AICE European History Chapter 1

republic

a form of government in which the head of state is not a monarch, and where supreme power usually lies with a group of citizens elected by the people

first stage of the French Revolution

1789-1795: rapid development from moderate to extreme opposition to the ruling classes

dictator

an absolute ruler who controls a country without democratic institutions

second stage of the French Revolution

up to 1799: return to caution and conservatism

third stage of the French Revolution

rule of Napoleon "first consul": established himself as the country's leader; became emperor in 1804

long-term causes of the French Revolution

- extended rule of kings discouraged reform
- taxes fell heavily on the peasantry
- Roman Catholic Church supported monarchy and opposed reforms challenging the ancien régime
- different regions with diverse customs in France; language, culture, and laws between the North and South
- financial debt; King Louis XVI needed the influential institutions agreement to impose higher taxes on the wealthy
- poor harvests; food shortages and rising food prices led to poverty and starvation; indifference of the king/upper classes to the lower classes' suffering created tension
- taxation and poor condition of the economy
- Marie Antoinette increased unpopularity

short-term causes of the French Revolution

- refusal of the nobility to accept reforms that would interfere with traditional privileges
- the Church and nobility could ally and outvote the Third Estate to block reform
- Third Estate demanded double representatives
- Expensive wars led to bankruptcy
- French tax system: heavy on middle and working classes while the upper classes and nobility benefited from exemptions and advantages

ancien régime

"old order": monarchical governments and their strictly hierarchical societies before the French Revolution

the Enlightenment

favoured new ideas about government and the rights of citizens; threatened monarchy and encouraged rebellion; pioneered by Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), John Locke (1632-1704), Pierre Bayle (1647-1706), Isaac Newton (1643-1727), and Voltaire (1694-1778)

Viscount Calonne and Jacques Necker

tried to introduce reforms that included plans to raise money by imposing higher taxes on the wealthy

the Estates General

- the First Estate: the Church; not ordinary clergy, but upper levels of the Church hierarchy; chosen informally by other clergy (not officially elected); 10,000 clergy
- the Second Estate: the nobility; informally elected; few nobles were willingly to embrace reform, but majority resisted change; 400,000 nobles
- the Third Estate: everyone else; peasantry and majority middle class; demands represented interests of the middle class rather than the peasantry; sought change, not revolution; 25 million people

extra information on the Estates General

- collective vote of each estate carried equal weight
- the Church and nobility usually became allies to outvote the Third Estate on reform
- the Third Estate was granted double its number of representatives (became irrelevant because king upheld traditional voting)
- meeting began in May 1789

General Estates Meeting

- each Estate made a list of grievances (cahiers)
- agreed on: the need for a constitution, liberty of the press, and to end internal trade barriers
- the First and Second Estate refused to surrender their taxation privileges
- king showed lack of leadership; weak support, no firm decisions, and couldn't enforce his own will

internal trade barriers

restrictions imposed by a government on the exchange of goods and services within a particular country

results of the General Estates Meeting

- Third Estate representatives broke away from the Estates General to form its own assembly; to fairly address the lower classes' demands
- clergy and nobles who favoured reform joined
- called itself the National Constituent Assembly

National Constituent Assembly

- July 9, 1789: formed to fairly address the demands of the lower classes
- the Third Estate
- king perceived it to be a challenge to his authority
- June 19, 1789: the hall where the Assembly would meet was to be locked (king's orders)
- June 20, 1789: met at a tennis court in the Saint-Louis district of Versailles
- dissolved in September 1791

Tennis Court Oath

- June 20, 1789: 576 members swore to not disperse until a new constitution for France was established
- first act of defiance against the king
- first demonstration that decisions about the government of the country could be made by the people

Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau

- nobleman who supported the cause of the Third Estate and joined the National Assembly
- might've suited the role as an intermediary between the king and revolutionaries; popular with people, but king and court distrusted him

the Storming of the Bastille

- fears that the king's army would crush the unofficial National Assembtl gathering made French citizens go to the center of Paris to support the movement that defended the rights of the people
- July 14, 1789: crowds in Paris stormed the Bastille to seize guns and ammunition to use against the king's soldiers
- fortress and prison
- symbol of the tyranny of the acien régime
- seven prisoners at the time

De Launey

- governor
- struck by a thousand blows
- head was cut off and hoisted at the end of a pike

sans-culottes

- one of the most radical groups
- demanded democracy and equality, willing to resort to violence
- rumors that the king would overthrow the revolution made panic spread from Paris to the provinces
- peasants began to riot; seized property from landlords, stole food from stores, destroyed records of lists of services and taxes to be paid by peasants

émigrés

some nobles (emigrants) who tried to persuade other European monarchies to lend support to put down the revolution

the August Decrees

- a series of new laws that effectively brought about the end of feudalism in France and granted more rights to peasants and workers
- nobility agreed to abolish compulsory service by peasants (unpaid work to repair roads) and to abandon the taxes that peasants usually paid to their landlords at harvest time
- abolished law courts run by the nobility
- the Church gave up the right to collect payments from the rest of the population

the Declaration of the Rights of Man

- based on the American Declaration of Independence
- all men were born free; rights of equality, liberty, security, and property
- imprisonment without trial would be banned
- taxation was fairly divided to all people based on their wealth
- power lay with the people; no person or group should be allowed to make decisions that went against the will of the people

feudalism

relied on people holding land in return for service or labor to a wealthy landowner, placing them in a position of servitude

counter-revolutionaries

- those who opposed the revolution
- king and the rest of the royal family
- nobility
- higher clergy
- foreign governments; rebellion might break out in their own countries
- some lower classes remained loyal to the Catholic king (Brittany and Vendée in the far west)

more information about counter-revolutionaries

- most hardline thought the king should refuse to accept any changes to the way France was governed; determined to restore the ancien régime
- moderate ones felt certain reforms were reasonable; believed the king should accept some limits on his power
- couldn't agree on the extent of these changes
- counter-revolutionaries were not well-organized; had no clear program of action to suppress the rebellion and regain control

revolutionaries

- lacked strong leadership and clear agenda for reform
- solutions for lower class grievances were vague
- demanded equality, liberty, security, and land ownership; no detail about what this meant or how it should be implemented

Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

- moderate nobleman suggested as an intermediary between the king and revolutionaries
- expressed little enthusiasm for representing the demands of the more radical revolutionaries

the Civil Constitution 1790

- the Church became a target for reformers
- monasteries were dissolved and the Church's right to raise taxes was abolished
- July 1790: Assembly introduced the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
- pope deprived of authority over the Church; no longer appoint archbishops or bishops (or any clergy under them); bishops and parish clergy were elected by state officials
- bishoprics (districts under the control of a bishop) were reduced
- some Church offices were abolished
- clergy paid by the Church rather than the state; role was to be exclusively religious
- most clergymen supported reforms and the king accepted the Constitution
- Assembly then added a requirement for the clergy to sign a loyalty oath to the Constitution
- only 7 bishops and half the parish clergy agreed
- pope condemned the Civil Constitution and all the revolutionary reforms that were introduced

the Flight to Varennes 1791

- King Louis XVI didn't flee France at first: believed it was wrong for a king to abandon his country in trouble or another royalist might take over
- king became largely unsuccessful in suppressing unrest
- foreign monarchs expressed disapproval but no one offered help in putting down the revolution
- escaped abroad to gather more support effectively
- June 20, 1791: king and his family fled Paris; went to the royalist town of Montmédy; supposed to meet Austrian troops sent by Marie Antoinette's family; flight was poorly organized and disguises were unconvincing; coach was halted at Varennes (30 miles from the border); arrested and taken back to Paris
- stayed there until their executions in 1793