The French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon

  1. The French Revolution as a phenomenon of modernization.
    1. The pardox: The Ancien Regime as a "bourgeois-absolutist synthesis" See Readings, p. 11.
    2. The immediate Background
      1. The Economic Crisis.
        1. Inflation and unemployment --- See W-R-W, 128-129.
        2. The fiscal crisis ----- inequity of the tax system.
        3. 1787, Brienne forced to the same conclusions as his predecessors.
      2. In effect four revolutions:
        1. Aristocratic:
        2. Liberal-bourgeois 1789-1792 --- driven by the threat of social revolt.
        3. Social 1792-1794
        4. National 1792-1815
    3. Crane Brinton, Anatomy of Revolution. Revolutions proceding to the left from a moderate through a radical and then back to a more moderate phase described by the metaphor of a disease attacking the body --- first mild symptoms deteriorating into a life-threatening fever and subsequently recovery of the patient, partially changed (immunized) from the experience.
      1. Defection of the Elites 1787-1789
      2. Seizure of Power by the Moderates. 1789-August, 1792
      3. Accession to power by the Radicals: The Republic of Virtue and the Reign of Terror August 1792-July 1794
      4. Thermidorian Reaction. July 1794-Nov., 1799
  1. The Course of the Revolution
    1. The First Stage of the Revolution: : The Defection of the Elites, 1787-1789
      1. Called Assembly of Notables to call for support --- no agreement; cry for Estates General
      2. Parlement blocked attempt to decree new taxation, called for Estates General
      3. Necker replaced Brienne and in August 1788, arranged to call Estates General for the coming Spring.
    2. The debate over the Estate structure revealed the next, bourgeois-liberal, phase of the revolution. .
      1. The Estate Structure:
        1. First Estate ----- 100,000 higly varigated
        2. Second Estate --- 400,000 highly varigated:
          1. Nobles of the Sword
          2. Nobles of the Robe
        3. Third Estate ---- 25,000,000
          1. Enlightened, affluent ---- liberal bourgeoisie ---- roughly 6%
          2. Peasantry ------ 75% highly varigated and revolutionary on social and economic issues.
      2. Sieyes, Read: "What is the Third Estate.?" For a cartoon "The Third Estate Awakens" click here
      3. Elections, 1788-1789.
        1. FYI: Cahier This link is to a rich site of documents (what McKay, et. al. refer to as petitions for change, p. 700) on the French Revolution.
        2. Doubling.
        3. Voting by head
      4. The goals: See McKay, 691-692
        1. Liberty----
        2. Equality---
        3. Fraternity
    3. Seizure of Power by the Moderates. The bourgeois-liberal revolution 1789-September, 1792
      1. 5. May 1789. Opening of the Estates General

