Unit 4 French Revolution and Napoleon Empire

Unit 4The French Revolution and the Napoleon Empire.

4th graders

(ESO)

Social Studies

Department

Almudena Corrales Marbán


VOCABULARY

https://quizlet.com/almusociales

revolution (revolución)

Napoleon Bonaparte

new regime (nuevo régimen)

constitutional monarchy

(monarquía constitucional)

republic (república)

abolition (abolición)

Estates General (Estados

Generales)

assembly (asamblea)

riot (disturbios)

feudal rights (privilegios

feudales)

sans- cullotte

coalition (coalición)

guillotine (guillotina)

coup (golpe (de Estado))

civil-right (derecho civil)


1. INTRODUCTION

The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 marked the start of the Contemporary Age (remember our timeline)


PREVIOUS UNIT


WHAT IS A REVOLUTION?

Dramatic changes that often includes:

The fall of a government

The transformation of a social and

economic order


At this point it is very important to focus on the following aspects:

• Before the French Revolution, enlightened despots failed to make the

political, economic and social changes the Enlightenment thinkers had

proposed. From 1789 onwards, these changes were violently

imposed by revolutionaries, against the wishes of the monarchs.

• The French Revolution marked the arrival of a new era, which was

symbolized by the famous slogan: “LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND

FRATERNITY´”.

• Revolutionaries often added the words “or death” to the slogan to show

that they were prepared to fight and die for their principles.


The slogan of the revolution (artist and date unknown)


Driven by the example of the American Revolution and such Enlightenment ideas as liberty, equality, and democracy, the French ousted the government of Louis XVI and established a new political order.

Who do you think some historians cite the “wind from America” as a cause of the

French Revolution?


2. THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The French Revolution was a period of violent political and social change, which saw the abolition of absolute monarchy and the end of the estates system of Ancien Régime (closed society).

• The influence of the Enlightenment: Rousseau (Du Contrat Social), Voltaire (Lettres Philosophiques) and Montesquieu (De l’Espirit des Loix).

• French intellectuals and bourgeoisie supported Enlightenment ideas and tried to put them into practice. For example, they demanded that all French subjects be free and equal under the law.

2.1. IDEAS


2.2. POLITICAL CRISIS

What were The Estates General?

0 A meeting of representatives of the three estates of the realm in France.

0 They gave the king some adviseon important issues, such as tax increases.


0 King Louis XVI (1774-1792)0 He governed France as an absolute

monarch.0 He opposed meetings of the Estates

General.0 The estates of the realm:

0could not present their demands.0Could not try to limit the king´s power.


2.3. ECONOMIC CRISIS

0 The French state was bankrupt (without money and unable to pay debts).

0Causes: 0participation in military conflicts, such

as the American War of independence.

0The royal family spent large amounts of money on palaces, luxury goods and extravagant parties.

Almudena Corrales MarbánDrawing of the palace of Versailles


Hall of Mirrors. Versailles.

Guess the artistic style!


0 How did Louis XVI´s ministers try to improve the country finances?

0 Increasing taxes0Even for the privileged upper classes.

Turgot

Necker


By the late 18th century, all three estates of realm were discontented with the crown, but for different reasons.

• THE CLERGY (FIRST STATE) AND THE NOBILITY (SECOND ESTATE)

Both estates wanted to protect their traditional economic privileges. They refuse d to pay taxes that the king’s ministers were demanding.

2.4. SOCIAL CRISIS


• THE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE PEASANTRY (THIRD STATE)

THE MIDDLE CLASS

The upper middle class, or bourgeoisie, wanted to abolish the absolute monarchy because it didn’t allow them to participate in government.

The lower middle class or petite bourgeoisie, was suffering from economic difficulties caused by wars, higher taxes and increased competition from British products (Great Britain was going through the Industrial Revolution (1750)= cheaper prices)


THE PEASANTRY

They also suffered economic problems caused by wars, taxes and poor harvest.

They also had to pay higher rent to the clergy and nobility.

As a result:

• The middle class and peasantry were angered by the luxurious lifestyle of the royal family and court.

• They rejected the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the nobility.


3. MAJOR EVENTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION


STARTING POINT

• Bankrupt in France• Privileged people refuse to pay taxes.

