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HI 112 Raffael Scheck Colby College

HI 112 Raffael Scheck Colby College. A Survey of Modern Europe 2. The Origins of the French Revolution. The impact of the American Revolution No taxation without representation Success: government without kings and nobles is possible Problems of the “Enlightened Despots”

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HI 112 Raffael Scheck Colby College

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  1. HI 112Raffael ScheckColby College A Survey of Modern Europe 2

  2. The Origins of the French Revolution

  3. The impact of the American Revolution No taxation without representation Success: government without kings and nobles is possible Problems of the “Enlightened Despots” Critique of their militarism Contempt for the people (“the voice of the people is the voice of the cattle”) Catherine II Absolutism in Crisis

  4. The Crisis in France • Enlightened despotism was inconsistent and disappointing; Louis XVI • Half-hearted repression (lettres de cachet) - easy target for enlightenment critique • Very dynamic, assertive society • Rich country with a bankrupt government

  5. The Financial Crisis of France • Reasons: • Wasteful court management • Foreign war • Antiquated trade structure • Narrow tax base (near exemption for the clergy and nobility) • Hence: a “new deal” is unavoidable - but dangerous

  6. Three Layers of Social Tensions • Monarchy versus aristocracy • Privileged wealth versus unprivileged wealth • The poor versus the rich

  7. 1. Monarchy against Aristocracy • Aristocracy wants to go back to pre-absolutist times but justifies its demand in enlightenment terms (balance of power; rational government; social contract - but according to Locke, not Rousseau) • Aristocrats demand a parliament, the Estates General (not convened since 1614). Votes by estate. Therefore: secure majority for clergy and aristocracy

  8. 2. Privileged Wealth versus Unprivileged Wealth • The Three Estates • The aristocracy enjoys privileges (tax exemption; careers; legal advantages) • The wealthy members of the Third Estate resent these privileges (businessmen, merchants, artisans, bankers) • An example: the Noailles Affair

  9. 3. The Poor Versus the Rich • Commercial downturn and bad harvests: 1787-89 • Enlightenment ideas (Rousseau) among the lower classes: "we, the people, deserve better than being poor, unrepresented, and exploited” • New mindset: instead of “we want bread” - “we want the GOVERNMENT to provide bread!” • Peasants resent feudal contracts and aristocratic arbitrariness • Hence: as France is approaching a major crisis of government, many hungry, even starving people are waiting in the wings, particularly in the cities

  10. The Start of the Revolution • Aristocratic rebellion, 1787-89. Demand for Estates General. Tax strike • Rebellion of the Third Estate: wants doublement du tiers and voting by head, not by estate • Abbé Siéyès: the third estate is the nation! • Louis XVI concedes the demands of the Third Estate

  11. The French Revolution

  12. 1. Phase: Toward a Constitutional Monarchy and Abolition of Privilege • Third Estate with allies declares itself the National Assembly. Promise to write a constitution • “Great Fear” • Popular rebellion in Paris: storm on the Bastille (July 1789); later abduction of the royal couple from Versailles to Paris • Constitution and Declaration of Rights of Man - 1791

  13. Balance Sheet for the 1st Phase • Establishment of a constitutional monarchy and declaration of rights of men, but not of women • Merit trumps privilege in careers, but voting is still restricted by income; no democracy • Abolition of feudalism through the “Great Fear” • Centralization, rationalization, standardization of weights and measures • Problems: • Louis XVI remains unwilling to work within the new constitutional framework (“monsieur véto”; flight to Varennes) • Civil Constitution of the Clergy and confiscation of church lands (financial measure) splits the countryside and leads to massive unrest

  14. 2nd Phase: Constitution of a Republic; Civil and Foreign War • Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria • As the war turns to the worse, the Assembly calls for a democratic constitution and universal manhood suffrage • Deposition of the king • Random massacres of aristocrats and priests • Decision to execute the king

  15. Balance Sheet of the 2nd Phase • Commitment to democracy and a republic • Huge mobilization of revolutionary fanatics • Problems: • Radicalism of Paris crowds is out of the step with much of the country at large. Declaration of the Republic is preceded by violence • Economic crisis; inflation. Exacerbated by war • Church policy ignites civil war in the countryside

  16. 3rd Phase: Reign of Terror and Mobilization of the Nation • The assembly, renamed as “Convention,” sets up two emergency committees • These committees establish a dictatorship (Robespierre) • Democratic constitution, to be implemented after the war • Levée en masse • Cultural Revolution • Civil War (Vendée)

  17. Balance Sheet of the 3rd Phase: • Commitment to democracy, but at the same time terror in the name of the people • Cultural Revolution with absurdities of “political correctness” • Repression of counter-revolution and turn of the war in France’s favor • But the terror seems increasingly absurd and uncontrolled

  18. 4th Phase: Thermidorian Reaction and Directorate • Attempt to stabilize the revolution against both the left and the right • Republic of property owners, ruled by 5 directors • Bi-cameral parliament with lower house elected along property suffrage lines • Export of the Revolution through foreign war: Sister republics

  19. Balance Sheet of the 4th Phase • Precarious stability, built on a thin political base • White terror against revolutionaries; continued uprisings from the poor • Growing dependency on foreign war and victories - hence on the army and its most prestigeous generals • General Napoléon Bonaparte is invited to perform a coup d’état (brumaire 1799)

  20. Napoleonic Europe

  21. Napoleon in France • His recipe: universal manhood suffrage but powerless parliament; plebiscites (Bonapartism) • Concordat (1801) • First Consul for life (1802) • Code Napoléon (1804) • Emperor (1804) • Dependent on military glory. Increasing popular resentment at endless wars

  22. Napoleon in Europe • Conqueror and military genius • Great victories in land battles (Austerlitz, 1805), but loss of sea power (Trafalgar, 1805) • Continental System • From liberator to oppressor • Downfall (Spanish uprising, Russia) • Short comeback in 1815

  23. Balance Sheet: Napoleon • Conserves revolutionary ideas in France • But he also subverts the revolution (new nobility; nepotism; powerless parliament; repression of women and workers) • Brings ideas of the Revolution to much of Europe (weights and measures; rights of man; nationalism) • Romantic hero

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