Download THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
Day 3 of 3
REVOLUTION STAGE 3:
THE DIRECTORY
1795-1799
Oligarchy
REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE
• Anti-Christian – churches/streets renamed
– New calendar with 10-day weeks
•
•
•
•
•
No high titles – “citizen” & “citizeness”
Mandatory elementary education
Abolished slavery in French colonies
Attempted to control prices on food
Women still excluded from legal rights
REIGN OF TERROR
• Revolutionary courts throughout France
• Guilty until proven innocent
• 40,000 people executed in 3 years
– 15% = Clergy & Nobility
– 85% = Commoners
• Execution most often by guillotine
• Occasional grapeshot, sinking barges, etc.
GUILLOTINE
• Method of execution
during the Revolution
• Faster, more efficient,
and more humane than
previous methods
• Used to execute Louis
XVI, Marie Antoinette,
Olympe de Gouges, and
thousands more
MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE
• “The Incorruptible”
• CPS gave him power to
arrest & execute people
without a trial
• Nervous that they might
be next, the National
Convention voted to
condemn to the guillotine
• Reign of Terror ends
NEW CONSTITUTION
• National Convention restricts the power of the
Committee of Public Safety
• Churches allowed to re-open
• Constitution of 1795
NEW LEGISLATURE
• Estates-General…
• National Assembly…
• Legislative Assembly…
Now… two house legislature
• Council of 500 drafted laws
• Council of 250 approved or rejected them
NEW VOTING RESTRICTIONS
• Voters were only those who owned or rented
property worth a certain amount
• France’s population ≈ 25,000,000
• Eligible voters ≈ 30,000
NEW EXECUTIVE BRANCH
•
•
•
•
Directory – a committee of five
Council of 500 lists names of nominations
Council of 250 chooses five from that list
Supposed to prevent one person from taking
over, as Robespierre had done
THE DIRECTORY’S PROBLEMS
• Directory stood in the “middle of the road”
• Conservatives wanted return to monarchy
• Liberals wanted Robespierre-type government,
without the killing
• Economic problems still plagued the poor
• Wars with foreign countries were costly (and
they refused to trade with France)
THE DIRECTORY’S SOLUTION
• Directory relied heavily on the French army to
protect them
• However, that put a military leader close
enough to topple the Directory
• 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte seizes control of
France in a coup d’etat
REVOLUTION STAGE 4:
NAPOLEONIC ERA
1799-1815
Dictatorship
NAPOLEON & THE REVOLUTION
• Some historians argue that the Revolution
ended when he took power, because his
dictatorship was like an absolute monarchy
• Other historians argue that Napoleon was a
product of the Revolution and his reforms built
on the work that stages 1-3 began
BIOGRAPHY OF NAPOLEON
• Born on island of Corsica (so not French)
• Under Louis XVI, foreigners could enlist, but
could only rise to a certain rank
• During the first stage of the Revolution, the
National Assembly made a policy to promote
the best man for the job
• During the second & third stages, he was
promoted up through the ranks
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
On the battlefield, he
was famous for…
• Speed
• Surprise
• Decisive action
• Energy
• Initiative
• Intelligence
• Self-confidence
TIMELINE OF NAPOLEON
• 1799 – helped overthrow the Directory &
establish the Consulate
– Technically, the Consulate was a Republic
– Realistically, Napoleon held absolute power, under
the title of “First Consul”
• 1802 – made “Consul for Life”
• 1804 – crowned “Emperor Napoleon I”
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
• Made peace with French Catholics
– Napoleon wasn’t personally religious
– He wanted French Catholics to be on his side
• Made Catholicism France’s official religion
– Got the Pope on his side
– Pope didn’t demand return of confiscated land
– Those had bought this land loved Napoleon
RIGHTS OF MEN
• Created the Civil Code (Napoleonic Code)
– Replaced 300 separate pre-Revolution codes
•
•
•
•
Legal equality of all citizens
Right to choose one’s profession
Religious toleration
Abolition of serfdom & feudal obligations
RIGHTS OF WOMEN
•
•
•
•
•
Women’s rights actually went backwards!
