World History Discussion: French Revolution / Napoleon

The French Revolution

France before the revolution was the monarchy state, where nobility reigns.

It was the country that every other country immulated.

This is where rigid, monarchy, social structure was ever present.

Why Did The French Revolution Happen?

• Enlightenment and Liberalism
• Liberalists Believe in...
• Constitutionalism
• Republicanism
• Human Rights
• The American Revolution put France in Debt
• The Ancien Regime
• Its inept political leadership
• Bad Harvest
• Resulted in Riots

The French Estates

• First Estate
• Made up of Clergy
• Made up 1% of the population
• Second Estate
• Made up of the Nobility
• Made up 4% of the population
• Third Estate
• The Middle Class, Peasants, and Artisans
• Made up 95% of the population

The State of France in 1789

• Government debt was immense
• Wages increased
• Prices increased
• There was a lack of leadership

Who Were Taxed by the Government?

• The Third Estate

Who Controlled the Parlement?

• The Second Estate

Estates General

• Representative body of France, similar to congress.

Meeting of the Estates General

• Traditionally the estates voted by orders, each estate had one vote.
• The First and Second Estate always voted together, so the Third Estate had no power.
• The Third Estate wanted each man to have a vote.
• The King blocked out the Third Estate, and prevented them from meeting in the Estates General.

National Assembly

• Was formed by the Third Estate and some Nobility.
• They met in a Tennis Court, and vowed to write a constitution.
• The King tried to call troops to disperse the National Assembly, but the troops refused because they sympathized with the National Assembly.
• The National Assembly had no intention to throw out the king, they were liberal, they simply were inspired by the Enlightenment and wanted their human rights, a consitution, a republic.

Storming of the Bastille

• Jacques Necker
• Finance Minister who was sympathetic to the Third Estate, was fired and banished for his sympathy.
• Jacques Necker's banishment, ensued in riots, which began to settle around the Bastille.
• Bastille
• Was once a royal castle, but became an armory and prison.
• The rioters over powered the guards of the Bastille, and took it over.

Decleration of Rights of Man and Citizen

• Thomas Jefferson helped the National Assembly write a decleration of rule of law, equal citizenship, liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
• The King refused to accept the Decleration.
• A mob escorted the king to Paris, the mob mainly consisted of women who were upset about the incredibly high bread prices.
• The king promised bread and accepted the Decleration of Rights.
• The Royal Family was forced to stay in Paris at Tuileries Palace under protection of Swiss Guards.
• The King didn't really intend to reform, he believed he could get through the difficulty of the time, and everything would go back to normal.

National Assembly in Control

• The National Assembly was in control while the King was in Tuileries Palace.
• The National Assembly strived to make churchs' no longer financially independent.
• Church land began to be sold
• The Clergy were told to stop being clergy and to become members of private society, any remaining clergy became agents of the state.
• Collected Tithes by the Church were redistributed to the poor.
• This was an effort to secularize France, to root out religion.

Constitution of France Written by the National Assembly

• It removed...
• Feudal Rights
• Church Property
• Nobility Rights
• Torture
• Customs
• Serfdom
• What was added...
• Decided on Uniform states of measure
• Courts standardized as trial by jury

The French King's Attempt to Escape

• The King began to conspire with the Holy Roman Emperor and Other Monarchs.
• The King attempts to escape with his family to Switzerland.
• The King was recognized by a guard when they reached Varennes and was returned to Paris.

The Effect of the Flight to Varennes

• The People now know that the King has no wish to reform.
• Guards are set up to watch the royal family of france at all times.

The Second Phase of the French Revolution

• Austrian Conflict
• Austria, Prussia states that they will support the king of France
• France declares war on Austria because of this declaration.
• Prussians announced an invasion to restore the French Monarchy and quell the rebellion.
• The Royal Family is imprisoned, and the monarchy is imbolished.
• Prussia takes Verdun and threatens Paris.
• The National Convention Army Defeats Austria.
• The Royal Family is put on trial for treason and executed.
• Men in Trousers
• They controlled the press of Paris.
• And began to make radical statements for the hopes of changing Paris's government.
• The ideas they promoted were socialist ideas.
• The Men in Trousers disband the National Assembly, and Replace it with the Radical National Convention.

Radical Revolution of France

• Paris Commune
• Ran by a vengeful mob, took control of the city and arrested the royal family.
• The Civilian Population was Armed.
• September Massacare
• Many Clergy were brutally killed

French Revolution- Reign of Terror

• Inflation rising, food shortages, and currency is devalued.
• Committee of Public Safety
• Passed price ceilings
• Seized Crops in the Country Side
• Helped Paris, but didn't help any one else
• Maximilliam Robespierre
• Spoke constantly of equality
• He believed that in order to attain Justice, anyone who would question their justice, must be eliminated.
• Would become the head of the National Convention
• He began to kill, anyone he believed stood against justice
• He was a paranoid maniac, and was scared of everyone around him.
• He established a cult of the Supreme Being
• He claimed there were no Gods, nor God, but simply reason.
• He wished to coordinated a rejection of the Catholic Church in France.

