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French Revolution

Terms in this set (64)

What is the subject matter of chapter 21?
-The French Revolution and Napoleon
-----A series of revolutions and revolutionary wars
-----A time of challenging old monarchs
-----American Revolution to French Revolution to Napoleon
-Main watershed event
-----1453 - Constantinople
-----1648 - Westphalia
-----1789 - French Revolution
-----1914 - WWI
-----1945 - WWII
-Began the Age of isms
-----socialism
-----liberalism
-----republicanism
-----nationalism
-----romanticism
-----conservativism
What did reformers mean by "liberty" in the late 18th century? What famous documents of this era were built on these ideas of liberty?
-Liberty
-----A call for individual human rights
-----Don't regulate what people can believe
-----Freedom to worship
-----End to censorship
-----Freedom from arbitrary laws
-----Freedom from unjust judges
-Declaration of the Rights of Man
-Declaration of Independence
What did these same liberals mean by equality? In this era what did it mean to be a "liberal"?
-Equality
-----All CITIZENS should have identical rights and civil liberties
-----No rights based on birthright
-----Not everyone is equal economically
-----Women are not equal
-----Equal opportunity
-----Privileges for the majority
-Liberals
-----Philosophes
-----No taxes
-----Merchants
-----Men of their time
What were some of the key sources of this 18th century liberalism, which emphasized liberty and equality opportunity?
-Deep roots in western history
-----Ancient Greece
-----Judeo-Christian Tradition
-----John Locke
-----Adam Smith
-Enlightenment
-----Stress on human dignity, personal liberty and human happiness
Why were 18th century liberals wary of democracy? In contrast, why were the masses wary of many 18th century liberals?
-Representative government ≠ Democracy
-----Democracy = mob rule
-----People can't govern themselves
-Liberalism has always lacked strong popular support
-----For the common people, their questions were not theoretical or political
-----They were about survival
-----Some of the traditional practices that liberals wanted to abolish were dear to peasants
Did the Americans or the British have the better argument with regard to the taxation problem?
-British argument
-----American were represented in Parliament
----------Indirectly
-----The absolute supremacy of Parliament should not be questioned
-American argument
-----"A Parliament of Great Britain can have no more rights to tax the colonies than a Parliament of Paris"
----- They were autonomous, or left alone
-----Tea is cheaper but the system in corrupt
----------Educated are upset
Why is the Declaration of Independence sometimes called the world's greatest political editorial?
-Universalized the the traditional rights of English people and made them the rights of all mankind
-----All men are created equal
-----Unalienable rights
-----Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
Significance of the French Revolution
-Biggest event in French history
-Themes from previous events effect the French Revolution
-Watershed event
-Revolution fails but starts change
What role did the European powers play in the American victory? Did they gain anything in return?
-The French sympathized with the rebels
-----Without them we would not have won
-----supplied guns and gunpowder
-----Motivated by revenge for the Seven Years' War
-----Marquis de Lafayette
-1779 - 1780 - Spanish and Dutch declare war on Britain
-Russia helps to protect neutral shipping rights
-Britain and France fight after the Revolution
-----America doesn't provide France help
What was the major issue in the debate between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists?
-Anti-Federalists
-----Individual rights are not in the Constitution
-----The constitution took too much state power
-----Feared for their personal liberties and individual freedoms
-Federalists
-----For a strong central government
-----Promised to spell out these basic freedoms
-Resulted in the Bill of Rights
-----Trial by jury, due process of law, right to assemble, freedom from unreasonable search, freedoms of speech, the press and religion
In what sense were (and still are) the US Constitution and Bill of Rights a nearly perfect political statement of "classical liberalism"?
-Both the American Constitution and the Bill of Rights exemplified the great strengths and the limits of what came to be called classical liberalism
-----Individual freedoms
-----Political safeguards
-----Representative government
----------Not democracy
-----Equality before law
----------Slaves excluded
----------Not equality of political participation or wealth
-Radicalism of liberal revolution
-----Three branch government
-----Legal and political
-----Not economic or social
-Founding Fathers were liberals
-----Wary of the mass
-----Making democratic decisions without democracy
-Legislative
-----Should every state be counted equally or by population?
