Introduction:
King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette
The French Revolution was a time of great turmoil in French history. It began in 1789 and ended in 1799. During the French Revolution, the common people were especially tired of being heavily taxed, starved and unequally represented in the Estates General; an assembly of representatives. This called for radical changes right away.
Louis XVI was the first king to come into power at the start of the revolution, but he was a very weak and indecisive ruler. This worsen the condition of his country as it was already in a desperate state because of drought and famine. He also had a wife, Marie-Antoinette from Austria, who was always obsessed with spending money on luxury. Together, they put the bankrupted country deeply into debt with over 2 billion livres* . However, despite the nation's lack of food and resources, the careless couple kept hogging all of the country's riches which in the end caused their doom and execution.
The Old Regime of the royals may have ended, but it gave leeway for France to become a republic and of course an empire of a man called Napoleon Bonaparte.
Livres*: The french currency at the time which eventually ended in 1795. It was originally worth a pound of silver.
Louis XVI was the first king to come into power at the start of the revolution, but he was a very weak and indecisive ruler. This worsen the condition of his country as it was already in a desperate state because of drought and famine. He also had a wife, Marie-Antoinette from Austria, who was always obsessed with spending money on luxury. Together, they put the bankrupted country deeply into debt with over 2 billion livres* . However, despite the nation's lack of food and resources, the careless couple kept hogging all of the country's riches which in the end caused their doom and execution.
The Old Regime of the royals may have ended, but it gave leeway for France to become a republic and of course an empire of a man called Napoleon Bonaparte.
Livres*: The french currency at the time which eventually ended in 1795. It was originally worth a pound of silver.
The Estates and the Beginnings of a Revolution:
From left to right: 3rd, 1st, and 2nd Estates
By the 17th century, France's had an increase of culture,
trade, enlightenment ideas and of course population. However, with France being involved with many wars such as the War of Spanish Succession, the Thirty Years War, and the American Revolution meant that France had to raise huge taxes in order to pay off its war debt. And adding to the fact that France was in a period of poor harvest and drought, the people had to struggle immensely trying to earn food with little or no money left. Not to mention, France still had a continuing streak of religious intolerance, powerful nobles, and inequality between the 2nd and 3rd class citizens of France. The poor social, financial, and economic structure of France was what ultimately lead to its unrest and revolution.
The Estates
France's population was divided into three estates.
trade, enlightenment ideas and of course population. However, with France being involved with many wars such as the War of Spanish Succession, the Thirty Years War, and the American Revolution meant that France had to raise huge taxes in order to pay off its war debt. And adding to the fact that France was in a period of poor harvest and drought, the people had to struggle immensely trying to earn food with little or no money left. Not to mention, France still had a continuing streak of religious intolerance, powerful nobles, and inequality between the 2nd and 3rd class citizens of France. The poor social, financial, and economic structure of France was what ultimately lead to its unrest and revolution.
The Estates
France's population was divided into three estates.
- The First Estate: This estate was only for the clergy men of the Roman Catholic Church. They made up less than 1 percent of the population and own up to 10 percent of France's land. This estate was very important as it provided relief services and education to the poor which made them privileged to hold high offices and exemption from paying taxes. They didn't welcome the ideas of enlightenment because it brought religious tolerance and questions about the catholic church.
- The Second Estate: Made up of rich and powerful nobles that own up to 25% of the land. They only made up 2% of the population and also had privileged rights to hold high office positions and not pay taxes. And they feared the ideas of enlightenment because of the theories that might harm their statues and power.
- The Third Estate: Making up 98% of France population this estate had three groups; the bourgeoisie, city workers, and peasants. The bourgeoisie were the middle class and had the education and money needed to lead the revolution. They strongly believed in the enlightenment ideas for equality, liberty, and democracy in status, but still had to pay their heavy taxes. However, the city workers and peasants were the ones that suffered the most. Making up 80% of the population, they were usually paid in low wages and were the first ones to go out of unemployment. Half of their income went to the nobles, church, and king which only fuel their hate for the privileged estates.
