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French revolution

Causes

The French Revolution was the result of multiple long-term and short term factors which culminated in a social, economic, financial and political crisis in the late 1780s. Combined with resistance to reform by the ruling elite, and indecisive policy by Louis XVI and his ministers, the state was unable to manage the crisis.

Between 1715 and 1789, the French population grew from an estimated 21 to 28 million. The proportion of the population living in towns increased to 20%, and Paris alone had over 600,000 inhabitants. Peasants comprised about 80% of the population, but the middle classes tripled over the century, reaching almost 10% of the population by 1789. Although the 18th century was a period of increasing prosperity, the benefits were distributed unevenly across regions and social groups. Those whose income derived from agriculture, rents, interest and trade in goods from France's slave colonies benefited most, while the living standards of wage labourers and farmers on rented land fell. Increasing inequality led to more social conflict as the century progressed. Economic recession from 1785 and bad harvests in 1787 and 1788 led to high unemployment and food prices which coincided with a financial and political crisis for the monarchy.

Enlightenment critiques of social institutions were widely discussed among the educated French elite, while the American Revolution and the European revolts of the 1780s inspired public debate on issues such as patriotism, liberty, equality and the participation of the people in making laws. These debates helped shape the response of the educated public to the crisis facing the state. A series of public scandals such as the Diamond Necklace Affair also fuelled popular anger at the court, nobility and church officials.

Financial and political crisis

The monarchy faced a series of budgetary crises during the 18th century, as revenues failed to keep pace with expenditure on the military and state pensions. Although the French economy grew solidly, the tax system didn't capture the new wealth. Tax collection was contracted to tax farmers and receivers who often kept much of the tax collected as personal profit. As the nobility and Church benefited from many exemptions, the tax burden fell mainly on peasants, workers and the middle classes. Reform was difficult because new tax laws had to be registered with regional judicial bodies known as parlements that could deny registration if the laws conflicted with existing rights and privileges. The king could impose laws by decree but this risked open conflict with the parlements, the nobility and those subject to new taxes.

France mostly funded the Anglo-French War of 1778-1783 through loans. Following the peace, the monarchy continued to borrow heavily, culminating in a debt crisis. By 1788, half of state revenue was required to service its debt. In 1786 the French finance minister, Calonne, proposed a package of reforms including a universal land tax, the abolition of grain controls and internal tariffs, and new provincial assemblies appointed by the king. The new taxes, however, were rejected, first by a hand-picked Assembly of Notables dominated by the nobility, then by the parlements when submitted by Calonne's successor Brienne. The notables and parlements argued that the proposed taxes could only be approved by an Estates-General, a representative body that had last met in 1614.

The conflict between the crown and the parlements became a national political crisis. Both sides issued a series of public statements, the government arguing that it was combating privilege, the parlements that it was defending the ancient rights of the nation. Public opinion was firmly on the side of the parlements and rioting broke out in several towns. Brienne's attempts to raise new loans failed, and on 8 August 1788 he announced that the king would summon an Estates-General to convene the following May. Brienne resigned and was replaced by Necker.

In September 1788, the parlement of Paris ruled that the Estates-General should convene in the same form as in 1614, meaning that the three estates (the clergy, nobility and Third Estate or "commons") would meet and vote separately and votes would be counted by estate rather than by head. As a result, the clergy and nobility could combine to outvote the Third Estate despite representing less than 5% of the population.

Following the relaxation of censorship and laws against political clubs, a group of liberal nobles and middle class activists, known as the Society of Thirty, launched a campaign for the doubling of Third Estate representation and voting by head. The public debate saw an average of 25 new political pamphlets published a week from September 1788 to May 1789. The Abbé Sieyès issued influential pamphlets denouncing the privilege of the clergy and nobility and arguing that the Third Estate represented the nation and should sit alone as a National Assembly. Activists such as Mounier, Barnave and Robespierre organised meetings, petitions and literature on behalf of the Third Estate in regional towns. In December, the king agreed to double the representation of the Third Estate but left the question of counting votes by head for the Estates-General to decide.

