Notes 1.

2
The French Revolution
and Napoleon
The eighteenth century was faced with the long-standing social structures and political institutions
all over Europe that established its solidity. Most monarchs still claimed to hold their authority
directly from God. Each order had its particular rights, privileges, and obligations. But pressures for
change were building during the century. In France, the force of public opinion grew increasingly
potent by 1780s. A financial or political crisis that could normally be managed by the monarchy
threatened to overrule in this new environment.

The French Revolution constituted the pivotal event of European history in the late eighteenth
century. From its outbreak in 1789, the Revolution transformed the nature of sovereignty and law
in France. The revolution’s innovations defined the foundations of a liberal society and political
organization. Both at home and abroad, however the new regime faced formidable opposition and
its struggle for survival propelled it in unanticipated directions. The bloody struggles of the
revolution thus cast a shadow over this transformative event as they dramatized the brutal
dilemma of means versus ends.

Section 1
 The French Revolution Begins

Main Idea
Economics Economic and social inequalities in the Old Regime helped cause the French Revolution.

Why It Matters Now

Throughout history, economic and social inequalities have at times led people to revolt against
their governments.

Terms and Names

 Old Regime  Estates-General

 Estate  National Assembly
 Louis XVI  Tennis Court Oath
 Marie Antoinette  Great Fear

In the 1700s, France was considered the most advanced country of Europe. It had a large
population and a prosperous foreign trade. It was the center of the Enlightenment, and France’s
culture was widely praised and imitated by the rest of the world. However, the appearance of
success was deceiving. There was great unrest in France, caused by bad harvests, high prices, high
taxes, and disturbing questions raised by the Enlightenment ideas of Locke, Rousseau, and Voltaire.

In this section, 90% of the students are expected to:

 Identify the different members of the three (3) large social classes in France under the Old
Regime;
 Determine how Louis XVI’s weak leadership contribute to the growing crisis of France; and
 Analyze the reasons behind the dissatisfaction of the Third Estate under the Old Regime.

Discussion

THE OLD ORDER

In the 1770s, the social and political system of France – the Old Regime – remained in place. Under
this system, the people of France were divided into three large social classes, or estates.

The Privileged Estates Two of the estates had privileges, including access to high offices and
exemptions from paying taxes that were not granted to the members of the third. The Roman
Catholic Church, whose clergy formed the first estate, owned 10% of the land in France. It provided
education and relief services to the poor and contributed about 2% of its income to the
government. The second estate was made up of rich nobles. Although they accounted for just 2% of
the population, the nobles owned 20% of the land and paid almost no taxes. The majority of the
clergy and the nobility scorned Enlightenment ideas as radical notions that threatened their status
and power as privileged individuals.

The Third Estate About 97% of the people belonged to this estate. The three groups that made up
this estate differed greatly in their economic conditions. The first group-the bourgeoisie, or middle
class- were bankers, factory owners, merchants, professionals, and skilled artisans. Often, they
were well educated and believed strongly in the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality.
Although some of them were as rich as nobles, they paid high taxes and, like the rest of the third
estate, lacked privileges. Many felt that their wealth entitled them to a greater degree of social
status and political power.
The workers of France’s cities formed the second, and poorest, group within the third estate. These
urban workers included tradespeople, apprentices, laborers, and domestic servants. Paid low
wages and frequently out of work, they often went hungry. If the cost of bread rose, mobs of these
workers might attack grain carts and bread shops to steal what they needed.

Peasants formed the largest group within the third estate, more than 80% of France’s 26 million
people. Peasants paid about half of their income in dues to nobles, tithes to the Church, and taxes to
the king’s agents. They even paid taxes on such basic staples as salt. Peasants and the urban poor
resented the clergy and the nobles for their privileges and special treatment. The heavily taxes and
discontented third estate was eager for change.

Population of France, 1787

1st Estate
2nd Estate
3rd Estate

First Estate Second Estate Third Estate

made up of clergy of made up of rich included bourgeoisie,

Roman Catholic nobles urban lower class, and
Church held highest offices in peasnt farmers
scorned government had no power to
Enlightenment ideas disgreed about influence the
Enlightenment ideas government
embraced
Enlightenment ideas
resented the wealthy
First and Second
Estates.

