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Chapter 18: The French Revolution and Napoleon
1789-1815
 Section 1: On the Eve of Revolution
 In 1789 France was experiencing a
horrible financial recession
 Wages were being cut, while food prices
soared
 The poorest citizens of Paris had enough
and took action
 French Society Divided
 During this time, France had a strict class
system:

-First Estate = Clergy

-Second Estate = Nobility

-Third Estate = bulk of population
 The clergy enjoyed great wealth and led
lavish lifestyles
 Despite this, the First Estate did perform
social services
 The Nobles of the Second Estate held top
government jobs
 Many nobles felt the effects of the bad
economy however
 They hated absolutism and the possibility
of losing special privileges
 The Third Estate was made up of several
different classes:

-Bourgeoisie (middle class)

-rural peasants

-urban workers
 Urban workers were the poorest and faced
unemployment and crime
 Members of the Third Estate resented
privileges of those above them
 The First and Second Estates paid almost
no taxes at the expense of the peasants
 The Enlightenment led people to question
social inequalities
 The Third Estate started to demand
financial equality
 Financial Troubles
 Economic problems in France were made
worse due to deficit spending
 Vocab pg 572
 By the 1780’s huge debt and crop failures
made the situation worse resulting in tax
increases
 Jacques Necker was a financial advisor to
the king:

-reduce extravagant spending

-reform government

-abolish tariffs
 He was dismissed after he suggested the
First and Second Estates pay taxes
 Louis XVI Calls the Estates-General
 Estates-General consisted of legislative
body from all three estates
 The King had all Estates prepare a list of
grievances called cahiers
 These cahiers reflected class resentments
 Delegates from the Third Estate insisted
on reform, including the system for voting
 Eventually the Third Estate named
themselves the National Assembly
 They took the Tennis Court Oath, vowing
not to disband until a just constitution was
passed
 Some reform minded clergy and nobles
joined the Assembly
 The King sent in troops to attempt to
dismiss the National Assembly
 Parisians Storm the Bastille
 With the assembly surrounded, Parisians
took action
 More than 800 stormed the Bastille
searching for weapons
 They killed the leader of the Bastille but
found no weapons
 The Bastille became a symbol of the
independence of the French people
however
 July 14th is known as Bastille Day
 Pg 577 3-5
 Section 2: The French Revolution Unfolds
 Revolution can be broke into several
phases:

-National Assembly (1789-1791)

-Radical Phase (1792-1794)

-Directory (1795-1799)

-Age of Napoleon (1799-1815)
 Political Crisis Leads to Revolt
 Revolt was fueled by two things:

-political crisis

-famine
 80% of income was spent on food
 Things were made worse by rumors of the
government seizing food
 The National Assembly Acts
 Nobles in the National Assembly voted to
end their special privileges
 Later the Assembly issued the Declaration
of the Rights of Man and Citizen
 This was modeled after the Declaration of
Independence
 The Declaration upheld the slogan of the
revolution, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
 Many women were imprisoned or
executed for protesting the omission of
women in the declaration
 The Declaration was also ignored by many
upper class who still lived in luxury
 The National Assembly Presses Onward
 To help pay off debt, the National
Assembly voted to take over and sell
Church lands
 The Catholic Church was placed under
complete state control
 Many clergy and Catholic peasants
rejected this
 In 1791 The Assembly finished work on
the Constitution of 1791
 The Constitution had many democratic
ideas, but power was still in the hands of
the wealthy
 Radicals Take Over
 Many European rulers denounced the
revolution
 European nations started to strengthen
borders to keep out the “French Plague”
 When Prussia and Austria vowed to
defend the French Monarchy, the
Revolution moved into the Radical Phase
 The Legislative Assembly lasted less than
one year
 Working class men and women pushed
the revolution into the Radical Phase
 They demanded a new Republican form of
government
 The Legislative Assembly was torn apart
between revolutionaries and moderates
 Revolutionaries took control of the
Assembly and declared war on various
European countries
 This war lasted for 23 years
 Vocab pg 578, 3-5 pg 583
 Section 3: Radical Days of the Revolution
 There was much violence between
loyalists and revolutionaries
 Radicals eventually gained control of the
Assembly and demanded suffrage for all
males
 They set up the French Republic and drew
up a new constitution
 King Louis was tried as a traitor and
executed
 Terror and Danger Grip France
 France was in constant danger from
foreign countries, and counterrevolutionaries
 To deal with violence, the Committee for
Public Safety was established
 Young French recruits were inspired by
the revolution and were eager to fight
 The French army was young, but became
very powerful
 To deal with counter-revolutionaries, the
Committee launched a reign of terror
 Under Maxmillian Robespierre, the
guillotine became the symbol of the
revolution
 17,000 people were beheaded during the
reign of terror
 Eventually Robespierre was also executed
 The Revolution Enters Its Third Stage
 After the Reign of Terror, moderates created






a new constitution
It set up a 5 man Directory and a 2 house
legislature
The Directory was weak and supporters of a
constitutional monarchy won a majority in
the legislature
Revolution Brings Change
Most important change in France was a
feeling of Nationalism
Social reform and religious toleration were
also outcomes of the revolution
Vocab 585, 3-6 pg 590
 Section 4: The Age of Napoleon
 Napoleon Rises to Power
 As a young soldier, Napoleon favored
Republican rule
 He was ambitious, and won many battles
 He eventually became involved in politics
 He overthrew the Directory and named
himself Consul for life, then Emperor
 Napoleon reforms France
 His slogan became order, security and
efficiency
 He also restored economic prosperity
 All levels of society backed Napoleon
 His Napoleonic Code was accepted by fair
by all classes, but still excluded women
 Napoleon Builds an Empire
 Through military power, he began to
annex conquered lands
 He controlled most of Europe by placing
friends on the thrones of conquered states
 His invasions helped spread revolutionary
ideas across Europe and inspired
nationalism in France
 Napoleons Empire Faces Challenges
 Napoleons first mistake occurred in 1812
 Nationalism in other countries started to
work against him
 Conquered countries started to revolt
against him
 Napoleon attempted to invade Russia
 Out of 600,000 soldiers, 20,000 returned
home
 This defeat hurt his reputation at home
 Napoleon Falls from Power
 After new alliances formed against him,
Napoleon abdicated
 Louis XVIII took the throne of France
 Napoleon escaped from exile and returned
to France to seize power again
 He reassembled the army under his
command
 The French Army was crushed at the
Battle of Waterloo
 After this battle European leaders met at
the Congress of Vienna to restore order
and stability
 They achieved a goal of European peace
for the next 100 years
 Vocab pg 592, 3-5 pg 600
 End of notes!