Made it harder to get a divorce
Disallowed inheritance by daughters
Lost all personally property upon marriage
Could not testify in court
RIGHTS DENIED
• No freedom of the press
• Government censoring of mail
• Censors read all books before publication
QUESTIONS?
~ 3 Minute Break ~
GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURE
• Created a strong, centralized bureaucracy
• Promoted leaders based only on ability
(bourgeoisie’s pre-Revolutionary demands)
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Created thousands of new nobles
60% military officers
40% government officials
22% pre-Revolution nobility (2nd Estate)
60% pre-Revolution bourgeoisie
18% pre-Revolution peasantry
Made people of all classes love him
NAPOLEON’S GRAND ARMY
• 1802-1803 – Napoleon builds Grand Army
• 1805-1807 – Grand Army defeats Austria,
Prussia Russian forces
• 1807-1812 – Napoleon is Master of Europe
NAPOLEON’S GRAND EMPIRE
• Core: the French Empire
• Dependant states:
– Defeated & ruled by Napoleon’s relatives
– Spain, Holland, Italy, Swiss Republic, Grand
Duchy of Warsaw, Confederation of the Rhine
• Allied States:
– Forced to be friends, rather than risk war
– Prussia, Austria, Russia, Sweden
NAPOLEON’S GRAND EMPIRE
THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM
• Napoleon’s unconquered enemy: Britain
• Forces all of France’s dependant state & allies
to stop trading with Britain
• Hopes to destroy Britain’s economy and ability
to defend against French invasion
• Prices for goods are so high that some allies
defy Napoleon & trade with Britain
GRAND EMPIRE BACKFIRES
• Napoleonic Code and Enlightenment
principles spread to all conquered areas
• People begin to want freedom from France
• Conquered countries witness pride &
patriotism of French army
• People’s nationalism grows as they dream of
patriotic armies for their own countries
GRAND EMPIRE COLLAPSES
• 1812 – Russia openly refused to remain in
Grand Empire or Continental System
• Napoleon must stand up to them, or other
dependent states & allies will quit, too
GRAND ARMY IN RUSSIA
• Grand Army of 600,000 invades Russia
• Russians refuse to do battle – they retreat,
burning everything of use to the French
• French will freeze if they can’t reach a city
before winter hits – they head for Moscow
• Grand Army finds Moscow on fire – Russians
had burned it to kill the French
• Only 40,000 French troops return alive
BURNING
OF
MOSCOW,
1812
NAPOLEON’S FIRST EXILE
•
•
•
•
Allied army chases Grand Army remnants
Allies capture Paris in 1814
Allies exile Napoleon on island of Elba
Louis XVI’s brother takes throne of France
– Called Louis XVIII
– Louis XVII is skipped, in honor of dead prince
LOUIS XVIII
• Ruled 1814-1824
• Exiled from France
during Revolution &
when Napoleon
escaped from Elba
NAPOLEON’S RETURN
•
•
•
•
•
People loved glory Napoleon brought them
King Louis XVIII got no support from them
Napoleon escaped from Elba to France
King Louis XVIII sent troops to arrest him
Napoleon: “If there is a man among you [who]
would kill his Emperor, here I am!”
• Troops kneeled before him and shouted “Vive
l’Empereur! Vive l’Empereur!”
THE 100 DAYS
•
•
•
•
•
•
King Louis XVIII went into exile again
For 100 days Napoleon ruled France again
Napoleon raised an Grand Army again
The Allies got ready for war again
They met at Waterloo (in Belgium) in 1815
Napoleon was defeated by the British &
Prussians, under the Duke of Wellington
• Napoleon exiled to island of St. Helena
NAPOLOEN’S SECOND EXILE
First exile: Elba island
12 miles from Italy
Next time take no chances!
Second exile:
St. Helena island
1200 mi from Africa
QUESTIONS?
~ The End ~