The French Revolution: - The causes of the revolution - Maximilien Robespierre and the Reign of terror - Fall of the Jacobins - Rise of the Directory - Napoleon Bonaparte

1. AS Level
1780 - 1917
HISTORY

2. 1789 - 1814
1. THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
AND NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

3. Introduction
• The French Revolution started I 1789… and ended at the
ascent of Napoleon: 1795
• The citizens of France took down the system of absolute
monarchy/ feudal system – replacing it with ‘democracy’
• Based on the growing idea of enlightenment in the 18th
Century
• Showed the world the power of the people’s will and how far
that could go

4. Long-term causes of the French Revolution
• The feudal system - taxation
• The unfair government structure
• The monarchs
• The aristocrats and the clergy
• The financial crises – taxation
• The growth of ideas associated with Enlightenment

5. France, a bankrupted nation
• Massive spending on supporting the American Revolution
• Extravagant spending of King Louis XVI + his father, grandfather
• The Royal coffer was being depleted – responded by heavy taxation
• For 20 years, the cereal harvest had been poor – drought – cattle
diseases… prices of bread skyrocketed
• Unrest among the peasants and the urban poor
• Felt that the heavy taxation was unfair – riots and looting were
popping up around the nation

7. The Monarchs – Huge problems?
• King Louis the 14th – The Sun King (1638 - 1715)
Ruled France during the classical age – longest ruler
Known for aggressive Foreign Policy
Developed public Hostility (Invaded Spanish Netherland, Franco-
Dutch War, France vs. The Grand Alliance)

8. The Monarchs – Huge problems?
• King Louis the 15th (1715 - 1774)
• Known for starting the decline of royal authority
• Became king at the age of 5 – during the 7 Years war- lost to the
British almost all of France's colonies
• Stubborn but not serious nor skilled in his political works
• Contributed to France’s worsening foreign relation
• Overspending
• Died a hated monarch

9. The Monarchs – Huge problems?
• King Louis the 16th (1774 - 1793)
• Crowned at the age of 16 – professed that he was not ready
• A family man – a poor leader – easily influenced by the aristocrats
and his family
• Wife: Marie Antoinette – a hated figure in France

10. Problems with the Monarch:
• With King Louis the 14th setting the standard for absolute monarchy
- France was in an iron grip – controlled by the upper classes while
the lower classes oppressed. This top-heavy structure was
dangerous, considering the failing foreign policy and the constant
war was damaging the country’s finance.
• With King Louis the 14th setting the bar very high, King Louis the 15th
dropped the balls on many level – leading France into a defeat in
the 7 years war. Once again, spending too much and slowly
depleting the royal coffers. Worst of all, not maintaining the royal
authority.
• By King Louis the 16th – the royalty was an almost bankrupt
institution. One that was very much despised by the population –
the arrival of Marie Antoinette didn’t help. Louis the 16th also
severely lacked leadership skill – wasn’t able to stand up against the
nobles.

11. Origin: the Ancien Regime
• French for “Old Order”
• Everyone was a subject to the king
• Rights and status flowed from the
social institutions: The First,
Second and the Third estate
First Estate: The Clergy – received
taxation privileges
Second Estate: The Nobility –
received taxation privileges
Third estate: Everyone Else

12. More about the 3 estates:
• http://www.slideshare.net/maggiesalgado/ancien-rgime-society-ii

13. Origin: The enlightenment
• AKA. The age of reason.
• Advocates reason as a means to building the p=social structure
(aesthetic, socio-economic, ethics, government, religion)
• It challenged religion (ie. The one authority people truly respected
in France)
• It was the driving for the of the middle class or the Bourgeois
• The Political thought of John Locke – the idea of democracy and
constitution
• http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Age_of_Enlightenme
nt#Political_thought

14. How did the Revolution started: Pt. 1 – The
Estates General
• Charles Alexandre de Calonne proposed a financial reform
• Called for a meeting of the three estates – first since 1614
• Allowing each estate to produce grievances to the king
• The Third estates represented 98% of the population and felt they
should be given more shares of votes – eg. By head not by status
• The other 2 estates were reluctant – they had privilege Veto power
• In the meeting, hostile debates about the vote broke out – luis the
16th couldn’t take control
• The other 2 estates also expressed that they would not be willing to
give up their taxation privilege

15. The Estates General
• Some agreements were met – the need for the constitution – the
lifting of the internal trade barriers – liberty of press
• However: Disagreements were plentiful.
- Taxation privileges
- Voting problems
• Problem: King Louis failed to present himself as a leader – only
weakly supporting the first 2 estates.