----------Senate
----------House of Representatives
-Judicial
-----Court
-----Constitutional v Unconstitutional
-Executive
-----Electoral college
----------not "democratic"
-----Only the House is truly democratic
----------2 year terms
What effect did the American Revolution have on France?
-A cause of the French Revolution
-"If only the union of the provinces is preserved, it is reasonable to expect that, with the favorable effects of time, and of European arts and sciences, it will become the most formidable power in the world"
-Hundreds of French soldiers were inspired
-----Hastened upheaval in France
-----Intellectuals analyzed the Federal Constitution
-----French nobility supported the Americans
-Increases bankrupt France in debt
-France brought the Enlightenment to our revolution which fuels it
Describe the multiple circumstances which, by 1786, forced the French government to try raising taxes. Why was this so hard to do in France in 1786?
-Financed the American Revolution with borrowed money
-----national debt and the annual budget deficit soared
-----50% of French money went towards debt (+ interest)
-----25% went to the military
-----6% went to the king and his court
-----Less than 20% went to the state
-Wars drain the treasury
-----American Revolution
-----French and Indian War
-French debt was being held by an army of aristocratic and bourgeoisie creditors
-----Too weak to take action
-No central bank, paper currency, no means of creating credit
-No alternative but to increase taxes
-----You can only tax the 3rd estate
-----The 2nd and 1st need to be taxed
-Louis XVI tried to go to the bank for money
-----He doesn't handle money well
-----They decline giving him money
Describe the three estates in France. Who paid taxes? Who held the wealth and the power in France?
-The clergy
-----Privileged
-----No taxes
-----Politically appointed
-----1% of the population
-----20% of the land
-Nobility
-----No real taxes
-----Manorial rights
----------Tax the peasants
----------Control the peasants
-----Honorific rights
----------Precedence on public occasions
----------Wear a sword
-----2% of the population
-----25% of the land
-Commoners
-----Taxed heavily
-----Only some were educated
-----Majority worked in the country
-----Vastly different social groups
-----Bourgeoise
----------Wealthy commoners
----------Traders which meant more money
----------No official social status
-----Sans-culotte (Urban Poor)
----------9% of the people
----------Day laborers
-----Peasants
----------Don't approve of the revolution
----------80% of the people
----------Head tax, rent, tithe
----------No privileges
-97% of the population
Describe both the "accepted" and revisionists views of the social tensions which were said to have cause the French Revolution.
-Accepted Views
-----The bourgeoise was basically united by economic position and class interest
-----Archaic "feudal" laws restrained the economy
----------Closed ranks against middle-class needs
-----Bourgeoise led the third estate into a social revolution
-Revisionist Views
-----The fighting was within each estate
-----The nobility remained a fluid and relatively open order
----------Commoners could obtain noble status
-----The nobility were no less liberal than the middle class
----------Supported judicial opposition to the government
-----The nobility and the bourgeoise were not really at odds in the economic sphere
Why was the Estates General called in 1788 (for the first time since 1614)?
-Revolution was under way by 1787
-----Depressed economy
-----Falling tax receipts
-Louis XVI's minister of finance (Duke of Aiguillon) revived old proposals
-----A general tax on all landed property
-----provincial assemblies
-Louis XVI called an assembly of notables
-----They were not in favor of the tax
-----They wanted personal control of money
-----The notables demanded to call the Estates General
In what ways were the initial goals of all three estates of the Estates General similar? To what extent were they achieved?
-Estates General
-----Divided by Estate
----------Gets one vote each
----------1st and 2nd always vote together
-----Duke of Aiguillon gives the 3rd estate more representatives but still one vote
-First Estate
-----Considerable dissatisfaction with the church hierarchy
-----Parish priests want more rights
-Second Estate
-----The nobility was politically divided
----------The majority were the poorer provincial nobility
----------The rest were liberals committed to major changes
-----Wished to limit the monarchs power
-Third Estate
-----Most of the representatives were the well-educated
----------Social status and prestige were matters of particular concern to the representatives
-List of Grievances
-----Constitutional monarchy
-----Taxes from the Estates General
-----No internal trade barriers
4 stages of the French Revolution
-1789-1792 - Liberal Phase (Bourgeoise Phase)
-1792-1794 - Reign of Terror
-1794-1799 - Directory
-1799-1815 - Napoleon's Reign
What caused the split in the Estates General? What was the National Assembly and when was it formed? What was the Tennis Court Oath?
