoleon become the leader of France?

He became emperor of France in 1799, when the French revolution ended.

National Assembly

French congress established by representatives of the Third Estate after they are locked out of Versailles.

Why did Louis XVI accept the decrees of the National Assembly?

He did not, at first. But on October 5th, 1789, thousands of women with pitchforks, broomsticks, swords, and pistols marched from Paris to Versailles to meet with the king. They told him that their children were starving and that there was no bread/food for them. These women forced Louis to accept the new decrees. They forced him to return to Paris as a gesture of goodwill and to show support for the commoners. He brought wagonloads of flours from the royal storehouses.

Louis XVI

He was the king of France at the start of the revolution; he was weak and indecisive

Tennis Court Oath

A pledge made by the members of France's National Assembly in 1789, in which they vowed to continue meeting until they had drawn up a new constitution

Why didn't the Estates-General last very long?

Because the kings had historically been so powerful, the Estates General had not met since 1614---for 175 years! Traditionally, each estate had one vote, so the first & second estate could outvote the larger 3rd estate. The third estate wanted to have one vote per deputy, not one vote per estate. This would have given them the power to have the majority vote. The king said no!

Bourgeoisie

Intellectual, well-educated middle class members of the Third Estate who thought they should have a say in how France was run.

Why did the Continental System fail?

It failed because Allied states resented being told by Napoleon that they could not trade with the British.

Creator of Guillotine

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, originally developed as a more humane method of execution.

What was the purpose of the National Assembly?

The Third Estate declared on June 17, 1789, that it was the National Assembly and that it would draft a constitution. They wanted to give more rights to the commoners and less power to the King.

St Helena

area where Napoleon was exiled (the second time), where Napoleon eventually died

Republic of Virtue

Robespierre and the CPS took steps to control and shape French society: they created a democratic republic composed of "good citizens"; good citizens would be formed by good education; slavery would be abolished in French colonies. they tried to control food prices and keep inflation down.

What strategy did the Russians use to defeat Napoleon?

Scorched Earth. Also, Russia was too large and vast to be occupied/conquered by the French.

Coup d'etat

a sudden overthrow of the government. Napoleon led the Coup d'etat that ended the French Revolution.

Elba

a tiny island off the Italian coast to which Napoleon Bonaparte was banished. Able was I ere I saw Elba.

Reign of Terror

(1793-94) during the French Revolution when thousands were executed for "disloyalty"--anyone suspected of being a traitor or counter-revolutionary was killed. Almost half of them were executed by guillotine.

What are the 3 Estates?

France's population was divided into three groups or estates. The first estate was clergy (owned 10% of land; paid no taxes); second estate was nobility (owned 25% of land and paid no taxes); third estate was commoners: (owned 65% of land and paid 100% of taxes!)

What is the Taille?

France's primary tax.

Napoleon

French general who became emperor of the French (1769-1821)

What were the periods/eras of the French Revolution (know them in order!)

French revolution lasted from 1789-1799

Name 6 causes of the French Revolution

1) France was ruled by an absolute monarch, Louis XVI, who was ineffective and over-spent; 2) A rigid social class existed ("The three Estates") and the larger, lower ranking groups felt they were treated unfairly; 3) The French Government was bankrupt--this was the most immediate cause of the French Revolution; 4) The Third Estate (commoners) had no voice in government and paid 100% of all taxes (The Taille); 5) Bad harvests, rising food prices, and unfair taxation caused civil unrest; and 6) The political goals of the nobility and the middle class challenged the monarchy---they wanted changes, too.

What were the long-term effects of the French Revolution?

1) Napoleon's army conquered many other countries and changed many traditional political and class-based systems; 2) French armies spread nationalism and Enlightenment ideals to other countries

What were the short-term effects of the French Revolution?

1) The end of the monarchy initially caused chaos (it wasn't clear anymore who was in charge and how things would work); 2) France was attacked by foreign countries (because when they saw the turmoil and civil unrest, they thought it could be an opportunity to capture the country); 3) The beheading of the Royals and the Reign of Terror led to internal disorder; 4) Napoleon seized power and became the emperor of France

Why didn't France have money? Where did it all go?

