History 102
Constitution of 1791
Constitution created by the French Revolution that had a limited monarchy
Cult of Reason
No god but reason itself
Tennis Court Oath (1789)
Oath taken by representatives of the Third Estate in June 1789, in which they pledged to form a National Assembly and write a constitution limiting the powers of the king.
• 1796 - begins Italian Campaign
• Goal: conquer territories in northern Italy for France • Clashes with Austrian forces
Longterm Causes for Revolution
"growth of absolutism in France "Financial trouble - France in extreme debt "Privilaged orders (nobility, clergy) have majority of weatth but except from taves voice of the people (estates general) unsummoned since 161. -No longes reflects socio-economic realities -Bourgecisie demands greates poritical access "Enligntenment ideas provide an ideal that differs from reality - growing demand for peoplés parricipation in government -Nobility resonted lost political power to the king
conditions of 18th century
'Agricultural Revolution in Britian confronts food proslem in larger population - Encloser ACTS New crops and use of land, new farming tennology, more commercially driven •population growth - Better medicine people living longer emergence of the Bourgeoisie, an urban middle class. •Global umpires "comperition berreen central porers state- building
French Monarchy
'Louis XVI (1774-1101) Supported American colonists when they rebelled against Britian. -Fairly Weak King, lacked charisma and skill of the sun king Still heavily guided by Absolutism " Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) Daughter of Marie Theresa of Austria -10 - marries future Louis XVI - marriage based on recent alliances between France and Austria (traditional germ)
Law of 22 Prairial
(1794) Passed by Robespierre, this permitted the revolutionary tribunal to convict suspects without hearing substantial evidence. The Reign of Terror grew even more fanatical.
France under the National Convention: Assemble National Convention to create new constitution
- France formally declared a republic -Dominated by Jacobin interests -Maximillen Robespierre elected head of National Convention
10 October 1793
- Marie Antoinette executed after speedy trial
Marie Antoinette increasingly associated w/ frivolous lifestyle
-1783 commissions Queen's Hamlet at Versailles --idealized village far from real conditions of actual farmers -association w/ "let them eat cake" but symbol of her declining popularity -August 10, 1792 Paris Commune leads revolutionaries to storm Tuileries Palace -Imprisons royal family -September 21, 1792 Monarchy abolished
Significance of Terror
-Estimated 40,000 executed -Condemnation of radical execution -almost 300,000 arrested
Oct. 1791 National assembly disbands, succeeded by the Legislative Assembly Failures
-Excessive printing of paper money causes inflation -Treatment of Catholic Church alienates French Catholics -Tensions w/ Austria lead to War of the First Coalition *France v alliance of European powers -increasing demand for republic
Jan. 21 1793
-Execution of Louis XVI for treason by guillotine - Introduce republican calendar -Emergence of civic cults (cult of reason, cult of the supreme being)
Queen's Hamlet
-Idealized village, far from the real conditions of actual farmers/peasants
France Under the Legislative Assembly: - Sep. 1791 National Assembly produces the Constitution of 1791
-Limited monarch's power in favor of a representative assembly -Est. a constitutional monarchy
France Under the National Assembly
-National Assembly assumes real governing power -Factionalism w/in French politics -promote enlightenment beliefs (freedom of speech, press, assembly, etc. equality under the law) -Try to address financial crisis (confiscated church property to back new currency
April 1793
-National Convention creates the Committee of Public Safety - restore public order -protect the new republic
Spring 1793
-Pro monarchy revolt breaks out in West France
July 27 1794
-Robespierre overthrown - committee of Public Safety dissolved
Committee gains more power/authority
-Robespierre wields Committee to expand his power
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
-Statement of fundamental political rights adopted by the French National Assembly at the beginning of the French Revolution. - Adopted August 26, 1789, created by the National Assembly to give rights to all (except women).