-The estates were almost immediately dead locked
-----Third estate refused to transact any business until the king ordered the clergy and the nobility to sit with them
-Finally, a few priests went to the 3rd estate and formed a National Assembly (June 17, 1789)
-----They were excluded from their hall
-----Moved to a tennis court
-The Tennis Court Oath
-----Pledging not to disband until they had written a new constitution
What were the causes and outcomes of the Parisian workers uprising in the summer of 1789? How had they saved the National Assembly?
-In 1788, the grain harvest had been extremely poor
-----price of bread soared
-----unleashed economic depression
----------people were thrown out of work
----------1/8 were paupers
-The people of Paris entered decisively onto the revolutionary stage
-----They believed in steady work and fair prices
-On July 14, the people marched to the Bastille to find weapons
-----The popular uprising had broken the power monopoly of the royal army and thereby saved the National Assembly
-----Symbolizes the breaking up power monopoly
-----Recognizes it as a revolution
What were the causes and outcomes of the peasant uprisings in the countryside in the summer of 1789?
-Peasants began to rise in spontaneous, violent and effective insurrection
-----No one was spared
-----They reinstated traditional village practices
-Fear of vagabonds and outlaws
-----Called the Great Fear
-----Fanned the flames of rebellion
-----They were doing their best to free themselves from manorial rights and exploitation
-Breaking their ties with nobles and the land
The October March
-Women play a major role in the French Revolution
-----They don;t want rights, they want food
-----Economic problems are important to them
-Women march on Versailles
-----Demanding bread from the royal family
-The only way to calm the disorder was for the king to move to Paris
Why, after the summer of 1789, did the French peasant cease to be a major force for change and become more a force for stability and the new status quo?
-Liberal nobles and middle-class delegates responded to peasant demands with a surprise maneuver
-Duke of Aiguillon
-----Equal taxes, no more rent
-----There was an abolition of serfdom, exclusive hunting rights, fees for justice, village monopolies and other dues
-The peasants achieved an unprecedented victory
-----Their new goal was to maintain this triumph
-The peasants stopped fighting because they got what they wanted
Contrast the elegant words of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man" with the October action by the poor women of Paris. What set of beliefs did the "Declaration of the Rights of Man" represent? Why was that's et of beliefs of little value to the poor of Paris? How did the poor alter the course of the French Revolution in October 1789?
-Declaration of the Rights of Man
-----"Men are born and remain free (Adam Smith) and equal in rights (John Locke)"
-----Natural rights are (Rousseau) "liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression
-After the fall of the Bastille, the church was no longer able to give its traditional grants of food and money to the poor
What was the National Assembly? In what sense was its action truly revolutionary?
-National Assembly
-----Abolished the French nobility as a legal order
-----Pushed for a constitutional monarchy
----------Limit kings power
-----Held lawmaking power
-----Women could not vote
----------Could manage the house
----------Role is to seduce men
-----Economic freedom
-----Radical reorganization on the country's religious life
----------Nationalized church property
----------religious freedom for Protestants and Jews
Declaration of Pillnitz
-Austria was okay with the French Revolution because it undercut France's power
-Ideas then spread to the rest of Europe
-Marie Antoinette is Austrian
In what sense was the action of the National Assembly a culmination of the Enlightenment? What was the revolutionary government's first failure and why?
-The National Assembly now held lawmaking power
-----Replaced the historic provinces with 88 departments
-----The metric system was introduced
-Promoted the liberal concept of economic freedom
-----Monopolies, guilds, and workers combinations were prohibited
-----Barriers to trade within France were abolished
-The National Assembly applied the critical spirit of the Enlightenment to reform France's laws and institutions completely
-The policy toward the church was the Assembly's first failure
-----Civil Constitution of the Clergy
-----Established a national church, with priest chosen by voters
-----Seizing of church lands
-----The clergy had to take a loyalty oath
-----The result was a deep division within both the country and the clergy
Summarize the debate about the French Revolution between Edmund Burke and Mary Wollstonecraft.
