The French Revolution and Napoleon

The French Revolution
“War is when the government tells
you who the bad guy is. Revolution is
when you decide that for yourself.”
The Three Estates
• The source of unhappiness in
France lied with its class
system of which all French
people belonged.
• The estates determined a
person’s legal rights and status.
• The clergy formed the First
Estate, the nobility formed the
Second Estate, and everyone
else formed the Third Estate.
The Bourgeoisie
• The bourgeoisie were middle
class, educated and well to do.
• They lived in cities and were well
read on ideas of the
Enlightenment and believed in
social justice.
• Although they were prosperous
they had no power or influence
because they belonged to the
Third Estate.
Financial Crisis
• The lavish spending of the Bourbons
and France’s support of the American
Revolution had driven the country to
the edge of bankruptcy.
• The First and Second Estate did not
pay taxes although they were the
wealthiest members of society.
• Louis XVI called the Estates General
to meet in May of 1789 to get
additional taxes.
The National Assembly
• At the meeting of the Estates
General each Estate had one vote.
• The Third Estate called for an
individual vote knowing they could
from a majority.
• The King refused this request and
the Third Estate would meet at a
nearby tennis court and take what
is known as the Tennis Court Oath
and pledged not to leave until they
drew up a constitution.
• The Third Estate renamed their
meeting The National Assembly.
A Revolutionary Call
• The King feared the Third Estate
meeting on their own and ordered the
First and Second Estate to join them.
• Louis also ordered troops to
concentrate in Paris and around
Versailles.
• Rumors spread that the King was going
to disband the National Assembly.
• As a result of the rumors an angry mob
surrounded the Bastille, a French
prison in Paris.
Fall of The Bastille
• On July 14th, 1789 a huge
mob surrounded the
Bastille in an attempt to
steal weapons to defend
the National Assembly.
• The prison commander
trying to calm the crowd
lowered the drawbridge but
to no avail as they stormed
the Bastille.
• Soldiers opened fire killing
98 people.
• The outbreak led to the
formation of a
Revolutionary
Government in Paris.
Questions
1. __________ King of France in 1789.
2. __________ The main source of French unhappiness.
3. __________ Most of the country belonged to this
social group.
4. __________ The French middle class.
5. __________ France supported this war against
England.
6. __________ Meeting of the Three Estates.
7. __________ Members of the Third Estate took this.
8. __________ The Third Estate renamed their meeting.
9. __________ French prison in Paris.
10.__________ This was formed in Paris in 1789.
End of the Old Order
• The continuing violence of the “Great
Fear” made the nobles give in to
reform.
• Feudal dues, tithes, were abolished
and nobles agreed to pay taxes.
• All male citizens could now hold
government, army, or church office.
• In August of 1789 “The Declaration of
the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”
decreed that all were equal under the
law and guaranteed freedom of
speech, press, religion and protected
against arbitrary punishment.
March on Versailles
• The King refused the new
reforms by the National
Assembly in August 1789.
• The people became worried he
would take action against the
Assembly and wanted him to
move to Paris.
• In October 1789 thousands of
women demanding bread
marched to Versailles.
• The King gave into the crowds
demands and moved to Paris
with his family.
A New France
• The Assembly to pay off debt
decided to confiscate church
lands and sell them in return
the government would pay for
supporting the clergy and
aiding the poor.
• In 1790 the Civil Constitution
of the Clergy stating that each
parish could elect its own
priest.
• Pope Pius VI condemned the
Revolution at this point and
the government had the clergy
swear an oath of allegiance.
This created two Catholic
Church’s in France.
A New France:
The Constitution of 1791
• In 1791 the National Assembly
passed a new Constitution keeping
the monarchy but with limited
power.
• A unicameral legislature was put
in place with members chosen by
voters.
• This Constitution was not
accepted by the French people as
some thought it went too far and
others thought it did not go far
enough.
A New France:
Defending the Revolution
• Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette would decide to
flee France disguised as
commoners only to be
caught.
• French emigres, nobles who
fled France tried to
convince foreign monarchs
of the dangers of the
Revolution.
• In 1792 French
Revolutionary leaders
declared war on Austria
fearing it would try and
reinstate Louis as King.
Questions
1. __________ Name given to unsettling time
when the National Assembly was meeting.
2. ___________ This was declared in August of
1789.
3. ___________ In October of 1789 French
women marched here demanding bread.
4. ___________ The King moved to this city
with his family.
5. ____________ This document in 1790
would split the church in France.
6. ____________ This Pope would condemn
the Revolution.
7. ____________ A one house legislature.
8. ____________ The French Queen
9. ____________ Nobles that left France to
convince others of the dangers of the
Revolution.
Saving France
• In September of 1792 Prussian
troops were on the doorstep of
Paris.
• Georges-Jacques Danton, a
revolutionary leader proclaimed,
“All are burning with a desire to
fight! We need boldness…and
France will be saved.”
• Thousands of volunteers came
forward to defend the
Revolution and the French army
won an astonishing victory at
Valmy.
Birth of a Republic
• The National Convention
met in 1792 as the
Revolution was being
defended at Valmy.