What did the king have to do to face this economic crisis?• The king decided to call together the Estates General

in 1789 in order to increase taxes.

• The last time a French king called together the Estates General was in 1614 !!!!!

• The minister Necker duplicated the number of representatives of the Third State in the Estates General to stop the power of the privileged people.


3.1. The National Assambly July 1789

The National Assembly The Third Estate

delegates, mostly members of the

bourgeoisie whose views had been shaped

by the Enlightenment, were eager to make

changes in the government.

They insisted that all three estates meet

together and that each delegate have a

vote. This would give the advantage to

the Third Estate, which had as many

delegates as the other two estates

combined.


• Siding with the nobles, the king ordered the Estates-General to follow the medieval rules.

king

Second

estate

Third estate

First e

state

• The delegates of the Third Estate, however, became more and more determined to wield power. A leading spokesperson for their viewpoint was a clergyman sympathetic to their cause, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (syay•YEHS). In a dramatic speech, Sieyès suggested that the Third Estate delegates name themselves the National Assembly and pass laws and reforms in the name of the French people.

• After a long night of excited debate, the delegates of the Third Estate agreed toSieyès’s idea by an overwhelming majority. On June 17, 1789, they voted to establish the National Assembly, in effect proclaiming the end of absolute monarchy and the beginning of representative government. This vote was the first deliberate act of revolution.


• Three days later, the Third Estate delegates found themselves locked out of their meeting room. They broke down a door to an indoor tennis court, pledging to stay until they had drawn up a new constitution. This pledge became known as the Tennis Court Oath (Juramento del Juego de la Pelota).

• Soon after, nobles and members of the clergy who favored reform joined the Third Estate delegates. In response to these events, Louis stationed his mercenary army of Swiss guards around Versailles.

• Storming the Bastille. In Paris, rumors flew. Some people suggested that Louis was intent on using military force to dismiss the National Assembly. Others charged that the foreign troops were coming to Paris to massacre French citizens.


People began to gather weapons in order

to defend the city against attack. On July

14, a mob searching for gunpowder and

arms stormed the Bastille, a Paris prison.

The mob overwhelmed the guard and

seized control of the building. The angry

attackers hacked the prison commander

and several guards to death, and then

paraded around the streets with the dead

men’s heads on pikes.

The fall of the Bastille became a great symbolic act of revolutionto the French people. Ever since, July 14—Bastille

Day—has been a French national holiday, similar to theFourth of July in the United States or Second of May in Madrid.

Día de la Bastilla o Fête Nationale

Fourth of July

https://www.google.es/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAUQjhxqFQoTCNe3lq-knckCFUhEFAodGA0Htg&url=http://blog.only-apartments.es/dia-de-la-bastilla-fete-nationale/&psig=AFQjCNEbr-N_S9SfzqfvIey6QOkvJ7Onog&ust=1448049894777143





• In October 1789, thousands of Parisian women rioted over the rising price of bread. Brandishing knives, axes, and other weapons, the women marched on Versailles. First, they demanded that the National Assembly take action to provide bread. Then they turned their anger on the king and queen. They broke into the palace, killing some of the guards. The women demanded that Louis and Marie Antoinette return to Paris. After some time, Louis agreed.

• A few hours later the king, his family, and servants left Versailles, never again to see the magnificent palace. Their exit signaled the change of power and radical reforms about to overtake France.

SOURCEBreadBread was a staple of the diet of the common people of France. Most families consumed three or four 4-pound loaves a day. And thepurchase of bread took about half of a worker’s wages—when times weregood. So, when the price of bread jumped dramatically, as it did in the fall of 1789, people faced a real threat of starvation.

World History, textbook


3.2. The Constituent Assembly (1789-1791)

Throughout the night of August 4, 1789,

noblemen made grand speeches,

declaring their love of liberty and

equality. Motivated more by fear than by

idealism, they joined other members of the

National Assembly in sweeping away the

feudal privileges of the First and Second

Estates, thus making commoners equal to

the nobles and the clergy. By morning, the

Old Regime was dead. GAME OVER


• The Rights of Man Three weeks later, the National Assembly adopted a statement of revolutionary ideals, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

• Reflecting the influence of the Declaration of Independence, the document stated that “men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” These rights included “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.” The document also guaranteed citizens equal justice, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion.

