French Revolution

Causes Main article: Causes of the French Revolution Historians disagree about the political and socioeconomic nature of the Revolution. Under one interpretation, the old aristocratic order of the Ancien Régime succumbed to an alliance of the rising bourgeoisie, aggrieved peasants, and urban wage-earners. Another interpretation asserts that the Revolution resulted when various aristocratic and bourgeois reform movements spun out of control. According to this model, these movements coincided with popular movements of the new wageearning classes and the provincial peasantry, but any alliance between classes was contingent and incidental. However, adherents of both models identify many of the same features of the ancien régime as being among the causes of the Revolution. Among the economic factors were: • The social and psychological burdens of the many wars of the 18th century, which in the era before the dawn of nationalism were exclusively the province of the monarchy. The social burdens caused by war included the huge war debt, made worse by the monarchy's military failures and ineptitude, and the lack of social services for war veterans. • A poor economic situation and an unmanageable national debt, both caused and exacerbated by the burden of a grossly inequitable system of taxation. • The Roman Catholic Church, the largest landowner in the country, which levied a harsh tax on crops known as the dîme. While the dîme lessened the severity of the monarchy's tax increases, it nonetheless served to worsen the plight of the poorest who faced a daily struggle with malnutrition. • The continued conspicuous consumption of the noble class, especially the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at Versailles, despite the financial burden on the populace. • High unemployment and high bread prices, causing more money to be spent on food and less in other areas of the economy; • Widespread famine and malnutrition, which increased the likelihood of disease and death, and intentional starvation in the most destitute segments of the population during the months immediately before the Revolution. The famine extended even to other parts of Europe, and was not helped by a poor transportation infrastructure for bulk foods. (Some researchers have also attributed the widespread famine to an El Niño effect.).[1] In addition to economic factors, there were social and political factors, many of them involving resentments and aspirations given focus by the rise of Enlightenment ideals: • Resentment of royal absolutism; • Resentment by the ambitious professional and merchantile classes towards noble privileges and dominance in public life (with a clear picture of the lives of their peers in The Netherlands, The Germanies, and Great Britain etc.); • Resentment of manorialism (seigneurialism) by peasants, wage-earners, and, to a lesser extent, the bourgeoisie; • Resentment of clerical privilege (anti-clericalism) and aspirations for freedom of religion; • Continued hatred for (perceived) "Papist" controlled and influenced institutions of all kinds,

by the large protestant minorities; • Aspirations for liberty and (especially as the Revolution progressed) republicanism; • Hatred toward the King for firing Jacques Necker and Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune (among other financial advisors) who represented and fought for the people. Finally, perhaps above all, was the almost total failure of Louis XVI and his advisors to deal effectively with any of these problems.

The Ideals: Declaration of Human Rights.

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french revolution(1789-1799)既 time line, 05-05-1789- The French Estates-General meets at Versaille, the first such meeting since 1614. 06-17-1789- The Third Estate (commoners) of the Estates-General meets separately and declares itself to be a National Assembly. King Louis XVI closed their meeting place, so they repair to the tennis court at the Louvre (Jeu de Paume). 06-20-1789- Members of the National Assembly take oath not to disband until a constitution is established. 06-27-1789- Louis XVI legalizes the National Assembly, permitting all three estates to meet together and vote per capita.

07-14-1789- Parisian mob storms Bastille Castle, then functioning as a royal prison, hoping to find arms. The mob kills its governor, the Marquis de Launey, and releases its seven prisoners (none of whom are political prisoners). 08-04-1789- During the night, equality of rights throughout France is proclaimed. 08-14-1789- Nobles and clergy in the National Assembly, out of fear, renounce their privileges, thus ending feudalism in France. 1789- Adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen. 10-05-1789- Parisian mob marches on Versailles. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are relocated to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, where they are confined. 06-20-1791 to 06-21-1791 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempt to flee in disguise from France, but are apprehended at Varennes, and are brought back to Paris. 1791 Louis XVI accepts a constitution. 10-01-1791- Legislative Assembly convenes. 1791- French National Assembly passes the Le Chapelier law, which prohibits economic associations, thus ending the guild system in France. (Trade monopolies for baking and butchery were reinstituted under government control, later under the Consulate).(*) France enacts the Ordinance of 1791, establishing new infantry tactics for use by French armies. 04-20-1792- France declares war on Austria. 06-20-1792- An insurrection in Paris fails. 08-10-1792- Paris mob, inflamed partly by the writings of Jean Paul Marat,(*) storms the Tuileries Palace and establishes a new city government. Robespierre is elected to the Commune of Paris. 09-02-1792- Mobs across France enter jails and kill hundreds of royalist sympathizers who had recently been arrested. 09-21-1792- National Convention meets for first time, abolishes the monarchy, establishes a republic, and tries King Louis XVI for treason. The King is convicted by a majority of one vote. 1792- Napoleon promoted to Captain. 01-21-1793- King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette are guillotined in Paris. The regicide

causes the European monarchies to band together in the Brunswick Manifesto. The Regin of Terror Foreign attacks destroyed the houses and farms of French people. This brought a food problem. Many revolted. To stop the revolts. Radical leaders such as Robespierre ruled France as a police state. In 1793-94, they executed about 40,000 French people who opposed the revolution. This period of violence was called the Reign of Terror. In 1794, moderate revolutionaries gained control of the Republic. They executed Robespierre. His death ended the Reign of Terror. The Directory In 1795, the moderate revolutionaries set up the Directory to rule the Republic. The Directory consisted of five men elected by Frenchmen over 40. It was corrupt and inefficient. So it did not bring law and order to France. Many Parisians started revolts to oppose it. This state of disorder led to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) to power. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