• The Convention which
met from 1792-1795 wrote
the country’s first
democratic constitution.
• The constitution placed
the power in a single
national legislature with
universal manhood
suffrage.
Death of a King
• In November of 1792 a
large iron box containing
correspondence between
Louis XVI and foreign
monarchs.
• In December Louis XVI
was sentenced to die as an
enemy of the people.
• He was beheaded on the
guillotine in front of a
joyous crowd.
The Guillotine
• The basis for the machine's success
was the belief that it was a humane
form of execution
• In France, before the guillotine,
members of the nobility were
beheaded with a sword or axe, while
commoners were usually hanged.
• In the case of decapitation, it also
sometimes took repeated blows to
sever the head completely.
• The condemned or the family of the
condemned would sometimes pay the
executioner to ensure that the blade
was sharp in order to provide for a
quick and relatively painless death.
The Future of the Revolution
• As the nation celebrated the
birth of their new Republic a
new debate erupted in the
National Convention over the
future of the Revolution.
• Two sides emerged in the
Convention, Jacobins and
• Girondists
The Jacobins
• The Jacobins were extreme
radicals and considered
themselves as the
defenders of the people’s
will.
• The Jacobins were led by
Maximillien Robespierre,
Georges-Jacques Danton,
and Jean-Paul Marat.
• The Jacobins would make
the revolution more radical
and open to extreme and
violent change.
Spreading the Revolution
• In 1793 the monarchs of
Great Britain, the
Netherlands, Spain and
Sardinia joined Austria and
Prussia against France.
• The leaders of France
decided to expand France’s
borders to its “Natural
Frontiers”.
• The people of France were
ready to bring liberty,
equality, and fraternity to the
rest of Europe.
Spreading the Revolution
• After a few early victories French
forces suffered several defeats at
the hands of the enemies
professional soldiers.
• The Committee of Public Safety
was established in 1793 to direct
the war effort.
• It adopted conscription and called
all men between the ages of 18
and 45 to fight.
Reign of Terror
• The Reign of Terror was
an effort by the Jacobins to
crush all opposition within
France.
• It would last from July
1793 to July 1794.
• 17,000 people were
executed including Marie
Antoinette.
• Danton tried to end the
killings in 1794 only to be
death by Robespierre.
• Robespierre would
eventually be arrested by
his own followers and
executed.
The Directory
• The National Convention wrote
yet another new Constitution in
1795 ending Universal Manhood
Suffrage.
• An executive council of five men
called Directors was established to
rule with a two house legislature.
• The Directory could do little to
resolve the growing discontent
caused by rising prices and the
increasing gap between rich and
poor.
Questions
1. ___________ France declared war on this
country in 1792.
2. ___________ France would suffer a major
defeat at the hands of the Prussians outside of
Paris.
3. ___________ He would rally France to fight.
4. ___________ Major victory for France just
kilometers outside of France.
5. ___________ Giving the vote to every male
regardless of rank or possession of property.
6. ___________ Considered to be a humane
form of execution.
7. ___________ Two sides in the National
Convention.
8. ___________ The three ideals of the
Revolution.
Questions
9. ___________ This was established
to direct the war effort.
10. ___________ Forced military
service.
11. ___________ Period during the
Revolution where 17,000 people
were executed.
12. ___________ Executive of five
men to oversee government.
Napoleon Bonaparte
• Napoleon Bonaparte
was a young French
officer of Corsican
birth who gained a
quick promotion
during the Revolution.
• He would marry
Josephine de
Beauharnais, a leader
of Paris society.
Napoleon Bonaparte
• Napoleon was given control of the
French forces fighting the
Austrians in Italy.
• Napoleon would force the
Austrians to sign the treaty of
Campo Formio giving France
control of northern Italy, Belgium,
the Netherlands, and the
Rhineland.
• In this campaign, often considered
his greatest, Napoleon's army
captured 160,000 prisoners, 2,000
cannons, and 170 standards.
• He would reorganize the Italian
lands into the Cisalpine Republic.
Napoleon Bonaparte
• In March 1798,
Bonaparte proposed a
military expedition to
seize Egypt, then a
province of the Ottoman
Empire, seeking to protect
French trade interests and
undermine Britain's
access to India.
Battle of the Pyramids where Napoleon’s force
of 25,000Defeated a force of 100,000
Napoleon Bonaparte
• The French Navy suffered a
major defeat during the
Egyptian campaign.
• The English Navy, under
the command of Horatio
Nelson soundly defeated the
French fleet at Aboukir
Bay.
• The French lost 1,700 men,
600 wounded and 3,000
prisoners. While the
English had only 218 dead.
Napoleon Bonaparte
• Napoleon would return
to France in 1799 and
take part in a coup d’
etat.
• He would write a new
constitution naming
himself First Consul of
France and then later
First Consul for Life.
Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
__________ Napoleon was born here.
__________ Napoleon’s first wife.
__________ Treaty giving France control of northern
Italy and other territory.
__________ French controlled Italy would be organized
into this.
__________ Campaign undertaken by Napoleon in 1798.
__________ Naval battle where the French were soundly
defeated in Egypt.
