French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon - revision notes

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Enlightment -> European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th century.

  • Ideas concerning: God, reason, nature, man. Those ideas were simplified into worldview, that investigated revolutionary development (art, philosophy, politics)
  • Use and celebration of reason, reason was regarded as a power
  • Possibility of human progress, improvement.
  • Men wanted to be useful citizens; key words: knowledge, freedom, happiness.

Enlightment beliefs:

  • The rule of law
  • Welfare (dobrobyt) and the general good
  • Progress
  • Efficient administration
  • Better education, poorhouses, founding of orphanages (sierocińce), emancipation of serfs
  • Toleration and free press
  • Abolition of torture and persecution (prześladowanie), humanitarianism
  • Abolition of privilege (immunitet) for some estates

Enlightment in France (before the Revolution of 1789):

  • More serfs before the revolution were free
  • French philosophers -> literary man, scientists and thinkers of the 18th century France, they were united in spite of divergent (rozbieżny) personal views.
  • They expressed support for social, political and economic forces; they believed in their enormous abilities.
  • Scientific achievements and inventions made a revolution, they were listed in ENCYCLOPEDIA -> the great work of the Enlightment, it was published in 28 volumes, from 1751 to 1780.

Its editors: Denis Diderot (philosopher, writer, art critic) and D’Alembert (mathematician, mechanican, philosopher).

Its contributors (współautorzy): called encyclopedystes.

Voltaire (writer, historian and philosopher)

Montesquieu (political thinker)

Rousseau (philosopher, writer and composer)

Montesquieu->  proposed the separation of powers (władze) into legislative (ustawodawcza), executive (wykonawcza) and judiciary (sądownicza). He proposed it firstly in ‘’Spirit of the Laws’’ (published in 1748), it has 22 volumes. He was a member of the second estate (nobility & royalty).

‘’Spirit of the Laws’’ was placed on the index (it was banned) by Catholic Church. (index – appeared in 16th century, during the counterreformation)

Montesquieu’s political views:  he was against absolutism.

Absolutism -> political doctrine and practice of unlimited, centralized sovereignty; Jean Boden (French lawyer in the 2nd half of the 16th century) provided an intellectual justification for monarchical absolutism. A monarch was an incarnation (wcielenie) and symbol of sovereign state. Ruler couldn’t be subordinate by anyone, only by God. Louis XIV from Bourbon dynasty – ‘’I am the state’’.

Voltaire -> writer, the most influential thinker of Enlightment. Member of first estate (clergy). He spent 11 months in Bastille (prison). He thought, that political system in England is better, than in France.

He was against Catholic Church (he thought, it’s the most intolerant institution)

He believed, that the monarchy is good idea if the ruler is wise and clever. Voltaire hated the idea of the government.

Jean Jacques Rousseau -> philosopher and writer, born in Genua (Switzerland), as a young man he moved to Paris.

1762 – he published ‘’The Social Contract’’ (‘’Umowa Społeczna’’), in which he proposed some ideas, for example: how to set up a political community in the face of problems of commercial society. He thought, that sovereignty should has less power than the legislative and act only by the means of the law. Legislative power should belong to the people – General Will.

‘’The Social Contract’’ – its ideas have been used by Maximilien Robespierre during the Great Terror (September 1793- July 1794).

France before the Revolution of 1789.

Ancien regime = absolute monarchy -> a term, that refers to the political & social system existing in France under the Bourbon dynasty. In the second half of 17th century France was an absolute monarchy on the rule of the hereditary monarch, who was the sole source of political power. He ruled with support of the nobility.

LOUIS XIV from BOURBON DYNASTY -> ruled France during the late 17th and early 18th century. He said ‘’I am the state’’ – the most famous statement of absolutism. He called himself The Sun King (Król Słońce). Louis XIV died at the beginning of the 18th century, he was the most famous member of the Bourbon dynasty.

The official royal residence was Palace of Versailles.

  • In the second half of the 18th century -> 5 states were regarded as a great powers of Europe and decided on European policy (because of the military forces). France, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia and Austria. They were engaged in the SEVEN YEARS WAR.

Seven Years War -> 1756-1763

- The major military conflict before the French Revolution, which involved great powers of the Europe.

- France, Austria and Russia were allied against Prussia and Great Britain.

- The concentration of the war was in German states. Silesia had been rested from Austria by Prussia in 1740’s. Austria wanted to regain it. The king of Prussia then was Friedrich II (crashed the huge French and Austrian armies during the War).

