The French Revolution

HIS 111: Western Civilization – Early Modern to Present Learning Unit 2: Lecture The French Revolution Speaker: Bruce Dickerson The American Revolution ushered in a transformative era, and with the adoption of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the first truly democratic, constitutional form of government based on the ideas of the Enlightenment came into existence. Americans established a government that was divided between three branches with a separation of powers that also provided for a strong central government. This American experiment in self-governance demonstrated that the ideas of the Enlightenment could become reality and certainly influenced political developments in Europe, perhaps contributing to the outbreak of the French Revolution. The revolution in France was also an attempt to embrace Enlightenment ideas, but the causes of the French Revolution were many. The American Constitutional Convention of 1787 France was a society that was divided along class lines with legal inequality existing between the three Estates of the clergy, the aristocracy, and commoners. The overwhelming majority of the population of France were commoners. Most of these commoners were poor peasant farmers who found it increasingly difficult to meet the demands of taxation. This political and social inequality was an important source of the growing discontent in France. Along with a Meeting of the Estates General bankrupt, ineffective government, the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment was more than enough to bring about revolutionary change. In 1788, the government of Louis XVI faced widespread unrest and the threat of financial collapse. Attempts to reform the system had failed, so Louis took the unprecedented step of summoning the Estates-General. He asked members of the three Estates to come to Paris for the first time since 1614. An assembly convened at Versailles in May 1789, but it quickly deadlocked over how to count votes, either by a group for each estate or by each individual representative. Page 1 of 7 HIS 111: Western Civilization – Early Modern to Present Learning Unit 2: Lecture The members of the Third Estate, the commoners, believed this would lead to the continuation of privileges for the First and Second Estates. The Third Estate proceeded to boldly proclaim itself the National Assembly. This illegal act succeeded because of the hesitancy of Louis XVI to act promptly to suppress it. Many of the citizens of Paris supported the actions of the National Assembly and were fearful that the government would use military to disband the Assembly. They proceeded to capture the Bastille prison which was an armory in Paris on July 14. In August, the National Assembly Storming the Bastille adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen with its natural rights philosophy, and in October, the women of Paris walked to Versailles and forced the king to accompany them back to the city. The National Assembly established a committee to begin work on a new constitution which was not completed until 1791. This constitution established a constitutional monarchy which allowed the National Assembly to make and pass laws, but retained the right of the king to veto laws and to appoint ministers. From 1789 to 1791 while work on the constitution was being Execution of Louis XVI completed, the National Assembly assumed the power of governance. The Assembly issued The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen which was basically the ideological framework for the revolutionary change that was taking place. The Assembly also abolished any remaining privileges of the nobility that were the last vestiges of feudalism, and in 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy was put into effect. Most of the lands belonging to the Catholic Church were confiscated and the clergy was brought under the control of the state. In June of 1791, the king tried to flee the country in disguise. He was captured and brought back to Paris. In late 1791, the Austrian Emperor Leopold II (the brother of Marie Antoinette) and the Prussian King Frederick William began to organize a force that would reestablish the monarchy in France. In response, the National Assembly in France declared war on Austria. In 1792, a newly elected National Convention was convened. One of the first actions of this legislative body was to abolish the monarchy and establish Page 2 of 7 HIS 111: Western Civilization – Early Modern to Present Learning Unit 2: Lecture a republic. In an attempt to prevent the return of the monarchy, in 1793, the Convention ruled the king was guilty of treason, and Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were guillotined. Meanwhile, a number of French nobles and their families had fled France for neighboring countries. Many of these nobles joined forces with the Prussians and Austrians in their war with France. At first, things did not go well for the French, and the Prussian army almost reached Paris. The National Convention was faced with numerous problems, and in response to these challenges, they created a twelve member executive Committee of Public Safety. This committee quickly came under the leadership of a radical Jacobin, Maximilien Robespierre. The Jacobins were able to take power and retain control of the government, in part, because of the support of the sans culottes. The Committee ordered a universal mobilization, or draft, called the levee en masse to raise an army that could meet the challenge of Austria and Prussia. This allowed the French to mobilize a massive force of over a million men by 1794. Robespierre Because France was now a republic, or the first “people’s government,” the army was looked upon as being a citizen army that truly represented the interests of the people and not just the interests of a king. Historians credit the success of the French forces, from this early period up through the Napoleonic era, with the nationalistic spirit with which the French military fought in support of their government. This was an important step in the establishment of modern nationalism. The phrase “liberté, égalité, fraternité” had become the slogan of the French Revolution, and this phrase embodied the feelings of nationalistic pride which French citizens felt in the new society they were attempting to create. Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, or Death Page 3 of 7 HIS 111: Western Civilization – Early Modern to Present Learning Unit 2: Lecture By 1793, the Austrians and Prussians were joined by the British and Spanish in a coalition against France. However, in 1794, the new French army won a series of victories forcing Prussia and Spain out of the war, leaving only Austria and Britain still fighting. These years were also the most radical phase of the French Revolution. The Committee of Public Safety rounded up everyone who expressed any opposition to the revolution, and in what is known as the Reign of Terror, thousands of people were guillotined. By 1794, however, the radical Jacobins under the leadership of Robespierre had outlived their usefulness. In what is called the Thermidorian Reaction, a new government was formed, and Robespierre was executed. A new constitution was established which created a bicameral legislature and an executive committee of five members, known as the Directory. The new constitution Napoleon Bonaparte also eliminated universal suffrage and replaced it with suffrage that was limited to property owners. During the Directory phase of the French Revolution, the fighting continued. By 1796, a young general by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte had emerged as the conquering hero. His French army fighting in Italy against the Austrians was victorious. Following his victories in Italy, Napoleon returned to France and organized an expedition to Egypt. For a variety of reasons, this expedition ended in failure, but despite this, Napoleon’s reputation as a conquering hero was preserved. Upon his return to France The Battle of the Pyramids in 1799, he was added to the five member executive in Egypt committee of the Directory. Napoleon then quickly organized a coup, had himself proclaimed the first consul, and took control of the committee. In 1802, Napoleon was appointed consul for life, and in 1804, he crowned himself as the emperor of France. Thus, the French attempt to bring an end to the arbitrary rule of one person ended with the dictatorial rule of Napoleon. However, Napoleon believed that he was the protector of the French Revolution. Napoleon established a new code of laws, or Civil Code, that preserved the basic equality of all citizens before the law, preserved the idea of religious Catholic clergy take the civil oath required toleration, and outlawed serfdom and feudalism. Thus, the by the Concordat of 1801 Page 4 of 7 HIS 111: Western Civilization – Early Modern to Present Learning Unit 2: Lecture important principles of equality and liberty that defined the French Revolution were enshrined in the law. But, Napoleon also included in the Civil Code provisions that outlawed trade unions and strikes, rescinded laws that had made divorce easy to obtain, and reinstituted the patriarchal rights of the father over children. In essence, the Napoleonic Code was a mixed bag of liberal and conservative laws. Napoleon also attempted to reconcile with the Catholic Church. He established an agreement with the pope known as the Concordat, and as a result, the Catholic Church was no longer the open enemy of the French government. The Catholic authorities agreed to not challenge the French confiscation of Church property. In return, Catholicism was recognized as the religion that represented the majority of the French population, and Catholic seminaries were allowed to reopen. In 1799, when Napoleon assumed the title of First Consul, France was still at war with a second coalition of European powers that included Great Britain, Austria, and Russia.

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