16. The Tennis Court Oath
• The third estate met up at a tennis court in Versailles after King
Louis locked their old meeting place – and overturned their
decisions, together with some liberal nobles/ clergy
• Formed the National Assembly – Count Mirabeaus
• They vowed not to disperse until a constitutional reform had been
reached.

17. The Storming of the Bastille
• The event at the Tennis Court consumed the nation
• Created enthusiasm and support
• Also inducing fear
• A newspaper created by Jean Paul Marat began stirring fear and
ideas of revolution among the people – noted that the king might
try to break up the assembly
• July the 14th – The Storming of the Bastille
• Started a wave of revolution stretching to the countryside – rioting,
looting grew – tax collectors, landlords, elite had to flee
• On August 4 – National Constituent Assembly abolished Feudalism
• Rise of the radical Sans Cullotes

18. The August Decrees
• Rights for Peasants and Farmers
• No more unpaid work – repairing roads
• No more taxing during harvest season
• No more compulsory services
• No more of the church collecting money from the people

19. The Declaration of the Rights of Man
• Replacing the Ancien regime with a system of equality, freedom of
speech, sovereignty and representative government
• Liberty/ Security to their properties
• Imprisonment without trial banned
• Taxation based upon people’s wealth
• No individual group or person can make decisions that affect the
people
• The king and the Queen was practically forced to return to Paris –
and ‘imprisoned’ there – had to formally accept the reforms

20. The Counter Revolutionaries
• The King/ the Royal Family
• The High Nobility/ Clergy
• The Foreign power – fear that the same may happen in their
countries eg. Austria
• The lower classes who supported the Catholic church
• They couldn’t regain control: different aims between the moderate
and the radical – one may support the ancien regime, the other may
only feel that the current revolution was out of hand
• Looked to the king for leadership – found none.

21. The problems among the revolutionaries
• Different aims between the different classes

22. 1790 – The Civil Constitution
• At first the opposition to the church limited
to abolishment of taxes rights
• The Civil Constitutions arose
1. Bishops/ Archbishops are to be appointed
through election, not by the pope
2. Reduction of bishoprics – districts
controlled by the bishops
3. Abolish some of the church’s offices
4. Clergy roles limited to religion
5. Clergy to be paid by the church
6. Clergy to sign an oath of loyalty to the
constitution
• THIS WAS WAR FOR THE POPE
• Divided the French People

23. The Development of until 1791 – How did it get
so violent?
• Although before 1789 – things were going well – The August
Decrees – practical development that would’ve satisfied many of
the population
• 1790 – The Civil Constitution was passed – A violent gestures
against the church – the condemnation from the pope led to violent
reaction from the peasants
• 1791 – The Flight to Verannes – The was now deemed not
trustworthy.

24. 1791 – 1799: Rise of the Radicals
• 1791: Popular pressure forced the National Assembly to set up an
election which led to the establishment of the National Convention
• The National Convention was dominated by the Jacobins – a radical
group led by Maximilien Robespierre

25. The problems in France at the time
• Economic Problems
• War with other nations
• Rise of the Radicals – the political issues and the start of the Reign
of Terror

26. Economic issues
• Economic problems were not solved
• Farmers hoarding their grains
• People lost faith in the currency –
Assignants became worthless
• Middle class became the new nobility
– they could buy land seized from the
nobles
• Lack of laws/ administrative offices –
no taxes could be collected
• The war was very expensive
• The revolutionaries were still fighting
– between the moderates and the
radicals

27. War/ violence
• At the time: Austria and Prussia were very much against the
revolution – a lot of the émigrés had been drumming up supports in
these countries
• In 1792 – The National Assembly declared war against Austria
• The Duke of Brunswick of Austrian and Prussian force together with
Britain and Holland formed an anti-revolutionary alliance.
• Cases 0v violent arrests made by the Jacobins against the accused
Counter-revolutionaries
• Count Carnot introduced conscriptions which increased the SIZE OF
THE French army from 650000 to 1.5 million allowing them to win
against Prussia in 1792
• However prussia put up a great fight and cases of generals
committing treasons – led to the weakening of the beliefs in the
government.

