AP European History Study Guide Chapter 20 v Phases of the French revolution Ø I = 1789-91 Basically all of the stuff that leads up to the revolution, starting the revolution Ø II = 1791-9 Where everyone dies and decided to become like the queen of hearts in Alice in wonderland and chop peoples heads off Ø III = 1799-1815 Napoleon Ø Then there is the aftermath and the impact v Anatomy of the revolution Ø Traditional view economic and social tensions between nobility and the wealthy middle class à social revolution to destroy feudalism and establish capitalist order Ø Revisionist not clear cut economic and social divide between nobility and wealthy elite rather an issue of absolutism Ø Crane Briton s anatomy of revolution Uses an analogy of fever Symptoms (cause) Crisis (escalation) Delirium (high point/radical phase) Relapse (reactionary phase) Works for the French revolution but not so much for others v Political causes Ø Absolute monarchy and divine right questioned Ø Louis XVI incompetent Ø Marie Antoinette unpopular Ø People denied voice in government 3 rd estate demanded a say 2 nd estate wants to retain and increase power v Social causes Ø Feudal concepts no longer work in capitalist and enlightened society Ø Clergy is 5% of the population Own over 10% of the land Tithe is collected annually Donation every 5 years to the king Ø Nobility is around 2% of the population Two types Sword and robe, which was newer and wealthier than the sword Exempt from taxes Own 20-25% of the land Dominate government positions Blocked tax reform Everyone else 97-98% of the population
Wealthy middle class 8% Over 20% of the land Positions in government Wage earners and urban poor Wages were not increasing with the cost of living Will become significant once the revolution begins Rural masses/peasantry More than 80% of the population Over 40% land and resentful of seigniorial privileges v Economic causes Ø National debt from wars Ø 1780s period of multiple domestic wars Ø Louis XVI Supported the American colonies Lavish court Ø Jacques Necker, royal director of finance said that their spending was not so bad Ø Taxes Calonne minister of the finance wanted new taxes Aristocrats refused to give up privileges Wealthy middle class complained about tariffs on trade Peasants paid half income taxes Taille (land tax) Corvee (forced labor) Tithes to the church Banalities to lords Ø Ignored advice King ignored economic advice of advisors Listened to the nobles instead v Ideological causes Ø Intellectual Enlightenment ideas Public sphere of political debate Ø Other revolutions England and its parliamentary government Americas and ideas of liberty and representative government constitution v Where is the tax money Ø Assembly of the notables (1787) Louis XVI introduced new taxes Nobles refuse to approve Only way to raise new taxes means going to the estates general v Estates general Ø Had not been called since 1614 admission king could not solve the problem
Ø Delegates of three estates asked to list their grievances = caniers de dolences Limited the power of the king (want) Representative body Constitution Individual liberties Ø Problem = coting Block or individual voting First and second estate against the third v Abbe Sieyes and what is the third estate Ø Third estate proclaim themselves as the national assembly v Key events leading to the revolution Ø Louis closes the hall of third estate Ø Oath of the tennis court (1789) declare national assembly Assume sovereign power on behalf of nation Ø Louis summons army and draws on the support of the nobles = large mistake Ø Actions make mob mentality v Bastille day July 14 th 1785 Ø Parisian workers Ø Food shortages and brand prices Ø 25% unemployment Ø Fear military oppression and power of nobles Ø Arm themselves and storm bastille (prison) Ø Appoint Lafayette commander of city forces Ø Paris independent now Ø Symbolic attack on kings authority Ø King no longer willing to put down national assembly v Rural response = great fear Ø Peasant attack noble houses and destroy records Ø Attack middle class who then form militia Ø August 4 4789 national assembly Old regime abolished end of feudalism All Frenchmen same in principle subject to same taxation law political eligibility v Are the peasants equal Ø Renunciation of noble privileges but Feudal dues not completely erased Peasants had to compensate landlords for their freedom from obligation Ø National assembly made revolutionary gestures but still moderate Goal safeguard right to private property v Declaration of rights of man and citizen (August 26 1789) Ø Based on liberalism men are born free and equal rights in liberty prosperity security resistance to oppression Ø Blueprint for France s constitution equality before the law Civic equality and popular sovereignty Equality before law Freedom from unlawful arrest
Freedom of speech press and religion Ø Title of citizen appeared to all people regardless of class v Women s march to Versailles act 1785 Ø Women active in revolution solders and protestors Ø National assembly had dissolved tithing à no charity dispensed Ø 6000-7000 armed Parisian women march to Versailles over bread prices and food shortages Ø Last uprising before Luis gives into August Decrees and the Declaration of the Rights of man Ø Women write petition to national assembly v Women s rights Ø 1789 petition want education political voice jobs Ø 1791 Wollencraft s A vindication of the rights of women Women as intelligent and rational as men Women s silly and emotional behaviors come from poor education If education equal everything else in society will fall into place v Olympe de Gouge and Declaration of the rights of women Ø Response to declaration of man equal rights Aims Education Equal opportunity employment and land Equal before law Equality in marriage Suffrage (voting rights) Ø Charged with treason à executed 1793 v Improvement for women during the revolution Ø Equal inheritance property Ø Divorce legalized Ø Right to common property in divorce Ø System of education for both sexes v French constitution (1791) Ø Constitutional monarchy Ø Wealthy middle class controlled the government Ø Established 83 departments Ø Independent judiciary Ø Active citizen vs. passive citizen Active paid taxes and voted 1/3 of adult males not included Ø New legislative assembly Ø Goal is to make sure that the country was not turned into a mod v How to finance new government Ø Chapelier law = forbid labor organizations Ø Civil constitution of clergy = secularized church and took church lands/tithes à big mistake
