French Revolution

Ihsan Ali Jamali (PAS)

 Europe in the 18th Century
Renaissance

a. Muslim conquest of Spain 711

b. Al-Andulus
c. Fall of Constantinople 1453
d. Invention of the printing press by John Gutenberg of Mainz, 1452-53
e. French German, Spanish Invasions of Italy 1494-1530
Age of Discoveries – Colonialism

• Mediterranean centre of maritime trade in Middle Ages (476-1500)

• 1492 Christopher Columbus, Genoese sailor, sponsored by Spanish Queen
Isabella discovered New World (America)
• 1498 Vasco da Gama, Portuguese sailor, discovered sea route to India around
Cape of Good Hope
 Reformation

a. Martin Luther (1483-1546) in 1517 German, Augustinian Friar and professor

of theology at the university of Wittenberg
b. John Calvin (1509-64) Frenchman.
c. Counter Reformation
d. Treaty of Augsburg 1555. Cujus rejio ejus religio.
e. Thirty Years War 1618-48. Peace of Westphalia
f. Europe divided into two blocs- Catholics and protestants
 Major States of Europe
The Holy Roman Empire 962-1806

a. Confederation of 350 states

b. Germany, Belgium, Austria, CZ, Northern Italy
c. Archduke of Austria as Emperor
d. Emperor elected by 7 elector states- 4 temporal, 3 spiritual
e. Emperor powerless- depended on the goodwill of princes
f. No standing army
g. The Diet
h. Austro-Prussian rivalry
 France

• Anglo-French rivalry
• Joan of Arc (1429) Hundred years war (1337-1453)
• Family feuds Valois, Bourbons, and Guises
• Bourbons succeed in 1589 henry IV
• He issued Edict of Nantes 1598 to grant equal rights to Huguenots (French
protestants) with Catholics.
• Louis XIII (1610-43) with his Prime minister Cardinal Richelieu, carried out
political and agricultural reforms
• Office of Intendants from the middle class was created to punish hostile
nobles
 France

• Louis XIV (1643-1715) “Grande Monarque”.

• Colbert, Finance Minister and financial and agriculture reforms, floated a
number of trading companies, army navy development
• Edict was revoked and protestants punished
• Dream of louis to reach Rhine in the east and pyrenes in the south west,
Natural Boundaries.
• Extension of trade and conflicts with Spain, Holland, England
• War of Devolution (1667-68) Dutch war (1672-78) War of league of Augsburg
(1688-97) and War of Spanish Succession (1702-13)
• Wars huge burden on France. Pyrenes was realized but Rhine dream was
thwarted by England
 France

• Louis XV (1715-74) great grandson

• Anglo-French rivalry at sea continued
• War of Austrian Succession (1740-48)
• Seven Years’ war (1756-63)
• Crushing defeat for France
• Financial crisis Country close to bankruptcy
• Louis XVI grandson
• Marie Antoinette
• Very unpopular
 Spain
a. Al Andulus
b. Two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile united in 15th century through marriage of Ferdinand II
of Aragon (1479-1516) and Isabella of Castille (1474-1504)
c. New World and Sea route to India
d. Spanish Supremacy at sea
e. Defeat of Spanish armada 1588 by England
f. Revolt of Dutch in 1572 and independence in 1602
g. Spain lost Thirty years war
h. Long wars with France
i. Charles II died without heir- war of Spanish succession 1702-13)
j. Louis XIV claimed the Spanish throne for Philip, his 2nd grandson by marriage of Maria
Theresa elder sister of Charles II.
k. Treaty of Utrecht, bourbons for Spain- and France and Spain got closer against Britain
 The Netherlands

• 17 provinces of Holland and Belgium collectively called the Netherlands

• Conquered by Spain in 16th Century
• Reformation and 7 northern province (Modern Holland ) revolted
• Independence 1609
• Dutch East India Company 1602 acquired colonies, Batavia, Ceylon, Malacca,
Cape of Good Hope and Sumatra
 The Netherlands
• Rivalry with England (Navigation Act 1651 British Parliament)
• 1st Anglo- Dutch War, England victorious treaty enforced
• 2nd Anglo- Dutch War, England victorious, Treaty of Breda, Dutch lost New Holland to
England
• 3dr war with England and France, John De Witt killed and Prince William III rose to the
throne.
• William saved Holland from Louis XIV
• Marriage alliance between Dutch and England
• Joint rivalry against France
• 1799 Revolutionary France overran the country and William fled to England
 Italy

