Unit I-eh.docx

The Industrial Revolution The term 'Industrial Revolution' was first used by the French in the eighteenth century. But the term was specifically used to eighteenth century England which underwent a great transformation from predominantly agricultural and commercial pursuits owing to the invention of machines. The dream of Francis Bacon of using the knowledge of nature for human welfare thus became fulfilled in England. Prelude to Industrialisation By the end of the eighteenth century, Britain, the Dutch Republic and France, possessed large accumulations of capital. Successful merchants, investors and adventurers multiplied their assets from shipping and colonial plantations. English and Dutch bankers made loans to industrial entrepreneurs. In England, commercial capitalists invested in industrial production during the Napoleonic Wars. The most outstanding fact of the European history had been the increase in population. This grew from about 100 to 140 millions between 1650 and 1750, to 187 millions by 1800, to 274 millions by 1850. There was a significant reduction in mortality during the eighteenth century, and that this was the primary cause of population increase. More then 4000 Enclosure Act pass by the British Parliament during the Agricultural Revolution in 16th and 17th Century. According to the Act common area where the small groups of local farmer work hand over into the hand of private landowner. The agricultural revolution broke the cycle of endemic famine and diminishing returns from soil exhaustion. Not only was more land cultivated, it was cultivated more efficiently. Various innovations also took place in the history of European agriculture. As a result of that Britain increased it farm land 30 percent and production of wheat increased 75 percent between 1700 to 1800. In 1730 Charles Townshend introduce the rotation of crops method and four crops cultivated in one year in the same field.

A recent writer (G.E. Fussell : The Farmer Tools, 1500-1900 (London, 1952) has shown that there were only seven important agricultural inventions in the seventeenth century, eight between 1701 and 1750, thirty between 1751 and 1814, and sixteen between 1815 and 1848

New techniques were introduced in northern Italy and the Low countries during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; England improved upon them in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. New techniques hinged on judicious rotation of crops and the enclosure of lands. Enclosure—the consolidation of arable and common lands and their redistribution as compact parcels of private, fenced lands—spread in eighteenth century England. Parliamentary enclosure acts reached their peak between 1791 and 1801. In 1733 by his invention of the flying shuttle, John Kay doubled the work which the weaver could perform, besides improving its quality. He was followed by James Hargreaves, whose spinning jenny in 1765 multiplied eightfold and more the productive power of the weaver. In 1769 Richard Arkwright invented the 'waterframe' which spun cotton thread so firmly that all-cotton cloth could now be made. He was the founder of the English cotton industry. In 1779 Samuel Crompton built a spinning mule. With this machine stronger and fine thread could be spun than by hand. In 1785, an English clergyman named Edmund Cartwright invented an improved loom—an automatic weaving—machine. Hargreaves' Jenny, Arkwright's water-frame, Crompton's Mule and Cartwright's automatic loom brought about an enormous expansion in the cotton trade. In 1704 Thomas Newcomer was the first to invent a steam engine that was used for pumping water from the coal-mines. But at deep levels it was useless. James Watts perfected the system. In 1769 he invented the condenser and the rotary motion of the piston. The increased use of coal and iron was another determining factor of the Industrial Revolution. In the beginning charcoal was used for smelting iron ore. In 1809 coke was used in the place of charcoal which led to much greater use of iron. Humphry

Davy's invention of the Safety Lamp in 1815 ushered an important development in the mining industry. The process of making steel from iron also underwent great improvement. Henry Bessemer announced in 1856 the process (the famous Bessemer process) by which cast iron could be converted into steel. The Age of Steel had now succeeded the Age of Wood and Stone. The use of steam engine in locomotives began in 1800. By 1838, Britain had 500 miles of track and 5000 miles by 1848 and 16,000 miles by 1886. Meanwhile, steam engine was used for maritime communication. Although there was a steamship on the Clyde in 1812 and one on the Seine in 1822, ship development reached its perfection afterwards. It was in 1838 that the first oceanic voyage was made by the steamships— Sirius and the Great Western. Studies of electricity by Faraday and others led to the perfection of telegraphic communication. In 1844 the first telegraph line was established in America. Causes of Industrial Production in England In Britain there was comparative freedom from state interference, a large measure of political stability and social mobility, a widespread knowledge of science and technology and greater security for person and property than in Europe. Compared with France, Britain and progressed much farther in the breakdown of economic regulation ; Compared with Gemany she had the advantages of a national unity and hence of an integrated market ; Compared with Holland, she had coal and iron in abundance. English industrial revolution there were attributed four factors: the change in economic policy from mercantilism to laissez faire ; ( an economic system in which transactions between private parties are free from government interference such as regulations, privileges, tariffs, and subsidies)

the expansion of British commerce ; to new colonies in Asia, Africa and America the increase in productivity owing to new machines ; the thrift and dedication of early entrepreneurs who made available the capital. Other Factor: 1. Britain coal supplier- The largest supplier of the coal in Europe that necessity for industrial fuel. 2. Naval Power and Trading Power- As it was Island it always put emphasis on naval power and trading for survival. 3. Individual Freedom and Capitalist Sprit- Unlike other European country there was a great measure of individual and intellectual freedom. 4. Stable government 5. Superior banking system and capital for investment The most important factor was the accumulation of capital in Britain in the second half of the eighteenth century. The pace of economic development quickened when capital was made available at the lower rate of interest. Interest rates fell from 7 or 8 per cent at the beginning of the century to 3 or 4 per cent in 1750. The development of English banking was also remarkable, with 52 private banks in London and 400 in the provinces by 1800. The immediate cause of increasing productivity, however, was undoubtedly technical progress: the use of power-driven machinery ; the use of coal and iron ; factory production and improved communications. Britain became the workshop of the world from the second half of the eighteenth century. The Napoleonic wars strengthened its grip on the seas and weakened France's access to raw materials. It was not till before 1830 France began the task of modernization, and even in 1850 there was little that deserved to be called an industrial revolution. Germany remained almost stationary until 1850.

