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Consumer goods increasing
The price of the consumer goods increased a lot faster than wages, which left urban groups with decreased buying power. They struggled to survive -
Bad Harvest
Bad harvesting and a slowdown in manufacturing, let to food shortages, rising food prices, and unemployment. -
Meeting of the estates general
Louis XVI called a meeting at the versailles, the third estate wanted to set up a constitutional government that would make the clergy and nobility pay taxes too. The third estate got the majority vote and the king favored the current system. June 17, 1789, the third estate that there is a national assembly and would draft a constitution. -
A fight at Bastille
900 persians gathered at the Bastille, it was a hungry and angry crowd. The kings troops were coming and members of the french guard joined the attack. Four hours of fighting later, the prison warden surrendered, let the seven prisoners go and the prison warden got his head cut off. Later Louis XVI found out and thinks they can no longer trust royal troops, revolts were breaking out everywhere and peasants destroyed. -
Declaration of the rights of man
The national assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. The declaration raised an important issue making people wonder in women were included in the rights. King Louis refused to accept the National assembly's decree. Women came from all over and talked to the king because their children had no food so King Louis gave in to the decrees. -
New Constitution
The new constitution set up a limited monarchy. There was still a king but a Legislative Assembly would make the laws. First, only the so called “active” citizens men over 25 who paid a certain amount of taxes could vote. The method of choosing its 745 deputies meant that only relatively wealthy people would serve. The influence of a new government began to spread throughout france. Old order had been destroyed. The royal family tried to flee france in disguise but got caught. -
War with Austria
The rulers of Austria and Prussia threatened to use force to
restore Louis XVI to full power. Insulted by this threat
and fearing to be attacked, the Legislative Assembly decided to
strike first, declaring war on Austria in the spring of 1792. The French fared badly in the initial fighting. -
First Republic
The newly elected National Convention began meeting. The Convention had been called to draft a new constitution, but it also served as the ruling body of France. It was dominated by lawyers, professionals, and property owners. Almost all distrusted the king. It was no surprise that the National Convention’s first major step on September 21 was to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic, the French Republic. -
Successes in the Military
In 1792 Napoleon became a captain. Two years later, at age 24, the Committee of Public Safety made him a brigadier general. In 1796 he became commander of the French armies in Italy. Napoleon won a series of battles with qualities. Napoleon defeated the armies of the Papal States and their Austrian allies. In 1797 he returned to France as a hero. By 1799, the British had defeated the French naval forces supporting Napoleon’s army in Egypt. -
Rise of the Paris Commune
In 1792, angry citizens demonstrated to protest food shortages and defeats in the war. In August, Paris radicals again decided the fate of the revolution. They declared themselves a commune. The French Revolution was entering a more radical and violent stage. Members of the new Paris Commune took the king captive. They forced the Legislative Assembly to suspend the monarchy and to call for a National Convention. . -
Moving to Radicalism
The monarchy was over. The sans-culottes attacked the palace, and the royal family had to seek protection from the Legislative Assembly. The powerful Paris Commune forced the Legislative Assembly to call a National Convention. Before they could meet, panic and fear spread. Rumors spread that imprisoned nobles and other traitors were conspiring to defeat the revolution. Violence erupted in the streets in September, leaving thousands dead. New leaders of the people emerged. -
The King's Fate
Citizens had enthusiastically formed political clubs of varying social and political views. They leaned toward keeping the king alive. They felt the king needed to be executed. In 1793, the Mountain convinced the Convention to pass a decree condemning Louis XVI to death. On January 21, the king was beheaded on the guillotine. The king’s execution created enemies. The execution of King Louis XVI pushed the revolution into a new radical phase. -
Crises and Responses
Disputes between the Girondins and the Mountain blocked the writing of a constitution. The Paris Commune pressured the National Convention to adopt more radical measures. Peasants in western France refused to accept the authority of the Convention. Uprisings began in the west and spread to the south. After Louis XVI was executed, a bunch of countries took up arms against France. The National Convention gave the Committee of Public Safety broad powers. -
The Republic of Virtue
In November 1793, a public ceremony dedicated to the worship of reason was held in the former cathedral. Patriotic young girls dressed in white dresses paraded before a temple of reason where
the high altar had once stood. September 22, 1792, the first day of the French Republic and the autumnal equinox. Changes in the calendar had an effect on religion in France, eliminating Sundays, Sunday worship services, and church holidays. Most French people would not accept these efforts. -
Rebellion
As a temporary measure, revolutionary courts were set up to prosecute counter revolutionaries and traitors. Throughout France, almost 40,000 people were killed during the Reign of Terror. Of those, 16,000 people, including Marie Antoinette and Olympe de Gouges, died by the guillotine. Revolutionary armies were set up to