1) They were only taxing the 3rd estate, not the 1st & 2nd (who were wealthy and could have afforded to pay); 2) the king spent enormous amounts of money on wars (e.g., helping American colonists against the British) and court luxuries (like Versailles--you were there).

Consulate

government established in France after the overthrow of the Directory in 1799

Robespierre

leader of the Committee of Public Safety; chief architect of the Reign of Terror; a Jacobin.

Enlightenment Ideas

new ideas questioning the government; the desire for equality, inspired the French Revolution

Relics of feudalism

obligations of peasants to noble landlords that survived into the French Revolution period; commoners had obligations to nobles

French Revolution

1789-1799

The First Estate

The clergy. They paid no tax.

Clergy

church officials

The Mountains

Represented the interests of radical in Paris; many belonged to the Jacobins (Robespierre was a Jacobin)

Faction

A group / political club with different political and social views. Examples include the Girondins (who feared the mobs in Paris and wanted to keep the king alive) and the Mountain and Jacobins, who felt the king should be executed so he could not rally opponents to the Republic.

Directory

A group of 5 men who were given control of France following the Reign of Terror; they were selected by the Group of Elders (250 men)

Estates-General

A legislative body with representatives from all three of the estates in France (each estate gets 1 vote).

Who were the bourgeoisie?

A part of the third estate, they were only 8% of the population, but owned 20-25% of the land. This group included merchants, bankers, lawyers, doctors, writers, holders of public office, and other professionals. We would be bourgeoisie.

Estates-General

An assembly of representatives from all three of the estates, or social classes, in France

Paris Commune

A radical socialist and revolutionary government that ruled Paris in Spring of 1792; they took the king captive and called for a National Convention, demanding more radical change. Many members of the Paris Commune were the sans-culottes.

Nationalism

A strong feeling of pride in and devotion to one's country. Napoleon created very strong feelings of this.

When was the Committee of Public Safety established?

After Louis the XVI was executed and there was turmoil in France, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Dutch Republic took up arms against France. They threatened to invade France. France became worried that the old regime would get reestablished: internally, there were riots and domestic uprisings; and externally, other countries were threatening to invade. So the National Convention gave the Committee of Public Safety broad powers---it was led by Georges Danton first, then by radical Jacobin Maximilien Robespierre. For roughly one year (1793-1794), the Committee of Public Safety took control of the government to defend France against domestic (internal) threats and adopted policies that became known as the Reign of Terror.

Who opposed the French Revolution?

As you can expect, those who had the most to lose: so the Royals, and also the clergy. The new revolutionary government needed to raise money and they seized and sold of Church lands to increase the state's revenues. The Church was eventually brought under the control of the state, so they didn't like that very much. Previously, they had enjoyed huge power. Monarchy allies in other countries who did not want to lose their power either, if things went badly in France for the king.

Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen

Declared all titles to by illegal, and everyone is equal ("Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Death")

Georges Danton

Dominated the Committee for Public Safety prior to Robespierre; less radical than Robespierre.

How many representatives were in each Estate-General group?

First estate had ~300 reps; Second estate had about ~300 reps; Third estate had ~600 reps. So with a few sympathizers from the 1st and 2nd estate, the Third Estate could have had a majority of the vote, if things were based on reps, called deputies. But the king said no to this approach.

Was Marie Antoinette popular?

In general, she was known and disliked for her extravagance.

The Third Estate

Made up from all the workers in France; from wealthy doctors to poor farmers. Heavily taxed.

Who controlled the CPS during the extreme Reign of Terror?

Maximilien Robespierre. He was obsessed with ridding France of all corrupt elements, even though by 1794 the French had largely defeated their foreign foes. Many people feared him, so the deputies of the National Convention gathered enough votes to condemn him and get him executed on the guillotine. After Robespierre's death, the Jacobins lost power and more moderate middle-class leaders took control. The Reign of Terror was over.

