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Edmund Burke
- original British critic of the French Revolution
- inspired many conservatives
- argued that the revolutionaries erred in thinking they could construct an entirely new govt. based on reason
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Prince Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
- aristocrat and former bishop who embraced the Revolution
- served as Napoleon's foreign minister
- ended as foreign minister to Louis XVIII after helping to arrange the emperor's overthrow
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Maximilian Robespierre
- leader of the Committee of Public Safety
- lawyer from northern France who laid out the principles of a republic of virtue and of the Terror--govt. would teach or force citizens to become virtuous republicans thru a massive program of political reeducation
- his arrest/execution in July 1794 brought an end to the Terror
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Anne-Louise-Germaine de Staël
- best-known expatriate (talented write who lived in exile)
- daughter of Louis XVI's chief minister Jacques Necker
- wrote Corinne, whose heroine is a brilliant woman thwarted by the patriarchical system
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Napolean Bonaparte
- French general who became First Consul in 1799 & emperor in 1804; after losing the battle of Waterloo in 1815, he was exiled to the island of St. Helena
- ended the French Rev. & steered France toward an authoritarian state
- commissioned w/ the Catholic church & w/ exiled aristocrats willing to return to France
- his new Civil Code strengthened Enlightenment/Revolution principles with an insistence on a hierarchy (people having power over other people)
- patronized science/art
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Ludwig van Beethoven
- German composer who helped set the direction of musical romanticism
- his music used recurring, evolving themes to convey the impression of natural growth
- wasn't a fan of Napoleon being emperor
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Sir Walter Scott
- a prolific author of popular historical novels
- also collected and published traditional Scottish ballads and wrote poetry
- inspired Manzoni
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Klemens von Metternich of Austria
- Austria's chief negotiator and Prince who took the lead in devising the settlement arranged by the Congress of Vienna
- well-educated noble man
- served as minister in the Austrian cabinet 1809-1848
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Reign of Louis XVI
- French King who was tried and found guilty of treason
- showed more interest in personal hobbies than in the problems of govt.
- married to Marie-Antoinette
- his ineffectiveness along with his wife's growing popularity helped undermine the monarchy as an institution
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Simon Bolívar
- the European-educated son of a slave owner who became one of the leaders of the Latin American independence movement in the 1820s
- Bolivia is named after him
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Great Fear
- rural French peasants panicked that the beggars crowding the roads from food shortages might be part of an aristocratic plot to starve the people by burning crops/barns
- led to peasant attacks on aristocrats or on seigneurial records of peasants' dues
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Jacbon Club formed
- a French political club that inspired the formation of a national netwrok whose members dominated the revolutionary govt. during the Terror
- divided into 2 factions (Girondins & Mountain) after the fall of the monarchy in August 1792
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French Revolution + Napoleon
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Monarchy to Republic
- French revolutionaries first tried to establish a constitutional monarchy based on Enlightenment principles of human rights & rational govt.
- failed when the king attempted to raise a counterrevolutionary army
- war broke out in 1792, 2nd revolution began that deposed the king and established a republic in which all power rested in an elected legislature
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The Estates General opens at Versailles
- a body of deputies from the three estates (orders) of France: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and everyone else (Third Estate)
- Third Estate declared themselves + whoever would join the National Assembly--each deputy would vote as an individual
- clergy joined them, them nobles too
- Third Estate determined to carry through a constitutional revolution
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The Third Estate --> National Assembly
- Third Estate declares themselves + whoever would join the National Assembly--each deputy would vote as an individual
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"Tennis court oath"
- deputies meet on a nearby tennis court and swear an oath not to disband until they have given France a constitution that reflected their newly declared authority
- expressed the determination of the Third Estate to carry through a constitutional revolution
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Fall of the Bastille
- in response to the threat of military force, the common French armed themselves and attacked places where grain/arms were stored
- an armed crowd marched onthe Bastille (fortified prison that symbolized royal authority) --> chaotic battle, 100 citizens died, prison officials surrendered
- set precendent: common people willing to intervene violently at a crucial political moment
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"Feudalism" abolished
- in response to peasant unrest, National Assembly free dthe remaining serfs & eliminated all special priveleges in matters of taxation, including all seigneurial dues on land
- also mandated equality of opportunity in access to govt. positions --> talent, rather than birth, would be key to success --> Englightenment principles becoming law
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Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
- the preamble to the French constitution
- established the sovereignty of the nation & equal rights for citizens
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Women march to Versailles
- women joined by men in bringing the royal family back to Paris
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Emergence of conservatism
- political doctrine that rejected much of the Enlightenment and Revolution
- preferred monarchies over republics, tradition over revolution, and established religion over Enlightenment skepticism
- justified the restoration of the govt.