• Division up to 19th Century

• Geographical expression
• Republic of Venice and Genoa
• Duchies of Tuscany and Modena ruled by Hapsburg
• Milan under Austria
• Parma and Kingdom of Two Sicilies under Bourbon
• Papal State in centre under Pope
• Savoy and Piedmont under kingdom of Sardinia
• Over all Austrian influence
 Poland

• Very large state in the 17th Century

• Bordered by Swedish empire in the north east, Russia in the east,
Brandenburg-Prussia in the west, Austria in the south west, and turkey in the
south.
• Greedy neighbours
• War of succession 1733-1735, Augustus III ascended the throne.
• After his death in 1763, three partitions of Poland within 32 years by Russia,
Prussia and Austria
 Poland
• Reasons for downfall-
• Vast empire (no defense, fortresses)
• several nationalities (Poles, Cossacks, Ukrainians, Germans, Jews etc.)
• 3 faiths (Catholics looked to Austria, Protestants to Prussia and Orthodox
to Russia)
• Elective monarchy- diet elected a King (always foreigner, Elector of
Saxony)
• Laws to be passed unanimously- Nobles always against it
• Worst form of feudalism-serfdom
• Situation exploited by unscrupulous neighbours
• Three partitions, 1792,1793, 1795
 Russia

• Russia gained freedom from Mongols and tartars in the reign of Ivan the Great
(1462-1505) and Ivan the Terrible (1533-84) of the House of Rurik
• In 1547 Ivan the Terrible took the title of Tsar or Czar of all Russians.
• Established orthodox church in 1582
• Civil war in Russia from 1598-1613, Sweden, Poland got territories
• Russian noble elected Michael Romanov- 1st ruler of Romanov which ruled
from 1613 to 1917
• Poverty, no agricultural reforms
• No sea route, no commerce
• Peter the great (1682-1725) transformed Russia into a western country
 Russia
• Catherine the great (1762-96) moved by intellectual revolution
• Expansion towards south and war with turkey, Russo- Turkish War 1768-74.
• Treay of Kutchuck- Kainardji 1774, landmark of turko Russian relations.
Russia acquired Azov, corridor to the Black sea, and right to protect Christian
subjects of the Sultan
• On the eve of Fench revolution, Russia was a stranger state acquired a window
to the west and south
• Her fleet sailed both in the Baltic and black sea
 Ottoman empire

a. Sack of Constantinople by Ottoman Turks 1453

b. 1682 conquered Hungary and 1683 at the gates of Vienna.
c. Leopold I and Kin of Poland John III defeated the Turks
d. Growing influence in the Balkans and inter-state rivalries
 Great Britain

• Magna carta 1215

• Feudalism declined
• Serfdom abolished
• Agrarian revolution and Enclosures system
• Industrial revolution and mass scale production
• Colonization
• Tudors after 1485 made vast changes, economy, political
• Defeat of Spanish armada 1588, UK supreme at sea
 Great Britain
• House of Stuarts (1603-1704)
• Rise of parliamentarianism, decline of monarchy
• Union of England and Scotland in 1707 gave rise to United Kingdom
• Expansion
• With the defeat of James II (1685-88) the theory of Divine Rights of the King
died away
 Political conditions

 Absolute monarchy with Divine Right of the King

 Feudalism largely crushed in the western Europe though nobles still enjoyed
much privileges
 In Central Europe and in Russia they enjoyed vast powers and position
 No institution to represent masses
 States-General
 Three estates-Nobles, Clergy, masses
o Could only meet when called by the King
• Could not propose legislation just discuss
 Social conditions
 Society divided into privileged and unprivileged classes
 Nobles and clergy enjoyed vast powers
o Held vast lands
o Gained taxes from the masses
o Exclusive hunting and fishing rights
 Masses under heavy taxation
o Triple taxation, direct an indirect
o Taille/land tax
o Poll tax
o Income tax/1/20th of the income
o Tithe
o Feudal dues
 Serfdom abolished mostly but peasants in deplorable condition
 Economic conditions
 Agriculture main source of earning
 Two sections. Nobles and peasants
 Absentee lords
o Tyrannical bailiffs
 Freeman and Serfs
 Three-filed system- arable land divided into three; one third left fellow each year
 Wheat, barley, oats and rye major crops
 Beans, hemp, flax vegetables also grown occasionally
 Canal irrigation on limited scale
 Artificial manuring
 Livestock, oxen, pigs, cattle, sheep valuable possession
 No breed improvement
 Farmers hand to mouth
 Bourgeoise or the middle class better off due to overseas trade
 International relations

