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Summary French Revolution and The Rule of Napoleon A Level History A OCR
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FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE RULE OF NAPOLEONKey issue 1 – 1774-1789
The Structure of the Ancien Regime
- Important because it reinforced wealth disparity, was a pyramid arranged according to social class- 3 main estates/ social
classes being the first, second and third:
The King- autocratic, absolute monarchy
- Louis XVI had an idea of the divine right of kings, not up-to-date with Enlightened Despots like Catherine the Great and
Frederick of Austria, behind the times
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,- Lettres de cachet- could imprison people without justification
First: 0.5% of the population
- Churchmen, clergy, owned 10% of all land,
- Issues of pluralism
- Parish priests operated on a local level, were based in poor relief and education+ hospitals
Second: 1% of population, nobility, 120,000
Noblesse de robe wealth from selling of administrative and venal offices, e.g. 1789- 70,000 venal offices – favoritism based on
wealth, country estates, many not wealthy, but their position was envied by the bourgeoisie
Noblesse d’epee nobles of the sword, exempt from tax e.g. taille (land tax) , advisers intendants, ministers – lived at Versailles
and had royal patronage
Third: 85-90% of population, 28 million people aka ‘everyone else’ , yet owned only ¼ of French land and 1/5 of all public
wealth all the rest was in the power of the minority
- Paid the taille (land tax), the much-hated salt tax (gabelle) – peasants had to pay rent to seigneurs and tenants
- Corvee royale, tithes, dependent on bread
- However the third estate also included the bourgeoisie, many educated people- would alter represent in the Third Estate ( no
peasant representatives), and also artisans who would become known as the sans-culottes- rioters in numbers and influence.
A: great disparity in the Ancien regime, showed how all duties and very few privileges fell on the poorest end while the wealthier
people enjoyed unfair exemptions. The short-term effect of this was lingering dissatisfaction which didn’t directly instigate
revolution but certainly set the scene and environment for it- the resulting events which caused the revolution were a culmination
of short-term effects and the long-term agitation of injustice.
E: could be seen as somewhat important because of its long-term agitating effect, but the importance is disadvantaged when one
sees that in practicality mere dissatisfaction would not have been enough for the revolution in itself- it needed a more short-term
instigation and opportunity. Nevertheless, one must recognise that without this systematic injustice there would be no need nor
will for a revolution.
(when comparing to the other events leading up to 1789)
QUALITIES OF LOUIS XVI
Divine kingship, absolutism and an oath to God with no legal limits- use of the autocratic VETO, e.g. lettres de cachet- yet also
bound by laws and customs, advisory ministers, consent of the elite
Seen as reserved and anxious, impractical- ill-fit for the position of king, executed in 1793 , devout Catholic, indecisive – later
seen as disloyal- ‘ armoir de fer’
Lettres de cachet, veto, lit de justice
FINANCIAL PROBLEMS AND ATTEMPTS BY TURGOT, NECKER AND CALONNE
- Louis met with his ministers individually rather than an as a collective, created a problem of court-factions working against
eachother and not WITH eachother - ^ KING who lacked good communication skills
- All legislation had to be ratified by one of the thirteen regional parlements – different legal systems, taxes, and different rules
as to who paid them- e.g. pays d’etat – six areas of France which had been allowed the privelige of negotiating directly with
the Crown on taxation and paying a lump sum to the King- these areas had powerful assemblies with whom the intendants
had to share power
Louis decided the overall direction of it, variations in laws and customs, financial exactions e.g. pays d’etat – 13 regional
parlements by which one had to ratify laws – 36 generalities each managed by 1 intendant – lower thirs of France governed by
Roman law, more rigid, whereas the upper fractions had common law
- There was a general lack of decisive and strong leadership.
Debt costly wars, government deficit
- Government did not have enough money due to costly wars war of Austrian succession- 1 billion livres, Seven Years’ War
had cost 1.8 billion livres as well as the American Revolutionary – supporting the American colonies against Britain
- Inefficiency of uneven taxes, tax exemptions from the wealthiest, the system of tax-farming and the farmers’ royale
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, Controller General and finance ministers- common trend was the emphasis on the systematic inequalities and hostilities faced by
propositions to cut the expenditure of the wealthiest
Turgot attempt to cut royal spending , proposed Six Edicts which were never ratified as Marie Antoinette forced him out, 4%
interest loan from Dutch bankers
- Abolishing corvee royale, physiocrat
- Removed price controls, abolished guilds and proposed a new property tax – dismissed in 1776
- Arised hostilities in those who he the reforms threatened
Necker rigorous economic policy, compte rendu 1781, public balance sheet fell under scrutiny , enforcements on crown
spending
- 1777 Necker, Swiss Banker, appointed – reforming royal expenditure, tried to cut venal offices, drew hostility from the
nobles – key mistake in saying that France could afford the American War of Independence when it couldn’t – estimated war
cost of 1.3 billion livres , royal debt increase
- 1781 Necker issued first public report on royal finances to show they were in good order , compte rendu, to show finances
were in good order- but minor bits were picked up on and accused of being unjust and extravangant
Dismissed
Calonne 1783, managed royal finances through lavish spending and selling of offices – ineffective, - unsuccessful at raising
loans, financial situation by 1789 was bad, deficit of 126 million livres, interest on debt taking 51% of total spending , more than
36% spent on defence , promised new land tax, no exemptions
- Largely fruitless financial reforms, no progress, exemplified ideas
ENLIGHTENMENT IDEAS AND IMPACT OF AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
- Les philosophes
‘ imitez les Americains’- bourgeois salons, , ideas against dogma, interest in liberalism, Enlightened Despotism
Rousseau, condition of man, Voltaire’s ‘Candide’- against clerical superiority and gluttony, ideas of injustice Montesquieue’s
‘le’espirit les lois’ (‘spirit of the law’)- appropriate checks and balances, Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’
- People such as the Marquis de Lafayette had been exposed to these ideas by participating in the American Revolutionary War,
e.g. equality, democracy and independence, ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’
American Revolutionary War cost 5billion livres, France was involved by 1774- 1781 Siege of Yorktown
SOCIAL DISCONTENTS – absolutism and unfair tax system, system of selling offices – corruption of the court and in the
Church through blocking of meritocracy
- Complaints among parish priests as they were poor most of their tithe went to archbishops, bishops and abbots who often
collected it most – higher clergy enjoyed huge incomes – led to problems of absenteeism and pluralism as positions were a
gift from the king
- Middle class discontent about uneven tax and privileges – widespread debating clubs among professionals, both in Paris and
the provinces
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS FROM 1787 –
Financial issues, France suffering from a 112 million livre deficit in 1789
- Agricultural lack of advancement, government deficit and poverty- technological issues
- Great deals of rural poverty, no formal system of poor relief – poor harvests in 1770, 1789 – major reason for increased
hardship – inheritance was equally divided and not primogeniture – cumulative effect was smaller landholdings – 1789, ¼ of
French farmland was owned by small peasant farmers and much of the rest rented out in small plots – substinence farming
and little incentive for innovation
- TOWNS growth in industry e.g. nimes for silk and foreign trade e.g. ports like Nantes
- Dense populations- urban poor could cause disorder if there were price rises – bread riots a common feature of urban life,
unpopular employers, riots against the wallpaper manufacturer revellion in Paris in April in 1789
Disastrous harvest in 1788, weather in early 1789 was the coldest in living memory- food prices steadily rose to a high point on 14
july 1789
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