28. Rise of the Radical
• In 1791, the National Convention was first replaced by the
Legislative Assembly – allowing the radicals, the Jacobins to start
purging Paris
• However the sans-Culottes maintained mob controls in other
provinces
• The Girondins and the Jacobins
• Girondins from the South which meant they were in the minority of
the provinces trying to gain control (especially with Parisians Sans
Culottes controlling the provinces) – Jacobins from Paris.
• Both of them hated the church and wanted to end upper class
privilege
• However Girondins wanted negotiation with the kings – led to the
decline in their popularity and the subsequent lost of power

29. Problems faced by the Jacobins
• Disagreements about what to do with Louis XVI
At the end – the king was executed with Marie Antoinette
• Economic problems
• The War
• Threats from Royalist sympathizers

30. How important was the execution of the king
• Robespierre finally assumed total control
• A statement of purpose – establishment of the republic
• Full democracy
• A chance to tried the king and accused of him of the crimes he
committed
• A destruction of a symbol
Changing the months
Changing the name of the nation

31. Robespierre's attack against the church
• Introduction of the Republic of Virtue
• “Virtue without which terror is fatal; terror without which virtue is
powerless”
• Citizens should help each other as duties to be performed – loyal to
democracy
• The cult of the Supreme Being to replace Christianity
• Portraying himself as a god
• Churches replaced by Temples of Reason
• The calendar was replaced
• TURNED CHRISTIANS AGANST THE CONVENTION

32. Law of Maximum
• A planned economy for France at the time
• Fixed prices for bread
• Rationing introduces
• Assignants
• Production of Arms/ Ammunition
• Nationalizes many of the small businesses – Did this go against the
idea of the Declarations of the Rights of Man
• Practical use of Socialism?

33. Fear of the Enemy of the State
• The assassination of Marat
• War abroad
• The revolutionary attempts of the remaining nobles
• Revolt from the peasant – Jacques Hebert
• The Jacobins were breaking apart - Danton

34. Robespierre's’ Reign of Terror – Law of suspects
• The committee of Public Safety – had extensive power over the law,
the military, the police – dominated by radical Jacobins
• Revolutionary Tribunal
• The Massacre of the 1000 prisoners
• By 1793 – they were facing many problems – fall of Toulon
• A response of a maniac: The Law of Suspects – attempting to
tighten the grip over people – ppl could be arrested for not actively
supporting the regime – no fair trail
• Sometime reasons were bullshit
• Just to impress authority

35. Terror as a weapon
• Execution done in public
• Areas where there maybe revolt against the National Convention
• Directed to any classes – including the Jacobins
• The Law of Suspect meant anyone could be taken down

36. The Fall of Robespierre
• By 1794, many felt this was the right time to set things right
• Robespierre’s cult and Law of Suspect were too far
• The Jacobins were turning against him
• When he tried to purge the convention
• Thermidorian Reaction
• He was stripped of his power

37. FINAL PART: the Directory
• A new constitution was drawn up – The Directory
• The Directory consisted of the 2 councils
• The Council of 500 and The Council of Ancients
• 500: Propose the law
• Ancient: Accept or reject the laws
• 5 Directors controlling the directory

38. The 5 Directors
• The Constitution of 1795
• More conservative
• They are selected by the ancients as proposed by the Council of 500
• They are to appoint ministers, tax collectors, army leaders
• A lot of these were middle class - 2/3 of these had to serve in
national Convention before
• Annual Election
• They had become the new NOBLES
• Trying to retain their advantages and influences

