Ch. 9 Study Guide The French Revolution and Napoleon Name______
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the French Revolution? / What specific evidence from the source supports this general cause?
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The French Revolution and Napoleon Study Guide Name______
Ch. 9 Section 1 Pgs 152-154 Complete worksheet below.
SETTING THE STAGE:
Reasons France was considered the center of the Enlightenment:
1. Considered the most advanced country in Europe.
2. Had a large population & prosperous foreign trade.
3. Culture praised & emulated by the rest of the world.
THE OLD REGIME: The long-range causes of the French Revolution are to be found in the condition of French society. Before the Revolution, French society was based on inequality. Since the Middle Ages, France’s population was divided into three orders, or estates.
First Estate / Second Estate / Third EstateThis estate was also
called?
What % of land did
the estate collectively own?
What was the population of this estate?
Did the estate pay taxes?
The estate was composed of what kind of people?
Identify any divisions within the estate.
What problem(s) did this estate have with other estates?
Please be specific!
The End of the Old Regime
Following the Tennis Court Oath (Source 7) and the storming of the Bastille (Source 8) in July of 1789, the old French Regime was on the verge of collapse. On August 4, 1789, the National Assembly (Source 7) voted to abolish all legal privileges of the nobles and clergy. A couple of weeks later, the National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.
1. On Pg. 155, outline some of the rights outlined in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. ______
In the spring of 1792, Paris citizens angry about food shortages and an unpopular war with Austria took King Louis XVI captive. The French Revolution was now entering a more radical and violent stage. Many of these radical citizens were called sans-culottes.
2. Who were the sans-culottes? (Pg. 155)
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In September 1792, the newly elected National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy and to establish a republic. During this time many citizens had formed political clubs of varying social and political views.
3. What were the names of two popular political clubs? (Pg. 155)
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In early 1793, the Jacobins convinced the Convention to pass a decree condemning Louis XVI to death. On January 21, the king was beheaded on the guillotine.
4. What were two consequences (effects) of the King’s death? (Pg. 159)
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5. Who will emerge as the violent leader of the Jacobins? (Pg. 159)
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Reign of Terror
Following the execution of the King, the Convention argued about how the country should be run and how the war should be fought. This debate became much more heated following a peasant uprising in La Vendée against compulsory military service. Two main groups emerged with very different ideas.
Group / Leader / IdeaThe Jacobins
(Radical) / Jean Marat
Max Robespierre
Georges Danton / “We must suspend free speech and liberty so we can win the war. Otherwise, there will be nothing left to defend”
The Girondins
(Moderate) / Madame Roland / “We must preserve the ideals of free speech and liberty at all costs. Otherwise the Revolution is not worth fighting for”
1. Which of these two views do you agree with most? Why?
In the end, the Jacobins seized control of the Convention and expelled the Girondins. Their main leaders were as follows:
Georges Danton / Jean-Paul Mara / Maximilien Robespierre / Louis Saint-Just"We must dare, and again dare, and forever dare." / “God has always been hard on the poor”. / “Every Revolution eats its children” / “Keep cool and you command everybody”
He was known for his ugliness – he had been twice gorged by a bull, and trampled over by a herd of pigs as a child. / He was known as “The Toad” due to his ugliness. Suffered from a rare disease that left his skin peeling off in lumps. / He was a talented lawyer with amazing energy, dedication and intelligence, but with a streak of absolute ruthlessness. / He was a young law student who robbed his parents and ran away to Paris, where he befriended Robespierre.
