Download french rev timeline - Get Well Kathleen Davey

The Age of Absolutism
Overview
The European nation-state was consolidated in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. Because this consolidation was achieved largely through the efforts of
monarchs and their bureaucracies in the name of absolute power, this period is commonly
known as the age of absolutism. Absolute power was justified through the principals of
divine right, which asserted that monarchs held their titles directly from god and were
accountable only to him for their actions on earth. Absolute power was not arbitrary, for
rulers were meant to govern wisely and beneficently. Whether they did so, however, was
not for their subjects to judge, and those who resisted a divinely appointed ruler were held
to be in peril of damnation.
The absolute monarchs used their power to centralize their authority, stripping
provincial magnates and representative economy they attacked loyal privileges and
exemptions, founded and directed new industries, established overseas colonies, and
exerted control over trade and finance. To pay for these policies, collectively called
mercantilism, they built standing armies. The ultimate purpose of this activity was to
achieve what the French called gloire. Gloire was a combination of wealth, prestige, and
honor; it belonged both to the nation and to the ruler. It was won in many ways, but
chiefly through battle. For this reason, conflict was the norm of international conduct, and
peace was regarded merely as a recuperative interval between wars.
In general, those states which succeeded in achieving stable centralization,
including England and Prussia, were better able to compete in an international arena
whose material stakes were increasingly significant. Those states which, through larger,
were more diffuse, such as the Holy Roman Empire and Russia, were relatively less
successful and prone to often paralyzing civil disturbances. The case of France, whose
wealth and dynastic ambition made it the leading Continental power of the period,
showed the limits of a central authority that imposed itself of the traditional elite without
conciliating it. Louis XIV, the greatest ruler of the age, was able to extend the powers of
the French monarchy far beyond any of his predecessors and to dominate European
politics for more than 50 years, but at his death the nobility regained much of its power,
and its continuing conflict with the throne was a prime cause of the revolution of 1789. In
contrast, England, where monarchy seemed to have sustained a grave defeat in the
Glorious Revolution of 1688, the domination of an aristocratic and merchant elite
produced a state at once more flexible and more unified than anything achieved on the
Continent. As these episodes show, divine right absolutism was often vigorously
challenged, and modern democratic theory was in large part forged through resistance to
it.
The efforts at state-building had profound effects on the institutions and orders of
society. In England the needs of the state created a modern system of credit and finance
and laid the foundations of empire, while in France the demands of warfare, combined
with bad harvests, caused famines of unprecedented scope. In Prussia the militarization of
society produced a population that, disciplined at all levels, achieved impressive growth,
but of genuine civil instructions. In parts of Prussia and Austria, as well as the whole of
Russia, the peasantry fell into serfdom, a process that had severe consequences for social
and economic development; in contrast, the development of a free labor market in 1707,
helped to crate and aggressively commercial economy. At the same time, however, the
state’s achievements mad it the target of demands by aristocrats striving to exercise its
power, merchants seeking its protection and favor, workers demanding support for their
living standards, and peasants in search of relief from taxes and traditional obligations.
World History
Dateline for the French Revolution
From: Davey/Margadant
Liberal Phase:
1789
June 17
Creation of a National Assembly
June 20 Oath of the Tennis Court
July 12 Necker Dismissed
July 14 Fall of the Bastille
Aug. 4
End of the Old Regime
Aug. 28 The Declaration of Rights of Man
1791
June
Louis XVI and the Flight to Varennes
July
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
October Elections to Legislative Assembly under new Constitution
1792
April
France declares war on Austria: Prussia joins Austria
Aug. 10 Crowd attacks Tuilleries Palace: Declaration of Republic
Plebian/Democratic Phase
1792
Sept.
Elections to National Assembly
January
February
Spring
June 2
Summer &
Fall
Louis XVI guillotined
France declares war of England, Holland, Spain
revolt of Vendée ( western France )
fall of Girondins under crowd pressure. Mountain takes over
Total War: France under domination of Committe of Public safety
which is headed by Danton; Dechristianization and the Cult
of Reason; Reign of Terror begins - Philippe Egalité executed;
Holy Roman Empire declares war on France
Danton leaves Paris
1793
Winter
1794
March
Héberists guillotined
April
Dantonists guillotined
June
Robespierre in complete control, "Feast of the Supreme Being"
July 27 Ninth of Thermidor - Robespierre and St. Just fall and are executed
Thermidorian Reaction/ Dismantaling the Terror
1795
Bread riots and White Terror in Paris - Third French Constitution brings in the Directory
Napoleon saves directory from a coup; appointed commander in chief - Italy
Enlightened Despotism?
1799
Napoleon wins a coup and becomes first consul in a national plebiscite
1801
Concordat with Pope signed
1804
Napoleon crowned Emperor
1805
Napoleon crowned king of Italy; French lose major sea battle Trafalgar to England; defeat Austria at
Austerltiz
1806
Continental System formed; Joseph Bonaparte king of Naples, Louis Napoleon king of
Holand; Confederation of Rhine formed
1810
Napoleon's zenith; marries archduchess of Austria (Marie Louise)
1812
Napoleon's disastrous Russian invasion
1813
Napoleon defeated at the 'Battle of Nations'
1814
Napoleon exiled to Elba
1815
Napoleon returns to France - 100 days begin; Napoleon loses Battle of Waterloo