bring rebellious cities under the control of the National Convention. Clergy and nobles made up about 15 percent of the victims. -
Rise of the Revolutionary Army
the new French government had raised a huge army by September 1794, it had over a million soldiers. It was the largest army ever seen in Europe, and it pushed the invaders back across the Rhine. It even conquered the Austrian Netherlands. The new French army was created by a people’s government. -
End of the Terror
By the summer of 1794, the French had largely defeated their foreign foes. There was less need for the Reign of Terror, but it
continued. In June 1794, the Law of 22 Prairial was passed, which gave Robespierre more power to arrest and execute enemies of the
revolution. After the death of Robespierre, the Jacobins lost power and more moderate middle-class leaders took control. The Reign of Terror came to a halt. In August 1794, the Law of 22 Prairial was repealed. -
It's Over
With the Terror over, the National Convention moved in a more conservative direction. To keep any one political group from gaining control, the Constitution of 1795 set up two legislative houses. An upper house of 250, the Council of Elders, accepted or rejected proposed laws. Under the new constitution, the executive was a committee of five called the Directory. The Council of Elders chose the Directors from a list presented by the Council of 500. The Directory, which lasted from 1795 to 1799. -
Rise of Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte’s brought the French Revolution to an end when he came to power in 1799. He was a child of the revolution as well. Without it, he would never have risen to power, and he himself never failed to remind the French that he had preserved the best parts of the revolution during his reign as emperor. -
Peace with Church
One of Napoleon’s first moves at home was to establish peace with the Catholic Church. Napoleon himself was a man of the Enlightenment. He believed in reason and felt that religion was at most a social convenience. Since most of the French were Catholic, Napoleon felt it was good policy to mend relations with the Church. In 1801 Napoleon came to an agreement with the pope, which recognized Catholicism as the religion of a majority of the French people. -
Emperor
In Paris, Napoleon took part in the coup d’état of 1799. Napoleon held absolute power. Napoleon was called first consul. He appointed
officials, controlled the army, conducted foreign affairs, and influenced the legislature. In 1802 Napoleon was made consul for life. Two years later, he crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I. -
Codification of the Laws
Napoleon’s most famous domestic achievement was to codify the laws. Seven law codes were created, but the most important was the Civil Code introduced in 1804. It preserved many of the principles that the revolutionaries had fought for. For women and children, the Civil Code was a step back. The Civil Code undid these laws. Women were now “less equal than men.” -
British Resistance
Napoleon was never able to conquer Great Britain because of its sea power. Napoleon hoped to invade Britain, but the British defeated the combined French-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in 1805. This battle ended Napoleon’s plans for invasion. Napoleon then turned to his Continental System to defeat Britain. By weakening Britain economically, Napoleon would destroy its ability to wage war. The Continental System also failed. By 1810, British overseas exports were at near-record highs. -
Building the Empire
From 1807 to 1812, Napoleon was the master of Europe. His Grand Empire was composed of three major parts: the French Empire, dependent states, and allied states. Dependent states were kingdoms ruled by relatives of Napoleon. Eventually these included Spain, Holland, the kingdom of Italy, the Swiss Republic, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and the Confederation of the Rhine a union of all German states except Austria and Prussia. Allied states were countries defeated by Napoleon. -
New Bureaucracy
Napoleon is also well known because he created a strong, centralized administration. He focused on developing a bureaucracy of capable officials. Napoleon also created a new aristocracy based on meritorious service to the nation. Between 1808 and 1814, Napoleon created about 3,200 nobles. Nearly 60 percent were military officers, while the rest were civil service or state. Socially, only 22 percent were from noble families of the old regime; about 60 percent were middle class in origin. -
A Disaster in Russia
The Russians had refused to remain in the Continental System, leaving Napoleon with little choice but to invade. In June 1812, a Grand Army of more than 600,000 men entered Russia. Thousands of soldiers starved and froze along the way. Fewer than 40,000 of the original 600,000 soldiers arrived back in Poland in January 1813. This military disaster led other European states to rise up and attack the crippled French army. Paris was captured in March 1814. -
Nationalism
A second important factor in the defeat of Napoleon was nationalism. Napoleon marched his armies through the Germanies, Spain, Italy, and Poland, arousing new ideas of nationalism in two ways. First, the conquered peoples became united in their hatred of the invaders. Second, the conquered peoples saw the power and strength of national feeling. Napoleon’s downfall began in 1812 when he decided to invade Russia. Within only a few years, his fall was complete. -
Final Defeat
On March 20, 1815, Napoleon entered Paris in triumph. Russia, Great Britain, Austria, and Prussia responded to Napoleon’s return. Meanwhile, Napoleon raised another French army of devoted veterans. At Waterloo in Belgium on June 18, 1815, Napoleon met
a combined British and Prussian army under the Duke of Wellington and suffered a bloody defeat. Napoleon remained in exile until his death in 1821, but his memory haunted French political life for many decades.