-After the French Revolution began, conservative leaders such as Edmund Burke were troubled by the spirit of reform
-----"Reflections on the Revolution in France"
-----Defended inherited privileges and monarchy
-----Glorified the unrepresentative Parliament
-----Reform = Chaos
-----Change is happening too quickly
-A passionate rebuttal came from a young writer, Mary Wollstonecraft
-----"A Vindication of the Rights of Man"
-----Goal was to eliminate the sexual inequality
-----Coeducation
-----Women could manage businesses and enter politics
-----Birth of the modern women's movement for equal rights
What was the cause of the Declaration of Pillnitz? Summarize the events between June 1791 and April 1792 which led to war between France and Austria.
-Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were arrested and returned to Paris after trying unsuccessfully to slip out of France
-----Caused the monarchs of Austria and Prussia to issue the Declaration of Pillnitz
----------Declared their willingness to intervene in France
-In the entirely new Legislative Assembly, the legislators were younger and less cautious
-----Liberal revolution
-In April 1792, France declared war on Francis II, the Habsburg monarch
Election of the Legislative Assembly
-National Assembly was entrenched
----- "Thrown out"
-No members of the national assembly are eligible
-They were prosperous, well-educated, middle-class men
-They were also younger and less cautious
-Feuillants
-----Conservatives who wished to end the revolution
-Girondist
-----Radicals who wished to continue the revolution
Jacobins
-Radical
-Robespierre
-Many of the deputies were loosely allied
Declaration of War, April 1792
-The new members were committed to a liberal revolution
-They whipped themselves into a patriotic fury
-Only Robespierre said that people would not like to be forced to be liberal
-----These warnings were brushed aside
The Marseillaise
-Volunteer armies from the provinces streamed through Paris
-They sand patriotic songs like the Marseillaise
-----This would become the national anthem
Attacks on the Royal Palace
-Rumors of royal treason spread in Paris
-A revolutionary crowd attacked and captured the palace
-The royal family was suspended and imprisoned
The September massacres
-Angry crowds invaded the prisons of Paris and killed half of the people
-Kill prisoners if they don't support the Revolution
What was the National Convention? Why was it much more radical than the National Assembly which had proceeded it? What is the difference between a Republic and Constitutional Monarchy?
-All the members of the National Convention were republicans
-----The Girondists
-----The Mountain
----------Robespierre
----------Danton
-Both groups were determined to continue the "war against tyranny"
-----French armies chased the princes and 'abolished feudalism
----------Support was among the peasants and the middle class
-Both groups were severely republican and wished to counter liberalism
-----The Girondists feared a bloody dictatorship
-----The Mountain feared they would drift back to monarchy
-The poor became the decisive political power
What was the First Coalition? How did the war go in fall 1792 and spring 1793?
-France's crusade against tyranny went poorly at first
-----Prussia joined Austria in the Austrian Netherlands
-----French forces broke at the first encounter with the First Coalition
-----They left the road to Paris open
-On September 20, 1792, the Prussians were stopped in Valmy
-----France invaded Savoy and captured Nice
-----By November, they occupied the entire Austrian Netherlands
-In February, the National Convention, at war with Austria and Prussia, declared war on Britain, Holland, and Spain
-----The First Coalition began to drive France out
-By July 1793, only the areas around Paris and on the eastern frontier were firmly held by the central government
Describe the two factions into which the National Convention split. Who were the sans-culottes? Why were they important to radical leaders such as Robespierre? What role did the common people play in the Revolution?
-At first the Mountain and the Girondists were united against the sans-culottes
-Eventually the Mountain and Robespierre became more sympathetic and joined with the sans-culotte activists
-----They arrested 31 Girondist deputies
-----The Mountain held complete control
-They formed the Committee of Public Safety
How did Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety turn the war versus the First Coalition from near defeat to a victory? What was the reign of Terror?
-By July 1793, only the areas around Paris and on the eastern frontier were firmly held by the central government
-A year later, the Austrian Netherlands and Rhineland were once again in the hands of conquering French armies
-This was due to the harnessing a planned economy, revolutionary terror and modern nationalism
-----Collaborated with the patriotic sans-culottes
----------They wished for fair prices and a moral economic order
----------Usually distrusted wealthy capitalists and aristocrats
-Created a planned economy
-----Maximum bread prices
-Worked to produce arms and munitations for the war effort
-----Told craftsmen what to produce
-----Nationalized many small workshops
-----Requisitioned raw materials and grain
Robespierre
-Takes control of France
-Beginning of the second phase
-40,000 people were killed
-----Guillotine
-----Was this necessary?
