1789-1815
In the 1600s and 1700s, French kings still ruled by divine right with absolute power. And they lived more luxuriously than perhaps anyone, anywhere in the history of the world.
Louis XIV, King of France 1643-1715
Palace of Versailles
Hall of Mirrors
Society was divided into 3 social classes called ESTATES: 1 st 2 nd 3 rd Clergy Nobles Commoners The first 2 estates had special privileges that that 3 rd did not.
The problem was that the 3 rd Estate made up 98.5% of the population.
Commoners crushed by the Clergy and Nobility
In the 1600s, French commoners looked on while the Brits executed Charles I and chased off James II.
In the 1700s, they watched the Americans break away from England under King George III.
By the late-1780s, France was in deep financial trouble. At the same time, a terrible harvest created bread shortages. King Louis XVI was unsure about how to deal with the crisis.
Louis XVI decided to call a meeting of the Estates-General. Similar to Parliament, but with 3 houses, one for the reps of each estate. Each estate got one vote, as a result, the king always won!
E-G met at Versailles in 1789. 3 rd Estate demanded some rule changes be made. They wanted each rep to get one vote instead of each house. Commoners would then have the advantage, 610-589.
Louis XVI locked the 3 rd Estate reps out of their meeting hall. The Commoners took over one of his tennis courts and declared themselves National Assembly. They then took the Tennis Court Oath.
The Tennis Court Meeting
Louis XVI paid lip service to the National Assembly. In the meantime, he called for 30,000 troops to surround Paris. The people in Paris feared the king was planning to crush the revolution.
The commoners decided to strike a blow against the Old Regime. On July 14, 1789, they stormed the Bastille. This was their declaration of independence from absolute monarchy.
Storming the Bastille
Bastille commander s head on a pike
Research on your own: 1) The Great Fear. 2) The Declaration of the Rights of Man. 3) The March on Versailles. 4) The Constitution of 1791.
Louis XVI (Bourbon family) King of France 1774-1792
Let em eat cake Marie Antoinette Queen of France Her family rules Austria.
Louis & Marie were married when he was 15 and she was 14. Marie s brother, Joseph II was the Holy Roman Emperor. Fans of the Old Regime hoped Joseph II would attack France.
With war threatening, French society was split into three main groups: Radicals Moderates Reactionaries Left Center Right
Radicals: - Demand drastic, rapid change. - Want to completely tear down Old Regime. - Favor a REPUBLIC.
Moderates: - Want gradual change. - Want to fix the Old Regime not destroy it. - Favor a LIMITED MONARCHY.
Reactionaries: - Dislike change. - Want to go back to the way things used to be. - Favor a return to ABSOLUTE MONARCHY.
1n 1791, the Legislative Assembly was dominated by radicals and moderates. The radicals wanted war. Louis XVI and the reactionaries wanted war, too.
In June 1791, Louis and Marie attempted to flee from Paris. They were stopped, brought back to Paris and imprisoned. The radicals thought this meant Austria was going to attack.
In April 1792, the radicals convinced the Legislative Assembly to declare war on Austria. Prussia quickly jumped in on Austria s side.
New elections in France brought more radicals into the Assembly. In Sept. 1792 the Assembly voted to abolish the monarchy. This was the beginning of the French Republic.
The radicals changed the name of the assembly to the National Convention. In Jan. 1793, they tried Louis XVI as an enemy of the Revolution. He was convicted and sentenced to death by guillotine.
The Execution of Louis XVI
The execution of Louis XVI brought Great Britain, Spain & the Netherlands into the war. War with 5 countries forced the National Convention to institute a draft.
Opposition to the war and the draft threatened to bring down the republic. The National Convention created the Committee of Public Safety to root out opponents of the revolution.
Maximilien Robespierre Leader of the Committee of Public Safety Do the ends justify the means?
Robespierre felt that saving the Revolution was more important than protecting individual rights. Opponents of the National Convention were quickly taken to the guillotine.
From July 1793-July 1794, 40,000 people were executed. 80% of those killed were members of the 3 rd Estate. Finally the Committee of Public Safety turned on Robespierre and he, too, was guillotined.
Constitution of 1795 ended the radical phase of the Revolution. Council of Ancients Council of 500 Republic Directory Separation of Powers Courts Legislative Executive Judicial
In Oct. 1795, a mob of Royalists threatened to overthrow the Directory in Paris. The Directors called on a young general, Napoleon Bonaparte, to defend them.
Napoleon used cannon fire to disperse the reactionary mob. For this he was hailed as a hero of the Revolution and given command of an army in Italy.
Napoleon Bonaparte Born: 1769 on Corsica. Sent to military school at age 9.
In 1796-97, Napoleon won great victories against Austria & Prussia and increased his fame. In 1799, Napoleon decided it was time to take control of the government of France.
Napoleon used his fame and the support of his army to pull off a coup d etat. He created a new 3-man ruling body, The Consulate. Napoleon named himself First Consul with a 10-year term.
In 1802, Napoleon ordered a plebiscite. Q: Should Napoleon be named First Consul for Life? Yes 3,568,885 99.8% No 8,374 0.2%
Assassination attempts and talk of returning to a monarchy led Napoleon to take a new title. On Dec. 1, 1804 he crowned himself: Napoleon I, Emperor of the French
Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I
By 1804, Napoleon s army had successfully conquered virtually all of Europe. In 1805, Napoleon planned to invade his most hated enemy, Great Britain.
But at the Battle of Trafalgar, British Admiral Horatio Nelson destroyed the French fleet. Without a navy Napoleon could not invade Great Britain.
Admiral Nelson Trafalgar Square, London
After Trafalgar, Napoleon decided to hurt the British by cutting off their trade. He set up the Continental System, which said that no country in Europe could trade with the British.
Czar Alexander I of Russia refused to obey Napoleon s trade embargo of Great Britain. Napoleon invaded Russia in June, 1812 with an army of over half a million troops.
Unable to stop the invasion, the Russians retreated and burned everything in their wake. This scorched earth policy denied Napoleon s troops food and shelter.
The Burning of Moscow, 1812
After finding Moscow in flames, Napoleon decided to retreat before winter set in. The retreat was a disaster as French troops starved, froze and got mauled by attacking Russian cavalry called Cossacks.
Napoleon lost over 400,000 troops in Russia. With G.B., Russia, Prussia and Austria now allied against him, Napoleon abdicated his throne. In 1814, he went into exile on the small island of Elba.
Louis XVIII, the brother of Louis XVI, was installed as French king. After less than a year on Elba, Napoleon made a comeback. He returned to France, chased off Louis XVIII and gathered together a new army.
In June 1815, he was defeated by Great Britain and Prussia at Waterloo, in present day Belgium. Following this final defeat, the British exiled Napoleon for good to St. Helena off the coast of Africa.
Napoleon lived out his days under British guard, dying in 1821 at age 51. The French Revolution story ends with Louis XVIII back in charge of a limited monarchy.
Arc de Triomphe, Paris