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Isaac Newton and John Locke
Intellectual Forerunners of the Enlightenment. Newton's Physics and Locke's psychology provided the theoretical basis for a reformist approach to society(Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013, p 513) -
Religious Tolerance
England permitted religious toleration to all except Unitarians and Roman Catholics, and even they were not actively persecuted. Relative freedom of the press and free speech prevailed. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013, p 513). -
Emergence of a Print Culture
The Enlightenment flourished in a print culture, that is, a culture in which books, journals, newspapers, and pamphlets had achieved a status of their own. Within both aristocratic and middle-class society, people were increasingly expected to be familiar with books and secular ideas. The expanding market for printed matter allowed writers to earn a living from their work for the first time, making authorship an occupation. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 514-515) -
The Enlightenment and Religion
The Philosophes or writers and critics who flourished in the expanding print culture and who championed reform and tolerance were well known because of their most influential member, Voltaire, who often made offenses against the French, and who expressed the intolerance by the Philosophes, of the organized Christianity that hindered the pursuit of a rational life and the scientific study of humanity and nature. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 515-518). -
Jewish Enlightenment
Jewish thinkers of the eighteenth century embraced the new emphasis on reason as well as new discoveries in science and philosophy as a way of reinvigorating their faith. The Jewish Enlightenment involved an engagement with the secular world and also a vibrant study of Jewish religious books. Two major Jewish writers, Baruch Spinoza and Moses Mendelssohn set the example for a secularized version of Judaism. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 522). -
Spirit ot the Laws
Most influential books of the century, the Spirit of the Laws, is where the internal tensions of the Enlightenment were exhibited. The writer, Montesquieu, concluded that no single set of political laws could apply to all peoples at all times and in all places. Only careful examination of country size, population, social/ religious customs, economic structure, traditions and climate can reveal mode of government most beneficial to a people.(Kagan, Ozment,Turner & Frank, 2013, p 526) -
Women in the Thought and Practice of the Enlightenment
Women, especially in France, by inviting the Philosophes into their salons, gave the philosophes access to useful social and political contacts and a receptive environment in which to circulate their ideas. Despite this help and support by the women, the philosophes were on the whole not committed to advocating equality for women. Many urged better and broader education for women but advocated no radical changes in their social condition.(Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013, p 529). -
FRENCH REVOLUTION
The French government's financial support of the American Revolution, rendered it unable, after the revolution, to finance itself. All efforts to obtain adequate funding were declined and led to a deadlock within the Assembly of Notables, hence, the Estates General was called in. Thereafter the clergy's voluntary contribution to the government decreased and bankers refused short-term credit leading to the need for political reform.(Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 552-553). -
The Cahiers de Doleances
These were a list of grievances brought by representatives to the royal palace criticizing government waste, indirect/church taxes & corruption; calling for periodic meetings of the Estates General, more equitable taxes, more local control of administration; facilitation of trade/commerce & free press. There was broad agreement that French government needed major reform but was evident that conflict rather than cooperation was to be the rule.(Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 554) -
Political Reorganization
The Constitution of 1791, the National Constituent Assembly, established a Legislative Assembly through which all laws would originate and which also had the power to make war and peace. During this time, only active citizens-men paying annual taxes equal to three days of local labor wages-could vote. Those in French society with wealth in property more economic interests were given a voice in governing the nation. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 561). -
Convention Meets/Monarchy Abolished
The Legislative Assembly, after the September Massacres, was asked to call for the election of a new assembly to write a democratic constitution. The Convention met the day after the French army had halted the Prussian advance at the battle of Valmy which confirmed the victory of democratic forces at home. As its first act, the Convention declared France a republic-that is a nation governed by an elected assembly without a monarch.(Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 568). -
Louis XVI Executed
An overwhelming majority convicted Louis of conspiring against the liberty of the people and the security of the state. He was condemned to death and beheaded on January 2, 1793. Marie Antoinette was subsequently tried and executed in October of the same year; their son died in 1795, in prison, of disease exacerbated by neglect. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 569). -
Constitution of the Year III establishes the Directory
In this Constitution triumphed the revolution of the holders of property. The property that won the day was not industrial wealth but the wealth stemming from commerce, the professions, and land. The largest new propertied class to emerge from the revolutionary turmoil was the peasantry who now owned their own land and had to pay no monetary compensation either to their former landlords or to the state. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 580). -
Napoleon's coup d'etat overthrows the Directory
The Directory had become dependent on the power of the army to govern France. In 1799 Napoleon returned to France and joined Sieyes. He later pushed Sieyes aside and issued the Constitution of the Year VIII, which, behind the scenes, established the rule of one man-the First Consul, Bonaparte. Napoleon's takeover was reminiscent of Caesar and Augustus in ancient Rome, and to the Greek tyrants of the sixth century. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 586). -
The Continental System
Napoleon's inability to compete with the British Navy led to a continuation of the economic warfare the Berlin Decrees had begun. He planned to cut all British trade with the European continent and thus cripple British commercial and financial power. Britain, however, survived and responded with its own decrees forbidding trade with France. Napoleon's policies increased the resentment of foreign merchants which led to smuggling. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank 2013, p 592). -
Beginning of Spanish Resistance to Napoleonic domination
Riots in Madrid on May 2 and May 3 marked the opening of the Spanish effort to rid their peninsula of French rule. Napoleon troops executed Spanish guerilla fighters who had rebelled against the French occupation in Spain. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 597). -
Invasion of Russia and French defeat at Borodino
Russian nobles disliked the alliance because of the liberal politics of France and because the Continental System prohibited timber sales to Britain. Napoleon was determined to end the Russian military threat and waged war against Russia who retreated because they were clearly out numbered. Finally in September, the Russian army gave Napoleon the battle he wanted and the battle was regarded as a defeat against Napoleon. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 598). -
Napoleon into exile/ Treaty of Chaumont establishes Quadruple Alliance
Napoleon, who was sick went into exile on the island of Elba, off the coast of central Italy. As soon as he left, the Treaty of Chaumont was signed providing for the restoration of the Bourbons to the French throne and the contraction of France to its frontiers of 1792. Even more importantly, Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia agreed to form a Quadruple Alliance for twenty years to preserve whatever settlement they agreed on.(Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank 2013 p 598-599). -
Napoleon return from Elba/Battle at Waterloo
Napoleon returned and soon regained power over France where he promised a liberal constitution and a peaceful foreign policy, however, the allies were not convinced, labeled him an outlaw and sent their armies to crush him. Wellington with the help of the Prussians defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium on June 18. He, once again, entered into exile on Saint Helena, island off the coast of Africa. (Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 600). -
Napoleon dies/ Congress of Vienna
Napoleon dies. Statesmen at Vienna had seen the armies of the French Revolution/Napoleon overturning the political/social order of much of the continent and wanted to, through the Congress of Vienna, prevent a recurrence of the Napoleonic nightmare and arrange a lasting peace. The Congress achieved its goals. France accepted the new situation without undue resentment and the victorious powers settled difficult problems reasonably.(Kagan, Ozment, Turner & Frank, 2013 p 600-601). -
THE END
References: Kagan, D., Ozment, S., Turner, F., & Frank, A. (2013). The
western heritage (Eleventh ed.). New Jersey: Pearson
Education, Inc.
