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By Jose Rosario
Page 128
How was the French society unequal?
It consisted of the
The First Roman Catholic Clergy
Estate
It consisted of the
Nobles about 2% of the
Second Estate Population & owned
20% of the Land
They had
The Third Estate included little rights &
1) Bourgeoisie – wealthy Merchants & skilled paid half of
workers their Income
2) City Workers – poorly paid servants like cooks & in taxes
attendance, etc . . .
3) Peasants – 80% of the population were farmers
 Population ofTaxes
France
paid

THE THREE ESTATES

Third Estate (50%)

1% 2%
First Estate (Less than
1%) First Estate
Second Estate (0%) Second Estate Second Estate
Third Estate Third Estate

97%

First Estate (2%)

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

1. Three factors led to the revolution.

a. Enlightenment spreads the Idea that

everyone should be equal.
b. The French economy was failing & high taxes
kept profit low & food supplies were short.
c. Louis XVI was a weak leader & his wife was
unpopular, France was in debt, tried to tax
the nobles, but the king was forced to
Estates-General (an assembly of delegates).
Louise XVI’s Family
 2. The General Estate began in May 1789

a. At the assembly, 3rd estate wanted to count all delegates,

but the King people disagreed.
b. In June 1789, the 3rd estate had their own & called it the
National Assembly.
c. Tennis Court Oath was to make a new constitution.
d. In July 14, 1789, a rumor that soldiers were attacking (not
true), an angry crowd stormed the Bastille (a Paris prison).
e. Peasants revolted & burned nobles homes, & in late 1789
an angry mob marched on Versailles, they forced the King
& Queen to move to Paris.
Taking of the Bastille
The Revolution Brings Reform &
Terror
By Jose Rosario
 1. Meanwhile, the people of France

a. In August 1789 the National Assembly wrote

the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
1) It ended special rights of the 1st & 2nd estates.
2) It gave man equal rights but not women.
3) Put the church under the government, it made
peasants to chose the church over government.
b. The king tried, unsuccessfully, to escape with
his family, the royal family was unpopular.
The Taking of the Bastille
 5. In the fall of 1791 the Assembly wrote a
new Constitution
a. A new Legislative Assembly was formed, however
divided in three factions:
1) The Radical – wanted sweeping changes in the government.
2) Moderates – wanted some changes.
3) Conservatives – wanted a limited monarchy.
b. Other countries felt threaten by the revolution &
wanted to restore the King Louis in the throne.
c. People believed the King had a part with the other
countries, imprisoned & trialed him for treason.
d. The King was then executed in the guillotine.
 3. Maximiliem Robespierre became the
leader of France.
a. He lead the Committee of Public Safety that
trailed & put to death the enemies of the
Revolution.
b. Thousand were killed (estimated to 30,000).
c. This period was called the Reign of Terror.
(July 1793 – July 1794). Robespierre was
executed too
d. French people got tired of the killing.
The Reign of Terror
The French Revolution
Napoleon Forges an Empire

By Jose Rosario
 1. Napoleon Bonaparte takes over . . .
a. Napoleon was born in 1769 in the Island of Corsica.
b. At age 9 he was end to military school & became an
artillery officer.
c. He joined the army of the new government .
d. In 1795, he become a hero after defeating French
royalist army.
e. By 1799 people lost confidence in the new
government in bold move Napoleon & his troops
seize control staging a coup-d'état.
6. Napoleon Bonaparte takes over . . .
2. Napoleon pretended to be the rightfully
elected leader of France
a. In 1800 French people voted overwhelmingly for
the new constitution.
b. He made changes to the revolution:
1) Fair tax collection.
2) Removed dishonesty from government
3) Started public school - lycees
4) Gave the church some powers back
5) The Napoleonic Code – gave citizen the same right, but
took some rights from the people, ex. freedom of
speech & restored slavery in the colonies.
 3. Napoleon Creates an Empire
a. In 1801 Napoleon sent his soldiers to retake the
island of Haiti, after the slave revolution 1798,
however they failed.
b. He later sold the Louisiana to the U.S.
c. In 1804 he made himself Emperor of France, &
then took control of Austrian Netherlands, part
of Italy & Switzerland.
d. He was only defeated by the British Admiral
Lord Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar.
Napoleon’s Empire
Britain
Russia

France

Italy
Spain
Battle of Trafalgar
Napoleon’s Empire Collapses

By José Rosario
1. Napoleon’s personality threat his empire,
his love of power push his expansion.
a. He made three costly mistakes:
1) In 1806 he ordered a blockade to the British Islands, trying
to destroy their economy. The British broke the blockade.
2) In 1808 he made his own brother King of Spain, the
Spanish people revolted.
3) In 1812, Napoleon tried to conquered Russia with 400,000
soldiers. The Russian used the scorched-earth policy not
allowing the French troop to eat.
b. The French troops got as close as Moscow but the
winter destroyed them, only 10,000 survived.
Napoleon’s Retreat from Russia
2. Britain, Russia, Prussia Sweden &
Austria joined forces to attack France
a. In 1813, Napoleon was defeated at Leipzig, Germany.
b. The next year he gave up his throne & was exiled in the
island of Elba, Italy. Louis XVIII took the French’s throne.
c. But Louis unpopularity helped Napoleon’s comeback.
He took power & raised an army.
d. Duke of Wellington, a British admiral defeated Napoleon
at Waterloo, ending the 100 days.
e. He then was exiled again at the Island of St. Helen, in
the South Atlantic Ocean, where he died in 1821.
Napoleon Bonaparte’s Pantheon in Paris,
France
The Congress of Vienna
By Jose Rosario
1. In 1814, European leaders met to draw a peace
plan, meets were know as the Congress of Vienna

a. Austria foreign Minister, Klemens von Metternich

shaped the peace treaty.
b. The treaty had three goals:
1) That France will never attack anyone.
2) Create a balance of power between the Nations of
Europe
3) An legitimacy for the monarchies Napoleon conquered,
to restore them.
c. France was not punished for the war, so the treaty
was implemented, for 40 years the peace stand.
2. European Monarch were nervous about the
effect of the French Revolution.
a. Alliance were formed after the signing of the treaty:
1) Russia, Austria & Prussia create the Holly Alliance.
2) The Concert of Europe was created so nation could each
other in case if revolution happen in their territories.
b. Conservatives were people that opposed the French
Revolution & its ideas of individual freedoms, &
wanted to restore values of the monarchy.
c. The final effect of the French Revolution was that
inspire other revolution in Spain, Germany, Greece,
Italy, and Latin America.