- Seven Years War also involved overseas colonial empires between France and Great Britain. They fought to control India and North America. The war ended with some terms of treaties. Under those terms Great Britain gained French Canada and became a leader in colonization.

- Prussia maintained (utrzymała) its possession of Silesia and confirmed (potwierdziła) its status as a major European power.

-Defeated: Austria, France. Victorious: Great Britain (gained Canada in 1763, Prussia (gained Silesia).

LOUIS XV -> Louis’ XIV successor. He became a king at the age of 5. He reigned from 1715 to 1774. He was Louis’ XIV grandson.

  • He got married with Marie Leszczynska (a daughter of the dethroned polish king – Stanislaw Leszczynski)
  • he lacked in self-confidence and his government became degenerated. He isolated himself from the court.
  • -His mistress was Madame de Pompadour. They were connected by common policy. 1745 -> Louis XV took Madame de Pompadour as his official mistress. The collaboration between them was political and artistic; they patronized all the forms of decorative arts. The most famous porcelain factory was built at Sevres and Madame was a protector of most of the French authors. She was also a protector of the editors of Encyclopedia. Madame was blamed of the defeats during Seven Years War.
  • After the end of the Seven Years War, Madame de Pompadour died.
  • The last mistress of the Louis XV was Madame du Barry. She was unpopular in France.

Louis’ XV reigns were bad in policy, his court had a huge extravagances (wydatki) and it gave a reverse (niepowodzenie) in military, so France went to the path of the revolution.

He died in 1774 and was succeeded by his grandson, LOUIS XVI.

LOUIS XVI -> he was 20 years old, immature and lacking self-confidence. He was frigid (oziębły) in relations with Marie Antoinette, his young wife. He had an operation and physical defect.

Marie Antoinette – Austrian archduchess (arcyksiężniczka). She was a daughter of Maria Theresa, Austrian empress who died in 1780. Her successor was her son, Joseph II. They were form Habsburg dynasty.

The social order of the ancient regime.

Before the revolution 1789 -> France was one of the most populous (zaludniony) country. With Corsica it had about 26 million inhabitants.

Corsica – island on the Mediterranean Sea, over the Sardinia. Its main city is Ajaccio. Corsica is the 4 th largest island on the Mediterranean Sea, it became a province of France during the reigns of Louis XV (France annexed it in 1769).

  • Population of France was homogenous (jednorodna) in religion and ethnic. 97% of the population belonged to the Catholic Church. Most of the population (about 84%) lived in rural areas – France was an agricultural country. Its largest city was Paris (it has over half a million of inhabitants).

Social structure before the Revolution:

the social structure for centuries was based on the system of feudal obligation. Officially, every subject (poddany) of the French king belonged to one of the 3 estates.

First Estate – CLERGY -> all of the clergy was around 130 000 of people. From bishops at the top to parish priests (proboszczowie) at the bottom. All the clergy has its own status, before the Revolution they were benefited from privileges.

Second Estate – NOBILITY -> 170 000-200 000 French subjects were members of the Second Estate.  The nobility was divided into:

  1. NOBILITY OF THE SWORD (szlachta rodowa) – those, whose ancestors were nobles, dated from medieval period. Families of the Nobility of The Sword derived their rank from military service and from long standing possession.
  1. The Court Nobility (szlachta dworska) – hereditary aristocracy. They numbered about 4000 families, who lived permanently in Paris or Versailles, dealing with pinpricks (‘’szpilki’’) and gossips at court. They wanted to increase their income and play higher political role.
  2. The Provincial Nobility (szlachta prowincjonalna) – they were extremely diverse in economic terms. Some of them lived a life of ease (dostatnie życie) in their chateaux (zamek na wsi). They lived off (utrzymywali się z ) rents paid by peasants, they hunted and played cards. Some of them they were working on their fields and living on the level of peasants, but in case of the law they were equal with the rest of the nobility.
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  1. NOBILITY OF THE ROBE (szlachta urzędnicza) – consisted of those, who acquired noble status through holding certain high state offices, for example in the Royal Judiciary (administracja państwowa). Many of the bourgeoisie who had money entered the rank of the Nobility of The Robe, because the bought high state offices in Civil Service and Royal Judiciary. But they were disdained by some families from the Nobility of The Sword.

They had great fortunes, were well-educated and were judges in Parlement.

Parlement -> supreme court under the ancient regime. It could restrict the license of the royal authority (samowola władzy ...

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