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RADICAL DAYS OF THE REVOLUTION
Chapter 3.3
Guillotin 1792
 The Monarchy is Abolished
• In 1792, the Revolution became more
violent. Radicals took control of the
Assembly and called for the election of a
new legislative body. They called
themselves the National Convention.
• The Convention voted to abolish the
Monarchy and establish a Republic. Radical
Jacobins seized control of nobles’ land and
abolished their titles.
• The Convention also put King Louis XVI on
trial. He was convicted as a traitor and
beheaded in January 1793. In October,
Marie Antoinette was also executed.
Beheading of Louis XVI in Place de la Revolution
Conciergerie Prison Where Marie Antoinette was held
 Terror and Danger Grip France
• By 1793, France was at war with much of
Europe. Riots broke out all over France. In
Paris, the sans-culottes demanded relief
from food shortages.
• France was a nation in arms. From the port
city of Marseilles, troops marched to a new
song; it urged people to march against the
“bloody banner of tyranny.” This song, “La
Marseillaise” would later become the French
National Anthem.”
• To deal with threats to France, the
Convention created the Committee of Public
Safety, which had absolute power over the
Revolution. They issued a mass levy (tax)
to raise money for the war effort.
• In 1793, the revolution entered a radical
phase, one of the bloodiest regimes in its
history. A shrewd politician, Maximilien
Robespierre, became leader of the
Committee of Public Safety.
• Popular with radicals, but called
a tyrant by others, he believed
France could achieve a “republic
of virtue” only through the use
of terror.
• Robespierre was the leader of the year long
Reign of Terror. Courts conducted hasty
trials and killed anyone who was suspected
of resisting revolution. The engine of the
Terror was the guillotine, also known as the
“National Razor.”
• Robespierre and the government
also tried to de-Christianize
France by creating a secular, or
“non-religious” calendar.
Dr. Joseph Guillotin
Just read this; you
don’t have to copy it!
• 1819 Caricature by
British artist George
Cruikshank. Titled
"The Radical's Arms,”
it depicts the
infamous guillotine.
"No God! No
Religion! No King!
No Constitution!"
is written in the
republican banner.
• Within a year, the Terror consumed those
who initiated it. The Convention turned on
the committee of Public Safety and in July
1794, Robespierre was arrested and
executed. After his death, executions
slowed
dramatically.
 Revolution Enters Its Third Stage
• As the executions slowed, moderates wrote
another constitution in 1795. It set up a
Directory, with a two-house legislature which
governed France.
• In 1797, supporters of a constitutional
monarchy won the majority
of seats in the legislature.
As chaos grew, politicians
turned to a popular
military hero,
Napoleon Bonaparte.
 Revolution Brings Change
• By 1799, the 10 year old Revolution had
dramatically changed France. It had
changed the old social order, overthrown
the monarchy and brought the Church
under state control. New symbols like the
“tricolor” confirmed the liberty and equality
of all male citizens.
• Revolution and war gave the French people
a sense of national identity. Nationalism, or a
strong feeling of pride and devotion to one’s
country, spread throughout France and
replaced loyalty to rulers.
• Revolutionaries pushed for social reform and
religious toleration. They set up state
schools and organized social programs to
help those in need. They also abolished
slavery in France’s Caribbean colonies.
Suffrage, or the right to vote, was granted to
all male citizens.
3.4 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup d’etat
 Napoleon Rises to Power
• When the Revolution broke out, Napoleon
was an ambitious 20-year old lieutenant,
eager to make a name for himself.
Napoleon rose quickly in the army. He had
several losses but hid them by establishing
a network of spies and censoring the press.
Success fueled his ambition.
• By 1799, Napoleon moved from victorious
general to political leader, helping overthrow
the weak Directory. He set up a three-man
governing board (The Consulate) and wrote
a new Constitution.
• In 1802 he took the title “First Consul” and
had himself named “Consul” for life. Two
years later, Napoleon assumed the title
“Emperor.”
• In 1803, his decision to sell France’s vast
Louisiana Territory to the American
government doubled the size of the United
States and ushered in an age of American
expansion.
 Napoleon Reforms France
• Napoleon consolidated his power
by strengthening the government.
“Order, security and efficiency”
replaced “liberty, equality and
fraternity” as France’s slogan.
• To restore economic prosperity, Napoleon
controlled prices, encouraged new industry
and built roads and canals. He set up gov’t
schools to ensure well-trained officials and
military officers. He won support across class
lines & made peace with the Catholic Church.
• One of Napoleon’s most
important reforms was a
new code of laws, the
Napoleonic Code. It
included Enlightenment
principles, such as
equality of all citizens,
religious toleration and
the ending of feudalism.
• The code reversed some reforms of the
French Revolution. Women lost most of
their newly gained rights, including
citizenship. Men had complete control over
their wives and children. Napoleon valued
order and authority over individual rights.