THE FORCES OF CHANGE

In addition to the growing resentment among the lower classes, other factors contributed to the
revolutionary mood in France. New ideas about government, serious economic problems, and weak
and indecisive leadership all helped to generate a desire for change.
Enlightenment Ideas New views about power and authority in government were spreading among
the Third Estate. Members of the Third Estate were inspired by the success of the American
Revolution. They began questioning long-standing notions about the structure of the society. They
began to demand equality, liberty, and democracy.

Economic Troubles By the 1780s, France’s once prosperous economy was in decline. This caused
alarm, particularly among the merchants, factory owners, and bankers of the Third Estate. On the
surface, the economy appeared to be sound, because both production and trade were expanding
rapidly. However, the heavy burden of taxes made it almost impossible to conduct business
profitably within France. Further, the cost of living was rising sharply. In addition, bad weather in
the 1780s caused widespread crop failures, resulting in a severe shortage of grain. The price of
bread doubled in 1789, and many people faced starvation.

During the 1770s and 1780s, France’s government sank deeply into debt. Part of the problem was
the extravagant spending of King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette. Louis also inherited
a considerable debt from the previous kings. And he borrowed heavily in order to help the
American revolutionaries in their war against Great Britain, France’s chief rival. This nearly
doubled the government’s debt. In 1786, when bankers refused to lend the government any more
money, Louis faced serious problem.

A Weak Leader Strong leadership might have solved these and other problems. Louis XVI,
however, was indecisive and followed matters to drift. He paid little attention to his government
advisers, and had little patience for the details of governing. The queen only added to Louis’
problems. She often interfered in the government, and frequently offered Louis poor advice.
Further, since she was a member of the royal family of Austria, France’s long-time enemy, Marie
Antoinette had been unpopular from the moment she set foot in France. Her behavior only made
the situation worse. As queen, she spent so much money on gowns, jewels, gambling, and gifts that
she became known as “Madame Deficit”.

Rather than cutting expenses, Louis put off dealing with the emergency until he practically had no
money left. His solution was to impose taxes on the nobility. However, the Second Estate forced him
to call a meeting of the Estates-General – an assembly of representatives from all three estates – to
approve this new tax. The meeting, the first in 175 years, was held on May 5, 1789 at Versailles.

DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION

The clergy and the nobles had dominated the Estates-General throughout the Middle Ages and
expected to do so in the 1789 meeting. Under the assembly’s medieval rules, each estate’s delegates
met in separate hall to vote, and each estate had one vote. The two privileged estates could always
outvote the Third Estate.

The National Assembly The Third Estate delegates, mostly members of the bourgeoisie whose
views had been shaped by the Enlightenment, were eager to make changes in the government. They
insisted that all three estates meet together and that each delegate have a vote. This would give the
advantage to the Third Estate, which had as many delegates as the other two estates combined.

Siding with the nobles, the king ordered the Estate-General to follow the medieval rules. The
delegates of the Third Estate, however, became more and more determined to wield power. A
leading spokesperson for their viewpoint was a clergyman sympathetic to their cause, Emmanuel-
Joseph Sieyès. In dramatic speech, he suggested that the Third Estate delegates name themselves
the National Assembly and pass laws and reforms in the name of the French people.

After a long night of excited debate, the delegates of the Third Estate agreed to Siey ès’ idea by an
overwhelming majority. On June 17, 1789, they voted to establish the National Assembly, in effect
proclaiming the end of absolute monarchy and the beginning of representative government. This
vote was the first deliberate act of revolution.
Three days later, the Third Estate delegates found themselves locked out of their meeting room.
They broke down a door to an indoor tennis court, pledging to stay until they had drawn up a new
constitution. This pledge became known as the Tennis Court Oath. Soon after, nobles and
members of the clergy who favored reform joined the Third Estate delegates. In response to these
events, Louis stationed his mercenary army of Swiss guards around Versailles.

Storming the Bastille In Paris, rumors flew. Some people suggested that Louis was intent on using
military force to dismiss the National Assembly. Others charged that the foreign troops were
coming to Paris to massacre French citizens. People began to gather weapons in order to defend the
city against attack. On July 14, a mob searching for gunpowder and arms stormed the Bastille, a
Paris prison. The mob overwhelmed the guard and seized control of the building. The angry
attackers hacked the prison commander and several guards to death, and then paraded around the
streets with the dead men’s head on pikes.

The fall of the Bastille became a great symbolic act of revolution to the French people. Ever since,
July 14-Bastille Day- has been a French national holiday, similar to the fourth of July in the United
States.