Danton did not agree with Marat and Robespierre that the Girondins be executed as “traitors to the Revolution” – so he was thrown out of the government. He felt Robespierre hadn’t got the guts to arrest him, but he was wrong. He was sent to the guillotine. His last words were “Infamous Robespierre! The scaffold is calling for you! Your house shall be razed! You shall follow me!". He left instructions for his head to be held up for the crowd after his execution because “it’s well worth looking at!”. / Marat was soaking himself in a herbal bath to relieve his sores when he was visited by Charlotte Corday, a woman who claimed to have details about a planned rebellion. Whilst he was jotting down notes, she stabbed him through the heart with a butcher’s knife. / Robespierre reacted to the death of Marat by declaring “Let Terror be the order of the day”. During “The Terror” 40,000 people were guillotined in just a few months. He then called himself “The Incorruptible” and organized a bizarre “Festival of the Supreme Being” suggesting that he was a God! In July 1794 (the “Coup de Thermidor”), police came to arrest Robespierre himself, who had part of his jaw shot off as he tried to escape. He was carried off to the Place de Revolutions in Paris and guillotined, facing upwards. A wax mask was made of his face [right] by Madame Tussaud, who exhibited her work in London and later opened a museum. / Saint-Just was arrested at the same time as Robespierre. During the Terror he had been particularly bloodthirsty, but during his trial he had a nervous breakdown. He had to be dragged screaming to his cell after the death sentence was passed, and tore his shirt to shreds as he was being led to the scaffold.
2. Which of the quotes listed above do you find the most striking? Explain your answer carefully.
The End of the Reign of Terror
In the years 1793 — 1794, thousands of people suspected of anti-revolutionary activities or of helping France’s enemies were sent to the guillotine. Who was executed? One of the first to be executed was Marie-Antoinette, the former Queen. It is impossible to estimate how many people met their deaths. More than 12,000 were officially guillotined, but many others were shot, drowned, or put to death some other way. The Terror was supposed to help the revolution survive, but it was not just the former members of the first and second estates who suffered at its hands. Of the 12,000 or so who were guillotined, 1031 were Nobles; 2923 were from the middle classes; 674 were from the clergy; 7878 were workers & peasants; and 140 were of unknown classes.
There were many incidents of horror during the Terror. In Lyons, a Jacobin ordered 300 people to be executed by cannon fire as the guillotine was ‘too slow’. At Nantes, barges containing 2000 people were towed into the middle of the River Loire and sunk. Everyone drowned. Birds hovered above the water, eating dead flesh. The river water was so contaminated that fishing was banned. In Paris, thousands watched the executions. Women took their knitting with them, bets were placed on the order the prisoners would be executed in.
Eventually, people got sick of all the killing, and by mid-1794, the Terror had died out. As the Austrian threat decreased, so too did the need for the emergency government. Many now looked for someone to blame for the Reign of Terror. The leading Jacobin, Robespierre found himself at the centre of the blame, despite acting on the wishes and with the backing of the Convention, and was arrested and locked up. In July 1794, Robespierre found himself facing the same fate as thousands of other French people, the guillotine.
Following the Reign of Terror, a new government was created called the Directory. The Directory, which lasted from 1795-1799, became known mainly for corruption. Some supporters of the Directory made fortunes from government contracts or by loaning the government money at very high interest rates. Because of the corruption and the expensive wars the Directory waged on foreign enemies, the Directory started to encounter increasing criticism from both conservatives and radicals. To stay in power, the Directory began to rely on the military. In 1799, the military turned against the Directory. The successful and popular general Napoleon Bonaparte toppled the Directory in a coup d’etat, a sudden overthrow of the government. Napoleon then seized power.
Questions
1. When did the Reign of Terror occur?
2. What was the name of Louis XVI’s wife? What happened to her?
3. True or False Only members of the first and second estates were executed.
4. What happened at Nantes?
5. Why did the Reign of Terror come to an end?
6. What Jacobin leader was executed for his participation in the Reign of Terror?
7. What was the government called after the Reign of Terror?
8. What happened to that government?
The Rise and Fall of Napoleon
Congress of Vienna
Napoleon’s defeat left Europe in a SHAMBLES. The Congress of Vienna was called in 1815 in order to put Europe back together again. The Person who led the Congress of Vienna was Prince Metternich of Austria.
Complete this chart using the information on Pg. 169-170 in text.
Compare this map to the map of Napoleonic
Europe on Pg. 166 in the text. What countries gained territory from France after the Congress of Vienna?
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