Impact of the Industrial Revolution The Factory System: The growth of factories led the people to move from the rural districts to urban areas. Factories were built mostly in the regions of coal and iron. Many new cities—Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Sheffield, at one time little towns, became centres of factories. Manchester, in 1774, had about 40,000 people ; in 1831, about 271,000. The owners of factories were a small class of capitalists, whose object was to exploit the labourer and to amass great fortune. The worker of the factories had to work twelve or fourteen hours a day in sub-human conditions. Women and children were preferred because they were cheaper and easier to manage. Even they were employed in mines. The workers lived in miserable little houses without proper sanitation or ventilation. The pitiable working condition of children and women in the cotton mills, mines could not be imagined by the present generation. The Industrial Revolution opened the way to a new world'. With the increase of production in land and industry population grew rapidly. Most of the population growth was centered in cities which assumed importance with the establishment of factories. By 1851 half of England's population had become urban. With the rise of the cities important changes occurred in the structure of the society. The familiar division of landowner and peasant, merchant and artisan continued. But new classes like industrial capitalist and wage-earning proletarians emerged. The Industrial Revolution made capitalists the supreme masters of industry. The wage-earning proletarian was wholly dependent. Along with the fear of unemployment the new proletariat lived in abject poverty. Though in 1925 the workers were permitted to form unions by the Parliament, the latter forbade them to organise strikes. Thus, a new class of bourgeois entrepreneurs arose in opposition to a class of workers. The former held the reins of government and had great economic power. The working class, by contrast, had no power at all. Low in number at the outset, it grew steadily. Everywhere it became self-conscious and formed itself into a political force. Growth of Nationalism- The Industrial Revolution gave a great impetus to Nationalism. Common economic interests at last gave a solid foundation to the national aspirations of both Germans and Italians. If nationalism was intensified, so

was internationalism. The vast international trade that grew up as a result of the Industrial Revolution led the various nations to unite into a common economic life. The established financial groups—such as the Rothschilds, Barings, Laffittes and Hopes— assumed a new pre-eminence in a world where capital and credit were in great demand. Western Europe was fast becoming one commercial, industrial and financial society. Economic Control of Asia- The Industrial Revolution enabled the European powers to establish economic control over Asia and Africa. Apart from providing raw materials to the European powers, these countries became the scene of international conflict. There were Anglo-French rivalry in Asia and Africa, Anglo- Russian rivalry in Central Asia, Franco-Italian and Franco-German rivalry in Africa. Thus the Industrial revolution endangered or destroyed the political independence of many countries which became the colonies of the Western powers Short terms impact of the Industrial Revolution 1. Growth of population in Urban Area- In 1801 only 17 % of population leaving in the cities that increased to 54% in 1891 that lead for the urban slum. 2.

Increased in the food production make people happy life and the reduce of the working hours of the workers encourage sport event.

3. The emergence of the socialism and trade union- workers demand better condition of the working class. Marx and Engles advocated the industrial revolution brought capitalism Long terms impact of the Industrial Revolution 1. Environmental problem- growth of population-air pollution-

The Social Consequences of 1. Due to the Industrialization Population Shifts to Urban center- Many cities (like London) grew in size tremendously Some new cities (like Manchester, England) develop. Huge Population growth (due to agricultural revolution and

better health care) that lead big problem like sanitation, epidemic, disease ect. 2. New Social Classes developed- The (Industrial) Middle Class usually lived very comfortably

and

were

fairly

wealthy.

However

the

Working

Class

miserable/dangerous conditions -Working conditions On average, 14 hour days, 6 days per week Men, women and children worked.



Working Conditions



Living Conditions



Urbanization



Public Health and Life Expectancy



Child Labor



Working Class Families and the Role of Women



The Emerging Middle Class



Wealth and Income

For more detail see the bellow link http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution /IREffects.html

The French Revolution Historians and writers have explained the causes of the French Revolution according to their own prejudices. Edmund Burke, who was a keen observer of the Revolution, was of opinion that the Revolution was not the outcome of a genuine desire for reform, but was the child of the conspiracy of a few literary men and philosophies. The liberal historians like Thiers and Mignet tried to explain it either as a legitimate protest against the tyrannies of the Old Regime or as a social protest of impoverished classes. Jules Michelet, the great historian of the 1940's, saw the Revolution as a spontaneous upsurge of the whole French nation against the despotism and injustice of the Old Regime. For Michelet the people, instead of being a passive instrument in the hands of other classes, 'is the real and living hero of the piece.' Alexis de

Tocqueville, agreeing with Mignet and Thiers that government was despotic and in need of reform, acknowledges the importance of the writings of the Enlightenment in helping to undermine traditional beliefs. Tocqueville argued that the old feudal survivals and aristocratic privileges appeared to be vexatious to the middle classes and peasants who became more conscious of their social importance. The French Revolution was unique in contemporary Europe as what began as a revolt of the nobility later on associated the middle and lower classes in common action against the King and aristocracy. Chateaubriand later wrote that "the patricians began the revolution and the plebeians completed it." In states constituted as are nearly all the countries of Europe, there are three powers : the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the people, and the people is powerless. Under such circumstances a revolution can break out only as the result of a gradual process. It begins with the nobles, the clergy, the wealthy, whom the people supports when its interests coincide with theirs in resistance to the dominant power, that of the monarchy. Thus it was that in France the judiciary, the nobles, the clergy, the rich, gave the original impulse to the revolution, the people appeared on the scene only later.

The Diplomatic Revolution is a term applied to the reversal of long standing diplomatic alliances in the wake of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle which concluded the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748. The traditional alliances of France and Prussia against Great Britain and Austria changed to France and Austria against Great Britain and Prussia. In order to cement the alliance, Maria Theresa of Austria married her daughter, Marie Antoinette, to Louis XVI, heir to the French throne. Despite hope that this alliance would create an unbeatable power bloc in Europe, it failed to win the Seven Years’ War (fought in Europe from 1758-1763, known in America as the French and Indian War), as both Austria and France failed to stop the rising power of Prussia under Frederick the Great. Furthermore, public opinion on both sides was very sceptical of this alliance, for Austria and France had traditionally been enemies since the Habsburg-Valois wars of the 16th century. The Austrian alliance, including the marriage of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette is commonly considered one of the central causes of the French Revolution. The Queen was widely condemned for her extravagance, extreme even for a queen, and the most

quoted remark never said; when told that the peasants of France were so poor that they could not put bread on the table, she was said to have replied, ”let them eat cake,” Under Louis XIV and Louis XV, both of whom were prolific womanizers who had many official mistresses during their respective reigns, public opinion often leveled the blame for society’s ills at the King’s current ministers who, more often than not, owed their position to the royal mistress (such as the Duc de Choiseul and Madame de Pompadour in the 1750s) Precursors to the French Revolution Countless ideas from the Enlightenment contributed to the French Revolution. Locke’s ideas of overthrowing government that does not respect the social contract, as well as Rousseau’s ideas of the general will and the French government’s failure to represent the general will of the people, were major factors. The Enlightenment also stripped away at religion, especially Catholicism, directly attacking the divine right theory that Louis XVI of France used to justify his position Additionally, there were massive food shortages across France, there was a constant war, anger over social inequality, and a weak queen and king. Moreover, a harsh winter had resulted in no harvest and the lack of food, especially bread, causing poverty, death, and destruction.