A GREAT FEAR SWEEPS FRANCE

Before long, rebellion spread from Paris into the countryside. From one village to the next, wild
rumors circulated that the nobles were hiring outlaws to terrorize the peasants. A wave of
senseless panic called the Great Fear rolled through France. The peasants soon became outlaws
themselves. Armed with pitchforks and other farm tools, they broke into nobles’ manor houses and
destroyed the old legal papers that bound them to pay feudal dues. In some cases, the peasants
simply burned down the manor houses.

In October 1789, thousands of Parisian women rioted over the rising price of bread. Brandishing
knives, axes, and other weapons, the women marched on Versailles. First, they demanded that the
National Assembly take action to provide bread. Then they turned their anger on the king and
queen. They broke into the palace, killing some of the guards. The women demanded that Louis XVI
and Marie Antoinette return to Paris. After some time, Louis agreed.

A few hours later, the king and his family and servants left the royal palace at Versailles, never again
to see the magnificent palace. Their exit signaled the change of power and radical reforms about to
overtake France.

References
Social History

Chambers, Mortimer, et.al (2003), The Bread

Western Experience Volume II: Since the
Bread was a staple of the diet of the common people
Sixteenth Century Eight Edition, The of France. Most families consumed three or four 4-
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. pound loaves a day. And the purchase of bread took
about half of a worker’s wages-when times were
Beck, Roger B. et.al (2012), World History: good. So, when the price of bread jumped
Patterns of Interaction, Houghton Mifflin dramatically, as it did in the fall of 1789, people faced
Harcourt Publishing Company a real threat of starvation.

Section 2
 Revolution Brings Reform and Terror

Main Idea
Revolution The revolutionary government of France made reforms but also used terror and
violence to retain power.

Why It Matters Now

Some governments that lack the support of a majority of their people still use fear to control their
citizens.

Terms and Names

 Legislative Assembly  Guillotine
 Émigré  Maximilien Robespierre
 Sans-culotte  Reign of Terror
 Jacobin

Peasants were not the only members of French society to feel the Great fear. Nobles and officers of
the Church were equally afraid. Throughout France, bands of angry peasants struck out against
members of the upper classes, attacking and destroying many manor houses. In the summer of
1789,a few months before the women’s march to Versailles, some nobles and members of clergy in
the National Assembly responded to the uprisings in an emotional late-night meeting.

In this section, 90% of the students are expected to:

 Identify the major reforms that the National Assembly introduced; and
 Analyze the factors that led to Robespierre becoming a dictator.

Discussion

THE ASSEMBLY REFORMS FRANCE

Throughout the night of August 4, 1789, noblemen made grand speeches, declaring their love of
liberty and equality. Motivated more by fear than by idealism, they joined other members of the
National Assembly in sweeping away the feudal privileges of the First and Second Estates, thus
making commoners equal to the nobles and the clergy. By morning, the Old regime was dead.

The Rights of Man Three weeks later, the National Assembly adopted statement of revolutionary
ideals, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Reflecting the influence of the
Declaration of Independence, the document stated that “men are born and remain free and equal in
rights.” These rights included “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression”. The
document also guaranteed citizens equal justice, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion.

In keeping with these principles, revolutionary leaders adopted the expression “Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity” as their slogan. Such sentiments, however, did not apply to everyone. When writer
Olympe de Gouges published a declaration of the rights of women, her ideas were rejected. Later,
in 1793, she was declared an enemy of the Revolution and executed.

A State-Controlled Church Many of the National Assembly’s early reforms focused on the Church.
The assembly took over Church lands and declared that Church officials and priests were to be
elected and paid as state officials. Thus, the Catholic Church lost both its lands and its political
independence. The reasons for the assembly’s actions were largely economic. Proceeds from the
sale of Church lands helped pay off France’s huge debt.
 The assembly’s actions alarmed millions of French peasants, who were devout Catholics. The effort
to make the Church a part of the state offended them, even though it was in accord with
Enlightenment philosophy. They believed that the pope should rule over a church independent of
the state. From this time on, many peasants opposed the assembly’s reforms.

Louis Tries to Escape As the National Assembly restructured the relationship between church and
state, Louis XVI pondered his fate as a monarch. Some of his advisers warned him that he and his
family were in danger. Many supporters of the monarchy thought France unsafe and left the
country. Then, in June 1791, the royal family tried to escape from France to the Austrian
Netherlands. As they neared the border, however, they were apprehended and returned to Paris
under guard. Louis’ attempted escape increased the influence of his radical enemies in the
government and sealed his fate.

