TheFrenchRevolutionandNapoleonI(17741815)

The French Revolution and Napoleon I (17741815)

This section deals with the origins, outbreak, course and impact of the French Revolution. It
focuses on the social, economic, political and intellectual challenges confronting the Ancien
Rgime and the stages of the revolutionary process during this period, culminating in the rise
and rule of Napoleon Bonaparte. The section requires investigation of the impact of the French
Revolution, as well as Napoleons domestic and foreign policies, upon France and its European
neighbours.
Crisis of the Ancien Rgime: role of the monarchy, specifically Louis XVI; intellectual,
political, social, financial and economic challenges
Monarchy to republic: causes and significance of the Revolution; the 1791
Constitution; the fate of the monarchy; the terror; Robespierre; the Thermidorean reaction
The political, social and economic impact of the Revolution; French revolutionary wars
(17921799)
Establishment of, nature of, and collapse of the Directory (17951799)
Rise and rule of Napoleon (17991815); impact of Napoleons domestic and foreign
policies on France
Napoleonic Wars (18031815); collapse of the Napoleonic Empire; military defeat; the
Hundred
Days

Monarchytorepublic
CausesandSignificanceoftheRevolution
The1791Constitution
Thefateofthemonarchy
Theterror
Robespierre
TheThermidoreanreaction

Significance of the Revolution

The primary significance of the French Revolution was that it removed power from a small
group of elite rulers and established a democratic leadership representing the French
citizenry.
The French Revolution signals the VICTORY OF DEMOCRACY OVER TYRANNY. The Revolution
instituted a new political culture based on the core values of the nation, citizen,
representative (or direct) democracy, and ideological justification of politics. The 1791
Constitution
The Revolution saw the Third State finally recognising their common goals, and saw
themselves as a political force, with rights and power that should not be less than those of
the elite:
The French Revolution also signals the VICTORY OF CAPITALISM OVER FEUDALISM (or the
bourgeoisie over the nobility). Marxist view: in revolutions political and legal changes catch
with more drawn out economic changes.
Finally, the French Revolutions is the VICTORY OF THE MODERN STATE OVER ABSOLUTISM. In
Tocquevilles view the patchwork system of the absolutism, that made it so hated, was
replaced by the Revolution with the more bureaucratic and centralised modern state. In the
modern state there is more freedom but also more control.
Karl Marx was a philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. Born in Trier to a
middle-class family, he later studied political economy and Hegelian philosophy.
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clrel de Tocqueville was a French diplomat, political scientist, and historian. He was best
known for his works Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution.

This revolution showed to the world that governments should work for people. French people
united for one idea to get rid of absolute monarchy and to create republic which would be
fair to all people. This revolution threatened other monarchs in Europe and encouraged
people all around the continent to stand for their rights.
After Great France Revolution, romanticism began and people in Europe became interested
in history of their countries, archaeology and started looking for their roots and folklore.
After French Revolution in 19th century the idea of the nation-state was born. That's why in
today's Europe there are a lot of small countries.
The Revolution birthed the modern nation state. It ended the last vestiges of feudalism in
Western and Central Europe. It spread Enlightenment ideas across Europe. It reshaped the
border of Europe. It led to the rise of nationalism, which would unify Germany and break
apart the Austrian Empire.
After French Revolution modern politics started to take place. This Revolution wasn't the
direct cause for modern politics - last empires ended more than 100 years later but
ideologies such as liberalism and conservatism emerged.