French Revolution End of the Terror

• Girondins
• Arrested Robespierre as well as 99 others.
• Established the New Government, the Directory.

Napoleon

• He wasn't short for his time.
• He grew up in Corsica, he was not french.
• He spoke french, but he was more Italian.
• He went to military school in french.
• He served the National Assembly, National Convention, and Robespierre.
• He Quickly defeated the Austrians.
• He was ordered to plan an Invasion of England.
• He was incredibly energetic, and confident.
• He studied maps all the time, and never slept.
• He preferred level ground.
• He invented a suspension system for cannons, that allowed for them to easily be moved across the battle field. Now he can pound areas with artillery.

Napoleon, Eygpt and the Battle of the Pyramids

• Napoleon wanted a middle eastern empire to counter British India.
• He invaded Egypt
• He took Alexandria
• He then marched on Cairo
• The Mamluk Cavalry attacked Napoleon's army
• Frech delivered point blank musket and artillery fire from divisional squares.
• Casualties
• 300 french
• 3000 Mamluk

Napoleon Bonaparte- Battle of the Nile

• Lord Horatio Nelson
• Was a feared general, who was taught to line up his ships, and crash their ships into enemy ships.
• His ships were coppered
• This kept them from breaking down as fast
• It kept sea creatures from ruining them
• It made the ships faster
• It allowed the ships to be on the water longer
• The British Navy's Advantages
• Lord Horation Nelson
• Copper Ships
• Carronades
• Short cannons on the top deck, that blasts a huge, slow projectile, rumbles, and causes tons of damage.
• Could shoot anything out of it that was metal, it was super effective.
• Battle of the Nile
• Number of Ships
• 17 British Ships
• 17 French Ships
• Surviving Ships
• 2 French Ships survived
• Napoleon's Problems/ New Rule Over The French Government
• The Directory is in trouble, and he had to take over the government and form the consolate
• He became the emperor of France, and crowned himself rather than by the Pope.
• He depended on foraging to survive when battling
• The British Navy's many advantages
• Napoleon's Consolate
• He wanted to be an Enlightened Emperor.
• But....
• He didn't treat women well
• He controlled the press
• Big Achievements
• Napoloenic Law
• Standardized Law
• Created the Bank of France
• Stabalized the currency based on gold and silver, not just paper.
• Built roads, cannals, and bridges
• Restored the Catholic Church in France, overturning seperation of church and state.
• What he Hates...
• Feudalism
• Religious Intolerance
• Civil Inequality
• War of the Third Coalition
• Austerlitz is Napolean's greatest battle.
• Starts the Confederation of the Rhine to replace the Holy Roman Empire
• Lord Horatio Nelson defeats Napoleon at Trafalgar
• He split his feet, and crossed the T, by breaking the line.
• Lord Horatio Nelson was on the SMS Victory, he was killed during the battle by a sharpshooter.
• What Makes Napoleon Successful?
• His army was made up of prideful nationalists
• They had improved artillery and calvary
• He divided his army into corps, in which each corp could act alone.
• He lived off the land, so that he could move his army quickly.
• All of his corps communicated with one another.
• Napoleon was good at moving his army quickly, and organizing his power efficiently.
• Napoleonic Code
• Got rid of the Holy Roman Empire
• Church courts were abolished and restricted
• Abolishes serfdom
• Allows freedom of religion
• Standardized secular education
• Napoleon's Continental System
• Napoleon told all the powers to stop trading with Britain, but everyone ignored it.
• Britain's GNP actually increased during this period.
• Napoleon - The Peninsular War
• Napoleon had Charles IV of Spain deposed.
• Napoleon placed his brother Joseph on the throne.
• A general rebellion errupted throughout the country.
• British Lt. Gen Arthur Wellesley became Napoleon's newest rival.
• Napoleon- Invasion of Russia
• Russia denies to follow Napoleon's continental system.
• Napoleon decides because of this, to invade Russia.
• The Russians burned the land, so that Napoleon couldn't forage for food, and his supplies quickly died out.
• Napoleon's men were weakened and he had to retreat.
• Napoleon's Retreat From Moscow
• The winter hits in Moscow.
• Napoleon's men are weaker than they ever were before.
• Napoleon abandons his army, and when he returns to Paris he tells the press to state that his army was victorious in invading Moscow.
• Napoleon's Exile to Elbe
• Napoleon is defeated in the battle of the nations.
• He said goodbye to his men.
• He is exiled by the congress of vienna
• The Congress of Vienna
• They did not blame France
• They did not execute Napoleon, though they did blame him.
• They exiled Napoleon to the island of Elbe near Italy.
• He became the emperor of Elbe, and had British troops watching his every move.
• Napoleon's Return
• He escaped Elbe on a ship, gathered his troops in France, and the congress of vienna disbanded.
• Napoleon had to battle against Blucher's army of Prussia, and Wellington's army of England.

Graduated Income Tax

• The more money you have, the higher your taxes are.

Ancien Regime

The traditional, conventional, conservative, monarchy system of Europe.

The system in which nobility was a small part of the population but had the most power, the most land, and had no need to work.

The vast majority of the people under this system were sufferring peasants with difficult lives.