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Civil Constitution of the Clergy
- set pay scales for the clergy and provided that the voters elect their own parish priests and bishops just as they elected other officials
- new paper money, assignats
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Louis & Marie A. flee from Paris
- royal family escape in disguise from Paris and flee to the eastern border of France
- arrested in Varennes when they were recognized
- touched off demonstrations in Paris against the royal family, now regarded as traitors
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Declaration of war on Austria
- Louis hoped that a war w/ Austria would lead to the defeat of the Revolution
- Louis declares war on Austria, Prussia immediately enters on the Austrian side
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Insurreciton in Paris, attack on Tuileries
- frustated with the inaction of the Legislative Assembly, the sans-culottes (ordinary Parisians) organized an insurrection and attacked the Tuileries palace (king's home)
- lead to removal of king's authority
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September massacres
- as the Prussians approached Paris, mobs of common Parisians stormed overflowing prisons to seek out traitors who might help Prussia
- 11,000 inmates killed, including ordinary/innocent people
- showed the dark side of popular revolution, in which the common people demanded instant revenge on supposed enemies and conspirators
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First French Republic established
- after the second revolution of August 10, 1792, the National Convention met and established the first republic in French history
- would answer only to the people, not to any royal authority
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Reign of Terror
- saw the policy of the Terror established under the direction of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Rev. to arrest dissidents & execute opponents in order to protect the republic from its enemies; featured the Guillotine
- Maximilien Robespierre--leader of the committee, wanted to create a "republic of virtue"
- increased division, led to Robespierre's fall from power & a dismantling of govt. by terror
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Louis XVI is executed
- Girondins argued for clemency, exile, or popular referendum
- National Convention supported the Mountain, voted by narrow majority to execute the king
- Louis XVI went to the guillotine
- "king is only a man...no man is above the law"
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Beginning of uprising in the Vendée
- arrest of Girondin deputies sparked organize resistance in many parts of France
- in Vendeé region, resistance turned into bloody & prolonged civil war
- peasants, artisans, & weavers joined under noble leadership to form a "Catholic and Royal Army"
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Insurrection/arrest of the Girondins
- Marat was acquitted and Parisian militants marched into the National Convention on June 2, 1793, forcing the deputies to decree the arrest of their 29 Girondin colleagues (Girondins later opposed the Committiee of Public Safety's policies)
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Robespierre named to the Committee of Public Safety
- 12-member committee set up by the National Convention to be responsible for setting the course for govt./the war
- Robespierre was elected and became in effect its guiding spirit and the chief spokesman of the Revolution
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General Maximum established
- by National Convention in an effort to stabilize prices
- set limits on the prices of 39 essential commodities and on wages
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Marie Antoinette is executed
- Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris (set up in Paris & provincial centers that to try political suspects) convicted Marie-Antoinette of treason and sent her to the guillotine
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Thermidorian Reaction
- the violent backlash against the rule of Robespierre that dismantled the Terror & punished Jacobins & their supporters
- the new govt. released hudrends of suspects, arranged a temporary truce in the Vendée, purged Jacobins from local bodies & replaced them w/ their opponents, arrested & put to death terrorists in the Natl. Convention, etc.