Estates-General of 1789

Main article: Estates General of 1789 in France

Voting for the Estates-General commenced in early 1789, with each order electing two to four representatives in 234 constituencies. For the Third Estate, all male taxpayers over 25 were entitled to vote. To assist delegates, each region completed a list of grievances, known as Cahiers de doléances. Doyle calls the elections, "the most democratic spectacle ever seen in the history of Europe, and nothing comparable occurred again until far into the next century."

Three-quarters of the 303 clergy elected were parish priests, many of whom earned less than unskilled labourers and had more in common with their poor parishioners than with the Bishops of the first estate. Of the 322 representatives of the nobility, most were town-dwelling members of the noblesse d'épée, or traditional aristocracy. Courtiers and representatives of the noblesse de robe (those who derived rank from judicial or administrative posts) were underrepresented.

Of the 610 deputies of the Third Estate, about two-thirds held legal qualifications and almost half were venal office holders. Less than 100 were in trade or industry and none were peasants or artisans. Tax inequality and seigneurial dues (feudal payments owed to landowners) headed the grievances in the cahiers de doleances for the estate.

On 5 May 1789, the Estates-General convened at Versailles. Necker outlined the state budget and reiterated the king's decision that each estate should decide on which matters it would agree to meet and vote in common with the other estates. On the following day, each estate was to separately verify the credentials of their representatives. The Third Estate, however, voted to invite the other estates to join them in verifying all the representatives of the Estates-General in common and to agree that votes should be counted by head. Fruitless negotiations lasted to 12 June when the Third Estate began verifying its own members. On 17 June, the Third Estate declared itself to be the National Assembly of France and that all existing taxes were illegal. Within two days, more than 100 members of the clergy had joined them.

Shaken by this challenge to his authority, the king agreed to a reform package that he would announce at a Royal Session of the Estates-General. The Salle des États was closed to prepare for the joint session, but the members of the Estates-General were not informed in advance. On 20 June, when the members of the Third Estate found their meeting place closed, they moved to a nearby tennis court and swore not to disperse until a new constitution had been agreed.

At the Royal Session the king announced a series of tax and other reforms and stated that no new taxes or loans would be implemented without the consent of the Estates-General. However, he stated that the three estates were sacrosanct and it was up to each estate to agree to end their privileges and decide on which matters they would vote in common with the other estates. At the end of the session the Third Estate refused to leave the hall and reiterated their oath not to disperse until a constitution had been agreed. Over the next days more members of the clergy joined the National Assembly. On 27 June, faced with popular demonstrations and mutinies in his French Guards, Louis XVI capitulated. He commanded the members of the first and second estates to join the third in the National Assembly.

Napoleon

Napoleon's family was of Italian origin. His paternal ancestors, the Buonapartes, descended from a minor Tuscan noble family that emigrated to Corsica in the 16th century and his maternal ancestors, the Ramolinos, descended from a minor Genoese noble family. [Source is McLynn but he says they descended from Lombard nobility.]

His parents Carlo Maria Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino maintained a home in Ajaccio where Napoleon was born on 15 August 1769. He was the family's fourth child and third son. He had an elder brother, Joseph, and younger siblings Lucien, Elisa, Louis, Pauline, Caroline, and Jérôme. Five more siblings were stillborn or did not survive infancy. Napoleon was baptized as a Catholic, under the name Napoleone. In his youth, his name was also spelled as Nabulione, Nabulio, Napolionne, and Napulione.

Napoleon was born one year after the Republic of Genoa ceded Corsica to France. The state sold sovereign rights a year before his birth and the island was conquered by France during the year of his birth. It was formally incorporated as a province in 1770, after 500 years under Genoese rule and 14 years of independence. Napoleon's parents joined the Corsican resistance and fought against the French to maintain independence, even when Maria was pregnant with him. His father Carlo was an attorney who had supported and actively collaborated with patriot Pasquale Paoli during the Corsican war of independence against France; after the Corsican defeat at Ponte Novu in 1769 and Paoli's exile in Britain, Carlo began working for the new French government and in 1777 was named representative of the island to the court of Louis XVI. [Garbled. Needs to be rewritten.]

