The French Revolution and

Napoleon

De Guzman Jason Mark P.

II BSSE
Timeline of The French Revolution and Napoleon
Napoleon seizes Napoleon defeated at
power Waterloo
France declares war
French on Austria
Revolution
begins Louis XVI Battle of
executed Trafalgar
French army
Directory
retreats from
established
Russia

1785 1790 1795 1800 1805 1810 1815

 Many
Problems
Lead to
Revolution
in France
 French Society has three classes:
• The First Estate: Clergy
• The Second Estate: Nobility
• The Third Estate: Commoners

*The first two estates was only consisted

by 500,000 people out of a total of 24
million.
 Many of the Clergy lived in Luxury
• Clergy played a prominent role in the life of French people(Religious
services , operation of schools and helped the poor).
• Clergy was divided into two groups: the “Higher Clergy” and the
“Lower Clergy”
The Higher Clergy The Lower Clergy

Archbishops, Bishops and Abbots(heads Parish Priests

of monasteries)
 The higher clergy lived in luxury spending huge sums of
money in hunting dogs, horses, carriages, entertainment, fine
furniture and works of art and some of them also had acquired
political powers such as Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin.
The French Nobility
3rd Estate:
• THREE GROUPS
1. Bourgeoisie:
a) Wealthy merchants, manufacturers,
bankers, landowners (20% land), but
frustrated by lack of social & political
power
2. Urban workers – Sans-culottes:
a) Factory workers, artisans, journeymen
b) Lived in poverty – wages increased by
22%, cost of living increased by 62%
by 1789
3. Peasantry
a) Largest group in society (80% France’s
population)
b) Paid 50% income in taxes (dues to
nobles, tithes to church, taxes to king)
 The Financial Crisis
• The government of France, however, was bankrupt and was facing
a serious financial crisis.
• The crisis resulted from:
• An inefficient and unfair tax structure, which placed the burden of
taxation on the third estate
• A drained treasury which was the result of:
• Aiding the Americans during the American Revolution
• Long wars with England
• Overspending
• Bad crops in 1787-88 led to rise in food prices; high unemployment
• Only 3rd Estate paying taxes
 The Estates General
• One vote per estate
• Clergy and nobility usually
joined together to outvote
the Third Estate
• Met in Versailles in May 1789
• Voting controversy
• Abbé Sieyés wrote a
pamphlet called “What is the
Third Estate”.
 From Estates-General to National Assembly

A. Voting in the Estates-General was by body, not by

head:
1. Each estate got 1 vote; traditionally the 1st & 2nd
estates voted together, thus outvoting the 3rd estate
2:1
2. The 3rd estate demanded that voting be changed to
vote by head
3. Nobles refuse to change voting; King supports them
The National Assembly
• The Third Estate took action
and established its own
government
• On June 17, 1789, the National
Assembly was formed
• Comte Mirabeau represented
the third estate, told the kings
messenger that the delegates
“would leave only at the point
of bayonets”.
Storming of the Bastille
1.King orders 1st & 2nd estates to
meet w/ National Assembly
2.Sends Swiss royal army to
defend Paris & Versailles
3.Bourgeoisie fear troops are
coming to disband
4.Citizens in Paris react by
storming the Bastille for guns
and gunpowder
 French Peasants Revolt

• Lower classes still unsatisfied

• Thousands of starving women
and peasants march on
Versailles
• Louis forced to return to Paris
 The August Decrees end Feudalism
• August 4 1789- The National Assembly announced the End
of Feudalism in France
• Parisian women forced Louis XVI to approve reforms
 The National Assembly
Declaration of the Rights of Man & Citizens
in August 27,1789 (Part of French
Constitution Today) – Political Action
Purpose to establish equality in France and
abolish the class system
Incorporated Enlightenment ideas
Montesquieu’s ideas of separation of powers
Rousseau’s belief in the will of the majority
Locke’s beliefs in natural rights
Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of
Independence
Louis XVI rejects declaration
 The National Assembly makes Reforms
Five main areas of change
1. Equality and Individual rights
2. Government administration
3. Church influence
4. Aid to business
5. Constitutional Government
The Revolution causes reactions in other countries
Edmund Burke- “Reflections on the Revolution in France” (1790)
it is about the famous attacks on the ideas and principles of the
revolution.
Thomas Paine- The Rights of Man( monarchy= tyrannical leaders)
Mary Wollstonecraft- A Vindication of the Rights of Man
 Woman Seek to share in the New equality
In the Constitution of 1791, Woman has no political rights so they
sought equality because women have also contributed in the
revolution.
• Rose Lacombe- founded a women’s political group supporting the
principles of the revolution.
• Olympe de Gouges- Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of
Women Citizens (1791) but soon executed.
• Mary Wollstonecraft- A vindication of the Rights of Women, that
rights of man to be extended to include women.
 Louis XVI
• Louis XVI was an awkward, clumsy
man who had a good heart but was
unable to relate to people on a
personal level.

– He often appeared unfeeling and gruff.