The immediate spark of the French Revolution, however, was the financial crisis in France. This problem stemmed from a number of issues. One of the most prominent of these issues was the fact that the nobles were tax-exempt, and the nobles resisted any attempt by Louis to tax them. In addition, France had accrued massive debt from assisting in the American Revolution, as well as from the Seven Years War(17561763). Finally, French tax collectors were corrupt. As a result, Louis called the Estates General for assistance and advice to resolve the financial crisis. The Estates General consisted of three estates: the first estate was made up of clergymen, the second estate was made up of nobles, and the third estate was made up of commoners, who represented at least 95% of the populace. The third estate, angry

over their disproportionate representation and their inability to act according to their needs, rebelled, and declared itself the National Assembly. Three days later members of the third estate took the Oath of the Tennis Court, swearing allegiance to the French nation and drawing up a list of grievances (cahiers de doléances) against the king. They aimed to democratically represent the will of the people and give the people a constitution, and they were clearly motivated by the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England. The French Revolution of 1789 is one of the most important events in both French and European history. It marks the rise of the 3rd class after centuries of paying high tax to the King. The revolution centred around (at its peak) the weak King Louis XVI and the immature Queen Marie Antoinette , as the public saw them, and their lavish lifestyle hidden away at Versailles. The people of France at the time of 1789 were being influenced by the media, which did not help the situation. The press would make up stories of their ”Wicked Queen’s” lavish spending of public money, and her many love affairs which made her extremely unpopular among the French public. The 6 October 1789 marks the start of the Revolution when 100s of market women (and men dressed as women) marched on the Palace Of Versailles demanding the Queen’s head and the King’s immediate return to Paris. The women were successful in bringing the Royal family back to Paris, even if the queen had not been killed as intended. The situation worsened once in Paris as the ”Reign of Terror” came to power, and as Marie Antoinette famously said ”Now they will make proper prisoners of us.” The terrified King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette their two young children (11 year old Marie Therese and four year old Louis-Charles) and the King’s sister, Madam Elizabeth, on the 6th October 1789 were forced back to Paris from Versailles by a mob of market women. In a carriage, they traveled back to Paris surrounded by a mob of people screaming and shouting threats against the King and Queen. He had been in secret correspondence with rulers of Spain, Sweden and Austria repudiating all concessions made to the Third Estate. On June 20, 1791, the King, accompanied by Marie Antoinette and royal children set out at night for the Austrian Netherlands. They nearly reached safely, but were stopped at Varennes and brought back to Paris on June 25. National Assembly 1789-1791

The members of the National Assembly came from the members of the third estate in the Estates General. These members tended to be from the upper middle class, or bourgeois, and were often referred to as ”Jacobins” since they frequently met in Jacobin clubs to discuss the revolution. The National Assembly took a number of actions to remake society. They established social equality, and signed the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen, which was a social contract. It provided for freedom of religion, taxation of equality, legal equality, and freedom of press and expression. They wrote a constitution that established a constitutional monarchy with a parliament. The parliament was to be run by the bourgeois, who were considered ”active” citizens, while the rest of the citizens were considered ”passive” citizens and would not be allowed to take part in government. People in government were to progress based upon merit. Finally, the National Assembly established the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790), which clergymen would eventually be required to swear an oath to in 1791. In addition to nationalizing church property, the Civil Constitution also abolished religious vows and turned all Church clerics (including monks and nuns) into civil servants who received their pay and assignments not from Rome, but from Paris.

Social Cause Though France was the most advanced of all the continental countries, yet socially it had some glaring defects. French society was divided into three hostile groups—the clergy, the nobles and the Third Estate comprising comprehensive category of classes. The clergy or first estate constituted less than two percent of the population ; but the economic power of the Church was considerable. The clergy itself was divided into two classes ; higher clergy and lower clergy. The higher clergy— archbishops, bishops and abbots—often enjoyed great wealth. They had large estates and indulged in luxury and vices without caring for their ecclesiastical duties. But the lower clergy profited little by the privileged position of the order. Comprising two-thirds of the order, this group furnished spiritual guidance to the mass of the people. The monastic order was in a state of rapid decay contributing little to moral progress or to the

government treasury. The second estate—the nobles—was divided into three sections— country nobles, official nobility and the nobles of the court (courtiers). This irresponsible group was united by the bond of 'privilege'. The country nobles who were in a majority, had small incomes and exacted the utmost farthing from their tenants. Their estates tended to diminish as a result of the laws of inheritance. The official nobility—some four thousand in all—chiefly centered in the Parlement of Paris. Enjoying immense prestige who could fight the monarchy openly, they were opposed to the freedom of the press and to all reform. Much more conspicuous were the courtiers. They were supported by a bankrupt government whose resources they consumed in idle luxury. The classic example of the waste of the national resources was that the royal household numbered four thousand persons. The Third Estate was a comprehensive category including financiers, merchants, office holders, professionals and the agricultural labourer. Many of them suffered from numerous restrictions on them. The King monopolised salt and other necessary commodities ; and manufacturing and trade were minutely regulated by the decrees. But the great bulk of the Third Estate—more than 20 million—was peasants who constituted nine tenths of the population. The peasant had to pay rent to his feudal lord, tithes to the Church and taxes to the King. It has been estimated that a French peasant could count on less than one-fifth of his income for the use of himself and his family. While one-third of the French peasants owned their land outright, the larger part possessed tiny parcels of land, quite insufficient to feed their families. In France in 1789 the bourgeoisie owned between 20 and 30 per cent of all land. Yet bourgeoisie had their dissatisfaction as too many offices with too little work produced intense frustration. The anti-aristocratic creed of equal political rights and careers open to talents arose from the depressed bourgeoisie, petty lawyers and officeholders, whose aspirations the old order had fostered but had been unable to satisfy Intellectual Revolt There had been growing in Europe throughout eighteenth century, a revolutionary