Return to Corsica

Bonaparte returned to his regiment in Nice and was made captain of a coastal battery. In July 1793, Bonaparte published a pro-republican pamphlet, Le souper de Beaucaire (Supper at Beaucaire), which gained him the support of Augustin Robespierre, the younger brother of Maximilien Robespierre whose radical Jacobin faction now dominated the National Convention. [sources don't say this]. With the help of his fellow Corsican Antoine Christophe Saliceti, Bonaparte was appointed senior gunner and artillery commander of the republican forces that arrived at Toulon on 8 September.

He adopted a plan to capture a hill where republican guns could dominate the city's harbour and force the British to evacuate. The assault on the position led to the capture of the city, and during it Bonaparte was wounded in the thigh on 16 December. Catching the attention of the Committee of Public Safety, he was put in charge of the artillery of France's Army of Italy. On 22 December he was on his way to a new post in Nice, promoted from colonel to brigadier general at the age of 24. He devised plans to attack the Kingdom of Sardinia as part of France's campaign against the First Coalition.

The French army carried out Bonaparte's plan in the Battle of Saorgio in April 1794, and then advanced to seize Ormea in the mountains. From Ormea, it headed west to outflank the Austro-Sardinian positions around Saorge. After this campaign, Augustin Robespierre sent Bonaparte on a mission to the Republic of Genoa to determine the country's intentions towards France.

On 26 May, Napoleon crowned himself King of Italy, with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, at the Cathedral of Milan.

To expand his power, Napoleon used these assassination plots to justify the creation of an imperial system based on the Roman model. [McLynn doesn't say Roman Model] He believed that a Bourbon restoration would be more difficult if his family's succession was entrenched in the constitution. Launching yet another referendum, Napoleon was elected as Emperor of the French by a tally exceeding 99%. As with the Life Consulate two years earlier, this referendum produced heavy participation, bringing out almost 3.6 million voters to the polls.

A keen observer of Bonaparte's rise to absolute power, Madame de Rémusat, explains that "men worn out by the turmoil of the Revolution [...] looked for the domination of an able ruler" and that "people believed quite sincerely that Bonaparte, whether as consul or emperor, would exert his authority and save [them] from the perils of anarchy." [No need to endorse just one contemporary view.]

Temporary peace

After a decade of war, France and Britain signed the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, bringing the Revolutionary Wars to an end. Amiens called for the withdrawal of British troops from recently conquered colonial territories as well as for assurances to curtail the expansionary goals of the French Republic. [Innacurate and not supported by source: McLynn.] With Europe at peace and the economy recovering, Bonaparte's popularity soared to its highest levels under the consulate, both domestically and abroad. In a new plebiscite during the spring of 1802, the French public came out in huge numbers to approve a constitution that made the Consulate permanent, essentially elevating Bonaparte to dictator for life.

18 Brumaire

While in Egypt, Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs. He learned that France had suffered a series of defeats in the War of the Second Coalition. On 24 August 1799, fearing that the Republic's future was in doubt, he took advantage of the temporary departure of British ships from French coastal ports and set sail for France, despite the fact that he had received no explicit orders from Paris. The army was left in the charge of Jean-Baptiste Kléber.

Unknown to Bonaparte, the Directory had sent him orders to return with his army to ward off a possible invasion of France, but these messages never arrived. By the time that he reached Paris in October, France's situation had been improved by a series of victories. The Republic, however, was bankrupt and the ineffective Directory was unpopular. The Directory discussed Bonaparte's desertion but was too weak to punish him.

Despite the failures in Egypt, Bonaparte returned to a hero's welcome. He formed an alliance with Talleyrand and leading members of the Council of Five Hundred: Lucien Bonaparte, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, Roger Ducos and Joseph Fouché to overthrow the government. On 9 November 1799 (18 Brumaire according to the revolutionary calendar), the conspirators, backed by grenadiers with fixed bayonets, forced the Council of Five Hundred to dissolve the Directory and appoint Bonaparte, Sieyès and Ducos provisional consuls.