Napoleon's domestic policies

Napoleon brought stability to France and established a single law code that recognized the equality of all citizens before the law---"all men are equal." Napoleon's most famous domestic achievement was to codify the laws. Seven laws were created, but the most important was the civil code or the Napoleonic Code. It preserved many of the principles that revolutions had fought for such as equality of all citizens.

What was the purpose of Napoleon's Continental System?

Napoleon knew he couldn't beat the British at sea (Britain had the strongest navy), so Nappy tried to beat them financially. He established the Continental System to prevent British goods from being sold to Europe, hoping to weaken the British financially and win an economic war.

What happened to The Directory?

Napoleon overthrew them in 1799 in a coup d'etat ---a sudden overthrow of the government.

Aristocracy

Nobility of France

Girodins

Political group/club: OUTSIDE of PARIS that preferred the king NOT be executed!

Estates

Social classes of France

What was built in place of the guillotine that beheaded the King?

The Egyptian obelisk in the Place de la Concorde (you have been there!)

What decrees did the National Assembly make?

The National Assembly decided to abolish all legal privileges of the nobles and the clergy. They also declared the Rights of Man, affirming basis liberties including the Rights of Man to property, liberty, security, and resistance to oppression. (This sounds like our Declaration of Independence, right?)

Committee of Public Safety

The National Convention established the CPS to confront internal, domestic threats---commoners rioting, etc.

King Louis XVI

The ineffective, eventually beheaded, king of France during the revolution.

What single cause is thought to have been the most important trigger to the French Revolution?

The near collapse of the French budget---bad harvests, a slowdown in manufacturing, rising prices for food and unemployment made things bad, and when the government decided to help America, the budget went into total crisis. With France on the verge of collapse, Louise XVI was forced to call a meeting of the Estates General (representatives of all 3 estates) to raise taxes. It didn't go well.

The Second Estate

The nobles of France. They were rich landowners and paid no tax.

Marie-Antoinette

The very unpopular,eventually beheaded, Austrian-born queen of France.

How did the Directory stay in power?

They relied on the military, because the Directory had enemies from both conservative people and radicals: some wanted to bring back the monarchy, and others wanted to be extreme like the Reign of Terror. And France still had severe money problems.

What was the Legislative Assembly?

This was the governing body of France for about 1 year from 1791 to 1792: it was a limited monarchy, which meant there was still a king, but the Legislative Assembly made the laws. It consisted of "active citizens" ---men over 25 who paid a certain amount of taxes. They wanted this to be a conservative group.

How was Napoleon considered a preserver of the Revolution and an absolute ruler?

When Napoleon overthrew the Directory, he set up a new government called the consulate. In theory, it was a Republic but in reality, Napoleon held absolute power. Napoleon did keep various policies from the Revolution, such as all citizens were equal before the law. And he gave people more opportunities to get into government careers. On the other hand, he destroyed some revolutionary ideas about liberty, shutting down newspapers, insisting that all manuscripts be censored by the government, etc. Mail was even opened by government police.

What was the Tennis Court Oath?

When the 600 delegates of the National Assembly were locked out of Versailles, they walked to a nearby tennis court and swore to meet until they had a Constitution. Some clergy and nobles joined in the Oath.

What is The Directory?

When the Reign of Terror ended, The National Convention moved in a more conservative direction: 1) it restricted the power of the CPS; 2) churches were allowed to reopen; and 3) a new constitution was created. To keep any one group from having too much power, they set up two legislative houses: a lower house (the Council of 500) drafted laws; and the upper house (the Council of Elders) accepted or rejected the proposed laws. Sort of like our government in the USA today. Only 30,000 people in all of France could qualify to be electors; people with more money. The Directory was a committee of 5 people who chosen by the Council of Elders from a list supplied by the Council of 500. The Directory was known for being very corrupt and took advantage of the government to make money for themselves.

Sans-culottes

Without breeches; commoners wore long pants / trousers as a political statement that they were not rich dandies.