spirit. This spirit, a spirit of rationalist criticism to the Church, monarchy and nobility, was fostered particularly by the writings of French thinkers and literary men, the philosophers. French held the foremost place in the world of thought. But this Enlightenment was heralded by the work of such men as Locke, Hume, Gibbon, Robertson in England ; Lessing and Kant, Goethe and Schiller in Germany, Benjamin Franklin in America. By 1780's the philosophic tide had reached European intellectuals, but the concrete achievements were not substancial. As Kant declared in 1784, it was the Age of Enlightenment, but not an Enlightened Age Of the earlier rationalists the most famous was Montesquieu (1689- 1755). In his earlier work, The Persian Letters, a satire on the French society, Montesquieu attacked the privileged class, the corruption of the court and the folly of religious intolerance. His famous book, The Spirit of the Laws which appeared in 1748, had a tremendous success. He was an admirer of the British Constitution as the latter preserved political liberty by the separation of three powers of executive, legislative and judiciary. The most revolutionary among the Philosophers was Jean Jacques Rousseau (171238). Napoleon once declared that if Rousseau had never lived there would have been no French Revolution. The influences of his books Emile (1762) and Discourse, were profound. His theory was that man was essentially good, but corrupted by civilization. 'Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains.' He declared that sovereign power could not be divided or separated between a number of institutions. Henceforth he placed sovereignty permanently and inalienably in the hands of the people as a whole Of the intellectual circle, Voltaire was the best known and the widest read. An exceedingly prolific writer, his main attack was directed against the Church. His oftrepeated remark was 'Annihilate the infamous thing' (Church). In one of his works, The Letters on the English, he pointed out that the Church and the nobility in England were not exempt from direct taxation. He was the prince of rationalists and in his scathing attacks on the Church and other pillars of the Old Regime he was something of a crusader. Physiocrats or Economists

There was another group known as Physiocrats or Economists that had great influence and an important relation to the work of the Revolution. They were much influenced by the writings of Adam Smith (The Wealth of Nations, 1776) who is usually regarded as the greatest protagonist of free trade. Hume in his Essays (1741-42), also pointed out that the true wealth of a country lay in its people and in its industry and not in its stock of precious metals. Protectionism benefitted nobody ; therefore all restrictions ware bad. In France, the Physiocrats maintained that the true basis of all wealth was land and agriculture. The sure way to enrich a country was to stimulate its agricultural productivity and to follow the free trade policy. Free trade was to raise the price of goods, higher prices would stimulate productivity, and so in the long run there would be economic prosperity. Accordingly, physiocrats advocated the abolition of control on the grain trade and of internal customs barriers. Next to agriculture, trade and manufactures were secondary activities.

Weakness of the Monarchy: Financial Crisis The government of France in the eighteenth century was a highly centralised despotism. After Louis XIV (1643-1715), the monarchy had lost a great deal of vigour and its ability to maintain the loyalty of their subjects. This was due in part to the indolence and personal failings of Louis XV (1715-74) and in part, to the highhandedness of the bureau- cracy. Louis XV was never a friend of the parlements: he wanted to silence them once and for all. Most of the Frenchmen protested against the policy of the King and the early 1770's saw the beginnings of a crisis of confidence in French public life. 'We are on the verge of a crisis', wrote Diderot in April 1771, Louis XVI on ascending the throne in 1774 was eager to bring about substantial reforms in the administration. Unlike his predecessor he had a high sense of personal responsibility. The old parlements were restored. Between 1774 and 1787 they never prevented the government from raising any tax on which it was really determined. Louis XVI's governments pursued two-fold policy. One was to support the American rebels in their conflict with Great Britain. But the war dealt a ruinous blow to the already overburdened finances of the state. The second policy was the avoidance of

bankruptcy. Turgot made it the keystone of his programme when he took charge of the finances in 1774. But within two years he had fallen having antagonised everybody by abolishing the corvee (a levy on the peasant's time for work on the public highways) and removing restrictions on the wine and grain trades. Louis XVI dismissed him without the opportunity to attempt further reforms. Louis next entrusted the finances to Necker, a vain glorious Swiss banker. He had little sympathy with the way the regime worked. He despised the parlements and advocated provincial assemblies. By his ability to raise loans he financed the American war without introducing new taxation. In 1-782 he published the Compte Rendu—the first public balance sheet of the financial situation of France. But when in the same year he tried to engross over all control of policy, the King dismissed him from office. Calonne became the finance minister in 1786 who propose was to please all. He has wonderful philosophy of borrowing and used to say ‘ A man who wishes to borrow must appear to be rich, and to appear rich he must dazzle by spending freely’ Calling of the Estates-General A special 'royal session' of the parlement was held on November 19,1787 to register the proposals. But the King refused to take a vote and when duke D'Orleans protested that this was illegal, the King lost his temper, crying 'That makes no difference! It is legal because I wish it.' The duke and two councillors were exiled on the next day. Public resentment now reached a climax. On January 4, 1788, the parlement condemned the arrest and demanded individual liberty as a natural right. On May 3, it published a declaration of the fundamental laws of the Kingdom : that the monarchy was hereditary ; that the vote of taxes was a power of the Estates-General ; that the Frenchmen could not be arrested or detained arbitrarily. The Government concluded that the only way left was to sweep away the opposition of the parlements. On May 8, 1788 members of the parlement of Paris were exiled and two of them were arrested on the floor of the court. The King obtained registration for six edicts prepared by Lamoignon, the keeper of the Seals. The parlements were not abolished, but they lost the rights of registration and remonstrance which were now transferred to a Plenary Court, composed of princes and officers of the Crown

There was explosion of public fury at this ultimate act of despotism. In the uproar began to be heard the cry of liberty. Many nobles resigned from public positions. The assembly of the clergy refused to vote the government funds In such circumstances, it was inexpedient to float a loan. The ministers of war and navy, resigned. Brienne yielded once again. On July 5 he promised to call the Estates- General. On August 8 he suspended the Plenary Court and announced the convocation of the EstatesGeneral on May 1, 1789. On August 24, the Treasury being empty, Brienne tendered his resignation. The King recalled Necker, the financial wizard. Lamoignon was dismissed and on September 23 the parlement of Paris was reinstated. On September 25, 1788 the parlement announced that the Estates- General should be constituted, as in 1614, in three separate orders—the Clergy, the Nobility and the Third Estate or bourgeois, so that the Clergy and the Nobility would retain the upper hand. The first four months of 1789 were dominated by elections to the Estates. The elections took place against a background of intense economic hardship following a poor harvest in 1788. By April 1789 it has been estimated that a wage-earner in Paris needed 88 per cent of his income to buy bread alone. There were riots in Brittany and Paris. Each electoral assembly drafted a 'notebook of grievances.' In these note books, called cahlers, were set forth the demands of the French people for redressing their grievances. On matters affecting political and administrative reform, there was a general agreement among the cahiers of the three Estates. But the cahiers of the Third Estate went much further. They demanded liberty of speech, writing and assembly, freedom from arbitrary arrest and the abolition of age-old privileges of the Clergy and the Nobility. Surprisingly none of the cahiers hinted at the abolition of the monarchy or nobility. On June 17, the Third Estate declared itself the National Assembly of France and provisionally authorised tax collection. They were supported on June 19 by a majority vote of the Clergy. On June 20, the Assembly, finding itself locked out of its hall, repaired to the royal Tennis Court, where it took a solemn oath not to disperse until it had given France a constitution. The 'Tennis Court Oath' was the actual beginning of the French Revolution for in it the representatives of the Third Estate were going against the orders of the King. Unfortunately for the Crown, it chose the wrong course. On June 23, the King held a 'royal session' of the Estates-General in which he

