French Revolution
Overview
Statewide Dual Credit Modern World History: Unit 7, Lesson 2
A discussion of the causes of the French Revolution, the social structure of France, and the events that led to the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, detailing the impact of the French Revolution on France and Europe.
The causes of the French Revolution lie primarily in the structure of French society. Since the medieval period, France, which at the eve of the Revolution had a population numbering around 27 million, had been divided into three unequal estates or classes, each with its own responsibilities and, for the first two estates, special privileges.
The First Estate consisted of the clergy and numbered some 125,000 people. The Church controlled about one- tenth of the land in France. The clergy had special rights, exemptions, courts and status and were exempted from paying the main tax called the taille. The clergy were not a unified class, as those who tended to occupy the Church’s highest offices were often from or related to the nobility. At the same time, the parish priests were almost uniformly poorer and lacked the political and financial power of those tied to the nobility.
The nobility formed the Second Estate. They comprised some 350,000 people who controlled about 30 percent of the land. Like the clergy, the aristocracy had certain rights, privileges and exemptions. They also held the highest positions within the state and military. They, too, were exempt from paying the taille.
The Third Estate was comprised of nearly everyone else. Although they constituted the bulk of the population, they only controlled about 40 percent of the land. Like the clergy, they too were divided as some of their members were wealthy and educated while most, upward of 80 percent, were poor peasants. Peasants also had certain obligations to the nobility and had to pay for the rights to use certain infrastructure.
At the top of this pyramid were the king and his family. Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715) had centralized power at his palace in Versailles, and this meant that a strong and vibrant king was needed to keep the state functioning. Not only charged with protecting the nation, the current King Louis XVI (r. 1774-1792) had to be sensitive to economic issues, including inflation, wage deflation, unemployment, and how to service the growing national debt. Bad harvests, slowing production and food shortages had exacerbated these problems.
Unable to fix these problems, Louis XVI had no real choice but to call for a meeting of the Estates-General, a parliament that had not met since 1614. Each Estate elected 300 members. In an attempt to demonstrate flexibility and win popular support, the king ruled that since it made up a vast majority of the population, the Third Estate could elect and send 600 members to the parliament.
The Estates-General convened at the splendid palace of Versailles on May 5, 1789. Voting had traditionally occurred by estate. This meant that, effectively, the First and Second Estates could cancel out the vote of the Third Estate. Members of the Third Estate wondered why the King had allowed it to have double the number of members if the King did not expect voting by head. All knew that if voting proceeded by head, the agenda of the Third Estate would dominate as they could count on votes from sympathetic clergy members and nobles. When the First Estate refused to alter the voting by Estate, members of the Third Estate left the parliament, declared themselves the National Assembly, and began drafting their own constitution. Threatened by a concentration of troops and frustrated that government members sympathetic to the Third Estate had been dismissed, Parisians stormed the Bastille, a royal armory and prison. Known today as Bastille Day, July 14 is France’s national day of celebration. The storming of the Bastille signaled a change as members of the Third Estate rose up all over France to contest the government and the old regime. Soon much of France was in the hands of those who wanted change.
Constitutional Monarchy
As the National Assembly took charge, they began to abolish the old order, including the rights of landlords and the exemptions and privileges held by the clergy and the nobility. The National Assembly would adopt the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), which granted all men equal rights under the law. It protected free speech and stated that all government officers would be employed based on talent, not birth.
Ironically, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen explicitly excluded women, slaves, and non-citizens. Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) argued that all citizens should be equal under the law and was inspired to write her own Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791). The National Assembly did not heed her demands, and in 1793 she was executed for her outspoken criticism of the revolutionary government.
As the National Assembly began to reform France it had to deal with the size, power and popularity of the Church. The National Assembly decided to seize much of the Church’s land and put into the service of the state. Adopted in 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy made the Church a part of the state as clergy were now paid by the state and elected by the people. This put the National Assembly at odds with the Catholic Church, which still wielded tremendous influence in France.