– He was insecure and seems to have disliked
being King of France.

n When one of his ministers resigned, he was

heard to remark, "Why can't I resign too?"
Marie Antoinette
• Austrian
Parents :
Maria Theresa (the Hapsburg ruler of Austria and
Francis I (Holy Roman Emperor)
• Marie Antoinette, in her early years as Queen, was
flighty and irresponsible.
• She spent huge amounts on clothes, buying a new dress
nearly every other day.
• Being Austrian, she was terribly unpopular in France
and had few friends.
King Louis XVI & Queen Marie-Antoinette
 The King Loses The Loyalty Of His Subjects
1. Louis & family attempt to
escape France into Austrian
Netherlands, but was caught
& brought back to Paris a
prisoner & enemy of the
revolution (June 20,1791)
2. Led to increased power of
the radicals & questions of
whether a constitutional
monarchy was plausible or
necessary
 War With Austria

• France declares war

• War of the People
against Kings
• In April 20 1792,
France declared war
on Austria, partly as a
response to the
Declaration of Pillnitz

Painting of the Battle of Valmy, 1792

War with Austria & Prussia, 1792

European monarchs feared

spread of rev. into their lands,
thus threatened to invade
France & restore the monarchy
this time French first declared
war on Austria, 1792
• With the invasion of Austria &
Prussia to restore Louis to the
throne, French mobs stormed
Louis’ Palace in Paris, the
Tuileries.
• He and his family were thrown
in prison while his guards
were massacred (800+)..
 France becomes a Republic
• Execution of the King Louis XVI January 21,1793 and Marie
Antoinette (1794) death of their son Louis XVII (1795)
• France turned into a republic after the execution of the king and
queen
• Republican Leaders sought to liberate people in other countries.
 The Committee of Public Safety
A. Factional disputes between
Political Parties: the Girondins
(Moderates), the Jacobins
(Radicals) & the Mountain
(extreme radicals) created
problems
 War abroad, discontent at home
over war & economy, and counter-
revolutionary activity in countryside
 June, 1793: N.C. set up CPS to deal
w/ problems – had all power in gov
Jean-Paul Marat
 CPS made up of Jacobins/Mountain
& supported by armed mob of sans-
culottes; Girondins out of power
 The Committee of Public safety mobilizes France
for War
• The Mountain realized that help from common people are essential.
• The Jacobins established the Committee on Public Safety
• August 1793 the committee called the whole nation to take part in war.
• Formed French army with 1 million men. Sang the “Marseillaise” while
marching off to war.
The Reign of Terror
• July 1793–July 1794
• Executions
• Death of Robespierre
Moderates regain control of France
Radicals Moderates Conservatives
“Sans-culottes” Sat in center of Emigres / royalists
Sat on left side of assembly assembly “centrists” Sat on right side of
“leftists” assembly “right-wing”
Proposed a republic, in Wanted limited
changes Wanted to restore king
which people have power as limited monarch &
Political Parties include: the Political Parties: the few changes in gov.
Jacobins & the Mountain Girondin
 The Guillotine

• Dr. Joseph Guillotin

• Intended as a more
humane method of
execution
• Thousands guillotined
during the French
Revolution
 The French Revolution brings lasting changes
• It ended feudalism
• Absolute monarchy
• Special privileges of clergy and nobles
• Wrote constitution that guaranteed individual rights
• (trial by Jury, freedom of religion, of speech and of the press).
The Age of
Napoleon
France Shifts Back To Dictatorship
1799-1815
 The Rise of Napoleon
• 1769: born in French-
controlled Corsica to a
middle-class family
• Sent to military school at age
9 on scholarship, became a
lieutenant upon graduation at
16
• Joined the army of the new
gov. when the Revolution
broke out.
Gros, General Bonaparte **Art as Political Propaganda
on the Bridge at Arcole,
1796, Versailles.

A. Military Successes
1. Came to national prominence in 1795,
when he helped defeat the royalist
forces that threatened the National
Convention
2. Rewarded by the Directory; given a
French Army command to fight in Italy
(1796-97 campaign)
3. He won battles in Austria & Sardinia,
but was unsuccessful against the
British Admiral Nelson in Egypt (1798-
1801) campaign), though his defeats
were kept secret.

Gros, Bonaparte Visiting the Plage

Victims at Jaffa, 1799, 1804, The
Louvre.
 David, The 1st Consul Crossing the Alps
at Grand St-Bernard Pass, Malmaison.

B. Coup d’etat
1. Napoleon returns to Paris in
1799 a hero
2. French citizens have lost
confidence in the Directory &
the time is right to seize power
 2 of its members (Paul Barras &
Abbe Sieyes plot w/ Napoleon
to launch a coup)
• Napoleon’s troops occupy the
legislature and drive out 1st
House
• 2nd House is scared and “votes”
to end the Directory, giving
power to The Consulate w/ 3
consuls
3. Napoleon was named First
Consul of the French Republic, a
move that gave him dictatorial
powers.

Bouchot, The Brumaire Coup d’Etat, 1799, 1837, Versailles.

 C. Emperor Napoleon I
1. In 1804, a plebiscite (vote
by the people) allowed
Napoleon to crown himself
Emperor of France.
**used democratic process to
destroy the democracy
created by the Republic
**French Revolution is dead;
absolute monarchy is
David, Napoleon in his
restored
Study at the Tulieries,
Washington, D.C.
Propaganda: He has been
up all night working on
Civil Code; clock shows
4a.m., but he is in military
uniform – a general who is “The Revolution is over. I am the
ready to meet his troops.
Revolution.”
 The Crowning of Empress Josephine
Jacques-Louis David, The Coronation of the Emperor Napoleon I, 1804, Musee du Louvre,
Paris.
Napoleon & Josephine