announced a programme of reforms. But he coupled it with an order that the Three Estates should remain separate. But it was too late to make the old constitution. On the morning of July 14 the search for arms and gunpowder led the crowds to an arsenal where they removed 30,000 muskets and then across the city to the Bastille. The old fortress for state prisoners was said to be another arms depot. The Governor of Bastille, after a vain effort of resistance, surrendered. He was murdered in the confusion of the surrender. 'This is a revolt' said Louis on hearing the news. 'Sire', answered Liancourt, 'it is not a revolt, it is a revolution.'

Work of the National Assembly, June 17, 1789-September 30, 1791 The first major accomplishment of the National Assembly had been the destruction of the old order in the 'August Days'. Its second was the assertion of the principles on which the new order was to be built—the 'Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen'. This Declaration reflected the influence of the natural-law school of philosophy, represented by Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau. The Declaration of Rights is remarkable that it neatly balances a statement of universal principles and human rights. The Seventeen articles of the declaration asserted that men are free and equal, that the people are sovereign, and that law is an expression of the popular will. All those liberties of the person, free speech, free assembly, which had been worked out in England and America, were asserted. Equality in the Declaration meant equality before the law and in eligilibity for office. According to a French historian, the Declaration was a 'death certificate of the Old Regime'. There were marked similarities to the American Declaration of Independence (1776). The Declaration has been an indisputable factor in the political and social evolution of modern Europe. The Assembly then worked out a Constitution which was finally adopted in September 1791. Owing to this part of its work the National Assembly is also known as the Constituent Assembly. France was to be governed by a King and a parliament known as the Legislative Assembly. The Constitution provided a clear separation of powers among executive, legislative and judicial authorities. The King was now

described as the 'King of the French'. He was allowed a three year suspensive veto, but not over constitutional or fiscal legislation. He could declare war and make peace with the consent of the Legislative Assembly and was further empowered to appoint ministers, ambassadors and military officers. But the King had no power to dissolve the Assembly ; ministers would be answerable, not to himself but to the Assembly. The real power was to the entrusted to the Legislative Assembly. It was to consist of a single chamber of 745 members and was to be elected for two years by a system of indirect representation based upon a limited franchise. In November 1789 the Assembly decreed the confiscation of the landed estates held by the Church, and against this property as security it issued paper money called assignats. The assignat was a salutary shot in the arm and saved the Assembly from its temporary difficulties. But after 1790 assignats suffered steady depreciation and a serious inflation of prices occurred. In February 1790 monasteries and convents were suppressed. In July a Civil Constitution of the Clergy was enacted. This document attempted to redress many of the lower clergy's grievances : they were now assured of decent salaries. The ecclesiastical map was redrawn on more rational lines. The number of bishops was reduced from 139 to 83. Bishops and priests were to be elected by the people and paid by the State. The Catholic Church was, in effect, made a department of the State. The Assembly refused to submit the Civil Constitution, before it became enforced, for the sanction of the Pope.

The National Convention, which met on September 21,1792 replaced the monarchy with a republic. The Convention was composed of three main groups. The majority was formed by the great mass of independent deputies, known as the 'Marsh' of Plain. They were not committed to any particular faction. The second group was the socalled Girondins, led by Vergniaud, Brissot, Gensonnet and Guadet. They were now the conservative element who wanted to break the power of the Commune and establish a stable government. Against them were ranged the Jacobins or Mountain, headed by Robespierre, Marat and Danton. Assured of the support of the

Commune and mob of Paris, they wished to deprive the Girondins of their supremacy in Convention. After debating the issue of the king's fate for over a month, the Convention voted 361 to 321 for the death penalty. Louis XVI was guillotined on January 21, 1793. On October 16, 1793 Marie Antoinette was guillotined.

The Directory (October 1795-November 1799) The last fourteen months of the Convention are known as the Thermidorian Reaction whose main concern was to dismantle the Terror. The new leaders who emerged in the Convention were Sieyes, Tallion, Freron and Barras. On August 1, 1794, four days after Robespierre's death, the Law of Prairial, defining suspects, was repealed. On August 5, prisoners seized under this law were released. On August 10, the Revolutional Tribunal was reorganised. It was decided that power should no longer be concentrated in the hands of a few men. On August 24, 16 committees were set up, 12 of them with executive powers ; much of the work of the two Committees of Public Safety and General Security was transferred to these committees. In Paris, the Commune was abolished and soon replaced by Commissioners appointed by the Convention. The period of the Directory proved to be one of confusion and political instability. In part, this was due to the nature of the constitution itself. By providing for annul elections (of one-third of the Councils and one in five of the Directors) it offered a constant invitation to disorder. Moreover, the new rules lacked popular support. By their political expediency and electoral provisions, they had estranged not only royalists and Jacobins, but also the moderate bourgeois. From these weaknesses they never recovered.

The Directors had to grapple the financial problem in the initial stage. The assignats were of little value. In April, 1796 mandats were issued in place of assignats, but soon fell to one percent of their face value. Prices rocketed further. While the new rich displayed their wealth with apparent unconcern, poverty was 'as its lowest depths'.

