1. The French
Revolution
& Napoleon
1789-1815
(Chapter 23)

2. Section 1: French Revolution
Begins

3. Lady Gaga’s French
Revolution Intro

4. What was France like in the
1770’s?
 OLD REGIME= the social and political system
of France
 Under this system, the people of France were divided
into social classes, or ESTATES

5. Social Class:
The Privileged Estates
 First 2 estates  privileged
 Privileges:
 High offices
 Exempt from paying taxes
 Didn’t like Enlightenment ideas-
threatened their power
 First Estate= Roman
Catholic Church
 Owned 10% of land in France
 Second Estate= Rich
nobles
 2% of the population
 Owned 20% of the land

6. The Third Estate

7. Wife Swap: French Estates

8. Enlightenment Ideas:
 New ideas of power
and authority
 Third Estate was
inspired by American
Revolution
 Questioned the
structure of society and
what government
should be

9. Economic Troubles
 By 1780s, France’s
economy was declining…
 Burden of taxes
 Cost of living was
rising
 Bad weather  crop
failure (shortage of grain)
 price of bread
doubled starvation

10. Bread Riots

11. Weak Leaders
Louis 16th (XVI) Marie Antoinette
•Inherited debt from previous kings
•Borrowed $ in order to help
Americans in revolutionaries in the
war against Britain (France’s chief
rival)
•Lacked ability to make decisions
•Cared little about government
affairs
•Interfered often in politics and would
give bad advice
•Member of the royal family of
Austria (enemy of France) and
wasn’t popular
•Spent larges amounts of $
(nicknamed, “Madame
Deficit”)

12. Cribs: Louis XVI

13. Estates-General
 When Louis tried to raise
taxes on the nobility, the
Second Estate formed him to
call a meeting of the
ESTATES-GENERAL
to approve the tax
 =an assembly of
representatives from all 3
estates
 First meeting in 175 years
 Met at Versailles, May
5, 1789

14. The National
Assembly
 Medieval Estates-General 
everyone gets one vote from
each estate
 Problem: 3rd Estate felt that
they were not represented
 Emmanuel-Joseph
Sieyes= clergymen who
suggested the 3rd estate
should assembly their own
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY and
pass laws for France

15. Tennis Court
Oath
 Arrived at the Estates-
General and they were
locked out- broke down a
door to an INDOOR TENNIS
COURT
 Stayed till they drew up a
new constitution
 TENNIS COURT
OATH= pledge of the
National Assembly

16. Storming the Bastille
 Rumors started that Louis was
going to use military force to
dismiss the National Assembly
AND that foreigners were coming
to attack Paris
 July 14 (Bastille Day)- mob
searching for gunpowder and
arms stormed the BASTILLE
(Paris prison)
 Hacked the prison commander
and several guards- putting their
heads on pikes and taking them
around town
 SYMBOLIC- revolution of France

18. Bastille

19. Bastille Day

20. Great Fear
 Great Fear= wave of panic
 Armed with pitchforks & farming
tools
 Broke into nobles’ manors and
houses and destroyed documents
that bound the to pay feudal dues
 Women rioted over rising prices of
BREAD and marched on Versailles
 Next, they went after the King
and Queen- broke into
palace, killing guards, demanded
they leave Versailles and return to
Paris- they did

22. Section 2: Revolution, Reform
& Terror
Main Idea: The revolutionary government of
France made reforms but also used terror and violence
to retain power
Why it matters? Some governments that
lack support of a majority of their people still use fear to
control their citizens

23. The Assembly Reforms
France
 1789
 Most likely motivated by fear, some nobles joined the
National Assembly
 What they did? Got rid of the First & Second Estates
the Old Regime was dead

24. The Rights of Man
 National Assembly adopted the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen=
a statement of revolutionary
ideas, that reflected the
Declaration of Independence
 “life, liberty, property, security, resis
tance to oppression…”
 Slogan-
“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
 Women tried to declare the
“rights of women,” but they were
rejected, saw as enemies of the
Revolution and some were even
executed.

25. A State-Controlled Church

26. Louis Tries to Escape

27. Divisions Develop
 Limited Monarchy was
created by the new
constitution
 Stripped the king of his
authority, but he still held the
executive power to enforce
laws
 Legislative
Assembly= created laws
and to approve or reject
declarations of war

28. Factions Split France
Radicals (Left
winged)
Moderates
(Centrists)
Conservatives
(Right winged)
Extreme change Want some
change
Few changes
Emigres San-Culottes
Nobles and others who had
fled France who wanted to
restore the Old Regime
“those without knee
breeches” (aka regular
trousers)

29. War & Execution (Page 658-660)
France at War
•Who attacked France?
•Why did they attack France?
•What are the September
Massacres?
•What is the National Convention?
Jacobins Take Control
•Who are the Jacobins?
•Who is Jean Paul Marat?
•What power did Louis have under
the Jacobins?
•How did Louis die?
Guillotine=
The War Continues
What was the extreme step the Jacobins took to increase their army
size?

