Name______

Chapter 19 A Revolution in Politics: The Era of the French revolution and Napoleon

The Beginnings of the Revolutionary Era: The American Revolution, 523-525

  1. What country was the world’s colonial power at the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763?
  1. How did British policy makers attempt to obtain new revenues to pay for the “French and Indian War” (colonist part of the Seven Years’ War)? What was the result?
  1. In what way did American colonists disagree with the British conception of empire?
  1. In what ways did the French assist the Americans in their war for independence?
  1. How did the proposed new constitution in 1787 differ from the Articles of Confederation? What powers were now given to the national government?
  1. Describe the three branches of government.
  1. What was necessary to achieve ratification for the US Constitution? What did these amendments guarantee?
  1. What ideas of the American Revolution influenced Europeans?
  1. Who brought most information regarding the American Revolution back to Europe?

Background to the French Revolution, 526-528 and Palmer 344-347

Complete the following chart using both Spielvogel and Palmer

ESTATE / Description of People in Estate / Rights or Privileges
Issues on eve of Fr. Revolution / Percentage of Land Ownership / % or # of Population
(27 million)
1st Estate
2nd Estate
3rd Estate / Bourgeoisie
Urban Workers
Peasants

The French Revolution, 528-544

The Moderate Phase

  1. By summoning the Estates-General, what did the government want to accomplish? What did it not want to do?
  1. Describe the various representatives at the Estates-General and the number of representatives per estate.
  1. Define cahiers de doleances. What did they usually advocate?
  1. Why was the Estates-General divided from the start?
  1. How did the Parlement of Paris prove to be an impediment to reform?
  1. What did the Third Estate declare itself on June 17, 1789?
  1. Describe the Tennis Court Oath.
  1. Explain the storming of the Bastille. How did the fall of the Bastille affect the new National Assembly?
  1. What influenced peasant resentment toward nobles and the bourgeois?
  1. Describe the Great Fear.
  1. What was destroyed on the night of August 4, 1789?
  1. How does the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen reflect the ideas of the French Enlightenment and American Revolution?

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.

g.

  1. What did Olympe de Gouges insist in the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen?
  1. Describe in your own words what happened on October 5, 1789. Who was involved? What were the demands?
  1. How did Louis XVI react to the March to Versailles?
  1. How did the National Assembly create money out of the Catholic Church?
  1. Explain the characteristics of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of July 1790.

a.

b.

  1. Why was the Civil Constitution a mistake made by the National Assembly?
  1. What kind of government was created by the Constitution of 1791?
  1. Describe the Legislative Assembly. How were the representatives chosen?
  1. By 1791, what were the complaints regarding the revolution?

Clergy

Lower classes

Peasants

  1. Who made up the various Jacobin clubs throughout France?
  1. What major mistake did Louis XVI make in June 1791? What was the result?
  1. Why was the composition of the Legislative Assembly different than the National Assembly?
  1. Why were European countries fearful of the French Revolution?
  1. Identify the Declaration of Pillnitz. What was the result April 1792?
  1. Why did different groups in France want war in 1792?

Reactionaries –

Leftists –

  1. Why was there an organized attack on the government in August 1792? What was the result?
  1. Who were the sans-culottes?

Radical Revolution

  1. What type of actions did the Paris Commune (made up of sans-culottes) take prior to the National Convention?
  1. What was significant about the social make-up of the National Convention?
  1. What was the first major action taken by the National Convention on September 21?
  1. In the section “Domestic Crises” identify the characteristics of the Girondins vs. the Mountain.

GIRONDIN / MOUNTAIN
Supported by which people?
View toward the king
  1. Who controlled the local Parisian government and where did it get it supporters? What kind of change did it want?
  1. How did the Mountain gain control of the National Assembly?
  1. Why was there a revolt in the Vendee?
  1. What was the purpose of the Committee of Public Safety (CoPS)?
  1. Explain the growth of the French revolutionary army (levee en masse).
  1. Why would the French revolutionary army reflect the modern concept of nationalism?
  1. Who were the various victims of the “Reign of Terror” (specific and general)?
  1. Map 19.2: Why would Austria desire cooperation from the German states if it wanted to wage war on France?
  1. How were rebellious departments/cities subdued by the revolutionary armies?

Mareilles

Lyon

Vendee

Nantes

  1. How did the Reign of Terror reflect the concept “all men are equal”?
  1. Instead of being a true republic, what type of government was France during the Reign of Terror (answer is not in the book)?
  1. What were two ways the CoPS attempted to control the economy?

a.

b.

Were these controls successful? Why or why not?

  1. Describe the role women played during the radical phase of the French Revolution. Did women realize true equality?
  1. In what ways did the National Convention try to dechristianize France?

a.

b.

c.

d.

  1. Why was dechristianization a blunder?
  1. How did the revised “republican” calendar reflect dechristianization? How did it reflect the Enlightenment
  1. When was the Gregorian calendar reinstated and by whom?
  1. When was the abolition of slavery achieved in France? Where were French slaves not liberated?

*

*

  1. Where did French African slaves successfully overthrow French forces and achieve independence on January 1, 1804?
  1. Why in 1794 was the “Terror” really no longer necessary? Why did it continue?
  1. What happened to Robespierre?
  1. Identify the successes of the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety.

Thermidorean Reaction and Directory

  1. What did the new constitution of 1795 reflect? Why were there two chambers in the legislative assembly?
  1. How can the period of the Directory be described?

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.

  1. What issues did the Directory face from 1795-1799?

The Age of Napoleon, 544-550

  1. Describe the background of Napoleon Bonaparte.
  1. What various military actions (and their results) did Napoleon take from 1785-1799?
  1. What steps did Napoleon take in becoming Emperor Napoleon I from 1799-1804?
  1. List and explain Napoleon’s Domestic policies.

Catholic Church:

Civil Code/Code Napoleon:

French Bureaucracy:

  1. How did Napoleon’s domestic policies destroy or preserve the ideas of the Enlightenment?

Destroy

Preserve

  1. Describe the three parts of Napoleon’s Grand Empire.

French empire

Dependent states

Allied States

  1. How did Napoleon try to destroy the old order within his empire and among the dependent states?
  1. Map 19.3: On the Continent, what is the overall relationship between distance from France and degree of French control, and how can you account for this?
  1. What two issues prevented Napoleon’s empire from lasting centuries?

a.

b.

  1. Describe the Continental System.
  1. Why was the Continental System unsuccessful?
  1. Define nationalism.
  1. Why did nationalism backfire on the French?
  1. Why did Napoleon invade Russia in 1812?
  1. What were the results of the “Great Retreat”?
  1. Despite being exiled what did Napoleon do on March 20, 1815?
  1. What happened as a result of Waterloo on June 18, 1815?