Scientific revolution - the french revolution
Why did people begin to challenge accepted notions of the universe put forth by the church?
A combination of church corruption, failed crusades, literacy rates increasing, and lutheranism all contributed to the weakening power of the church
Why did the church condemn these new
scientific ideas?
eroded their power
if they were wrong about heliocentrism v geocentrism what else could they be wrong about?
center of universe = most important; humans not center = not important
Why would the rise of the English bourgeoisie weaken the authority of the King?
middle class was educated and relatively wealthy
wanted a direct say in their giverance, thus leading to declining power of the king
How did the Grandees and Levelers differ in
their political views?
Both roundheads but couldn’t agree of what would come after getting rid of an absolute monarchy
Levellers: Believed everyone should have the right to vote because everyone helped fight the civil war (led by Leveller Colonel Rainsborough)
Grandees: Believed not everyone deserves the right to vote unless they have money or land because they have ‘steak in the game’ (lead by General Ireton, cromwell’s son in law)
How did Oliver Cromwell enforce Puritan
ideas in the English Republic?
banned singing, dancing, theater, gambling, public celebrations, and public sports
How does an absolute monarch differ
from a limited constitutional monarchy?
Absolute Monarchy = No checks or balances
Limited/Constitutional Monarchy = There are checks/balances, usually by branches of government or other people
What is the difference between being
anti-absolutist and democratic?
Anti-Absolutist - just against a monarchy with all the power
Democratic - People either vote for reps who then decide law or people decide votes directly (in the people’s hands)
How did the English Civil War and Glorious Revolution address the question of the role of government and the social contract?
addressed both the role of people and their leaders
the ability for both to act in accordance and what happens when one side becomes too powerful
What does it mean to be a governing body? How do you properly govern people?
How did Locke’s and Hobbes’ theories on
government differ? How did their
experiences with the English Civil War
influence these theories?
Hobbes’: People are inherently bad- government needs to control to keep safe by all means necessary.
Locke’s: People are inherently good- don’t need tons of strict rules and supervision
English Civil War’s Influence: the brutality that Hobbes witnessed influenced his beliefs about humanity, whereas Locke having lived through a (relatively) more peaceful area has a more optimistic outlook
How did the Scientific Revolution lead to the Enlightenment?
Shift towards logic + reason
questioning of long held traditions and the reexamining of society
How did the philosophes want to change
the world?
By understanding the world and using natural science, reason and logic to change it
Why did the Enlightenment spread?
Increased accessibility of books through the invention of the printing press
The peoples’ discontentment with their power level.
Aided by the first encyclopedia complied diderot
everything is happening in france
How did the Enlightenment affect
women?
Opened doors for the advocacy of women’s rights
brought attention to the work of female scholars
gave women a place in ‘academia’
Philosophers believed: women are rational but only in the matters of domestic life
Did not believe in female emancipation
Why would Enlightenment thinkers
oppose emancipation?
Vehemently defended the right to personal property
slaves were deemed as property
in order to maintain their lifestyle of thinking and not working they needed money, probably generated from salve labor
enlightenment existed at the same point as slavery
Why did Enlightenment thinkers oppose
the active political participation of the
lower classes?
Fought for the the right to own and defend personal property
Lower classes were too poor to own property, didn’t have a place in government (to the englightened thinkers)
How did the Enlightenment influence the American and the French Revolution?
placed seeds of revolution
gave an alterative to absolute monarchies
empowered ‘lower’ class(es)
What were the causes of the American Revolution?
American colonists were being taxed but were not able to participate in government (ie elect representatives to parliament)
Began retaliating and were hit with heavier taxes
Common sense by Thomas Payne condemned monarchy altogether
American constitution was based off of English bill of rights
Was the American Revolution radical?
Yes: The first time the ‘underdog’ overthrew a huge monarchy; began the rejection of dynasties and monarchies, inspired other places to do the same
No: For large parts of the population it was relatively the same; women, poc, and poor people couldn’t vote, or participate in democracy but had their labor exploited.
Why did the Third Estate want to overthrow the Estates System?
every estate has 1 vote
first two estates = upper classes / 1% of society
third estate = 99% of society - carried the entirety of the taxes
if the first two estates was put to a vote; 1 & 2 ganged up on 3 and outnumbered them
How did Louis XIX attempt to address the problems of France?
calling the estates general: Unheard of for hundred of years
Aimed to help solve the instability in France due to financial problems
What were the initial goals of the National Assembly?