It was against this background that Babeuf launched his 'Conspiracy of the Equals', the first attempt in history to establish a communist society. He believed that a just regime was impossible so long as the protection of private property continued to dominate politics. In the winter of 1795-96, Babeuf conspired with a group of former Jacobins, club-men and terrorists to overthrow the Directory by force. On the eve of the insurrection, the leaders of the plot were arrested and the plot came to nothing. A year later Babeuf and some of his principal associates were brought to trial and executed. The execution of Babeuf made him the last famous martyr of the White Terror. In foreign affairs, the Directory assumed a greater role. By the beginning of 1796, France's active enemies were Austria, Britain and Sardinia. The Convention had made peace with Holland, Spain and Prussia. Peace had also been made with Portugal, with the German states of Saxony and the two Hesses, with the Italian states of Naples, Parma and the Papacy On the last day of 1795 France had signed an armistice with the Austrians on the Rhine front. Using this respite, the Directory planned a decisive frontal attack against Vienna, under the leadership of Moreau and Jourdan. To aid it, another army, put in the charge of General Bonaparte, was to create a diversion against Austrian power in Italy. By the battle of Mondovi, he defeated the Sardinians and forced them to make an armistice by which they gave up Nice and Savoy to France. Bonaparte's army defeated the Austrians at Lodi on May 10, 1796 and took Milan. By January 1797 he had succeeded in taking the Central Austrian stronghold of Mantua, and in routing a strong Austrian army at the Battle of Rivoli. When Napoleon pressed on to Vienna, the Austrians called for a truce (April 1797). Peace was delayed for six months. But when Napoleon advanced to the Danube, Austria signed the peace of Campo Formio on October 17, 1797. By this treaty Austria recognised the French annexation of Belgium as well as the creation of a Cisalpine Republic in northern Italy, surrendered the Ionian islands off Greece, but kept Venice and all her territory in Italy and the Adriatic. Under secret treaties, the Austrian Emperor promised to cede to France large districts of the Rhineland, and in return was promised to cede to France large districts of the Rhineland, and in return

was promised part of Bavaria and the ecclesiastical state of Salzburg. At home the Directory faced its first political crisis with the elections of April 1797. The elections were a royalist triumph. Almost all of the onethird new deputies were royalists, and the Elders elected a royalist Director, Barthelemy. On September 4, 1797 (18th Fructidor), the majority of the Directory called the Trumvirate (Barras, La Revelliere and Reubell) struck at the royalist majority with the help of Bonaparte's lieutenant, Augereau. The Triumvirate expelled the newly elected members from the assemblies and put under arrest Barthelemy and Pichegru, while Carnot escaped. Henceforth the victorious Directors armed themselves with new powers and relied more on armed force. The Legislative Councils blamed the Directory for French reverses and the elections of April 1799, increased the number of opposition deputies. By the so-called Coup of Prairial (June 28 1799), the Councils deposed one Director and forced the resignation of two others. The new Directors were Sieyes, Barras, Ducos, Moulin and Gohier. Meanwhile, the royalist danger continued. Jacobinism raised its head again and the country was restless. There was further talk of the 'need to revise the constitution and to provide stable government by strengthening the executive. It was in this atmosphere that Sieyes planned a more decisive coup d'etat.

The Girondists and The Jacobins The Girondist – They so called because they from the district of Gironde of which many of their leader come. They were man of high intellectual calibers. They were moderates. They stood for a Republican form of Government. Their views was that if a was declared there was very possibility of monarch being discredited and a republic set up in the country. Thus French declared was against Austria in 1792 where she got defeated. When Republic was proclaimed in France the Girondiste who were stronger in power determined to punished the leader of Paris Commune. They succeeded in dissolving the Commune. However they were faced challenged from the Jacobine.

The Jacobines- they were cruel, corrupts and uneducated however they were practical and alert politicians who were prepared to run great risks. According to them all the power and right resided in the people and the law and government must give away from them. It was business of the people to watch their rulers, supervise their conducts zealously and always remind them that they were only their agents. It was the duty of the government to obey the people, no matter what its commands were. Popular movement were the highest expression of law. Even if there was violence and murder, they were still the action of the sovereign. During the times of the French Constitutional Monarchy two prominent radical groups fought for power: the Girondins and the Jacobins. Of the two groups, though both were radical, the Girondins were less radical and became arising power in 1791. During this time the group hoped to pass legislation allowing all blacks equal freedoms (The United States was a little behind on this..). The group also wanted to go to war with Austria in 1792 in hopes of showing power over the king. As a result of all of these new found politics of the Girondins, the Jacobins began to counter react in opposition to the Girondins. An example of the different political views of the two groups is found with the reactions to the September Massacres. The massacre was instigated by GeorgesJacques Danton, a revolutionary leader. Danton gave a speech on September 2nd 1792 in which he said, “When the tocsin sounds, it will not be a signal of alarm, but the signal to charge against the enemies of our country… To defeat them, gentlemen, we need boldness, and again boldness, and always boldness; and France will then be saved.” In reality Danton was probably speaking of boldness needed in fighting the war but most French citizens took it as boldness needed in fighting within France to those who were viewed as “traitors” and killing occurred all over the streets. By September 7th over 1,000 people had been massacred. Girdonins urged citizens to stop the violence while Jacobins encouraged the bloodshed. The gap between Girdonins and Jacobins grew more and more with the Jacobins becoming the more powerful force. When the king was put on trial for treason the Girondins fought for the king to be

exempted from execution while the Jacobins argued that the king should be executed in order to assure the revolution’s success. The Jacobins were successful. As a result, they were a monopolizing power and in the National Convention the Jacobins arrested and killed 22 Girondins. They had won the battle between the two groups. The main leader of the Jacobins was Jean-Paul Marat. Parisians loved him and cheered him in the streets. His reign ended though when Charlotte Corday snuck into his bath, stabbed him, and Marat was named a martyr of the revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist, Napoleon successfully waged war against various coalitions of European nations and expanded his empire. By 1793 he had been converted to Jacobin ideas, and achieved some distinction in the recapture of Toulon (1793) and the defence of the Convention (1795). In 1796 he was appointed commander-inchief of Italy where he laid the foundation of his imperishable military fame. His Italian campaign lasted a year from April 1796 to April 1797. He was a military genius and used the new tactics evolved for the mass armies that had been created by the Revolution. With amazing speed and brilliant tactics, Napoleon occupied every fort in northern Italy. When he threatened Vienna, Austria sued for peace. By the Treaty of Campo Formio (October 1797) Austria gave up Belgium to France and abandoned to her the left bank of the Nile. His Egyptian venture to crush the power of England did not prove to be successful and he had to return back to France at an opportune moment. He was a masterful opportunist and seized political power in 1799. However, after a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon abdicated the throne two years later and was exiled to the island of Elba. In 1815, he briefly returned to power in his Hundred Days campaign. After a crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he abdicated once again and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena, where he died at 51.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. He was the second of eight surviving children born to Carlo Buonaparte (1746-1785), a lawyer, and Letizia Romalino Buonaparte (1750-1836). Although his parents were members of the minor Corsican nobility, the family was not wealthy. The year before Napoleon’s birth, France acquired Corsica from the city-state of Genoa, Italy. Napoleon later adopted a French spelling of his last name. As a boy, Napoleon attended school in mainland France, where he learned the French language, and went on to graduate from a French military academy in 1785. He then became a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment of the French army. The French Revolution began in 1789, and within three years revolutionaries had overthrown the monarchy and proclaimed a French republic. During the early years of the revolution, Napoleon was largely on leave from the military and home in Corsica, where he became affiliated with the Jacobins, a pro-democracy political group. In 1793, following a clash with the nationalist Corsican governor, Pasquale Paoli (17251807), the Bonaparte family fled their native island for mainland France, where Napoleon returned to military duty. In France, Napoleon became associated with Augustin Robespierre (1763-1794), the brother of revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794), a Jacobin who was a key force behind the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), a period of violence against enemies of the revolution. During this time, Napoleon was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the army. However, after Robespierre fell from power and was guillotined (along with Augustin) in July 1794, Napoleon was briefly put under house arrest for his ties to the brothers. In 1795, Napoleon helped suppress a royalist insurrection against the revolutionary government in Paris and was promoted to major general. In 1798 Bonaparte had departed on an expedition to Egypt designed to cut off the British from India. After capturing Malta and Alexandria, he marched against Syria. Then followed his reverses which was crowned by the destruction of his fleet by Nelson at Aboukir Bay in the Battle of the Nile (August 1798). By May 1799 he