39. Problems with the Directory
• Very dependent on the military
• Revolt from the aristocrats
• Revolt from the returning clergy as the church was revived
• Return of the younger brother of Louis
• Representative only of the middle class
• The San-Culottes would oppose them – eg. The Babeuf plot – 1796 –
was well prepared although overturned by police apies
• Government was still bankrupted
• Corruption was still happening
• The more progressive members of the directory were kept out
• Socialism rising – the conspiracy of equals
• The military success was an important part in keeping the Directory
in place

40. The Directory’s Dependence on the military
• Since the conscript ion 1793 – The French army grew significantly
• Had been successful in its defensive work against Austria and
Prussia
• Began invading / annexing other nations
• Seeing this as a way to also distract people from the problems
within – they encourage war
• Resolve the unemployment problems in France
• Needed to resolve other economic issues
• Needed them to help put down the revolt

41. Corruption in the Directory
• In the election of 1797
• The election turned out results on favor of royalists and Jacobins
• This result was hence twisted by the Directory
• Unseated Carnot
• They enforced financial policy and cracked down on radicalism
• However – this destroyed the reputation
• Inflation was again on the rise
• The Directory continued to distort election results.
• By 1799, even the military was experiencing defeats

42. Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes
• Was a priest/ politicians during the French Revolution
• He helped the Third Estate
• Didn’t like the 1795 Constitution
• Saw the government as inefficient/ self-serving
• Tried to help Napoleon in the coup of 1799

43. Napoleon Bonaparte
• Born in minor Italian nobility – Corsica – after it was taken by France
• Good at math/ Geography
• Very interested in military
• Associated with the Jacobins
• One must choose the side of the victory
• After 1789: He joined the revolution
• Helped defend the port of Toulon
• Arrested after 1795 – released due to his military talent
• He won against Italy in 1797 – Treaty of Campo Formio – provided
more land, more money
• Wanted to take Egypt – this would be a great prestige for him and
France
• Defeated – although this further helped his reputation

44. The Coup of 18 Brumaire
• The Directory was accused of corruption, inefficiency – its directors
divided – foreign campaigns were failing
• A civil war was breaking out
• Enlightened Reform – limiting the power of the 500
• Napoleon plotted with Sieyes – proposed changes to the 1795
constitution – this was rejected – napoleon simply took power by
force
• Napoleon set up the Consulate – with 3 consuls – him being the
chief of it all

45. The Consulate Period
• Demanded loyalty to the state
• Wealth determined status – more capitalistic
• The Napoleonic Code – the longest lasting work of Napoleon – used
by France for long time – got rid of certain subjective crime
• Create a strong central government
• Equality before the law – for male for now
• Freedom of religion – separation of Church and state
• Freedom of properties
• Woman right is an anomaly… they had to be more dependent to
men
• Feudal practices/ privileges banned
• Land gained during the revolution stayed with the revolutionaries

46. Napoleon’s rule
1. He had no single ideology – none in the spectrum – simply taking
ideas from many people to retain control
2. In theory – equality – did favor the wealthy status – the
employers – favored men
3. He claimed to rule by the people but justify his government by
divine right

47. The Napoleonic Code (1804)
• A set of unified law – to replace the complex system that used to be
there
• The previous laws were based on ancient tradition, regional
customs and church
• These were followed indifferent ways in different regions – South
would use Roman
• Napoleon had combine a unified set of law which brought the
country into order
• Made use of talent rather than status
• Emphasized the protection of private property

48. Napoleon became the emperor (1804)
• Napoleon put himself up as to
unify the nation
• He had Pope Pius there with him
to signify Church
• The decision was made upon
plebiscite by the French, although
this was likely set up to turn out in
favor of Napoleon
• Why?
1. More prestigious title?
2. To reconcile the royalist with an
existing system of empire?
3. To ensure heir
• During coronation, Napoleon
crowned himself

49. Process of selection
• The people in the government were selected by their talents
• Positions in military and government couldn’t be bought/ sold
• Allowed the émigrés to take high post
• Wealth still determine status… although those serving the states
will be given pensions
• At this point, the Sans-Culottes became less important
• Trade Union was banned
• Creating loyalty thr0ough tying everyone to the state