 Napoleon Builds an Empire
• Napoleon’s success on the battlefield helped
his reputation. He took great risks and
suffered huge losses. He annexed, or
incorporated several countries into the
French Empire. These conquests redrew
the map of Europe & tripled the size of
France.
• In France, Napoleon’s successes boosted
the spirit of Nationalism. Parades filled the
streets of Paris while people celebrated the
glory that Napoleon had gained for France.
• Britain was the only major European country
that remained outside of Napoleon’s empire.
He tried to invade England in 1805 but the
British Navy crushed them.
• Napoleon then attacked Britain’s commerce
and ability to trade. He waged economic
warfare by closing European ports to British
goods. This blockade was known as the
Continental System and was ultimately a
failure.
 Napoleon’s Empire Faces Challenges
• Many Europeans who welcomed ideas of the
French Revolution resented Napoleon and
saw his armies as foreign oppressors.
Nationalism helped French armies succeed.
But in other countries it worked
against them, causing revolts
against France.
• Napoleon invaded Spain but they resisted
French rule and remained loyal to the
Spanish King. French troops responded
with brutality, which intensified Spanish
nationalism.
• Spanish patriots conducted a campaign of
guerrilla warfare, or hit-and-run raids. Spain
also encouraged Austria to fight back
against the French, but Napoleon triumphed!
• Napoleon continued his pursuit of world
domination and in September, 1812 invaded
Russia with 600,000 soldiers. To avoid
battles, the Russians retreated, burning
crops and villages as they went. This
scorched-earth policy left the French hungry
and cold as Russia destroyed everything in
their path.
• Napoleon realized he wouldn’t be able to feed
and supply his army through the winter. In
October, he turned home.
• The 1,000 mile retreat from Moscow was a
battle for survival. Russian attacks and the
brutal winter took a terrible toll. Less than
20,000 soldiers of the once proud “Grand
Army” survived. Many died and others
deserted. Napoleon’s reputation was
shattered.
 Napoleon Falls From Power
• The disaster in Russia brought a new
alliance of Russia, Britain, Austria and
Prussia against a weakened France. In
1813, they defeated Napoleon in battle.
• In 1814, Napoleon abdicated, or stepped
down from power. He was exiled to an
island in the Mediterranean. Louis XVIII,
brother of King Louis XVI, was made King.
Fears grew of a return to the prerevolutionary regime.
• As fears grew, so did loyalty to Napoleon. As
the victorious allies gathered for a peace
conference, Napoleon escaped his island exile
and returned to France. People cheered his
return and Louis XVIII fled. In March, 1815
Napoleon entered Paris in triumph.
• His triumph was short-lived. Just 100 days
later, on June 18, 1815, opposing Allied
armies met in Belgium. The British and
Prussian forces crushed the French at the
Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon abdicated.
• Napoleon died in 1821, but his legend lived
on around the world. Was he the
“Revolution on horseback,” as he claimed?
Or was he a “traitor to the Revolution?”
• No one questions his impact on France. He
put in place the Napoleonic Code and a new
Constitution. He expanded suffrage,
property rights and education. His
conquests spread the ideas of the Revolution
world-wide and he sparked nationalist
feelings across Europe.
 Leaders Meet at the Congress of Vienna
• After Waterloo, diplomats met at the
Congress of Vienna. They faced the task of
restoring stability and order in Europe.
Leaders met in 1814-1815 for 10 months.
• Prince Metternich of Austria conducted most
of the work, but the Congress wasn’t all
work! They dined royally, danced, attended
concerts, ballets and parties by their host,
Emperor Francis I of Austria.
• The chief goal of the Congress was to create
a lasting peace in Europe by establishing a
balance of power and protecting the system
of Monarchy. Metternich wanted to restore
things the way they were before Napoleon.
• Peacemakers also redrew the map of
Europe. Belgium and Luxemburg were
added to Holland to create the “Netherlands.”
• To restore things back to 1792, the Congress
promoted the idea of legitimacy, restoring
hereditary monarchies that the French
Revolution or Napoleon had unseated.
Monarchs in Spain, Portugal and Italy were
reinstated.
• Austria, Russia, Prussia and England agreed
to work together toward peace and to prevent
future revolutions, especially in France.
• Another result of the Congress of Vienna was
a system known as the Concert of Europe, in
which leaders met periodically to discuss
problems affecting peace in Europe.
• The Congress achieved their goal of creating
lasting peace and they influenced European
politics for the next 100 years. Europe would
not see another large-scale war until 1914.
(WWI) They failed, however, to foresee how
nationalism would shake the foundations of
Europe & Latin America in the next decades.
Napoleon Bonaparte’s Tomb,
Invalides Museum, Paris