To create a new and fairer system of government
To write a new constitution for france
King Louis tired to calm them down by instructing the 1st and 2nd estates to join the third
Brought military troops to the Palace of Versailles
Began to transport ammunition and gunpowder around paris
What was the significance of the Caputing of Bastille
Symbol of the monarchy’s ability to imprison someone randomly for whatever reason
Was rumored to be stocked with ammunition
wasn’t there
Became a turning point for the revolution
Stormed bastille as a precautionary measure
they feared King Louis XVI would use violence to put down the revolution
The great fear occurred- a major grain shortage occurred
Rumors went around saying the whole thing was an aristocratic plot to harm the 3rd estate
Why would the leaders of the Revolution want to control the power of the Church?
To get rid of the “Old Order” in which the clergy were on top
If they wanted to change the estate system they would need to limit the power of the church and nobility which influenced the legislation they wrote
To what extent were the goals of the revolutionaries met during the moderate phase of the revolution?
Able to do away with the feudal system still present in france and special noble privileges (aka tax exemptions, hunting rights, feudal dues)
Confiscated property
Abolished mandatory tithes
French priests swore allegiance
How did Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety change France?
Robespierre gained power slowly starting in 1793
set out to build a “republic of virtue” by wiping out frances past
Committee of Public Safety : in charge of
Directing war effort
suppressing counter revolutionary activity
How did the Committee of Public Safety “protect” the revolution from internal threats?
They re did the calendar and added the metric system
divided year into 12 months of 30 days, renamed each month, no sundays because religion = old fashioned
outlawed white bread (bread of the aristocracy)
Dechristianize france
closed all churches in paris; towns followed suite
How was the Revolution perceived by outside countries?
German intellectuals celebrated : triumph of Reason and The Enlightenment.
Royal courts in Vienna and Berlin denounced the overthrow of the king
Why did the Convention turn on Robespierre?
He realized the revolution and new religious culture had gone to an extremes
began to arrest and execute members of the C.O.P.S.
but they turned on him and executing him
Absolutism
A sole ruler with no checks or balances
Divine Right
The belief that god was the reason you have a right to rule
Versailles
The elaborate palace the french monarchs lived in for centuries
Scientific Revolution
A time period in which there was a shift from theology to secularism, triumphed by logic and reason
Geocentric vs. Heliocentric Models
Geocentric - the earth is the center of the universe and everything revolves around it, championed by the greeks, bible and the church
Heliocentric - The earth revolves around the sun , proven correct by copernicus and Galileo
Scientific Method
Having a hypothesis and testing, the revising previous findings/knowledge based on your experiments
Nicolas Copernicus
Author of the heliocentric theory, kept his findings hidden until after his death, was a believer in the church and worked for them
Constitutional Monarchy
A king/queen with checks and balances often by other people or branches of government
Bourgeoisie
the middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes.
Grandees vs. Levelers
two factions of the parliamentarians:
Levellers: Believed everyone should have the right to vote because everyone helped fight the civil war (led by Leveller Colonel Rainsborough)
Grandees: Believed not everyone deserves the right to vote unless they have money or land because they have ‘steak in the game’ (lead by General Ireton, cromwell’s son in law)
Oliver Cromwell
The dictator following the English Civil war, held england in a military dictatorship until is death
The Glorious Revolution
William and Mary’s ‘invasion’ after James II
William and Mary, King and Queen of England
favored rulers after the Civil war, Dictatorship and reinstated monarchy
English Bill of Rights
The Bill firmly established the principles of frequent parliaments, free elections and freedom of speech within Parliament
The Social Contract
Agreement between the governors and subjects
John Locke
English philosopher and physician believed that people have three natural rights: life, liberty and property.
Thomas Hobbes
Enlightened thinker; a government headed by a king was the best form that the sovereign could take.
Natural Rights
The Enlightened belief that humans had a set of rights that were guaranteed because they were alive
Enlightenment
human reasoning could discover truths about the world, religion, and politics and could be used to improve the lives of humankind.