The1791Constitution

Constitution of 1791, French constitution created by the National Assembly during the French Revolution. It retained the monarchy, but
sovereignty effectively resided in the Legislative Assembly, which was elected by a system of indirect voting. The franchise was restricted
to active citizens who paid a minimal sum in taxes; about two-thirds of adult men had the right to vote for electors and to choose certain
local officials directly. The constitution lasted less than a year.
The National Assembly began the process of drafting a constitution. The Declaration of the Rights of Man, adopted on 27 August 1789
eventually became the preamble of the constitution adopted on 3 September 1791.
A twelve-member Constitutional Committee was convened on 14 July 1789 (coincidentally the day of the Storming of the Bastille). Its task
was to do much of the drafting of the articles of the constitution. It included originally two members from the First Estate, (Champion de
Cic, Archbishop of Bordeaux and Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun); two from the Second (the comte de Clermont-Tonnerre and the marquis
de Lally-Tollendal); and four from the Third (Jean Joseph Mounier, Abb Sieys, Nicholas Bergasse, and Isaac Ren Guy le Chapelier).
The main controversies early on surrounded the issues of what level of power to be granted to the king of France (i.e.: veto, suspensive or
absolute) and what form would the legislature take (i.e.: unicameral or bicameral). The Constitutional Committee proposed a bicameral
legislature, but the motion was defeated 10 September 1789 (849-89) in favor of one house; the next day, they proposed an absolute veto,
but were again defeated (673-325) in favor of a suspensive veto, which could be over-ridden by three consecutive legislatures.
The main controversies early on surrounded the issues of what level of power to be granted to the king of France (i.e.: veto, suspensive or
absolute) and what form would the legislature take (i.e.: unicameral or bicameral). The Constitutional Committee proposed a bicameral
legislature, but the motion was defeated 10 September 1789 (849-89) in favor of one house; the next day, they proposed an absolute veto,
but were again defeated (673-325) in favor of a suspensive veto, which could be over-ridden by three consecutive legislatures.
A second Constitutional Committee quickly replaced it, and included Talleyrand, Abb Sieys, and Le Chapelier from the original group,
as well as new members Gui-Jean-Baptiste Target, Jacques Guillaume Thouret, Jean-Nicolas Dmeunier, Franois Denis Tronchet, and
Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-tienne, all of the Third Estate.
Their greatest controversy faced by this new committee surrounded the issue of citizenship. Would every subject of the French Crown be
given equal rights, as the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen seemed to promise, or would there be some restrictions? The October
Days (56 October) intervened and rendered the question much more complicated. In the end, a distinction was held between active
citizens (over the age of 25, paid direct taxes equal to three days' labor) which had political rights, and passive citizens, who had only civil
rights. This conclusion was intolerable to such radical deputies as Maximilien Robespierre, and thereafter they never could be reconciled
to the Constitution of 1791.

Committee of Revisions
A second body, the Committee of Revisions, was struck September 1790. Because the National Assembly was both a
legislature and a constitutional convention, it was not always clear when its decrees were constitutional articles or mere
statutes. It was the job of this committee to sort it out. The committee became very important in the days after the
Champs de Mars Massacre, when a wave of revulsion against popular movements swept France and resulted in a
renewed effort to preserve powers for the Crown. The result is the rise of the Feuillants, a new political faction led by
Barnave, who used his position on the committee to preserve a number of powers for the Crown, such as the nomination
of ambassadors, military leaders, and ministers.
Results
After very long negotiations, the constitution was reluctantly accepted by King Louis XVI in September 1791. Redefining
the organization of the French government, citizenship and the limits to the powers of government, the National Assembly
set out to represent the interests of the general will. It abolished many institutions which were injurious to liberty and
equality of rights. The National Assembly asserted its legal presence in French government by establishing its
permanence in the Constitution and forming a system for recurring elections. The Assembly's belief in a sovereign nation
and in equal representation can be seen in the constitutional separation of powers. The National Assembly was the
legislative body, the king and royal ministers made up the executive branch and the judiciary was independent of the
other two branches. On a local level, the previous feudal geographic divisions were formally abolished, and the territory of
the French state was divided into several administrative units, Departments (Dpartements), but with the principle of
centralism.
Evaluation

