Download french revolution and napoleon study guide

FRENCH REVOLUTION AND
NAPOLEON STUDY GUIDE
THREE CAUSES
A. ENLIGHTENMENT IDEAS
B. RIGID SOCIAL STRUCTURE/ORDER
C. FINANCIAL CRISES
TAILLE
• FRANCE’S CHIEF TAX
• PAID BY THE THIRD ESTATE
ESTATES GENERAL 1789
• Estates General met in 1789 when King Louis XVI
called them into session as a result of the
financial crisis in France. The Estates General was
composed of 300 delegates from the 1st estate,
300 from the 2nd estate and 600 from the 3rd
estate. Each estate got one vote and in order to
change policy – votes had to be unanimous. 3rd
estate proposed taxing the first two estates, they
disagreed. 3rd estate then broke away from the
estate general and formed the National Assembly.
TENNIS COURT OATH
• The oath taken by the National Assembly in
order to draft a constitution.
• The National Assesmbly drafted the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the
Citizen.
DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN
• Constitution drafted by the National Assembly
– rejected
• So Declaration of the Rights of Man created to
address equal rights for all (of course no
political rights for women)
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DECREES
• Decrees: equality of man before law, and
basic liberties: liberty, property, security, and
resistance to oppression.
• Women marched to Versailles to make a
statement about the poor living conditions
they were being forced to endure.
• KING AND FAMILY CAPTURED—HE WAS
FORCED TO ACCEPT THE NEW DECREES!
CIVIL CONSTITUTION OF THE CLERGY
• Constitutionalizing (SECULARIZING) religion:
people elect bishops and priests and they are
paid through taxes collected by the people
• Priests can marry
• Church lands confiscated and sold for the
STATE
ACTIVE CITIZENS
• Men over 25 who pay certain taxes
CONSTITUTION OF 1791
• Created a LIMITED MONARCHY in which the
king rules with the LEGISLATIVE assembly (the
lawmaking body).
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
• LAWMAKING body from the constitution of
1791.
SANS CULOTTES
• members of the Paris Commune
• men w/ out fine pants
• commoners/radicals
PARIS COMMUNE
• Seized power from the Leg. Assembly
• Made up of radicals from the third estate
• WANTED UNIVERSAL MALE SUFFERAGE
GIRONDINS
• Located outside of Paris
• Wanted to KEEP KING in place in order to keep
stability
THE MOUNTAIN
• Radical Parisian political club
• Wanted to EXECUTE KING in order to establish
a republic (representative democracy)
COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
• Given broad powers by National Convention
• Wanted to keep enemies of the revolution out
of France – executed enemies of the
revolution in the name of national security
• DEFEND FRANCE FROM DOMESTIC AND
FOREIGN THREATS!
MAXIMILLIAN ROBESPIERRE AND THE
REIGN OF TERROR
• Led the reign of terror
• Began as a lawyer for the common folk and
then wanted to take power during the rule of
the National Convention (HAD PREACHED
DEMOCRACY)
• Approximately 40,000 people were executed
during the reign of terror
NATIONAL CONVENTION AND DECHRISTIANIZATION
• Wanted to de-Christianize France because the
church was an enemy to the revolution
• The National Convention thought by taking
the church out of the people’s lives they
would remain more devoted to the revolution:
REASON OVER RELIGION
• The National Convention created a new
calendar based on seasons and weather
rather than religion
NAPOLEON’S COUP D’ETAT AND THE
DIRECTORY 1799
• Napoleon overthrew the Directory
• He became the first consul of France
NAPOLEON’S SEVEN LEGAL CODES:
CIVIL CODE
• Napoleon’s Seven Legal Codes were established
to preserve the ideals of the revolution; the
codes consolidated the outdated French Law
Codes that numbered over 300 and were
inconsistent across the country
• CIVIL CODE: equality of all citizens before the law,
the right of the individual to choose a profession;
religious toleration; and the abolition of serfdom
and all feudal obligations
NAPOLEON’S NEW BUREAUCRACY
• Napoleon was supposed to create a consulate
(a republic); however he began to establish a
dictatorship.
• He did put people in positions based on
MERIT– 60% of his bureaucracy were from the
middle class
RULERS OF NAPOLEON’S EMPIRE
• Put his relatives on the throne in order to
influence them to spread the ideals of the
revolution
THREE MAJOR PARTS OF NAPOLEON’S
EMPIRE
• French Empire
• Allied states
• Dependent states
TWO REASONS WHY NAPOLEON’S
GRAND EMPIRE COLLAPSE
• The survival of Great Britain
• Nationalism
DEFEAT OF NAPOLEON’S GRAND
ARMY
• Defeated by the Russian army
• Napoleon took 5 weeks to make a decision
about what to do in Russia and by that time,
the Russian winter had set in and the Grand
Army was unprepared for the temperatures
• They had no supplies or food, and the
Russians retreated, burned villages, and
refused to fight
DUKE OF WELLINGTON
• British commander who led British and
Prussian troops
• Defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium
• After the defeat Napoleon was exiled to St.
Helena where he died in 1821