French and Haitian Revolutions Test - Key Terms

ancien régime

• Social hierarchy under King Louis XVI organized into 3 diff. estates (in place for over 3 centuries)

  • 1st estate: clergy —> 2% of pop. who don’t pay taxes

  • 2nd estate: nobility —> land owners who paid little to none

  • 3rd estate: everyone else —> diverse, laborers/specialized workers

In this system, 3rd estate wondered why, even if they’re making the same money as the nobles, they had to pay. This system declined due to discontent of 3rd estate + revolutionary ideas.

National Assembly

• 3rd estate seceded from the Estates General and declared themselves the National Assembly (to better represent the ppl)

  • After Louis XVI summoned Estates General to authorize new taxes, the 3rd estate demanded new reforms, leading to the 1st and 2nd estates cancelling their votes

Estates General

• Representative assembly of all 3 estates who had not met in 175 yrs (due to the many generations of abs. power)

  • Unequal representation among the 3 estates (almost all of pop. was in 3rd estate w/ few in 1st and 2nd + 1 vote for each)

    • 1st and 2nd against 3rd

Tennis Court Oath

• National Assembly met at a court bc Louis XIV locked them out of their meeting room

  • National Assembly refused to disband until a new constitution was created

Imp. bc challenged Louis XIV’s monarchy + fueled support for rev. and a fair democracy.

Storming of the Bastille

• Masses responded to increased troops in Paris by storming the Bastille (a prison and military arsenal) on July 14th, 1789

  • Did this to arm themselves, getting weapons to show their power

  • Crowd beheaded guardsmen and released the prisoners —> psychological, showing other gov’t workers that they’re next

  • Violence radiated to countryside - “Great Fear”

Seen as the symbolic beginning of the French Revolution.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (August 1789)

• Drafted by the National Assembly; acted as a Bill of Rights, guaranteeing basic liberties to the French people.

  • Inspired by American Revolution

  • Liberty, sovereignty, equality

• Moderate (only giving these rights to men)

The Convention (Aka the National Convention)

• National Assembly becomes the National Convention (very radical)

  • Members elected by universal manhood suffrage (all men could vote, peasants included)

• Monarchy abolished; France became a republic (voter directly representing people who represent them)

  • King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette executed by guillotine in 1793

    • She was killed bc she had same idea as king + produced heir for the king + was Austrian and Austria was an enemy

  • Some revolutionary thinkers thought that if the king was still alive, monarchy could still be restored

Maximillien Robespierre + Reign of Terror

• Dissident elite; led the National Convention and the Jacobins (most radical faction of the revolutionaries). 

  • Well-educated, natural leader

• Led to Committee of Public Safety - emergency dictatorial government designed to “protect the Revolution from its enemies” —> mass arrests and executions (via guillotine)

• Other Jacobin ideas:

  • Tried to eliminate influence of Christianity from French society (e.g. revolutionary calendar)

  • Encouraged class and gender equality

• Reign of Terror ended due to growing opposition of Robespierre, instability, and violence

  • Guillotined in July 1794, marking end of terror

Jacobins

• Radical political club/movement during French revolution

  • Led by Robespierre, advocating for democracy, equality, and a centralized gov’t

• Dominated during National Convention, pushing for abolition of monarchy under the Committee of Public Safety

• Lost power after Robespierre’s execution

National Convention = main governing body, Committee of Public Safety = dominated by Jacobins/Robespierre

Committee of Public Safety

• Emergency dictatorial government designed to “protect the Revolution from its enemies” —> mass arrests and executions

The Directory

• A reactionary, more conservative gov’t (pragmatic) attempting to restore order after Jacobins + Robespierre

• Shared powers between a bicameral legislature and 5 person executive

• Failed - too many executives; too difficult to make decisions

• Ends when Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in 1799

• Napoleon rose to prominence through successful military campaigns.

• Napoleon successfully overthrew the Directory in a coup d’etat (overthrow of the state).

  • Elected by the people (plebiscite) as First Consul (expanding voting rights, so ppl can vote); later crowned himself as emperor —> became absolute ruler.

The Concordat

• Concordat of 1801: agreement between Catholic Church (pope) and French gov’t

  • Aimed to resolve religious tension from radical Convention —> provided religious tolerance

  • Religious toleration; Catholicism majority religion (not official state religion), but gov’t still had ultimate authority (Church used to have ultimate authority, now it didn’t)

  • Church renounced their claims for the confiscated land taken during Revolution

Napoleon and his reforms

• French military leader who seized power in 1799

• Dominated much of Europe

• Besides civil code + concordat, he:

  • Expanded education system by adding primary schools, high schools (lycées), civil service schools, and military institutes.

    • ”Careers open to talent” - merit based civil service 

    • Napoleon wanted French citizens to be educated and “useful”

  • Limits of his rule:

    • Napoleon also instilled a secret police that spied on and imprisoned opposition.

    • Women’s rights (e.g. divorce) limited compared to men

Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815)

• Goals:

  • Spread revolutionary ideas throughout Europe (similar to earlier French rev. wars)

  • Solidify Napoleon’s supremacy (trying to take over as much of Europe as possible)

• Wars were very successful at first —> by 1809, most of Western Europe was controlled by (or allied with) France.

• Ended in failure —> Napoleon’s forces were overextended during the campaign to conquer Russia (too much land in too short of a time).

  • Russia used scorched-earth (destroying everything so Napoleon couldn’t access anything/have any resources)

• Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain formed an alliance against him (aka Quadruple Alliance).

• Alliance formed him to retreat —> Napoleon then abdicated and was later exiled.

After Napoleon

• France became a constitutional monarchy (again!) —> Bourbons (old royal family) restored to power.

• Quadruple Alliance met at Congress of Vienna (met at conference to restore post-Napoleonic Europe to order) formed the Concert of Europe to recover lost territory and balance of power in Europe

  • Concert of Europe was highly conservative international alliance —> a reaction to the liberal French revolution

  • Congress of Vienna = Concert of Europe

  • Lasted until 1848

The Civil Code

• Civil Code (aka Napoleonic Code) 

  • Standardized laws across France, replacing inconsistent legal systems of the Ancien Régime.

  • Upheld property and civil rights from the Revolution.

  • Does not uphold gender equality.

Haitian Revolution

Toussaint L’Ouverture