Transcript French Revolution Study Notes

French Revolution Study
Notes
Past Test Questions
Why did Louis XVI fail to satisfy the demands
of the revolutionaries in France during the
period 1789-1793?
• Ancient regime ideals/conservatism
• Indecisiveness between demands of
three estates
• Catholic church vs. Enlightenment
• Marie Antoinette/Austria
• March on Versailles
• Attempted flight to Austria
• Brunswick Manifesto(Austria/Prussia)
Explain why Napoleon Bonaparte
was able to establish a strong
autocratic government in France.
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10 years of chaos
External threats [Prussian and Austrian]
War hero status
Military backing
Promises to uphold the revolution
Spy system/Censorship/Education
Code of Napoleon
Bureaucracy of delegated patriots
Senators given estates/money for loyalty
Why did the French Revolution
become increasingly radical
during the years 1789-1794?
• 1789-Estates General have disagreements (voting
order; constitution)
• National Assembly declared/Louis XVI calls for
military intervention
• Tennis Court Oath followed by storming the Bastille
and March on Versailles
• 1791-New Constitution opposed by many (Catholic
priests, radical Jacobins, nobles)
• Louis XVI attempts to flee
• Austria and Prussia threaten military intervention
• 1792-War declared on Austria
• 1793-1794-Committee of Public
safety/Robespierre/The Terror/Execution of Louis
How far did Napoleon Bonaparte
maintain the ideals of the
French Revolution during the
period 1799-1815?
• 1799-1815-Revolutionary Ideals (equality, liberty, fraternity)
• The Napoleonic Code (equal laws, abolish serfdom, religious
freedom, property rights, careers open to talent)
• Unequal for women (property belongs to husband, treated as
minors in lawsuits)
• Powerful, centralized bureaucracy
• Benevolent despotism- Napoleon decides what is good for
France
• European wars for conquest
Which of the grievances of the Third Estate
in France in 1789 were the most important?
Explain your answer.
• Third Estate grievances: 1789
• Unfair taxation, feudal obligations to
nobility, voting by order in Estates
General, voting rights, urban poor
couldn’t afford consumer prices,
opposition to conservative order of
the ancient regime
How far did Napoleon Bonaparte achieve
his aims in domestic policy?
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Napoleon’s aims; 1799-1815
Stabilize economy (bank of France;coins)
Equal laws (Napoleonic Code)
Educated, talented bureaucracy(lycee’s)
Restore relations with the Church (Concordat
with the Catholic church)
• Nationalism(conscription for defense)
• Grow/protect economy(Continental System)
How far, and why, did the aims of the
revolutionaries in France change during
the period from 1789-1793?
• 1789 vs. 1793 aims of revolutionaries
• 1789-Constitutional monarchy; voting rights;
equal taxation; end of serfdom/feudalism
• 1793-Democratic republic; overthrow of
nobility; death to anti-revolutionaries; war
with Austria/Prussia
• Why? –Military intervention by Louis XVI and
by Austria/Prussia; radicalism (Jacobins), great
fear, the terror; disagreements between
revolutionary factions/divided 3rd Estate;
abdication of responsibility by Louis XVI
How far was Napoleon Bonaparte
an oppressive ruler in his domestic
policies from 1799-1815?
• 1799-1815-Oppressive domestic policies?
• Concordat with the Catholic church forced
clergy to be civil servants
• Appointed prefects spied on people,
collected taxes, spread propaganda
• Legal codes asserted male rights over
women
• Workers needed a permit to get a job
• Newspapers were censored
• Artists were paid to glorify Napoleon
From 1789-1799, who posed
the more dangerous threats
to the French Revolution: its
internal or its external
enemies?
• 1789-1799-Internal vs. external enemies?
• Internal: King (and his military), Church,
nobility, upper class 3rd Estate
• External: European monarchs, Austrian
relatives, Prussia (and their armies)
Why did Louis XVI’s policies from
1789 fail to prevent his execution
in 1793?
• Louis XVI
• Divided loyalty between 3 estates
• Indecisiveness as a political leader/qualifications
inherited, not earned
• Impossible financial problems inherited from Louis
XIV and XV (upkeep of Versailles)
• Questionable loyalty due to Marie
Antoinette/Austrian family
• External threats by Austria and Prussia
• Enlightenment vs. ancient regime (American
Revolution)
• August Decrees/Declaration of Rights of Man
accepted by force
• Attempt to flee France/treason