The National Assembly and Tennis Court Oath
National Assembly
Having always being outvoted by the First and Second estate, the Third Estate were finally fed it. So they form their own system of representatives called the National Assembly.
- Made up mostly of the bourgeoisie class.
- Became more determine to put radical changes in the government and end absolute monarchy.
- Got themselves lock out of their own meeting room so they broke into a tennis court and pledge to stay until someone wrote them a constitution.
- Started the first move for revolution.
The Bastille and Great Fear
Storming of the Bastille in July 14, 1789. Also a National French Holiday
King Louis tried to make peace with the 3rd Estate, but of-course that failed miserably.
- Louis Order Swiss mercenaries to be his bodyguards.
- The citizens thought they were being attacked by foreign troops, so they panicked.
- By panicking, french citizens storm the prison Bastille in order to get weapons.
- This only caused a chained reaction of more rebellions as people started to go crazy with blood lust because of more conspiracy rumors.
- The situation became known as the GREAT FEAR, because really, you couldn't trust anyone.
- And of course what's really terrifying is that 6,000 french women with weapons demanding bread, broke into Versailles and threw the royal family out.
The Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly
After a bunch of moving yet useless speeches about equality and liberty by the Assembly, different ideas of government started to pop up. France was going to be torn apart by these ideas and as a result, there wasn't a lot of improvement for society. Meanwhile, King Louis decides to run away during the French reform.
During the reform, a document influenced by the enlightenment was drafted called the Declaration of the Rights of Men which gave basic rights to the people like speech, property, security, religion etc...This also cost the Catholic Church a lot of power and land.
The Legislative Assembly were composed of 3 main fractions:
During the reform, a document influenced by the enlightenment was drafted called the Declaration of the Rights of Men which gave basic rights to the people like speech, property, security, religion etc...This also cost the Catholic Church a lot of power and land.
The Legislative Assembly were composed of 3 main fractions:
- Radicals: Opposed any sort of government relating to a monarchy. Demanded many changes and power to the people. Mostly made up by the Jacobin.
- Moderates: Wanted some changes. They were kind of the balanced middle people.
- Conservatives: Mostly made up of nobles who wanted to have their power back. Wanted a limited monarchy with little changes
War and Excecutions
King Louis XVI death
Having to deal with internal fighting within France's society, France also had to deal with a war against Austria.
Fearful of the out of control Partisans, the Legislative Assembly abolish any ideas left of a monarchy and finally had Louis XVI executed by guillotine in 1793 along with hundreds of "non revolutioners."
- Austria and Prussia wanted to put Louis XVI back in power in order to preserve their monarch positions.
- As a result, France declared another exhausting war against them in 1792.
- It was basically a war between Partisans (french citizens), Prussia's powerful army with Prussia threatening to burn down Paris.
- Partisans eventually went mad with blood lust in order to protect their protect their feeble new rights and murder thousands in the September massacre.
- France in the end, won against Austria and Prussia oddly enough.
Fearful of the out of control Partisans, the Legislative Assembly abolish any ideas left of a monarchy and finally had Louis XVI executed by guillotine in 1793 along with hundreds of "non revolutioners."
Robespierre's Terror
Maximilien Robespierre
- Robespierre executed any one that resembled nobility, royalty, or non revolutioners.
- During his rise to power, radicals made a non religious calendars with no Sundays.
- Robespierre became the leader of the Committee of Public safety which is ironic because he was doing the exact opposite; randomly executing people left and right.
- He became and dictator and justified his actions as they were for the good of revolutionary ideals.
- Robespierre was eventually executed in 1794 when the people finally realized that he was just being crazy.
Napoleon Bonaparte Comes to Power
Napoleon Bonaparte
Seeing France in a state of chaos, Napoleon easily saw his chance to seize power and restore order to the people. Because of this, he was seen as a huge savior and hero to the chaotic society of revolutionary France.
