The French Revolution

  • Period: to

    French Revolution

  • Convening the Estates General

    • The Estates General met separately and usually the third estate was out voted by the first two
    • Louis XVI proposed to tax the nobility so he had to call the estates general to approve this new tax; it was the first meeting in 175 years
  • Tennis Court Oath

    • This was the first act of revolution, and they were locked out of their meeting room the next day
    • They met at an indoor tennis court and pledged to not leave until a new constitution was written up
  • Storming of the Bastille

    • Rumors flew in Paris, people were not sure of what to do so they tried to get arms to defend themselves
    • They stormed the Bastille and killed some guards and paraded around the streets with their heads on pikes
    • July 14 is celebrated by the French as July 4 is in the United States
  • Great Fear

    • Rumors circulated through the countryside from town to town that the nobles were paying men to terrorize them
    • They broke into noble’s homes and destroyed legal papers that bound them to pay feudal dues or even burned down the homes
  • Declaration of the Rights of Man

    • They pass the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which said “men are born and remain free and equal in rights
    • Also guaranteed freedom of speech, equal justice, and freedom of religion
    • This did not count for women, though only men
  • Women’s march to Versailles

    • In October 1789, women had rioted over the price of bread and marched to Versailles and demanded that Louis and Marie return to Paris
    • Louis and Marie never again saw Versailles
  • Louis and Marie’s flight to Varennes

    • Their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution
    • Their destination was the fortress at Montmédy in northeastern France
    • They were only able to make it as far as the small town of Varennes
  • Constitution of 1791

    • second written constitution of France
    • a government that limited the power of the king
  • Brunswick Manifesto

    • a proclamation issued by Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
    • The Brunswick Manifesto threatened that if the French royal family were harmed, then French civilians would be harmed
  • National Convention

    • Quickly abolished the monarchy
    • Declared French a republic, where every citizen could vote, not women
    Put Louis on trial
  • The Terror

    • period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution
    • The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands
    • Many wear executed by the guillotine
  • Directory

    • Napoleon surrounded the legislature and its members and forced them to vote to dissolve the directory
  • Napoleon Bonaparte takes over

    • He defended the national convention
    • He becomes the leader
  • Concordat of 1801

    • an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII
    • It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status
  • Louisiana Purchase

    • was the acquisition by the United States of America of 828,000 square miles (2,140,000 km2) of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803
    • The U.S. paid 15 million dollars for the Louisiana territory
  • Battle of Trafalgar

    • was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy
  • Napoleonic Code

    • The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified
  • Napoleon becomes Emperor

    • At the ceremony, Napoleon surprised everyone by not allowing the Pope to crown him. Instead, he placed the crown on his own head
    • made Josephine Empress
  • Continental System

    • It was a large-scale embargo against British trade
    • was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland during the Napoleonic Wars
  • Peninsular War

    • a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal
    • a war for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars
  • Invasion of Russia

    • a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars
    • reduced the French and allied invasion forces
    • also known as the Patriotic War of 1812
  • Exile to Elba

    • the dethroned Emperor left France for the isle of Elba, where he was exiled under the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau
    • Napoleon would be allowed to rule Elba
  • Battle of Waterloo

    • The defeat at Waterloo put an end to Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French and marked the end of his Hundred Days return from exile
  • Exile to St. Helena

    • Napoleon retreated to Paris where he was forced to renounce his throne
    • European powers were not going to take any chances on Napoleon's possible return
    • They exiled him to the island of St. Helena