Louis XVI still king but greatly weakened
-Underestimated revolutionaries -Requests aid from other nations to restore power backfires
Law of Suspects
-orders arrest of anyone plotting against republic
Constitution of 1793
-provided for universal male suffrage, public edu., abolition of slavery, etc - threats to republic prevent its execution
Constitution of 1795
-• Need new constitution (again) - Goal: prevent future abuse of power (like Committee) • Moderate republicans assume direction - Represent interests of middle class, not working poor • August 1795 - create Constitution of 1795 - Creates 2-house parliament - Executive branch called the Directory, consists of 5 men - Limits who has power to vote to mostly upper middle class. • 27 Sept 1795 - goes into effect - Working poor dissatisfied with new government
Average executions
20 a day
Legislative Assembly
A French congress with the power to create laws and approve declarations of war, established by the constitution of 1791.
civil constitution of clergy
A document, issued by the National Assembly in July 1790, that broke ties with the Catholic Church and established a national church system in France with a process for the election of regional bishops. The document angered the pope and church officials and turned many French Catholics against the revolutionaries.
republic
A form of government in which citizens choose their leaders by voting
Girondists
A moderate group that fought for control of the French National Convention in 1793.
Thermidorian Reaction
A reaction to the violence of the Reign of Terror in 1794, resulting in the execution of Robespierre and the loosening of economic controls.
Agricultural Revolution
A time when new inventions such as the seed drill and the steel plow made farming easier and faster. The production of food rose dramatically.
War of the First Coalition
French revolutionary forces were soundly defeated by the Austrian military; only the conflict between eastern monarchs over the division of Poland saved France from defeat; intensified existing unrest and dissatisfaction of unpropertied classes
National Assembly of France
Governing body of France that succeeded the Estates-General in 1789 during the French Revolution. It was composed of, and defined by, the delegates of the Third Estate.
Natural Laws/Rights
Inalterable privileges that ought not to be withheld from any person
Flight to Varennes
King Louis XVI and his families attempt to escape Paris; made it only to Varennes where they were arrested and put on house arrest. End of French Monarchy -Goal is to escape to Austria -Identified, captured near Varennes -brough back to Paris, confined to Tuileries Palace Significance -King loses sympathy (ruins his reputation) -Will help force Louis XVI to accept new constitution of 1791 -Fuels early demand for a republic
Maximillen Robespierre
Lawyer who fought for the 3rd Estate at the Estates General and became one of the leaders in the Committee of Public Safety. He became a representative of the National Assembly and the Directory, leading the Reign of Terror. He eventually released a new list of people to be executed; his followers got paranoid and arrested him, sending him to the guillotine.
Developements in French Monarchy
Louis XIX (r. 1613-1715) made france a model for absolutism * MI5- Louis XIN dies, Succeeded by 5-year-old grandson Louis XV (7.1715-1774) unpopular monarch, absolutism weakens -lack of portical command -Significant dest, reies on heavy tax burden on Commoners. -French notes begin to restore porexs they had lost to king. -Costly foregn wars (incl. seven years' war, IBle-1163) resurt in loss of French empire.
Jacques Turgot
Louis XVI's controller general of finance (1774-1776). He wanted to end the corvee, sought to cut gov't expenditures and to abolish trade guilds, restricting the growth of the French economy. Dismissed by Louis and became a symbol of the inability of the French monarchy to deal w/ its problems.
Bastille
Medieval fortress that was converted to a prison stormed by peasants for ammunition during the early stages of the French Revolution.
Jacobins
Radical republicans during the French Revolution. They were led by Maximilien Robespierre from 1793 to 1794.
Cult of the Supreme Being
The Temple of Reason was the most notorious example of this deist movement of Robespierre
Directory (1795-1799)
The five-man executive committee that ruled France in its own interests as a republic after Robespierre's execution and prior to Napoleon's coming to power.
Committee of Public Safety
The leaders under Robespierre who organized the defenses of France, conducted foreign policy, and centralized authority during the period 1792-1795.
Reign of Terror (1793-1794)
This was the period in France where Robespierre ruled and used revolutionary terror to solidify the home front. He tried rebels and they were all judged severely and most were executed.
Tuileries Palace
Where Louis and Marie moved into/lived in when they got to Paris
Rosetta Stone
a huge stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics, Greek, and a later form of Egyptian that allowed historians to understand Egyptian writing.
• 1798 - begins Egyptian Campaign
• Goal: Conquer Egypt, disrupt British trade to hurt British economy
Sans-culottes
a lower-class Parisian republican in the French Revolution.
