AP Euro Review - French Revolution, Napoleon, and Europe's Reaction

defeat of Napoleon

Caused by the peninsula war in Spain, growing French nationalism, and the 1812 invasion of Russia.

sans-culottes

Those who do not wear fancy pants. A rather radical part of the French Revolution.

Civil Constitution of the Church (or Clergy)

Legislation passed in 1790 that made the Church a department of the state. Bishops were to be chosen by assemblies of parish priests, who were also elected by others. Clergy became civil servants paid by the state, had to swear loyalty to France.

The Convention

Legislative body formed to come up with a new constitution that would end the constitutional monarchy.

Directory

New French government created by the Thermidorians. Led by an executive council of five men each called director. A two-house legislature made up of the Council of the Ancients which voted on that proposed by the Council of Five Hundred.

Tennis Court Oath

Oath between the members of the Third Estate in which they promised to continue to meet until a new constitution was established.

Battle of Trafalgar

October 21, 1805. Battle between French and English navies, English won. Destroyed any hope of the French landing in England.

Concordat with Rome

1801. Declared that Catholicism was the religion of the majority of the French but didn't establish it as the state religion. Kept Church in control of the state. Also made it so that the papacy could select bishops but only from a list created by the First Consul. The state would pay clerical salaries and all clergy had to swear an oath supporting the state. Finally, the Church was to give up its claims to those lands confiscated during the Revolution and France was to switch back to the regular calendar.

Treaty of Amiens

1802. Between France and Britain. Declared peace between the two countries.

Battle of Ulm

1805. Battle led by Napoleon against the Austrians. Nappy won.

Congress of Viena

1814. A meeting between the four great powers (Brit, Austria, Prussia, Russia) and a few others to determine what to do with post-Napoleonic France. Wanted to prevent nationalism and liberalism. Created new states around France to control it (Netherlands, Prussian lands along the Rhine, Piedmont to Genoa), reduced France to 1792 size.

Duke of Brunswick

A Prussian commander who issued a manifesto which promised to destroy Paris if the royal family was harmed.

Abbe Sieyes

A clergyman who wrote a famous pamphlet about how the Third Estate is the true political representation of France and how it needs to be given more power.

Vendee

A counter-revolution in western France in 1793 based on anger towards restrictions placed on the Church.

Austerlitz

A great French victory over Russia.

Marat

A sans-culottes hero who was stabbed to death by Girondin Charlotte Corday.

plebiscite

A vote by the people.

Hebertists

An extreme radical faction of the Reign of Terror led by Robespierre. Violently anti-Christian and wanted to see the government implement further economic controls.

Battle of Jena

Battle between France and Prussia after Prussia joined the Third Coalition. Obliterated the Prussian army, French occupied Berlin.

Edmund Burke

British Whig leader who was cautious about the French Revolution. Saw that they needed to keep thei present political structure and seek to achieve evolutionary rather than revolutionary change.

Assembly of Notables

Called for in 1787 by Louis XVI. Made up of leading aristocrats and churchmen gathered to see if they would be willing to pay a new land tax that would apply to everyone regardless of social status. They refused, instead demanded a greater share of governing the nation.

Civil Code of 1804

Created by Napoleon, also called the Napoleonic Code. Provided for a single unitary legal system for all of France, upheld natural rights. Reversed advances made by women.

Committee of Public Safety

Created by the Convention during the Reign of Terror. Assumed almost dictatorial power of France. Leaders include Danton, Carnot, and Robsepierre (Jacobins).

Great Fear

During the French Revolution, a period filled with rumors about the nobility ganging up on the peasants. This resulted in massive attacks on noble estates. Led to the aristocrats renouncing their feudal rights.

William Pit the Younger

English Prime Minister who was quite enthusiastic about the French Revolution, believing that France would emerge from it greater than ever.

Cult of the Supreme Being

Established by Robespierre to move people away from the corrupting influence of the Church. Turned Notre Dame into the Temple of Reason.

Commune of Paris

Formally recognized by Louis XVI after the storming of the Bastille. A then-new municipal government.

Napoleon Bonaparte

French emperor who first gained power after being caused to break up a royalist rebellion in Paris, protecting the Directory (which he eventually got rid of). Also, a former Jacobin.

Girondins

French political club leading the National Assembly, named for the department in southwestern France where many members came from. Favored starting a revolutionary war to free people living in absolutist states. Wanted to simply exile the king, laissez-faire, maintain some degree of local autonomy.

Jacobins

French political club that was represented in the National Assembly. Most popular club during the revolution. Wanted to execute the king, a powerful centralized government.

Varennes

French town on the border of the Netherlands where Louis and his family were caught.

The Plain

Group in the middle of the Convention who were not directly tied to either the Jacobins or the Girondins.

Lazare Carnot

Head of the French military who issued the proclamation calling for a "levee en masse" in August 1793, the first time that all citizens were called on to serve their country.

laissez-faire

Idea that the government shouldn't play an active role in regulating the economy.

Third Coalition

Joining of Great Britain, Austria, and Russia in an alliance. Napoleon went after them.

Continental System

Kind of economic war attempted by Nappy. Banned British goods from arriving on the continent. Just weakened the economies of the states that Nap had conquered, did little to advance French economy.

Duke of Wellington

Led British forces against Napoleon.

Marquis de Lafayette

Led the National Guard, which Louis XVI allowed to be formed after the Bastille. A champion of liberty, having been involved with the American Revolution.

cahiers de doleances

Lists of grievances presented to the King by various electoral assemblies in the Estates General. Still loyal to the monarchy but wanted to lessen absolutism.

Confederacy of the Rhine

Loose grouping of 16 German states placed under the influence of France that replaced the Holy Roman Empire.

Hundred Days

Name given to Napoleon's return.

Pope Pius VI

Pope that denounced the Civil Constitution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Baron von Stein

Prussian administrator who worked with Count von Hardenberg to continue monarchical power and aristocratic privilege. Brought reforms, though, and ended the Junker monopoly over the owernship of land and abolished serfdom.

Alexander I

Russian tsar who decided it was necessary to make peace with France.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

Similar to the American Declaration of Independence, declared the rights of French citizens. Written by Lafeyette. Very Enlightenment-based.

Battle of Waterloo

The escaped Napoleon and his army vs. the British and Prussian armies. Nap defeated again. 1815.

Republic of Virtue

The government that the Jacobins wanted. To achieve it, they felt that they had to destroy all traces of the old monarchy. Included a new calendar, attacked religion.

The Mountain

The radical Jacobins in the Convention who met on a raised platform.

Thermidorians

Those opposed to Robespierre, arrested and executed him. Led the reconstruction after the revolution, abolished the Paris Commune.

Treaty of Tilsit

Treaty between Russia (Alex I) and France (Nap). Ended up saving Prussia (although it was shrunken to 1/2 its previous size, forced to be a French ally).

First Consul

What Napoleon deemed himself in his constitution, widely received by the public.

Olympe de Gouges

Wrote The Rights of Women in 1791, in which she argued that women should have the right to be educated, to control their own property, and to initiate divorce. Didn't demand full rights for women, however.

Count of Artois

Youngest brother of Louis XVI, leader of the emigres, or the nobles who fled France and were working to restore their regime. Encouraged Louis to flee France, which led to his capture and ultimate execution.