[became "first consul" for ten years, with two consuls appointed by him who had consultative voices only. His power was confirmed by the new "Constitution of the Year VIII", originally devised by Sieyès to give Napoleon a minor role, but rewritten by Napoleon, and accepted by direct popular vote (3,000,000 in favour, 1,567 opposed). The constitution preserved the appearance of a republic but, in reality, established a dictatorship. Deleted repeated information.]

French Consulate

Main articles: French Consulate and War of the Second Coalition

Bonaparte's brother, Joseph, led the complex negotiations in Lunéville and reported that Austria, emboldened by British support, would not acknowledge the new territory that France had acquired. As negotiations became increasingly fractious, Bonaparte gave orders to his general Moreau to strike Austria once more. Moreau and the French swept through Bavaria and scored an overwhelming victory at Hohenlinden in December 1800. As a result, the Austrians capitulated and signed the Treaty of Lunéville in February 1801. The treaty reaffirmed and expanded earlier French gains at Campo Formio.

While one French army approached from the north, the Austrians were busy with another stationed in Genoa, which was besieged by a substantial force. The fierce resistance of this French army, under André Masséna, gave the northern force some time to carry out their operations with little interference. [Deleted]

After spending several days looking for each other, the two armies collided at the Battle of Marengo on 14 June. The French lines never broke during their tactical retreat. Bonaparte constantly rode out among the troops urging them to stand and fight.

Although critics have blamed Bonaparte for several tactical mistakes preceding the battle, they have also praised his audacity for selecting a risky campaign strategy, choosing to invade the Italian peninsula from the north when the vast majority of French invasions came from the west, near or along the coastline. As David G. Chandler points out, Bonaparte spent almost a year getting the Austrians out of Italy in his first campaign. In 1800, it took him only a month to achieve the same goal. German strategist and field marshal Alfred von Schlieffen concluded that "Bonaparte did not annihilate his enemy but eliminated him and rendered him harmless" while attaining "the object of the campaign: the conquest of North Italy".

Bonaparte established a political system that historian Martyn Lyons called "dictatorship by plebiscite". Worried by the democratic forces unleashed by the Revolution, but unwilling to ignore them entirely, Bonaparte resorted to regular electoral consultations with the French people on his road to imperial power.

He drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul, taking up residence at the Tuileries. The constitution was approved in a rigged plebiscite held the following January, with 99.94 percent officially listed as voting "yes". Deleted repeated information.

Napoleon's brother, Lucien, had falsified the returns to show that 3 million people had participated in the plebiscite. The real number was 1.5 million. Political observers at the time assumed the eligible French voting public numbered about 5 million people, so the regime artificially doubled the participation rate to indicate popular enthusiasm for the consulate.

In the Treaty of Fontainebleau, the Allies exiled Napoleon to Elba, an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean, 10 km (6 mi) off the Tuscan coast. They gave him sovereignty over the island and allowed him to retain the title of Emperor. Napoleon attempted suicide with a pill he had carried after nearly being captured by the Russians during the retreat from Moscow. Its potency had weakened with age, however, and he survived to be exiled, while his wife and son took refuge in Austria. He was conveyed to the island on HMS Undaunted by Captain Thomas Ussher, and he arrived at Portoferraio on 30 May 1814. In the first few months on Elba he created a small navy and army, developed the iron mines, oversaw the construction of new roads, issued decrees on modern agricultural methods, and overhauled the island's legal and educational system. A few months into his exile, Napoleon learned that his ex-wife Joséphine had died in France. He was devastated by the news, locking himself in his room and refusing to leave for two days.

War of the Sixth Coalition

Main article: War of the Sixth Coalition

The Allies offered peace terms in the Frankfurt proposals in November 1813. Napoleon would remain as Emperor of the French, but it would be reduced to its "natural frontiers". That meant that France could retain control of Belgium, Savoy and the Rhineland (the west bank of the Rhine River), while giving up control of all the rest, including all of Spain and the Netherlands, and most of Italy and Germany. Metternich told Napoleon these were the best terms the Allies were likely to offer; after further victories, the terms would be harsher and harsher. Metternich's motivation was to maintain France as a balance against Russian threats while ending the highly destabilizing series of wars. [Failed verification. Source doesn't say this at all. Replaced it with Dwyer.]

