Transcript The Rise of Napoleon - Shasta Union High School District

The End of the Republic
& Rise of Napoleon
From revolution to dictatorship
The Thermidorian Reaction
During 1794, opposition to Robespierre
grew.
On 9 Thermidor (July 27) he was arrested
and executed the next day.
Many of his other Jacobin supporters
followed him to the guillotine.
Power in the National Convention passed
to the wealthy bourgeoisie, who ended the
Terror.
Constitution of 1795 (Year III)
National Convention prepared a new
constitution.
Created a two house parliament
– Council of Elders had 250 members
– Council of 500
– Executive power was held by five Directors
who were elected by the Council of Elders.
National Convention was dissolved on Oct
26, 1795 and the Directory came into
being.
The Directory
System of indirect elections and five man
executive was designed to be a moderate form
of government.
However, they were repressive in their desire to
continue as a government of the center.
It did have a large political spectrum.
Left
Babeuvists Neo-Jacobins
Center
Right
Royalists
Ultra Royalists
The Directory
Conspiracy of Equals led by Gracchus
Babeuf
– sans-culottes faction that sought to overthrow
government and abolish property
– precursor to communism
– Easily suppressed by Directory and Babeuf
executed
Elections in 1797 a victory for royalists but
annulled by government
Neo-Jacobin revival also supressed by
government.
French Military Victories
War of the First Coalition continued.
Draft of all able bodied men in Aug. 1793.
1793-94, French succeeded in preventing
invasion.
During 1794-95, French occupy Low
Countries, Rhineland, Switzerland and
parts of Spain.
Treaty of Basel in March/June 1795 ended
war with Prussians and Spanish, but war
with Austria and Britain continued.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
Born of lesser Corsican
nobility.
Commissioned Lieutenant
in French artillery in 1785.
1793: helped recapture
Toulon from the British.
1795: defened National
Convention from mob
action.
Married Josephine de
Beauharnais (1763-1814).
Bonaparte’s Military Successes
1796: received command of
French Army in Italy,
defeating the Austrians.
Treaty of Campo Formio
ended war with Austrians in
Oct. 1797.
– France annexed Austrian
Netherlands, Austria got
Venice.
– Austrians recognized the
independence of Cisalpine
Rep. (French Satellite)
– Britain fought on alone.
The Egyptian Campaign
1798: Napoleon invades
Egypt to disrupt British
Empire.
– Discovers Rosetta Stone
– Napoleon winds Battle of the
Pyramids in July, 1798
against Mamelukes
– British Fleet under Horatio
Nelson (1758-1805) defeats
French at Battle of the Nile.
– Napoleon left his army to
return to France.
War of the Second Coalition
(1798-1801)
While Napoleon was in Egypt, Britain
forms alliances with Russia, Austria,
Portugal, Naples and the Ottoman Empire
to oppose the French.
Russia left the alliance the next year.
France suffered military defeats in Italy
and Germany.
Military defeats combined with the
continuing economic and political crisis
and France further weakened the position
of the Directory.
Coup d’Ètat de 18 Brumaire
In October 1799, Napoleon landed
in Southern France.
With help of two of the five
directors (Emmanuel Joseph
Sieyès and Roger Ducos), his
brother Lucien who was speaker
of the Council of 500, and
Talleyrand he plotted to seize
power.
They then used troops on Nov. 9th
to seize control of the government.
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
Constitution of 1799 (Year VIII)
Drafting a new constitution, a Consulate
of three rulers was created.
Napoleon had himself elected First Consul
(the other two had little power) to rule for a
term of ten years.
In a plebiscite in 1802, Napoleon was
made First Consul for life with the right to
name his successor (this was reaffirmed in
the Constitution of Year X)