• Internationals relations based on religion

• Protestant Dutch helped by protestant England against catholic Spain
• Treaty of Augsburg 1555
• Peace of Westphalia 1648
• International relations on the balance of power
• System of alliances and counter alliances
• 18th century gave birth to enlightenment and theory of Might is Right
• Colonialism and rise of maritime rivalries
• Russian expansion in Balkans brought her opposition of Austria, France and
England
 Intellectual revolution

• Universal in its outlook

• Humane in approach
• Critical of the existing institutions
• Edward Gibbon 1737-94)
• G.W. Goethe (1749-1832)
• Lessing (1729-81)
• Kant (1724-1804)
• Charles de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
• Voltaire (1694-1778)
• J.J. Rousseau (1712-78)
 Intellectual revolution

• Patronage of the intellectual revolution by enlightened despots

• Emperor joseph
• Peter the great
• Catherine the great
• Nation states a distant belief
• Might is right
• Moral scruples – alliances made, unmade
 Conclusions

 Europe dominated by religious and feudal institutions

 Absolute monarchies
 Society in division
 Economic conditions-poor
 Industrial Revolution

 Why did it happen in England

o Agrarian reforms- Enclosure Act
o Better methods of cultivation
o Better yield per acre
o Abundance of Capital
 Availability of Cheap labour
 Commercial and maritime enterprise
o British supremacy at sea
o Colonization and raw material
o Tobacco, tea, sugar, spices, and cotton for woolen clothes
 Industrial Revolution

 Natural resources
o Abundance of coal, Lancashire and Yorkshire
 Establishment of the bank of England 1694 and the National Debt
o Primarily to fend off Louis XIV
 Favourable political conditions
 Ingenuity of British people
 Benefits

 Wide range of production through machines

 Expansion of trade
 Power-driven machinery
 Improved transport
 Employment boost
 Rise of banking corporations
 Improved standard of living
 Improved agriculture
 Drawbacks

• Rise of unplanned towns

• Exodus of workers
• Employment of women and children
• Insecurity of work
• Monotony of work
• Rise of capitalism
• Need for reforms
 French Revolution

•Why did it occur in France

• Cultural leadership of France
• Influence of French Philosophers
• French bourgeoisie more enlightened
• French peasants comparatively in better position
• French monarchy-incapable
• Financial bankruptcy of France
 Causes of French Revolution

Social causes

• Division of society into two classes

• The privileged
• Clergy and nobles
• The unprivileged
• The Masses
• The privileges of Clergy and Nobles
 Social causes
• Misery of masses
• Triple taxation
• To the King
• Direct taxes (Taille/land tax, poll tax, income tax)
• Indirect Taxes (Gabelle, Customs and excise, corvee on the roads,
conscription for unmarried males)
• To the Nobles
• Dues for using oven, mill, winepress, abattoir,
• Quit rent for three day’s work on the lords’ fields
• To the Church
• Tithe (1/10th )
• Rise of bourgeoisie
 Economic causes

a. Some economic and agricultural development by Richelieu and Colbert in 17 th

century
b. Frequent famine and food riots
c. Industry controlled by guilds
d. Too much internal barriers and official interference
e. Industrial revolution in infancy
 Political Causes

Degeneration of monarchy
Madame de pompadour
Marie Antoinette
Centralization of government
Decisions at court of Versailles
Overburdened
Administrative and legal confusion
Bailiffs (officers of the authority who enforced the law) Intendants
(administrative official who served as an agent of the king in each of the
provinces) Parlements (provincial appellate court -13 in number, biggest, P
of Paris)
 Political Causes

Absence of a national representative government

The States General
Did not meet since 1614
Two states voted separately
Merely vote not propose legislation
Elections-1200 members 600 3rd estate 300 each 2nd and 1st state
Influence of American Independence (1776-83)
 Intellectual Causes

a. Influence of the French Philosophers

b. The encyclopedists
i. 17 volumes of knowledge (Diderot, D’Alembert, Holback
ii.Liberty equality and fraternity
 Financial Causes

a. Ambitious wars of Louis XIV

b. No system of budgeting, accounting and auditing
c. Over 50% income of the masses went into taxation
d. Nobility averse to tax themselves
e. Bread riots
f. Frequent changes of the finance ministers
g. Turgot. Jacques Necker, Calonne, Lominie de Brienne, Necker
 Towards revolution

• Weather conditions
• Summoning of the States General May 1789
• Stagnation and Third Estate proclaimed itself National Assembly on 10 th June
• Tennis Court Oath 26th June
• National guard raised by the Parisians.
• Threat by the King. Military hospital raided for muskets (28k)
• 14th July storming of Bastille (gunpowder)