DIVISIONS DEVELOP
For two years, the National Assembly argued over a new constitution for France. By 1791, the
delegates had made significant changes in France’s government and society.

A Limited Monarchy In September 1791, the National Assembly completed the new constitution,
which Louis reluctantly approved. The constitution created a limited constitutional monarchy. It
stripped the king of much of his authority. It also created a new legislative body – the Legislative
Assembly. This body had the power to create laws and to approve or reject declarations of war.
However, the king still held the executive power to enforce laws.

Factions Split France Despite the new government, old problems, such as food shortages and
government debt remained. The question of how to handle these problems caused the Legislative
Assembly to split into three general groups, each of which sat in a different part of the meeting hall.
Radicals, who sat on the left side of the hall, opposed the idea of a monarchy and wanted sweeping
changes in the way the government was run. Moderates sat in the center of the hall and wanted
some changes in the government, but not as many as the radicals. Conservatives sat on the right side
of the hall. They uplifted the idea of a limited monarchy and wanted few changes in the government.

In addition, factions outside

the Legislative Assembly wanted to
CONNECT to TODAY influence the direction of the
government too. Emigrés, nobles and
Left, Right, and Center
others who had fled France, hoped to
The terms we use today to describe where people stand undo the Revolution and restore the
politically derive from the factions that developed in the Old regime. In contrast, some Parisian
Legislative Assembly in 1791. workers and small shopkeepers
wanted the Revolution to bring even
 People who want to radically change government are
called left wing or are said to be on the left. greater changes to France. They were
 People with moderate views often are called centrist called sans-culottes, or “those
or are said to be neutral. without knee breeches”.
 People who want few or no changes in government Unlike the upper classes, who wore fancy
often are called right wing. knee-length pants, sans-culottes wore
regular trousers. Although they did not
have a role in the assembly, they soon
discovered ways to exert their power on
the streets of Paris.

WAR AND EXECUTION

Monarchs and nobles in many European countries watched the changes taking place in France with
alarm. They feared that similar revolts might break out in their own countries. In fact, some radicals
were keen to spread their revolutionary ideas across Europe. As a result, some countries took
action. Austria and Prussia, for example, urged the French to restore Louis to his position as an
absolute monarch. The Legislative Assembly responded by declaring war in April 1792.

France at War The war began badly for the French. By the summer of 1792, Prussian forces were
advancing on Paris. The Prussian commander threatened to destroy Paris if the revolutionaries
harmed any member of the royal family. This enraged the Parisians. On August 10, about 20,000
men and women invaded the Tuileries, the palace where the royal family was staying. The mob
massacred the royal guards and imprisoned Louis, Marie Antoinette, and their children.

Shortly after, the French troops defending Paris were sent to reinforce the French army in the field.
Rumors began to spread that supporters of the king held in Paris prisons planned to break out and
seize control of the city. Angry and fearful citizens responded by taking the law into their own
hands. For several days in early September, they raided the prisons and murdered over 1,000
prisoners. Many nobles, priests, and royalist sympathizers fell as victims to the angry mobs in these
September Massacres.

Under pressure from radicals in the streets and among its members, the Legislative Assembly set
aside the Constitution of 1791. It declared the king deposed, dissolved the assembly, and called for
the election of the new legislature. This new governing body, the National Convention, took office on
September 21. It quickly abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic. Adult male
citizens were granted the right to vote and hold office. Despite the important part they had already
played in the Revolution, women were not allowed to vote.

Jacobins Take Control Most of the people involved in the government changes in September 1792
were members of a radical political organization, the Jacobin Club. One of the most prominent
Jacobins, as club members were called, was Jean-Paul Marat. During the Revolution, he edited a
newspaper called L’Ami u Peuple (Friend of the People). In his fiery editorials, Marat called for the
death of all those who continued to support the king. Georges Danton, a lawyer, was among the
club’s most talented and passionate speakers. He also was known for his devotion to the rights of
Paris’ poor people.

The National Convention had reduced Louis XVI’s role from that of a king to that common citizen
and prisoner. Now, guided by radical Jacobins, it tried Louis for treason. The Convention found him
guilty, and by a very close vote, sentenced him to death. On January 21, 1793, the former king
walked with calm dignity up the steps of the scaffold to be beheaded by a machine called the
guillotine.