31. Guillotine

32. Terror Grips France
 Jacobins had many enemies:
peasants, foreigners, church leaders
 Maximilien Robespierre=
Jacobin leader, governed as a dictator
 Set out to build a “ republic of virtue” by wiping out
every trace of France’s past
 Reign of Terror= period of
Robespierre’s rule
 “enemies” were tried and guillotined
 Enemies went against Robespierre, radicals
 Justified that he was returning France to a virtuous
state
 Famous victims: George Danton
(member of National Convention), Marie
Antoinette
 40,000 killed during the reign of terror

33. Robespierre

34. Marie’s Execution

35. Marat & Marie Antoinette’s
Death

36. End of Terror
 Fearing for their own
safety, many turned on
Robespierre- he was
guillotined
New
Government:
 Power went to the upper
middle class
 2 house legislative and an
executive body of 5 men
(Directory)

37. Homework:
Chaper 23:3
(Napoleon Forges
an Empire

38. Section 3: REVIEW
 Napoleon

39. Napoleon Music Video

40. Historical Misconception:
Napoleon is short?
 After his death, he was measured 5’2 according to
French height, which would’ve made him 5’6 according
to British standard

41. Napoleon Bonaparte
 Coup d’Etat (“blow to the state”)
 Plebiscite
 Lycees
 Concordat
 Napoleonic Code
 Crowned as Emperor

42. Napoleon’s Cout d’Etat (Blow
to the State) Speech

43. Napoleon’s Empire
Napoleon’s
Empire
American
Colonies
Europe
Battle of
Trafalgar
French
Empire

44. Louisiana Purchase

45. Section 4: Napoleon’s Empire
Collapses
Main Idea: Napoleon’s conquests aroused
nationalistic feelings across Europe and contributed to
his downfall
Why it matters? In the 1990s, nationalistic
feelings contributed to the breakup of nations such as
Yugoslavia

47. Napoleon’s 3 Mistakes

48. Mistake #1: The Continental
System

49. Mistake #2: The Peninsular
War (1/2)
 Why did it start? Napoleon
attempted to force Portugal to accept
the Continental System, by sending
an invasion force
through Spain
 Result:
 Napoleon removed the Spanish king
and put his brother in charge
 Spanish people felt more nationalism
and fought back
 Spanish worried that the French
would weaken the Catholic Church
because of what they saw in the
French Revolution

50. Mistake #2: The Peninsular
War (2/2)
 Peninsular War= named
because Spain lies on the
Iberian Peninsula
 How long? 6 years
 Guerillas= Spanish peasant
fighters, worked in small groups
and ambushed French troops
while hiding
 British sent aid to the Spanish
 Napoleon lost 300,000 men
 Lesson learned  Nationalism
can win wars

51. Mistake #3: The Invasion of
Russia-1812 (1/2)
Why did it start? The Russian czar refused to
stop selling grain to Britain AND both Russia and France
had competing claims on Poland
 Start of Invasion:
 Napoleon invaded with 420,000 troops
 Alexander retreated
 While the Russian retreated, they used the
 SCORCHED-EARTH POLICY, leaving nothing for the French
to eat

52. Israel 2009: Scorched-Earth
Policy

53. Mistake #3: The Invasion of
Russia-1812 (2/2)

54. Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia

55. Napoleon’s Downfall

56. Napoleon Suffers Defeat
 Napoleon was able to raise
another army
 Problem: his army was untrained
and ill prepared for battle
 All the allies against France, team
up and easily defeated Napoleon
 Russia & Prussia’s leaders led a
victory parade through Paris
 Napoleon wanted to fight on, but his
generals did not
 Napoleon was banished to
Elba (a tiny island off the coast of
Italy)

57. Count of Monte Cristo: Meet
Napoleon

58. 100 Days (1/2)
 Many Frenchmen thought
the new king (Louis XVIII)
wanted to do some of the
French Revolution’s
progress
 Napoleon escaped from
Elba and received by
joyous crowds who
marched him to Paris
 Within days, Napoleon was
the emperor of France

59. Return from Elba

60. 100 Days
(2/2)
 In response, European allies
gathered an army and prepared
for a Battle at
Waterloo (village of
Belgium)
 French vs. British (Duke of
Wellington) & Prussia
 Result: after a few days, the
French had to retreat
100 Days= Napoleon
last effort for power, disposing
the king and becoming emperor

61. End of Napoleon

62. Eiffel Tower

63. Section 5: Congress of
Vienna
Main Idea: After exiling Napoleon, European
leaders at the Congress of Vienna tried to restore order
and reestablish peace
Why it matters now? International bodies
such as the United Nations plays an active role in trying
to maintain world peace and stability today

64. Congress of Vienna

65. Prince Klemens von
Metternich

66. Metternich’s Plan for Europe
Metternich’s
Plan
Balance of
Power
Containment
of France
Legitimacy
•Didn’t want to leave
France powerless
•Afraid if they split
France up than other
Powers would do what
France did
•Made countries around
France stronger
How? Some united, some
Were recognized as
Independent countries
= those who had lost
Power under Napoleon
Should be restored to
power
Was it a
success? YES
1. For the first time, the nations of
an entire continent had
cooperated to control political
affairs
2. Did not lead to a future war
3. Balance of Power/allies formed
4. Time of peace in Europe

67. Political
Changes
AFTER
Vienna
Conservative Europe
•Many were worried about the French
Revolution spreading
•HOLY ALLIANCE= signed agreement
between Kings of Prussia and Austria,
pledging to relations with other Christian
nations
•CONCERT OF EUROPE= series of
alliances formed by Metternich, ensuring
that nation’s would protect each other
•Despite their best efforts, the French
Revolution had made it’s impact and
given Europe it’s first dose of democracy

68. Revolutions in Latin America

69. Long-Term Legacy of the
Congress of Vienna
1. Diminished the power of France, increased the
power of Britain and Prussia
2. Nationalism spread (some exploding into
revolutions, leading to new nations forming)
3. Many colonies broke off from Europeans
4. More people saw democracy as the best way to
ensure equality and justice for all

70. What are the lessons learned
through the French
Revolution???

71. Freedom Peace Courage