Ø Assignats = interest notes on church lands wound up using them as printed currency Ø Problem = favors middle class and not the poor v New governments religious measures Ø Guaranteed religious freedom Ø Abolished monasteries/convents/archbishoprics Ø Clergy = paid government officials elected by people à church now a branch of government Ø Recognize church structure Ø Pope condemned Ø Nonjuring clergy = refuse oath of allegiance to state Ø Church vs. state v Republic vs. monarchy Ø Favoring republic Jacobins = dominate legislative assembly moderates Giordists = radicals Ø Favoring limited monarchy Most wealthy middle class Many peasants Ø Favoring old regime Royal family French nobles emigres Nonjuring clergy and devout Catholics Foreign monarchs Brunswick Manifesto (1792) = if royal family harmed, then Paris levels v International response Ø Edmund Burke (1790) = conservative Defend noble rights Revolution à anarchy and military despotism Europeans beware Ø Thomas Paine Response to Burke Liberty triumphs over despotic rulers Ø Europeans agreed with Burke when France declared war on Austria in 1792 v Phase II = Radicalism Ø Paris commune terminates constitution à new elections à republic Ø Blamed king for Austrian war Ø Robespierre Danton and Marat fomented tension Ø Execution 1793 à phase II v Reign or terror Ø Committee of public safety Emergency government = Danton then Robespierre Concern = control food prices and craft guilds Every form of socialism Ø Committee of general security Control security and hunt down any who threaten the republic
v De- Christianization 1793-4 Ø See religion as a threat associated with ancient regime Ø Church no place in rational secular republic Ø Public worship banned Ø Destroyed religious symbols Ø Renamed Notre Dame into temple of reason v Thermidorian reaction 1794-1795 Ø Moderates regain control Ø Curtail CPS Ø Sloe Jacobin clubs Ø Reopen churches Ø Reestablish traditional gender roles Ø Laissez- faire policies Ø New constitution 1795 v The directory 1795-1799 Ø Outlaw Paris commune Ø Rich wealthy middle class Ø Catholic revival Ø Inflation Ø Self indulgence Ø Political corruption v Significance of French revolution Ø Democratic ideals Liberty equality fraternity Ø Nationalism National holiday Start education Ø Worldwide influence Influences revolutions in Europe and colonies v Haitian independence 1792-1804 Ø Toussaint L Overture former slave leads the revolt Ø 1793 France abolishes slavery in Haiti Ø Result Haiti must pay war reparations France loses colony loses colony in Latin America (Caribbean) Ø Napoleon cuts losses in America = Louisiana Purchase v Napoleon Ø Why him France desires order Brilliant charismatic ruthless Military ability Educated Inspired soldiers v Napoleon s rise Ø 1795 dispersed rising Paris mobs
Ø 1797 defeated larges Austrian army Ø 1799 reported exaggerated victories in Egypt (takes scholars with him) Ø 1799 coup over directory Ø 1802 suppresses opposition in France and makes peace with French enemies Ø 1804 crowns himself emperor and created empire v Russia Ø Alexander I sees Napoleon as a threat Ø Russia suffers under continental system Ø 1812 resumes trade with Britain v Britain Ø Saw napoleon as symbol of revolution s excess Ø Wanted no one continental nation to be all powerful Ø Suffered because of economic warfare v Continental system Ø Napoleon tries to blockade the rest of Europe from Britain and all of Europe suffers and hates France because of it v Napoleon s invasion of Russia Ø Alexander I withdrew from French alliance because of the unpopularity of the Continental System and Grand Duchy of Warsaw Ø Napoleon assembled the Grande Armee from 20 nations (600,00 troops) to invade Russia in 1812 Ø Russians abandoned Moscow and used the scorched earth policy when retreating to starve napoleon and his troops Ø It worked napoleon pulled out in October 1812 v Why napoleon fell Ø Personal weakness Lust of land and for power Overreached because of ambition Stubborn Ø Britain s control of seas Lost Louisiana territory Ø European coalition Other countries formed alliance v Process of abdication and downfall Ø 1813 quadruple alliance of Austria great Britain Prussia and Russia defeated Napoleon at the battle of the nations in Leipzig Ø 1814 napoleon abdicated and was exiled to Elba Ø Louis XVIII brother of the guillotined Louis XVI was made king of France Louis XVIII wad disliked and the returning emigres were distrusted Ø During the peace conference in Vienna napoleon escaped from Elba and Louis XVIII fled
v Napoleonic code and women Ø Wife must be obedient subservient Ø Wife is not a person without her husband treated like a minor Ø Only husband administers property Ø Women has no right to money in marriage receives allowance Ø In divorce children automatically go to the father v Napoleon pros and cons Ø Pros Established meritocracy Helpful common person Spread revolutionary ideals Ø Cons Absolute ruler Ruled an empire with puppet kings Took away women s rights v Influence on Europe Ø Map changes Abolition of Austrian dominated HRE and reduction of the number of Germanic states Ø Legacy of revolution Spread revolutionary doctrines Introduced Napoleonic code
Encourages state controlled education Ø Legacy of war and empire Growth militarism widespread destruction Poor European economy heavy tax burden First modern dictator v Other things that happened Ø Prince Clemens von Metternich or Austria wanted to toll back the clock to 1792 Ø Lord Robert Castlereagh of Great Britain wanted to end the French military threat Ø Tsar Alexander I of Russia wanted to set up a holy alliance of Christian rulers who would unite to suppress future revolutions Ø Prince Charles Maurice de Talleyrand of France shrewdly played these leaders off of one another to get a good deal for France v Congress of Vienna Ø Redrew the European map to surround France with strong countries Ø Principle of legitimacy restored the hereditary legitimate monarchs Ø Concert of Europe European leaders would meet to address concerns Ø Large scale war was avoided for 100 years Ø Failure to realize the power of nationalism