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...for the Week of March 20, 2000
... for the Week of March 13, 2000
... for the Week of March 5, 2000
Involvement in failed wars, a corrupt and inadequate tax system and
poor harvests in the 1780s sparked a revolution like no other. With violence in the
streets and mob rule common, life during the French Revolution was exciting at its best,
deadly at its worst. Following the fateful oath taken at Louis' tennis court, the Third
Estate had no idea the depths to which France would go to see that oath reach its
enlightened conclusion - A French nation that both worshipped and practiced the
very things the tri-color stood for: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. When the King's head falls, so does any sense of order in
France. Dominated by radical political clubs, the revolution takes on a life of its
own until...Until a pint-sized Corsican takes control, with the blessings of the nation
supporting him. Leading France to days of glory, Napoleon fails to grasp the limits
of his own greatness. Though a brilliant military commander, he falls to the will of
"Gen.Winter" and then to the will of Wellington.
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Louis XVI was the face of the Old Regime -
France could no longer economically support his (and those that cam before him) way of
life. Debts from poor foreign policy decisions couple with poor harvests set the
stage for change.
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The
driving force behind the revolution will be the Third estate, which included illiterate
peasants and bourgeoisie, the middle class of the cities. They bore the burden of
the 1st and 2nd estates. |
When financial woes threatened Louis and his
crown, he called the Estates General, who had not been called for nearly 160 years.
When the 3rd Estate refused to accept the one vote per estate rule, Louis had them
thrown out. In the tennis court at Versailles, the oath was taken - an oath the
promised only to write a constitution - but an oath that will be reason enough for some
for revolution. |
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If Louis
was the face of the Old Regime, that Bastille was its castle. A medieval prison that
the crowns political prisoners called home, the Bastille became a symbol for all that was
wrong with France and it's absolute monarch. When
the mob stormed the gates, the
blood began to flow. And it would not be short of two decades before it would stop. |
The motto of the revolutionaries had three
parts - Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. It was also represented in the tri-color
flag. |
The chief
product of the early revolutionaries was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
Citizen. The document detailed basic rights that had already been drawn up in
England and America, including the ideals of liberty, freedom and happiness. |
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For some, though, the Declaration was
far from enough. To certain political groups, like the Jacobins, radical change was
necessary to really change France. |
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| Chapter
22 |
| Section One |
Section Two |
 How did the Old Order rule and why didn't the French like
it? |
What "ends" the old order? How does it do
it? |
| How does Louis respond to the Third Estate? |
Why didn't the constitutionalism work? |
| The Oath and the storming of the Bastille begin the
journey... |
How did émigrés attempt to crush the revolution? |
| Section Three |
Section Four |
| How did the Republic signal a truly new order? |
Napoleon - Just what the doctor ordered...Why? |
| To what crisis to the Jacobins and Girondins lead France? |
By what methods did Napoleon hope to restore order to
France... |
| Reign of Terror, execution of Robespierre and the
Directory |
...and turn Europe into a Napoleonic Empire? |
| Section Five - The Congress of
Vienna |
| Not included on the Revolutions Test |
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