HIST362 Study Guide

Unit 3: The French Revolution and Its Legacy

3a. Identify the immediate and long-term causes of the French Revolution

  • What were the primary causes of the French Revolution in 1789?
  • How was the class system structured in the ancien régime, and what were the social stratifications in French society on the eve of the revolution?
  • What role did the nobility, bourgeoisie, peasantry, and church play in the early phases of the revolution?
  • Why did the lives of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI in Versailles anger the French population?

The Enlightenment philosophers and American revolutionaries inspired the French with their calls for equality, reason, and justice. French society was divided into social classes or estates:

  • the First Estate included the monarchy and clergy;
  • the Second Estate included the landed aristocracy; and
  • the Third Estate included everyone else.

Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were ineffective monarchs who were out of touch with the people's needs. While the Third Estate suffered in poverty, the monarchs and nobility lived in luxury and enjoyed leisurely lives. The French government was bankrupt after participating in many European wars, including the Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1753. The government demanded the Third Estate pay for these wars, and the people rebelled.

This ancien regime (traditional social and political system) and estates class system (hierarchical structure) did not survive the Third Estate's increasing demands for equality. The French Revolution (1789–1799) abolished the monarchy and transformed France's political system into a republic, where elected officials held power. The people literally and metaphorically toppled the medieval concept of the divine right of kings – the idea that God chooses the monarch to rule over the people – by beheading their monarchs.

While smaller rebellions occurred in 1788, historians believe the French Revolution began after members of the Third Estate signed the Tennis Court Oath on June 20, 1789. They vowed to stick together and boycott the Estates-General (the French legislature) until the government adopted a written constitution. To many, the start of the French Revolution occurred on July 14, 1789, when revolutionaries stormed the Bastille, the central prison in Paris, which symbolized the King's power and abuses.

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3b. Describe how the French Revolution affected 19th-century Europe

  • How does the French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789) compare with the English Bill of Rights and the American Bill of Rights?
  • What were the main principles of the Admission of Jews to Rights of Citizenship (1791) and The Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)?
  • How did the French Civil Code represent the relationship between men and women?
  • How does it compare to Olympia de Gauges' vision of women's rights in her Declaration of the Rights of Woman?

Many believe the French Revolution's most lasting innovation was its support for radical social change, progress, and modernity. However, its violent, revolutionary zeal also invoked reduced respect for tradition, promoted political instability, and disregarded the work of previous generations.

The French Revolution's legacies include the demise of feudalism, the end of absolute monarchy (where the government is led by a monarch for life and is ordained by God or birthright), support for modernization, a rise of nationalism, disestablishment of the church, promotion of human rights, and support for democracy.

The French revolutionaries went beyond the ideals of the English and U.S. Bill of Rights when they proclaimed human rights were universal in the Declaration of the Rights of Man (asserts fundamental liberties and equality for all citizens), the Declaration of the Rights of Woman (advocates for women's rights on par with men), and the Admission of Jews to Rights of Citizenship (affirms Jews equal status in society). These are the founding documents of modern liberal thought, a political philosophy based on liberty and equality.

In 1814, France restored its monarchy after the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna. King Louis XVIII ruled France until 1824 but created a constitutional monarchy and preserved many revolutionary liberties. However, rebellion and ideological conflicts returned in France and several other European countries in 1848. The rise of nationalism prompted citizens to give their loyalty to the nation-state rather than to a ruler or institution, such as the monarchy or church.

The French Revolution inspired revolutionaries in Haiti. Napoleon's incursions into Spain weakened the Spanish Empire, giving Latin Americans an opening to fight for their independence. The rise of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna redrew national boundaries in Europe and led to nationalistic fervor throughout the continent

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3c. Explain how the French Revolution devolved into chaos and terror

  • What was the Reign of Terror and Thermidorian Reaction?
  • How would you contrast the arguments of Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine regarding revolution?
  • What are the distinctions between economic, political, cultural, and sociological causes of revolutionary change?

The National Assembly, the new French government, began meeting in June 1789. They approved the new Constitution of 1791 and imprisoned King Louis XVI as a traitor to France (they executed him and his wife Marie-Antoinette in 1793). Infighting and mistrust prevented the revolutionaries from creating a new functional government and led to the Reign of Terror, where more than 300,000 people were arrested, and 17,000 were executed from 1793 to 1794. While Maximilien Robespierre, the leader of the French Republic, initially tried to institute democratic change, the country soon devolved into chaos and terror.

Conservative thinker Edmund Burke believed revolutions cause more problems than they solve. Society should introduce change gradually and avoid revolutionary ideas that abandon generations of knowledge and experience. Political activist and revolutionary Thomas Paine disagreed and supported the French revolutionaries. He argued people have a right and obligation to revolt when their government fails to protect their natural rights.

The Thermidorian Reaction was the liberal-conservative counter-revolution that followed the Reign of Terror, which officially ended when Robespierre was executed on 9 Thermidor (July 27, 1794). The leaders of the Jacobin Club purged the government of revolutionary political forces and attempted to restore the political, social, and economic values of 1789. Following several military successes, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), the statesman and military leader, became France's authoritarian leader in 1799. He declared himself Emperor of France in 1804

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3d. Explain why Napoleon was able to rise in power and his impact on Europe

  • How did Napoleon rise to power, and what caused his downfall?
  • What positive reforms did Napoleon initiate? What were the negative consequences of his reign?
  • How did Napoleon impact Europe in the short and long term?