----------Suppresses all opposition
----------Kickstarts the new revolution
-He gained support from the urban poor
-----Sans-culotte
-----Planned economy
-1793 - Drafts for the army
-He made the people think they were fighting for democracy
-----Fighting for your own country
-----Not a kings war
-He saves the rebellion
-Took it too far
-----Power goes to his head
How did the Reign of Terror end?
-The success of the French armies led Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety to relax the emergency economic controls, but they extended the political Reign of Terror
-Their lofty goal was increasingly an ideal democratic republic where justice would reign and there would be neither rich nor poor
-Their lowly means were unrestrained despotism and the guillotine, which struck down any who might seriously question the new order
What is meant by the "Thermidorian Reaction"? Why did the French urban poor lose interest in politics, perhaps even up to 1830? How did the rural and village peasants react to the end of the terror?
-As Robespierre's closest supporters followed their leader, France unexpectedly experienced a thorough reaction to the despotism of the Reign of Terror
-The Thermidorian Reaction recalled the early days of the Revolution
-----Lawyers reasserted their authority
-The National Convention abolished many economic controls, let prices rise sharply, and restricted local political organization
-The common people of France revolted but the Convention quickly used the army to suppress the uprising
-----Excluded and disillusioned, the urban poor would have little interest in and influence on politics until 1830
How was the Directory established and which segment of society did the new constitution in 1795 benefit?
-In 1795, the National Convention wrote another constitution trying to guarantee the middle-class economic position
-Electors elected the members of the Directory - a new assembly with a five-man executive
-The Directory continued to support French military expansion
-Large, victorious French armies reduced unemployment at home and were able to live off the territories they conquered and plundered
Why was there such widespread disgust with the Directory? How did the elections of 1797 demonstrate this disgust?
-The unprincipled action of the Directory reinforced widespread disgust with war and starvation
-This general dissatisfaction revealed itself clearly in the national elections of 1797, which returned a large number of conservative and even monarchists deputies who favored peace at almost any price
-The members of the Directory used the army to nullify the election and began to govern dictatorially
Thermidorian Reaction
-Political Power shifts back to the liberals
-----Supported by the bourgeiose
-----Beginning of the Third Phase
-Reinstituting classes
-Directory was terrible
-----Commitee ----> current
-----Rule by wealthy merchants
----------Oligarchy
-----Electors vote for the members
-----Establishes merchant control
-----New Constitution
----------Goes after the extremes
The Directory
-Remove planned economy
-----Economic crisis
----------Prices skyrocketed
-----Print money to stop debt
----------Inflation
-Military used to own people
-Urban poor lose the Revolution
-Military is with the directory
-----Army is addicted to war
----------War saves the people
----------Gives them a purpose
Who invited Napoleon to overthrow the Directory and why? What was Napoleon's background?
-Napoleon was placed in command in France
-Napoleon soon learned that some prominent members of the legislature were plotting to go against the Directory
-----They had a dissatisfaction with the fact that the Directory was a weak dictatorship
-The flamboyant thirty-year-old Napoleon was ideal to be a strong military ruler
-On November 9, 1799, they ousted the Directors, and the following day soldiers disbanded the legislature
-Napoleon was named first consul of the republic, and a new constitution consolidating his position was overwhelmingly approved in a plebiscite in December 1799
Once in power, Napoleon remade France domestically. many of his reforms survive today. Detail Napoleon's domestic reforms.
-The essence of Napoleon's domestic policy was to use his great and highly personal powers to maintain order and end civil strife
-He did so by working out agreements with powerful groups in France
-----Equality of all male citizens before the law
-----Absolute security of wealth and private property
-----Privately owned Bank of France
----------Served the state and the financial oligarchy
-----Reconfirmed the gains of the peasantry
-----Perfected a thoroughly centralized state
What were some of the less than laudable aspects of Napoleon's domestic rule?
