essay questions ch. 19 – Flashcards

•1789-beginning of USA, eruption of the French Revolution •immediate aftermath, french happy, english angry •The king of France broke bc of military effort in the American Revolution, in aid of the 13 colonies. To deal with this, he had to call the Estates-General (the French version of Parliament) which had not met for nearly 300 years; to ask them for funds. •obtained info from soldiers returning (w/ideas like liberty/republicanism/popular sovereignty) •proved that liberal political ideas of Enlightenment were not utopian and were legit •new age/better world can be achieved • many of the American ideals in the Declaration of Independence and in the U.S.Constitution inspired France to have its own revolution, the French Revolution •elsewhere in europe there was nervousness at the challenge to monarchy

•bad harvests, beginning of manufacturing depression=food shortages, rising prices for foods, unemployment in cities, # of poor people •influence of American Revolution •ideas of philosophes •failure to make reforms (the French Parlement) •financial crisis IMMEDIATE CAUSE and most important. near collapse of gov. finances. de Calonne who was rejected. finally FORCED to call meeting of the Estates General. -interest on debt alone was 1/3 of gov. spending -royal extravagance/costly wars

politically: -France before the Revolution was a monarchy. beheaded their king, Louis XVI - The revolutions proclaimations, in the document "Declaration of the Rights of Man" threatened every other monarchy in Europe. socially: -of Frances 26 million inhabitants in 1789, about 90% were poor peasants and farmers -talk about estates and unfairness blah -After the Revolution all offices were open to those with the most talent •at the end france had become a republic

•The National Convention = extremely unpopular. •Apart from opposition from the elites •peasants who were still pro royalist,and the urban poor (particular in Paris) did not like that the economy collapsed = keeping the price of bread high. •only popular public figures were army generals, who were winning victories abroad against the enemies of France,and (barely) propping the economy up through foreign plunder. •political fighting between Girondists and extreme Jacobins •The Jacobins therefore seized control of the Committee of Public Safety and used it to denounce,arrest,and execute all political enemies (real and imagined) of the Jacobin faction so as to maintain political control of government in France for the National Convention •believed revolution was in danger from army commanders and elitist groups ^reign of terror robespierre: The tree of liberty is watered by the blood of terror •By executing anyone who shared or exhibited loyalty towards the old feudal traditions, or had known anti-revolutionary sympathies, the Radicals felt they were purging France of the old order, while securing its safety, and creating a new and free Republic. •The Terror was, more or less, the systematic elimination of all political enemies of the Revolution •It was a blood bath that destroyed the initial ideals of the revolution of liberty, equality and fraternity. The irony is that those in charge destroyed these principles to try and keep these principles. •The reign of terror exhausted the revolution and opened the way for Bonaparte to take control of the country.

•the French Revolution did not change affect the role of women in French society drastically

he started out as child of revolution, stating i am the revolution. but as his ego grew, so did his controversial policies that were both reflective and not even close to the French Revolutionary ideals he claimed were his. repudiate: -was a dictator and a despot, not elected as the aims of the french revolution had wanted. -tried abolish absolute government which is exactly what napoleon represented. -signed the concordat with the Pope in 1801 which gave the Roman Catholic Church renewed control over education and ecclesiastical appointments. -would also go on to award noble titles to his best and loyalest supporters, as well as placing family members on European thrones in nations he had beaten -his conquests of other nations generation of Frenchmen and youth to a life of constant warfare, left the economy of France hanging precariously in the balance, bloody strengthen: -did however use enlightenment and revolutionary ideals to his advantage -brought them into practice in all the territories he conquered. Liberty, equality, fraternity. -Code Napoleon opened careers to all MEN according to ability -continued the Revolution by supporting the government itself. As he gained power he continued the reforms to the government and law that the Rvolution had started -promoted appointment based on merit (meritocracy) and yet ruled the Council of the State like a dictator.

-nation in arms

French revolution was more greater influence -because American revolution was mainly in the Americas and did introduce the idea of liberty, philosophes, republicanism, etc -h/e it was generally quick and not nearly as dramatic -shift of government from distant to local -Nationalism. The deification of one's state. The French Revolution was one of the first examples of people throwing a revolution in the "name of their country." ----introduced to the world the concept of socialist and communist principles, although they werent clearly identified and written down untill decades later by Marx. "abolished feudal property in favour of bourgeois property" -changed how people thought. One of the biggest changes was that France no longer had a monarchy -aristocracies throughout the world that the people will no longer be ignored and abused by the upper crust.