As faith in the King diminished, France became a constitutional monarchy with all legislative power vested in the National Assembly. Captured while trying to flee France in June 1791, the attempted flight caused the king to lose further support. Eventually, the king would be stripped of all his power and imprisoned.
Angered at the treatment of Louis XVI, Austria and Prussia proclaimed their willingness to invade France to place Louis XVI back on the throne. This put pressure on the revolutionary government. In response to these threats, the National Assembly voted, in April 1792, to go to war.
Radical Republic
The war further radicalized the public, and in September 1792, a new assembly, known as the National Convention, officially proclaimed France a republic. Under the sway of more radical elements, including Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) and Georges Jacques Danton (1759-1794), the Convention tried and convicted the king of treason. Louis was executed on January 21, 1793. Later that year, his wife, Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), would also be executed. Their son and heir, the Dauphine (1785-1795), would die in prison.
In 1793, France declared war on Britain, Spain and the Dutch Republic. While trying to keep foreign powers at bay, the National Convention struggled to suppress opposition at home, including counterrevolutionaries who supported the old order. Internally the Convention was divided between more moderate and radical groups. Known as sans-culotte (meaning without breeches) for they wore trousers instead of the knee breeches associated with the wealthy, on June 2, 1793, Parisian workers joined with the most radical elements (known as the Mountain) to enter the Convention and arrest 29 moderates. The most radical elements of the revolution now controlled the state.
Faced by threats on all sides, Robespierre and his allies did all they could to gain control. Central to this was a new set of programs aimed at rooting out the old regime’s remaining vestiges, symbols, and traditions. For instance, the Convention banned female participation in politics, adopted the decimal system and created a calendar with a week lasting ten rather than seven days. To gain control over the economy, Robespierre and his allies initiated price controls and even told some citizens what to produce. Anxious to build up loyalty, the government-sponsored art and entertainment aimed at producing a sense of patriotism and a commitment to the republican government. They also initiated a program of de-Christianization, although this was dropped in 1794 because of resistance to it especially in the countryside.
Despite these reforms, Robespierre and his allies still worried about counter-revolution and that to many French citizens lacked a real commitment to the republican cause. This led to a Reign of Terror where many suspected traitors, individuals with royalist connections or sympathies, and those who criticized the government were sent to the guillotine.
Spotlight On | GUILLOTINE
Employed as a tool for execution using beheading, the guillotine is most readily associated with France, the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. The guillotine derives its name from Joseph-Ignace Guillotine (1738-1814), a French physician who, although opposed to the deathpenalty, suggested, in 1789, the use of the tall, bladed instrument to make executions less gruesome and more efficient. Originally called the Louisette, Tobias Schmidt (1755-1831) and Antoine Louis (1723-1792) had built the actual prototype. During the Reign of Terror, approximately 17,000 people were guillotined. Last used in France in the 1970s, the last public execution employing the guillotine occurred in 1939.
During the Reign of Terror even ardent revolutionaries, many of which had been part of the republican movement from its earliest days but, similar to Olympe de Gouges, had been critical of Robespierre and the current government were targeted. Worried that they too might be convicted of treason, a group of moderates supported by some radicals moved against Robespierre and his allies. Convicted of treason, Robespierre, on July 28 (or 10 Thermidor in the new calendar), was guillotined.
Reactionary Republic
Known as the Thermidorian Reaction, the execution of Robespierre announced a new period of more moderate government. Fearing another Robespierre, eventually a five-person executive council known as the Directory would be formed. The Directory ruled until 1799 when a famous general Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) ended the Directory, making himself the sole ruler of France.
Born Napoleone Buonaparte in Corsica in 1769, Napoleon was only a few months old when France formally annexed the island. Son of a minor Italian aristocrat, his father’s connections allowed Bonaparte to enter a prestigious French military school. In 1785, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the artillery. With the outbreak of the French Revolution and the Revolutionary Wars, Napoleon found further opportunities for advancement. Although only 25 years old, by 1794, Napoleon had been made a brigadier general. Entrusted with leading the French armies in Italy and Egypt, Napoleon returned to France and staged the 1799 coup.
