The French Revolution and Napoleon
Introduction
The French Revolution was the most important event in modern
history. It destroyed the old order of society and government and brought about
modern changes in the world. It swept away the last remnants of feudalism and
made the middle class the dominant class of modern society.
Background
In 1789 France
was the most populated nation in Europe and had been
growing in wealth and prestige since the time of Louis XIV. Despite this economic growth, it was far behind
many people’s ideas of what a society and government should be. Socially, it was divided into three unequal
classes of people. And politically it
was still ruled by an absolute monarch.
The Causes of the French Revolution
The Revolution was the result of three related crises that
fell upon France
at the same time: a social crisis, a political crisis, and an economic crisis.
The Social Crisis
Feudal France
was neatly divided into three social classes, or Estates, with different jobs
and privileges. The clergy was the First
Estate, the nobles were the Second Estate, and the peasants were the Third
Estate. The Third Estate was the largest
but had few rights at all.
One of the major problems of French society was the growth
of a large middle class. These people
did not fit into the neat divisions of the three estates, so they were
considered equal with the lowest, the Third Estate. What had happened over the years is that the
middle class grew in size and in wealth but never gained rights or respect that
their wealth deserved. Because they
worked for their money instead of inheriting it, they were looked down
upon. This caused a great deal of anger
and tension in French Society as peasants and middle class French people began
to hate the nobles and aristocrats.
The Political Crisis
The political crisis centered on king
Louis XVI (16th). Unlike
Louis XIV (14th) he was not very popular. He lived in Versailles
and cost the people millions of dollars and kept spending lavishly on himself
even as France
was going through a financial crisis. He
was humiliated when his armies were defeated by the Prussians in 1787. But his worst problem was that people no
longer believed in the divine right of kings.
That is, most people no longer believed that you obeyed the king because
God gave him his authority. Rather,
people were coming to believe the philosophers of the Enlightenment who said
that a leader is only legitimate if he has his people’s consent. And Louis XVI had his people consent less and
less.
The Economic Crisis
By 1786 the French government was broke. They had spent millions helping out the
American colonies in their revolution against England. And France
was still trying to pay off the expense of the palace
of Versailles and Louis XIV’s other extravagant expenses. Then France
was hit by a drought; crops failed and people died. As the people began to protest, the king and
nobles still lived their expensive lifestyles.
In desperation Louis XVI decided to call on the Estates General, the representative
body that had not met for over 150 years.
This body met and the Third Estate proclaimed that their representatives
were the real government of France. The Revolution began and 10 years of bloody
revenge was poured out on the nobles, aristocrats and clergy. The king himself was beheaded.
The Results
Although a violent and bloody time, the French Revolution
had important permanent results.
Absolute Monarchy was ended. The
Revolution ended the feudal privileges of the nobles. Serfs were freed. Mandatory offerings to the Church were ended
and the government changed from a religious (divine right of kings) to a
secular (consent of the people) foundation.
The Revolution also paved the way for one of the most important leaders
in all of French history: Napoleon Bonaparte.
Napoleon
Napoleon was born in Corsica and soon
went to study at a military school in France
at the age of 9. He studied great
leaders like Hannibal and Alexander the Great, but also studied the use of
firepower. He became an officer at the
age of 16.
During the Revolution, Napoleon favored the Republicans who
opposed the monarchy. France
was at war during the Revolution and Napoleon became famous because of some
brilliant victories. At the end of the
Revolution he was named one of the 5 leaders of France. He soon abolished the other 4 and became the
Emperor of France. Instead of letting
the pope crown him emperor, Napoleon took the crown from the pope’s hands and
crowned himself. This showed that he
believed his power was not from God but from himself. Many saw this as a move from hero of the
common man to royalty. Despite his
popularity, his thirst for power would be his downfall.
Napoleon invaded Egypt
to disrupt England’s
trade routes to the Middle East and India. While in Egypt,
Napoleon and his men discovered the Rosetta Stone.
Britain
was the one nation that consistently defied Napoleon. This was because Britain
ruled the seas with its navy. To control
them, Napoleon introduced the Continental System. This prohibited other nations from trading
with Britain. Not only did this paralyze Britain’s
economy, but it hurt the economies of the other nations of Europe
who depended upon trade with Britain. Several nations of Europe
formed an alliance against Napoleon.
Napoleon’s biggest military mistake was his invasion of Russia. Most of his army died in the Russian winter.
After several severe losses, Napoleon tried to commit
suicide by poison, but the drink was not strong enough. He was exiled on the island
of Elbe.
While in exile, the French people were becoming inpatient
with their new king, Louis XVIII.
Napoleon took the opportunity to return to power in France. Immediately, the alliance of European
nations rose up again against Napoleon.
Napoleon marched into Belgium
where the British and Prussians were preparing to invade France. After a night of heavy rainfall, they met at Waterloo. This is where Napoleon met his final defeat.
The Congress of Vienna
After Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo
the leaders of Europe had to decide how to set Europe
back up again. Napoleon had taken over
much land and done much damage. To
restore order in Europe, many leaders met at the
Congress of Vienna in 1815. This meeting
would shape Europe for the next 100 years.
Most of the leaders at the Congress of Vienna were
conservative and did not want the type of government the French had tried to
set up during their Revolution. As a
result, they restored old monarchies again.
Kings were restored to their thrones.
The ideas of the French Revolution may have seemed good at the time to
some people, but they had only brought about 10 years of bloody revolution and
the 10 more years of Napoleon’s wars. At
least when there were kings, some argued, things were not that bad.
Another important goal of the Congress of Vienna was to
prevent another nation from taking over Europe. One Napoleon was enough. In order to prevent this from happening
again, they set up a system called a “balance
of power.” This meant that they
would divide up power among the kings in such a way as to prevent France
from rising to power again. National
boundaries were redrawn to make it difficult for any nation to become too
powerful. What these people did not
understand was the new force of nationalism.