50. Economy
• Tried to improve the inefficient tax farmers (financiers who bought
the right to collect taxes) system – in the revolution 1789 – replaced
by the local authority – same problem applied
• Napoleon used his trusted prefects
• Le Chapelier Law – banned trade union – cases of the Sans Culottes
• Before this, France had 4 weak banks, under Napoleon, a single
central Bank led by Swiss banker Jean Perregaux allowed the
economy to flourish

51. Woman Right
• Not much different from
European rulers – who believed
the traditional structure of family
• Divorce was more difficult to
obtain
• Woman had a role as the
housekeeper
• They could not be employed, start
a business or buy properties with
no consent from husband
• All money earned went to the
husband
• Punishment for adultery more
severe for woman

52. The Religious reform
• Tried to weaken the link with Royalist – put in
protestant
• Napoleon understood the importance of church
at the time – priests were still deemed
important people – also, Robespierre’s downfall
was due to him opposing Christianity
• A social bond, a great support for his
government
• He made a concordat with Pope Pius – he got to
nominate the bishops in exchange for Roman
Catholicism power in France – had to allow the
land to be taken – clergy get to make the
choices
• Soon Napoleon gain complete control over this
• Freedom of religion was still present
• Most peasants a lot received set land

53. Education
• Public education under state control
• Available to all people
• Secondary and higher education introduced
• Education = social status
• Increased in the size of the middle class

54. Military Control
• Joseph Fouche
• Had a spy system – keep people under continuous scrutiny
• Had state prisons for political prisoners
• Put down oppositions in the west and provinces like Brittany
• Eg. The 1804 Arrest/ Execution of the duke of Enghein
• The European didn’t like that – kinda like Robespierre

55. Arts/ Science
• Napoleon encouraged scientific development
• Education reform – A child of enlightenment
• Used art to celebrate his achievement
• Eg. The Medal of achievements
• He was able o emphasize his role as a patron of art, science and
knowledge.

56. Problems with napoleons Rules
• Inequality to woman – seen as a huge drawback – although not
much compared to other nations – this was still a step-down from
the 1789 constitution
• Workers not allowed trade union = lack of freedom
• Absolutionism, becoming the emperor and imperialism
• The police state – the oppression of liberty
• Nepotism – letting his relatives have big positions
• Failure of the Napoleonic War

57. Foreign policy – Napoleonic War
• France was at war from 1800 - 1815
• Always fighting with Britain
• The extensive war with Spain and Portugal drained France of its
resources – the failure at Russia was a bad one too
• Napoleon had to abdicate once in 1814
• Returning again in 1815 only to lose in the battle of Waterloo and
was sent into exile in the island St. Helena – died there.

58. The Napoleonic War
• The War of first coalition
• The War of the Second Coalition –
Ended in the battle of the Nile
• 1802: France and Britain tried to
achieve peace – Napoleon reorganized
Switzerland – sent an army to Haiti to
subdue slave rebellion (destroyed by
disease) … napoleon realized he can’t
imitate Britain – sold Louisiana to the
USA – trying not to spread himself too
thin
• Saw himself as liberators
• His domination unleashed the forces
of nationalism

59. What was the importance of the French
Revolution and Napoleon
• A Watershed Period
• The breaking point of the social classes – a perfect storm of event
that finally addressed the top heavy structure of feudalism in
Europe
• A demonstration of the power of the people’s will
• He changes made to the perception: The nobility were seeing the
power of the people in clearer terms, the people were seeing their
power in clearer terms, and the middle classes saw that they had to
be the buffer between the 2 – and that they could gain power
• Religion: the destruction of the Church brought about changes in
the Napoleonic era – church became less influence – and remained
that way for the almost rest of the century

60. What was the importance of the French
Revolution and Napoleon
• From Jon Locke to Enlightenment to classical liberalism – the age of
Voltaire under Napoleon
• The Napoleonic war and military reforms – conscription, a war by
scale, the uses of artillery and technological weaponries
• The rise of Socialism under the law of Maximum by the Robespierre
government and its resurgence under the control of the Directory
• The rise in the idea of democracy
• The rise in Nationalism – the Napoleonic had inadvertently caused
many nations to rise in defiance of its empire eg. The cases with
Austria and the growth of nationalism in Austria and Germany
which would later lead to unification