King Louis XVI King Louis XVI was the king of France from 1755 - 1793, during the French Revolution. He was a very laid back and lazy king. He was also not a very likeable king to the people of France because he did not pay attention to the important things in governmental affairs such as economy and food for all of the people of the country. This made many citizens very upset and angry at him because he did not mind that he was destroying the country. He did not really care about his citizens and their well being and that is why he was executed with the process of beheading. As said in Monty Python, (give or take a few words), "King Louis XVI was 5'6" when he began his reign, but only 4'8" at the end of it." [[ This is a picture of the king of France during the French Revolution. Many people from this time period did not like him very much because he did not really care about his citizens and the economy of the country. That is why he ended up without a head. ]]

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Queen Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette was the Queen of France from 1755 - 1793 while King Louis XVI was the King. The stories of Antoinette's excesses are extremely exaggerated. For example, rather than ignoring France's increasing financial crisis, she reduced the royal servants inside of Versailles, eliminating many unnecessary positions that were privileged based jobs. It was the nobility that disagreed with the financial reforms that the governmental ministers attempted to make. In truth, Marie Antoinette and King Louis were placed in danger not only by aspects of their personalities, but by the changing of political and social ideology in the 18th and 19th centuries. [[ This picture is of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France from 1755-1793 while her husband King Louis XVI was reigning. She did not help her husband's cause to stay in office because she ignored many financial problems that France had at the time. ]] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte was arguably the greatest leader in all of history. Napoleon led his army into many successful missions. Napoleon also centralized France's government by choosing officials to administer regions called departments, into which France was divided. Napoleon also made many reforms to the government that made the citizens of France very pleased after the weak government of King Louis XVI and Maxilimilien Robespierre. Napoleon had many supporters and I think that is why he was so successful in battle because he was well liked throughout the country. [[This a picture of Napoleon Bonaparte riding off to battle. This is an example an artist portraying Napoleon as being an extraordinary leader and warrior because he is leading his troops into wars known as the Napoleonic Wars. ]] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seven Years' War 1. The Seven Years' War (1754 and 1756–1763), some of the theatres of which are called the Pomeranian War and the French and Indian War, was a war in the mid-18th century that enveloped both European and colonial theatres. The war was described by Winston Churchill as the first world war[1], as it was the first conflict in human history to be fought around the globe, though all of the combatants were either European nations or their overseas colonies. ==================================================================

American Revolutionary War 2. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence,[1] was a war between Great Britain and revolutionaries within thirteen British colonies, who declared their independence as the United States of America in 1776. The war was the culmination of the American Revolution, a colonial struggle against political and economic policies of the British Empire. The war eventually widened far beyond British North America; many Native Americans also fought on both sides of the conflict. ================================================================= The fall of the Bastille 3. The fall of the Bastille probably created one of the greatest of symbols of the initial stage of the Revolution. After all, this medieval fortress had come to represent the ancien regime for most Parisian men and women. After the attack on the Bastille had concluded, the people leveled the fortress, taking home with them pieces of masonry as souvenirs (not unlike what happened in Berlin in November 1989). The image below depicts a model of the Bastille made from from one piece of masonry. ============================================================== France's First Republic The French people proclaimed France's First Republic on 21 September 1792 as a result of the French Revolution and of the abolition of the French monarchy. This presaged a new era of republican government(s) in Europe. Republican government officially lasted until the establishment of the First French Empire in 1804. Its rulers included Napoleon Bonaparte, who served as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, when he ended the republic by declaring himself Emperor Napoleon I. ==================================================================

Execution of King Louis XVL 5. Louis XVI (23 August 1754–21 January 1793) was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then King of the French from 1791 to 1792. Suspended and arrested during the Insurrection of the 10th of August 1792, he was tried by the National Convention, found guilty of treason, and executed on 21 January 1793. His execution signaled the end of the absolutist monarchy in France and would eventually bring about the rise of Napoleon. ==================================================================== The Battle of Waterloo 6. The Battle of Waterloo, fought on 18 June 1815, was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. After his exile to Elba, he had reinstalled himself on the throne of France for a Hundred Days. During this time, the forces of the rest of Europe, Britain, Prussia and the Russian Empire converged on him, commanded by the United Kingdom's Duke of Wellington, and Prussia's Gebhard von Blücher. ==================================================================== The Congress of Vienna 7. The Congress of Vienna was a conference between ambassadors from the major powers in Europe that was chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich and held in Vienna, Austria, from September 1, 1814, to June 9, 1815. Its purpose was to redraw the continent's political map after the defeat of Napoleonic France the previous spring. The discussions continued despite the ex-Emperor Napoleon I's return from exile and resumption of power in France in March 1815, and the Congress's Final Act was signed nine days before his final defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815. Technically, one might note that the "Congress of Vienna" never actually occurred, as the Congress never met in plenary session, with most of the discussions occurring in informal sessions among the Great Powers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789 The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen: Articles: 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good. 2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. 3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation. 4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law. 5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law. 6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents. 7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any

arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense. 8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense. 9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law. 10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law. 11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law. 12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted. 13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means. 14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes. 15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration. 16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all. 17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.

The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte In 1793 he recaptured the French Naval port of Toulon form the British. As a result of this he was promoted to General. In 1795 he was given control of the French army in Italy after suppressing an uprising against the National Convention. In Napoleon's Italian campaign he destroyed the first coalition, defeated the Austrian and Sardinian armies and conquered much of North and central Italy. Austria was then forced to make peace. All of these victories made Napoleon a hero. The Directory then decided to weaken Britain so they had Napoleon invade Egypt, then march East to try and drive the British out of India. However Napoleon's fleet was then completely destroyed by the British Navy. After news of French defeats back in Europe Napoleon abandoned his army and sailed back to France. He was welcomed back as a National hero. ======================================================================