• In keeping with these principles, revolutionary leaders adopted the

expression “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” as their slogan.


Louis Tries to Escape

• As the National Assembly restructured the relationship between church and state, Louis XVI pondered his fate as a monarch. Some of his advisers warned him that he and his family were in danger. Many supporters of the monarchy thought France unsafe and left the country.

• Then, in June 1791, the royal family tried to escape from France to the Austrian Netherlands. As they neared the border, however, they were apprehended and returned to Paris under guard. Louis’s attempted escape increased the influence of his radical enemies in the government and sealed his fate.

One of the peoplewho stopped Louisfrom escaping saidthat he recognizedthe king from hisportrait on a Frenchbank note.


• For two years, the National Assembly argued over a new constitution for France. By 1791, the delegates had made significant changes in France’s government and society.

• A Limited Monarchy In September 1791, the National Assembly completed the new constitution, which Louis reluctantly approved.

French Constitution

1791

A constitutiona

l monarchy

Separation of powers

Limited male

suffrage

Popular sovereignty


3.3. The Legislative Assembly (1791-1792)

0 After the Constitution had been adopted, a new Legislative Assembly was elected to implement the legal changes.

Political groups

Girondins Jacobins


Believed in the revolution but represented the interests of the bourgeoisie.

Moderate political ideas.

Liberal economic policies that helped the middle class.

Limited suffrage.

GIRONDINS


JACOBINSBelieved in the revolution, but their ideas were more radical.

Abolition of the monarchy and put the king on trial.

Expand the suffrage.

Control price rises to help workers.

They gained support of the Parisinian labourers known as «san´s-cullotes»


A «sans-culottes»: workers and craftsmen.

In contrast, some Parisian workers and small shopkeepers wanted the Revolutionto bring even greater changes to France. They were called sans-culottes

(SANZ kyoo•LAHTS), or “those without knee breeches.” Unlike the upper classes,who wore fancy knee-length pants, sans-culottes wore regular trousers. Althoughthey did not have a role in the assembly, they soon discovered ways to exert theirpower on the streets of Paris.


Despite the new government, old problems, such as food shortages and government debt, remained. The question of how to handle these problems caused the Legislative Assembly to split into three general groups, each of which sat in a different part of the meeting hall.

Radicals, who sat on the left side of the hall, opposed the idea of a monarchy and wanted sweeping changes in the way the government was run. Moderates sat in the center of the hall and wanted some changes in government, but not asmany as the radicals. Conservatives sat on the right side ofthe hall. They upheld the idea of a limited monarchy andwanted few changes in government


3.4. The Convention (1792-1793)

The beginning of the Republic starts the radical and popular phase of the Revolution.

There were elections for a new Assembly called:

The Convention:

Louis XVI was accused of treason and then executed.

Execution of Louis XVI. 21 January 1793

«The end, not of a man, but of an institution»


A number of European

countries formed a coalition

and declared war on France to

prevent the revolution from

spreading.


• Most of the people involved in the governmental changes

in September 1792 were members of a radical political

organization, the Jacobin (JAK•uh•bihn) Club. One of the

most prominent Jacobins, as club members were called,

was Jean-Paul Marat (mah•RAH).

• The «sans-culottes» gave a «coup-d´Etat» against the Girondins in June 1793.

• The leader of the Jacobins was Robespierre.

• The Jacobins took control of the government and imposed a dictatorship, known as the Terror.


The jacobins persecuted people they

believed to be counter-revolutionaries.

More than 42.000 people were executed by

guillotine during the Terror.

The Terror claimed not only the famous, such as Danton

and Marie Antoinette, the widowed queen. Thousands of

unknown people also were sent to their deaths, often on the

flimsiest of charges. For example, an 18-year-old youth was

sentenced to die for cutting down a tree that had been

planted as a symbol of liberty. Perhaps as many as 40,000

were executed during the Terror. About 85 percent were

peasants or members of the urban poor or middle class—

for whose benefit the Revolution had been launched

The Committee of PublicSafety’s (Comité de Salud Pública) chief task was to protect the Revolution from its enemies. Under Robespierre’s leadership, the committee often had these “enemies” tried in the morning and guillotined in the afternoon. Robespierre justified his use of terror by suggesting that it enabled French citizens to remain true to the ideals of the Revolution. He also saw a connection between virtue and terror:


0 27 July 1794 there was a Coup-d

´Etat.

