Phase One: Classical Liberalism (1789 to 1791)

• May 1789 -- Estates-General is called by Louis XVI in an attempt to pass taxes on the first two estates
• It's a bad move by the king -- once the cat was out of the bag, it won't go back
• Leaders in the third estate called for each representative to have one vote (images of America). This would make the other two estates useless.
• The king refused and eventually barred many Third Estate leaders from the Estates General
• Oath of the Tennis Court
• meeting of the Third estate at an indoor tennis court in Paris
• several reformers from the first and second estates joined
• Called themselves the "National Assembly", the group takes an oath not to disband until a new constitution is written, one which would give them more power
• "Top down" revolution begins here (explain in class)
• Louis realized that he was in trouble and he ordered the army to concentrate around Paris
• Spirit of Rebellion spread through the city like wildfire -- fueled by the salons (political and philosophical debate clubs) and the cafes (coffee houses where real political discussion took place)
• Louis retreated to the palace at Versailles and surrounded the palace with troops
• Third Estate leaders fueled a mob to attack a Paris prison holding political prisoners
• 14 Jul 1789 -- Fall of the Bastille -- "Bastille day" in France
• Mob stormed the prison
• Soldiers fired into the crowd -- 98 killed
• A revolutionary government was set up in Paris
• Violence swept into the countryside
• The National Assembly took control of the Revolution and by early August had set up a constitution based on Classical liberal reforms
• Declaration of the Rights of Man -- late August 1789
• basic rights due every French citizen
• inspired by the Declaration of Independence and English Bill of Rights
• incorporated Locke, Rousseau and others
• guaranteed freedom of speech, religion
• No Rights for women
• The National Assembly did not want to get rid of the monarch -- they wanted a constitutional monarchy like England (really uncivilized to have a country without a monarch)
• Oct 1789 -- thousands of women descend upon Versailles demanding bread -- Louis eventually agrees to move back to Paris and accept the reforms -- better than losing his crown -- beginnings of Constitutional Monarchy and Classical Liberal Govt.
• The National Assembly attacked the Church -- confiscating lands and alienating Pope Pius VI -- clergy required to take an oath of loyalty to the govt -- about 1/2 refuse
• Constitution of 1791
• Unicameral legislature
• Poll tax for voting (only men)
• In the legislature -- where we get the idea of right and left -- conservative / liberal
• Right -- conservatives loyal to the monarch (Louis XVI)
• Left -- radical liberals who wanted a republic with universal male suffrage
• Center -- Moderates willing to accept some reforms and a limited monarchy
• Louis and Marie saw the end in sight -- as 1791 went on, the revolution was turning more and more radical
• June 1791 -- Royal family tried to escape to Austria dressed as peasants, but were caught and brought back to Paris
• Louis was forced to accept limited monarchy -- it had little chance of succeeding
• Throughout 1791 -- French nobles leave France (with their money) and begin to push other states in Europe for invasion of their homeland

• small bourgeoisie (shopkeepers, artisans, etc.) were dissatisfied with the reforms through 1791 -- they felt that the Revolution had not gone far enough
• called for govt. to redistribute the wealth -- contrary to bourgeoisie economics and individualism
• wanted laws to prevent extremes in both wealth and poverty
• Bourgeoisie -- talked of the Social Contract and Men's individual rights
• Petite Bourgeoisie -- wanted an economic revolution
• April 1792 -- French National Assembly declares war on Austria -- both to prevent trouble and to unite the people of France
• The Austrians (combined with Prussia) quickly pummeled the French Army
• September 1792 -- Monarchy Abolished
• Dec 1792 -- Louis tried for conspiring against the French people (Show Trial)
• Jan 1793 -- Louis XVI executed
• Meanwhile, the fortunes of War turned -- Austro-Prussian force never reached Paris and was eventually forced to turn back
• By the Spring of 1793
• French forces (united in conquest) in control of Belgium, German Rhineland, Nice and Savoy
• Europe unites against the French -- it was too much for the poorly trained French
• By summer 1793 -- Alliance forces threaten to invade France
• June 1793 -- Jacobins take control of the National Legislature -- radical political party
• strong central government
• government control of the economy -- earns support form Petite Bourgeoisie
• Civil War broke out in France between the Royalists and the Jacobins
• Committee of Public Safety
• organized the nation's defenses
• formulated foreign policy
• imposed central government authority throughout France
• Jacobin reforms
• Jacobins introduced universal male suffrage (all men could vote)
• Slavery outlawed in all French possessions (wouldn't last)
• Fixed prices for bread and other essential goods (early socialism)
• Required factories and mines to run at 100%
• Requisitioned army supplies -- everyone works to support the army
• Turned to conscription for all men 18-25
• By Spring 1794 -- 800,000 men in the army -- France in control of Belgium
• Key to victory -- soldiers fight for France (early sense of French nationalism)
• Jacobins demanded absolute loyalty to the nation and used every means at their disposal to get it -- newspapers, schools, rallies, songs, etc (fascism)
• At the same time the Committee of Public Safety was dealing with the war, it also had to deal with internal division
• Maximilien Robespierre -- put in charge of internal unity for the Republic
• felt he and the Committee knew what was best for the people of France
• looked towards the establishment of the ideal society
• Terror was used to control dissent
• anyone who disagreed had to be executed
• Reign of Terror -- period between September 1793 and July 1794
• neighborhood watch committees hunted down suspected traitors
• Marie Antoinette executed
• Robespierre prosecuted with fanatical zeal
• 40,000 executed -- many without trials
• finally in July 1794 -- Ropbespierre's own followers arrest him and execute him
• After Robespierre died -- new constitution written -- many reforms scaled back -- somewhat of a counterrevolution back to the Moderate Phase reforms
• From 1795 to 1799 -- time of war from without and unrest at home

