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American/French Revolution notes
Causes of the American Revolution
In 1763 the Seven Year’s war came to an end between Great Britain and France, with Great Britain
winning and becoming the major European power in the eastern half of the North American continent.
Militias and troops from the British 13 colonies formed the backbone of the British army during the
conflict.
In the years following the war, the British parliament enacted a slew of laws and taxes on the colonies in
order to pay for the war with the French. These taxes included the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend
Acts, Tea Act, and the Quartering Act. The British also limited the colonials’ ability to have a fair trial or
due process.
In large cities like Boston, many people began to boycott British goods and riot because of the taxes.
Groups like the Sons of Liberty helped initiate these riots and boycotts, and even terrorized businesses
owned by British supporters (Tories/Loyalists). On the night of March 5th, 1770, a riot got out of control
and a squad of British soldiers fired upon the crowd killing 5. The event was known as the Boston
Massacre across the world. After the event, the British relaxed some of its taxes on the colonies for a
while until they imposed the Tea Act in 1773. In response, the Boston colonials threw millions of dollars
of tea into Boston harbor, the event would be known as the Boston Tea Party.
In response, the British sent over thousands of troops to the colonies and put large port cities like
Boston on military lockdown. American pleas to the King and Parliament were ignored to lessen taxes
and British military presence. In 1775, the militias of the Massachusetts colony began to stock pile
firearms and gun powder/ammunition. The British got wind of this and sent out a regiment to find and
destroy the rebel munitions. The British ran into the minutemen of the city of Lexington, who were
warned that the British were coming by Paul Revere and William Dawes. On April 19th, 1775 under 100
colonial militia faced off against 1000 British regulars. No one knows who fired the first shot, but within
minutes a majority of the colonial force was either killed or wounded. The British continued on towards
the city of Concord, where they were ambushed and defeated by a large colonial force. The British were
forced to retreat to Boston.
The colonials surrounded the city of Boston, but at the Battle of Bunker Hill the British smashed through
colonial lines and broke the siege for the time being. In Philadelphia, a Second Continental Congress had
been called to discuss what the American colonies would do. The congress included delegates from all
13 colonies and included individuals such as George Washington, Ben Franklin, Sam Adams, John Adams,
Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock. It was decided that George Washington would take command of
the American Continental army. On July 4th, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed, thus
creating the United States of America.
The American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary war was fought in two main theatres (north and south). The British were
the clear favorites to win the war as they had the best military in the world, and were the most powerful
nation at this time. The American troops were untrained, undisciplined, and poorly supplied. Yet, they
had the advantage of fighting for a cause and fighting on home turf.
Most of the early battles in the war were fought in the Northern colonies as the British were trying to
capture the major cities in the north. The Americans lost battle after battle in the north as they were not
prepared for the horrors or warfare. The Americans also failed in an invasion attempt of Canada. In the
winter of 1777 and 1778, the Americans were forced to camp at Valley Forge, where they were trained
by a Prussian military commander named Frederick Von Steuben. Even with this training, the colonials
were no match in open field combat against the British. As a result, American commanders resorted to
using hit and run/ambush tactics similar to the Native American tribes. These tactics were put to use at
the battle of Saratoga, in which a large British force was defeated by the colonials. In Europe, Ben
Franklin was sent to France to gain support of the French. The French were resistant to join the war until
the American proved they could win a major battle. With the victory at Saratoga, the French finally
decided to join the war on the side of the Americans.
With their defeat at Saratoga, the British were forced to change their strategy and invade the southern
colonies in hopes to gain loyalist support from southern colonials. The British appointed Lord Cornwallis
to command the British in this campaign. Cornwallis was successful early on easily taking Georgia and
the South Carolina capital of Charleston. The Americans suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Camden
in 1780, leaving the protection of the southern colonies up to local militias. The militias used similar
tactics that the northern armies used to harass the British. The British became increasingly frustrated
that they could not fully destroy the Americans, and were often forced to chase the Americans down
after battles. This gave American commander Nathanael Greene the idea to use a tactic known as
“Tactical Retreat”. The Americans used these tactics to win major victories at the Battle of Cowpens,
and Guillford Courthouse.
Cornwallis was forced to flee to Yorktown, Virginia where he was surrounded by the Americans by land
and the French by sea. After a month under siege, Cornwallis surrendered his army to the Americans.
This loss forced the British government to begin the peace process. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris was
signed, thus allowing for the creation of the United States.
For the next 10 years the Americans would go through a process of creating a new democratic
republican government. In 1787, the Constitution was signed thus creating the new government of the
United States.