Restoring France's Infrastructure
Becoming Really Ambitious
- Defeated the royalist rebels and became a hero of the French Republic in 1795
- Won many battles against Austria in 1796, but kept the failed battles to himself.
- Launched a coup d'etat in 1799 against the France remaining power structure, the Directory and gain dictatorship as first consul of the French Republic.
- Finally gain peace for France in 1802 when Napoleon sign a war peace treaty with Austria, Britain, and Russia.
Restoring France's Infrastructure
- Napoleon set up a plebiscite, a voting system for the people to establish a new constitution.
- Rebuild France's economy by setting up a national bank and tax collecting system.
- Build an honest government by getting rid of corrupted officials.
- Establish public schools called lycees
- Sign a concordat with the pope in order to separate power between church and state.
- Created a system of laws called the Napoleonic code.
Becoming Really Ambitious
- Napoleon crowned himself as emperor and proceeded to try conquering Europe by abandoning much of France's colonies in the new world.
- He gain control of the Netherlands, Italy, and Switzerland and defeated the armies of Austria, Prussia and Russia after Britain convince them to go anti-France.
- Napoleon manipulated other countries through connections, threats and puppet governments.
- The only countries that were free from Napoleon's influences were Britain, Portugal, Sweden and the Ottoman empire.
The Napoleon Empire and it's Collapse
Napoleon's Defeat
Eventually, Napoleon's weakness became his thirst for power and his unstable empire which only lasted 5 years. So what were his mistakes?
- Napoleon tried to set up a blockade in 1806 against the most powerful naval force of that time, Britain. And it backfired leaving France's economy to suffer for it.
- He sent a French king to ruled over the Spanish people in 1808 which resulted in many rebellions that led up to the Peninsular War which caused France many casualties.
- He tried to invade Russia in 1812 which backfired because Russian troops kept burning supplies which exhausted the french army.
- Many European powers eventually teamed up against France again.
- Napoleon's empire dissolved and he was exile to the island of Elba.
- He tried to have a comeback for power, but that failed too as he was defeated by British/Prussians in the battle of Waterloo.
- He again exiled, but to the remote island of St. Helena and at last, stopped trying to gain power.
Metternich and the Congress of Vienna
The Congress Of Vienna 1814-1815
After Napoleon's Defeat, Europeans strive to restore stability in Europe. So a meeting in Vienna called the Congress of Vienna, was establish to meet this goal. And the man that help bring back radical stability was Metternich.
- Metternich wanted to surround France with strong countries to prevent it from taking over weak countries.
- He restored the balance of power so that all countries were on equal footing.
- He restored the power of the nobility and royalty by legitimacy because he thought that democracy were the cause of France's chaotic state.
- In the end, the Congress of Vienna became the most successful peace convention in history with more things getting done between major Europeans power without any grudges.
Conclusion:
In the end, the French Revolution ultimately brought it's society back to square one, which was a monarchy to began with. However with the ideals of the French Revolution, much of the monarchy's power became limited as the power eventually became more distributed among the people. It is because of this that many nations today have a good idea of what type of government they want rather than the
Sources and useful links:
1. http://www.history.com/topics/french-revolution
2. http://www.classzone.com/books/wh_survey/page_build.cfm?id=research_link&ch=23#item
3. McDougal Littell World History Patterns of Interaction Texas Ed.
4. http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/france/french-revolution-major-causes/1059
5. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/forpol/vienna.html
6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bonaparte_napoleon.shtml
1. http://www.history.com/topics/french-revolution
2. http://www.classzone.com/books/wh_survey/page_build.cfm?id=research_link&ch=23#item
3. McDougal Littell World History Patterns of Interaction Texas Ed.
4. http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/france/french-revolution-major-causes/1059
5. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/forpol/vienna.html
6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bonaparte_napoleon.shtml
Some videos that may help you understand The French Revolution better!
Crash Course: The French Revolution