0 When Robespierre was removed

from power, he was also executed

by guillotine in the Place de la

Révolution.


3.5. The Directory (1795-1799)

By 1795, France´s moderate middle class had gained control of the country.

To avoid a new dictatorship, a moderated government was created.

The executive power was controlled by a Directory

• A more conservative government which was composed of five

members.

• Created to stop the violence and executions.

New Constitution (1795)


3.6. The Consulate (1799)

The Directory was weak.

• Supporters of the monarchy wanted to restore the Borbons.

• Radical revolutionaries wanted to regain control.

In response, General Napoleon Bonaparte organised a military coup and established a new form of government called the Consulate.

2 differentpossitions

Napoleon’s Coup-d´Etat. 18 Brumario (9 de noviembre de 1799


The Consulate was a group of three leaders known as consuls.

It included Napoleon himself as head of state and First Consul.

Napoleon (centre) and other two leaders of the Consulate.


4. From the Revolution to the Empire

WHO WAS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE?

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. When he was nine years old, his parents sent him to a military school. In 1785, at the age of 16, he finished school and became a lieutenant in the artillery. When the Revolution broke out, Napoleon joined the army of the new government.Hero of the Hour In October 1795, fate handed the young officer a chance for glory. When royalist rebels marched on the National Convention, a government official told Napoleon to defend the delegates. Napoleon and his gunners greeted the thousands of royalists with a cannonade. Within minutes, the attackers fledin panic and confusion. Napoleon Bonaparte became the hero of the hour and was hailed throughout Paris as the savior of the French republic.


Napoleon gradually increased its power: He was named First Consul for Life in 1802. (cónsul vitalicio)

In 1804 Napoleon declared himself Emperor of France.

The Constitution of 1804 says that the government of the Republic is given to an emperor.

More info:Blog: library

World HistoryPages 783-

790

Almudena Corrales MarbánLa consagración de Napoleón(Le Sacre de Napoleón), Jacques-Louis David, 1807


Napoleon forges an EmpireIn 1796, the Directory appointed Napoleon to lead a French army against the forces of Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Crossing the Alps, the younggeneral swept into Italy and won a series of remarkable victories.

In an attempt to protect French trade interests and to disrupt British trade with India, Napoleon led an expedition to Egypt. But he was unable to repeat the successes he had achieved in Europe.


THE DECLINE OF THE NAPOLEONIC EMPIRE

• From 1812 onwards, his power began to decline because he had to divide his forces between two very distant fronts: • Spain (West)• The Russian Empire(East)

• Napoleon abdicated in 1814 and went into exile on the island of Elba.


FranciscoGoya’s paintingThe Third of May,1808 shows aFrench firing squadexecuting Spanishpeasants suspectedof beingguerrillas.

THE INVASION OF SPAIN


• Napoleon went back to

power during a period of

one hundred days, but he

was definetly defeated in

Waterloo (1815).


• As a punishment, he was deported on the small

island of Saint Helena, where he died.


• What happened after

Napoleon´s defeat?

• The victorious powers re-

established the Ancien

Régime, although this only

lasted for a short period of

time.


5. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE NAPOLEONIC EMPIRE

•The most important consequence is the crisis and disintegration of the Ancien Régime.


POLITICAL CHANGES

New forms of government

Constitutional monarchies

Republics

New constitutions based on:

Popular sovereignty

Separation of powers

New constitutions established:

Limited male suffrage

Civil rights

Emergence of political groups

Because of elections


ECONOMIC CHANGES

End of the economic privileges

All the citizens now had to pay tax and contritute to the

state´s expenses.

Included the nobility and clergy.

Property rights

Guaranteed by new laws.

Free trade

Guaranteed by new laws.

It benefited middle-class merchants.


Society in the Ancien Régime

Society after the French Revolution


SOURCESModernworldhistorytextbooks. Mc Dougal Little

Oxford student’s book, year 4.

http://es.slideshare.net/Aggelma/the-french-revolution-27838775?related=1

E.H., Gombrich, A little history of the world.




Unit 4 French Revolution and Napoleon Empire

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