Causes of the French Revolution
France in the late 18th century was under the control of King Louis XVI. France was in an extreme
amount of debt due to their wars with the British in the 1760’s through 1780’s. Due to the high amount
of debt, French Peasants and commoners were taxed heavily. French nobles and clergy (the wealthiest)
of French citizens were not taxed due to their positions. Along with extreme debt, French crops failed
throughout the 1780’s leading to food shortages throughout the country.
In order to solve the problems the Estates General was called to solve France’s issues. The Estates
General was made up of the First Estate (Clergy), Second Estate (Nobles) and the Third Estate
(Commoners/Peasants). The Third Estate made was the largest of the Estates, but didn’t have any more
power than the other two. The First and Second estates, along with the King would always override the
third estate on all issues. Because of this the Third Estate was locked out of the Estates General and met
on the Tennis Court at the Palace at Versailles declaring that they would create a new democratic
government.
The start of the French Revolution
In 1789, things in Paris got worse as bread prices and unemployment soared. On July 14th, a large mob
stormed the Bastille in Paris in order to arm themselves against the King. Three months later a group of
women in Paris heard that the Queen was hoarding bread and other food, and marched on the royal
Palace at Versailles. The women stormed the Palace killing many guards and forced the royal family to
move to Paris.
After moving to Paris, the King was forced to sign the new French constitution which limited his power
and created a National Assembly (congress). At the same time Austria and the Italian states declared
war on France to keep revolutions from spreading into their countries and reestablish the French
Monarchy. In January of 1793, King Louis XVI tried to flee France and was found guilty of treason. He
was executed on January 21st 1793.
With the death of the King, Maximillian Robespierre became the leader of the National Assembly and
began the reign of terror. During this two year time period the Committee on Public Safety executed
nearly 40,000 people who were found to be guilty of treason. People were killed for not being
enthusiastic during executions, talking poorly about the government, not supporting the government,
and many other reasons. Most people were innocent of their crimes. The reign of terror claimed the life
of Queen Marie Antoinette and Robespierre himself. After the reign of terror, France still found itself at
war with many European nations.
Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Empire
In the early days of the French Revolution a young, but talented Napoleon Bonaparte was an artillery
commander for the French Revolutionary army against the Austrians and Italians. Napoleon proved
himself in battle very quickly with his strategy of using mass artillery strikes to weaken enemy
lines/fortifications. Soon he became commander of the French army and led very successful campaigns
in Italy and Egypt in the late 1790’s.
By 1800 Napoleon had become the most popular man in France with his many victories over the
Austrians, Italians, and British. Napoleon used a strategy of using mass column charges to break through
enemy lines combined with intense artillery fire and cavalry charges. In 1800 Napoleon became the new
French leader and in 1804 he overthrew the National Assembly and the rest of the French government
crowning himself Emperor. In order to stop Napoleon the Austrians, British, Prussians, Swedes, and
Russians allied themselves against Napoleon.
In 1805 Napoleon had control of most of western Europe, and attempted to invade the British isles but
was defeated by the British at the Battle of Trafalgar (sea battle). After this defeat, Napoleon set up the
Continental system in which he would isolate Europe and blockade the British from trading with
European nations. In 1806 Napoleon defeated and occupied Prussia, and defeated the large Russian
army giving France control over most of Europe.
From 1808-1814 France lost control over Spain during the Peninsular War in Spain. In 1812, Napoleon
and his Grand Army embarked on his invasion of Russia. For a year, Napoleon made his way through
Poland and western Russia on his way to Moscow. When winter set in, the outnumbered Russians
resorted to harassing the French and using “Scorched earth” tactics in which they burned their fields to
keep the French from resupplying. Napoleon was unable to destroy the Russian army at the Battle of
Borodino and he was forced to retreat out of Russia. For the next two years the Sixth Coalition pushed
Napoleon back to France. In April of 1814, Napoleon was defeated and forced into exile on the island of
Elba.
In March of 1815 Napoleon returned to France from exile and pushed to rebuild the French army. In
June of 1815 Napoleon met the British at the battle of Waterloo in Belgium. Napoleon nearly defeated
the British before the Prussians arrived and surrounded the French. With his defeat at Waterloo,
Napoleon was exiled at the Island of Helena.
The European nations met at the Congress of Vienna in order to provide order and security to Europe
after two decades of war. Other than providing order and security, the Congress set out to reestablish
the French Monarchy and prevent other revolutions from occurring in their own nations. This action
prevented any type of democratic government from forming in Europe for the next century.