withdrew to Egypt with heavy losses. The campaign produced a second coalition against France, which included Turkey and Russia as well as Britain. The war of the second coalition proved to be disastrous to France. Her armies were defeated by the Austrian Archduke Charles in Germany and Switzerland and driven from Italy by the Russian general, Suvorov. Meanwhile, the Belgian provinces were in revolt. Napoleon who knew what was happening in France, made a dash for France. Eluding Nelson's patrols, he reached France in October 1799. He knew his moment had come. Sieyes and his fellow-conspirators, Fouche and Talleyrand, turned to Napoleon, the man of the hour. Sieyes thought that he could handle Napoleon once the coup was over. So on 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799) Bonaparte and his soldiers dismissed the Directors and the legislative councils. A small number of overawed representatives, in collusion with Sieyes, voted for constitutional revision. To carry out this programme, full authority was vested in a provisional consulate of three— Sieyes, Roger-Ducos and Bonaparte. Napoleon as First consul, wielded undivided executive authority and the other two consuls were made little more than rubber stamps. It was end of the bourgeois Republic and marked a further step towards the establishment of the military despotism. The executive consisted of three Consuls who were appointed for ten years and were re-eligible. Napoleon, as first consul had the right to promulgate laws and full executive authority, appoint and dismiss all officials, civil and military, both in Paris and the provinces. The second and third Consuls, Cambaceres and Lebrun, had advisory functions only. Under the existing constitution, Bonaparte enjoyed but a ten-year term as First Consul and he had to share the honour with two colleagues. Such a position could hardly fulfill his ambition. Bonaparte was a masterful opportunist guided by intuition into forces at work. After he had achieved new glories for France by crushing the Second Coalition, Napoleon used a plebiscite in 1802 to force his plan on the government. He became Life Consul, able to nominate most senators, to declare war and make treaties, and to designate his successor.

Napoleon’s Rise to Power

Since 1792, France’s revolutionary government had been engaged in military conflicts with various European nations. In 1796, Napoleon commanded a French army that defeated the larger armies of Austria, one of his country’s primary rivals, in a series of battles in Italy. In 1797, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, resulting in territorial gains for the French. The following year, the Directory, the five-person group that had governed France since 1795, offered to let Napoleon lead an invasion of England. Napoleon determined that France’s naval forces were not yet ready to go up against the superior British Royal Navy. Instead, he proposed an invasion of Egypt in an effort to wipe out British trade routes with India. Napoleon’s troops scored a victory against Egypt’s military rulers, the Mamluks, at the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798; soon, however, his forces were stranded after his naval fleet was nearly decimated by the British at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798. In early 1799, Napoleon’s army launched an invasion of Ottoman-ruled Syria, which ended with the failed siege of Acre, located in modern-day Israel. That summer, with the political situation in France marked by uncertainty, the ever-ambitious and cunning Napoleon opted to abandon his army in Egypt and return to France. The Coup of 18 Brumaire In November 1799, in an event known as the coup of 18 Brumaire (the second month of French Revolution ), Napoleon was part of a group that successfully overthrew the French Directory. The Directory was replaced with a three-member Consulate, and Napoleon became first consul, making him France’s leading political figure. In June 1800, at the Battle of Marengo, Napoleon’s forces defeated one of France’s perennial enemies, the Austrians, and drove them out of Italy. The victory helped cement Napoleon’s power as first consul. Additionally, with the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, the war-weary British agreed to peace with the French (although the peace would only last for a year). Napoleon worked to restore stability to post-revolutionary France. He centralized the government; instituted reforms in such areas as banking and education; supported science and the arts; and sought to improve relations between his regime and the pope

(who represented France’s main religion, Catholicism), which had suffered during the revolution. One of his most significant accomplishments was the Napoleonic Code, which streamlined the French legal system and continues to form the foundation of French civil law to this day. In 1802, a constitutional amendment made Napoleon first consul for life. Two years later, in 1804, he crowned himself emperor of France in a lavish ceremony at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. On December 2, 1804, in the presence of Pope Pius VII, Napoleon placed the crown upon his head. 'I found the crown of France lying on the ground,' Napoleon once said, 'and I picked it up with my sword.' Napoleon’s Marriages and Children In 1796, Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais (1763-1814), a stylish widow six years his senior who had two teenage children. More than a decade later, in 1809, after Napoleon had no offspring of his own with Josephine, he had their marriage annulled so he could find a new wife and produce an heir. In 1810, he wed Marie Louise (1791-1847), the daughter of the emperor of Austria. The following year, she gave birth to their son, Napoleon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte (1811-1832), who became known as Napoleon II and was given the title king of Rome. In addition to his son with Marie Louise, Napoleon had several illegitimate children. The Reign of Napoleon I The Consulate 1799-1804 Napoleon seized control and initially installed an enlightened despotism known as the Consulate. During this time, Napoleon instituted a number of important Enlightened reforms. The most important of these is his Napoleonic Code, which provided freedom of religion, a uniform law codes, social and legal equality, property rights, and end feudal dues. He also implemented a state-wide compulsory education, known as the University of France. In 1801 he ended dechristianization.

Napoleon declared himself French Emperor and became a military dictator. Napoleon was undefeated against his three main continental enemies, defeating Austria, Russia, and Prussia multiple times. During his tenure, he took control of large amounts of mainland Europe. However, Napoleon failed to subdue England, and was defeated in his attempt to crush the English Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar by Admiral Nelson. As a result, Napoleon employed the Continental System, a method of economic warfare. He prohibited trade with the British by blockading all coasts of Europe from English export. Unfortunately for Napoleon, this failed, as the British still were able to smuggle goods into Europe, and were also able to trade with their colonies, Asia, and the United States. Napoleon eliminated the Holy Roman Empire, and in 1806 consolidated it into 40 states and named it the Confederation of the Rhine.