        1. First Estate: 291, 2/3 elected by parish priests.
        2. Second Estate: 270, 1/3 "enlightened aristocrats."
        3. Third Estate: 578 --- 1/2 lawyers among bureaucrats, physicians, teachers ---- all over 25 with strong property interests.
      2. 17. June ---Defection of the parish priests.
      3. 20. June ---David's Engraving of The Oaths of the Tennis Court A political revolution, albeit peaceful.
      4. The National Assembly--- 27. June 1789-30. September 1791. Engraving of the three estates meeting together.
        1. The demand for social revolution)
          1. See W-R-W, 128-129 for statistics on bread prices.
          2. What is the significance of the engravings of the Palais Royale of the Duc d' Orleans? W-R-W, 125-126?
          3. See Arthur Young's comment on the significance of Palais Royal, W-R-W, 134-135.
          4. Necker dismissed and evidence of a military supression by the crown. W-R-W, 136
        2. The First Violence:
          1. The storming of the Bastille --- 14. July 1789. Who participated? See W-R-W, 130-132
          2. The Great Fear --- July-August, 1789.
        3. 4. August, 1789: The merging of the political and the social revolutions ----
          1. Read: The Decree abolishing Serfdom
          2. Read: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
        4. 5. October, 1789 --- March of the Paris Women
        5. The Constitution of 1791
          1. Talleyrand and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. See specifically, Title II, Art. I, and XXI. Title III, Art. iii. ff.
            1. Assignat and Church land
            2. Non-jurying clergy and the Vendee
          2. The Constitution of 1791
        6. Louis XVI and the Constitution.
          1. The Flight to Varennes (20-25. June 1791).
          2. Promulgation of the Constitution, signed by Louis XVI on 14. September 1791. .
      5. The Legislative Assembly: September 1791-September 1792.
        1. The Problems of the Moderates
          1. The King
          2. The revolt of the Right ---- non-jurying (refectory) clergy --- Vendee
          3. The agitation of the Left (Girondins and Jacobins).---- liberation of the oppressed peoples of Europe.
        2. Foreign Voices:
          1. Burke, Mckay, 705.
          2. Wollstonecroft, McKay, 705.
          3. Declaration of Pillnitz, 22. August 1791 ---- stimulus to the radicalization of the revolution.
        3. War as the "accelerator of the revolution."
          1. Invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, 20. April 1792 to spread "liberty and reason."Centennia, 1792.5-
          2. The Brunswick Manifesto, late July 1792.
        4. Renewed violence under the pressure of foreign invasion. . Centennia 1792.7
          1. King placed in custody, 10. August -- need for a new Constitutional Convention.
          2. September Massacres.
    4. "The Second Revolution"- Seizure of Power by the Radicals: The social and national phase.
      1. The Battle of Valmy, 20. September (Centennia 1792.8) and the momentary stabilization of the The Convention--- September 1792-1795
        1. The composition of the Convention. Right: 165 (Girondins, the Left in Legislative Assembly) --- Center or the Marsh 435 -----Left, i.e. "The Mountain, 150. All were republicans and almost all had been Jacobins in either National or Legislative Assembly.
        2. The execution of the King, 21. January 1793.
      2. War and Revolution:
        1. 1793
          1. Revolutionary expansionism Centennia, 1792.9
          2. War of the First Coalition and renewed invasion: Centennia, 1793.0-
        2. The Reign of Terror and the Republic of Virtue: 1793-July 1794. FYI: Robespierre's statement on public morality.
          1. The sans culotte stormed the Convention on 2. June giving support to the radicalism of the Mountain --- "war socialism" . See McKay, p. 708.
          2. The Right and the Vendee.
          3. The Committee of Public Safety as the executor of the General Will. Read the last four paragraphs of: Robespierre's Justification of the Use of Terror
          4. A New Society:
            • Nationalism. Read: levee en masse. A distilation of a modern concept of political nation honed on a war of ideals. See Readings, p. 24.
            • Enemies of the people --40,000-- not determined by class. 8% nobility, 14% bourgeoisie, 70% laborers and peasants
            • New Constitution of the Year I, passed 22. June 1793, but suspended.
            • New Calendar
            • New Religion
        3. Military success and intensification of the terror:, Spring 1794, Centennia, 1794.0--
          1. "The Revolution devours its children" --Hebert, Danton
          2. Law of 22. Prairial
          3. Inconsistency of carrying a revolution for liberty, equality and fraternity against tyrranical despots abroad and maintaining a dictatorship at home.
        4. 9-10. Thermidor.
      3. The Thermidorian Reaction and the return to normalcy: 10. July 1794-99
        1. The "White Terror"-- inflation of assignat, bread riots and a leftist attack on Convention, 1. April 1795
          1. Sans culottes lapsed into apathy.
          2. Relaxation and opportunism of the rich; corruption in politics, self-indulgence, fashion.
        2. The Constitution of the Year III created the Directory (1795-99) --- institutionalized the thermidorean reaction.
          1. The War went well, Centennia, 1794.5--1797
          2. Political Instability 1995-1999.
            • Inflation, bread riots ----- leftist sans coulotte attack, 12. Germinal (1. April 1795).
            • The revolt of the Right and Napoleon's --- 13. Vendemiaire (11. October) 1795
            • Vendee and Brittany continued in revolt --- military suppressions.
            • The first "communist" revolt ---- Gracchus Babeuf and the "Conspiracy of Equals" May 1796.
          3. Elections 1797 --- conservative-monarchist victory ---elections nullified --- martial law.
          4. 18. Brumaire (9. November) --- Coup d' etat by Napoleon, approved by plebescite in December (Sieyes: "Confidence from below, authority from above."
  2. The Age of Napoleon, 1799-1815.
    1. "The last of the enlightened Monarchs or the first of the modern dictators" ?
      1. The Constitution: From Consulate to Empire.
        1. Napoleonic Constitution
        2. Sham Republic to Empire. 1804
          1. Duc d' Enghien -- February
          2. The Coronation., 2. December 1804.
          3. Plebescite: 3 million yes, 1,562 no.
      2. Savior or destroyer of the revolution? A comparison.
        1. Concordat of 1801.
        2. The Codes Napoleon, 1804
          1. Administration:
          2. Education
          3. Finances --- parallels to mercantilism and a forerunner of fascist-style projects in the 20th century.
    2. Foreign Policy. "The Greatest Man in French History?" Possibly, if he had died in 1811.
      1. War of the Second Coalition (1798-1802) brought to an end.
        1. Treaty of Luneville with Austrian Habsburg ruler, Franz II, 1801. See Centennia, 1801.5
        2. Treaty of Amiens with Great Britain, 1802.
      2. War of the Third Coalition began gradually, 1803, with England.
        1. Trafalgar, 21. October 1805 --- significance
        2. Austria defeated at Austerlitz--- and Pressburg, 1805 --- the reorganization of the "Germanies" and the "Italies." See Centennia, 1805.5-1806.3
        3. Prussia --- defeated, 1806. See Centennia, 1806.6- .9
        4. Russia and Tilsit, 1807. See Centennia 1806.9- 1807.7
      3. The Grand Empire, 1807-1812. See Centennia, 1808.0
        1. The internationalization of the French Revolution.
        2. The Continental System.
        3. "The seeds of nationalism" and the bitter fruit for France.
          1. Spain, 1808--- the "national" revolt and the peninsula war. Click here for Goya's painting.
          2. Prussia --- Fichte and the intellectual preparation for liberation -1808.
          3. Austria --- German-"national" revolt ----- defeated again. See Centennia 1809.3-1810.
        1. The Russian Campaign, 1812. See Centennia 1812.0-1812.9
      1. The Quadruple Alliance and the War of Liberation.

        [home][syllabus][outline][notices][notices archive][quiz analysis][links]