Napoleon
The coup established Napoleon as the consul of France. The consul had complete power over the executive branch of the government and, with the army’s support, could also influence the legislature. Made Consul for Life in 1802, Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804. Napoleon ensured that the revolution took a decidedly more conservative and pragmatic turn. Desiring peace with the Church, Napoleon agreed to a concordat with the Pope in 1801 that allowed Catholicism to be recognized as the majority religion of French people, while the Church agreed not to seek the return of lands seized during earlier phases of the Revolution. Making peace with the Church bought much goodwill with various interest groups in France.
Napoleon set about reforming the state. One of his most lasting achievements was the codification of a new Civil Code. The Civil Code sought to preserve the language of equality while creating a unified, centralized state rather than one governed by local laws and traditions. As Napoleon conquered new lands, this Civil Code would be exported, bringing a new uniformity to Europe. Meritocracy, republicanism and civil equality (largely restricted to men) would be promoted in these conquered territories, which would have a lasting impact on Europe and its development. A talented general, Napoleon and his armies swept across Europe. To ensure loyalty and that his dictates would be followed without question or dissent, Napoleon placed his relatives in charge of conquered territories, including Spain, the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Italy, the Swiss Republic, the Confederation of the Rhine and the Duchy of Warsaw.
One difficulty for Napoleon and his plans was the strength of the British navy. The British had previously defeated France and its allies, and its victory at Trafalgar in 1805 secured British dominance of the seas. Unable to attack England directly, Napoleon devised the Continental System. A form of economic warfare, the Continental System sought to prevent British goods from entering the continent. France’s allies disliked it as it led to shortages and drove up the costs of goods.
Tired of the economic disruption, Russia stopped adhering to the Continental System. Napoleon either had to abandon the Continental System or invade Russia: He chose invasion. In June 1812, Napoleon led his large army of some 600,000 troops into Russia. Hoping for a quick victory that would force the Russians back into the Continental System, Napoleon would be disappointed as, instead of engaging in a set battle, the Russians opted for a tactical retreat. They burned their crops and villages as they withdrew further and further into Russia, refusing to fight Napoleon. Napoleon pressed on under the assumption that the Russians would at least try and defend their capital Moscow: They did not. Moscow, too was set ablaze. Having “conquered” the capital in late October, Napoleon ordered a retreat. The lack of food, cold weather clothing, disease and an increasingly severe Russian winter took its toll. Only 40,000 of the 600,000 invading soldiers made it to Poland by January 1813. This cost Napoleon much of his fighting force and called into question his reputation as an invincible military commander.
In the wake of the Russian disaster, other European powers renewed their efforts against Napoleon. By March 1814, Paris was captured, and the defeated Napoleon was exiled to Elba, a tiny island off the coast of Italy. Louis XVIII, the brother of Louis XVI, was proclaimed King of France. Eventually, Napoleon successfully snuck off the island and returned toFrance. Sent to arrest him, soldiers of the 5th Regiment disregarded the order cheering “Vive l’Empereur” while promising to help him regain his throne.
Returning to Paris in March 1815, Napoleon determined that his best strategy would be an offensive one and quickly got together an army and invaded Belgium. On 18 June 1815, Napoleon met a combined British, Prussian and Dutch army led by the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852). Wellington defeated Napoleon; this time, he was exiled to Saint Helena, an island in the South Atlantic. Napoleon would remain on the island until his death in 1821. Although Napoleon had died, the French state, the people and those he had conquered would have to wrestle with the legacy of Napoleon and the legal and political frameworks he constructed. At the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), delegates redrew the map of Europe, creating what they hoped would be a balance of power that would prevent another nation from dominating Europe and European politics.