Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Reign of Terror wikipedia , lookup
Historiography of the French Revolution wikipedia , lookup
French Revolutionary Wars wikipedia , lookup
Germaine de Staël wikipedia , lookup
Hundred Days wikipedia , lookup
Causes of the French Revolution wikipedia , lookup
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND 19TH CENTURY EUROPE The French Revolution (1789) - In 1789, there were three class of people in France: the clergy (First Estate – 1%), the nobles (Second Estate – 2%), and the common people (Third Estate – 97%). - Great differences in way the estates lived. - The king had total authority, and the king and nobles lived very well and paid few taxes. - The poor struggled and paid most of the taxes – when taxes were raised, the poor often starved. - The extravagance of the rich and the misery of the poor were extreme. - Fighting wars was expensive, and France went into debt. King Louis XVI called a meeting of representatives from each of the three estates (Estates-General) to discuss raising taxes. - The Third Estate (commoners, including the bourgeoisie) tried to use this meeting to reform the government. When the king refused to give them any power, they formed the National Assembly. - They met at a tennis court and agreed that they would demand a new constitution and stay together till one was written – Oath of the Tennis Court. - On July 14, 1789, citizens took over the Bastille, a storehouse of ammunition and the royal prison. This sparked the beginning of the revolution. - The National Assembly put forth the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It was written by Marquis de Lafayette, who had helped the Americans with their revolution. - The National Assembly declared France a constitutional monarchy meaning France would be ruled by a constitution and the power of the monarch would be limited. - The revolution went on for some years and became more violent. The king and queen were tried for treason and publicly executed at the guillotine. - France became a republic, but many things did not improve. - The summer of 1793 through the summer of 1794 was called the Reign of Terror because many of the new leaders had begun to use fear and violence, executing hundreds of people each week. - Only after the Reign of Terror and the death of the most ruthless leaders did the revolution end. The Age of Napoleon (1799-1815) - If it weren’t for the chaos of the French Revolution, Napoleon would probably never have risen to power so quickly and absolutely. - Napoleon Bonaparte was a military genius and leader who created a French empire after the chaos of the Revolution. - He won so many battles that he became very popular with the people of France. - The French people hoped that a strong leader like Napoleon would be able to stop the turmoil that had engulfed the country since the start of the Revolution. - In 1799, at the age of 30, Napoleon overthrew the French government. He prepared a new constitution and became First Consul. He eventually ruled as military dictator. - Napoleon restored order to France. He changed the tax system and instituted new laws, called the Napoleonic Code. - This code made laws the same all over France and put an end to the special treatment of nobles. - Napoleon then began a series of war in order to gain new lands. - In 1804, Napoleon changed the republic into an empire and crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I. - At the height of his power, from 1810 to 1812, France controlled much of Europe. - Great Britain, Russia, and Austria became allies in order to defeat Napoleon, succeeding in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium. - Napoleon was exiled to the small island of St. Helena until his death. Impact of Napoleon - Despite his defeat, the ideas of the French Revolution had been carried to the rest of Europe by Napoleon. - These ideas included constitutional government and rule of law. - Domination by the French during Napoleon’s campaigns across Europe during the early 1800’s caused nationalism (feelings of love and pride for one’s nation) to develop in many areas under foreign control. - Long term, these ideas influenced the development of stable democracies in much of western Europe long after Napoleon was defeated. - Although he was a dictator, Napoleon’s civil code and educational reforms were copied in much of Europe. Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) - As Napoleon conquered more land in Europe, he changed the rulers and borders of the different countries he had conquered. - After Napoleon was defeated, leaders from many European nations met to change again the rulers and borders in Europe. - The leaders met in Vienna, Austria and these meetings were called the Congress of Vienna. - The leaders at the Congress of Vienna wanted Europe to be the way it was before the French Revolution. - They wanted peace and they wanted to stop all revolutions. - Four important nations led the Congress of Vienna – Quadruple Alliance – Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia, and later France. - Klemens von Metternich, from Austria, was a leader of the Congress of Vienna. - He was against the ideas of the French Revolution and thought the ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity would bring more wars to Europe. He thought democracy led to wars. - Metternich said that only strong kings could keep peace. He wanted all laws to be made by kings and said people should have less freedom and should not be equal. - The other leaders at the Congress of Vienna agreed with Metternich. They began to take away the freedom and equality that people had won after the French Revolution. - The Congress helped old kings become rulers of their nations again (legitimacy). - The leaders of the Congress of Vienna changed the sizes of some nations in Europe (new political map of Europe). - They wanted a balance of power – meant that one nation should not be strong enough to conquer other nations. - The leaders thought a balance of power would keep peace in Europe. - Russia became larger while France lost all land that Napoleon had conquered. - The nations around France (buffer states) also became stronger to prevent France from trying to take again the land of other countries. - Also, Metternich sought to suppress all liberal and radical ideas. - Liberalism – in the 19th century, a person who supported the ideas of Locke; wanted change, freedom and limited government. - Conservatism – in 19th century, a person who wanted to keep things the same or return to the past. Legacy of the Congress of Vienna - No big wars were fought in Europe for almost 40 years. - Member of Quadruple Alliance tried to prevent Revolutions from occurring – met from time to time to deal with the threat of liberal and nationalist revolts. - But Congress of Vienna could not make people forget the ideas of the French Revolution. - The Congress of Vienna was an attempt to restore power to the elite and bring order within the lower classes. - People began to want freedom and Revolutions began to occur in many European nations (1830 and 1848). - Nationalistic revolutions swelled with groups such as the Germans and Italians (1848) who wanted boundaries and nations to be based on ethnicity and nationalistic commonality, not on the political agendas of their leaders. - Also leaders of revolutions sought to obtain liberal constitutions. Unification of Italy - It was not easy for the Italian states to become one nation. - After the Congress of Vienna, there were nine Italian states. - Austria controlled many of the northern states of Italy. Southern Italy was ruled by a king. Between northern and southern Italy were the Papal States which belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. - Count Cavour, prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, hoped that all the states of Italy would unite. - But he first knew that the northern states of Italy had to be freed from Austria. - France helped the Kingdom of Sardinia push the Austrians out of most of northern Italy. - Once the northern states has united, an Italian named Guiseppe Garibaldi captured southern Italy. - Then Garibaldi and Cavour’s soldiers captured the Papal States, except Rome which later joined. Unification of Germany - Like Italy, the 39 German states did not easily become a nation. - The 39 states had independent governments, each ruled by a prince or a king. - The two strongest German states were Austria and Prussia. - Otto von Bismarck led the unification of Germany. He was the prime minister of the state of Prussia who believed wars with other countries would unite the German people and help the growth of German nationalism. - Bismarck’s actions were seen as an example of Realpolitik, which justifies all means to achieve and hold power. - The rest of Europe became nervous at the idea of a united Germany, especially France. - Bismarck then provoked France into declaring war on Prussia so that the rest of Europe wouldn’t think that Prussia was aggressive. - Bismarck then easily crushed the French in the Franco-Prussian War, and Germany unified, with Bismarck as the leader. - Forced French to sign defeat treaty in Palace of Versailles. - The result was not only the restructuring of the balance of power in Europe, but also the development of a strong sense of nationalism in Germany, which proved to be a very dangerous force just decades later in both world wars.