- the Directory = 2-house legislatures, executive body, 5 directors
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Slavery abolished in the French colonies
- after a series of revolts and Spain offering freedom to individual slave rebels who joined the Spanish armies as long as they agreed to maintain the slave regime for the other blacks, the Natl. Convention formally abolished slavery and granted full rights to all black men
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Arrest, trial, executions of "ultra-revolutionaries"
- the Committee of Public Safety arrested and executed a handful of "ultrarevolutionaries" (a collection of local Parisian politicians)
- "The Revolution was devouring its own children"
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Arrest, trial, executions of Danton + followers
- Committee of Public Safety dealt with the "indulgents" (favored a moderation of the Terror)
- included deputy Danton, once a member of the committee & friend of Robespierre
- Revolution's most flamboyant orator, high-living, excitable politican
- at every critical turning point in natl. politics his voice had swayed opinion in the Natl. Convention
- Revolutionary Tribunal convicted him & followers of treason & sentenced them to death
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Arrest of Robespierre; beginning of end of Terror
- Robespierre appeared before the Convention with yet another list of deputies to be arrested
- many feared they would me named and shouted him down, ordered him to be arrested along w/ followers on the committee and other key players
- armed uprising led by the Paris city govt. failed to save Robespierre when most of the Natl. Guard took the side of the Convention
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Execution of Robespierre + followers
- Robespierre tries to kill himself with a pistol but only breaks his jaw
- him and scores of followers go to the guillotine
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Directory govt. takes office
- launched an extremely aggressive policy of creating semi-independent "sister republics" wherever the armies succeeded
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Succession of Italian victories by Bonaparte
- defeated the Austrian armies in N Italy and then created the Cisalpine Republic
- overwhelmed Venice and then handed it over to the Austrians in exchange for a peace agreement that lasted less than 2 years
- set up the Helvetic Republic and curtailed many Catholic church priveleges
- conquered the Papal States and installed a Roman Republic, forcing pope to flee to Siena
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Napoleon named First Consul
- Coup against Directory occurs
- Napoleon becomes First Consul--the most important of the three consuls established by the French Constitution of 1800
- the title was taken from ancient Rome
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Napoleon Bonaparte
- French general who became First Consul in 1799 & emperor in 1804; after losing the battle of Waterloo in 1815, he was exiled to the island of St. Helena
- ended the French Rev. & steered France toward an authoritarian state
- commissioned w/ the Catholic church & w/ exiled aristocrats willing to return to France
- his new Civil Code strengthened Enlightenment/Revolution principles with an insistence on a hierarchy (people having power over other people)
- patronized science/art
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Civil Code completed
- the French legal code formulated by Napoleon that ensured equal treatment under the law to all men and guaranteed religious liberty but curtailed many rights of women
- reasserted the Old Regim's patriarchical system of male dominance over women & insisted on a father's control over his children, which revolutionary legislation had limited
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Battle of Austerlitz
- considered Napoleon's greatest victory
- trounced the Austrians, who had been joined by their new ally, Russia
- fought on the first anniversary of his coronation
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Continental System
- the boycott of British goods in France and its satellites ordered by Napoleon
- had success but was later undermined by smuggling
- British retaliated by confiscating merchandise on ships that sailed into or out of ports from which the British were excluded by the System
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Invasion of Russia
- Napoleon striked quickly but the Russians avoided confrontation and retreated eastward
- Napoleon engaged the Russian force in battle of Borodino
- french: 30,000 men dead; Russians: 45,000
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Congress of Vienna
- face-to-face negotiations between the great powers to settle the boundaries of European states and determine who would rule each nation after the defeat of Napoleon
- conservatism bolstered this and in some places went hand in hand with a revival of religion
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Reform Bill of 1832
- a measure passed by the British Parliament to increase the number of male voters by about 50 percent and give representation to new cities in the north
- set a precedent for widening suffrage
- altered Britain's political structure in significant ways but gains were not revolutionary