The War Continues The National Convention also had to contend with the continuing war with
Austria and Prussia. At about the time the Convention took office, the French army won a stunning
victory against the Austrians and Prussians at the Battle of Valmy. Early in 1793, however, Great
Britain, Holland, and Spain joined Prussia and Austria against France. Forced to contend with so
many enemies, the French suffered a string of defeats. To reinforce the French army, Jacobin
leaders in the Convention took an extreme step. At their urging, in February 1793 the Convention
ordered a draft of 300,000 French citizens between ages of 18 and 40. By 1794, the army had
grown to 800,000 and included women.
 THE GUILLOTINE

If you think the guillotine was a cruel form of capital punishment,

thin again. Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin proposed a machine that
satisfied many needs, it was efficient, humane, and democratic. A THE TERROR GRIPS FRANCE
physician and member of the National Assembly, Guillotin claimed Foreign armies were not the only
that those executed with the device “wouldn’t even feel the slightest enemies of the French republic; The
pain.” Jacobins had thousands of enemies
Prior to the guillotine’s introduction in 1792, many French criminals within France itself. These included
had suffered through horrible punishments in public places. peasants who were horrified by the
Although public punishments continued to attract large crowds, not king’s execution, priests who would not
all spectators were pleased with the new machine. Some witnesses accept government control, and rival
felt that death by the guillotine occurred much too quickly to be leaders who were stirring up rebellion
enjoyed by an audience. in the provinces. How to contain and
control these enemies became a central
issue.

Robespierre Assumes Control On the

early months of 1793, one Jacobin
leader, Maximilien Robespierre,
slowly gained power. Robespierre and
his supporters set out to build a “republic of virtue” by wiping out every trace of France’s past. Firm
believers in reason, they changed the calendar, dividing the year into 12 months of 30 days and
renaming each month. This calendar had no Sundays because the radicals considered religion old-
fashioned and dangerous. They even closed all churches in Paris, and cities and towns all over
France soon did the same.

In July 1793, Robespierre became leader of the Committee of Public Safety. For the next year,
Robespierre governed France virtually as dictator, and the period of his rule became known as the
Reign of Terror. The Committee of Public Safety’s chief task was to protect the Revolution from its
enemies. Under Robespierre’s leadership, the committee often had these “enemies” tried in the
morning and guillotined in the afternoon. He justified his use of terror by suggesting that it enabled
French citizens to remain true to the ideals of the Revolution. He also saw a connection between
virtue and terror:

The first maxim of our politics ought be to lead the people by means of reason and the enemies of the
people by terror. If the basis of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the basis of popular
government in time of revolution is both virtue and terror: virtue without which terror is murderous,
terror without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice;
it flows, then, from virtue.

MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE, “On the Morals and Political Principles of Domestic Policy” (1794)

The “enemies of the Revolution” who troubled Robespierre the most were fellow radicals who
challenged his leadership. In 1793 and 1794, many of those who had led the Revolution received
death sentences. Their only crime was that they were considered less radical than him. By early
1794, even Georges Danton found himself in danger. Danton’s friends in the National Convention,
afraid to defend him, joined in condemning him. On the scaffold, he told the executioner, “Don’t
forget to show my head to the people. It’s well worth seeing.”

The terror claimed not only the famous, such as Danton and Marie Antoinette, the widowed queen.
Thousands of unknown people also were sent to their deaths, often on the flimsiest of charges. For
example, an 18-year-old youth was sentenced to die for cutting down a tree that had been planted
as a symbol of liberty; Perhaps as many as 40,000 were executed during the Terror.
END OF TERROR
In July 1794, fearing for their safety, some members of the National Convention turned on
Robespierre. They demanded his arrest and execution. The Reign of Terror, the radical phase of
French Revolution, end on July 28, 1794, when Robespierre was executed.

French public opinion shifter dramatically after Robespierre’s death. People of all classes had
grown weary of the Terror. They were also tired of the skyrocketing prices of bread, salt, and other
necessities of life. In 1795, moderate leaders in the National Convention drafted a new plan of
government, the third since 1789. It placed power firmly in the hands of the upper middle class and
called for a two-house legislature and an executive body of five men, known as the Directory. These
five were moderates, not revolutionary idealists. Some of them were corrupt and made themselves
rich at the country’s expense. Even so, they gave their troubled country a period of order. They also
found the right general to command France’s army – Napoleon Bonaparte.

References

Chambers, Mortimer, et.al (2003), The Western Experience Volume II: Since the Sixteenth Century
Eight Edition, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Beck, Roger B. et.al (2012), World History: Patterns of Interaction, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publishing Company