French Revolution(s) First Stage: 1788-1789 End of Absolute Monarchy Aristocratic structure = Old Regime 1 st = Clergy Upper & Lower 2 nd = Nobility Nobles of the Sword Nobles of the Robe Hobereaux = little falcons 3 rd = Estate Commoners Biggest problem = no Agricultural Revolution Ineffective gov t The King Louis XVI (1774-1792) Born Louis-Auguste Huge handicap = wife Marie Antoinette Financial Emergency Root = gov t not cover expenses Debt tripled Jacques Turgot Jacques Necker Gov t continues deficit spending Regional Parlements 1786 - Crises begins Banks refuse new advances to gov t Charles Alexandre de Calonne Drafts five proposals Assembly of Notables 1787 Assembly of Notables called NOTE: Assembly suggests Estates General 1788 - Louis recalls Necker 1788 Louis attempts action Retreats; calls meeting 1789 Estates General 1 F R R e v
Necker tasked w/ summoning Doubled representation of 3 rd Estate Two mistakes voting & agenda Meets at Versailles Grinds to standstill 2 nd = vote by order 3 rd = vote by head Emmanuel Sieyès - What is the Third Estate? Count Honorè Mirabeau Reforms begin Common assembly Declares = National Assembly Louis tried to resist NA continues Louis locks hall Members = Tennis Court Oath Tennis court blocked - meets in cathedral June 23 Séance Royale Mirabeau short speech June 25 more 2 nd join NA June 27 Louis flip-flops July 6 th NA begins new constitution July 9 th NA renames itself National Constituent Assembly 2 nd Stage: 1789-1791 Period of Reform Riots erupted thruout FR Triggers of Reform: 1) The Great Fear Origins = drought Panic sweeps across France 2) Tensions in Paris Unemployment spikes; bread becomes scare Fear Louis plans to use army City gov t taken over Mob looks for arms 2 F R R e v
Le Bastille; Gov. De Launay Destruction of the Bastille; Pierre-Francios Palloy Louis tries to calm mob Mob attacks Place de Grève 3) October Days Marie Antoinette Army of Women Escorted royal family back to Paris» Tuileries Palace National Constituent Assembly relocates Outcome of Summer of 1789 Assembly appeases peasants Assembly proclaims Religious Opinions Speech Declaration of the Rights of Man & of the Citizen\ Reforms = attitudes of bourgeoisie Laissez faire policies NOTE: Jean-Paul Marat - A Plot Uncovered to Lull the People to Sleep Economic legislation Assembly forced to again borrow Confiscation church lands Prints assignats Free-flow of goods Church reforms Finance ecclesiastical salaries Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790) Pope Pius VI denounces Catholics support non-juring clergy Sept 3, 1791 = Constitution Creates new administrative system Central government = separation of powers 1 st uniform code of law in France Active Citizen vs. Passive Citizen Drastic times call for drastic measures Third Stage = 1791-94: shift to radicalism & Second Revolution 3 F R R e v
Radical minority appears Society of the Friends of the Constitution aka Jacobins Jacobin = bottom up takeover Assisted by defenders of Old Regime Émigrés King attempts to flee Jean-Baptiste Drouet Returned to Tuileries Palace Constituent Assembly restore Louis Jacobins disagree - instigate protest» Champ de Mars Massacre Moderates viewed=pro-monarchs; Jacobins=pro-Republic Oct 1, 1791 Legislative Assembly begins NOTE: measure by Robespierre Result = factions Jacobins (left); Feuillants (right); unaligned (the Plain) Left capture votes of the Plain The Girondins Jacques Brissot Girondins = radical nationalists Louis appears to support Girondins April 20, 1792 War declared on Francis II & Austria War goes badly at onset Fredrick William II of Prussia Charles William Ferdinand - Duke of Brunswick Girondins = blame game French determination high 3 rd anniversary of Bastille La Marseillaise Brunswick Manifesto Opportunity for Jacobins Base = Sans-culottes Seize control of Paris Ousts gov t in City Hall 4 F R R e v
Attack Tuileries Palace Quorum dominated by Jacobins Creation of First Republic the Convention Georges Danton Jean Paul Marat Danton s boldness = September Massacres Foreshadows Reign of Terror Massacres subside as war turns Birth of French democracy? Convention dominated by Center Girondians vs. Mountain Initially unite - Declare First French Republic Unity = short-lived Girondians wanted pause; Federalism Marquis de Condorcet drafts constitution Mountain denounces federalism Maximilien Robespierre Republic of Virtue Convention tries Citizen Louis Capet Jan 21, 1793 guillotined Girondins days numbered Mountain ousts Girondins Girondins = traitors San-culottes mobilized Mountain launches Reign of Terror Reign of Terror Robespierre = architect Mountain imposes constitution; delays operation Creates Committee of Public Safety Works w/ Committee of General Security Revolutionary Tribunal Scraps local self-government Creates new revolutionary army 5 F R R e v
All resources seized Terror attacks society Cult of Reason Summer 1794 = Terror loses support Republic of Virtue = too violent Robespierre presses too relentlessly Religion = tide begins to turn Robespierre opposes Cult of Reason Creates new state religion Cult of the Supreme Being Uses religion to denounce disloyal deputies Defines enemies of people Supporters turn from Robespierre July 27 - Jacobins overthrown in coup Robespierre arrested & guillotined Com of PS eventually eliminated Jacobin Club = closed Forth Stage 1795-99 The Thermidorean Reaction Domestic calm restored Create new constitution the Directory System dominated by bourgeoisie Potential instability lingers Wars continue 92-97 War of First Coalition 98-02 War of Second Coalition 98-00 Quasi-War w/ US Threat of revolt Economy exhausted Fifth Stage Era of Napoleon - Nov 10, 1799 April 6, 1814 Napoleon seizes control of the Directory Spearheads coup d'état Drafts new Constitution - Consulate e 3 consuls = 10 year terms 3 parliamentary assembles 6 F R R e v
Feb 1800 - plebiscite Napoleon uses power to bring peace Secures domestic stability 1802 2 nd plebiscite Transforms legal code - Napoleonic Code 1804 - Pichegru Conspiracy Response = 3rd plebiscite Napoleon begins conquest of Europe Victories transformed map of Europe Oct 1805 Unleashes Grande Armee into HRE Can t defeat England Battle oftrafalgar Response = Continental System Invades Iberian Peninsula to strike at Portugal Anti-French revolt breaks out in Spain Joseph subverts Catholic church Brits land army led by Duke of Wellington Austria rebels; swiftly defeated Alexander I withdraws Russsia Beginning of End June 1812 - invades Russia Russians = Fabian tactics Winter comes early Sixth Coalition formed Last grand armee Defeated at Leipzig Abdication & exiled to Elba Treaty of Chaumont (1814) Goal = coerce Napoleon to end war Quadruple Alliance Napoleon rejects; abdicates month later Treaty = cornerstone of Congress Charles, Count of Artois accepts armistice for FR Treaty of Paris 1814 7 F R R e v
Negotiated by Talleyrand Congress of Vienna met Sept 1814-Nov 1815 Goal = Settle all European turbulence Dominated by Lord Castlereagh (Eng) & Metternich (Aus) Design Congress System 1 st Congress ratifies = treaties of Chaumont & Paris NOTE: Peace disrupted temporarily the Hundred Days Congress System peacefully settles 1 st major crisis Trigger = spoils Talleyrand negotiates secret treaty w/ Brit & Aus Rus & Pru settle for less Congress System implodes 1822 8 F R R e v