Napoleon, expecting to win the war, delayed too long and lost this opportunity; by December the Allies had withdrawn the offer. When his back was to the wall in 1814, he tried to reopen peace negotiations on the basis of accepting the Frankfurt proposals. The Allies now had new, harsher terms that included the retreat of France to its 1791 boundaries, which meant the loss of Belgium, but Napoleon would remain Emperor. However, he rejected the terms. The British wanted Napoleon permanently removed, and they prevailed, though Napoleon adamantly refused.

Napoleon withdrew into France, his army reduced to 70,000 soldiers and little cavalry; he faced more than three times as many Allied troops. Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's older brother, abdicated as king of Spain on 13 December 1813 and assumed the title of lieutenant general to save the collapsing empire. The French were surrounded: British armies pressed from the south, and other Coalition forces positioned to attack from the German states. By the middle of January 1814, the Coalition had already entered France's borders and launched a two-pronged attack on Paris, with Prussia entering from the north, and Austria from the east, marching out of the capitulated Swiss confederation. The French Empire, however, would not go down so easily. Napoleon launched a series of victories in the Six Days' Campaign. While they repulsed the coalition forces and delayed the capture of Paris by at least a full month, these were not significant enough to turn the tide. The coalitionaries camped on the outskirts of the capital on 29 March. A day later, they advanced onto the demoralized soldiers protecting the city. Joseph Bonaparte led a final battle at the gates of Paris. They were greatly outnumbered, as 30,000 French soldiers were pitted against a combined coalition force that was five times greater. They were defeated, and Joseph retreated out of the city. The leaders of Paris surrendered to the Coalition on the last day of March 1814. The following day, Talleyrand was elected as the head of a provitional government. On 2 April, the Sénat voted the deposition of Napoleon, and on the following day passed the Acte de déchéance de l'Empereur ("Emperor's Demise Act") via a Sénatus-consulte.

Napoleon references

Barnett, Corelli (1997) [1978]. Napoleon. Ware: Wordsworth. ISBN 1 85326 678 7.

Bell, David A. (2015). Napoleon: A Concise Biography. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-026271-6. only 140pp; by a scholar

Cobban, Alfred (1963). A History of Modern France, Volume 2: 1799-1871 (2nd ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-020525-X.

Conner, Susan P. (2004). The Age of Napoleon. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-32014-4.

Cullen, William (2008). Is Arsenic an Aphrodisiac?. Royal Society of Chemistry. ISBN 978-0-85404-363-7.

Dwyer, Phillip (2013). Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power, 1799-1815. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978 0 7475 7808 6.

Dwyer, Phillip (2015). "Napoleon, the Revolution and the Empire". In Andress, David (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-963974-8.

Dwyer, Phillip (2018). Napoleon: Passion, Death and Resurrection, 1815-1840. Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4088-9175-9.

Ellis, Geoffrey (1997). "Religion according to Napoleon". In Aston, Nigel (ed.). Religious change in Europe, 1650-1914 : essays for John McManners. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-820596-1.

Esdaile, Charles (2007). Napoleon's Wars: An International History, 1803-1815. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-141-90946-2.

Geyl, Pieter (1949). Napoleon: For and Against. London: Jonathan Cape.

McLynn, Frank (1997). Napoleon: a biography. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-04072-3.

French Revolution references

Sade, Marquis de (1954). The 120 Days of Sodom; or, The Romance of the School for Libertinage. Translated by Casavini, Pieralessandro [pseud. of Austryn Wainhouse]. Paris: Olympia Press.

Works cited

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• Doyle, William (2018). The Oxford History of the French Revolution (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198804932.

• Jessene, Jean-Pierre (2013). "The Social and Economic Crisis in France at the End of the Ancien Régime". In McPhee, Peter (ed.). A Companion to the French Revolution. Oxford: John Wley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4443-3564-4.

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