From 1803 to 1815, France was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, a series of major conflicts with various coalitions of European nations. In 1803, partly as a means to raise funds for future wars, Napoleon sold France’s Louisiana Territory in North America to the newly independent United States for $15 million, a transaction that later became known as the Louisiana Purchase. In October 1805, the British wiped out Napoleon’s fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. However, in December of that same year, Napoleon achieved what is considered to be one of his greatest victories at the Battle of Austerlitz, in which his army defeated the Austrians and Russians. The victory resulted in the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine. Beginning in 1806, Napoleon sought to wage large-scale economic warfare against Britain with the establishment of the so-called Continental System of European port blockades against British trade. In 1807, following Napoleon’s defeat of the Russians at Friedland in Prussia, Alexander I (1777-1825) was forced to sign a peace settlement, the Treaty of Tilsit. In 1809, the French defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Wagram, resulting in further gains for Napoleon.

During these years, Napoleon re-established a French aristocracy (eliminated in the French Revolution) and began handing out titles of nobility to his loyal friends and family as his empire continued to expand across much of western and central continental Europe. After Alexander I of Russia withdrew from the Continental System, Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. For the first time, Napoleon failed, as the Russian army employed scorched earth tactics to defeat Napoleon’s army. However, Napoleon quickly raised a new army, but this army was crushed by the Quadruple Alliance of England, Austria, Russia, and Prussia at the Battle of Nations/Leipzig in 1813. Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba, but he managed to escape and return in 1815 in a period known as the Hundred Days. The Quadruple Alliance again crushed his new army at the Battle of Waterloo, led by the great British General Wolsey (Duke of Wellington). Napoleon was then exiled to the island of Saint Helena where he died in 1821. The Law Codes The codification of French law was perhaps the most enduring of Napoleon's achievements. 'My real glory', said Napoleon at St. Helena, 'is not my having own forty battles. What will never be effaced, what will endure for ever, is my civil code.' One of the greatest evils of the ancient regime was the lack of a uniform code of law. The work had been begun by Colbert and d' Aguesseau. Although five drafts had been prepared by the revolutionary committees, none of them had been put into execution. Napoleon gave France a common law, laid out simply in seven codes. The first and most important was the Civil Code (1804), called the 'Code Napoleon'. This monumental achievement was the work of a commission of jurists: yet all its plans had been supervised by Napoleon himself, who was present at thirty-five out of the eighty-seven sittings devoted to the Civil Code. The Code struck a happy balance between the rival claims of Roman and Customary law. The Civil Code affected especially the laws of the family, marriage and divorce, the status of women, paternal authority and property. The authority of the father over his wife, his children, and the property of the family was strengthened. Under the new

code wives were subjected to husbands, divorce was made more difficult, and property up to a quarter of the whole could be given away from the family. There was to be equal division of property among all legitimate heirs. The Civil Code guaranteed individual liberty, equality before the law, freedom from arrest without due process as well as the right to choose one's work. It confirmed the abolition of feudalism in all its aspects. The Civil Code—a combination of fruitful innovation and ancient usage—exercises a strong influence throughout Europe. 'Not since the Institutes of Justinian has any compendium of law been so widely copied.'

Napoleon’s Downfall and First Abdication In 1810, Russia withdrew from the Continental System. In retaliation, Napoleon led a massive army into Russia in the summer of 1812. Rather than engaging the French in a full-scale battle, the Russians adopted a strategy of retreating whenever Napoleon’s forces attempted to attack. As a result, Napoleon’s troops trekked deeper into Russia despite being ill-prepared for an extended campaign. In September, both sides suffered heavy casualties in the indecisive Battle of Borodino. Napoleon’s forces marched on to Moscow, only to discover almost the entire population evacuated. Retreating Russians set fires across the city in an effort to deprive enemy troops of supplies. After waiting a month for a surrender that never came, Napoleon, faced with the onset of the Russian winter, was forced to order his starving, exhausted army out of Moscow. During the disastrous retreat, his army suffered continual harassment from a suddenly aggressive and merciless Russian army. Of Napoleon’s 600,000 troops who began the campaign, only an estimated 100,000 made it out of Russia. At the same time as the catastrophic Russian invasion, French forces were engaged in the Peninsular War (1808-1814), which resulted in the Spanish and Portuguese, with assistance from the British, driving the French from the Iberian Peninsula. This loss was followed in 1813 by the Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of Nations, in which Napoleon’s forces were defeated by a coalition that included Austrian, Prussian, Russian and Swedish troops. Napoleon then retreated to France, and in March 1814 coalition forces captured Paris.

On April 6, 1814, Napoleon, then in his mid-40s, was forced to abdicate the throne. With the Treaty of Fontainebleau, he was exiled to Elba, a Mediterranean island off the coast of Italy. He was given sovereignty over the small island, while his wife and son went to Austria. Hundred Days Campaign and Battle of Waterloo On February 26, 1815, after less than a year in exile, Napoleon escaped Elba and sailed to the French mainland with a group of more than 1,000 supporters. On March 20, he returned to Paris, where he was welcomed by cheering crowds. The new king, Louis XVIII (1755-1824), fled, and Napoleon began what came to be known as his Hundred Days campaign. Upon Napoleon’s return to France, a coalition of allies–the Austrians, British, Prussians and Russians–who considered the French emperor an enemy began to prepare for war. Napoleon raised a new army and planned to strike pre-emptively, defeating the allied forces one by one before they could launch a united attack against him. In June 1815, his forces invaded Belgium, where British and Prussian troops were stationed. On June 16, Napoleon’s troops defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny. However, two days later, on June 18, at the Battle of Waterloo near Brussels, the French were crushed by the British, with assistance from the Prussians. On June 22, 1815, Napoleon was once again forced to abdicate. Napoleon’s Final Years In October 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the remote, British-held island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean. He died there on May 5, 1821, at age 51, most likely from stomach cancer. (During his time in power, Napoleon often posed for paintings with his hand in his vest, leading to some speculation after his death that he had been plagued by stomach pain for years.) Napoleon was buried on the island despite his request to be laid to rest “on the banks of the Seine, among the French

people I have loved so much.” In 1840, his remains were returned to France and entombed in a crypt at Les Invalides in Paris, where other French military leaders are interred.