The French Revolution ended with the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. To solidify his power, Napoleon partnered with the Catholic Church, a counter-revolutionary protest against the secular nature of the 1789 revolution. Napoleon instituted several lasting reforms: he centralized the administration of the départements and created a higher education system, a tax collection system, a central bank, codes of law, and road and sewer systems. He created a set of civil laws, the Napoleonic Code or French Civil Code, that combined several legal principles (supported during the revolution) into one document. For example, his legal code formalized equality under the law and the right to property and abolished the feudal system.

Napoleon aimed to consolidate a French empire during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). His military successes upended the traditional feudal systems in northern Italy, Germany, and Belgium, leading to revolutions in Latin America.

In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia, whose size and climate strained supply lines and decimated his forces. Napoleon suffered a crushing defeat when Prussia and England allied against him at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Napoleon abdicated the throne and was exiled to the Island of Elba and later to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. France restored its monarchy at the end of the Napoleonic Wars after the Congress of Vienna in 1814. King Louis XVIII (1755–1824) created a constitutional monarchy and preserved many of the liberties of the French Revolution during his rule from 1814 to 1824.

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3e. Explain the causes of the partitioning of Poland and its effects on the development of modern Europe

  • Why was Poland partitioned?
  • What were the short- and long-term consequences of the partitioning of Poland?

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, established in 1569, included the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and covered a large part of eastern Europe, including Latvia, parts of Ukraine and Estonia, and Belarus. Established as a semi-federal, confederal, aristocratic government, the Commonwealth shared authority between the central and local governments. It combined ideas of democracy and a constitutional monarchy. Like England's Magna Carta, the aristocracy limited the monarch's power.

Although the Commonwealth was a partnership, Poland maintained most of the power. Historians call the first century of the Commonwealth its Golden Age. The Parliament was powerful and kept the Commonwealth out of Europe's Thirty Years War. The ideas of the Enlightenment – constitutionalism (the idea that government power is limited by the will of the people and the rule of law), human rights, and universal education – were popular among intellectuals.

The Khmelnytskyi Uprising of 1648, the largest Cossack uprising in history, weakened the stability of the Commonwealth. The Russians supported the Cossacks by moving into Ukraine and supplanting Polish authority. In 1655, the Swedes allied with Transylvania to launch an invasion, further weakening the Commonwealth. An alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor and involvement in the Great Turkish War led to more chaos. These external pressures caused internal instabilities, and the Commonwealth devolved into near-anarchy.

The Four-Year Sejm of 1788–1792, a historic period in Polish-Lithuanian history, tried to pass several reforms to preserve the Commonwealth. The Constitution of 1791 was its last attempt to maintain the political entity, but the partitions by Russia, Prussia, and the Habsburg Monarchy had already occurred. Partitions are a series of events in the late 18th century whereby the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was divided and annexed by neighboring powers. By 1795, the three foreign powers carved up their territories, and the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist. Poland and Lithuania remained absorbed by their neighbors until the end of World War I – the two nations became independent nations again in 1918.

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3f. Explain how the Congress of Vienna and Napoleon's conquest of Europe gave rise to European nationalism

  • How was France organized politically and administratively after the Congress of Vienna in 1815?
  • Which European and American powers participated in the Congress of Vienna?
  • What were some criticisms of the Congress of Vienna?
  • How did historians change their perception of the Congress of Vienna in the 20th century?
  • What were the short- and long-term consequences of the Congress of Vienna?
  • How did the Congress of Vienna inspire nationalism and revolution in Europe?

The diplomats who attended the Congress of Vienna (a diplomatic conference) reorganized Europe's boundaries after Napoleon's defeat. Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia, and France made the major decisions, although inferior powers like Spain and Portugal were invited to attend. At first, the negotiators excluded France, but they eventually allowed Talleyrand-Périgord, a French statesman, to assert his presence. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, an ally of Britain during the War of 1812, also sent representatives. 

To many, the Congress of Vienna was a conservative backlash to revolutionary liberalism. The Conservative Order championed contradicted French and American human rights ideals, promoted the interests of the major powers, and ignored the civil rights of those who lived in the states it reorganized. However, more recent historians credit the diplomats with preserving the peace for 100 years until World War I.

The Congress of Vienna fostered the development of nationalism, which led to the outbreak of World War I. Reorganizing the state boundaries changed Europe's power structure and encouraged Russia, Britain, and France to become more assertive. Their power struggles led to the Crimean War (1853-1856), pitting Russia against Great Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire.

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Unit 3 Vocabulary

This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.

  • absolute monarchy
  • Admission of Jews to Rights of Citizenship
  • ancien regime
  • Bastille
  • Battle of Waterloo
  • Congress of Vienna
  • Conservative Order
  • constitutionalism
  • Crimean War
  • Declaration of the Rights of Man
  • Declaration of the Rights of Woman
  • Edmund Burke
  • estates class system
  • feudalism
  • First Estate
  • French Civil Code
  • French Revolution
  • Jacobin Club
  • Khmelnytskyi Uprising of 1648
  • King Louis XVIII
  • Louis XVI
  • Marie Antoinette
  • Maximilien Robespierre
  • Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Napoleonic Code
  • Napoleonic Wars
  • nationalism
  • partitions
  • Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
  • Reign of Terror
  • republic
  • Second Estate
  • Talleyrand-Périgord
  • Tennis Court Oath
  • The Four-Year Sejm
  • Thermidorian Reaction
  • Third Estate