-Order and unity had their price: Napoleon's authoritarian rule
-----Women, who had often participated in revolutionary politics without having legal quality, lost many gains
----------They were dependent on men
----------Couldn't have contracts or even bank accounts
-----Family monarchy - the power of the husband was absolute over his wife and children
-----Free speech and freedom of the press were continually violated
Napoleon
-More Italian than French
-----Italian nobility
-Propagandist
-"saves the revolution"
-Becomes a model of what you can achieve by hard work
-----Abolished feudalism
-Remakes France
-----Takes the difficult path
----------Takes the good components of the French Revolution
----------Appeals to everyone's needs
-----August 4th degree is reestablished
-----Promotions by merit in the military
-----Makes peace with the church
-----Concordat of 1801
----------Napoleon appoints bishops
-----Stabilizes the French bank
----------Currency
-----Civil code of 1804
----------More markets
-----Old aristocracy can come back
----------Have to take a loyalty oath
-----Public works
-Napoleonic Code
-----Promot = merit
-----Equal under law
-----Schools
-----End Feudalism
-Step back for women
-Not a free county
-----Prison instead of death
-Govern for, not by
-Attempt to reinstate slavery
-Crowns himself emperor
-Only fights when you have the advantage
-----Deals with one at a time
-England was not conquered
-----Couldn't do anything
-Family members are in power
-Napoleon got Holland
-----Ruins the balance of power
-When he does fight England, he loses
Treaty of Luneville (1801)
-Austria accepted the loss of almost all its Italian possessions
-----The Rhine territory was incorporated in France
Treaty of Ameins (1802)
-Napoleon concluded the Treaty of Amiens with Great Britain
-----He was free to reshape the German states as he wished
-----Diplomatic triumph for Napoleon
Attempt to invade Britain and the battle of Trafalgar
-Napoleon concentrated his armies on invading England
-----Britain remained dominant on the seas
-After a series of mishaps, Napoleon was annihilated at the Battle of Trafalgar
Austerlitz and victory over the Third Coalition
-The Third Coalition was no match for Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz
-----Austria, Russia, and Sweden
The Confederation of the Rhine
-Napoleon proceeded to reorganize the German States
-----Abolished many German States as well as the HRE
-----He established by decree the German Confederation of the Rhine
The Treaty of Tilsit
-Prussia lost half of its population, while Russia accepted Napoleon's reorganization of Europe
-----Promised to enforce blockade
The three parts of the Grand Empire
-The core included Belgium, Holland, Northern Italy and Germany (west of the Rhine)
-The satellite kingdoms were where family ruled
-Allied states of Austria, Prussia and Russia
At first Napoleon was viewed as a liberator by common people in lands he conquered. Why? Later he was viewed as a tyrant. Why?
-Napoleon introduced many French laws, abolishing feudal dues and serfdom where it had not already been done
-----Peasants and middle class benefited
-Napoleon put the prosperity and special interests of France first
-He became regarded more as a conquering tyrant than as an enlightened liberator
-----Levied heavy taxes in money and men
-----Sparked patriotic upheavals and nationalism
The Spanish Revolt
-Propaganda against France
-Rallied the Spanish to fight
-A coalition of Catholics, monarchists, and patriots rebelled against Napoleon's satellite attempts
-----It was a warning that more revolts were coming
The Continental System
-Led to the War of 1812
-Organized to exclude British goods from the continent
-----France suffered more from the counter-blockade
-----Russia did not listen
The invasion of Russia
-Russia was violating the Continental System
-Napoleon had a large army march to Moscow as the Russians retreated with the scorched-earth policy
-----When he lost in Moscow, they retreated back through Russia in the winter
The Quadruple Alliance
-Austria and Prussia deserted Napoleon and joined Russia and Great Britain
-The Treaty of Chaumont created the Quadruple alliance
The Hundred Days War and Waterloo
-He escaped and marched on Paris with his followers
-----Many people rallied with him
-His forces were crushed at Waterloo and he was exiled
In what ways did the experience and memory of the French Revolution exercise a pervasive influence on Europe (and even the world) for all of the 19th century and much of the 20th?
-The ideas that started during the French Revolution did not die
-----People had a new sense of nationalism
-----The seeds of socialism sprung up
-Feudalism is gone from Europe
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