__________ A quick seizure of power.
__________ Napoleon named himself this in 1802.
Restoring Order to Chaos
• Napoleon restructured
government by:
– Replacing elected local officials with
men he appointed himself.
– Education was brought under control
of the national government which
created lycees or secondary schools.
– Created the Bank of France and all
citizens paid taxes.
– Created the Napoleonic Code which
consolidated the French legal system.
This new code did hinder some
freedoms gained in the Revolution.
– Napoleon signed the Concordat of
1801 with the Catholic Church.
The French Empire
• In 1804 Napoleon
crowned himself
Emperor of the French
and his wife Josephine
Empress.
• Despite being at peace
with England since the
Treaty of Amiens in
1802, Napoleon set
out to invade the tiny
Island.
The French Empire
• The invasion of England
was cancelled due to
Russia and Austria once
again declaring war on
France.
• Napoleon defeated the
Austrians and Russians
at Ulm, with his newly
formed Grand Armee
Austrians surrender 30,000 men at Ulm.
Trafalgar
• The day after his victory
at Ulm, Napoleon
suffered a major defeat
at sea.
• The British Admiral
Horatio Nelson
defeated the French
Navy at Trafalgar.
• This officially ended
Napoleon’s hopes of
invading England.
Austerlitz
• Napoleon would defeat
Austria and Russia at
Austerlitz or the battle
of Three Emperors.
• The loss of this battle
forced Austria to sue for
Peace and reinstate the
conditions of Campo
Formio, and the
Russians retreated to
home soil.
The Continental System
• Napoleon tried to blockade British
goods from the continent of
Europe.
• He forbade the import of British
goods into France and all ports
under French control.
• Russia and Prussia were also
forced into boycotting British
goods.
• The British responded by forcing
any ship on its way to the
continent to stop in England and
any ship that refused was seized.
• France then stated it would seize
any ship that stopped at a British
port.
• This was troublesome for neutral
countries such as the American
States.
Questions
1. __________ New secondary schools created by Napoleon.
2. __________ Treaty signed with the Catholic Church and
Napoleon.
3. __________ Law code created by Napoleon.
4. __________ Napoleon created this financial institution to
lower inflation.
5. __________ Treaty signed between England and France
in 1802.
6. __________ Napoleon was crowned this in 1804.
7. __________ Battle in which Napoleon forced the
surrender of 30,000 Austrians.
8. __________ Naval battle in which the French were
defeated off the coast of Spain.
9. __________ Commander of the British fleet.
Questions
10. __________ Battle where
Napoleon defeated the powers
of Austria and Russia.
11. __________ A blockade of
British goods from the
European continent.
12. __________ Name given to
Napoleon’s large army that was
assembled to invade England.
Napoleon’s Empire
• By 1812 Napoleon controlled
most of Europe.
• However feelings of strong
national pride, or nationalism,
rose in areas of Europe.
• The first area to overthrow
Napoleon was Spain with the
help of the British General,
Arthur Wellesley.
• The Spanish people would
undertake a policy of guerilla
warfare against the French.
• Napoleon would call Spain his
“Spanish Ulcer” because of the
problems there.
Arthur Wellesley, The Duke of Wellington
Napoleon’s Empire
• In 1811 Alexander, Czar or
Russia withdrew from the
Continental System.
• An outraged Napoleon
turned his Grand Armee of
600,000 men towards
Russia.
• The Russians adopted a
scorched earth policy in
where they retreated and
burned everything as they
withdrew.
Napoleon’s Empire
• Napoleon reached Moscow
only to find it in flames.
• He would be forced to
retreat as the French had no
shelter and the Russian
winter was upon them.
• As the French Army
retreated their numbers fell
drastically due to the
weather and limited
engagements by the enemy.
The Battle of Nations
• Napoleon’s enemies would
once again join against him
at Leipzig in what became
known as the Battle of
Nations.
• It is considered the largest
battle in Europe before
World War I, with over
500,000 troops involved.
• Napoleon would be defeated
with 38,000 dead or
wounded and 30,00 men
captured.
Exile
• Napoleon was forced to
abdicate in March of 1814
as the allies entered Paris.
• Napoleon was exiled to
Elba, off the coast of Italy
and Louis XVIII, was
placed on the throne of
France.
• The borders of France
were restored to those of
1792.
The 100 Days
• Napoleon spent nine
months and 21 days on Elba
before he escaped back to
France.
• Napoleon would land in
France with 600 men and
would soon swell his ranks
as more French troops
would join him.
• Napoleon would plead for
Peace but be denied by the
European powers who were
meeting at the Congress of
Vienna.
Battle of Waterloo
• The Battle of Waterloo, fought
near the town of Waterloo in
Belgium on Sunday 18 June
1815.
• The battle was fought between
the Anglo-Prussian armies of
Arthur Wellesley and Gerhard
von Blucher and the armies of
Napoleon Bonaparte.
• This would be Napoleon’s final
battle.
• The loss of this battle would
force Napoleon to abdicate the
throne of France once again.
Second Exile
• In 1815 the British
government selected
Saint Helena as the
place of detention of
Napoleon I of France.
He was brought to the
island in October 1815
died in May 1821.