Philosophes
A group of radical thinkers and writers in France in the eighteenth century,
Voltaire
Enlightened thinker; believed social progress could be achieved through reason and that no authority—religious or political or otherwise—should be immune to challenge by reason. He emphasized in his work the importance of tolerance, especially religious tolerance.
Montesquieu
Enlightened thinker; a government that was elected by the people was the best form of government. He argued that the best government would be one in which power was balanced among three groups of officials
Rousseau
Enlightened thinker; He asserts that a government should express the will of its people and allow for the people to possess individual freedoms. The laws made are by the citizens' will, so people follow their own will and in doing so are abiding the law. (hated women ….)
Salons
Where the philosphes discussed and debated ideas
Mary Wollstonecraft
What was the Enlightenment’s influence on Declaration of Independence?
“Life, Liberty, Pursuit of happiness” strong american values
Estates General First, Second, and Third Estate
French social structure pre revolution
Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette
The Tennis Court Oath
The Third estate turned national assembly which swore they wouldn;t disband until they created a constitution
National Assembly
Third estate when they left the estate system
Storming of the Bastille
Turning point in the revolution
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
it sets out the “natural and inalienable” rights, which are freedom, ownership, security, resistance to oppression; it recognizes equality before the law and the justice system, and affirms the principle of separation of powers.
Women’s March on Versaille - Why is this significant in the grand scheme of the French Rev?
Demonstrated a successful storming of the palace proved that the monarchy is subject to the will of the people gave the revolutionaries confidence in the power of the people over the king.
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
An attempt to reorganize the Roman Catholic Church in France on a national basis.
French Constitution of 1791
It limited the power of the king by forming the judiciary, Legislature, and Executive.
Maximillian Robespierre
best known for spearheading the Reign of Terror. He was an important member of the Jacobin political party.
The Committee of Public Safety
Robespierre attempt to counteract rival revolution movements and stay in power
The Guillotine
a machine for cutting off a person's head by means of a heavy blade sliding in two upright grooved posts, revolutionary invention
Jean Paul Marat
He was a vocal advocate for the execution of King Louis XVI and a staunch supporter of the radical Jacobin faction, told the government who was a suspected traitor and executed them.
The Cult of the Supreme Being
a form of deism (belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe.) established in France by Robespierre during the French Revolution. It was intended to become the state religion of the new French Republic and a replacement for Roman Catholicism and its rival, the Cult of Reason.
Napoleon rise and rule
basically dictator/emperor
nobles were reinstated but had no privileges
Catholic Church returned but it was weak because it had lost land and ability to collect tithes
How did Napoleon become emperor?
1804
Plebiscite (vote)
declared himself emperor
Napoleonic Code: 1804
written law!
claimed equality
Meritocracy: based on ability, not social position or wealth
legalized the property claims by those who gained land during the revolution
freedom of religion
state rights trump individual rights
men trump women
penalties for political crimes became more serious
reinstituted slavery in French colonies
The Concordat of 1801
Catholicism is primary religion
validated selling of Church lands
govt would pay the salaries of the clergy
Plebiscite
(direct) vote of all the members of an electorate
Napoleon’s Fall
monarchy restored
from 1815 to 1870, king was either Bourbon or Bonaparte
not by divine right but by constitutional monarchy
How was Napoleon defeated?
Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden formed a coalition
defeated French forces at Leipzig (w/British financing)
Napoleon's Rule (timeline)
1799: Overthrew Directory, became First Consul of France
1802: Consul for Life
1804: Emperor
Napoleonic Code
Lycées: education reform (meritocracy)
standardization of Europe (metric system and Code)
Napoleon system for conquered nations/regions
appointed surrogate rulers (nepotism)
-> resulted in resistance and increased nationalism
Continental system
1806-1811(12)
blockade of British trade (countries can't import British goods)
isolate Britain economically since they couldn't be defeated militarily
France and couple other nations particpated
Napoleon and Russia
1812- Russia dropped out of Continental system
war ensued = costly, Russia set fire to cities (to limit their supplies)
French eventually retreated due to famine and harsh winter
Napoleon's first exile
1814, Napoleon abdicated
Treaty of Fontainebleau: exiled to Elba (w/income)
royalists took control and restored Louis XVIII
1 year later, he escaped, gathered an army and took the throne in France again
Napoleon's second exile
allied powers defeated Napoleon at Waterloo (1815)
exiled to St. Helena where he died