The Assembly, as constitution-framers, were afraid that if only representatives governed France, it was likely to be ruled by the
representatives' self-interest; therefore, the king was allowed a suspensive veto to balance out the interests of the people. By the same
token, representative democracy weakened the kings executive authority.
The constitution was not egalitarian by today's standards. It distinguished between the propertied active citizens and the poorer passive
citizens. Women lacked rights to liberties such as education, freedom to speak, write, print and worship.
Keith M. Baker writes in his essay Constitution that the National Assembly threaded between two options when drafting the Constitution:
they could modify the existing, unwritten constitution centered on the three estates of the Estates General or they could start over and
rewrite it completely. The National Assembly wanted to reorganize social structure and legalize itself: while born of the Estates General of
1789, it had abolished the tricameral structure of that body.
With the onset of war and the threat of the revolution's collapse, radical Jacobin and ultimately republican conceptions grew enormously in
popularity, increasing the influence of Robespierre, Danton, Marat and the Paris Commune. When the King used his veto powers to
protect non-juring priests and refused to raise militias in defense of the revolutionary government, the constitutional monarchy proved
unworkable and was effectively ended by the 10 August insurrection. A National Convention was called, electing Robespierre as its first
deputy; it was the first assembly in France elected by universal male suffrage. The convention declared France a republic on 22
September 1792

The Champ de Mars Massacre took place on 17 July 1791 in Paris in the midst of the French Revolution. The event is named after the
site of the massacre, the Champ de Mars. Two days before, the National Constituent Assembly issued a decree that the king, Louis
XVI, would remain king under a constitutional monarchy. This decision came after King Louis XVI and his family had unsuccessfully
tried to flee France in the Flight to Varennes the month before. Later that day, leaders of the republicans in France rallied against this
decision, eventually leading royalist Lafayette to order the massacre.
The idea that Louis planned on fleeing the Tuileries palace began in early 1791. The escape event was not subtly planned, and enough
suspicions were aroused in those working in the palace that the information trickled down to newspapers. The Marquis de Lafayette
promised on his own life that such a thing was not true, and was proven wrong when the king did try to escape. Lafayette and the
Assembly created a lie that the king had been kidnapped. Ultimately the king and his family were brought back and the assembly
decided that he needed to be a part of the government if he agreed to consent to the constitution.
At the time of the massacre, divisions within the Third Estate had already began to grow. Many workers were already angered by the
closing of various workshops, which took away jobs, leaving some unemployed. Higher skilled journeymen were also angered due to a
lack of increase in wages since the beginning of the Revolution. The attempted flight of the King only increased the tensions between
groups. The massacre was the direct result of various factions reacting to the decree by the Constituent Assembly in different ways.
Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
Abb Sieys was a French Roman Catholic, clergyman and political writer. He was one of the chief political theorists of the French
Revolution, and also played a prominent role in the French Consulate and First French Empire. His 1789 pamphlet What is the Third
Estate? became the de facto manifesto of the Revolution, helping to transform the Estates-General into the National Assembly in June
1789. In 1799, he was among the instigators of the coup d'tat (9 November), which brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power. He also
coined the term "sociologie" in an unpublished manuscript, and made significant theoretical contributions to the birth of social sciences.

Thefateofthemonarchy
The Legislative Assembly votes to abolish the monarchy and establish the First Republic. The measure
came one year after King Louis XVI reluctantly approved a new constitution that stripped him of much of
his power.
Louis ascended to the French throne in 1774 and from the start was unsuited to deal with the severe
financial problems that he inherited from his predecessors. In 1789, food shortages and economic crises
led to the outbreak of the French Revolution. King Louis and his queen, Mary-Antoinette, were imprisoned
in August 1792, and in September the monarchy was abolished. Soon after, evidence of Louis counter
revolutionary intrigues with foreign nations was discovered, and he was put on trial for treason. In January
1793, Louis was convicted and condemned to death by a narrow majority. On January 21, he walked
steadfastly to the guillotine and was executed. Marie-Antoinette followed him to the guillotine nine months
later.

Further Reading
http://www.history.com/topics/french-re
volution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_T
error
http://alphahistory.com/frenchrevolutio
n/thermidorian-reaction/
http://www.historytoday.com/marisa-lin
ton/robespierre-and-terror
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/eur
opean/frenchrev/section6.rhtml