• October 1799 -- French Army General Napoleon Bonaparte stages a coup and takes over French government -- he is supported by the army and the people who are tired of war and disorder
• Napoleon quickly created a dictatorship to control France -- run like a military machine
• The people loved him -- he restored order
• Napoleonic Reforms -- continues the revolution, but with a sense of national order
• central run schools -- open to all French children
• central bank -- required every citizen to pay taxes
• replaced corrupt local officials with men he appointed -- delegation of authority like an army general
• Napoleonic Code -- maybe his greatest achievement
• made French law clear and consistent
• put state above men
• all men equal before the law
• imposed order -- sometimes to the detriment of personal liberty
• Had the revolution gone too far for personal liberty during the Jacobin phase?
• Napoleon needed to control France so that he could conquer Europe
• Between 1799 and 1815 -- Napoleon on the move against Europe
• By 1810 -- Napoleon controls most of Europe
• The reforms spread to the newly conquered lands
• The revolution spread
• Napoleon also indirectly served to unite different peoples across Europe
• Identity -- created not by who we are but rather by who we are not
• Napoleon = common enemy for all Austrians, Prussians, Russians, etc…
• Continental System -- economic system designed to starve Britain
• Napoleon felt that he could get Britain to submit without invading the island
• It almost worked, but Russia by 1812 began to trade with Britain
• Led to the invasion of Russia
• Invasion of Russia -- 1812
• Napoleon's biggest mistake
• Russia is too big
• "Scorched Earth" policy
• By September 1812, the French are within sight of Moscow
• Winter soon came, however
• Eventually French forces began a retreat
• The Russians attacked hard and slaughtered the French
• 4/5 of French Army in Russia (about 500,000) died
• With the French Army in pieces, the rest of Europe sensed an opportunity
• Russia, Prussia, Austria and England -- Allied against Napoleon
• March 1814 -- Allies in Paris -- Napoleon forced to surrender and abdicate the throne
• Louis XVIII -- Restored to the throne --
• Napoleon was exiled to Elba (off the coast of Italy)
• 01 Mar 1815 -- Napoleon returns to France and retakes control -- he's wildly popular with the people
• The Concert of Europe declared war again
• Austria -- Prince Metternich
• Prussia
• England
• Russia
• Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo and exiled under house arrest to St. Helena (in the South Atlantic) -- he died in 1821
• Congress of Vienna
• conservatives were determined to maintain the balance of power on the continent and restore absolute monarchy to France
• Austria -- Metternich in charge
• France forced to give up taken territory
• Opposed to change -- reactionaries who wanted the world to go back to pre1789 ideas
• Restoration of the monarchies throughout Europe -- absolute power, however, broken -- ideas of nationalism and classical liberalism now here -- will be important in 1848
• Quadruple Alliance -- will enforce the Congress of Vienna and "security in Europe"
• Great Britain
• Austria
• Prussia
• Russia
• With the exception of a couple of limited and quick wars during the 1860s and early 1870s, the European continent will remain at peace (albeit an armed one) from 1815 to 1914, the longest such period in modern European history. No wonder intellectual, artistic and industrial growth took place across the continent. People stopped killing each other