Habsburg
a royal German family that provided rulers for several European states and wore the crown of the Holy Roman Empire from 1440 to 1806
Enlightened Absolutism/Despotism
a system in which rulers tried to govern by Enlightenment principles while maintaining their full royal powers
Guillotine
device used during the Reign of Terror to execute thousands by beheading
Assembly of Notables (1787)
king's advisors selected members from high nobility, the judiciary, and the clergy...the assembly still wasn't willing to support Louis XIV's new reforms and taxes
France in the mid-1700s
most populated country in western europe. -Paris as enlightenment center - Tension berween enligntenment paitical ideas and unresponsive monarchy "Estates General-Kegislative assembly with representatives from 3 Estates. -First Estate (clergy) - Second Estate (Nobility) - third Estate (commoners) - burdened by high taxes, famine in mid 100: " Bourgeoisie 2 problems.. 1) does not represene -Peasants society mace. 2) the vice has been "Not summoned since IVIA (Louis XII)
Tuileries Palace
the Paris home of the royal family
Bourgeoisi
the middle class(merchants, industrialists, professional people)
Start of the Revolution:The Tennis Court Oath
• 17 June 1789 - Third Estate (with allies in other Estates) form the National Assembly - Goal: Give France a constitution • 20 June 1789 - National Assembly prepares to meet, find meeting hall locked - Meet instead in a tennis court next door - Swear the Tennis Court Oath, agreeing not to disband until France had a constitution • National Assembly wins support from French peasantry and people of Paris
Summoning the Estates General
• 1788 - Louis XVI summons Estates General Third Estate requests to elect more representatives - Approved, no big deal because each Estate only gets 1 vote Spring 1789 - elections for Third Estate representatives - Bourgeoisie, not peasants, dominate Third Estate • Growing political consciousness of the Third Estate - 1789 - Abbe Sieyes publishes What is the Third Estate? • 5 May 1789 - Estates General convenes in Versailles - Third Estate demands that Estates General vote by head, not 1 vote per Estate
• Significance: Early Expansion Campaigns
• Expands French territory in Europe, beginnings of Napoleon's imperialism • Success secures reputation as a brilliant commander
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
• From old, well known family in Corsica • Attended French military school • 1786 - Becomes second lieutenant at age 16 1789 - French Revolution begins • Sides with the revolutionaries • 1795 - Counter-revolutionary revolt in Paris against new republic, the Directory • Napoleon called in to suppress revolt • Significance: seen as hero of new republic • Wins allies within the Directory and new French government
Short-Term Causes for Revolution
• Louis XVI attempts to reform French monarchy with Enlightenment ideals 1774 - Louis XVI appoints Jacques Turgot (1727-1781) as minister of finance - Suggested the abolishment of guilds - New tax on landowners - Cut down on expenses at court Attempts to alleviate financial crisis either rejected by French or fail • 1787 - Louis XVI called an Assembly of Notables, meant to approve king's reforms - Refuse, instead demand summoning of Estates General • 1788/1789 - terrible growing season leads to widespread famine, outrageous bread
Monarchy Weakened
• Louis XVI rejects Declaration of Rights • 5-6 October 1789 - Women's March on Versailles - Mob of Parisian women march on Versailles - Major grievances: bread, promote National Assembly - Force king to move closer to Paris in Tuileries Palace • Louis XVI forced to accept changes issued by National Assembly and loss of power
Start of the Revolution:Storming the Bastille (14 July 1789)
• Louis XVI rejects legitimacy of National Assembly - Prepares to bring troops to Paris - Spreads fears that king will retaliate against French people 14 July 1789 - mob of Parisian citizens storm the Bastille - Weakly guarded fortress garrison, symbol of royal power Goals: free political prisoners, secure weapons
1789 Continues
• Mid-July to early August 1789 - Great Fear spreads across France - Revolts against nobility 4 August 1789 - The National Assembly ends all noble privileges - Satisfies peasants enough to end Great Fear 26 August 1789 - The National Assembly issues the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen. Inspired by Enlightenment ideology "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights." - Natural rights: "Liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." - Authority in the country comes from everyone, not just monarch
• 1 August 1798 - Battle of the Nile
• Napoleon defeated by British navy (led by Admiral Horatio Nelson) • Loss here signals inability to conquer Egypt • Napoleon highlights his scientific and historical discoveries instead! • 1799 - Rosetta Stone
